A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.
Laura smiles in front of a grey backdrop

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Laura L Prieto-Velasco

Assistant Professor, Adjunct

Contact

Bio

Owner/Designer, Hvnter Gvtherer (2011) BFA, 2003, Tyler School of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; MFA, 2009, San Diego State University. Exhibitions: Open House Contemporary Gallery, Chicago; Chicago Athletic Association/Cindy's Rooftop, Chicago; Pavilion Antiques and 20C. Design, Chicago; The Public Hotel Pump Room, Chicago; Comfort Station, Chicago; Circa Modern, Chicago; Slow, Chicago; Jackson Gallery, San Diego; Mesa Contemporary Arts, Arizona; Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland; Metal Museum, Memphis; Emerson Gallery, St. Louis; Sana Art Foundation, Escondido, CA. Publications: New City Chicago; Chicago Reader; Lark Books; The Space Between: Ritual Transformations, catalog. Collections: Museum of Contemporary Craft; Touching Warms the Art Collection. Awards: Mesa Contemporary Arts Purchase Award, Mesa; San Diego Art Council Award; San Diego Gem & Mineral Society Award.

Personal Statement

Laura Prieto-Velasco founded Hvnter Gvtherer in 2011 to adorn the urban nomad with limited edition designs that pair ancient ideas with elegant minimalism. Raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania and armed with degrees in Metalworking and Design from the Tyler School of Art and San Diego State, Laura learned to appreciate the value of maximizing limited resources and using recycled or sustainably sourced materials. This ethos fuels Hvnter Gvtherer. Making each piece by hand in her Chicago studio, Laura challenges wearers to think about jewelry as a platform for thinking about history and conscious living, rather than a reflection of passing trends. Committed to these values, Laura shares these ideas with students as an instructor at the School of the Art Institute.

Jewelry Debuts

"Carrion Flowers" (2015) by Chelsea Wolfe"Telos" (2014) by Lykanthea"Nida" (2014) by Krist Mort"Of The Earth" (2014) by Casstronaut Films"NPR Tiny Desk Concert" by Chelsea Wolfe

 

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

A seminar for designers who want to imagine, question, and prototype new futures. This course explores how design can shape the future of learning, culture, and experience through applied imagination grounded in research, empathy, and storytelling. Each semester focuses on a distinct theme while sharing a common approach that expands design beyond problem solving toward investigation, reflection, and creative foresight.. Drawing from speculative and critical design, learning experience design, and contextual research, students study cultural, social, material, and environmental contexts to understand how systems shape experience. Through narrative, scenario building, and worldbuilding, they test ideas and envision alternative ways of living and making meaning, creating designed artifacts and experiences that express how design can shape the world¿s evolution.

Class Number

2217

Credits

3