Radical Practice: Defining Self in Design

Radical Practice is a series of podcast conversations between CalArts Graphic Design Program alumnae and current students. Each episode features an alumna with a distinct professional practice, whose endeavors range from cultural to corporate; from singular enterprises to ambitious ideas. We discuss how they have defined success for themselves and gather insights into how the role their CalArts education has played.

Our conversations will cover their experiences, including from their time as a student to the trials of transitioning into the post-graduation world of professional design, as well as building a career and fulfilling identity for themselves as a designer. Finally, we’ll look ahead for wisdom in confronting new circumstances for future practices with imagination, optimism, and hope.

The Back Story

Radical Practice was the outcome of a workshop introduced in the CalArts Graphic Design Program for the Spring 2020 semester.

The anticipated outcome was the realization of an outward-facing symposium, workshop, or other event focused on a specific topic. The workshop was both a working group and an incubator of radical pedagogy, where traditional hierarchies are reconsidered and faculty and students worked together towards shared goals and outcomes. Collectively the group articulated an agenda and conceptual framework; faculty served as mentors to help guide research. For Spring 2020, the topic was the legacy and future of feminist thought, pedagogy and activism represented by the CalArts Graphic Design Program’s faculty, students and alumni.

contact: radicalpractice@calarts.edu