Want to Be a Better Designer? Study Abroad
BFA Students Rumbi Makava, Olivia Deackoff, Keila Panchi, and Natalie Ramirez in Portovenere.
NYSID BFA junior Olivia Deackoff and senior Keila Panchi were standing atop the Church of St. Peter in Portovenere, gazing out at the rocky shores and startling blue water of the Golfo dei Poeti (Gulf of the Poets), when they truly realized what an amazing semester they were about to embark on. “It started to sink in, as we were observing the ancient ruins and amazing views, that we’d made it HERE, where everything is so different. I’ve been dreaming of this my whole life,” Deackoff says. “When I applied to NYSID, a semester abroad wasn’t an option, but now it is. This is a dream come true.” She spent time observing a piece of the original floor of the church, constructed in 1198. The chapel was established on ancient pagan ruins and was renovated multiple times over the centuries. During her first week in Italy, Deackoff allowed the layers of design history to wash over her and take root in her imagination.
Her roommate in Florence, NYSID BFA senior Keila Panchi, was struck by the beauty all around her, every day. “Everywhere you go, you experience design,” she says, “I am noticing and photographing everything. There is inspiration everywhere. I will take these sights with me for the rest of my life.”
Deackoff and Panchi are two of the four students participating in the very first semester of NYSID’s immersive study abroad program. This academic year, for the first time in NYSID’s history, BFA students are able to spend one semester or the entire academic year studying abroad—in Florence, Italy—while being able to stay on track within their degree program. In partnership with SRISA, the Santa Reparata International School of Art, NYSID is providing BFA students the chance to absorb the rich arts, culture, and history of Florence. The students are accompanied by NYSID Instructor Warren Ashworth. The program is open to BFA students in or beyond their fourth semester.
“Interior designers need to understand other cultures, histories and definitions of beauty to reach their potential,” says NYSID’s Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Ellen Fisher. The leadership of NYSID has long believed that travel experiences are essential to the development of designers, but until now, the College was unable to offer a true semester abroad. NYSID is a single-discipline school exclusively focused on interior design education. This laser focus is a strength of a NYSID education, but it’s also what made it so challenging for the College to offer study abroad at more generally focused institutions. For a long time, the partial solution was a series of summer travel-study courses to cities in Japan, India, Italy, Austria, England, and China. These rotating summer courses continue to be great opportunities, but there is nothing as enriching as long-term immersion in another culture. In the past year, NYSID launched its online BFA, getting its entire undergraduate curriculum online. This opened a whole new realm of possibility for study abroad.
In the new semester-abroad program, the typical student schedule includes NYSID’s online design studio and foundational interior design courses; and SRISA’s art, history, and liberal arts courses. Students have the opportunity to take studios with Ashworth, and to travel to other regions with him.
When we caught up with Deackoff and Panchi, they had just finished their initial week of orientation and were in their first week of classes in the study abroad program. Deackoff, a junior, is taking Travel Writing and Introduction to Photography with SRISA instructors, Contract I with Ashworth, and an assortment of online courses with NYSID instructors based in NYC. Panchi, a BFA senior, is taking Introduction to Sculpture and History of Italian Fashion with SRISA instructors, Contract III in person with Ashworth, and both Professional Practice and Thesis Preparation online with NYSID. “We are really lucky to have Warren here with us,” notes Deackoff. Her studio with Ashworth includes students from other schools, but she is also breaking away to work with Ashworth in a small group of NYSID students. She is getting a lot of one-on-one instruction in these small working groups. Panchi adds, “The people here (at SRISA) immediately made us feel welcomed. We are going on walking tours and to museums and other places to see design in context. The professors are very kind and friendly. They are making us feel like this is our home now.”
NYSID students are housed in apartments right next to the SRISA campus. “Something I love about this place is I can walk to everything. We are in the heart of Florence. It’s about fifteen minutes to the Duomo and three minutes to campus for classes,” says Panchi.
David Sprouls, NYSID’s president, says “There is nothing more transformative for an emerging designer than travel. It not only educates the eye, it creates an awareness of the alternative ways people live. It’s my hope that NYSID will begin with this program in Florence and expand study abroad semesters to other countries and continents.”
To get an update on the travels of NYSID Students in Florence, check out NYSID’s student-run study abroad Instagram account (instagram.com/nysid_studyabroad). •
Thank You Supporters of Study Abroad Grants!
The belief in the transformative power of travel for a designer is widely shared by NYSID’s board members. When the College launched Study Abroad, its leaders worried that the additional costs of the program might be a heavy lift and a barrier to entry for many NYSID students. So, NYSID Trustees Chesie Breen, Jill Dienst, James Druckman, Ingrid Edelman, Susan Zises Green, David Kleinberg, Courtney McLeod, Dennis Miller, David Scott, and Newell Turner provided a $66,000 matching opportunity for study-abroad grants, in honor of David Sprouls’ 10th anniversary as NYSID’s president. An outpouring of support from these trustees and other friends of the College made it possible to offer current and future students study abroad grants. Says President David Sprouls, “You not only directly impacted the lives of our students, you helped forge an important new direction for the college. Thank you.” To inquire about supporting study abroad grants, contact Joy Cooper, Director of Development, at giving@nysid.edu.