President Pellinen Profiled in Northshore Magazine

Montserrat President Brian Pellinen was recently profiled in Northshore Magazine’s April issue!

The article by Alexandra Pecci particularly highlights the way the college has embraced technology and experiential learning. Read an excerpt below, and enjoy the whole piece at nshoremag.com.

Several years ago, Montserrat College of Art in Beverly opened its Digital Fabrication Studio, an incredible, hands-on space that not only teaches students how to use technologies like 3D scanning and printing, laser cutting and engraving, vinyl cutting, and CNC machining, but also gives them skills that extend far beyond the art world.

“A lot of students might be using those 3D printers and laser cutters for specific art projects, but on the way, they’re also getting a really incredibly valuable job skill,” says Brian Pellinen, president of Montserrat. “The programs you’re using to create an action figure for a game prototype is the same technology one can use to build an artificial heart valve. Once students understand how to use those printers, there’s all sorts of career paths that open up.”

When most people think of an art school, they think of drawing, painting, sculpture, and pottery, and that certainly happens at Montserrat. Yet Pellinen notes 75 to 80 percent of Montserrat students are actually studying things like animation; illustration; graphic design; writing and visual narratives; and games, toys, and play.

“Our students, by and large, are designers, are animators. They’re using the same technology as engineers,” he says.

For 55 years, people from around the world have come to study art at Montserrat. But what that looks like has changed a lot over the decades, and now, with Pellinen at the helm, the college is more focused than ever on helping students shape their passions and curiosities into careers.

“It’s this balance of giving them the freedom to explore the things they want to explore and also giving them the skills that have a very practical value outside of here,” he says. “How do we help them turn that passion into a career?”

Read the full piece here.