Hannah Rohrs: Inspired by New York City

by Cecil Harris

While preparing to enter college, Hannah Rohrs knew she wanted to work in art. But where would she study? She considered Fashion Institute of Technology, Purchase College and the State University of New York at New Paltz. She chose the Adelphi University’s Honors College and the College of Arts and Sciences.

“I had taken the high school art program at Adelphi and really liked the professors,” said Ms. Rohrs, a senior from South Hempstead, New York. “I also like that the campus is on Long Island, but close to New York City.”

Having seen Ms. Rohrs’s work the past two years, Dale Flashner, M.A. ’84, director of Adelphi’s graphic design program in the Department of Art and Art History, is sure Ms. Rohrs made the right choice by enrolling at Adelphi.

“Hannah is a conscientious and dedicated young designer who possesses a sophistication and maturity, which I know will carry her far,” Ms. Flashner said.

Adelphi’s Garden City campus is only 23 miles from New York City, the cultural capital of the world, which has given Ms. Rohrs provided plenty of experiential learning opportunities outside of the classroom.

“I’m in the Honors College and the graphic design department,” she said, “and we get to see a lot of cultural events in New York City—ballets, opera, museum exhibits. I visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every time I visit the city.”

Adelphi’s intensive two-year graphic design program requires a student internship during the senior year. Hannah Allen, M.F.A., Adelphi’s director of photographic operations, has good contacts at Graham Hanson Design and she believed that the branding and design agency on Park Avenue South in Manhattan, whose major clients include American Express and Saks Fifth Avenue, would be an ideal fit for Ms. Rohrs.

“She’s an enthusiastic student with a strong personal aesthetic and an inquisitive and creative mind,” Ms. Allen said. “An internship at Graham Hanson Design would not only challenge her creatively but also encourage her to imagine herself as an active, contemporary designer.”

“I sent my online portfolio—drawings, a couple of my printmaking projects and photography,” Ms. Rohrs said. “The woman who interviewed me introduced me to everyone and showed me the projects they were working on. There was a friendly vibe.”

Ms. Rohrs interns at Graham Hanson on Thursdays and Fridays.

“I work with a lot of artists at a boardroom-style table, and you bounce around the room and see different projects,” she said. “I feel so inspired when I’m in New York City. It makes me want to work on my art and take pictures of things and not fall asleep.”

Being so close to the city that never sleeps has proven to be an integral part of the Adelphi experience for a young artist such as Ms. Rohrs.