Projected Divas Exhibit | The Study at University City

On View in the Gallery

Projected Divas: Art in Motion, Fashion in Light

Through February 25

This season at The Study at University City, Projected Divas explores the movement of images across mediums, surfaces, and the body. Drawing, animation, and fashion intersect as light, motion, and cloth transform the space, turning garments into fleeting canvases and drawings into temporal events. The exhibition invites reflection on how images shift, change, and interact with the body, revealing the subtle ways they live beyond a single medium.

Three colorful abstract figures in a painting by Liz Goldberg

Black and white garment on a mannequin displayed against a dark background

Exhibit Overview

Presented in partnership with The Art & Art History Department from the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, Drexel University, the exhibition features a collaboration between Liz Golberg and Jaeyoon Jeong (Drexel University), and Warren Bass (Temple University).

The project is anchored in CUBAN QUEENS, the experimental animation co-created by Liz Goldberg and Warren Bass. Derived from Goldberg’s extensive graphic studies—charcoal, pencil, ink, and layered pigments—the film reimagines the archetype of the diva as a fluid, continuously transforming figure. Bass’s structural editing and temporal sensibility convert these still images into a kinetic sequence of emergence and dissolution. The film’s recognition across international festivals situates it within broader contemporary discussions on animation as an expanded form of drawing.

Building upon this visual vocabulary, Jaeyoon Jeong extends the animated image into the domain of fashion by developing garments through both physical draping and digital patternmaking with CLO 3D. This digital-to-material process allows the projected imagery to interact with forms that have already been conceived through spatial simulation, creating garments that are not simply worn but function as activated surfaces. Through calibrated projection and lighting, Jeong reintroduces Goldberg’s figures onto cloth, allowing them to inhabit the curvature and dimensionality of the body. The garments thereby become intermediaries—sites where animation becomes material, where motion adheres to textile, and where the viewer encounters an oscillation between the ephemeral and the tactile.

The collaborative practices of Goldberg, Bass, and Jeong foreground a shared inquiry: What does an image become when it moves—across paper, screen, garment, and architectural space—and how does the body participate in this continual transformation?

A mannequin stands in black lighting wearing a white blouse and colorful wide-leg pants at Study at University City

Meet the Artists

Liz Goldberg

Liz Goldberg is a painter, animator, and fashion artist whose work explores the “diva”—flamboyant, empowered women—through painting, animation, and fashion. Inspired by puppetry and absurdist theater, she has collaborated with filmmaker Warren Bass on hand-drawn animated projects for over 25 years, which inform her large-scale paintings, prints, and immersive fashion installations. Goldberg has taught Fashion Illustration and Visual Studies at Drexel University for more than 16 years, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches that connect art, fashion, and motion, while maintaining active studios in New York and Philadelphia.

Liz Goldberg and Warren Bass

Warren Bass

Warren Bass is a professor and former Chair of Film and Media Arts at Temple University, where he teaches directing, cinematography, and animation. Trained at Yale, Columbia, and AFI, he has also taught at NYU, Yale, and other institutions, chaired departments in Film, Television, and Theater, and served in leadership roles, including trustee of Harvard/MIT’s University Film Study Center. His films, animations, and installations—including Estuary and Cuban Queens—have screened at hundreds of festivals worldwide, received over 150 awards, and been shown at major museums such as The Barnes Foundation and Philadelphia Art Museum. Bass has directed theater at Lincoln Center and off-Broadway, and his work spans documentary, fiction, and experimental animation. He has received numerous grants and honors, including Temple University’s Great Teacher and Creative Achievement Awards, and continues to explore the boundaries of cinematic and animated form.

Jaeyoon Jeong

Jaeyoon Jeong is an Associate Teaching Professor of Fashion Design at Drexel University, specializing in CAD patternmaking, draping, tailoring, and sportswear design. He previously led his own label, Jaeyoon Jeong Collection, overseeing design, production, and art direction. Since 2016, he has focused on educating future designers through studio instruction, curriculum development, and interdisciplinary collaboration. An award-winning designer and juror for international competitions, Jeong has exhibited his work globally and holds an MS from Drexel, an MFA in Textile Design, and a BA in Fashion Design & Business.

About the Space

The Study at University City Art Gallery

The hotel's first-floor exhibit space features rotating works by faculty and students from Drexel University's Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. Open day and night, the gallery offers an ever-changing collection of pieces that highlight Philadelphia’s reputation as a world-class visual arts destination.