Campus Stories - Design

Katie Han: Bridging art and design to reimagine the waiting room experience

If at any point you found yourself in the mix of Stanford’s diverse student arts scene over the past four years, there’s a good chance you crossed paths with Katie Han. A senior graduating this Spring from the d.School, Han arrived eager to find community while exploring converging interests in psychology, visual art, and design….

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A sneak peek at Lisa’s workspace in her dorm room as she works on inking a page of her comic on her iPad.

Student Arts Grants: A Year in Photos 2022-23

This year’s VPA Student Arts Grants supported a wide range of student-initiated collaborative projects across the Stanford campus. Projects included dance, conference programming, film, creative retreat, theater productions, wood carving, and shoe design work. AY23 Awarded Projects: Student Arts Grants for VSOs Student Arts Grants for Individual Students (Maker Micro Grant)

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a group of students standing in front of a yellow table with zines and artwork.

artsCatalyst Grants 2022-23

During the 2022-23 academic year, the Office of the Vice President for the Arts awarded 58 artsCatalyst Grants to faculty members from across the University. These grants foster arts experiences that enhance classroom experiences for undergraduate students. Activities included field trips to Bay Area arts venues, guest speakers (in-person and virtual), and workshops with guest artists. The grants…

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Student Arts Grants: A Year in Photos 2021-22

This year’s VPA Student Arts Grants supported a wide range of virtual and remote student-initiated collaborative projects across the Stanford community. Projects ranged from photography, documentary and narrative film, zines, musical theater, dance, contemporary plays, and inviting renowned artists for exhibitions and artist talks serving the student community. Aligned with Stanford policies, the VPA continues…

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Stanford’s makerspaces are adapting to the pandemic

In normal circumstances, the many makerspaces of Stanford University offer tools, resources, supplies, workshops and personal assistance to campus creatives producing art, engineering, textiles and science. But the same personal instruction and shared resources that make Stanford’s makerspaces so practical are, unfortunately, also problematic during the coronavirus pandemic. Aparna Sharma, operations manager at the Robin Li and…

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Visiting Artist Fund in Honor of Roberta Bowman Denning call for proposals: 2020-21 Virtual Visiting Artists

The Office of the Vice President for the Arts invites proposals for the Visiting Artist Fund in Honor of Roberta Bowman Denning, to support virtual visiting artists for the winter, spring, or summer quarters in 2021. All academic departments and programs at Stanford are invited to submit proposals; proposals that include two or more departments…

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artsCatalyst Grants 2019-20

This past academic year, the Office of the Vice President for the Arts awarded 33 artsCatalyst Grants to faculty members from across the University. These grants foster arts experiences that enhance classroom experiences for undergraduate students. Activities included field trips to Bay Area cultural organizations, workshops with visiting artists, and attending performances. 2019-20 artsCatalyst Grant Recipients Why is Climate Change…

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Student Arts Grants: A Year in Photos 2019-20

This year’s VPA Student Arts Grants supported a wide range of student-initiated collaborative projects across the Stanford campus. Projects ranged from photography, documentary and narrative film, zines, musical theater, dance, contemporary plays, and inviting renowned artists for exhibitions and artist talks serving the student community.  Students and their project teams represented a wide range of…

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The many makerspaces of the Stanford campus

Whether a person’s dreams involve DNA synthesizers or dresses with pockets, almost any idea can come to life in one of the dozens of makerspaces dotting the Stanford University campus. These spaces offer all manner of mentorship, materials and equipment – easels, lathes, 3D printers, recording studios, sewing machines, microscopes, spectrometers and even a forge…

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New art project brings Stanford students and incarcerated artists together

A sculpture of a surfer riding a rainbow wave, a black-and-white comic strip about friendship and paintings of children’s toys are some of the artworks created as part of a new collaboration between Stanford students and incarcerated artists as a way of connecting the public and people in prison together through art. Stanford seniors Michelle…

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artsCatalyst Grants 2018-19

This past academic year, the Office of the Vice President for the Arts awarded 27 artsCatalyst Grants to faculty members from across the University. These grants foster arts experiences that enhance classroom experiences for undergraduate students. Activities included field trips to Bay Area cultural organizations, workshops with visiting artists, and attending performances. 2018-19 artsCatalyst Grant Recipients Interpreting Art (ITALIC 92), Karla…

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Student Arts Grants: A Year in Photos 2018-19

 vvcThis year’s Student Arts Grants supported a wide range of projects across the Stanford campus. The projects covered many genres including contemporary plays, documentary and fiction film shorts, musical theater, zines, photography, sculpture, and more. Many of this year’s grantees utilized Roble Arts Gym as a rehearsal/work space as well as a venue for their exhibits and…

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Spring quarter 2019 guest artists

Over 30 departments, centers and campus organizations host guest artists each quarter. The Architectural Design Program and the University Architect/Campus Planning and Design Office co-present the annual Architecture & Landscape–Spring Lecture Series, and the theme this year is “Architecture of Humanity.” The series features five designers who believe architecture has a much greater responsibility beyond aesthetics….

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Stanford polymath blazes a new trail with his design manifesto

Stanford scholar Ge Wang has chosen an unconventional medium for a manifesto about why technology and design needs to reflect human values: a comic book. “It’s nerdy. It’s philosophical. It’s a core dump of my brain in comic form,” said Wang, an associate professor of music in the School of Humanities and Science, who has…

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Exploring art and design in Australia

Last spring, mechanical engineering major Kendal Burkins, ’19, began rethinking his academic and professional trajectory. Wanting to pursue a more creative path while merging his interests and skills, he switched his major to product design and applied for a summer internship at the Art Galley of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, the country’s premier…

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Knight Fellow’s project leads to a new collection at Stanford Libraries

When Stanford John S. Knight Journalism Fellow Michael Grant was researching the lack of diversity in journalism, he stumbled upon a 1987 article online, titled “Black Designers: Missing in Action.” The piece, written by successful multiracial designer and diversity advocate Cheryl D. Miller, captivated Grant, the creative director of the San Francisco Business Times and a 2017–18 participant in Stanford’s John…

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