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Index

p. 4 Biographyp. 8 Statement of Purposep. 14 Undergraduate Artwork: 2009-2011p. 40 Professional: 2011-2013p. 48 Continuing Education: 2013

Biography

Biography

Lea Hershkowitz Lea Hershkowitz graduated from Bennington College in 2011 with a duel concentration in Visual Art and Psychology. Upon graduating, Ms. Hershkowitz was appointed to the Bennington College Board of Trustees, where she served a two-year term as a full Board member, serving on the Educational Committee and the Presidential Search Committee. At Bennington, Ms. Hershkowitz’s work in visual art and psychology focused on the affects that art and aesthetics may have on well-being. She creatively merged this work with the art and aesthetics inherent in farming and food, and their connection to family development. Ms. Hershkowitz has traveled extensively throughout North America, Europe, Japan, and China. In 2006 she was awarded a research grant from the John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation that supported her travel to remote areas of China to conduct ecological research concerning paper mills, which she visited with senior staff members of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

During her Field Work Terms at Bennington, she interned at Park Pictures in NYC, an Oscar award winning commercial and movie production firm; the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, a sustainably managed farm-to-table establishment in Westchester County, NY, owned and developed by David Rockefeller, and; designLAB architects in Boston. Ms. Hershkowitz is currently a Producer at the internationally recognized fashion house Juicy Couture, where she manages the global creative marketing department headquartered out of New York City. She has completed coursework at the New York School of Interior Design and Parsons, the New School for Design to advance her career ambition in interior architecture and design.

Statement of

Purpose

Statement of

Purpose

My purpose in applying to graduate school is driven by two personal traits: First, by a lifelong passion to help others. Second, by a love for interior architecture and design. As people throughout the developed world increasingly spend most of their time indoors, expanding my understanding of and influence over the ways in which interior architecture and design can benefit human health and well-being is a logical expression of my passion and interests.

My interest in merging the advancement of human health with interior architecture and design is informed and supported by well-documented evidence indicating that the spaces we inhabit have a profound influence on our well-being. Recent “biophilic” research teaches us that environmental stimuli such as plant life, sunlight, and even landscape paintings, positively affect the convalescence of people recovering from surgery or illness. Patients in hospital rooms with a window recover more quickly than patients in rooms without a window. Even Dostoyevsky, writing in the 19th century, wrote that, “Low ceilings and tiny rooms cramp the soul and mind.” My interests lay in advancing the field of how interior architecture can beneficially affect human well-being and productivity.

It is increasingly recognized that health and sustainability impacts should be considered for any project under development or renovation, especially as it might affect the people who will use the space most frequently. As our planet gets warmer and more crowded, how we

adaptively reuse existing spaces will become more important for public health and ecological sustainability. And as evidenced by ongoing public debates about healthcare policy, the treatment and prevention of illness remains of the utmost importance. These facts support my belief that the emerging “wellness design movement” needs to be more broadly established in the field of healthcare facility design, in which I have a particular interest.

Moreover, our growing population increasingly faces ecological limits related to land use. This requires that we reconsider the use and preservation of green spaces. Consequently, I hope to focus my graduate education on gaining a better understanding of how interior architecture and design can support the adaptive reuse of spaces, as well as positively influence health care establishments.

Over the past two years I’ve researched architecture and design firms that incorporate wellness and healthful design into their projects. One such firm, Delos Living, is an innovative real estate group based in NYC that develops projects focused on offices, hotels, and residential spaces. Recently, I spoke with the founder of Delos, Paul Scialla, and learned of his company’s work developing “healthier” rooms at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, as well as his firm’s plans to develop a children’s center in Haiti, using wellness living design principles. These projects exemplify the growing market interest in wellness design. As

public interest grows, I would like to expand this movement to include hospitals and healthcare facilities, which might benefit most from this innovative design philosophy.

My undergraduate studies in visual art and psychology at Bennington, which focused on the influence that aesthetics might have on personal wellbeing, advanced my interest in “healthy design” of spaces through interior architecture. Moreover, my travels throughout the world to places such as China, Japan, Greece, France, Spain, Sweden, England, Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii, as well as travels throughout the continental United States, have inclined me to think globally about the issues we face as humans. Over the years I have gathered diverse perspectives on design, especially approaches focused on sustainability and wellness. I plan to bring this knowledge to my graduate work.

Previously, I worked for two architecture firms; DesignLAB Architects during my Field Work Term at Bennington, and Tsao and McKown upon graduating in 2011. These experiences also confirmed my desire to work professionally in interior architecture. Attending graduate school for interior architecture would allow me to further access the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the world of interior architecture and design.

Recently I studied at Parsons and the New York School of Interior Design. The courses I took enhanced my technical and aesthetic skills, which I am eager to continue to strengthen,

focusing on applying principles of healthy design to healthcare facilities and, hopefully, other spaces. By attending your excellent interior architecture graduate program, with the guidance of faculty and the diverse perspectives of peers, I hope to refine my cross-field interest in health, wellness, and design and, ultimately, bring my ideas and interests to the broader architectural marketplace.

Undergraduate

Undergraduate2009-2011

Artwork

What follows is a selection of artwork I produced during my undergraduate years at Bennington College.

The work, including photography, sculpture, and printmaking, focused on the aesthetics of agriculture, and was conducted in 2009 & 2010. It includes studies of perception through scale, and a political analysis of photography in the context of warring nations.

Despite the differences in content, the works focus on one central question: What, if any, affects do art and aesthetics have on well-being?

This question underlies my interest in interior architecture.

Living in an industrialized world, how can design have an increasingly positive and lasting affect on the lives we live through the spaces we inhabit?

Stone Barns Center for Food and Agr iculture

The Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is one of theforemost non-profit education and agriculture centers in the country.

As a sustainably managed farm-to-table establishment, most of Stone Barns’ farming practices are manual.

During the winter of 2009 and the summer of 2010, I worked in the livestock department at Stone Barns. As an apprentice to the Head of the Livestock Department, I was granted unprecedented access to the livestock raising and harvesting processes.

The following selection of color photographs documents my time at Stone Barns.

This exploration built the foundation for my advanced work atBennington, investigating the potential affects aesthetics may have on human interaction with industrialization and well-being.

(5) 17 x 22” & (1) 17x 44” Color Photographs

V isual Commentary : Photography To Intagl io

In an effort to further my creative investigation of agricultural aesthetics, I converted my photographs of the Stone Barns center into intaglio prints.

Print (a) and print (c) depict different manual processes on the farm and are represented through the intaglio copper and acid etching print process.

The prints were juxtaposed with the original color photographs to further the interplay between old and new media and new and manual (non-industrialized) farming practices.

Intaglio print (b) is an abstraction based on one of my color photographs. This print asks us to imagine a celestial world we may find ourselves farming in one day if we continue to unsustainably deplete the Earth’s limited resources.

a b

(3) 9 x 12 Intaglio Prints

c

Study in Scale

At the start of my senior year at Bennington my work analyzing industrialization and aesthetics evolved into the realm of abstract photography.

The triptych on the following pages is one example from a series depicting mounds of gypsum mining byproduct (known as “burden”).

In reality, the three images are of just one mound, photographed from three different angles. The mound itself is less than 20 feet tall.

There are slight indicators of the scale of the mound, such as tractor marks and footprints throughout.

The images, taken at extreme angles to alter the viewer’s perception of the scale of the mound, are placed together to create the illusion of a large mountain range in an attempt to ask the viewer to imagine what our landscape may become as we continue to alter and appropriate our planet.

24 x 48 Triptych, Color Photographs

Study in Scale, Continued

I continued to play with scale when I moved from photographing objects within our environment to photographing objects of my own construction.

The following photographs are three extracted from a twenty image series focusing on objects that were each approximately 1 x 1 inch.

The objects were forms constructed of cornstarch and water, frozen in a silicon mold, and photographed with a macro lens as they melted.

The prints, though seemingly black and white, are large-scale color photographs. The color adds to the illusion of potential human form in many of the images.

(3) 30 x 66” Color Photographs

Books

In 2011, as I began to expand my scope of work, I was introduced to the term “asymmetric warfare”.

Asymmetric warfare is generally defined as warfare in which one power leverages a preponderance of military and technological power over their opponent.

In the context of my book, a curation of photographs taken by others, the term is used as a metaphor. I sought to identify the heavy imbalance that existed at the time between the United States and theMiddle East in relation to access to mass media news sources and photography.

Through our rampant use of, and disproportionate leverage over mass media, photography has held static our culture’s perception of “the Middle East”. This book identifies photography as a primary weaponcontributing to this phenomenon.

Rather than investigate the power aesthetics that aesthetics have on our perceptions withindustrialization, this book seeks to bring to light unintended consequences that a seemingly innocuous, widely prevalent tool may have.

For more information about the images and their sources, and my other book, please click the link below:

issuu.com/leajhershkowitz

Digital, hardcover (Flat) 6x6” & Book Excerpts

Professional

Professional2011-2013

After graduating from Bennington Bennington in 2011, I was hired by Juicy Couture, a $300 million dollar global fashion brand headquartered in New York City.

I am currently the global marketing Producer at Juicy, where I manage the global creative marketing department, including production of all print assets for the marketing and creative departments.

On the following pages are examples of press sheets and a detailed explanation of a few of my completed projects.

Though the work for Juicy was a departure from my undergraduate work in regards to subject matter, the experiences I’ve had and the knowledge I’ve gained working within a high level, experienced and talented team of marketers and designers has been profound.

Ju icy Couture

My role at Juicy includes, but is not limited to, print production of all in store signage, out-of-home media, and a large direct mail launch every season at quantities of at least 500,000 with a yearly budget of over $4 million dollars.

The press sheets that follow are three examples of the most recent mailers I produced during my time at Juicy Couture.

Each mailer was sent to 625,000 homes throughout the United States and Canada.

To highlight just a few of the print elements and processes used, the mailers are printed on 80lb newsprint and include neon PMS colors, CMYK black and white images, and gold foil.

(3) 11 x 15.5” Newspapers; Press Sheets

ContinuingEducation

Continuing

2013Education

Draft ing :Parsons , The New School for Des ign

The following three pieces consist of my midterm and final assignment for my course, Drafting, at Parsons.

Drawing (A) was an exercise of line weights, an effort to perfect basic drafting skills.

Drawing (B) and (C) are of my final Parsons assignment to measure, draft, and redesign our classroom into an apartment.

In addition to the floor plan, I’ve included an axonometric to provide a more detailed view of the plan.

As only the northern elevation has windows, my design includes a mobile slatted wall between the kitchen and living room. This allows light to enter the living room, while simultaneously creating a clear separation of space, providing residents the option to rotate the slats and formally dividing the kitchen and living room.

Furthermore, the northern elevation is lined with shelving, which includes built-in planters to take full advantage of the light from the numerous windows.

To transform the classroom into an apartment that felt open, but maintained intimate “rooms” at the same time, I elevated the floor in the kitchen, bedroom, master bathroom, and closet.

Therefore, you must go up into and down out of each new space, creating the feeling of entering an entirely new room.

a) 17 x 22 Pencil on Vellum: Floor Plan, Reflected Ceiling Plan, & Elevations

17 x 22” Pencil on Vellum: Axonometric, Floor Plan, Reflected Ceiling Plan, & Elevations

b

c

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Leahe r shkow i tz@gma i l . com

Brooklyn, New York

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