Informal "minutes" of the April 4, 2013 alumni get-together in the Kenny Gallery

1. Minutes of April 4, 2013 Alumni Get-Together
Note: The Art and Design Alumni Association, Inc. presently has neither a Board of Directors nor offic-
ers. Therefore, the alumni members who chose to hold an event on Thursday, April 4, 2013, were legal-
ly precluded from calling the event an “Alumni Association Meeting” and chose to call it an Alumni
Get-Together. Below please find the informal “Minutes” from the April 4, 2013 get-together.
Attending: Don Blauweiss (’52), Yvonne Fitzner (’60), Gail Allouf (’69), Alexander Medwedew (’71) and
Stephen Babolcsay (’77).
Location: Kenny Gallery, High School of Art and Design
The attendees arrived between 6pm and 6:45pm. They spent time viewing the artwork created by the Ad-
vanced Placement Illustration class on display in the Kenny Gallery. Gail marveled at the excellent work. Steve
pointed to the three illustrations in the exhibit by his daughter Jade Babolcsay, who will be graduating in June
2013.
Alex, a software engineer and a programming analyst, asked about the space in the current Alumni Office.
Steve said it was not very large, and was being shared with the UFT representative. Alex offered his services
to help the current webmaster, Ed Velandria, in creating a comprehensive database.
Gail, who was unable to come in for the Demand Letter signing on January 31st, due to Market Week, told us
her freelance business is growing. She is looking into the possibility of the president of Madame Alexander
Dolls making a presentation to our students who are interested in doll design.
Don mentioned his participation in the school’s Education Advisory Commission during the late 1980’s.
Yvonne stated she had also attended a number of those meetings when Diana Cagle was principal. Both Don
and Gail are members of the school’s current Advisory Board and said they had attended an Advisory Board
meeting in January, with another one scheduled for June.
AP of Art Elma Reingold stopped by the Kenny Gallery and offered to supply Don with samples of A&D stu-
dent artwork for the PowerPoint presentation he created. The PPT presentation was designed primarily for
fundraising purposes and public relations for A&D. It will be used for such occasions as when Principal Eric
Strauss needs to make a presentation to the DoE, for example.
Gail volunteered to supervise the Alumni Association awards program this year, as she has done in 2011 and
2012, and will follow up with Ms. Reingold to get the ball rolling on the selection of the student winners. Gail
will also confer with her classmates about replenishing the Class of 1969 “Imagine Award” for 2013. (They
previously funded it for three years, from their 40th reunion in October 2009.) Yvonne stated she had asked
her class to fund the Alan Hipwell award this year (last year they funded three ¼-page ads in the 2012 year-
book.) She will be making her annual donation towards the award in her late brother’s name sometime in May.
Yvonne mentioned that Barbara Nessim had made a major donation for an illustration award this year. She
also reminded those present that Art Spiegelman informed her last June that 2012 was the last year he would
be funding his annual award for cartooning and animation. However, she will contact him to confirm if this is
still his decision. Additionally, there are funds remaining from the Class of 1989, for the two Shelby Schmidt
awards, for which it was collected.
Michael Cheverino could not attend the event, due to his son taking ill on Thursday morning and being rushed
to the hospital, then undergoing surgery. Don said he spoke to Michael and Michael was still at the hospital.
We all expressed our concern and wishes for a speedy recovery.
The attendees suggested another get-together be held on Thursday, May 2. The group departed at 8pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Yvonne Fitzner
A&DAA member