Read Viemeister began Pratt in 1940. When he and his pal, Budd Steinhilber graduated in 1943 they went to work for their teachers Donald Dohner and Walter Lippincott where the helped design the Tucker car in 1947.

“Teaching for her was a ritual,” Bill Katavolos explains. “She went into a crit so completely empty it was almost painful to watch. She had no preconceived notions whatsoever. She would look at the work, turn it around, warm up, and go on for hours. I have always admired the quality of going in with an open mind. It is the sign of a great teacher.”

“Teaching for her was a ritual,” Bill Katavolos explains. “She went into a crit so completely empty it was almost painful to watch. She had no preconceived notions whatsoever. She would look at the work, turn it around, warm up, and go on for hours. I have always admired the quality of going in with an open mind. It is the sign of a great teacher.”

Not every student could endure the scrutiny. However, the ones who did relished the experience. Debera Johnson, former chair of Pratt’s industrial design department, recalls that as a student, “twelve people were trying to get as close as possible to Rowena’s head to stare into these boxes. We would be there for six hours doing it until, at the end of the day, we lost the light.”

“She made abstract and difficult spatial concepts accessible. Rowena deconstructed three-dimensional structures—products, cars, sculptures, interiors, and architecture—into their elements, then reconstructed them into an accessible methodology of form-making. She taught thousands of students how to design in space, like it was music.”

Reed justified the focus on asymmetry in her teaching as a pedagogical strategy. “Symmetry can be beautiful, but symmetry is easy,” she told her students. “Any dancer can stand straight on two feet. Assuming a dynamic posture with one leg in the air is difficult. We demand the dynamic axis because most people cannot handle it. You strengthen your design muscles by becoming disciplined and learning to do the most difficult things. That will allow you to express yourself more clearly and strongly because you can control what you want to say.”

“Teaching for her was a ritual,” Bill Katavolos explains. “She went into a crit so completely empty it was almost painful to watch. She had no preconceived notions whatsoever. She would look at the work, turn it around, warm up, and go on for hours. I have always admired the quality of going in with an open mind. It is the sign of a great teacher.”