Bookmark and Share

PARSONS AND BROOKLYN SUPERHERO SUPPLY COMPANY
PRESENT SUPERHEROES AND SUPER-VILLAINS

Illustrators and Young Writers Team Up to Create New Comic Characters

Spinner-and-Ghostly by JP Morales based on a story by Sebastian (age 11)

NEW YORK, May 7, 2010—Parsons The New School for Design and the nonprofit 826NYC, which based out of the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, have joined forces to present Superheroes & Super-Villains, a collaborative project in which local youth and Parsons illustration students created comic book characters.

On Monday, May 10, the artwork and stories behind these new comic heroes and villains will debut at the Art Directors Club as part of the Parsons BFA Illustration Thesis Exhibition. A public reception will be held from 6-8 p.m., and the work will be on view through May 14.

Over the course of the spring, 35 grade school students in 826NYC’s creative writing workshop crafted their very own superhero or super-villain. Those stories were presented to the Parsons illustration students, who created art representing the characters and scenes from the stories.

The stories and illustrations bring to life the superhero's powers and the super-villain's motives, and describe how each character came to be a hero or a villain. For example, after a chance encounter stealing other kids’ cookies at a daycare center, Spinner and Ghostly embark on a worldwide crime spree, while criminal mastermind Croleum creates death traps and disguises out of his three secret command centers. Fighting for the good side, Ever Boy uses his morphing powers to inhabit the bodies of ordinary humans and evil villains to save the Earth from a massive explosion.

“The real value of the project with the Superhero Supply Company and 826NYC was twofold. For the young writers at 826NYC, their work was taken seriously and treated with great respect by the illustration students from Parsons. Plus they got to see their writing come to tangible life through the images made by the students at Parsons,” said Steven Guarnaccia, chair of Illustration at Parsons. “For the Parsons iIllustration students, in addition to the sheer pleasure of illustrating the wildly imaginative work of these young writers, there was the real-world experience of responding to an author's text.”

"We'd like to thank Parsons for the intellectual curiosity they've shown to bring this project to life,” said Matt Singer, 826NYC Board Member. “It has allowed the 826NYC students to see their stories take shape and has inspired them to continue to explore new creative ideas. We applaud the immensely creative work produced on both sides."

General Information:
Superheroes and Super-Villains

Parsons BFA Illustration Thesis Exhibition
Monday, May 10-Friday, May 14
Opening Reception: Monday, May 10, 6-8 p.m.
Art Directors Club, 106 West 29th Street, New York, NY
http://www.adcglobal.org/adc/events/calendar/

In the BFA Illustration Program at Parsons The New School for Design, one of the most prestigious and comprehensive schools of art and design in the world, students are poised to become influential, pictorial communicators. Through studio and digital course work, the program builds proficiency in drawing and media-based skills; creativity in concepts and problem solving; awareness of art and design and current social and cultural concerns; and fluency in technological tools and software. For more information, please visit http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/bfa-illustration/.

826NYC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Their services are structured around the belief that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. 826NYC provides free programs such as drop-in tutoring, field trips, after-school workshops, in-schools tutoring, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications. The creative writing center is located behind a swinging bookshelf at the back of the Superhero Supply Store on 372 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope Brooklyn. For more information, please visit www.826nyc.org.

# # #