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“One of the most famous African American women in U.S. history, Sally Hemings (1773–1835) has been linked to Thomas Jefferson as his ‘concubine.’ DNA evidence in 1998 revealed that Sally indeed gave birth to at least one of President Jefferson’s children. She had seven, three of whom decided to live as white people in adulthood.

Hemings was given this servant’s bell by Martha Jefferson, Thomas’ wife and Sally’s half-sister. It is the only object known to have been hers, and now resides at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University. What would the bell say if it could talk? The sound it makes beckons for justice, solace, freedom, and understanding amid centuries of misinformation.

I have been dreaming of casting Sally Hemings’ bell in carbon and enlarging it to the scale of our Liberty Bell.”

DeVille creates large sculptures and installations, often incorporating found materials. Her work, which focuses on themes of racist violence, gentrification, and lost regional history, has been shown at the Smithsonian Hirshhorn, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. She spoke at FIT’s commencement this year. 

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“I drew this Paul Gauguin sculpture from the Met in the days I stayed home due to the blizzard in February. It’s red like a stop sign because the weather stopped the seasons.”

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“Small, real moments from my life in New York, like walking through galleries, reflect how I find inspiration in simple, unplanned moments.”

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“This illustration came from a genuine desire to have more fresh flowers brought into my home for their beauty and help to ease what is going on in the world.”

“This is from my new Riso zine [a small-circulation booklet printed using a Risograph], Garden Party Florals, a whimsical visual narrative about how a floral textile collection came to be.”

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“The Biophilic Conduit’ challenges the perception of compliance as a rigid boundary. It visualizes our office’s vision: a transparent framework (the structure) that guides essential light (laws, regulations, policies) to a living, growing core (FIT’s creativity), enabling a sustainable and resilient future for our entire community.”

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“A new generation of professional women seeks balance, mobility, and meaning in what they wear. This proposed collection layers Central Park’s organic textures, urban structure, and moments of outdoor leisure into a cohesive visual language, capturing a seamless transition between fast-paced city living and restorative outdoor escape.”

Lee’s mood board received the bronze award in a CLO 3D digital design competition in summer 2025.

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“As an international student, it can be challenging to stay connected to my Korean heritage while adapting to a different culture. What sustains me is a strong sense of self, shaped by my roots, which are grounded in family, connection, and tradition.”

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“I find myself carrying at least five lip balms in my bag these days. Applying lip balm creates a pause, a sensory moment that brings me back to myself. I am starting to think that if everyone were given their favorite lip balm at birth, we might have a better shot at world peace.”

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“This painting represents my current creative direction. I’m breaking away from my own boundaries by turning brief sketches into art pieces that imply movement and emotion through color application. In an oversaturated world, I’ve been enjoying becoming raw and unconstrained.”

Miranda is a visual designer on the Facebook Brand Design team at Meta, where he helps shape the brand expression through illustration, art direction, and design systems.

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“This image is one of thousands I’ve gathered while researching the correspondence of Mary Crellin Langdon Down, co-founder of Normansfield, a residential home for disabled children in 19th-century England. In this letter, the mother of Evelyn Thompson—a young girl from a prominent Yorkshire family—is anxious for news of her daughter’s health; Evelyn died there in 1883, less than a year after her admission. I’m combing the archives as part of a biographical study of Mrs. Langdon Down, while also writing poems and hybrid nonfiction about care and disability, shaped by my experience as the mother of a disabled person in residential care.”

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“For my 20th-century fashion history class, I styled an object from The Museum at FIT’s study collection. I chose to highlight the playful jazz influences of a 1922 brown silk velvet evening dress. I developed an exhibition titled Dresses and Dance: A Look at Evening Culture Through Fashion. This piece represents one of my favorite eras in fashion history.”

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“I creatively directed, managed, and executed this Nike retail activation in Harlem, created in collaboration with Atmos, the Japanese sneaker boutique. The concept was rooted in the iconic Nike Air Max ‘Animal Pack,’ originally designed by Atmos, which featured a mix of animal prints. We reimagined the retail environment as a hybrid of urban infrastructure and reclaimed natural habitat. Suspended greenery, animal textures, and sculptural installations, including the central tiger form, create tension between city and wilderness while guiding the customer through the space. I approach brand environments as living classrooms, where design, behavior, and narrative intersect to shape how people move, feel, and engage.”

After almost three decades as a creative marketing executive and experience designer in visual merchandising and brand marketing for Nike and others, Hoke came to FIT to pursue his degree.

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“This mood board is inspired by fungi and forest biology. I love the organic lines in contrast with the uniform ridges. I researched Madame Grès and I saw a lot of similarities between the intricate pleating of her work and the ridges on the underside of fungi.”

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“I believe ‘creativity by committee’ flattens good ideas with too many voices, while the best work comes from small, focused teams. Maybe that’s why I keep reaching for this tiny vintage purse that belonged to my grandmother. Only the essentials fit, and the rest stays behind.”

Alexander leads the in-house creative content studio supporting some of Mars’ biggest pet brands, including Pedigree, Greenies, and Temptations. Her team brings campaigns to life across the digital ecosystem—which means lots of photo and video shoots with dogs and cats.  

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“I drew this fashion illustration as a ‘print on print’ demo for my one-year accelerated fashion program students at FIT this semester. I love how it captured the mood of one of my favorite FIT Fashion Department models, Sophie Stiles. She looks cool, chic, and relaxed.”

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“I love the stones of Israel. Their colors blend with the surroundings, the sand, and the desert blooms!”

Johnson is founder and president of the Jewish-Christian Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Mississippi that is dedicated to supporting Israel and the Jewish people.

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“I shot this image in the Miyagawa-cho district of Kyoto, Japan. I was mesmerized by the beauty and sophistication of the Maiko in traditional dress, from the layered materials and vibrant colors to the intricacy of her hairstyling. The way she moved, almost gliding along the street, added to the sense of refinement, while the juxtaposition with the tourist highlights the contrast between heritage and modern life.”

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“Marking the semiquincentennial in style, this limited-edition hand-illustrated scarf is a love letter to our American history. My intention is to evoke the best memories of our past while enabling a collective hope for the future through thoughtful design.”

Deluna is the owner and fashion designer of Marisol Deluna New York, a design company she founded in 1997.

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“My selfies keep a record of every step I take. ‘One step at a time’ is only limiting if I stop moving. And taking time to check in with myself has kept me motivated to go, go, go!”

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“During Covid, I drew these little green-haired ladies (based loosely on my character Hedda Lettuce) and sold them online. It gave me purpose during lockdown, and people seemed to enjoy them. Green represents nature, growth, renewal, and harmony—energy I wanted to bring into people’s lives during that difficult time. Looking back, I long to return to the calm purity of that period and the sweet simplicity of those drawings.”

Polito is a drag performer known for his character Hedda Lettuce, which he debuted in 1991. Hedda has appeared in numerous TV shows and films.

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“On my office bulletin board, I mostly keep notes and work schedules, but I also keep things that motivate me and bring cheer to the workday. Here is a fragment from a mosaic, written in Arabic, ‘El sabr jameel,’ which translates to ‘patience is beautiful.’ Next to it is this awesome New York City pigeon, gifted to me by artist Ethan Minsker [adjunct instructor, Film and Media] after working on an exhibition together. These two pieces remind me to find humor and lightness and carry on with grace.”

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“These are our in-process custom textiles. For me, nature, history, art, and textile narratives go hand in hand.”

Prober’s sustainable line has been worn by Chloë Sevigny, Misty Copeland, Erykah Badu, and Rihanna, among others. Her work is featured in In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, an exhibition and book from The Met’s Costume Institute, and in the permanent collection of The Museum at FIT.

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“This is the inspiration for an upcoming project featuring Olympic lifters and bodybuilders posing in everyday situations. I’ve always been drawn to these older images because of their posing, lighting, and the expression of the subject.”

Carrotta has shot for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NYU Langone, and FIT.

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“This color exploration is made with a sandwich wrapper and paper and magazine cutouts as a sustainability practice.”

Boehl owns Elderberry Creative, providing a range of design services to clients.

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“My mood for 2026 is this painting that captivated me by Maria Lassnig at her show at Petzel [a gallery in New York]. To me it is an embodied semi-anxious form, maybe a house, a notebook, or a ribcage, sitting on the edge of an undefined space. It is open, leaving room for possibility. It is not hopeless, but it is heavy with legs unable to support it.”

Joseph’s artwork has been shown at the Brooklyn Museum, The Delaware Contemporary, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and other galleries and museums. She is the recipient of the Brooklyn Museum’s 2025 UOVO Prize and the 2025 Eden Art Foundation Artists Now Award, and she is a regular contributor to Bomb magazine. 

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“This image of Kate Moss served as the starting point for The Park’s prefall and fall collections. I love that while the mock neck is intentionally oversized, it falls with an effortless, fluid drape, an ease and quiet refinement I aim to capture in every piece.”

Bonello is the founder and creative director of The Park, a responsibly sourced brand offering modern, elevated wardrobe staples. Earlier in her career, she worked at WWD and W magazine and co-founded FGPR.

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“Working with the Todd Smith/LL Cool J lines was a sheer pleasure, including working with [Smith, LL Cool J’s birth name]. He is a beacon of creativity and marketing directives, and I learned a lot from him. This bestseller at Macy’s is made of 100% slubbed rib cotton, with multiple embellishments such as Swarovski crystals, embroideries, printing, satin rope draw strings, inner velour tape trim, skull-themed art, and logoed pocket studs—as well as an inner cell phone pocket.”

Berrios contributed garments he designed for the Smith lines, including this one, to the Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx, which reopens in a new space this year. 

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“I captured this image at Arthshila Ahmedabad, a resource center for design in India. This made me reflect on how much knowledge there is to capture in a lifetime. The reflection in the glass floor showed the vastness of the resources there. Though we tend to follow the internet and conveniences in this busy world, it made me pause for a while to look at the books and knowledge out there.”

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“Everything seems dark; we don’t know where we’ll go, no matter how we plan. All we can do is follow the light through the tunnel. There seem to be right and wrong ways to go. So by the time I’m at the end of the tunnel, I’d hope to look back fondly with a smirk or a smile.”

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“I took this photograph to capture ‘The Painteress and Her Paintings.’ It was a collaboration with Ayleen Betances, Interior Design BFA ’24, shot on campus. Projects like these remind me to work with artists in other disciplines.”

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“This is a recent piece from my practice, exploring objects that appear soft but are not. It translates the visual language of satin and padded construction into a rigid, 3D-printed form. I’m interested in this quiet tension between illusion and reality, and how fashion can extend beyond the body into everyday life.”

Zhang is the founder of Shiny Object Shop, which produces and sells objects like this one.

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“My mood board reflects a life and career shaped by movement, across cities, industries, and evolving definitions of work, while remaining grounded in purpose. The images capture art, human connection, and moments of inspiration: museum textures and fashion silhouettes from a recent visit to The Museum at FIT that nod to my early career in New York; vibrant cityscapes and travel moments from New York, Boston, and Phoenix; and scenes of community, storytelling, and celebration through my work with Invest in Others.

At the heart of this collection is my commitment to mission-driven work. My career has evolved from supporting brands to amplifying impact, using storytelling and communications to elevate the voices of nonprofits and the communities and people they serve. That purpose is reflected in moments of connection: people coming together, stories being shared, and the impactful outcomes of meaningful work.

Buffalo remains a constant thread. The inclusion of Buffalo Poet Laureate Jillian Hanesworth’s handwritten poem is especially meaningful, it represents not just home, but identity. It’s a reminder that even as my work takes me across the country, my perspective is rooted in community, culture, and a deep sense of belonging.

Work is no longer confined to a single place. I draw inspiration from everywhere my work takes me. Rather than being limited by geography, inspiration is expanded by it, shaping a career that continues to evolve into something more meaningful, guided by experience, intention, and a deep commitment to purpose.”

Perryman is chief marketing officer of the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation, which amplifies, celebrates, and inspires the charitable work of financial advisors nationwide. 

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“My picture book and MFA thesis, Oliver in Winter, is inspired by my own experiences during the change of seasons and the heavy emotions that winter can often bring. As the sun slips away at 4 pm and the temperatures dip below freezing, I find myself retreating further inward and being less open to new opportunities. I wanted to create a story that helps people embrace and celebrate winter. While creating this book, I have found myself connecting with
the small moments and joys that winter brings.”

Oliver in Winter was presented as part of the 2026 Illustration MFA Visual Thesis exhibition, Pick Up the Pieces, in the Goodman Center Lobby June 12–July 12, 2026.