From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Class of 2010 Fellows

From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Jessica Helfand, self-portrait. Gouache on paper. 4.5 x 2.4 inches
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Jessica Helfand, portrait of William Drenttel. Gouache on paper. 4.5 x 2.4 inches
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Lars Lerup, Arnold W. Brunner Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Eva Sarraga
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Kiel Moe, Gorham P. Stevens Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Russell Maret, Rolland Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Annie Schlechter
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Matthew Bronski, National Endowment for the Arts Rome Prize; [not pictured: Erin Graham]
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Jon Calame, Booth Family Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Anna Hepler
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Robert Hammond, Garden Club of America Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Peter Campion, Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize, a gift of the Drue Heinz Trust/American Academy of Arts and Letters
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Amy Campion
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Eliza Griswold, John Guare Writer’s Fund Rome Prize, a gift of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Lisa Bielawa, Frederic A. Juilliard/Walter Damrosch Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Don Byron, Samuel Barber Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Terry Adkins, Jesse Howard, Jr./Jacob H. Lazarus-Metropolitan Museum of Art Rome Prize; [not pictured, Merele Williams]
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Abigail Child, Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Nancy Davenport, Abigail Cohen Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Stephen Westfall, Jules Guerin/John Armstrong Chaloner Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Scott Craver, Emeline Hill Richardson/Samuel H. Kress Foundation Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize (year two of two)
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Jennifer Craver
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Lauren M. Kinnee, Frank Brown/Samuel H. Kress Foundation/Helen M. Woodruff Fellowship of the Archaeological Institute of America Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize (year one of two)
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Susanna McFadden, Lily Auchincloss Post-Doctoral Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Darian Totten, Arthur Ross Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Lela Urquhart, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Aurelia D'Antonio, Donald and Maria Cox Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Annie Montgomery, Labatt Phyllis G. Gordan/Samuel H. Kress Foundation Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize (year two of two)
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Jason Moralee, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Post-Doctoral Rome Prize; with Asha Nadkarni (at right), and daughter Shama (below)
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Luca Caminati, Paul Mellon/National Endowment for the Humanities Post-Doctoral Rome Prize; with Masha Salazkina (at left)
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Eileen Ryan, Marian and Andrew Heiskell Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Richard Wittman, Millicent Mercer Johnsen Post-Doctoral Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Kathryn Blair Moore, Samuel H. Kress Foundation Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize (year one of a two-year fellowship)
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Nick Wilding, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/National Endowment for the Humanities Post-Doctoral Rome Prize
From AAR Resident Jessica Helfand, Portraits of the Fellows' Class of 2010
Rena Diamond

Since the Ides of March, Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel have been Henry Wolf Residents in Graphic Design at the American Academy in Rome. But it was just a few short weeks ago that Helfand—an author, columnist, and lecturer on graphic design—took on the enormous task of commemorating in gouache on paper the entire AAR Fellows class of 2010, as well as more than a few members of the staff. She finished the portraits—based on iPhone photos taken by her daughter Fiona—just in time for the Friday, May 28 rosette ceremony, in which the Fellows formally receive the designation “FAAR.”

In a recent article published by Felt and Wire, Helfand discusses her thoughts on these portraits, plus a series of more abstract line studies that she simultaneously executed. Ironically, she will miss the Academy graduation: just before the Rome ceremony Jessica, Bill, Fiona, and her brother Malcolm fly to Spain, the last stop of the family’s year-long 29,000 trek around the world.

Helfand is a partner, with Drenttel, in Winterhouse, a design studio in northwestern Connecticut. Their work focuses on publishing and editorial development, new media, and furthering cultural, educational, and literary institutions. Helfand and Drenttel are also cofounders of Design Observer, the must-read blog about design and visual culture.

Helfand is currently senior critic at Yale School of Art and the author of several books, most recently Scrapbooks: An American History (Yale University Press, 2008). Drenttel is a senior faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management, and president emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. He is currently the design director of Teach for All, an international initiative of Teach for America working on education innovation in ten countries. Here you can read more about Helfand and Drenttel.

But perhaps it’s time to move on to the main task at hand, Jessica’s astonishing tribute to the 2009–10 Fellows of the American Academy in Rome. (And stay tuned over the next month for the staff portraits!)

Press inquiries

Hannah Holden / Keisha F. Frimpong

Resnicow and Associates

212-671-5154 / 212-671-5164

aar [at] resnicow.com (aar[at]resnicow[dot]com)

Maddalena Bonicelli

Rome Press Officer

+39 335 6857707

m.bonicelli.ext [at] aarome.org (m[dot]bonicelli[dot]ext[at]aarome[dot]org)