Ohio Governor John Kasich with winning design Aaron Roberts

CCAD-Designed Licenses and Plates Hit the Road

It was a pretty big deal when Gov. John Kasich asked CCAD to help design new driver’s licenses and license plates for the Ohio BMV. And ever since the selected designs were unveiled in November 2011, we’ve been itching to see them out in the real world.

Well, that time has come. The new driver’s license went into circulation in January, and the new plates are due to come into use as this magazine hits the mail. So watch the wallets, purses, and bumpers near you for clean, elegant new designs by CCAD’s very own Aaron Roberts (Advertising & Graphic Design 2012)!

Informal Critique Blooms on Campus

Want to get unvarnished opinions about your art? Ask your peers.

That’s the approach Fine Arts alum Erin McKenna (CCAD 2012) adopted for a student-driven critique program she started at CCAD.

During her junior year, she participated in the semester-long New York Studio Residency Program. “There were kids from all over the United States,” McKenna says. “Nobody knows anybody when you get there. We decided that on Wednesday nights we’d make dinner together and walk around the studios, giving critiques. It was at night, much more relaxing; there were no professors there. We listened to each other. I learned a lot; it was nice to have the perspective of a peer.”

McKenna liked the idea so much she brought it back to campus, organizing evening critique sessions for students during her senior year. Up to 30 participants, mainly Fine Arts majors with some from Illustration and Advertising & Graphic Design, visited studios. “I had a lot of people come up to me after they had their critique and say it was very helpful.”

“It’s still going on Wednesday nights and has even more people,” she says.

Animation students during Skype conversation

Animation Students Skype for Advice

For members of the Animation Student Collective at CCAD, professional advice is only a Skype away.

Skype, an Internet voice and video service, links the student animators to professionals, including CCAD alumni. Animation senior Rico Jackson, president and founder of the Animation Student Collective, explains: “Most of the professionals are in California because that’s where the animation industry is, the bulk of it. We can’t bring them to Ohio because that would cost entirely too much money.

“Instead, we Skype them.”

The group meets in Kinney Hall. Using a computer linked to a video projector, Jackson asks the guest animator questions; other students also can come up to the computer’s camera and pose questions as well.

Chris Oatley (CCAD 2001), a former Disney character designer who now runs an online art academy, held a session with students last semester. “Chris is a phenomenal speaker,” Jackson says.

Jackson hopes to have Skype sessions with three guests during spring semester. He says the sessions have an impact. “With Chris, a lot of people sent us messages or talked with us afterward. They said it was really inspirational. Students made some artwork right away because they were inspired.”

Students work in the MindMarket

Students Embark on Two-Year Project with Electronics Company

The CCAD MindMarket’s DesignLab is giving students the chance to dig into an extended design project with the advanced electronics company InPower.

“InPower reached out to CCAD after learning about some of the offerings CCAD has for Industrial Design,” says Cynthia Gravino, CCAD MindMarket director.  “We determined that a DesignLab partnership would best serve their needs and would provide a great hands-on opportunity for our students in a client-based project setting.”

Tom Gattis, dean of the School of Design Arts and chair of Industrial Design, stepped in to lead the project.

For the first semester (fall 2012) students conducted a comprehensive market, product, and competitive landscape analysis.

This spring, they’ll incorporate that research into a redesign of InPower’s product packaging.

InPower will continue to tap into CCAD talent throughout 2013­–2014, focusing on work to find new avenues for their products.

“As an engineering-based organization, InPower provided an opportunity to expand the types of companies we serve,” Gravino says.

“The only difference [from the real world] is we are doing it within the safe confines of the college,” Gattis says. “Students have expert guidance from faculty and can try a lot of things and really explore concepts that in a corporate setting would be a bit too risky.”

Science Chair’s Research Presented

CCAD Chair of Science Julie Posey has worked with Ohio State University’s Division of Infectious Diseases since 2010 to create a tracking profile for a specific strain of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Posey’s research studied nearly 500 positive cases of MRSA.

The resulting paper, Development of Bio-informatics Research Network for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Blood Stream Infections (BSI): A Multicenter Regional MRSA Surveillance Collaborative for Genotyping, Geocoding, and Data Collection for Outbreak Investigation, was presented by OSU researchers at the Infectious Disease Society of America conference last fall.

Alexa Carson’s holiday card design

’Twas the Season — for a Holiday Card Contest Winner

CCAD teamed up with the Columbus Partnership last year to create a new tradition — a holiday card design contest.

The Columbus Partnership is a nonprofit, membership-based organization of 49 CEOs from Columbus’ leading businesses and institutions. Its primary mission is to improve the economic vitality of the Columbus region.

“Partnering with CCAD was a great opportunity to support an incredible educational asset in our community and work with the creative student innovators of Columbus who help drive our economic growth,” said Stephen Lyons, vice president of member services and community engagement at the Partnership.

A jury reviewed 38 entries and selected Illustration senior Alexa Carson’s design.

Carson received a $1,000 cash prize, and the card, which included her name and contact info, was distributed to more than 3,000 Columbus Partnership clients and friends.

Fine Arts Faculty Member Keeps Active Practice

Danielle Julian Norton’s approach to artmaking? Two words: keep moving.

Norton, a 1999 Fine Arts alum and now an assistant professor of fine arts and graduate studies, is keeping up an almost dizzying itinerary of residencies and exhibitions in the United States and Europe.

This includes stints last fall at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, CO, and last summer at I-Park in East Haddam, CT.

A year earlier, she did residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE, and in Dresden, Germany, under the sponsorship of the Greater Columbus Arts Council.

Her exhibition schedule last year ranged from the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio in Lancaster to the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO, to the Cynthia-Reeves Gallery at Art Miami. A show at Ohio Dominican University will have just closed as this magazine mails.

“To grow as an artist I feel it’s important to meet other artists and go outside my comfort zone.” Norton says. “Each time I go and meet a new art community and group of artists, it’s like a mini-graduate school; you learn new approaches to art-making.”

“I think it works well in the classroom,” she says. “I can give [students] real-world examples. A teacher should also be an active artist.”

Norton calls her work interdisciplinary, “a cross between sculpture, photography, and performance.”

Next on tap is I Forgot to Forget, a June 15 – July 20 exhibition she is curating at the Urban Arts Space of Ohio State University.

For new CCAD graduates with a creative degree in hand, the horizon is vast, and to each destination lays myriad paths. This is both super exciting and—we’re not afraid to say it—daunting. Between launch and land there will be a bit of unknown, which is why we decided to contact 10 of our top 2012 grads and ask them how things are going.

From these 10, we found that two have formed LLCs, four have shown in galleries, one has “gone viral,” and, among them, there are nine cats, two dogs, and one “very handsome” fish named Columbus. Their workplaces are diverse: while one is at an international clothier, another might spend all day in a urethane-casting lab.

To what do they owe their successes so far? CCAD comes up—the inspired friendships, life-altering classes, and amazing professors are too many to list — but so do hard work, integrity, connections, knowing one’s priorities, curiosity, and gumption.

They are a grateful bunch. Asked to be specific, classmates and sweeties get a mention, and from Alex Trimpe, “Just being alive is pretty nice, wouldn’t you say?” But overall, their greatest gratitude is to mom and dad. (Awww…)

May we introduce: our Ten to Watch.

Chavilah Bennett at work

Chavilah Bennett

Major: Advertising & Graphic Design

City: Columbus

Position: Motion graphics designer at S77

Cause: The Maximin Project

Go-to Food: Avocado

Chavilah Bennett was warned she’d be a coffee girl or a “pair of hands” at her first job. “That was a lie,” she says. Already, at S77, she’s designed the opening titles for a CeeLo Green/Muppets holiday video, worked post-production on a “T.I. featuring Lil Wayne” music video, and helped to direct and shoot footage for a series on the Bio Channel. Bennett’s job is in motion graphics, though her training is not. When she was hired—because of “people saying nice things about me behind my back”—it was with the understanding that she’d be learning on the job. No problem:  “The great thing about CCAD,” she says, “is it teaches how to think creatively, how to problem-solve, and how to work efficiently, and those are qualities that transfer to any career.”

Lian Dziura

LIAN DZIURA

BFA: Photography

City: Columbus

Position: Freelance photo assistant for Michael Cogar at Lane Bryant

Inspired by: Medieval and Renaissance art

Fave CCAD class: Still-life photography

A day at work for Lian Dziura might be spent assisting photographer Michael Cogar on-set, editing and color-correcting final images, photographing an edible tableau for a freelance client, or maybe even working on her own collages. Since graduating, she’s shown in two galleries, including the Clifton Cultural Arts Center, where she received an honorable mention. While she wasn’t sure what to expect post-college, to have a job she enjoys and to show and sell work “is a great feeling,” she says. “I’m glad it’s turned out the way it has.”

Rachel Cass

RACHEL CASS

BFA: Fashion Design

City: New York

Position: Assistant designer at American Eagle Outfitters (AEO)

Fave CCAD Class: Collection (“the class where all the hard work pays off”)

Words to Live By: Grow or die.

Talent, skill, and education are all key to landing a dream job, but for Rachel Cass, so were patience and confidence. Certain she’d find the right job, she looked at a lot of companies, even turned down some. Then she applied to AEO. “I left my interview knowing I would work there,” she says. Sure enough, she’s now in New York designing denim jeans and jackets. The transition was smooth, something she credits to all her hard work at CCAD. She plans on growing with AEO and looks forward to “seeing where my adventure takes me.”

Leah Fisher

LEAH FISHER

BFA: Photography

City: Columbus

Position: Archivist and evening supervisor at CCAD’s Packard Library

Go-to Food: Gatto’s Pizza

Creative Jumpstart: Crossword puzzles

Leah Fisher didn’t look for a job—she already had one. Since 2007, she’s been transforming a roomful of boxes into a digitized, cataloged, and shared archive about the history of CCAD. She’s added to that history by, for instance, replicating old photos for a Then-and-Now exhibit. It’s the kind of project that keeps her passionate. Fisher also remains focused on her art. Nine of her “drive-bys” (photos she takes from a moving vehicle) are part of Image Ohio 2013, one of those won an Honorable Mention in that exhibition, and she’s applied for a show at the Urban Arts Space. “Life right now feels great,” she says.

Jake LaBombarbe

JAKE LaBOMBARBE

BFA: Industrial Design

City: Columbus

Position: Lead industrial designer at Concept Engineering

Cause: Toys for Tots and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Hobby: “I am a connoisseur of terrible movies.”

“It may be corny,” says Jake LaBombarbe, “but to hold something you’ve designed as a tangible object is still one of the greatest feelings in the world.” At Concept, LaBombarbe does design, research, product testing, and modeling; he’s overseen a new silicone and urethane casting lab; and he’s the go-to guy about additive manufacturing and prototyping capabilities. Owens Corning is a big client, but potentially so is anyone with, as he says, “great concepts but no idea how to make them.” His ultimate aim is the toy industry (and he’s developed some ideas, so keep an eye out on Kickstarter). Although he had a job ready and waiting after graduation, his advice is to never take anything for granted. Also, “do right by others,” and, sharing a tip once given to him, “don’t ever point out a flaw in your own sketch: chances are, only you see it.”

Sarah McCance, photo by Kevin Brown

SARAH McCANCE

BFA: Interior Design

City: Dallas

Position: Interior designer for Wilson Associates

Go-to Food: Hot Cheetos

Tool to Unwind: Jim Henson’s The Labyrinth

Designing interiors for a palace in Abu Dhabi may not have been on Sarah McCance’s career to-do list, but because she made the most of opportunities while at CCAD, it’s one item she can now check off. “My company designs luxury,” she explains—often for high-end resorts, casinos, and, yes, palaces. After careful research, McCance applied to be a student intern at Wilson and, while there, was “a sponge, absorbing everything,” she says. Afterward, she prioritized those professional ties and was hired on full time after graduation. Time to set new goals: she’s now focused on professional certifications—and recruiting more CCAD students for Wilson internships.

Kattie Baker

KATTIE BAKER

BFA: Advertising & Graphic Design

City: Columbus

Position: Designer at Fine Citizens, a web design agency

Cause: Big Sisters (“I’m a sucker for children.”)

Tool to Unwind: Zumba

“To see your work grow up and march out into the real world feels fabulous,” says Kattie Baker (even if, technically, her work is in the virtual world). At Fine Citizens, she’s in charge of responsive web design and is the “icon and vector graphics girl,” which means she gets to do fun stuff like animal illustrations for the Columbus Zoo’s online guide. Add in art direction and client presentations and “it’s a lot of hats,” she says, “but multi-tasking is a skill all CCAD grads acquire.” Baker and her husband just bought their first house, and, as for the future, “it’s whatever keeps challenging me,” she says.

Erin McKenna

ERIN McKENNA

BFA: Fine Arts

City: Columbus

Position: Host at Better Earth in the North Market; founder/manager of No Place Studios, LLC

Fave CCAD Experience: NY Studio Residency

Words to Live By: If you want something done, do it yourself.

Erin McKenna wasn’t ready to give up the tools, materials, supportive community, and feedback she had at CCAD, so she problem-solved. McKenna formed an LLC and with 10 other artists (nine from CCAD) founded No Place Studios: 2,500 sq. ft. to make art, hold events, and foster community. “We’re very proud of this space,” she says. After an artist’s residency at Chicago-based ACRE and a related exhibition this spring, grad school is next up. Already, she’s been nominated for a scholarship.

Sara Diesel

SARA DIESEL

BFA: Illustration

City: Pittsburgh

Position: Freelance illustrator

Fave CCAD Class: Entrepreneurial Illustration

Inspired by: 1980s sci-fi movies

“Freelancing,” says Sara Diesel, “is a great way to network and work your way up the field to larger clients.” But jobs don’t fall in your lap; it takes hustle, and “persistence, most of all.” Asked to brag, she mentions her work on the Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones card games, to which, she says, “it was an honor to add my voice.” She calls it “humbling and surreal” to have work in Spectrum 19, a publication full of her favorite illustrators. Though someday she might like to try her hand at game creation, she’s happy freelancing and excited to see just where it will take her.

Alex Trimpe

ALEX TRIMPE

BFA: Media Studies

City: Akron

Position: Proprietor of Alex Trimpe Motion Design, LLC

Cause: Longstride

Creativity Jumpstart: Going outside

With the ink on his diploma barely dry, December grad Alex Trimpe is the boss of his own motion graphics company, producing work (usually typography-based with illustrations) for clients around the globe. The “short story,” he explains: “A video of mine [The World Is Obsessed with Facebook] went viral. People wanted similar-style videos. Then, bigger people wanted videos.” Some of those bigger people are Samsung, Levi’s, and Cisco. But don’t just chalk up his success to luck. Trimpe asked for it. He messaged Vimeo: Hi…can you give me feedback…thank you…oh, and if you like it, maybe throw it on your staff picks. They did. His advice—along with “be kind but not a pushover, persistent but not annoying, and have a good reel”—is “simply ask, it works better than you’d think.”

Web Exclusive, full interviews from our Ten to Watch:

Chavilah Bennett

Go-to food: Avocado! I’ll eat it with (almost) anything.
Fave class at CCAD: Mr. Mohr’s Senior Ad/Graph class; the work consistently forced me to explore outside my comfort zone.
Fave CCAD hangout: The study/work room in the Admin building. During December finals one year I had to pull so many all-nighters in the admin building that I brought Christmas lights, music and snacks to make it feel a bit more cheerful.
Productivity/creativity jumpstart: On a warm day my favorite thing to do is walk around the city with a coffee and a camera, exploring hidden side streets, pretty neighborhoods and parks. I like to think of the world as an adventure and if someone takes the time to look, they will find something beautiful and unexpected.
Hobby: Singing, playing the piano and small harp, power yoga. I’ve missed painting and drawing so I started a few personal projects. Right now I’m painting a large map of the world on my wall. (I’ll send photos to Lindsay Kronmiller.)
Fave game: You can’t go wrong with Uno or Settlers of Catan. A new favorite is Telestrations; it’s like the game of telephone but in drawings. I played with my siblings over the holidays and the results were hilarious.
Ideal breakfast: A mountain of bacon
Everyday breakfast: Coffee and a granola bar or bagel
Cause/nonprofit close to your heart: Maximin Project. I was involved as a designer for this organization for about six months after initially meeting them at Startup Weekend 2011 at CCAD.
Website/podcast for inspiration or to learn something: I listen to podcasts when I’m in the middle of a project. NPR Planet Money, TED Talks, The Moth: True Stories Told Live, and This American Life. Listening to the BBC News podcast as I get ready for work is a ritual for me, it helps put life in perspective before I leave the house.

Kattie Baker

Go-to for blowing off steam or relaxing: Zumba dancing. I’m self-taught, so I’m not sure I have much of a knack for it. Mostly it’s just me shaking my hips and romping around the living room. It gets the energy out regardless.
Fave game: I like simpler, classic games like Mario Kart. If there are guns or aliens I tend to grip the controller too tightly and take my character’s death too seriously.
Best advice you’ve heard: “If your first job out of college doesn’t make you worried that you’ll be fired every day for the first six months, you’re not being challenged enough.”
Cause/nonprofit close to your heart: There are a ton that deserve limelight, but this year I’ve decided to volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters. I’m a sucker for kids.

Rachel Cass

Go-to food: Sushi!
Fave class at CCAD: Collection. It’s where you get to show all your skills, all while creating your own designs. It’s what we went to school for; it’s the class where all your hard work pays off.
Fave CCAD hangout: Sitting on the lawn between classes. It’s a great place to take a time out and just relax
Fave artist/designer/photographer(s): I have a huge list of people I look up to and admire, but narrowing down to just one is too hard.
Productivity/creativity jumpstart: Visiting the German Village Book Loft with my fiance. Sifting through books and discovering new artist and places is always a source of inspiration. Music is always a huge inspiration in my creative process. The right music can change anything.
Go-to for blowing off steam or relaxing: Sleeping; it’s not something I see much of, but when I really need to relax or take a break, I like to close my eyes and dream.
Hobby: Camping, snowboarding, enjoying life
Words to live by: My dad told me if you’re not growing in life, you’re dying. He’s a pretty smart man, so I try to apply it to all aspects of my life.
Fave game: Monopoly
Comic book or character: I would be Storm from X-Men.
Ideal breakfast: Cream-cheese eggs with toast and fruit
Everyday breakfast: Veggie breakfast sandwich and coffee
Best advice you’ve gotten: To live my life as an adventure, not as something set in stone.
Best advice you’ve given: follow what’s in your heart
Pet(s)? My dog Charlie, she’s a mutt and the cutest one out there! She’s also back in Columbus, and I miss her everyday. I got a fish to keep me company in NYC. His name is Columbus; he is a very handsome blue beta.
Grateful for: I’m grateful for the amazing people in my life and the unbelievable amount of support they have showed me.

Sara K. Diesel

Fave class at CCAD: Entrepreneurial Illustration with Andrew Bawidamann—very informative and challenging!
Go-to for blowing off steam or relaxing: I’m a big movie watcher. I love the old eighties sci-fi movies especially. It’s where a lot of my inspiration comes from.
Fave game: I play a lot of video games. I think it would be safe to say that at the moment I’m stuck on Dishonored. It has great design and concept all around.
Best advice you’ve gotten: Fake it ’til you make it.
Website/podcast for inspiration: Muddy Colors is a blog chock-full of great inspiration, advice, and tips, and it’s run by some of the big names in the illustration world.
Grateful for: My parents, especially right now. They’ve given me so many opportunities and have supported my decision to be an illustrator 100%.

Lian Dziura

Fave class at CCAD: Still-life photography
Fave artist/designer/photographer: I love most medieval and Renaissance art. I think that’s where most of my inspiration comes from.
Productivity/creativity jumpstart: Pinterest and sketching
Go-to for blowing off steam or relaxing: A cup of tea and Downton Abbey
Hobby: Reading and cooking
Fave game: Scattergories
Ideal breakfast: French toast from Tasi. Or crêpes.
Everyday breakfast: Tea and toast or hot cereal
Best advice you’ve gotten: Never give up; failure is not the end, it’s just another step in the process of learning.
Best advice you’ve given: Probably the advice above.  :)
Cause/nonprofit close to your heart: Children’s homes and orphanages
Pet(s)? Cat named Lily
Website/podcast to learn something: The Guardian and TED talks
Grateful for: My mom

Leah Fisher

Go-to food: Gattos Pizza
Fave class at CCAD: It’s a toss-up between my independent studies with amazing faculty members Helen Hoffelt and Charlotte Belland
Fave artist/designer/photographer(s): Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus
Productivity/creativity jumpstart: Crossword puzzles
Go-to for blowing off steam or relaxing: Obsessive fiction book reading
Hobby: Cooking
Words to live by: Use it or lose it
Fave game: Apples to Apples
Everyday breakfast: Nuts Over Chocolate Luna Bars
Ideal breakfast: Frittatas and biscuits
Cause/nonprofit close to your heart: Planned Parenthood
Pet(s)? I am a mom to four cats! Mookie, Milton, Hellz Bellz and Hormel.
Website/podcast for laughs: Cracked.com
Website/podcast to learn something: Salon.com
Grateful for: My amazing husband, Dave, who not only supports the things I am passionate about, but also shares my passion.  We are pretty much always together when I am out shooting, and he is my primary driver for the Drive-By Shootings series.

Jake LaBombarbe

Fave class at CCAD: Anything with Dave Burghy or Tom Williamson
Fave CCAD hangout: The ID Cave in Kinney Hall
Fave artist/designer/photographer(s): Animator Bruce Timm, illustrator Matt Wagner
Productivity/creativity jumpstart: Punk rock and copious amounts of coffee
Go-to for blowing off steam or relaxing: Street Fighter 4
Hobby: I am a connoisseur of terrible movies.
Words to live by: My latest: “Dude, sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
Fave game: Metal Gear Solid 3
Comic book or character: Batman
Ideal breakfast: Coffee and a bagel with lox
Everyday breakfast: Coffee
Best advice you’ve gotten: Don’t ever point out a flaw in sketch, chances are you are the only one who knows that it’s there.
Best advice you’ve given: Play to your strengths, but mind your weaknesses.
Cause/nonprofit close to your heart: Toys for Tots and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
Pet(s)? Chippy, he’s a cat. He’s also an a$$hole.
Website/podcast to learn something: Brad Jones aka The Cinema Snob, Matt and Pat at Two Best Friends Play, and Noah Antwiller aka The Spoony One
Grateful for: I am grateful for Alex Mazur, Caleb Boller, Hak Chan Kim, Jennifer Helber, Joe Washington, Joel Van Gilder, and Nikki Stapleton…the finest classmates and greatest friends that anyone could ever have.

Sarah McCance

Go-to food: Hot Cheetos!! More of a snack really, but I just can’t help myself. They are delicious.
Fave class at CCAD: Definitely my Fairy Tales class my senior year. The content and the teacher were both incredibly interesting. I only ever missed class if I was on my death bed with sickness. (Haha. Even then I contemplated going.) That class definitely makes me rethink whether or not I want to read certain fairytales to my children someday. Especially Snow White.
Fave CCAD hangout: Interior Design is a relatively small program at CCAD, so you become really tight knit with your classmates. My favorite memories and most fun experiences there were whenever we were all in the computer lab on the second floor of the Crane Center. We laughed, we cried, we had screaming matches due to lack of sleep and WAY too much estrogen, but those are my favorite memories at CCAD.
Fave artist/designer/photographer(s): I have always been inspired by designers like Eero Saarinen, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Verner Panton. They all had very simple design with a bit of a funky flair. Each very different and each very inspiring. As far as still living designers go, my best friend and classmate Amanda Shaw is incredibly inspiring to me. She is so incredibly creative, driven, and won’t take no for an answer…EVER. I can only hope to pick up some of her traits along the way.
Go-to for blowing off steam or relaxing: The Labyrinth by Jim Henson starring David Bowie, and music
Comic book or character: I’ve always been really into X-Men. As a child my cousin and I were always reading the comics or watching the TV shows. I feel like a little kid every time a new movie is released!
Everyday breakfast: Oatmeal with brown sugar, golden raisins, and cranberries. It’s the only thing that will keep me full well into the afternoon!
Best advice you’ve gotten: My mom always encouraged me to push myself. She would never let me quit anything without putting up a fight. And she always encouraged me to just be myself. She said, “Sometimes the only honesty you will truly have in life is with yourself.” I try to be as honest with myself, others, and my work as much as I can.
Pet(s)? My fiance and I got our first puppy a few months ago. She is a german shepherd/black lab mix. Her name is Trinity and she is 5 months old. I feel like I’m chasing a toddler around half the time between the teething and getting into anything and everything she can! I love her to pieces though. She is a little bit of a tomboy, ALWAYS wants to play, and is convinced that if she chases her tail enough she is DEFINITELY going to get it one of these days.

Erin McKenna

Fave class at CCAD: The most helpful thing about CCAD was my professors. Danielle Julian Norton, Matt Flegle, Tim Rietenbach, Michael Goodson, and Kelly Malec-Kosak were a huge part of my growth as a person and artist.  Without them, I would not be thinking the way I do now.  Also, CCAD provided the opportunity to go to the New York Studio Residency Program when I was a junior.  I was in NYC for a semester, and it changed my life dramatically.  I think I actually learned how to make art and how to think there.
Fave CCAD hangout: AMF studios
Fave artist/designer/photographer(s): Mika Rottenberg, David Lynch, Vincent Fecteau
Productivity/creativity jumpstart: Cleaning and organizing my studio
Words to live by: If you want something done, do it yourself.
Best advice you’ve gotten: Don’t be afraid.
Best advice you’ve given: Make work that makes you uncomfortable
Cause/nonprofit close to your heart: Materials for the Arts in Queens, NYC.  Nonprofit group that has a warehouse where people and companies can donate anything and everything.  Artists, teachers, or anyone in art organization can get any of the materials, all for free.  The only catch is you have to write a thank you card.  It promotes recycling and saves money.
Pet(s)? Jasper and Wayne—both cats
Website/podcast to learn something: ContemporaryArtDaily.com, DailyServing.com, iTunes U lectures, Art21, documentaries on Netflix of favorite directors
Grateful for: Very grateful to my parents, for their support both financially and mentally now and through school.  I’m very lucky that my parents support my decision in pursing art.

Alex Trimpe

Go-to food: Chicken Tikka Masala
Productivity/creativity jumpstart: Going outside
Hobby: Reading
Words to live by: Conan O’Brien said, “If you work really hard and you are kind, amazing things will happen.”
Fave game: Video-Team Fortress 2. Board game-anything!
Ideal breakfast: Sausage.
Everyday breakfast: Scrambled eggs in a mug in the microwave.
Pet(s)? Ollie the fat cat
Website/podcast to learn something: Reddit, for everything
Grateful for: Just being alive is pretty nice, wouldn’t you say?

Jennifer Porreca Faux at her desk, photo by Luke Kramer

By Kristin Mack Deuber

Fashion Design alumna Jennifer Porreca Faux (CCAD 2002) was always the person her friends turned to for fashion advice. Whether flipping through magazines or weekend shopping at thrift stores to embrace the ’90s grunge trend, she’s been interested in style and spotting the hottest trends since she was a little girl.

“Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money to spend on fashion,” says Faux. “I would do my best to save my money and beg my parents to buy me trendy clothes and accessories.”

In addition to fashion, Faux also had an interest in the fine arts—with artistic parents, art was a big part of her youth. She took Saturday Morning Art Classes at CCAD as a child, where she began to develop her creative skills. When the time came for her to choose a college, it was a lucky coincidence that CCAD was so close to home and had a great fashion program.

“I loved that CCAD’s curriculum focused not only on fashion, but also on fine art skills, including color concept, 2D and 3D figure drawing, and art history,” says Faux. “It made me a more creative fashion designer by providing me with the foundational skills that I could use to easily design any type of fashion including apparel, accessories, footwear, and lifestyles.”

Tween products, photo by Luke Kramer

An Upward Trend

Upon graduating from CCAD in 2002, Faux landed a job as assistant designer of sweaters, active, and graphic tees for Justice, a label of the industry leader Tween Brands, Inc. Over the next four years, she was quickly promoted to associate designer of sweaters and accessories, and then to designer of accessories, footwear, and lifestyles. She rejoined Tween in 2009 as a senior designer of accessories and footwear.

Today, Faux is Tween’s director of specialty design, overseeing a team of six designers and two interns.

The position calls for extensive travel to keep abreast of trends worldwide. But when Faux is in Ohio, business meetings are a big part of her day. She works with senior design and merchandising staff to align Tween’s design and sales strategies. She also meets with cross-functional partners, including the tech department, to check the fit of products she is creating and make sure the sampling and production of all products are flowing smoothly.

Faux usually ends her day researching trends, visiting stores, and doing last minute trouble-shooting.

Being a fashion designer and traveling around the world may sound glamorous, but it can be taxing work. Faux often gets up at 4 a.m. to catch flights, works 12- to 14-hour days, hauls bags in and out of cabs (and trains and planes), battles jet lag, and eats on the run — all while staying in constant contact with her home office.

Over the past 10 years, Faux has seen many changes in the speed of fashion trend cycles and the way goods are sourced. “With social media and blogging, our customers have become extremely fashion savvy, wanting the hottest trends NOW,” she says. “Also, with all of the [political] changes happening around the world, sourcing new factories and obtaining competitive prices for goods have become increasingly challenging. “

Tween products, photo by Luke Kramer

Advice: Get It and Give It

During her time at Tween, Faux has cultivated relationships with several mentors, which she says has been the best part of working for the company. Her favorite mentor advice is “know your business.” In other words, good designers can design absolutely anything, as long as they study their target market, understand the business side of the industry, and build a design strategy based around that knowledge.

She also values “speak with facts, not emotions,” because the facts make a stronger case that is less likely to be misinterpreted.

Her biggest piece of advice to today’s students? Network, network, network. “To get a great job in the fashion industry it definitely helps to know the right people who can recommend you and help you get your foot in the door,” says Faux. “It’s important for students to put themselves out there early and take advantage of any opportunities that come their way. No job is too small or insignificant. If you do everything with passion, others will see that and want you on their team.”

The CCAD Angle

Faux enjoys supporting CCAD. She always looks to hire CCAD graduates because she knows they have strong design skills. She also financially supports the annual senior fashion show, reviews student portfolios, and speaks to classes as often as her schedule permits.

Maintaining relationships with fellow CCAD alumni has benefited Faux’s own career. Many of her fellow fashion design alums have found successful careers in Columbus, New York, and beyond — and their paths constantly cross.

“I truly value the education I received at CCAD,” says Faux. “I love staying part of the CCAD community and continuing to build relationships with new CCAD students as well as alumni.”

Tim Bowers’ cover image for “Dinosaur Pet”

By Bill Mayr

To keep up with illustrators from CCAD, just peruse the bestseller lists.

A good place to start is the Children’s and Young Adult categories, where three illustrators with CCAD ties — graduates Tim Bowers and John Jude Palencar, along with faculty member C.F. Payne — have helped propel books to the top of the market since 2011.

To be sure, they aren’t the first CCAD-related illustrators to make the lists, and it’s a safe bet they won’t be the last. But the varied experiences of this trio reflect the opportunities, challenges, and joys of illustration, especially with works created for a younger crowd.

Tim Bowers

Tim Bowers (CCAD 1979) made the New York Times and Publishers Weekly lists in the middle of last year with Dinosaur Pet, a picture book by Marc Sedaka with a CD recorded by his Grammy Award-winning father, Neil Sedaka. That project came on the heels of Bowers’ 2011 success with Dream Big, Little Pig, written by figure-skating champion Kristi Yamaguchi.

Bowers devotes his entire practice to children’s books, a focus that started forming years ago. “The things you need to develop a picture book are things I’ve been interested in for a long time — storytelling, humor. Basically I’m a very narrative artist. Character expressions — I’ve been fascinated with that since I was a little boy,” he says.

Bowers has illustrated more than 30 children’s books. Usually, publishers who have accepted book manuscripts will seek out the illustrators. When he is offered a project, Bowers says, “I read through the manuscript and let them know if I think I’m a good fit.” Then he starts creating characters with pencil sketches, later transferring them to canvas or illustration board to paint with acrylics or oils.

John Jude Palencar’s cover image for “Eragon”

John Jude Palencar

Bowers’ experience contrasts with that of his friend John Jude Palencar (CCAD 1980), a leading book-cover illustrator who spends only part of his time on young-adult books. Every cover in Christopher Paolini’s bestselling four-book Inheritance Cycle series — about a teenage boy, Eragon, and his dragon — has carried an elegantly rendered Palencar painting of Saphira the dragon.

Palencar says he has declined offers to illustrate entire children’s books. “You have to live with it for a while, trying to develop a character. I’m mostly a cover illustrator. I enjoy the variety of each new manuscript. I like doing symbol and allegory.”

Palencar has some 300 book covers to his credit and has worked with big-name authors like Stephen King. He knows the ways of the world, but his illustrations for young adults have a special resonance. “You don’t realize how some people hang on to your image for the cover. Everything is kind of mulled over by these young kids. Being a freelance illustrator, we work somewhat isolated in our personal studios… [but] you never know, you may be influencing the illustrators of tomorrow.”

His paintings have a suave, 21st-century sensibility to them, but, the illustrator says, “I’m still an old dinosaur; I paint traditionally. I still think there is something noble and almost monastic when you work with your hands. I feel like an old Jedi knight: Don’t forget the old ways.”

C.F. Payne

C.F. (Chris) Payne, CCAD’s illustration chair for a decade-plus and now distinguished professor of illustration, assuredly hasn’t forgotten the old ways. Payne created animal and outer-space scenes for Mousetronaut, a number-one bestseller written by retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

A widely published editorial illustrator, Payne holds a can-do attitude and works in varied media: oils, acrylics, watercolor, colored pencils. “It is getting the drawing and color down right and making the picture look as good as you can possibly make it look,” he says. Payne says he and the other Illustration faculty teach that approach.

“I’m really proud of the department we’ve got. We have solid people who care about what they do. We want to be honest. Being an artist of any kind is a challenge, but it’s worth it,” he says.

C.F. Payne’s cover image for “Mousetronaut”

Challenges — and Rewards

So don’t make the mistake of thinking that illustrating books for younger readers is a piece of cake.

“A children’s book comes along and you have six months, three months, a year, and now you are in a crazy marathon and have to manage that time along with the other projects you’ve got,” Payne says.

“For most of them you’ll do 16 to 18 images. For an ABC book, there are 26 letters plus the cover and the title page, so it ends up being 28 images. It’s a grind, a ton of work. You make a dozen pictures and go cripes, I’m not halfway there yet.”

Such a big investment of time and effort has its rewards, though.

A magazine illustration might have a shelf life of a week and poof, it’s gone from the newsstand. “Whereas a children’s book can be around for a long time,” Payne says. He adds, “I’ve not walked out of too many children’s books saying I’ll never do that again.”

Being on the children’s book bestseller lists is a “wow” experience, Bowers says, but the real payoff is deeper. “The best confirmation I receive is when I visit a school and the kids are really excited, familiar with the characters, and love the book. The bestseller list is great for my career, but the real joy is seeing the kids enjoying the book and enjoying the characters.”

The ROI

By Dennison W. Griffith

The term “ROI” (return on investment) has entered the realm of higher education with a vengeance.

You can’t have missed it: As U.S. public funding for college education has contracted, students and families are shouldering a much higher portion of the cost — and they’re seeking reassurance that their sacrifice will be worth it.

It’s an eminently reasonable concern. Unfortunately, the recent tsunami of articles, reports, and online discussions has often lost a key nuance: How does one effectively evaluate the value of preparation for careers in professions that have radically different starting salaries?

While some fields—like engineering or finance—traditionally have high starting salaries, others—like education or law—do not, or may require extended internships or education after the bachelor’s degree.

Starting salary is simply a very limited indicator of a field’s ultimate value both to society and to the individual pursuing it.

At the Center

Creative education is a great example of this. The new app you just downloaded on your smartphone required a designer or illustrator and an animator along with the programmers. And a creative promotional campaign spurred you to download it.

What would the team that launched that new app say to school rankings that advise prospective college students that only the programmer’s future prospects are worth pursuing? The programmer may deliver the content — but artists and designers bring it to life and deliver the customer.

Who’s Got Answers?

As CCAD president, I led a national-level conversation on this question when I co-chaired a panel discussion at the 2012 annual meeting of NASAD (the National Association of Schools of Art and Design).

And as schools outside the United States start to field similar questions from their students, we’re there, too. I was one of just 15 leaders who met last fall in Hangzhou, China, for a conference of the International Art Presidents Network, where I was proud to contribute CCAD’s experiences to the international conversation about global best practices in the constantly changing realm of art and design education.

The good news that we share everywhere we go: there are plenty of data-based ways to describe the value of higher education in the creative fields.

Working—and Happy

The arts compare favorably to other majors in employability and job satisfaction:

• Even during the recent recession, creative professions have been adding jobs.
• Arts-related college graduates are finding work in their fields at higher rates than graduates in many science-related fields. Their unemployment rate is a third less than the national average. (And contrary to what Aunt Jackie might predict, only 3% are working in food service!)
• A recent national study found that 9 of 10 arts graduates were satisfied with the job in which they spend the majority of their work time. And 82% were satisfied with their ability to be creative in their current work.

Private creative education is a powerful investment that pays off.

• The average three-year loan default rate for private art and design schools is barely half of the national average for all colleges.
• 80% of undergrad alumni from private art and design schools are now working or have worked in their professional fields after graduation, compared to only 64% from multidisciplinary schools.
• 71% of graduates from private art and design schools say their college education is relevant to their current work, compared to only 59% of alumni from multidisciplinary schools.

Staying on Target

But value is, by necessity, a moving target. We listen closely to our students and their families. Our partners in the creative economy also help us keep our curriculum in tune with what hiring managers are looking for.

At CCAD we’re leading other art schools by

• Providing real-life art, design, and entrepreneurship opportunities through the CCAD MindMarket’s DesignLab and the college’s Entrepreneurship Club. (20% of CCAD graduates will launch their own small businesses.)
• Infusing business knowledge throughout our curriculum. It’s not just important for those who start their own companies — even creative employees need to understand the bottom-line component of their work.
• Reworking our freshman year to allow broad, accurate exposure to different majors — ensuring right fit between student and his/her specialized training.

More about Careers

Want to read more about the creative economy and what it means for graduates in the arts? Take a look at Columbus College of Loving What You Do, our newest publication at issuu.com.

Michael Goodson (second from left) during an MFA critique, photo by Luke Kramer

By Melissa Starker

CCAD has been raising its profile in Columbus quite successfully over the past couple of years.

But Michael Goodson, CCAD’s director of exhibitions since August 2011, is looking ahead with something much broader in mind.

“My goal with exhibitions and visiting artists is quite simply to bring great contemporary art and artists to the school,” he says. “This will in turn make CCAD a destination for contemporary art—not only for patrons but also for great students and teachers from all over the U.S. and, ultimately, the world.”

Formerly exhibitions director of New York’s James Cohan Gallery and a professor of art at Hunter College, Goodson has also assumed a teaching role at CCAD. He guides students in the MFA program, leading discussions and presentations of their thesis work. But as he explains, “The exhibitions programming and visiting artists are my first thought as I drag myself to consciousness each morning.”

Goodson sees a distinction between his efforts in the classroom and in the Canzani Center Gallery and believes there’s educational value in developing thoughtful programming that doesn’t always fit seamlessly into school curriculum — but his two roles are organically entwined. Each strongly informs the professional development of CCAD’s artists in training.

By exposing students of all levels to the works and real-world wisdom of a stellar assortment of visiting artists, he’s expanding and strengthening personal connections between the student body and the global community of working artists.

Stefan Sagmeister speaking at CCAD as part of the Visiting Artists & Scholars Series on Aug. 30, 2012

According to Ric Petry, director of graduate programs and part of the search committee who hired Goodson, “He has brought an impressive group of artists and scholars to campus who have been meeting with the grad students—Stefan Sagmeister, Benjamin Anastas, Eleanor Heartney, Byron Kim, Donald Moffett, and Chris Ware, to name just a few from last semester. It’s been great.”

With MFA candidates, Goodson also shares the practical experience he acquired from conducting the day-to-day operations of a top-tier commercial gallery, from developing contacts to planning and physically installing exhibitions to marketing artwork.

Petry notes that Goodson has taken these lessons off campus as well. “He has organized grad student visits to New York, where his network has provided studio visits and mentorships with a number of artists.”

At the same time, Goodson has challenged himself, branching outside of his existing network to connect the college with the finest international talents.

“Honestly, I’ve asked things of New York and Los Angeles and Hong Kong galleries since arriving here that have little if anything to do with previous connections through the New York art world,” he explains. “You ask things, respectfully and thoughtfully, and people say yes…sometimes.”

His efforts have yielded a diverse and unassailably impressive slate of exhibitions and lectures for 2013. Among the artists scheduled to make an appearance at CCAD, whether in person or through their work, are Sol LeWitt, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Nari Ward, Jim Hodges, Fred Tomaselli, and Gary Panter, along with author and cultural critic Greil Marcus (Lipstick Traces).

Such notable scores suggest an increasingly prominent role for CCAD in the art world, as well as for the city it calls home. The line-up is enough to whet the appetite of most contemporary art lovers, not just students and faculty, and holds the potential to make the college’s gallery exactly the kind of destination Goodson envisions.

“In my estimation, one reason to live in Columbus is the Wexner Center,” Goodson says. “I think that, given a little time and energy and growth, exhibitions at CCAD might be another reason.”

CCAD President’s Circle

The Circle’s work has three impact areas:

• Embedding the art and practice of business into CCAD’s curriculum
• Marrying art and design with technology
• Increasing retention through need-based financial aid for high-performing students

The group continues to recruit new members. Next up, it plans to hold a private event where supporters will meet a national art scene VIP and receive a sneak peek into new and exciting things happening on campus.

For more information, please contact Laurie Beth Sweeney, vice president for advancement, at lsweeney@ccad.edu or 614.222.3268.

The 2013 Oscar nominations have been announced. Photo courtesy of oscar.go.com

The awards season is upon us, and the Oscar nominees have been announced. With so many of our alumni working in the film and animation industry, it’s no surprise that some of the nominated films include CCAD talent in their credits.

Media Studies alumnus Steve Hubbard (CCAD 2010) worked on the animation for Life of Pi, which was nominated in eight categories, including Best Picture and Visual Effects.

“I worked on about 20 shots throughout the film,” Hubbard said. “I worked on fur and muscle simulations for Richard Parker [the tiger], the hyena, and the zebra. I also worked on the tarp interactions with the animals and Pi, the ropes on the boat, and some movements on fish as well.”

Illustration alumnus Alex Alvarado (CCAD 2011), Media Studies alumnus Joaquin Baldwin (CCAD 2006), and Media Studies alumnus Darren Simpson (CCAD 2011) worked on Walt Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, which was nominated in the Animated Feature Film category.

Baldwin was also selected as a juror for the 40^th Annual Annie Awards, which will take place Feb. 2 at UCLA’s Royal Hall in Los Angeles.

And finally, Illustration alumnus Ben Lane (CCAD 1996) worked on The Longest Daycare, which is nominated for Short Film (Animated).

Update: On Sunday, Feb. 24 Life of Pi, which alumnus Steve Hubbard worked on, took home four Oscars, including Best Visual Effects.

New Albany High School’s starting blocks, designed by Joel Gundlach

Industrial Design alumnus and professor Joel Gundlach (CCAD 1986) just completed a unique design project for New Albany High School’s natatorium—he redesigned the pool starting blocks.

The project was especially close to home for Gundlach, who is a New Albany swim team parent. A generous contribution from the Berend family allowed the school to ask Gundlach to look at recreating the starting blocks.

“My approach to designing anything is that this is your one opportunity to do everything you dreamed about and put all those features you dreamed of into one object,” Gundlach said.

Left to right: Joel Gundlach, Keith Berend, Cindy Berend, and Jay Gundlach

Gundlach, with help from his brother Jay, talked to swimmers, volunteers, judges, and parents about their needs. He also reviewed the research of a colleague who designed blocks for a Worthington pool. The Gundlachs spent more than 300 hours designing, sketching, and then meeting with Columbus Machine Works, Inc., who manufactured the blocks.

One of the special features Gundlach included in the starting blocks were speakers. After talking with the swim team, he realized that swimmers in the last lane often cannot hear the judge start the race putting them at a disadvantage. Speakers help every swimmer hear the starting horn. The blocks also have a strobe light built in that goes off when the race starts. Gundlach also incorporated steps, since the blocks are used by young adults and children; fins to add traction, similar to those on a runner’s sprinting block; and a compartment to hold volunteers’ timers so they are no longer placed on the ground in between heats.

The blocks also had to coordinate with strict regulations such as the edge being no more than 30 inches from the water and the platform being tilted at no more than a 10-degree angle.

“The donation to create the blocks was a great benefit,” Gundlach said. “We were able to include all the features we wanted and also use stainless steel as a material. Stainless steel is perfect in that it is resistant to the harsh chemicals in the pool and the humidity in the natatorium.”

The blocks were installed just in time for the team’s first home meet on Dec. 4, and so far reviews have been great. Gundlach has created custom furniture since 1985 and has worked on projects for CCAD including drawing horses for the Fine Arts studios and tables for the ceramic classrooms.

Alumna Amanda Rouse in front of some of her artwork

MFA alumna Amanda Rouse (CCAD 2012) has had a busy exhibition schedule including three juried and two group exhibitions.

Rouse currently has work in the group exhibition Taking Home with You, which originated in New Orleans, LA, and is now traveling to cities in Ireland including Belfast, Bangor, and Limerick. She also had two prints exhibited at the Artist’s Alley in San Francisco, CA.

She has successfully entered three juried exhibitions, including Boundless: New Work in Contemporary Printmaking in New Haven, CT; Hand-Pulled: Ohio Printmakers at Art Space in Lima, OH; and Movements an exhibition at the Tuska Museum in Lexington, KY.

Shot from Rise of the Guardians, photo courtesy of DreamWorks Animation

Media Studies alumna Sucheta Bhatawadekar (CCAD 2005) worked as a lead lighter on Rise of the Guardians, a DreamWorks Animation movie released Nov. 21 of this year.

“As a lead lighter I am responsible for creating the initial lighting set-up for a particular sequence to simulate the lighting conditions,” Bhatawadekar said. “I capture the mood for that sequence as envisioned by the art director, visual effects supervisor, and the production designer.”

Rise of the Guardians follows an evil spirit named Pitch who launches an assault on Earth. A team of immortal guardians responds to protect the innocence of children all around the world. Characters are voiced by stars including Alec Bladwin, Hugh Jackman, Chris Pine, Jude Law, and Isla Fisher.

Shot from Rise of the Guardians, photo courtesy of DreamWorks Animation

Bhatawadekar worked on Rise of the Guardians for five months and then jumped into working on another upcoming DreamWorks movie, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, to be released November 2013.

“It definitely gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment when I see a movie I worked with on the big screen,” Bhatawadekar said. “Of course, when you work on a project for so long, you cannot help but see all the minuscule imperfections that you wish you had time to fix. And then you remember all the long hours you put into every shot as it zips across the screen. It’s all worth the effort, though, when you see the audience reacting well to it.”

Bhatawadekar has worked with DreamWorks Animation in California for nearly five years, on projects including Kung Fu Panda 2, Megamind, and Monsters vs. Aliens.

Detail of Julie Abijanac’s “Disease Mapping”

Assistant professor and Fine Arts alumna Julie Abijanac (CCAD 1992) had her piece Disease Mapping selected for the Fiberart International 2013 exhibition.

Jurors evaluated 1,200 works submitted by 525 artists from 36 countries for the show. Eighty-one pieces from 64 artists will be in the final exhibition presented by the Fiberarts Guild Of Pittsburgh, Inc. at the the Society for Contemporary Craft and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. The exhibition will run April 19–Aug. 18, 2013.

Fiberart International includes innovative work rooted in traditional fiber materials, structure, processes, and history. The exhibition explores the unexpected relationships between fiber and other creative disciplines.

Abijanac creates two-dimensional paper pieces that visually describe her personal experience with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Her work questions mortality by approaching it from both a microscopic and psychological point of view.

Cover of the illustrated cookbook “They Draw & Cook,” co-created by alumna Salli Swindell

The illustrated cookbook They Draw & Cook, co-created by Fashion Design alumna Salli Swindell (CCAD 1981) and her brother Nate Padavick, was reviewed in Gastronomic, a magazine that discusses food and culture.

The idea for They Draw & Cook originated from Swindell and Padavick’s website, which is a platform for artists to submit their illustrated recipes ranging from simple family traditions to more complex and elaborate dishes. They then decided to publish a cookbook featuring 107 of the website’s illustrated recipes.

The review of the cookbook appeared in the fall 2012 issue of Gastronomic.

“Here is a cookbook that Andy Warhol would have enjoyed,” the reviewer Stefanie S. Jandl said. “The presentation of the recipes is as diverse as the dishes; they are witty and whimsical, serious and sophisticated, and sometimes deeply personal.”

Read the full review here.

The cookbook is available through retailers such as amazon and Barnes & Noble for purchase.

Dennison W. Griffith

With students and faculty returning to campus refreshed from summer and ready for new challenges, fall is always an exciting time to be at CCAD. This year, our curriculum and facilities are reenergized, too, as the two-school administrative structure and the new CCAD MindMarket take their first steps.

CCAD’s role as the critical link between raw creative talent and the ever-growing, ever-changing creative economy is clearer and more vital than ever. We continue to focus on artistic and design excellence, but with an increased emphasis on the kinds of skills that can only be developed with a healthy dose of business education. We know this will be a key differentiator for CCAD graduates in the years ahead, and we’re on it!

Just look at the stories in this issue:

• Project-based education, where students work with clients to formulate real-life creative solutions outside the classroom, is a big part of a CCAD education—and getting bigger. Read more here.
• Photography alumna Anna Dickson (CCAD 2004) demonstrates how today’s economy is offering more and more avenues to creative professionals who keep their eyes open and their skills current. Read more here.
• Well-loved (and well-respected) faculty member emeritus Curtis Benzle is using his retirement to find new outlets for his teaching and new directions for his art. Read more here.

One last thing. Each fall, the worldwide CCAD community comes together to support students with our annual fund drive. Every single dollar you invest in our mission has real impact—for today’s CCAD students and tomorrow’s creative world. I hope you’ll join us. Please use the online donation form to make your investment today.

Warm regards,

Dennison W. Griffith

President

To check out the online print version of IMAGE, click here.

The anatomy lab at Columbus State Community College, photo courtesy of Kristine Schramer

By Robin Hepler

Tens of thousands of visitors to the COSI science museum this winter will view an exhibition of CCAD students’ interpretations of the human form. Students in the fall semester course The Human Body in Art and Science have had access to the cadaver labs at Columbus State Community College and to the fall Body Worlds & the Brain exhibition at COSI to study the body from numerous perspectives—all for their use in creating art at the level expected for an exhibition hosted by a regional tourist destination.

CCAD faculty members Julie Posey (Science) and Kristine Schramer (Fine Arts) developed the team-taught course and negotiated the community partnerships to bring this full array of opportunities to students. The project provides an expansive and very public new venue for students to exhibit their final coursework and serves as an example of CCAD’s evolution in project-based learning.

“The college is moving toward a more cross-disciplinary way to deliver on project-based learning to mimic what happens in the real world,” says Kevin Conlon, CCAD vice president for Academic Affairs. “We are intentionally seeking external academic partners to provide opportunities for students to engage in teaming and problem-solving challenges.”

The expanding scope of projects is bringing faculty members together to create whole new classes, such as Posey and Schramer’s human body course.

“The scale of these newer project-based learning opportunities is becoming much more ambitious,” Conlon says. “As a result, they often engender dedicated courses that aggregate talent from multiple levels and departments and in academic constructs that may go beyond the limits of current course models and academic terms.”

CCAD students doing a dissection in the CSCC lab, photo courtesy of Kristine Schramer

Constructing new learning opportunities

Posey says she and Schramer spent three months developing learning objectives and finding the right combination of curriculum elements from science and art for the new course.

“I focus on the world out there that isn’t art. This course is about the human body—every different aspect, from tattoos to aging to body systems to our DNA,” Posey says. “I try to engage students about issues that are fundamentally meaningful to them as humans, not necessarily as artists. That is where Kris comes in.

“Kris shows these kids that our worldly experiences, our knowledge of our own micro-world, can be truly inspirational as art,” Posey says. “She ties what I do with what artists do.”

In each lecture Schramer shows students work of contemporary artists who work with the human form as their muse. Students are not asked to memorize facts about science; instead, Schramer says, she wants to teach students how to make themselves subject experts when they need to for their creative work.

And she teaches the process of a project.

“My goal is for every student in this class to have the experience of taking on an ambitious project and completing it successfully. I meet so many creative people who are full of brilliant ideas, but lack both the nerve to begin and the practical skills to manage the execution of a complicated project,” Schramer says.

“Using the study of science and each student’s individual project as the educational vehicle, I guide them through the stages of brainstorming, refining, proposing, revising and proposing again, researching, planning, budgeting, scheduling, and presenting their work publicly.”

Schramer says these skills can be applied to any major endeavor undertaken in life, whether it be artistic, entrepreneurial, or personal.

Posey and Schramer partnered last fall to team-teach a biotechnology course that also tapped the resources of Columbus State anatomist Eric Kenz. That project helped launch 2012 graduate Jonathan Hodge’s career in medical illustration. This year’s public exhibition at COSI, sharing museum space with the acclaimed Body Worlds & the Brain exhibit, makes their second project-based course much larger in scope—creating more opportunity and expectations.

UPDATE 12/2/12: There will be a free, public reception to view the student work on Sunday, 6-8 p.m. Dec. 9, 2013, at COSI Columbus.

Community-based projects

Students working in the CCAD MindMarket, photo courtesy Danielle Ford (2013)

Businesses and organizations in central Ohio can now access the talent of CCAD faculty, staff, and students for projects through the CCAD MindMarket’s DesignLab. Depending on the need, the CCAD MindMarket can assemble cross-disciplinary teams to provide design solutions through three different project structures: charrettes lasting 54–72 hours; semester-long, in-class projects; and longer-term project partnerships.

A spring 2012 joint project that teamed up a Fashion Design class and an Advertising & Graphic Design class is an example of the kind of community project that likely will work through the new MindMarket in the future.

Twenty-two students from the two classes presented design solutions for Huntington Bank’s branded team jersey for the annual Pelotonia bike race to raise money for cancer research. In the end, the bank asked that two options be combined—utilizing functional design elements by senior Nina Rehner and graphics by senior Dahui (Danny) Li.

“That’s how real projects work in corporations,” says Suzanne Cotton, chair of Fashion Design at CCAD. “It was a terrific scenario for the two finalists to work together to combine their concepts.”

Matt Mohr, assistant professor of Visual Communications and Media Studies, led the graphic design students in the project.

“We’re always looking for ways to combine disciplines,” says Mohr. “Apparel graphics, especially the opportunity to create a concept that covered the entire garment, posed a unique challenge. Given that the designs were for a well-respected, high-profile event made for eager excitement among the students.”

Conlon says the new curriculum architecture being built at CCAD supports the practicum experience, whether faculty members are bringing new projects to the classroom or outside organizations are approaching CCAD through the new structure of the MindMarket.

“It’s all about providing the students choices among a variety of paths to the practicum and a gateway to the professional-level and portfolio-worthy experience,” Conlon says.

All project-based learning is incredibly valuable for the student—not just for the experience of merging research, theory, application, experience, and result, Conlon says, but also for the benefit it provides students in developing their portfolios.

“Professional development has always begun with the portfolio at CCAD. Our continuing commitment to the portfolio as the primary evidence of discipline readiness will now be enhanced with the engagement of more and varied types of project-based learning,” Conlon says. “The practicum experience, played out in at least 12 credit hours within the new curriculum architecture, is the college’s demonstrated commitment to this ideal.”

For Schramer the experience is paying additional, personal dividends: “In these classes, Julie and I are learning right along with the students,” she says.

To check out the online print version of IMAGE, click here.

CCAD MindMarket lobby, photo courtesy Danielle Ford (2013)

Architect Mitch Acock’s talents were benefiting CCAD well before he joined the college’s board of trustees in 2010—and his work with the CCAD Design Studios on Broad has been a centerpiece of his involvement. We caught up with him recently for a quick insider’s tour of the new CCAD MindMarket facility, for which he was the lead architect.

IMAGE: The key to this facility is how it brings together so many pockets of creativity from all over campus and creates one focused place for creative problem-solving. How does the design promote this synergy?

Mitch Acock (MA): We’ve incorporated a diversity of types of spaces, which allows for a wide variety of group collaboration formats as well as individual work areas. We’ve also made the spaces flexible for users, so they can “own” the space as they use it and shape it to their needs.

IMAGE: Is there a single feature that’s your favorite?

MA: The reception area. We made it big enough to also serve as a gallery space to show off, in video form, all the varied types of work that students at CCAD are involved in. To have the best examples of student work all in one space and on the corner of Broad and Cleveland is a great opportunity to show the quality and breadth of CCAD design work to the MindMarket’s visitors, patrons, and the larger Columbus design community—as well as to prospective students and their parents. It will be a cool space not only to be in, but also to engage with as a passerby on the street.

IMAGE: How have your ideas for this facility changed over time?

MA: The college’s compelling vision of both engaging the broader design community and stressing entrepreneurship made me focus more on how spaces can engage people that are not directly connected to CCAD. The location on Broad Street is perfect to serve as this kind of transition space between the necessarily sheltered world of academia and the outside world.

IMAGE: How does this project fit into your sense, as a board member, of CCAD’s longer-term goals and opportunities?

MA: It’s the cornerstone of CCAD’s effort to become more engaged in the broader design community. As the design economy continues to supplant the information economy as the big economic driver, the MindMarket will keep CCAD relevant and a leader in the broader cultural and economic marketplaces.

To check out the online print version of IMAGE, click here.

Zipline during Family Weekend & Homecoming, photo courtesy of Katlin McNally

Six New Faculty Named

CCAD’s realignment into two schools—Design Arts and Studio Arts—has brought six new faculty to campus this fall. Their hiring reflects the college’s commitment to providing students the real-world skills to lead in the growing creative economy, says Char Norman, dean of faculty.

“We seek out professionals who have proven teaching experience combined with significant current work in the field,” Norman says.

We welcome:

Kelly DeVore (Interior Design and Advertising & Graphic Design), a LEED-accredited architect who has also done research in socially responsive design education.

Steve Elbert (Interior Design), a licensed architect with international teaching experience and significant 2-D and 3-D modeling software skills.

Phil Garrett (Cinematic Arts), who has worked as a special effects artist on films such as Madagascar and Shrek and as a writer, producer, and animator for a large variety of indie films as well as animated features for DisneyToon Studios.

Mathew Mitchem (English and Philosophy), a philosopher, author, and web designer who has worked with topics ranging from advertising ideology in the world of political campaigns, to the cultural implications of participatory video, to online videos during the political uprisings of 2011.

Adam Osgood (Illustration), a creator of web designs, animation, and motion graphics for major brands including Exxon and Barnes & Noble.

Rebecca Robinson (Fashion Design), who has created her own fashion designs as well as contributing to books on the history of men’s fashion, American football uniforms, and hip-hop gear.

2012 Family Weekend & Homecoming

Campus was packed with hundreds of students, parents, alumni, staff, and friends for Family Weekend & Homecoming on Oct. 12 and 13.

Things kicked off Friday evening with dinner and a comedy show on campus.

Saturday began with free breakfast and ended with an alumni reception. In between were a CCAD MindMarket open house, a carnival on the quad, a zipline down East Gay Street, a lecture from recently retired Dean Richard Aschenbrand, and much more.

The energy was contagious and all-ages: View photos on our Columbus College of Art & Design facebook page and our CCAD Alumni facebook page.

Comic book artist Chris Ware’s keynote conversation, photo couresy Danielle Ford (2013)

Mix 2012

In early October, more than 200 people came to campus for Mix 2012: CCAD’s Celebration of Comics.

A highlight of the event was the participation of Chris Ware, an Eisner-Award-winning American comic book artist who is perhaps best known for his graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. Ware delivered the keynote presentation, exhibited original artwork from Jimmy Corrigan, and participated in a symposium panel called The Epic Ordinary.

In all there were three exhibitions and two-and-a-half days of panels and workshops—all kicked off by a student comic-making marathon. Eleven teams were challenged with producing a 24-page comic in 24 hours. The results were then displayed for the rest of the symposium.

The plan is to make this symposium an annual event.

Mix 2012 was sponsored by State Auto Insurance Companies, with media sponsorship provided by WCBE 90.5.

Teaching Award Winner Connects Art to Literature

Associate Professor Ariana-Sophia Kartsonis with CCAD President Denny Griffith, photo courtesy Lian Dziura (2012)

Ariana-Sophia Kartsonis, a poet who has become a writing mentor to many of her CCAD students, was selected as the winner of CCAD’s 2012 Teaching Excellence Award. The award celebrates the exemplary contributions faculty members make to the college as a whole.

“She encourages critical thinking and nurtures an artist’s curiosities, helping us all to see the correlation between the art realm and the realm of literature,” said a student nominator, “and empowers her students to want to develop their skills and techniques as writers not just for class, but for themselves.”

Kartsonis, who is an associate professor in Liberal Arts and Graduate Studies, teaches fiction and poetry writing, contemporary literature, and special topics in literature. With dozens of published poems, as well as fiction and nonfiction works, she also has served as editor of a number of literary outlets, including wordsonwalls.net, scene360, and Shades Literary/Art Review.

Her most recent work is EmuSeum, a collaborative chapbook with Caleb Adler, MD, published by Dancing Girl Press.

Ten to Watch

Doesn’t everyone love a “where are they now” story? Well, we do, too—so we’re starting a feature called Ten to Watch.

Ten to Watch will follow a group of students from CCAD’s Class of 2012 as they take their first steps into the professional world after graduation. You’ll read about where they are, what they’re up to, and how they feel about their paths so far.

Annual feature stories will start in spring, but we couldn’t wait until then to introduce them:

Kattie Baker (Advertising & Graphic Design), Chavilah Bennett (Advertising & Graphic Design), Rachel Cass (Fashion Design), Sara K. Diesel (Illustration), Lian Dziura (Photography), Ryan Christopher Evans (Media Studies), Leah Fisher (Photography), Jake LaBombarbe (Industrial Design), Sarah McCance (Interior Design), and Erin McKenna (Fine Arts)

A few teasers to think about in the meantime:

1. Who’s working on a project in Abu Dhabi?
2. Who’s already moved to New York?
3. Who did a residency that comes with a show in Chicago?

Yu Qiduo (left) and Leah Wong (right) on Yu’s television show in Shanghai.

CCAD Discussed on Shanghai TV

Leah Wong, who has taught at CCAD and is assisting the college with a teaching exchange with the China Academy of Art, recently appeared on an education-focused show in Shanghai.

The show’s host, Yu Qiduo (Duoduo), brought CCAD into the conversation as they discussed Wong’s personal opinions on art and art education and talked about her teaching experiences in both China and the United States.

The half-hour program focuses on education programs and is aimed toward middle and high school students and their parents.

Glass Alumna Helps Cruise Line Fight Cancer

Fine Arts alumna Megan Mathie (CCAD 2006) has just returned from working on the Celebrity cruise ship Solstice as a glassblower for the Corning Museum of Glass.

Over a three-month tour of back-to-back 12-day cruises around the Mediterranean, the hot glass team stayed busy.

“On sea days we do two shows. On port days we usually do an evening show,” Mathie says. “I like the 12-day cruises because as people come back again and again, they ask smarter and smarter questions. Instead of having to explain ‘what is glass’ over and over, we can talk about some of the more sophisticated techniques and tell stories.”

Megan Mathie (CCAD 2006) doing a glass show at the Corning Museum of Glass

Although she loves the work, leaving home this summer was difficult for Mathie because both her sister and her mother are fighting breast cancer. She was thrilled to find out about a new project in Celebrity Cruises’ longstanding support of the breast cancer research.

The glass team refers to it as “the Pink Show.” During one show per cruise, they make everything pink, and one of the resulting pieces of glass is auctioned—with all of the profits going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Mathie also found strong support among her fellow crew members. Just one example: On her sister’s birthday, the Ringmasters, a world-champion barbershop quartet, sang happy birthday into the phone for her.

“I was so fortunate to have found myself surrounded by kindness and love where I never expected it and when I needed it the most. Being able to take this job, this opportunity, turned into so much more of a gift than I thought it would be, and a big part of that is because of the people I’ve gotten to know. I know they care about Jen and Mom, and I know they care about me,” Mathie says.

For more photos and lots of Mathie’s engaging writing, visit her blog.

To check out the online print version of IMAGE, click here.

Close-up of Curtis Benzle’s “More Than Meets the Eye.”

By Kristen M. Foley

A teacher is always a teacher. The drive to educate is something that remains deeply rooted in individuals who have dedicated their careers to fostering the creativity of others. But the drive to make one’s own work is similarly strong.

Curtis Benzle, CCAD professor emeritus and former chair of Dimensional Studies, is just one of CCAD’s retired professors who continue to educate others as well as pursue their personal creative work after retirement.

Although now living primarily in Alabama, Benzle maintains a home in the Columbus area, where he taught ceramics at CCAD from 1981 to 2008. Today he spends his time teaching ceramics workshops around the world and elevating the direction of his own art. Most recently, he taught a weeklong workshop in Tuscany; next, he’ll lead weekend events in New York City and Washington D.C.

“Teaching workshops is wonderful because it is a chance to share accumulated knowledge, meet great people, and gain exposure in a very personal way,” says Benzle. “It is not much of a financial benefit, but the tangential benefits make it worthwhile.”

Just as he did at CCAD, Benzle meets individuals from all walks of life with varying levels of art experiences. He relishes the challenge: some students astonish him with their natural talents, while others have never touched clay before, but are passionate about the learning experience.

Curtis Benzle, photo courtesy of Danielle Ford (2013)

“When I taught at CCAD my mandate was to train students to operate at a professional level. My expectation for them was very high, and my students’ level of commitment to learning was equally high. I taught topics that students needed to know in order to succeed professionally,” he says. “When I teach in a workshop setting, most of my students are there for personal growth. Workshop students are certainly interested in learning, but there is also the underlying expectation that the learning will be enjoyable.”

Teaching may have remained a fundamental part of Benzle’s life, but he has also had the time to reflect upon and expand his own artwork, which has been made part of collections as renowned as the Smithsonian Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan, and the Museo Internazionale della Ceramiche in Faenza, Italy.

“The one thing that I’m more interested in now is lighting work,” states Benzle. “I’ve been creating lighting for probably 20 years now, but for a long time I was constrained by the marketplace. By ‘the marketplace,’ I mean the gallery world.”

Since leaving CCAD, Benzle has felt more comfortable with shrugging off the opinions of the gallery world and creating what he calls “useful art.” He’s currently working on two sconces for a friend’s home, as well as other lighting projects.

“The more I use the term ‘useful art,’ the more I can feel it grinding on the person I’m talking to, but it truly is art that serves a purpose,” reflects Benzle. “It beautifies, but it doesn’t have a single mission of beautification. It’s beautification plus illumination and a host of other things.”

“I would like to believe that a sconce embodies all of the same visual criteria a sculpture does,” he continues. “I know that all the creative mandates are the same — color, balance, texture, line, symbolic and literal meaning, etc. It’s just that the sconce exceeds the aesthetic considerations of a sculpture. It emits light and in so doing has a significant and very intentional impact on its environment. To this end, it also becomes installation as an art form. Put a rheostat on it and this element of installation increases in significance.”

“My friends in the design world tend to get it,” he says. “They know their mission is to both beautify and serve other purposes. It’s the fine art world that is struggling.”

Benzle creates work that is reflective of his own personal experiences, but never in the literal sense.

“My aesthetic is about the synthesis of life experiences,” he says. “I’m always driven by beauty, but it can be anything from a beautiful sunset to simple acts of kindness. They all go into the pot. I’m not always sure how they synthesize.”

Benzle’s “More than Meets the Eye,” illuminated porcelain, 4 x 3 feet. When illuminated, the piece transforms from white into a full range of glowing colors. It also contains embedded messages in Braille.

A key piece of Benzle’s approach is that he never tries to recreate an exceptional visual experience, because it was already perfect. There is no need to try to duplicate it.

“I don’t try to remember exactly what I saw. I have confidence in myself to try to assimilate that image or that knowledge and then see references in new work,” he says. “It’s not conscious. It’s not like I’m seeing five different events, and I’m trying to synthesize something out of those five. It is more than a simple cognitive process.”

Benzle admits that just as he’s been careful not to directly recreate a visual memory, he has also tried never to reinterpret other’s works.

“I have kind of been on my own little mission since I started, and it’s probably why my work doesn’t reflect [that of] other artists, whether contemporary or historic,” he says. “My work is a response to my own, very personal, aesthetic. I admire others’ work and see things that are exceptionally beautiful, and then let that percolate and see what happens with it.”

Benzle sums it all up on his website: “The purpose of my art is to embrace the illusive, emotional content of traditional beauty. I aspire to communicate the feeling behind magical moments—light filtering through leaves that make memories of a sun-filled afternoon.”

His colleagues, students, and collectors all look forward to more of this magical work.

To see Curtis Benzle’s work, visit www.benzleporcelain.com or the Sherrie Gallerie in Columbus.

To check out the online print version of IMAGE, click here.

Alexis Jacobs with friends at the 2012 Senior Fashion Show. From left: Venus Roby, Charla Crawford, Angela Pace, Regina Whann, and Jacobs. Photo courtesy of Terry Gilliam

By Kristin Mack Deuber

Cars have always been Alexis Jacobs’ passion. Since starting her career working alongside her father, William Jacobs, founder of Columbus Fair Auto Auction, she has now led it—one of the nation’s top auto auctions—for more than 40 years.

It’s no wonder, then, that Wheelz, a CCAD exhibition highlighting exotic cars and motorcycles as art, was what first hooked Jacobs on the college back in 2005. Since then she has supported many CCAD events and has never missed the Senior Fashion Show. She also gives to scholarships and was instrumental in helping build the CCAD Design Studios on Broad.

“I continue to be amazed by the talent at CCAD,” says Jacobs. “It’s so great to see young people with such artistic skills, especially when I can’t even draw a straight line.”

Jacobs plans to continue supporting CCAD on projects such as the new CCAD MindMarket, an incubator for arts-related business and a hub where businesses, government agencies, and other organizations can access CCAD talent.

“I plan to utilize the MindMarket as we bring our auto auction online,” says Jacobs. “We are excited to benefit from this local resource as well as give students real-life experience working in the auto auction business.”

Jacobs supports other youth- and education-focused organizations throughout central Ohio, including Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Franklin Park Conservatory, Charity Newsies, the Salesian Boys & Girls Club of Columbus, and the Ohio State University Foundation. She has also received numerous industry awards, and Columbus Fair Auto Auction has been ranked as one of the top 500 woman-owned businesses by Working Woman magazine.

To check out the online print version of IMAGE, click here.

Andrew Peña, photo courtesy Danielle Ford (2013)

By Kristen M. Foley

As CCAD’s Annual Fund Drive kicks off, you might be wondering if anyone really notices when you make your contribution. Short answer? Yes. Long answer: The scholarships that your gift supports can be one of the most profound elements of a student’s education.

Please meet Andrew Peña, a junior Illustration major who’s also pursuing a minor in Writing.

IMAGE: When was the first time you knew you wanted to study illustration?

Andrew: I was always into drawing ever since I was little. As I got older I started thinking that I wouldn’t mind studying [art] and possibly making a career out of it. I looked into different programs and majors, but after taking illustration classes in CCAD’s summer programs, I knew for certain that this was what I wanted to do.

IMAGE: Who/what are your inspirations?

Andrew: The people who are around me who support me. I never start a project without trying to include someone I know and love.

IMAGE: What’s your favorite part about being an Illustration major?

Andrew: I love the whole process of making an illustration—from brainstorming and sketching for hours to putting the final touches on a piece. It’s always nice when you’re finally finished with something and you can’t stop admiring it, but you have to put it to the side so you can start your next best project. Also, being surrounded by a lot of really good artists here at CCAD motivates me to improve and learn from them. It’s like an endless lesson; you never stop learning!

Andrew Peña, photo courtesy of Danielle Ford (2013)

IMAGE: How did your scholarship affect your life and your education?

Andrew: It has really removed a lot of stress from my parents, who are helping fund my college career. I remember telling them about receiving my scholarship—they were overwhelmed with emotion. My mom actually began to cry while I was telling her on the phone.

IMAGE: What would you like to say to CCAD donors about the impact of their support?

Andrew: I can’t thank you enough. You’re giving dedicated students a chance to really shine and pursue their dreams. I feel blessed to have this opportunity and won’t let your support go unappreciated.

IMAGE: What excites you about your future?

Andrew: The fact that I’ll be doing what I love for work is pretty exciting. With the knowledge I’m gaining from CCAD I feel like I can take on the world. It’s a great feeling.

IMAGE: What else would you like to add?

Andrew: My experience at CCAD has been very special. It has introduced me to some awesome people and has made me grow into a better artist. Thank you to all of the professors I’ve had so far at CCAD. I’ve learned so much these past two years and can’t wait to see what else is in store.

To check out the online print version of IMAGE, click here.
To make a donation to student scholarships, click here.

Anna Dickson at work, photo courtesy of Brian Friedman

By Kendra Hovey

Anna Dickson was a photography student at CCAD when Google first introduced its image search in 2001. She graduated in 2004—the same year Flickr was born. She was at Rolling Stone, both photo assisting and photo editing, when Apple opened its app store in 2008, and by the time the first iPad sold in 2010, she had moved up to photo editor at Clear Channel. Then, in March of 2012, almost eight years out of CCAD, she joined the Huffington Post as photo editor of their weekly iPad magazine, Huffington. That same month, app downloads hit the 25-billion mark.

And why this bit of Internet history? To show that as Anna Dickson climbed the career ladder, her industry was forming beneath her feet.

For the now 31-year-old Dickson, on-the-job training was at times more like on-the-job creating. Hunting for images of, say, an obscure bass player for magazines like Rolling Stone or Guitar One, she developed her own Flickr-based system. “I’d post callouts,” she explains, “and people would send me their photos.”

Tracking down just the right images or the photographers who took them, a process she calls “the hunt,” was a particularly fun part of the job. “The photo is what pulls you into the article,” she says. “It can be heart wrenching, uplifting, joyful, or painful to look at. We support a story visually and can change people’s perceptions, all through a photo.”

As her career and the industry grew, she decided it was time to hone her copyright skills, and in 2010 she took a class on copyright law at New York University. She continues to keep close tabs on congressional talk related to copyright, intellectual property law, and the Internet in general.

Her expertise in rights and licensing, combined with her interest in technology, was key to her recent transition from photo editor to photo director at Huffington Post mere months after being hired. Her work is still found throughout the pages of the digital magazine—chances are she’s had a hand in the cover shoot, as well as the features and Q&A sections—but as director, her responsibilities now extend to the website, where she works with designers and the tech team to keep things running smoothly.

Cover of Huffington

Catch Dickson at work and she can be doing anything from setting up shoots, choosing photographers, and scouting locations to finalizing captions, handling copyright, or doing “selects” from a recent shoot. “No day is the same,” she says. A perfect day, though, would be a day on set. In fact, whether it’s finding the perfect photographer, bouncing around ideas, or directing, she loves the entire shoot process.

She’s proud of the stories, too. “Many of the shoots we’re doing are not celebrities, not politicians, not business people, but regular, everyday people who are giving something back to society,” she says, mentioning in particular a Tampa police officer dedicated to helping the homeless, and a veteran — “a wife, mother, student, volunteer…and inspiration”—who has post-traumatic stress disorder, yet helps other returning vets get their bearings and move past their struggles.

So, with all the changes in her industry, does Dickson still rely on her CCAD education? “Absolutely,” she says. Her expertise with lighting started with Duncan Snyder’s class, and she credits him and Helen Hoffelt with deepening her engagement with imagery.

A seminal moment—which actually spanned an entire semester—was taking a fashion photography class with Scott Cunningham at the same time as a class with Elizabeth Fergus Jean on self. “On one hand I was finding that I had a passion for editorial photography and photographing people, and on the other I was pushed very hard to find my voice,” she says. “Those two classes together put me into a new mindset.”

When asked for advice about her still-evolving industry, Dickson has plenty of wisdom to share. Keep up with the legal landscape, she says, “especially in an environment that changes so frequently.” Research skills are also key: “There are several ways to go about digging for images. You have to be resourceful and think outside the box to get the job done.”

Article in Huffington

Network, she says, especially with other photo editors, and know who photographers are, where they are shooting, and how their work is progressing. But, most important, stay positive and be friendly: “It’s a tough industry and a small circle, so you don’t want to burn bridges.”

She urges current students to do internships. “You learn what you like and what you don’t and can learn a lot from a professional,” she says. They are harder to come by when you are out of school, so “do it now,” she says. “And if a paper or magazine doesn’t have an intern or a photo department, offer to be that for them.”

Lastly, keep an open mind. Along with persistence and hard work, Dickson says, open-mindedness is a quality the successful seem to share. There is never just one way. She says, “I’ve watched several friends take various paths to get where they are. Some have assisted and moved into solo careers; some have gone the path of commercial photographers and found that their fine art work had much more strength and voice. Some never thought they’d find exactly what they wanted, but persisted until they did. Some moved to big cities expecting their careers to blossom and found that a smaller town really gave them a place to bloom. Some are still working hard to accomplish their goals and growing closer to it every day.”

Many of these friends are ones she made back in school. She says she still has great relationships with people she met at CCAD. She often misses the energy and like-minded dedication and how late nights in the studio or the darkroom never felt like a chore. “We all miss that,” she says, “I think it’s a big reason I keep up with so many people from CCAD.”

To check out the online print version of IMAGE, click here.

Steven Bindernagel’s “The Inevitable Yield” (detail), 2010, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches.

By Kendra Hovey

Someone—a stranger to you—sees your work on a gallery wall and wants to take it home, enough to lay down some significant cash. This is a seminal moment for most fine artists. When it first happened for abstract painter Steven Bindernagel (CCAD 2002), he was honored. “That I made something that someone else fell in love with was amazing and humbling,” he says.

The cash was nice, too, but “the money thing” truly sank in as more paintings sold and he realized he could quit his day job. “That’s when I thought, ‘Ok, this is really awesome,’” he recalls now.

The Cleveland native moved to New York in 2004. After earning his Master of Fine Arts in 2006 from the School of Visual Arts, he spent the next four years in the city working 40–50 hours a week as an art handler—plus 40 hours a week in his studio. As he explains, “It was important to me that I spend as much time in my studio as possible. It was also important to me that I eat.”

Bindernagel’s hard work paid off when the CRG Gallery offered to represent him in 2010. He will have his first solo show there this fall. Rebecca Ibel, curator and director of the Pizzuti Collection, calls CRG “an international force in contemporary art.”

It’s also where her boss, Ron Pizzuti, caught sight of his first Bindernagel and bought it that same day. The painting is now one of a number of Bindernagel’s works in the internationally significant Pizzuti Collection—alongside those of such established and respected artists as Shirin Neshat.

A typical day for the 33-year-old artist starts around 8 a.m. in his Greenpoint, Brooklyn apartment. After taking his dog, Baxter, for a quick walk, he heads to his studio in Queens, where he’ll sketch, paint, and draw until sometime between 10 p.m. and midnight.

But on an atypical day, Bindernagel might be back in a gallery packing or hanging art. About this he wants to be clear: While he is happy and incredibly fortunate, there’s no need to romanticize the artistic life. If a month is looking thin, he’ll pick up a freelance art handling gig. Art sales tend to slow in the summer months, and this past summer his costs shot up as he burned through supplies preparing for his solo debut.

But this “ebb and flow,” as he calls it, is a far cry from the cliché of the starving artist. That’s one myth he’s quick to blast. “Say, ‘I am going to move to New York to be a professional artist,’ and people think you’re crazy — they tell you you’re crazy,” says Bindernagel, “but get here and you’ll realize art is a billion-dollar industry with a huge net of available jobs.” From hourly work in galleries, museums, and shipping companies to assisting artists, correcting digital files, and photographing artwork, he says, “there are really a lot of options” to get set up and connected.

Bindernagel’s “Untitled,” 2010, acrylic on canvas, 28 x 22 inches.

This is typical of Bindernagel’s realistic, yet positive, take on making it as an artist. It’s not easy, he says, but it is doable. What’s his Number One insight?

Make art. It may sound obvious, but staying focused on this key priority takes more dedication than you might think.

Here are six more:

• Plug into the art world. Bindernagel was making ends meet in retail, but to get the life he wanted he felt he needed a job in the art industry—so he became an art handler. This put him in galleries meeting artists, collectors, and curators and gave him an up-close view of how the system works.

• This was all very helpful with: Get a social support network. “If you are going to make a run of it in New York City you need a net of people who are there for you—who support you, recommend you for group shows or studio visits, and push you.” If Bindernagel took a day or two off of painting, a studiomate would call and say, “Hey, where you at? Get in the studio. You’ve got to put in some hours. And bring beer.”

• Support, of course, is both get and give, which brings us to: Go to your friends’ openings. “Sure, you’re tired, but go anyway,” he says. “You’ve got to support your friends.”

• Get a studio. Bindernagel pays more for his 400 square feet of studio space than for his apartment. “It’s really the most important place to me in the world,” he says, and it’s always been a top priority. It reminds him every day that art is a serious business. Plus, he makes a mess. “I need a certain amount of freedom when I paint,” he says. Also, it’s more professional: “People generally don’t want to come to an apartment for a studio visit.” It’s been great, too, for expanding his social circle and for networking. “It’s a given,” he says, that he and his studiomates will introduce each other to any visiting artists, curators, or collectors. “This sharing and community building has been invaluable to us all, leading to shows, sales, and contacts.”

• Keep your head up. For the first three years in New York, no one showed much interest in Bindernagel’s art. The reality, he says: “Tons of people are not going to be impressed by your work—be persistent and dedicated and resilient.”

• Finally, especially for those still in school: It’s never too early to think about a game plan. Work on writing skills—it’ll help when applying for residencies and grants. Find out exactly what a gallery registrar does, how to store and best maintain your artwork, and how to approach a gallery.

“So many people blindly send a stock note and an elaborate portfolio, but galleries don’t look at those books,” he explains. The key is to be recommended or to build a relationship. “Go to the gallery’s every single opening,” he suggests. “After a few months introduce yourself, tell them you like what they do, offer your card, follow up — it’s kind of like dating.”

Bindernagel found his path during a New York residency through CCAD. “The program was awesome,” he says, “but if you can’t do it, sublet. Spend the summer here. Test it out. See if it’s for you.”

Lastly, he urges, talk to people: “I’ve told you my story; there’s always another artist who’s done it differently. There are many ways to make a living, make art, and be happy.”

Update, 11/15/12: Bindernagel reports that he is “safe and sound” after hurricane Sandy, and his neighborhood escaped the worst. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of his studio building in Queens. His sixth-floor space is fine, but at street level the water was knee-deep, and the building is still without heat. Also flooded: the CRG Gallery in Chelsea where his show was to open on Nov. 15 (tentative new date: Jan. 17). Though he feels “very lucky” that his newest work was safe in his studio, some paintings at CRG were lost. “Yes, it’s disappointing,” he says, “but so many people lost so much more.” One bright spot: he has a second show to look forward to—at the Beta Pictoris gallery in Birmingham, Alabama, this summer.

Chad Hunt in a self-portrait taken at the Yakima Training Center in Washington State.

By Kristen M. Foley

Photography has changed considerably since Chad Hunt graduated from CCAD in 1994 with his BFA in photography. While technology has made the photographer’s job easier, it also has made it tougher in some ways. “The current iPhone has a higher screen resolution than the first digital camera I shot with that cost $5,000,” notes Hunt. “You can find photographers much easier now, too. Sometimes it’s hard to stand out in that world.”

But Hunt stands out, nonetheless, because his talent goes far beyond the ability to click a shutter button and press “send.” The artistic elements in his photos frame the observable world and give it meaning, something that he believes stems from his experiences at CCAD.

Since then he has captured thousands of images. His most recent endeavors have taken him to war-torn Afghanistan, where he was embedded with American troops. His photographs capture the soldiers as well as the dramatic, on-edge environment in which they must live every day.

“My first trip over there I paid my own way and completed it as a freelance project,” Hunt says. “I was bored with regular photography, and I had this idea that I wanted to be embedded, so I looked into it and just did it.”

Photo by Chad Hunt

That impulse led to a total of three trips to Afghanistan over two years, during which Hunt slept next to machine guns, witnessed firefights, and ultimately charted a new direction in his career.

His most intense memory is when he first stepped off a military helicopter onto the Afghanistan ground in September 2006.

“It was almost a ‘careful what you wish for’ sort of thing,” laughs Hunt now. “When I got off the helicopter, it was really dark, and I went into the tent and slept for like 15 minutes. All of a sudden the lieutenant came in and said, ‘A Humvee has been hit, and they’re taking fire. This is what you wanted right? You’re going into a firefight.’ I jumped up and I was like, crap I’m really here. Now I actually have to do this.”

Hunt quickly settled in. “It’s amazing to connect with these individuals on this level. It’s really a matter of asking them questions and telling them you are there to tell their story,” reflects Hunt. “Just spending time with them goes a long way in earning their trust.”

In 2008, his photograph of Sergeant Major David Combs at the Korengal Outpost in Afghanistan made the cover of Time magazine.

The success was welcome, but with each military trip, Hunt found that editors became less likely to assign him to anything but “guys, gears, and guns” stories.

So he’s switching it up again. At the time of this interview, he was preparing to embark on a trip to Haiti to capture new images for the World Wide Orphan Foundation. “I’m excited—it’s an opportunity to re-prove myself,” he says. Given Hunt’s track record, we expect the trip will broaden not only his worldview, but ours.

Lian Dziura in front of her work at the Thunderdome awards reception at Clifton Cultural Arts Center.

FOTOFOCUS is a monthlong celebration in Cincinnati, OH that combines exhibitions, conferences, presentations, and other special events to honor the art of photography. Many CCAD alumni, students, faculty, and staff were involved with various exhibitions around the city in October.

Professor and Illustration alumna Helen Hoffelt (CCAD 1982) showed work in the Midwest Society for Photographic Education Members Exhibition at the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center in Covington, KY, Sept. 28–Oct. 31. Hoffelt also had work in Images of the Great Depression: A Documentary Portrait of Ohio 1935-2010 at the University of Cincinnati’s Sycamore Gallery, Oct. 1–Oct. 27.

Henry Scott with his work at the Thunderdome awards reception at Clifton Cultural Arts Center.

Media Studies alumna Rachel Girard Reisert (CCAD 2002) had a solo exhibition Tropism at 1305 Gallery, Sept. 28–Nov. 11. Reisert also presented during the Midwest Regional Society for Photographic Education Conference on Oct. 13.

A senior in Photography, Kayla Holdgreve, exhibited two of her pieces in Current: MW Society of Photographic Education Student Juried Exhibition at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Oct. 4–31.

Photography alumna Lian Dziura (CCAD 2012), Junior in Cinematic Arts Tom Hoying, MFA alumnus Cosby Lindquist (CCAD 2012), Photography alumnus Marcus Morris (CCAD 2012), junior in Photography Henry Scott, and MFA alumna Crystal Tursich (CCAD 2012) participated in the juried invitational exhibition Thunderdome, at Clifton Cultural Arts Center in Cincinnati, OH, Oct.13–14. Lindquist was one of three award winners and Dziura received an honorable mention.

“Corn Crib” by alumna CV Mansoor

Fine Arts alumna CV Mansoor (CCAD 1977) is exhibiting work at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. The exhibition, Green Acres: Artists Farming Vacant Lots, Greenhouses and Fields runs though Jan. 20.

Mansoor submitted work through Homeadow Song, a center that actively promotes experiential learning through integration of practical work, artistic experience, and celebration of community.

The exhibition presents farming as art through a wide variety of approaches. The work was contributed from 23 artists and/or organizations.

Aminah Robinson, photo courtesy of Lian Dziura (CCAD 2012)

Alumna Aminah Robinson (CCAD 1960) was inducted recently into the city of Columbus’ Hall of Fame by Mayor Michael B. Coleman.

Robinson combines traditional art materials with found objects and everyday materials such as buttons, cloth, leather, twigs, shells, and music box workings to create two-and three-dimensional works of art.

She has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States and has received numerous awards and grants from arts organizations. In 2002, the Columbus Museum of Art organized a retrospective exhibition of her work that traveled throughout the country. In 2004, Robinson was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, commonly referred to as genius grants.

Her work can be found in many private collections and in museums including the Columbus Museum of Art, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Tacoma Art Museum, and the Newark Museum.

Robinson is now one of 50 Columbus Hall of Fame inductees, to view the full list, click here.

Hiroshi Hayakawa’s feature in “Diffusion: Unconventional Photography”

Associate Professor and Photography alumnus Hiroshi Hayakawa (CCAD 1985) is featured in the fifth annual edition of the magazine Diffusion: Unconventional Photography.

The magazine discusses Hayakawa’s unique way of processing his photos: printing his images on oxidized sheet metal through the application of liquid photo emulsion (Liquid Light) onto the surface. This allows the rust on the metal to penetrate the picture and become part of the overall image.

The magazine is an independent, contributor- and reader-supported annual that highlights and celebrates unconventional photographic processes and photo-related artwork.

Screen shot from IMDB, photo by Richard Harbaugh © 2011 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Attention everyone, drum roll… the 2012 Alumni Award for Excellence goes to Illustration alumnus Dan Scanlon (CCAD 1998).

Scanlon will be making his directorial debut with Pixar’s Monsters University next year, and there is already buzz about both his work and the animated movie, including a nod from the LA Times.

Since joining Pixar in 2001, Scanlon’s film credits include Cars, The Little Mermaid II, and 101 Dalmatians II as a storyboard artist and The Indescribable Nth and Joseph: King of Dreams as an animator. He also co-directed the short film Mater and the Ghostlight.

“Every year we get amazing CCAD talent nominated for the award,” said Denny Griffith, CCAD president. “I know the committees deliberated for hours on this tough decision, and Dan is one of the many alumni who signify the range of work they are doing in their professional careers.”

Scanlon’s work will be honored at CCAD’s Family Weekend & Homecoming on Oct. 12–13. An alumni reception will be held on Oct. 13 welcoming all alumni, friends, and family to mingle and chat about CCAD then and now.

Each year CCAD accepts nominations for the Alumni Award for Excellence as a way to acknowledge not only the success and contributions of one very deserving graduate, but also the impact CCAD alumni have all over the world. To read about past winners, click here.

David Breaux (left) standing with his Megaforce MK4 Motorcycle, part of his extensive movie prop collection

David Breaux (CCAD 1994) had a busy year on the Hollywood animation scene. Recently he has been working with international visual effects company Pixmondo, and worked on such well-known films and television shows as Terra Nova, Hunger Games, Tron: Legacy, and Iron Man 2.

The Illustration alumnus was a senior animator on the FOX television series Terra Nova, produced by Steven Spielberg, which won a Visual Effects Society (VES) award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series.

“We averaged about two to three weeks per episode for our schedule,” Breaux said of his time developing the characters, which, in this case, included dinosaurs.

Breaux’s work as a freelancer means he relies heavily on the success of a show. When Terra Nova was not picked up for a second season, it left Breaux and other designers temporarily out of work.

“If a show is cancelled it can have a huge impact,” Breaux said. “We [animators] can be out of work for three or five months because of the hole that was created in our schedule. In the animation business, companies cannot afford to float people for too long waiting for another show.”

To fill the gaps, Breaux works on smaller projects, including some weekend work for the television show Grimm. He also is an instructor at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects.

For Hunger Games, Breaux spent months working on the tracker jackers, which fans of the books and movie will remember as the genetically engineered wasps. All the work had to be hand keyed, which meant that he spent hours developing details such as their movement, their speed, and the hive.

“My time at CCAD gave me a broad education, though, and it has helped me be flexible when it comes to work,” Breaux said. “Most of the time I focus on formatting, but I can also work on models and do some design work.”

Breaux is currently working on Die Hard 5: A Good Day to Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis, which is scheduled for release in 2013.

John Urbano works on the One Direction music video, screenshot from behind the scenes video

Advertising & Graphic Design alumnus John Urbano can now add two VMAs to his list of accomplishments.

Urbano directed the British pop band One Direction’s music video “What Makes You Beautiful,” which won two MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 6 for Best Pop Video and Most Share-Worthy Video, with the band taking home Best New Artist.

John Urbano works on the One Direction music video, screenshot from behind the scenes video

The video features the five-member boy band on a road trip, meeting up with friends on a beautiful California beach.

In a behind the scenes video, Urbano describes the film as candid, energetic, and fun.

“In a typical boy-band music video there is this recipe, and we’ve kind of thrown that recipe away—breaking the mold,” Urbano said in the making-of video.

The video has reached more than 200 million views on Vevo, a music video site, since its premiere on Aug. 19, 2011.

Hartman is a supervising director and supervising art director for Transformers: Prime, which took home an Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program at the 39th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards earlier this summer. He was also nominated in the category of Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program.

Hartman has worked on other series and projects including Spider-Man, My Friends Tigger & Pooh, Starship Troopers, Stuart Little 3, and Jackie Chan Adventures.

The 39th Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards recognize outstanding achievement in all fields of daytime television production.

Screenshot from Mediani’s “The Box”

Animation alumna Kartika Mediani (CCAD 2010) showed her film The Box at the 2012 Comic-Con’s San Diego International Children’s Film Festival in California on July 15.

The short animated film, which was written, directed, and illustrated by Mediana, follows a young boy and the lengths to which he will go to protect a precious box.

The San Diego International Children’s Film Festival presents creative, exciting, and imaginative short films from around the world.

Mediana is currently working on her MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Poster from “S.O.S”

Advertising & Graphic Design alumnus James Alicea (CCAD 1992) recently finished a project where he was not only able to rally artists from Japan and New York, but also helped raise money and awareness for victims of the 2011 tsunami and eathquake in Japan.

Alicea and his business partner Shin Ono created S.O.S: Suns of Silence, a one-day exhibition featuring work from 28 artists, 14 from Japan and 14 from New York City. The show was held in Tokyo, Japan, on April 13, 2012.

“I connected with artists from my everyday movements,” Alicea said. “Creatives that I have met or have had the pleasure of working with all helped out.”

The artists had to put their own artistic touch on a 3D mold of a human skull. The designs ranged from an abstract neon painting to a realistic recreation of a face.

“There were no guidelines as to what was suppose to be painted,” Alicea said. “[The skulls] were meant to represent the destruction that the earthquake and tsunami left in their wakes.”

The exhibition served as an auction for the skulls. Guests also enjoyed a live photo session with internationally known photographer Yone. Every skull was sold, and the money raised was donated to Bond&Justice, a grassroots organization helping the victims of the 2011 disaster.

“It was a successful turnout not just because of the cause and the money that was raised, but it introduced artists from two different worlds,” Alicea said.

Alicea and Ono have started planning and creating a similar exhibition for next year, which will tour through Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore and end in New York City.

Additional photos from the event can be viewed here, and video here.

Peter Wachtel using his invention the STAKE

A creation of Industrial Design alumnus Peter Wachtel (CCAD 1990) seems to be becoming the “official BBQ tool of the summer.” Last year we reported his invention STAKE and his production of it via Quirky. Since then the STAKE has received a lot of publicity and is being sold through venues such as Target, Fab, and ThinkGeek.

Reviews for the product on the popular gadget site ThinkGeek range from “This. Changes. Everything,” to “If Tony Stark ever grilled, this is what he would use.”

“I am a big BBQ fan,” Wachtel said. “I was BBQing in the backyard and was amazed that I needed so many tools to cook—I had my spatula, tongs, a fork, a knife, and even a bottle opener. There was a different tool for every function. I thought, wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to combine all of these needed tools into one multifunction tool that I could easily take anywhere.”

And so Wachtel created the STAKE. He began his design process by taking apart the tools he used while BBQing and creating a rough prototype. After some trial and error, he arrived at his final invention.

Wachtel has also been gaining publicity for his other invention, the Mercado bag, which was designed with farmers’ markets in mind. It is made out of nylon mesh and canvas and has multiple compartments to protect fresh produce from being bruised during transport. The bag is also being sold on Quirky and Fab and has even been featured on the LA Times online blog.

Wachtel is the owner and president of Kid Toyology, which designs and develops items for the toy and entertainment industries.

Cover of “Dinosaur Pet”

Dinosaur Pet, illustrated by alumnus Tim Bowers (CCAD 1979), has garnered a lot of attention—it has climbed to number three on The New York Times bestsellers list and is number one on the Publishers Weekly top-selling children’s picture book list.

The book, written by Marc Sedaka, follows a young boy and his unlikely companionship with his pet dinosaur. A musical CD accompanies the story; songs on the CD are sung by the author’s father, Grammy Award winner Neil Sedaka.

Bowers has illustrated more than 30 children’s books, including The New York Times bestseller Dream Big, Little Pig! written by Kristi Yamaguchi.

Dennison W. Griffith. Photo by Kelsey McClellan (CCAD 2012)

It’s spring (SPRING!) here in Columbus, and another academic year will soon draw to a close. For our seniors and second-year MFA candidates, the exhilaration and satisfaction of their rapidly approaching graduation is balanced by an awareness that they’re about to step from the academic community back into the community community—which almost certainly will include some form of gainful employment.

But at an art and design college, that’s the whole point. No one enrolls here just to enhance a hobby. With that in mind, we focus this issue of Image on the “j” word: jobs.

• Two 2011 grads, Phong Nguyen and Kristen Macauley, share stories of their lives as creative professionals just starting out in Boston and New York [go to story].
• Thomas Boonyarungsrit (CCAD 2005) talks about how he zeroed in on his favorite field of design—and what it’s been like to return to his hometown of Bangkok to do it [go to story].
• And in the Newest of the New category: You’ve heard mutterings—or perhaps even our formal announcement—about CCAD MindMarket, CCAD’s impending initiative to prepare students for work and entrepreneurship opportunities after graduation. The full MindMarket launch won’t occur until this fall, but we’re offering you a sneak peek right now at two CCAD alumni who are giving MindMarket’s creative business incubator a test drive. The “giving back” is flowing every which way on this one [go to story].

One last thing: every spring, we happily thank our donors in a special section of Image. This spring is no exception, but we’ve upped the CCAD family ante with a student contest to create a feature graphic that says “thanks” in a visual way, too. Don’t miss the great result on page 22 [in the printed magazine, or click here to see the graphic online].

Warm regards,

Dennison W. Griffith

President

Boston, the home of Phong Nguyen (CCAD 2011) and his first post-graduation job.

By Kendra Hovey

It’s Thursday afternoon and by the look of things, Phong Nguyen might think he is back in college. After all, there are pizza and video games and it’s not even six o’clock. But Nguyen, 25, is not in college. The Texas native graduated from CCAD in 2011 and soon after took his Illustration degree to a new job at Tencent Boston—where every other Thursday is Game Day. “We stop working when the food arrives,” explains Nguyen. Spouses and partners come, and the play can last all night “or whenever we tap out.”

Tencent is China’s largest and most-used internet portal—comparable to Google—and Tencent Boston (TCB) is one of its U.S. branches. At TCB, the focus is on game development, and Nguyen is a junior concept artist. “Basically,” he says, “whenever there is a question of ‘how will this look,’ concept artists provide the answer.” Getting to that answer is when Nguyen knows for sure he is not in college. “In school, I might have weeks to complete an assignment. Here at work, from thumbnails, sketches, semi-final, to final can be as short as a day.”

Most days now at Tencent Nguyen works on a Cintiq digital tablet, drawing on the pressure-sensitive screen with a stylus. When he is given a project, it comes with a code name and an “art bible.” Sometimes the creative direction in the art bible is specific—a Greek castle, say, circa 15^th century, colors muted—and sometimes very loose, like the two words guiding his assignment for a project codenamed “Ice.” All Nguyen was given was “creepy cave”—so he created a dark, damp, eerie mood with lighting that allowed the action in the game to reflect off puddles and the damp roof of the cave.

Nguyen at work.

Is it challenging? “Yes,” he says, “but I’ve learned that when you push yourself, you can do a lot you didn’t think you were capable of.” The best part of his job—even better than Game Day—and the part he never loses sight of is this: “When it comes down to it, I’m being paid to draw and paint pictures.”

In a different city and a different industry, CCAD alum Kristen Macauley has also managed to marry art and career, and she is pretty pumped about it. At Haskell Jewels in New York, Macauley is the jewelry designer for the Robert Lee Morris line. “It’s been amazing,” she says. The 23-year-old Fine Arts major works directly with Morris, whose “wearable art” has been celebrated since the 1970s and can be found in the pages of Vogue and on the wrists of stars from Iman to the Olsen twins. (Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas is partial to his silver metallic cuffs.) Morris’s style is sculptural, conceptual, and organic. “He is an artist,” says Macauley, “and he inspires and motivates me every day.”

New York City, the home of Kristen Macauley (CCAD 2011) and her first post-graduation job.

Macauley, just like Nguyen, is less than a year out of CCAD. For any graduate, that first year is often a time of finding one’s professional legs, yet both of these young artists seem to be in full stride. “In fact, it’s been crazy hectic,” says Macauley—especially in January, when the runway pieces had to be ready for Fashion Week, which is right on the heels of Market Week, when Haskell opens its doors and all its lines to buyers scoping out the newest designs.

Macauley no longer works on the fabrication end making the jewelry itself. Yet before samples are delivered to the studio, she knows exactly what each piece will look like. It’s a skill she owes to CCAD faculty member Kelly Malec-Kosak, an assistant professor in Fine Arts and the chair of Dimensional Studies. “She makes you really get your hand and mind wrapped around what the material is going to do,” says Macauley, who also appreciated her former professor’s emphasis on communication, even her “dreaded” writing assignments. “One thing CCAD does very well,” she says, “is to make you talk about your work, what it is about, and the story behind it.” Macauley believes this prepared her for the intensive interview process that got her in, first, at the large apparel and accessories company the Jones Group, and then later, in November, at Haskell.

Macauley at work.

Macauley also discovered that her degree from CCAD was a “wonderful attention grabber.” In the accessories side of the New York fashion world, most candidates come out of the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Macauley’s interviewers assumed she did, too. “I was very proud to say, ‘No, I went to CCAD,’” she says. She feels that, as a result, there was more interest in her portfolio and her education.

CCAD also played a role in Nguyen finding his job. It was a CCAD alum who told him about the opportunity at Tencent Boston. Nguyen was a senior at the time and already building his concept art portfolio; he immediately began researching Tencent so he could tailor his portfolio to the company’s needs.

From Nguyen’s first day at CCAD, his plan was to work in entertainment. The industry is recession-proof, he explains, and “allows steady income without losing creativity.” His parents were supportive of his art degree, but to him the loans were scary. He’s glad to have found that he is able to handle them now.

Macauley’s family is, in her words, a “huge supporter of the arts.” Her father is an application architect for Rolls-Royce North America. Macauley had always expected that, like her father, she would do creative work within a commercial enterprise, but exactly what kind of work that would be didn’t come together until her senior year at CCAD. “That’s when I realized I wanted to combine my interests and find a way to deliver a fine arts message with a fashion and jewelry design look,” she recalls.

Now living in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, Macauley likes to take advantage of the design scene in New York—going to events, conferences, and museums. Still, she does miss CCAD, especially the studio time. Her advice to current students: “Take full advantage, because when you leave, studio time is not cheap.” Nguyen especially appreciated the camaraderie of talented artists at CCAD, as well as the painting and figure drawing classes, and nights spent sketching and drinking bubble tea at Pochi’s. In Boston, he enjoys going to Newbury Street and Chinatown.

But both grads are well aware that they’re still getting to know their new cities. It’s no surprise; after all, it’s just the first year.

Click any thumbnail below to view images in larger, slideshow format. Nguyen and Macauley each provided images of of their work and offices. Thanks to Fernanda Medina of sydandpianyc.com for the 2011 photo of a Robert Lee Morris shop window in SoHo.

CCAD alumnus Thomas Boonyarungsrit at work.

By Kendra Hovey

With everything the Thai city of Bangkok has to offer, why would Thomas Katkanan Boonyarungsrit get a kick out of grocery shopping? Perhaps because when he shops, he might just spot his own illustration on the shelf or type treatment in the freezer aisle. The senior graphic designer crafts the look and feel of all kinds of products, from websites to logos to book covers, but consumer goods, he says, can be especially fun. “Seeing my designs hit the shelf all over the country—I feel very proud.”

We hope he feels just as proud when he opens this magazine. After all, he designed it. Days after his 2005 graduation from CCAD, the Thai native joined Columbus firm Ologie, where he helped rebrand Nationwide and CCAD, taking the lead on the initial design for Image [the print version]. A refresh or two later, 80% of his building blocks remain. About our revamps: “Ain’t bad at all,” he says, “I’m quite pleased with how it looks.”

These days the 29-year-old Boonyarungsrit reads Image in his hometown. In 2006, he returned to Bangkok, where—first at Young & Rubicam and now at Creative Juice/Bangkok—he’s built a career in advertising and a list of accounts that includes multinationals Bacardi, DQ, and Dell, among others.

Branding project from Boonyarungsrit's work with Young & Rubicam.

Recently, we caught up with him for a long-distance chat about career, life, and his very engaging French bulldog—but first on our list was to ask about his name. After all, he has three: Katkanan, his given name; Shane, a nickname from his parents (a common Thai practice) used by his nearest and dearest; and Thomas, an aid for English speakers and the one he suggested we use for this headline. He adopted it at 15 when he and his brother moved to New Zealand to attend high school.

Boonyarungsrit not only has three first names, he’s lived in three countries and on three continents (New Zealand being, officially, a “micro-continent.”) All of this occurred before he reached age 19. So when asked if he had any words of wisdom for current CCAD students, he answered from experience. “Don’t be afraid of change!” he says. “Life is all about learning, and there is so much out here for you to learn.”

Not one to ignore his own advice, Thomas recently made a big change: He joined a new agency, Creative Juice/Bangkok, which is ranked as the top creative firm in Thailand. For someone whose personal tagline, “Great Minds Don’t Think Alike,” is an inventive twist on a familiar saying, it seems like a good match.

IMAGE: Can you tell us a bit about your work in the advertising industry?

Boonyarungsrit: When I came back to Bangkok I took on a freelance project creating brand guidelines. That’s when I realized advertising was really where I wanted to be. I get to set the style, look, and feel, and I like to learn and be inspired among creative people. Designing for an agency means being involved in the whole production process, and I really enjoy working with the photographer, stylist, retoucher, supplier, event organizer. I learn so much from creative people in different fields.

IMAGE: What brought you from Thailand—by way of New Zealand—to CCAD?

Boonyarungsrit: I’ve enjoyed art since the age of eight. I guess it is in my blood. My dad used to make custom frames for artists and also owned an art and antiques shop. In high school, after I came in first in art for three years and won a couple of national competitions, I knew I wanted to make it my career. Art is big in the United  States and the United Kingdom, so my parents found out about good art colleges. When CCAD offered me a scholarship, I did not hesitate. I had heard that it had a great foundation program.

Boonyarungsrit and Rod-Tung (which means "a tank").

IMAGE: Any difficulties adjusting to life in the American Midwest?

Boonyarungsrit: Yes, but it was because of New Zealand! I had to change my accent and slang and spelling. For instance, in the States rubber does not mean eraser, tea is called dinner, and colour is spelled color. Returning to Thailand after 10 years also took adjustment. It is my home, but I didn’t know the streets. I had a very difficult time with directions.

IMAGE: What has been your experience having a degree from the States?

Boonyarungsrit: I think it gives me an advantage. My experience abroad shows flexibility, curiosity, adaptability, and pro-activity. Plus, of course, there are my additional language skills. I still use the knowledge I gained from those foundation studies every day—color theory, composition, etc. You never realize how much you have learned at CCAD till you’re actually using it in real life.

IMAGE: Is there anything we here in the States might not know about the advertising industry in Thailand?

Boonyarungsrit: The Thai consumer still consumes traditional media such as TV commercials and radio and print ads. Digital media is something Thai creatives are moving toward, but clients still think that the old-fashioned way is most effective. Therefore, entering awards is an important channel for young creatives and agencies like mine to create cool work and gain a reputation.

IMAGE: What do you like to do for fun?

Boonyarungsrit: I love to play guitar and sing. I also love traveling, especially to Japan. What I most enjoy about Bangkok is that everything comes in variety and is inexpensive. We have many foods from different cultures, many shopping malls, markets, beaches, and more.

IMAGE: You also seem to enjoy photography—or at least taking pictures of your dog! Can you tell us about her?

Boonyarungsrit: Ok! She is a French bulldog, and she is now about two years old. I named her “Rod-Tung,” which means “a tank.” She sleeps with me every night and wakes me up every morning, including weekends! She is very friendly with people, but won’t play with other dogs.

IMAGE: Lastly, what do you think about being part of the content in a magazine you designed?

Boonyarungsrit: Well, I do feel good about being featured in my own work!

(All images were provided by Thomas Boonyarungsrit.)

Most people don’t think of an art college as an economic driver for a community, but James E. Kunk begs to differ. Kunk, regional president of Huntington Bank and treasurer of CCAD‘s board of trustees, believes that CCAD has made Columbus a more vibrant, diverse, and interesting place to live and work, which are all key elements for building a strong economy.

Since 1988, Huntington has made significant investments in CCAD to help create facilities and common spaces, making the campus more attractive for student life and business opportunities. These include contributions to CCAD’s Design Studios on Broad and the Loann Crane Center for Design.

“CCAD has created a true campus setting that engages and enhances the community,” says Kunk. “They’ve also transformed the area around the campus, creating a distinct art district on the fringes of downtown Columbus.”

Huntington’s most recent investment was the lead gift in support of the college’s new MindMarket, a creative hub where students and alumni will engage with entrepreneurs and the business world (search “MindMarket” on the CCAD blog for more about the MindMarket initiative). This generous donation further reflects the bank’s commitment to economic development and education in Columbus.

“CCAD’s MindMarket is a transformational program that will continue to position the college as a cutting-edge leader,” says Kunk. “It will provide students with real-world business education from industry experts, all while preparing them to enter the workforce upon graduation. Whether it’s a team of designers developing websites and company portals or the next wave of fashion to hit the runways, students can learn about business development and processes in real time.”

Huntington has also provided individual opportunities for CCAD artists and designers. In 2011 the bank sought out local artist and CCAD alumna Kirsten Bowen (Illustration 1989) to create a painting to augment Huntington Bank’s “Welcome” brand positioning. The painting, which was featured at the 2011 CCAD Senior Fashion Show, is currently displayed on the executive floor of Huntington’s headquarters in downtown Columbus.

In addition to the painting, Huntington leveraged Bowen’s artistic skills to create a scarf design for the bank’s colleague career apparel line. The result has received great feedback from Huntington associates for adding a fun and stylish piece to their work wardrobe.

“There has always been a prejudice that you can’t make a living as an artist,” says Bowen. “Having strong partnerships with businesses like Huntington Bank provides students and alumni with opportunities and helps us shake our bohemian reputation.”

Huntington also employs CCAD graduates in a variety of capacities from branding and advertising to developing its web presence, allowing the bank to engage with its customers both online and offline in creative ways.

“Huntington is an advocate for what CCAD is creating,” says Kunk. “The college is a true catalyst for Columbus’s creative class, and we are proud to be partners with such a driving force in our community.”

Alireza Massoumnia

By Alireza Massoumnia

Throughout history, fashion has always evolved—not only in style but also in accessibility to the masses. Just as the invention of the sewing machine during the first Industrial Revolution affected the speed and ease of garment construction, today’s advanced technology is pushing fashion to new heights in both affordability and quality, making it easier for consumers to obtain the most current fashions at affordable prices.

And technology isn’t just making production faster and cheaper. Now that high-fashion runway shows are immediately and widely available on the web, so-called “fast fashion” companies can produce and ship similar products at a much lower price and at a faster pace than the original designers. It’s true that high fashion and fast fashion cater to different types of customers, but it’s important to realize that each influences how the other is perceived.

Fast fashion brings new challenges for designers, who not only must (as usual) stay relevant to the ever-changing world of fashion, but also must keep their products desirable and different in this new context. As a designer, I find these challenges exciting. It has made me approach the creative process much differently than I did before. From the moment I pick up a pencil to the final result, I’m pushed to be more creative and to think outside the box. I’m more interested in the elements that make a high-fashion collection special, from craftsmanship and exquisite textiles to innovations in shape and construction.

However, this way of thinking is neither new nor unique; it has always existed for designers whose creations have stood the test of time.

In the winter of 2006 I was fortunate enough to be able to go into the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute archives and do hands-on research on 10 pieces from Christian Dior’s 1948 Zig Zag and 1954 Lily of the Valley collections. In those few hours, I realized how much thought and creativity had gone into every piece. In each garment, every detail had a purpose, from darts to seams. All the components were special—demonstrating a unique vision while at the same time pushing the boundaries of tailoring of the era.

That experience forever changed how I see fashion and made it clear to me why some creations are kept as treasures in museums around the world. It also made me appreciate and acknowledge contemporary designers such as Azzedine Alaïa and Rei Kawakubo who have always worked in this way.

My hope is that the flood of inexpensive, on-trend fashion options will be a wake-up call for high-fashion brands—helping them see, as I did, that fast fashion creates a greater opportunity than ever for unique and exquisitely made clothing.

Bio: Alireza Massoumnia is a New York City-based fashion designer who was born in Tehran, Iran, and grew up in San Francisco and New York. After earning a degree in fashion design he spent several years honing his skills with women’s wear brands in San Francisco before launching his own collection in New York in 1998. For seven years, the Alireza collection garnered great reviews and editorial coverage in many U.S. and international publications, including Vogue, W, Bazaar, WWD, and Elle. Since 2005 Massoumnia has worked with some of the most iconic names in fashion, such as Calvin Klein, Thierry Mugler, Zac Posen, and Isaac Mizrahi, as well as creating costume designs for stage and film.

Click on any thumbnail below to open a slideshow and view larger images of couture details from vintage Christian Dior garments in the Historic Costume & Textiles Collection at Ohio State University. Photographs by Lian Dziura (CCAD 2012).

Jeannine Kraft stands in a castle door.

By Kristen M. Foley

Jeannine Kraft’s imagination has been directed across the Atlantic Ocean ever since she was a young girl. Staying true to her earliest interests, the CCAD Liberal Arts assistant professor and History of Art and Design chair has fashioned a lifelong career from her ever-evolving passion for all things Irish.

Kraft’s childhood fascination was with medieval literature and mythology from throughout England, Ireland, and Wales. As a graduate student at Ohio State University, she focused on medieval Irish art, but over the past few years she has expanded her exploration of Irish art and culture. She’s currently investigating the expression of identity in the country’s art and how it reflects the history rooted in its breathtaking landscape.

An untitled print by Robert Ellis from his series "New Line." (© Robert Ellis)

“There are these layers of history that mark the landscape,” says Kraft. “When you [first] think of Ireland you think of the castles, the high crosses, and the standing stones, and how they became an embedded part of their cultural identity—but I’m interested in how they are reflected in the visual arts.”

During her sabbatical last summer Kraft used a CCAD Faculty Enrichment grant to make her eighth trip to Ireland. “I’m so passionate about the culture that when I do get to go somewhere, I choose there,” she muses. “I should probably diversify a little, but I love it so much.”

Even with eight trips behind her, Kraft still learns something new about the country and its people every time she visits. During last summer’s trip she chose to deepen her research on modern and contemporary art. What she uncovered was somewhat of an artistic struggle, as contemporary Irish artists try to embrace their heritage and the landscape without being drowned out by stereotypical views of their country. Kraft observes that the art of today is in contention with images of the past over which should serve as the authentic voice and vision of Irish culture.

An untitled print by Robert Ellis from his series "New Line." (© Robert Ellis)

“It’s a really loaded question for contemporary artists, because there is a tourist stereotype and kitsch image of Ireland, and they struggle with that legacy and cultural baggage,” says Kraft. “That’s really where I’m moving forward with my research, to this idea of the duality of the expression of Irish identity: the constructed mythology of the landscape versus contemporary artists striving for an authentic engagement with the landscape and its legacy.”

Kraft credits CCAD with assisting her in pursuing her work and allowing her to share it with her students, who are already fascinated with Irish art. She notes that students are curious about how the art has trickled down into contemporary pop culture via the use of Irish and Celtic symbols in tattoos and fashion patterns.

One final note brings Kraft’s childhood passion full circle. Her love for Ireland and for her young son have inspired her to write Liam the Valiant-Hearted Warrior, a children’s book set in Ireland and illustrated by CCAD Illustration alumnus Patrick Butler. She’s currently shopping it to publishers; we’re all looking forward to the results.

Above: The middle and last images are contemporary archival inkjet prints by Irish artist Robert Ellis from his series New Line, which documents the space inhabited by a small alternative community in the west of Ireland (both images Untitled, 40 x 47 inches, © Robert Ellis). The gallery below (click any image to view in larger, slideshow mode) includes snapshots from Kraft’s recent visit to Ireland.

From the Pipeline Project video directed by Erich Burchfield (with Meghann Pearson, Jen Stefanski, Dan Zimmer, Greg Browe, Philip Matthews, and Andy Robinson)

In film and video, there are a million ways to tell a story. With CCAD’s newly designed major in Cinematic Arts, you can find the right way (or ways) to tell yours, as well as learn the latest tools and tricks of the trade. Students in the program, which was officially approved last fall, learn the whole filmmaking process: storyboarding, production design, cinematography, directing, and post-production.

“The Cinematic Arts major grew out of a previous program, Media Studies, which was more general in nature. The recent name change reflects curricular revisions to offer a more focused major,” says Kevin J. Conlon, CCAD vice president for academic affairs. “This program prepares students in all cinema-related areas, but I think what distinguishes it from a typical film program is that, while the traditional skill sets are there, our program is all digitally based. Students won’t be working with traditional film—they’ll be working with 21st-century tools and techniques. We wanted to think ahead and think more broadly about preparing CCAD students for a variety of cinematic experiences.”

Conlon notes that students who pursue this major will dive deep into the roles of director, screenwriter, cinematographer, video editor, motion graphics designer, and sound designer. Throughout their coursework, they’ll be exposed to the latest film and editing technology and have the opportunity to spend time outside the classroom shooting on location. By the time students finish their senior project and put it on the big screen, they’ll have both a remarkable demo reel (including cutting-edge commercials, broadcast graphics, music videos, and short films) and a portfolio to showcase their talents.

Prospective students who are interested in the Cinematic Arts major should contact the CCAD Admissions office. Current students should contact One-Stop Student Services and make an appointment with an advisor.

In the gallery below, some student work by recent Cinematic Arts students.

MindMarket will soon be located in Design Studios on Broad. Photo: Kelsey McClellan (CCAD 2012)

The first component of CCAD’s transformational MindMarket initiative is starting up this spring.

While all three parts of the new CCAD MindMarket program—a business incubator, a project center, and a thought lab—will formally launch this fall, the business incubator started a pilot phase in February. Two “beta participants” are benefiting from the incubator’s services at reduced rates in exchange for providing in-depth feedback to CCAD about what they need and how the incubator can best provide it.

Ultimately, the incubator will house up to eight resident participants in newly renovated, highly visible facilities on the first floor of CCAD’s Design Studios on Broad. (A limited number of non-resident members will also be served.)

Each participant will have an individual workspace, as well as access to meeting rooms, basic office equipment, and administrative support. While planning and construction for those spaces proceeds, beta participants are working with financial, legal, and marketing mentors just down the block in the Loann Crane Center for Design.

Entrepreneurial partners such as TechColumbus and the Columbus State Small Business Development Center are also available as needed.

CCAD alumni were identified as a logical place to look for potential beta participants, and they were notified in December 2011 about the opportunity. More than 40 applications poured in from diverse creative professionals including fine artists, fashion designers, photographers, and art educators.

In the end, two participants were selected. We’re proud to welcome them into their new roles and excited to see their businesses and the CCAD MindMarket incubator grow—together.

element Ag

Jamie Dicus at work. Photo: Lian Dziura (CCAD 2012)

Jamie Dicus vividly remembers her first foray into serious jewelry making outside of her CCAD coursework. An aunt agreed to make a completely custom quilt for her—but not for free.

“The deal was that I would have to make her the value of the quilt, $700 or $800, of jewelry in return,” Dicus says. It didn’t stop there. She recalls, “Then my brother and his wife wanted wedding rings. And then I did a CCAD Art Sale—I had a tiny corner of my friend’s booth. I think I made my first non-family-member sale there.”

Dicus, who earned her BFA in Fine Arts in 2007, has steadily built that first CCAD Art Sale transaction into a loyal customer base. She didn’t pause for a second after graduation.

“You have to have a plan and get into it immediately,” she says. “You think it’s hard to be in school, but now it’s all up to you. And you have to figure out how to pay for it.”

She gradually assembled all the necessary equipment for a studio, while developing one particularly popular design into a fuller body of work. She named her business element Ag, after the periodic table’s symbol for silver.

Now that she’s poised to enter the incubator program, a different member of her family is the key influence.

“My dad is an entrepreneur and has been all my life. I’ve seen him have many businesses fail and succeed,” she says. “I love the idea of being your own boss and taking pride in what you do. It’s incredibly difficult, but the rewards outweigh the rest.”

Fulcrum Creatives

Principals Liz Samuelson and Jason Moore (CCAD 1996) of Fulcrum Creatives. Photo: Danielle Ford (CCAD 2013)

Founded in 2002 as Fulcrum Design Corps by Jamison Pack and CCAD alumnus Jason Moore (Ad/Graph 1996), Fulcrum Creatives gained its current name in 2010, when it entered into partnership with Liz Samuelson, formerly of Genuine Creative. Fulcrum has always had a close bond with CCAD; at the moment, there are two CCAD student interns and one full-time employee who is an alumna (Sami Nummi, Ad/Graph 2011).

Offering a broad range of creative services, Fulcrum’s business model focuses on a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.

“Our one-liner is ‘we create, elevate, and sustain organizations that positively impact their community,’” says Samuelson. The incubator will allow Fulcrum to develop an idea that expands that model. It arose out of the company’s ongoing success.

“[As our business grew] we noticed that we had started working with clients who were bigger. We also realized it was a bummer to have to say no to grassroots clients who were doing some of the most important work in our community,” Samuelson says.

The result was Fulcrum’s incubator proposal: a program called Seesaw Squad that will use a multidisciplinary group of undergraduate art and design students to do identity and design work for clients with lesser budgets.

“There’s no one I know of in Ohio that’s doing anything like this,” says Samuelson. “The most valuable aspect of it is the opportunity for younger students to engage with the Columbus community and help make it a better place. Design can do good; creativity can do good.” For more, visit fulcrumcreatives.com.

First MindMarket Visitor Confirmed

We’re excited to announce the CCAD MindMarket’s inaugural visiting lecturer: Internationally renowned design thinking and management expert Roger Martin will speak on campus Friday, September 28. Best known in design circles for his book The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage, Martin was named in 2010 as one of the 27 most influential designers in the world and in 2011 as the sixth top management thinker in the world. The evening will kick off with a reception at 4:30. More details will follow, but mark your calendars now!

Still from “Chocolate Milk”

CCAD alumna Eliza Kinkz (CCAD 2004) debuted her film Chocolate Milk at 2012 South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Film Conference and Festival.

The Media Studies grad’s film is a humorous and bittersweet story of teenagers coming to grips with the pressures and consequences of addiction.

Once known largely as a music festival, the Austin, TX, event has grown to include independent film and emerging technology. It is now a popular destination for leaders in these industries.

The Festival took place March 9–13, 2012.

Christoff backstage at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week

Fashion Design alumna Genoveva Christoff (CCAD 2009) has proven herself as someone to watch—and recently she has spent a lot of time watching her designs go down a runway in front of fashion’s elites.

Christoff was selected as one of four designers to present in the Diet Pepsi Style Studio Show during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City.

Each designer had to create three different looks for the fashion show. Simon Doonan, the fashion commentator for the show, chose fierce animal prints, avant-garde work wear, and metallic finishes inspired by the Diet Pepsi can for the designers to interpret.

Christoff created her three looks in less than two weeks. The first look was a leather and chiffon dress inspired by zebra prints. The second was a lavender-colored dress with an asymmetrical collar, and her final ensemble was a dress and vest in metallic leather and silk.

“There are so many things that were memorable during my stay in New York,” said Christoff. “First, meeting with Simon Doonan, then all the preparation for the actual show, especially the moment I saw so many famous people in the audience, like Mary-Kate Olsen, Debra Messing, Angela Simmons, Jay Manuel, Jay Alexander, Jonathan Adler, Kelly Rutherford, and others.”

“I was also able to meet Christian Cota and attend his fashion show; I was impressed to see his collection and to see the designs up close. I hope one day I will have a chance to show my full collection and have access to such beautiful fabrics and techniques,” she said.

Christoff was recently selected to be one of five finalists in the Adrianna Papell for E! Live from the Red Carpet design contest. The winning design will be worn to a Hollywood red carpet event by a celebrity, and its designer will receive a $2,500 cash prize and a trip to Hollywood. The winning dress will also be included in the Adrianna Papell Spring 2012 Collection for E! Live from the Red Carpet, which will be available at Lord & Taylor.

Inka Essenhigh’s painting “Stubborn Tree Spirit”

CCAD alumna Inka Essenhigh (CCAD 1991) has a busy exhibition schedule this year with her work traveling to Japan, Ohio, Maine, and Tennessee.

Her first solo exhibition of the year, The Natural and the Man-Made, is being shown at Tomio Koyama Gallery in Kyoto, Japan. The exhibition features five paintings that showcase a progression from nature to the man-made world. The first painting in the series, Late August, depicts trees and nature at their most mature states. The paintings progress until the last, Manhattan, which shows a spirit world infusing with the man-made world.

Tomio Koyama Gallery describes Essenhigh’s paintings as presenting “a celestial and mystic sense of goddess in the natural world,” including “ugliness and beauty, sophistication and naïveté, the calm eyes and skepticism, and the strength of utopist dreams and beliefs.”

The Tomio Koyama Gallery exhibition is open until April 7, 2012.

Essenhigh, who lives and works in New York City, will show her work throughout 2012 in group exhibitions at the Dayton Art Institute in Dayton, OH, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, ME, and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, TN.

Tim Rietenbach's plan for "Grazing"

Columbus, OH, is turning 200 and to celebrate the city has gathered 56 international, national, and local artists including CCAD alumnus and professor Tim Rietenbach to create in public art projects around the city.

The entire series is called FINDING TIME: Columbus Public Art 2012. It will consist of 14 individual projects ranging from an LED light display on the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) building to new carillon chime compositions at a downtown Columbus church.

The projects explore the common theme of time, including its passage and measurement, along with notions of temporariness and permanence.

Rietenbach (CCAD 1977) is working on a piece called Grazing to be installed June 1, 2012. The art work consists of steel-rod cows that will appear to float on the Scioto River in downtown Columbus. The cows will have multiple moving parts that will be engaged by the flow of the water. Rietenbach said the cows will represent a time when farms were smaller and cows were able to roam the fields in close proximity to the city.

“The cows will, in appearance, be defying the laws of gravity (walking on water). Needless to say that is where the idea began and if realized will be the most gratifying artistic tool,” Rietenbach said. “My hope is that when finished I will have constructed a living gesture drawing that is as much phantom as it is real.”

Some of the art projects will blend in with Columbus’ urban landscape, while others may cause some head scratching, according to a Columbus Dispatch article.

“I think head scratching is OK,” said Columbus Art Commission Chair Diane Nance in the article. “It challenges people to think about what art is and what art should look like in a public space.”

Starting in 2010, the initiative has received grants from several organizations including the National Endowment of the Arts and The Ohio State University.

The projects will be documented as they are installed at www.columbuspublicart.com.

"Tangled Ever After," movie still (Disney Enterprises)

Alumnus Nathan Greno (CCAD 1993-1996) has brought back to life the beloved characters from Disney’s box-office hit Tangled in the newly released animated short Tangled Ever After.

Greno co-directed both animated movies with Bryon Howard, the first being released in 2010.

In a recent LA Times article Greno said that “the [first] movie kind of buttons up, but the one thing we didn’t do in the movie was a wedding. There’d be a beautiful wedding of Flynn and Rapunzel, just like the royal wedding. It would be this big, grand event. And Byron and I thought, ‘Well that’s not entertainment. Maybe little girls would like to watch that, but that’s about it’.”

The new animated short features two sidekick characters, Maximus and Pascal, in a comical chase around the kingdom trying to catch Flynn and Rapunzel’s runaway wedding rings while the wedding service is being performed.

“We figured out a way to give [the audience] exactly what they wanted, so there is a beautiful grand wedding in the short, but what happens pretty quickly, [is that] those two goofballs Maximus and Pascal lose the wedding rings. It turned into this big, zany, cartoony, fun, action-packed short,” Greno said.

Greno and Howard shared with the LA Times that the two side characters were inspired by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The animators were able to do a lot of slapstick comedy in the short that didn’t make it into the original feature film.

Tangled Ever After is shown before Beauty and the Beast 3D, which was recently released in theatres.

Greno has worked with Walt Disney Animation since 1996 on films such as Mulan, John Henry, Brother Bear, Meet the Robinsons, and Bolt.

The exhibition features selected work from prominent female photographers. Bik’s photographs are of Hong Kong’s historical and notable landscapes and come from a body of work she developed in the 1980s.

“I paid particular attention to landmarks or buildings that were not considered ‘built heritage,’ but carried historical significance or were once frequented by locals,” Bik said in a recent artdaily.org article. “Because their demolition was inevitable, the only thing I could do was to document them photographically.”

The exhibition is open through Apr. 2, 2012.

To read the artdaily.org article, click here.

Christoff's dress design as constructed by Andrianna Papell

Alumna Genoveva Christoff (CCAD 2009) is a finalist in the E! Live from the Red Carpet Design Contest.

According to a recent Columbus Alive article, the Fashion Design alumna heard about the competition on Facebook and quickly put together a design for a floor-length chiffon gown for her entry. Christoff’s design was one of 670 entered; after a public voting process 25 designs were selected.

Adrianna Papell, a popular dress designer, then chose the top five designs as finalists and constructed one example of each.

The dresses are on display online where the public can vote for their favorite. The winning design will be worn to a Hollywood red carpet event by a celebrity, and its designer will receive a $2500 cash prize and a trip to Hollywood. The winning dress will also be included in the Adrianna Papell Spring 2012 Collection for E! Live from the Red Carpet, which will be available at Lord & Taylor.

The voting ends Jan. 22. To vote, click here. The winning dress will be revealed on E!’s Countdown to the Red Carpet Academy Awards special on Feb. 26, 2012.

To read the Columbus Alive article, click here.

The Inheritance Trilogy, from the author's website.

Once again a stunning illustration by CCAD alumnus John Jude Palencar is gracing the cover of a New York Times best-selling novel.

Published in November, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini is the fourth in a series, and it is holding steady at number three (at the time of this posting) in the New York Times best-selling children’s series list.

The series, which  follows a young boy named  Eragon and his dragon Saphira, includes the novels Eragon, Eldest, Brisinger, and Inheritance.

From the beginning, Palencar wanted to challenge what people expected from the cover art of a fantasy novel.

“Many readers wanted me to focus on the boy, Eragon, riding his blue dragon, with the dragon’s body displayed in all its glory,” said Palencar.

Instead, he opted to create portraits of the dragons featured in the books. He focused on the personality traits of each dragon, adding detailed expressions to the illustrations and shying away from bared teeth and fire.

“I wanted to do a simple portrait, something that would be instantly recognizable and could continue throughout the series,” said Palencar, an illustration major who graduated in 1980. “I prefer to create symbols instead of visually dictating the content to the viewer, since curiosity will entice the viewer just as much.”

Palencar didn’t stop with the portraits; he also created the title font. In an original sketch he wrote the name Eragon beneath the portrait; this hand-drawn font was then used on all subsequent covers.

Palencar’s professional relationship with the author has evolved into a good friendship over the course of their collaboration. The relationship began when the creative art director for the publisher of the series hired Palencar—without knowing that Paolini was a fan of Palencar’s work and had named Eragon’s birthplace, Palancar Valley, after the artist.

“You could even say it was divine providence or serendipity that brought us together,” said Palencar.

Palencar has been freelancing since the age of 15. He did work for American Greetings, Ohio Magazine, The Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine, and others while a student at CCAD. In his senior year, he won the top cash award at the Society of Illustrators student show. His success grew rapidly as he accepted book contract after book contract.

He has illustrated hundreds of book covers in more than 30 countries. His work has graced the jackets of books by well-known authors such as Marion Zimmer Bradley, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Ursula Le Guin, and more. He also has worked with national publications including National Geographic, TIME magazine, and Smithsonian magazine.

Currently Palencar is working on new, personal work that he plans to exhibit within the next year.

Nicky Epstein from nickyepstein.com

Alumna Nicky Epstein is finishing her 24^th book, Knitting Circles, which will be published by Random House in August 2012.

The 1974 Fashion Design and Advertising & Graphic Design graduate’s success has allowed her to make a career out of her knit designs. She got her start in professional knitting design 20 years ago in California when she entered her sweater “Unicorn in the Garden” to McCall’s magazine sweater design contest and took first prize.

“Once the design was printed in their magazine I kept getting calls from other needlecraft magazines, and the offers kept coming,” Epstein said.

She has now authored more than 20 books. The knitting and crochet books range in topics including historical, travel, patterns, and knitting resource guides.

Epstein now finds herself traveling the world. She is a regular columnist for Vogue Knitting and continues to teach knitting workshops.

“I teach techniques and shortcuts, and try to inspire knitters to exercise their creativity and not be afraid to think outside of the box,” said Epstein.

Although her patterns and designs seem intricate and advanced, she explains that the appeal of her designs is that they can be learned and adopted by all knitting levels.

CCAD has left an impact on the successful knitter, who says her education was the foundation of her creativity. She learned under then President Joseph V. Canzani and instructors Jay Bayliss and Billie Ingram.

“I got to appreciate the talent and diverse artistic abilities of my peers in a creative environment,” Epstein said of her college experience.

Dennison W. Griffith

Be honest. If I asked you to picture an artist at work, what would come into your mind?

Whether you imagine a man or a woman, using a camera or a paintbrush or a computer stylus, I’ll bet you five bucks that I can name one component of your vision: the artist is alone in the room.

If I’m right, I hope you’re ready to refresh your thinking. Maybe it’s just because it’s getting cooler outside in the Midwest and we’re all huddling together for warmth, but lately it seems particularly clear how false it is to think of artists simply as solitary and self-focused. We speak for others, lend our talents to others, and participate in networks that reach worldwide. Just look at the stories in this issue:

• CCAD alumna Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson has earned national prominence for her lifelong embodiment of the artist as a community voice.
• Whether with puppets or video, CCAD students are finding vital roles as community resources, even as freshmen.
• Christopher Maslon (CCAD 1996) is expanding CCAD’s reach in northeast Asia with an almost 10-year teaching career in South Korea.

There’s one last aspect of community that I want to remind you about, and that’s how every fall the worldwide CCAD community comes together to support students with our annual fund drive. Every single dollar has real impact—first helping a current CCAD student, then flowing back out and contributing to the larger creative community when that student graduates. Please visit www.ccad.edu/support and give today.

Warm regards,

Dennison W. Griffith
President

Aminah Robinson

At age 71, Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson’s advice to students and other artists is simple—though perhaps surprising, given the apparently effortless visual generosity of her work. “Just never give up,” she says. “Work very hard. It can be difficult, but even with the storms, and the sun, and the rain, the work continues. Even when no one understands you for years. It is not a career. It is not something to make money with. It’s about endearing one’s community with the light God has given you.”

And endear her community she has. Robinson is nationally acclaimed for her profound artistry, her storytelling abilities, her deep understanding of history, and her utter conviction regarding how individuals and institutions are interwoven in communities. But in her hometown of Columbus, she is beloved—and the feeling is mutual. “I grew up in a community, so the connection has always been there,” she says. “So much was given to me through the others in my family and community, and the institutions in Columbus. The reason why I am able to continue is because of that.”

Born in Columbus in 1940, Robinson grew up certain that she would be an artist. Her artistic development began at the age of three under her father’s guidance. In 1955, she began taking Saturday Morning Art Classes at CCAD (then the Columbus Art School), then formally enrolled as an undergraduate in 1957. She recalls, “I grew up with tradition, and the elders in my family made sure I received it. Then, in art school, that’s when it became art. I connected the two, and they just blended automatically.” She was given an honorary master’s degree in 1991 by then-President Joseph V. Canzani.

She attributes her renowned work ethic to her time at CCAD. “As a first- and second-year student, [you]  carried 14 classes per semester. Fourteen classes! You had to work. Drawing, figure drawing, anatomy. It was law. I loved it.” These days, she rises at 4:00 a.m. to drink coffee and work on loosely painted studies, which she calls her “morning exercises.” At about 6:00 a.m. she turns to her more intensive bodies of work, continuing until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., when she “rests.” (She never says “sleeps.”)

One of Robinson’s signature forms is the RagGonNon, which she began making while a second-year student at CCAD. RagGonNons are complex works, based in fabric but incorporating many other media, which continue to evolve over years, sometimes even decades. She describes them by saying, “It is community. It is work that comes out of a community, and it belongs to the community. That’s why it’s going to go on into the future.” One of the RagGonNons that she continues to develop (see photo) is so large that she says she has never seen the whole thing at one time. She unfolds portions to view while she creates, but it is layer upon layer of both history and hope.

In 2004, Robinson was (in her words) stunned to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, a no-strings-attached $500,000 award commonly known as the “genius grant.” The MacArthur Foundation described her work as “Homeric in content, quantity, and scale.”

Since then, her time has been very much in demand—but her lifelong discipline still serves her well. “At my age, I just say ‘no’ in a very nice way,” she says. “But before, I had to figure out different things, because nothing came between the work and me. It was [and] it is all I have to give to our future. I just feel it’s that important. There are so many bodies of work that I’ve produced since I was three, and it’s still ongoing. Hopefully it will inspire somebody, be helpful to young people, and give some hope to our future. That’s what I do.”

Students designing puppets.

Puppets in the Hospital
When one of the nation’s leading pediatric hospitals needs to brighten their patients’ days, who do they call? Lion, Unicorn, Duck, Bunny, Jake the Snake, and Viktor the Rapping Viking—all puppets created and voiced by CCAD students from Adjunct Instructor Nicole Gibbs’s Foundation Studies design class.

During spring semester, Gibbs’s students wrote, created puppets, and built sets for a series of four plays, culminating in performances on Mother’s Day to patients and their families at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

The class is a yearlong, intensive look at all types of design, including 2D, 3D, and time-based. “I was thinking about how we could make the 2D side of the class about performance and group experience,” Gibbs says. “So I thought of puppet shows, because they bring it all together and allow my students to flex their other creative muscles—like writing and rapping.”

“Each team had a playwright, musician, actors, production manager, and character designers,” she says. “Everyone helped with every aspect, but it was the responsibility of the assigned individual to make sure a particular aspect was carried out properly. It was a great lesson in working in groups and managing a team to meet an outside goal.”

“I knew that having it out in the community would push students outside of their comfort zone, because they would be interacting with people who not only don’t have an art background but also are outside [the students’] age range,” Gibbs adds. “The point wasn’t to build sets and make puppets. It was to create a valuable experience for the outside community and to show students that what they are already learning in their first year of college can have a direct impact.”

Fountain in the Scioto Mile.

Video in the Scioto Mile
CCAD Media Studies students and faculty were thrilled to be invited early this year to produce a video for projection on an enormous fountain in the city’s newest park, the Scioto Mile. “Projects like this expand the traditional perceived boundaries of media,” says Dean of Media Arts Ron Saks. “To be able to do something that is public, ongoing, and site specific is a very rare opportunity for students.”

The Scioto Mile is a more-than-$40-million project that has transformed the east bank of the Scioto River in downtown Columbus. Contrary to its name, it actually stretches for 7.3 miles and includes an integrated system of parks, streets, a bikeway, pedestrian paths, fountains, and gardens. The final phase, completed last summer, features a promenade dotted with gardens, colonnades, and pavilions. This summer’s work also overhauled an existing park, adding a band shell, a restaurant, and the 15,000-square-foot interactive fountain that the students’ video projection was intended to complement.

Opened to the public in July, the fountain has already become a community favorite. It contains 1,079 ground-level spray nozzles and is topped by 5 stainless-steel halo structures with 1,000 additional nozzles to produce mist from above. The tall, stainless-steel center blossom can shoot water 70 feet into the air.

The finished CCAD video, titled “Trip the Light Fantastic,” now bounces off the fountain’s blossom and mist at night.

“It is really tremendous to have students participating in a project of this magnitude,” says Saks. “All of the constituents were so pleased with the way everything turned out. It was beyond everyone’s expectations.”

CCAD students from all majors have been asked to create another projection during this academic year as part of a competition. Saks is currently working with American Electric Power (the community leader and lead donor for the Scioto Mile) and the design firm MSI (who directed the project) to bring software to campus that will allow students to design a light show and fountain program in addition to the video projection. The winning projection is slated to launch in early spring.

Sustainability in Regional Planning
Students from numerous CCAD classes teamed up last spring to create the Sustainability Art Exhibition and Contest for the headquarters of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC)—ground zero for issues of sustainability in the greater Columbus community. The students submitted diverse work related to one of the six programs of MORPC’s Center for Energy and Environment: energy efficiency, air quality, greenways and water quality, sustainable growth, agriculture and food systems, and materials management.

Contest winners had their work displayed again at MORPC’s Summit on Sustainability and the Environment in October.

“Not only did it get the students creating work and exhibiting it to an outside audience, but it also  introduced them to the important efforts of MORPC,” says Fine Arts Professor John Kortlander.

“I believe we are now entering the era of redesign,” he adds. “Much of what was designed in the past century was done without sustainability in mind. It is up to our students to take their degrees and create sustainable designs and works of art that improve the world. It’s a big responsibility—and projects like this are what get them thinking about it.”

Photo courtesy: Dr. Rikizam M. Joya.

How far have you ever traveled to take a job? Many of us gulp at the thought of moving just a few hundred miles from a familiar place. But others dream in thousand-mile increments. One very successful example is CCAD alumnus Christopher Maslon (Fine Arts, 1996), who has spent most of the last decade working as an expatriate high school teacher, then college professor, in South Korea. (Columbus to Daejeon? It’s 6,818 miles.)

“Living and working in Korea has been the greatest time of my life,” Maslon says. “I absolutely love my job, I’ve written and published two books, and I’ve also had time to create and sell art—printmaking, papermaking, and photography.”

Not to mention his frequent travel, which might be fairly called an obsession now that he’s visited his 43^rd country. “My next will be either Fiji or Mongolia,” he says.

Maslon is, in his own words, “mind-bendingly busy,” but he’s certainly not slowing down. Last spring, he was named the newest member of the Executive Liberal Arts Board of Daejeon Health and Sciences College (DHSC), the college where he teaches. He says, “Now I have the opportunity to shape the future face of a college with an enrollment nearly equal to the total population of my hometown. My mother often told me, ‘The future is wide open—anything can happen,’ and how right she was.”

Given that CCAD students are now looking at a job market that is global, rather than regional, we knew how valuable it would be to find out more about Maslon’s experiences. So we sat down—albeit at our own computers on opposite ends of the world—for a chat about his life and career.

IMAGE: What is the impact of having a US citizen on the board of a Korean college? What are your plans?

CM: It is quite unheard of for someone with foreign views and ideas outside the Korean mainstream to hold this type of post. I feel blessed and utilized by the staff of DHSC and respected for my ideas and input.

The college is expanding rapidly. My role is to create new courses in art and design, including color study, printing, papermaking, and silkscreen, and to open a new, state-of-the-art exhibition gallery.

Because my employers know I have an art degree, they will knock at my door and say, “This is our design, [or] we got this logo, [or] we paid a lot for this to be made…but what does Mr. Christopher say about it?” I go into this CCAD-trance of explaining, critiquing, and re-correcting every time I’m asked my opinion.

IMAGE: How did you end up in Korea?

CM: After CCAD, I was earning an MFA from Ohio State University. I lived near campus, and there were seven Korean families—all professionals who worked at OSU—living on my street. They shared many wonderful stories. In November 1999 I had the chance to make my first trip to Korea with a good friend who had found cheap tickets online.

Then, in January of 2002, my Korean friend Dr. Joseph Lee emailed, saying that he had a friend in Korea, Isaac Kim, who was a high school vice principal and needed a teacher. I deleted the email but suffered for three days because I kept thinking about it. I finally picked up the phone and said, “Joseph, what did you email me?” His wife asked him who was on the phone. He said, “It’s Christopher.” And his wife started yelling in the background, “He’s the one, he’s the one!” They had been praying for a person to contact them, and I was the only person out of the hundred or so emails he sent who called and inquired. After hearing the details, I accepted the offer, and in less than one month I was packed and had signed a one-year contract with Dong Ah High School.

I thought that on the final day of my contract I would run to the airplane and get home to the USA as soon as possible. But nine years later, I’m married to a wonderful Korean woman, with a beautiful five-year-old daughter—still here and loving it.

IMAGE: Any big cultural differences?

CM: Yes. The cultural differences are massive. Our American ways of working, greeting each other, shopping, eating, having relationships, equality between people, equality between men and women are all different [than the Korean].

IMAGE: What has been hardest to get used to?

CM: Language barriers, misunderstandings, and cultural flubs. Since I speak Korean, a lot of language barriers have disappeared as my skill level has increased. But even now I suffer from misunderstandings and times when I can’t say exactly what I want to.

Also, in Korea, hierarchy plays a major role in society. Your bosses at your workplace are your superiors, and you don’t question them like we do in the West.

Another thing is that space boxes do not exist here. This means touching other people without saying sorry is completely appropriate. It’s not uncommon to be in an elevator with 17 to 20 people, or for another person to be standing so close to you that you can feel their breath on your neck.

IMAGE: Any advice to CCAD students and alumni who might be considering overseas employment?

CM: Absolutely. Get your act together. Do your homework first about where you might seek employment—learn as much as you possibly can about that country before you go. You will need to get an up-to-date passport. You will also need a resume that shows who you are for real. People overseas are counting on you to be who you say you are and deliver. Remember, you are becoming an ambassador and representative of your country, your school, and your knowledge. Also remember you are stepping into someone else’s world. This is not your home. Your ways and their ways are different.

CCAD is an excellent school that prepares us for many challenges. I would like for CCAD students to step forth, do their homework, get their passport, and fly. The sky is the limit, and the future is wide open for all of us.

Starting in back left corner: Jeong Woong Lee, Eunji Paek, Sun Young Park, President Griffith and wife Beth, Christopher Maslon, Jeong Hoon Tony Lee, Mose Jeung, Seo Yeon Hur, Kyung Rim Vicky Kim, Gaeul Oh, Jonathon Neeley, Seon Mi Bae, Min Young Alice Lee, and Eun Hae Bae.

As the creative economy becomes ever more global, international student enrollment is on the rise at CCAD, the result of coordinated efforts among the Admissions Office, our alumni, and other key players on campus to establish and build stronger relationships with institutions abroad.

A new exchange program with the China Academy of Art is expected to debut in January. This will supplement an already successful program with Xi’an Academy of Fine Art, also in China.

Face-to-face meetings have played an important and rewarding role. Last spring, CCAD President Dennison W. Griffith traveled with CCAD admissions staff to Seoul, Korea, and Shanghai, China, to meet with alumni and tour some top high schools and universities. “It was highly rewarding to find that the alumni we met within the region were achieving great success in their fields,” says International Admissions Officer Jonathon Neeley.

In September, Vice President of Enrollment Management Jonathan Lindsay led an admissions trip to China to appear at college fairs and visit numerous high schools in Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong—armed with new Chinese translations of CCAD admissions materials. Another trip in November will take admissions staff back to Korea for a two-day International Portfolio event in Seoul.

Alumni: Would you like to help share the CCAD story? Find and like “CCAD Alumni” on Facebook, then post a message about where you are and what you’d like to do. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Roy Doty

There’s no question that alumnus Roy Doty (CCAD 1942) is still going strong. Even as he approached his 90^th birthday this fall, Inspired Lines, an exhibition featuring 60 pieces of his work, opened at The Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, the largest and most comprehensive academic research facility for cartoon art in the world.

Before the opening, he completed more than 130 full-page, four-color illustrations for an upcoming economics textbook. When asked about his workload, he says with a humble shrug and his signature grin, “I stay busy.”

Which, of course, is a very large understatement. In his 65-year career, Doty has written more than 30 books; illustrated 167; had illustrations featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, Fortune, Business Week, Popular Science, and Elle; and deployed his talents on behalf of advertising clients including Mobil Oil, Macy’s, CBS, Black & Decker, and Ford.

This year, Doty became one of only 13 individuals ever honored with the National Cartoonist Society’s Gold Key award—considered the cartoonists’ hall of fame. But, he says, “The truth is, I’m still trying to be good. No piece is ever good enough. I finish it, and I look at it a year later and say ‘why the hell didn’t I do this?’ Deep down, I’m still trying to be good.”

The story of how Doty got from high school to CCAD to his own freelance studio is best told in his own voice.

“When I was in high school, I drew like every cartoonist,” he says. “Fortunately, I had a good art teacher in high school who thought I was a genius painter, so she sent my paintings to what is now CCAD, and they awarded me a two-year full scholarship, which meant a lot then. After all, this was the Great Depression.”

“I was taught by, among others, Alice Schille, and I can say that my color is only brilliant because of her. But I had the same problem at CCAD that I had when I was in high school: they all wanted me to be a great painter—because back then there was only a fine arts major—but all I ever wanted to do was draw cartoons. I drove them crazy because I was so sure of what I wanted to be.”

“I graduated in 1942 just months after Pearl Harbor, and two days later I ran off with a classmate, Louella Vance, to Chicago to get married. By the end of the year, though, I had been drafted into the Army. In the fifth week of my basic training, I was taken out of the Air Corps and sent first to New Jersey, then to a private mansion on the beach in Georgia.”

“I was a radar man, part of the top secret radar division. While I was there, I was drawing Why We Fight for the camp newspaper, which ran in all Air Force camp newsletters. Then I was flown to New York City, placed on the Queen Mary, and I was now stationed in Paris, living as a cartoonist, drawing for Overseas Woman, Stars and Stripes, and more.”

It was in Paris that Doty developed the style of cartooning that has defined his career—fine lines, bold color, and a lot of detail.

“I left Ohio doing ‘big foot art,’ and I got to Europe doing that,” Doty says. “But all of the artists I was working with in Paris were decorating the page, and I said, ‘You don’t need balloons, gags, or captions to tell a story. You can do without it and still get the laugh. And that is an absolute joy.’”

When the war was over, Doty was discharged with “a nice portfolio and $350 in pay.” He returned to Columbus just long enough to purchase a ticket to New York City and divorce his wife. “She had found religion, and I had found four-letter words; so we parted ways with a kiss, and we always remained friends.”

“The truth is, I came out of the Army wanting to change the world, and I was sure I would,” Doty says. “I came out with something new, and that’s why I got work—because I could take the dullest copy in the world and get a laugh out of it. I started freelancing 65 years ago and haven’t had a job since.”

“I’ve never had a bad year, a slow year. I’ve never been ‘unbusy.’ I’m still busy, and I love it. I work seven days a week. I went to bed at midnight last night, and I’ll go to bed at midnight tonight. What do I have to complain about? As long as I am drawing pictures, I am totally happy. Until I drop dead, I’ll be drawing pictures.”

Kevin Conlon

By: Kevin Conlon

Reflective of current economic anxieties, yet another article pops up in my RSS feed suggesting that an art degree’s value, measured in occupational salaries, is not worth the effort.  Of course, as a long-practicing artist and arts educator, I respond with a familiar set of immediate reactions.

How is the value of an art and design education defined and constrained? It can’t be correct to define it only in relation to our society’s immediate competitive marketplace advantage—because such an education is really about developing a mind that can adapt to tectonic changes not yet conceived, in a global (not local or national) marketplace. I also question the starting salary as a measure of worth. It’s simply shortsighted to use the inaugural job of one’s professional career as the measure of career success, ignoring the future opportunities that will be capitalized upon by the creatively disposed and trained mind to achieve greater, longer-term results.

Surely these people who disparage the prospective lives of artists and designers see more value in the pursuit of creative disciplines than the dollars and cents earned by their beginning practitioners? Surely they know that the creative impulse, once understood, can be transferred to other creative, managerial, and entrepreneurial endeavors? And surely they know that the innovative ideation that occurs as part of an artist’s problem-seeking and problem-solving method of working is recognized as a very desirous set of skills by some of the world’s most powerful economic thought leaders?

Or, then again, maybe they don’t.

So—lately I’m thinking that our willingness to educate must extend not only to our students, but to others as well. It won’t be easy. But as someone who pays attention to the conversations happening around the world, I know that others recognize this as well. Dan Pink and Sir Ken Robinson are among the best known creative cultural analysts who extol the virtues and benefits of the creative economy.

We must all be advocates for the real economic value of the creative process and the intellectual property realized from that process. In fact, experts and academics such as Roger Martin have been examining the fundamental concepts of management and entrepreneurship with an eye towards how artists and designers think, solve problems, and create new and real value with their ideas.

This vision of both the intrinsic and extrinsic values realized from art and entrepreneurship directly informs CCAD’s future. You’ll soon be hearing more about new initiatives like the CCAD MindMarket, an incubator where we will work to develop students’ skills so that they can realize value from new ideas and new intellectual property—in turn contributing to the overall value of our region and leading to the establishment and growth of creative companies. With initiatives like the MindMarket, CCAD can contribute to our creative economy in a way that can be measured in real dollars (in fact, literally trillions of them).

The overall economy can learn a lot from those who have learned the value of creative thinking as part of the CCAD creative community. I hope you’ll help me in communicating this message—it’s one the world needs to hear.

Bio: Kevin J. Conlon became the CCAD’s vice president of academic affairs in June. He previously served as associate vice president for academic affairs at Ringling College of Art and Design and as dean of undergraduate studies at Savannah College of Art and Design. He also works as a writer and consultant in the fields of interactive design, architectural restoration, foundry work, curriculum design, and institutional effectiveness. In addition, his sculptural works, oil paintings, and works on paper have been exhibited widely and won many awards. He earned his BFA from the University of South Alabama and his MFA from Ohio State University.

Taylor Hicks

Late each summer, as CCAD’s Annual Fund Drive approaches, we sit down with a current CCAD student for a chat about how donor giving really affects students at CCAD. Why do students come here? Do things like scholarships really matter? For these answers and more, meet Taylor Hicks (CCAD 2013), an Illustration major from Columbus, Ohio.

IMAGE: What drew you to CCAD?

Taylor:  CCAD has always been first on my list of possible colleges to attend. From about the age of 16, I was taking summer courses, the SMAC classes (Saturday Morning Art Classes). Ever since then, I’ve grown to love the campus and the teachers. Plus, it’s local and my parents are pretty good cooks.

IMAGE: Is anyone else in your family interested art and design?

Taylor: My whole family has inspired me in one way or another. My dad was, and still is, a painter. He never pursued art school, though, so he really inspired me to take art seriously, to build a career in it, and to go above and beyond—to surpass him. My brother is an amazing artist with a really graphic style, my sister paints, and my mom is an artist, too.

IMAGE: What’s your favorite part about being an Illustration major?

Taylor: If I were to put one word on to illustration, I would say “imagination,” because it’s so free.

IMAGE: A scholarship can…

Taylor:  …drive me.

IMAGE: What would you like to say to CCAD donors about the impact of their support?

Taylor: Their donations and gifts matter because that’s what drives us and helps us succeed in school. In this day and age, in this recession, people are scrambling. Getting scholarships really helps. It gives the parents a boost, emotional and mental, and gives the students a major inspiration. I’m very grateful. I know other people are, too.

IMAGE: What excites you about your future?

Taylor: The opportunities [that come] from having all this drive and all these techniques. Everything that I have under my belt can be used for a career or to help someone.

IMAGE:  Anything more you’d like to add?

Taylor: My experiences here have been pretty much unforgettable. Meeting new people, that’s a major one. Getting out of my comfort zone with art.

I’m so happy and thankful that people are going out of their way to give [to] a school so kids can take their dreams and go out into the world and make something of themselves. It’s awesome to know that people still do that in this world.

The awardees are: Mary Ann Lobb, a senior majoring in Media Studies with a minor in writing; Laura Maue, a junior majoring in Animation with a minor in writing; and Jennifer Owens, a senior majoring in Interior Design with a minor in copywriting.

The Creative Excellence Fund provides “last dollar” grants to students who have excellent academic records and have applied for all available aid, only to fall short of the funds needed to continue their education at CCAD. Established with a lead gift from the William H. Davis, Dorothy M. Davis and William C. Davis Foundation in 2009, the Fund has grown through many individual contributions and a second generous grant from the Davis Foundation in May 2011.

If you’d like to join them in providing long-term support that can truly keep a student in college, please visit www.ccad.edu/donate today.

Loann Crane

As a former art dealer, Loann Crane knows a good thing when she sees it. Since the day she first stepped onto CCAD’s campus, she has been impressed by the caliber of CCAD students: their talent, work ethic, and vigor for creating exceptional art. She’s demonstrated that judgment to the world by becoming a champion of CCAD, including making the largest single gift in the college’s history to support construction of the Loann Crane Center for Design, which opened in 2005. She’s also led the CCAD board of trustees through two terms as board president, served on many committees, and hosted and attended countless fundraising events.

Crane recently talked with IMAGE about her passion for CCAD and its mission, and how exciting it’s been to be part of the college’s evolution from a local art school to an international art and design institution.

IMAGE: How did you initially become involved with CCAD?

LC: I joined the board when Joe Canzani was president and immediately became passionate about CCAD and everything it stands for. Joe’s work ethic and passion for design and perfection were contagious.

Once I learned more about all of the interesting things happening at CCAD and got to know some of the instructors in the fine arts department, I quickly realized what an asset CCAD is to Columbus.

IMAGE: Why did you and your family feel inspired to fund the Loann Crane Center for Design?

LC: Columbus has been so good to my family, and we feel strongly about giving back, especially to the arts community. I think CCAD makes Columbus an interesting place to live, and our family truly appreciates the uniqueness it brings our community.

Loann Crane Center for Design

IMAGE: What impact do you think the Crane Center has had on student life at CCAD?

LC: It’s allowed CCAD to build a true campus that appeals to students and their families as well as to the faculty and staff who work there. Before the Center for Design and some of the other new facilities were built, CCAD felt like just a bunch of buildings with no cohesiveness. Today, CCAD has evolved into one of the country’s finest art and design schools with an international reputation and distinguished alumni. It’s been fascinating to be a part of the evolution!

IMAGE: Why would you encourage others to invest in CCAD?

LC: CCAD has created a facet to our community that makes Columbus more sophisticated and appealing. One of the greatest rewards from my involvement with CCAD has been getting to meet and support the people who make our community great. CCAD is a big part of what makes our community special—I encourage people who are passionate about art and helping young people build careers in art and design to support this great asset.

Students participating in College PreView

Over its 11 years of existence, College PreView has become a highly anticipated summer tradition at CCAD. For three intensive weeks on campus, high school students from all over the United States walk in the shoes of their future college selves—living in residence halls, creating in the college’s studios and labs (guided by expert CCAD faculty), and exploring the city’s art scene together. It’s a short but exhilarating taste of life at an art and design college—confirmed enthusiastically by this year’s participants.

Working from a posed model in the drawing and painting studio is a highlight for many students. “I really enjoyed the painting class with Doug Norman,” said Andrew Boerder from Dallas, Texas. “I’ve done painting before, but oil painting from a live model was a completely new experience for me. Doug’s a great teacher.” The complexity of the task can elevate students’ work and produce tangible development by the end of the program. “I really like figure drawing because I think it gives people the most information about art and design. [I learned] shadows, contours, drawing skills, and patience. And I got a product I was proud of in the end,” said Ryan Conners-Trompeter from Oveido, Florida. Finished pieces are often used in college application portfolios because they show a more advanced approach to drawing and painting.

Students are also able to explore majors offered at CCAD by choosing College PreView electives like advertising, animation, and fashion design. In these classes they delve into new fields, mediums, and techniques in the same classrooms that CCAD’s undergraduates use. Samuel DeVine from Hoover, Alabama, said the animation class was his favorite. “I want to go into animation, and I appreciated the good critique so I could understand how to express what characters are thinking and feeling.” Students gain a lot of satisfaction from trying their hand at a potential major for a few weeks, as well as a sense of confidence about the direction they want to go.

The feeling of community is inescapable, despite the short duration of the program, as participants befriend other talented young artists who share their interests. “It’s obviously the people,” said Paige Fruechtnicht from Reynoldsburg, Ohio (who also attended the program in 2010), when asked to name her favorite experience. “At the beginning of College PreView they always tell you ‘You’re gonna make friends you’ll have for a lifetime’ and it’s kinda cheesy at the time, but it’s actually true. Hold onto these people. I still talk to everyone from last year.” Michelle Chiu wrote a bit more directly on her first day home, “B’aaaaaawwww I miss everything and everybody already.” Attendees this year are staying connected online through conversations on Tumblr and Facebook. The camaraderie and support are invaluable.

Students leave campus feeling more aware of and secure in their own abilities as artists. Alex Rickrich from Pickerington, Ohio, summed it up on Tumblr: “My experience at CCAD has taught me to be a better artist and to have confidence in myself and in my art, and has given me a family and connections I could never have gotten closer to any other way. For three weeks I lived with these people, learned with these people, worked with them. I am going to miss every single one of them. I learned more in three weeks than I would’ve in an entire year at my high school.”

Student looks at display.

A decade ago, the worlds of science and art collided in an albino bunny named Alba. Alba was normal by all accounts—until the lights were turned out. Then, thanks to an intervention by Brazilian-born, Chicago-based artist Eduardo Kac, the fluffy white rabbit glowed neon green as she hopped around the room.

Today, the same science that allowed Kac to transfer the “glowing genes” from a jellyfish to a rabbit egg is being taught—albeit on a more basic level—at CCAD. Why is this important? Because in today’s world, concerns about cost and sustainability are causing artists, designers, and scientists to find more and more to learn from one another.

“The point is not to teach the students how to create glowing animals,” says Julie Posey, chair of CCAD’s science department. “It’s to get them thinking about how science can be used not only to influence their work, but to create it.”

Student looks under microscope.

In CCAD science courses, students examine cadavers; dissect eyeballs, hearts, and brains; test body fat and blood pressure levels; extract DNA (creating glowing bacteria à la Kac); and explore a myriad of other experiments and observations designed to help them think differently about art and design.

“The small but imperative details that make the heart beat, the issue of sustainability, potential health hazards—we teach students all of this to give them the information they’ll need to step back and take a second, deeper look at their work,” Posey says.

The newest example of art and design blending with science is taught by Dean of Industrial and Interior Design Carl Garant and ecologist Kim Landsbergen, who is an associate professor of cross-disciplinary studies and sustainability research. Together they have created a course in biomimicry, in which students explore the application of nature’s solutions to a wide variety of design challenges.

Although there are a few other schools of art and design that teach biomimicry, CCAD is the only one at which the course is fully co-taught by a scientist and a designer. “Nature’s diversity presents us with a wide selection of viable design strategies that are sustainable and worthy of recognition and application in today’s world,” Garant says.

If this is the first you’ve heard of biomimicry, it probably won’t be the last. Biomimicry is being pursued by everyone from InterfaceFLOR, a leader in commercial flooring, to the consumer product giant Proctor & Gamble. In fact, Proctor and Gamble’s Behavioral Science Organization (the branch of the company that works with biomimicry) has already hosted an intern from CCAD: Joel van Gilder, a senior Industrial Design major who participated in the inaugural biomimicry course last spring.

Students listens during science lab.

Students in the course research the unique biological and ecological characteristics of a particular insect and then develop a variety of design solutions informed by their work. Like many science-focused courses at CCAD, the biomimicry class takes advantage of the resources at nearby Ohio State University—in this case, with a visit to the entomology collection in OSU’s Museum of Biodiversity, where students come face-to-face with the biology of their organisms, measuring and drawing their insect subjects. Students ultimately present their biologically inspired designs in portfolio-quality, self-published books.

“Students cannot learn in a vacuum,” Garant says. “Biomimicry asks them to look to nature for design inspiration and to think about the sustainability ramifications surrounding their design choices. It’s about understanding the impact and importance of the design process as we strive to design more intelligently.”

Michael Goodson

By: Michael Goodson

For the past year I’ve been working on the über “mixed tape.” (You can call it what you want to fit whatever paradigm—digital or analog—you prefer.) I’ve come to think of it as both a work of art (an edition of 100 with a few artist’s proofs) and a curatorial endeavor, and titled it An Act of Hubris: 357 of My Favorite Songs in No Particular Order…For What It’s Worth…Probably Nothing.

It started with mixed-CD exchanges I was having with some artist friends. Simon Evens, for instance, is a Kiss fan, able to lucidly delineate between their earlier, “brilliant” output and their descent into comic book treacle after Destroyer. Eric Swenson really likes “Surfin’ Bird” and actually prefers Sha-Na-Na’s version to the classic Trashmen or even Ramones versions, which is unthinkable to me. In the midst of doing this I realized that our attempt to understand ourselves via these songs was an apt application of post-structuralist theory. The record you liked when you were 14 pushing up against that which your current brain chemistry allows you to understand and enjoy—all the various contexts and relational positions being brought to bear.

It’s become a meditative time sink, a way for me to relax in the wee hours while my family sleeps. I might think of a song I had somehow missed that must be in the mix. Or edit, begrudgingly, a song I love in order to make room for something more imperative. I recently cut the Partridge Family’s “Point Me in the Direction of Albuquerque” to make way for the Jam’s “Art School.” A sound choice, I reckon. In any case, this little project has become curiously important to me.

There’s the third movement from Maurice Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor. There’s a poem by Charles Bukowski read by Tom Waits. Mostly, though, as the title suggests, it is songs from various genres—by Hank Williams, Black Flagg, Nina Simone, the Stooges, the Louvin Brothers, Gang Starr, Loretta Lynn, Mississippi John Hurt…and so on.

Still from the video Hanabira by Tabaimo, which is expected to be included in Bending the Mirror.

All of this is apropos of what I envision for exhibitions at CCAD and, in fact, my curatorial perspective in general. To be clear: This idea that Thelonious Monk’s “Abide with Me” can and should sit next to  the Bad Brains’ “Pay to Cum,” both of which are, in turn, well paired with Hank Williams’ “The Angel of Death,” is not the idea behind one good exhibition. (I am, after all, also a believer in the concepts of Harald Szeemann, the father of modern curation, so I like art to be assembled in a precise, graceful, layered, and cogent manner.) It’s a path through an arch of exhibitions over a period of time. Exhibition concepts will always be challenging but will also always attempt to be inclusive of the CCAD family, Columbus generally, or, for all practical purposes, whoever might wander into the gallery on a given day. I, for one, always want my mixed tapes to teach the people to whom they are gifted. It is my hope that each person will discover something new in spirit of these little receptacles. (Try me. Teach me something. Hand me a mixed tape and I will, within a week or so, respond in kind.)

A viewer at the opening reception for Supply and Demand (in front of Infinite time, infinite color, infinite memory, infinite destiny by Damian Aquiles.)

Bio: CCAD Director of Exhibitions Michael Goodson joined the college in August. Previously, he worked at the James Cohan Gallery in New York City, where he started in 2003 and was promoted to exhibitions director in 2006. Concurrent with his work at James Cohan, he taught sculpture and installation art at Hunter College; he has also taught sculpture at Wright State and Wittenberg universities. He holds a BFA from Wright State University and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Side story: On view until December 6 in CCAD’s Canzani Center Gallery is Supply and Demand, an exhibition of work made with repurposed consumer goods, curated by CCAD adjunct graduate faculty member (and associate curator of contemporary art at the Columbus Museum of Art) Lisa Dent. Michael Goodson’s first curated exhibitions will be Bending the Mirror, a show about contemporary figuration opening on February 10, and home, a three-artist show of paintings and photographs about suburbia opening on March 2.

Bio: Doug Kridler is the president and C.E.O. of the Columbus Foundation, a community foundation serving the central Ohio region since 1943. His honors include: #1 Civic CEO in CEO magazine, April 2005; an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Capital University in December 2004; the Huntington’s Disease Society of America Central Ohio Chapter’s “Distinguished Leadership in the Arts” award in September 2001; the Public Relations Society of America’s 1997 Prism Award for “Citizen of the Year”; and the 1995 Governor’s Award for the Arts by the Ohio Arts Council in the category of Arts Administration.

Glyphs of supermodel signatures

Advertising & Graphic Design alumna Krysti Kalkman (CCAD 2010) is passing out supermodel signatures at Victoria’s Secret, but not the kind you might think.

Kalkman is a full-time designer at Victoria’s Secret and was given the task of creating a new font for the store brand.

“When my creative director and art director came to ask if I could design the font I responded with ‘Oh ya, sure! Why not?!’ But in my head it was more like ‘I can totally do this…right?!’” Kalkman said.

Her doubt may have been there initially, but after seven months of research and development, the font was created and will be in stores and all marketing materials November, 2011.

Kalkman started out using a program called FontLab. Throughout the process she said she had to constantly exercise both her analytical and creative minds.

Kalkman's font

The end result was inspired by the handwriting of people within the marketing department and that led to the the creation of glyphs.

“The idea was to make the font look like it was the supermodels’ handwriting,” she said.

The glyphs are pieces of text or images that they may reuse. This includes each angel’s signature and kisses. Slogans like “mix & match,” “very sexy,” and “panty raid” are created into glyphs to reuse throughout the stores.

“The beauty of this is that it can just keep growing and developing in house.”

Kalkman created a font that can be reused and added to throughout Victoria’s Secret’s future campaigns. She loves the idea that the font and branding idea can continue to grow in house instead of hiring outside and risk someone not understanding their mission completely.

“It is super exciting to see something you really coddled for seven months be ‘born.’”

Michael Carney (CCAD 2004), who won the 2011 Grammy for Best Recording Package for art direction on the album Brothers by the Black Keys, was interviewed as part of a story on how the digital revolution is affecting both record sales and album design.

Illustration alumnus John Malta (CCAD 2010) had his second illustration published in the paper. He developed the accompanying illustration to the opinion piece,  Engineering Food for All by Nina V. Fedoroff, which ran Aug. 19.

In the article The Incredible, Inevitable Shrinking Album Cover by David Browne, Carney, who majored in Media Studies,  remembers wondering if his bare-bones album cover would even be allowed by its label. The Aug. 12 article explores how album art is being reduced roughly to the size of a postage stamp due to the use of mobile devices.

Malta’s first illustration for the newspaper ran alongside Robert Klitzman’s New York Times op-ed article “My Sister, My Grief” on May 3.

Articles about Carney’s 2011 Grammy and Malta’s first NY Times illustration are on the CCAD News blog.

Image from www.manjarisharma.com

A Media Studies alumna’s latest project was recently featured on one of National Public Radio’s (NPR) blogs.

The Picture Show interviewed Manjari Sharma (CCAD 2004) about Darshan, her project to photographically recreate nine classical images of Hindu gods and goddesses.

The blog article explains that Sharma plans to build every detail of each photograph by hand, which involves set and prop builders, makeup artists, painters, carpenters and jewelry experts. And when everything finally is in place, Sharma captures the scene with a large-format film camera.

Read the full article and interview here.

A related story about Sharma’s project and her quest for financial backing can be found on the CCAD News blog.

"Puss in Boots" opens November 4, 2011.

In an email titled ‘Culmination of 1.5 years of my life!,’ Media Studies alumnus and Dreamworks effects animator Nick Burkard (CCAD 2007) shared with us the work he did on the upcoming Dreamworks film, Puss in Boots.

“I just wanted to send over the most recent cut of the Puss in Boots trailer,” wrote Burkard. “I did a lot of work in this; I think I touched every piece of clothing here (either creating it or making it ‘fit’ with our pipeline).

“Also I did the shot where Puss chases after the light (look at that feather bounce!).  I also helped setup our Houdini fur simulation pipeline, but none of those shots are in this trailer.”

Set to release November 4, 2011, the film tells the heroic journey of Puss in Boots, Humpty Dumpty, and Kitty Softpaws as they try to steal the Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.

Want more? Watch the trailer here. (Make sure to pay close attention at 0:29 for the light chasing scene Burkard is talking about.)

Learn more about the film on its website.

Designs by Fashion Design alumnus Edward Buchanan were featured in Vice Magazine.

Designs by Fashion Design alumnus and CCAD Fashion Icon award winner Edward Buchanan (CCAD 1988-1991) are featured in the spring 2011 issue of France’s Blast magazine; the spring summer 2011 issue of Italy’s Hunter Fashion Magazine; in Volume 3, Issue 3 of France’s Vice magazine; and in the first installment of Viktor Mag.

Buchanan is the owner and designer of international fashion line Sansovino 6. His spring line was also featured in the Ahead of the Class article in the March issue of W Magazine.

“This spring he has taken on the world of jeans,” wrote J.J. Martin for W. “Indigo knits, washed and distressed by an Italian denim specialist, have been used to create unisex cutoff shorts, jackets, and various pant silhouettes. The five pocket boot cut could be mistaken for a stylishly worn-in pair of Levi’s, but done up in fine-gauge cotton knit, it feels as snuggly as sweats.”

Read more in the CCAD News Blog, Alumnus, Fashion Icon Award Winner Featured in W Magazine.

Learn more about the fashion line on its website.

2010 graduate Ian Horn co-founded Arch Production & Design in New York City.

Fine Arts alumnus Ian Horn (CCAD 2010) has found success as the co-founder of Arch Production & Design in New York City.

“I must have learned something along the way at CCAD because I now have a company of my own,” Horn wrote to Dean of Fine Arts and Foundation Studies Julie Taggart. “I teamed up with a couple of friends and have been in business officially since February—unofficially since last fall. We are doing really well and have an amazing shop in Bushwick.”

Specializing in event, set, and prop design, Arch Production & Design’s client list includes: Heineken, Oil of Olay, Nike, Dos Equis, Lacoste, and more.

Horn serves as the company’s board president and as a designer, fabricator, and sculptor. His Fine Art installations have earned him numerous awards including a 2010 Fellowship at Mildred’s Lane and Honorable Mention in the 2010 ISC Outstanding Senior Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture.

Learn more about the company on its website.

Associate alumnus Jamie Berger and his brother were featured in the May 2011 edition of HOW Magazine.

Associate alumnus Jamie Berger (CCAD 1975-1978) and his brother were recently featured in a HOW Magazine article detailing the rebranding and success of their printing company, Cranky Pressman.

“My younger brother has owned and operated a printing shop in Salem, Ohio for years,” Berger said. “As with many print and graphics companies, the shop has had some ups and downs since the Apple and digital artwork took over the world.”

“In 2000, I convinced him to get rid of all his new printing equipment and focus on letterpress production. I created a brand for the new old shop called Cranky Pressman. The current HOW Magazine has a feature story on us and our cranky old persona.”

The article was featured in the May 2011 edition of HOW Magazine.

To learn more about Cranky Pressman, visit the website.

Alumna Lora Innes has been asked to create a graphic novel for HBO's new miniseries.

Media Studies alumna Lora Innes (CCAD 2002) will create a graphic novel to follow the new HBO miniseries, To Appomattox, which is currently in production.

To Appomattox is an eight-part TV miniseries about the Civil War, starring Michael C. Hall, William Petersen, Paul Giamatti, Bill Paxton, and Noah Wyle. It will air in 2013 to coincide with the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War. Learn more about the project here.

Innes is the award-winning writer and artist of the historically-acclaimed graphic novel series The Dreamer, a story about a teenage girl who begins having vivid dreams about the American Revolutionary War. She also co-hosts a podcast series called Paper Wings, the show for visual storytellers.

Photo Courtesy of HubWorld.

Illustration alumnus David Hartman (CCAD 1995) was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the Oustanding Directing in an Animated Program category for his work as the supervising director for Transformers Prime.

Transformers Prime is up against Disney Kick Buttowski on DisneyXD, Fanboy and Chum Chum on Nickelodeon, Martha Speaks on PBS, Penguins of Madagascar on Nickelodeon, and Toot & Poodle on Nick Jr.

Nominations were announced Wednesday, May 11, and CCAD Illustration alumna (and David’s wife) Kathleen Hartman (CCAD 1994) shared the good news via the Columbus College of Art & Design Facebook page. A complete list of nominations can be viewed here.

We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed until June 19 when the winners are announced. In the meantime, learn more about the show on its webpage.

Alumnus Dan Scanlon has been chosen to direct Pixar's Monsters University.

In a bit of you-heard-it-hear-first news, Illustration alumnus Dan Scanlon (CCAD 1998) has just confirmed that he will direct Monsters University, a prequel to Pixar’s 2001 hit Monsters Inc.

“Yup, I’m directing MU,” he wrote to us in an email. And while he can’t do an interview (yet), Scanlon and the 2013 film are being talked about all-over the cyber world.

Cole Abaius of the blog Film School Rejects writes, “This will be Scanlon’s first feature film, but he has a writing credit on Cars, a co-director credit on the short Mater and the Ghostlight, and he’s acted as a storyboard artist on several project. It’s difficult to say what kind of job Scanlon will do with Monsters University, but he’s got the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the Pixar team.”

Kevin Jagernauth of the IndieWire Blog Network wrote, “Walt Disney has announced that Dan Scanlon will helm the film that will track Mike and Sully during their days at the University of Fear, telling the story of how they start off as enemies but soon become friends. As per usual with Pixar‘s hiring process, they’ve tapped a longtime colleague for the job. … And while it’s his first feature length animated film, he’ll undoubtedly have the strong team of the studio behind him every step of the way.”

On the blog Pixar Planet, a poster wrote, “A rising star at Pixar has taken his talents to new heights. It was confirmed today that Dan Scanlon is currently directing Monsters University…Not only is he talented, but he’s also a genuinely nice guy. It will definitely be interesting to see his take on the monster world.”

And while you anxiously await the opening of the film—and the chance to reconnect with Mike, Sully, and the gang—keep following CCAD News for the updates.

Dennison W. Griffith

What does it feel like when a college is good? Not just ok, but really good?

To be honest, at CCAD, we’re starting to think we know. Of course it’s great to have a compact, attractive campus right in the heart of downtown. Lots of new talent arriving every semester. Strong fundraising, with committed donors and dedicated volunteers. Insightful, thought-provoking conversations going on all over the place.

But what comes of all this after students graduate and leave campus? That‘s what’s making us feel extra-great this spring, so we’re putting it right up front in this issue. A college’s truest measure is the accomplishments of its alumni—and we’re ready to brag.

• Nathan Greno (Associate 1993–1996) made his feature film directorial debut with a movie that not only updated some hoary gender clichés, but also topped the box-office rankings for weeks. … more
• Package designer Michael Carney (CCAD 2004) won a 2011 Grammy. (For his work on an album by an Ohio band, no less!) …more
• Je Jung (CCAD 1998) and Rujira Lawonvisut (CCAD 1999) are pulling down raves in places like Vanity Fair as they take their fashion line global. …more
• Corey Favor (CCAD 2002) is back on campus at the center of a revival of CCAD’s Black Student Leaders Association—and he’s brought Marshall Shorts (CCAD 2006) with him. …more

Feeling really good yet? There’s more. Don’t delay, start reading!

Warm regards,

Dennison W. Griffith

President

Movie still from Tangled (2010). Walt Disney Pictures. Reproduced with permission.

Getting a “we’re so grateful for films like this” out of the Los Angeles Times is no easy task. Then again, neither is pulling down a nearly $49-million opening weekend and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature Film.  But that’s exactly what CCAD alumnus Nathan Greno (Associate 1993–1996) did in his motion picture directorial debut as co-director of Tangled.

So what does Greno think of all this? We recently spoke with him to find out what it’s like going from a CCAD student to a Golden Globe nominee in 14 short years.

Nathan Greno

IMAGE: You just directed the number one film in America. What keeps you grounded?

Nathan Greno (NG): We were thrilled to have a number one weekend. It’s incredibly exciting to direct a well-loved film that is enjoying a healthy box office. I am well aware that these films can fail, and I’ve seen ego destroy careers in animation. I think about those things every day. It keeps your head screwed on straight.

IMAGE: Can you walk us through the process a bit? How did Tangled become what it is?

NG: I worked as the story board supervisor on Bolt. John Lasseter (the creative lead at Pixar—and now Disney Animation) saw director potential in me and asked if I was interested in directing a DVD short for the film. Yes! Of course!

After the short was completed, John needed someone to direct the Rapunzel project. He asked me—again, I said yes. I really wanted to work with Byron Howard (director of Bolt), and John was great with that.

We started with a blank slate on Tangled. Everything started with us in the story room. Luckily, we had an amazing crew that helped bring the film to life in two short years—you usually get four to five years.

IMAGE: Do you work with any other CCAD alumni?

NG: I’ve met a number of CCAD graduates at Disney. Some of our best animators on Tangled attended CCAD.

IMAGE: What’s that like?

NG: It’s fun sharing stories with people who also went to CCAD. It’s like we we’re part of a club or something.

IMAGE: Do you have a single piece of advice for today’s students?

Nathan Greno at work. Photo credit: Eric Charbonneau

NG: As corny as it sounds, “Never stop fighting for your goals.” I was one of the weaker figure drawing students when I first started at CCAD (my figure drawing instructor told me so!), but three years later I was working at Disney. I had to work crazy hard to make that happen.

An animation portfolio is mostly made up of figure drawings, and my world revolved around my Disney portfolio. So during my sophomore and junior years, I started sitting in on extra figure drawing classes, sometimes attending four figure drawing classes a week. Disney offered me an internship after I finished my junior year in 1996, and I’ve been with them ever since.

IMAGE: Was there a smooth path from where you started to where you are now?

NG: I started as a clean-up animator on Mulan. I hated the job! It was very technical, and I didn’t feel like I was being creative. It was a real crisis moment for me because I had been saying I wanted to work for Disney since I was in first grade.

Luckily, I found the storyboarding department, which is one of the best jobs in the world. I spent about a decade doing story before John asked me to direct.

IMAGE: What makes you sit back and say, “This is why I do what I do.”

NG: I just had a moment like that recently. I went to the theater on opening night for Tangled. People were laughing, crying, and really having fun. It was the best feeling in the world. That night I actually thought about CCAD and the long road to directing the film. It was all worth it.

IMAGE: Finish the sentence. The best class at CCAD was…

NG: Dennis Drummond’s figure drawing class. Freshmen couldn’t take his class, but he let me sit in anyway. Sophomore and junior year I took his class and attended extra classes of his. He was an incredible teacher and an amazing draftsman. I don’t know if Disney would have happened if I never had Mr. Drummond for an instructor. I certainly wouldn’t have gotten in as fast as I did. I owe him a great deal of thanks.

IMAGE: What’s ahead?

NG: Byron and I pitched six new film ideas to John. We’re currently developing one of them.

IMAGE: Any plans to come back to CCAD in the future?

NG: Invite me back to give a talk about Disney! I’d love to do it!

Michael Carney with his Grammy.

While studying at CCAD, Michael Carney (CCAD 2004) designed the first three album covers for his brother Patrick’s band, the Black Keys. He admits designing the covers in addition to his schoolwork wasn’t always the easiest thing to do. “I had to do an extra semester because the semester when I should have graduated I failed a bunch of classes because I was working on a Black Keys record during finals.”

But it paid off. That album was Rubber Factory, which ended up having its songs featured in the major motion picture Black Snake Moan as well as a widely viewed American Express commercial. And now, seven years after taking that extra semester of classes, Carney has won the 2011 Grammy for Best Recording Package for his art direction on the Black Keys’ latest album, Brothers.

So how’s it feel? In a word…

Michael Carney (MC): Surreal. It is not something I would have ever expected to happen.

IMAGE: How did you find out about the nomination?

MC: I was at my apartment with my friend listening to records and hanging out when my brother called me losing his mind, telling me I got nominated and that the record also got nominated for Best Alternative and three other categories. I got about twenty phone calls in two minutes and then my friend and I went to a bar around the corner.

The Grammy winners before the ceremony, from left: Patrick Carney (Black Keys drummer/producer), Dan Auerbach (Black Keys vocalist/guitarist), and Michael Carney.

IMAGE: What’s it like working with your brother?

MC: It is really amazing. We have very similar aesthetics, and there is a huge amount of trust that makes working together really easy. I have two brothers, and we are all very supportive and proud of each others’ successes.

IMAGE: So, how’d you come up with the design?

MC: Making the packaging for Brothers was different from any project I had worked on before. They didn’t name the record until the 11th hour—I had actually started working on a different cover, which I scrapped when they told me the name of the record.

I decided that the cover needed to be text based, but I didn’t want it to just be a logo. The concept that we went with was something that I had talked to the band about a few times, but we were all basically scared to do it. Then one night I just mocked up a few options and played with layout and wording. I sent really rough mock-ups to the band and within like two minutes they both called and basically said, “I love this, but can we get away with it?”

It definitely took me out of my comfort zone because it was such a concept-driven cover and the layout was so simple. As far as my process for making the record, I didn’t just type out the layout and send it out. Doing the final cover actually took a lot longer than most people think because of the process I used to create each design element.

"Brothers" album cover

IMAGE: Was there ever that moment of “I’ve made it,” or is this that moment?

MC: I guess this is that moment. The last Black Keys album cover got voted worst album cover of the month in Vice magazine and that was pretty cool.

IMAGE: Finish the sentence. [Blank] always reminds me of CCAD.

MC: Coffee and cigarettes.

IMAGE: The best class at CCAD was…

MC: Motion Graphics.

IMAGE: If I could go back to college, I would…

MC: Get better grades.

IMAGE: I hope future CCAD students…

MC: Do it big. Work hard, and stay focused. Be passionate about your work, and stay open minded. Don’t let yourself get comfortable. Don’t sleep. Realize that every project and every person you work with is an opportunity to learn more and get better. I always try to remind myself that there are thousands of people out there that are more talented than me and that want my job.

IMAGE: What makes it all worth it?

MC: I get the occasional email from people saying how much they like my work. That is a really amazing feeling. At this point I have done about twenty-odd album packagings, and I still get a thrill when I get my copy of the finished product or when I see my work in a store.

Je Jung and Rujira Lawonvisut

You might say that Fashion Design alumni and husband-and-wife team Je Jung (CCAD 1998) and Rujira Lawonvisut (CCAD 1999) have done well—but it would be a major understatement. Between the two of them, they’ve designed for Gap, Theory, and Urban Outfitters. Last year, they debuted their own fashion line, WRKROOM, during New York Fashion Week. Now WRKROOM is on clothing racks in eight U.S. states and recently went international, finding a spot on the shelves at Mob.F, a multi-brand store in Thailand.

People are talking. Exciting people. Here’s a sample.

Vanity Fair: “Their double-breasted jackets and sporty anoraks are the kind of thing you want to wear every day, but their tissue-weight T-shirts steal the show…The careful construction and easy versatility of each piece makes for a wearable collection of modern essentials.” (September 16, 2009)

Thrillist: “WRK’s a fashion-forward, nose-to-tail line whose travel-friendly details are designed to help you live a life of global rootlessness.” (January 26, 2010)

Bangkok Post: “WRKROOM boasts collections which exhibit this modern era’s simplicity and shaped wardrobe staples with refined vintage touch. Its garments are designed with a combination of subtle details and fabrications to help project intricate and mature style for discerning clients.” (December 27, 2010)

Asian News Network: “And while WRKROOM is a men’s line, the label gets a lot of women in its Asian stores. ‘In the US a men’s line is a men’s line, but here it’s more open. If people like something they buy it,’ said Je Jung.” (January 21, 2011)

A membership meeting of the Black Student Leaders Association. From left: Current student Joe Washington, alumnus and BSLA leader Corey Favor (CCAD 2002), and current students Kourtney Thorn and Marquis Engle.

On graduation day, the last thing on the mind of most students is, “I wonder how I can repay my college for everything I have experienced and accomplished.” Most alumni don’t even think about giving back until years down the road—and it’s usually in the form of a donation. But two recent CCAD graduates are giving CCAD less common gifts: leadership and passion.

A New York City native, Corey Favor graduated from CCAD in 2002 with a B.F.A. in Illustration and has stayed in Columbus. Now the graphic designer and digital support coordinator for Radio One, Favor admits to missing the fast pace of the Big Apple. Rather than pick up a new hobby, he started mentoring African American high school students—but was not fully satisfied.

A membership meeting of the Black Student Leaders Association.

“This may sound over-sentimental, but I had a moment of clarity [when I] knew I had a deeper purpose. As an African American artist and college graduate, I felt a responsibility to help young African American artists, in hopes of giving them better guidance than I ever had when I was young,” said Favor. He knew he had to go back to CCAD.

Favor describes his college days at CCAD as lonely. He was a minority who was far from home, he said, and “back then, there were only a handful of us [African Americans]. We didn’t have any mentors or alumni to look up to, so we supported each other.”

Why would mentors have helped? Favor recalls, “When you’re at school, that’s all you see. The outside world doesn’t really exist. Now picture CCAD as a boot camp for art. You receive orders from a figurehead about how to use your skills and your tools—and some visual examples—but there are no veterans to tell you what battle is like. At graduation, you’re thrust into the battlefield we call life, and all the while, you wish someone would have told you more.”

A membership meeting of the Black Student Leaders Association.

Since Favor’s reconnection with CCAD last summer, he has become the co-advisor of the campus’s only African American-focused student organization, the Black Student Leaders Association (BSLA). With the help of fellow African American alumnus Marshall Shorts (CCAD 2006) and CCAD staff, Favor supports the group as it holds programs around campus. He facilitates the development of members’ leadership skills through frank and insightful conversations. He also makes it a point to bring two guest speakers a month to attend the membership meeting. But these presenters aren’t just anybody. They are successful African American artists or designers from diverse disciplines who are recognized leaders in the Columbus community.

“I set up these guest speakers because I want students to feel empowered. I want them to leave the meeting saying, ‘Wow! If he or she can do it, I can do it,’” said Favor.

A membership meeting of the Black Student Leaders Association.

Favor’s hard work has paid off. Since September, BSLA has grown from 4 students to a large group of over 20 dedicated members.

“Having someone to talk and relate to has been great,” said Jocelyn Williams, a Junior in Interior Design. “He [Favor] knows what it’s like to be at CCAD as a black student.”

Another student, Josh Wallace, admits that he appreciates the sense of community that has emerged since BSLA started. Students have even begun to network with other African American student organizations in the Columbus area. “It’s great that we have someone to do this…[to] listen and advise us,” said Wallace. “But what’s even better is seeing someone be successful and [then] return to help us out.”

Favor’s response? “I just hope that there are alumni like me at every campus.”

Adam Brouillette. Photo credit: Ryan Monroe (CCAD 2011)

By Adam Brouillette

The older I get, the more the concept of “creative community” comes into focus. The world’s desire and need for creative individuals is becoming increasingly important. But our society and educational systems have been designed to teach us rules—suffocating affective learning and replacing it with standardization. Standardization has led to complacency and lack of innovative progress. In order for us all to develop, I believe it is important for society, businesses, and individuals to understand the values associated with creativity.

More importantly, I believe it is the responsibility of creative people themselves to value what they offer and to assert that value with a common voice. The concept of “thinking outside the box” has become a catch phrase, something businesses are proud to say so they sound like innovators. Creative people need to reclaim their place in that phrase. Truly creative minds have the ability to offer different perspectives, to pioneer, and to execute. When we learn to speak collectively of unconventional thinking and action as desirable skills, we move from the fringe of an operation to the forefront.

I’m not suggesting that this is an easy task. Creative individuals are often just that: individual. We have to remember that central to the concept of community is a willingness to accept the ideas of others. To partner with other disciplines and learn from other methods. To execute together. This cross-pollination and blending often serves as a catalyst to the creative process. A truly creative community does  just as much listening as it does speaking or acting.

Throughout my experiences in college, as part of a collective, and in entrepreneurial endeavors, this concerted voice has been a driving force. I have seen firsthand the benefits of a unified creative community—repeatedly. I have seen the change that this confederation can bring to the individuals, businesses, and cultures it reaches. Creative community is as imperative to these stakeholders as fiscal responsibility or social consciousness. Ultimately, our willingness to accept that fact, both as a culture and as creative individuals, will determine our ability to make real progress.

If we can listen, share, and work hard, we will be the leaders of the future—together.

Adam Brouillette was a Fine Arts major at CCAD and earned his B.F.A. in 2002. Since graduating, he has been part of many group initiatives, as well as continuing to produce work independently as an artist. He currently serves as president of Couchfire Collective, co-chair of the Ohio Art League’s board of trustees, manager of Junctionview Studios, owner of littleINDUSTRIES, and executive director of Wonderland Columbus.

The Short North is one of the vibrant neighborhoods near downtown Columbus.

CCAD students know our city’s vibrant arts scene well—from the Short North Arts District with its well-established galleries, killer shopping, and first-class restaurants to the rich indie arts scene with popular events like Independents’ Day, successful organizations like Couchfire Collective, and an exciting entrepreneurial landscape. In fact, according to a January 18 article by Richard Florida in The Atlantic magazine, Columbus is beginning to experience a “brain gain,” as college grads increasingly choose to make the city their home—slowing the previous flow to Sunbelt cities such as Phoenix, Atlanta, and Charlotte.

CCAD contributes to the growing success of the city in many ways: most importantly by preparing our students to be creative leaders who vitalize both the global and local creative economies.

CCAD is also an active partner in community initiatives such as EasyColumbus.com, which bolsters the city’s competitive position globally. EasyColumbus has a single mission, to engage and ultimately retain college students from the 11 college campuses in the central Ohio region.

“This project…is an excellent example of the collaborative efforts and desires of the local community to make our four-year visitors feel connected and at home in Columbus,” said Dennison W. Griffith, CCAD president and co-chair of EasyColumbus. “We are pretty confident that once students get to know Columbus a little better, they’ll love us and have more reasons to start their future here.”

But CCAD is also having a concrete (and bricks and mortar) impact on the built environment of Columbus’s core. The success and growth of the college itself is leveraging investment in downtown and in the Discovery District neighborhood that is home to the campus. Building on recent additions to the CCAD campus and the expansion of the Columbus Museum of Art next door, the 2010 Downtown Columbus Strategic Plan proposes an expansive “Creative Campus” district around and through the CCAD campus with Gay Street as its core.

Vince Papsidero, planning administrator for the City of Columbus, emphasizes the area’s valuable potential to attract creative people—both as visitors and residents. The plan proposes open space, new streetscapes, mixed-use infill construction, and a new, shared parking garage to create an interconnected and active campus between CCAD, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Jefferson Center for Learning and the Arts, and Columbus State Community College. “The plan will enhance the experience of students, residents, and visitors to the area by creating a new cultural neighborhood that is interconnected and vibrant,” Papsidero said. “Ultimately the plan aims to improve downtown and solidify its place as the employment, governmental, institutional, entertainment, and commercial core of Central Ohio.”

Jeff Stahler (CCAD 1977)

Ninety percent of CCAD students receive some share of the more than $10,000,000 in scholarships and financial aid that CCAD awards each year. This year for the first time, students who have benefited from donor generosity in years past were invited to take a firsthand role in providing that same support for future students. And they’re succeeding in a big way.

In the first-ever CCAD phonathon, four student callers telephoned more than two hundred alumni who graduated within the last decade, asking for their financial support. They weren’t asking for much—just whatever the recent grads could afford. And whenever a donation was made, the student called that alum back a few days later to express their gratitude (during the even more popular inaugural “thankathon”). We have to say that these students were true rock stars of fundraising, reaching their goal in a matter of days.

Now the Senior Class is getting in on the action, raising money for their Senior Class Gift—a donation to the CCAD Scholarship Fund—by hosting concerts and parties during their last semester on campus. They’re spending as much time together as they can before graduation, while providing some financial assistance to the next batch of students at the same time.

Caption for Jeff Stahler cartoon (right): Board member and alumnus Jeff Stahler (CCAD 1977) came to campus with some other CCAD friends to join the phonathon team for one night, making calls for support on the college’s behalf—and was gracious enough to follow it up with an original cartoon just for Image. A syndicated cartoonist for the Columbus Dispatch, his work appears regularly in USA Today, Newsweek, and the New York Times, and, now, for the first time, in Image.

Students working at the phonathon.

By  Kyle Franklin, Advertising & Graphic Design and Media Studies Freshman

If every student got to experience what I did through the phonathon, they could learn so much about our school. It fits in right between taking a class and doing an internship: because you’re talking to alumni, they’re providing you with something personal about this school, and because they’ve found a lot of success in their careers, they give you tons of advice. Here’s what I learned:

1. I made the right choice in coming here. Hearing about the alumni’s success and stories from being a student hit really close to home for me. Someday I will find the same success—and I’ll get to have the same amount of fun along the way.
2. You can never know enough about what classes to take and what professors to take them with. The alumni offered me so much advice about their majors, down to recommending classes and teachers. So I’d sit their writing down a bunch of things—pretty much everything they said. (Side note: I got three internship offers!)
3. The hard work pays off. A lot of them said that they have people who apply for jobs who don’t know how to work the Adobe programs, and their portfolios are just, uggh. I spoke with one alumna who does a lot of hiring at Limited Brands, and she said she can always tell when someone is a CCAD student because there is a certain work ethic and talent level that is so identifiable.
4. Giving back means paying it forward. A lot of our alumni received scholarships while they were here, so that’s why they give back. They even said that they couldn’t have done what they had without the scholarship they received. I’m the same way, so that’s why I’ll give back once I graduate.
5. We’re a part of one great big, growing family. Some people go to college strictly to get an education, but here it feels a lot more personal, like you and CCAD chose each other. I don’t know one student here who isn’t passionate about what they do, and when I talked to the alumni they were exactly the same way. It’s pretty cool to know that there are thousands of people in the world who have the same experience I do.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The student callers’ efforts paid off in a big way: in 2010, giving from alumni who graduated within the last 10 years increased by more than 1,000 percent.

David Merz

By David Merz III, Advertising and Graphic Design Senior and President of the Class of 2011

When I came to CCAD, someone gave a gift to the college that the college then passed along to me in the form of a scholarship. That single financial donation has given me the opportunity to pursue my passion and hone my craft. It has allowed me to work alongside some of the most talented people around and to have those same people turn from classmates to friends. And now that I’m a senior on the brink of graduation (aahhh!), it’s giving me the opportunity to make the same reality possible for someone else.

The idea to leave a Senior Class Gift to the college was pretty simple. The idea to raise money together as the Class of 2011 and donate it to the school’s scholarship fund was even easier.

After all, the point isn’t the amount of money we raise (though raising a lot won’t hurt anyone); it’s the act of doing something together as a class to better the future of the college we all love.

The truth, though, is that we students are broke, and that makes asking for money tough. But we would all be far more broke and have thousands more to pay back (with interest!) if it weren’t for the scholarships we received. So we’re starting small, asking for a dollar here and another there, hoping it will add up to make enough of a difference. And during all the fundraising events we get to hang out together in our final days as CCAD students, which makes the money out of our pockets totally worth it.

This is a small tradition that we’re starting, and we hope the classes of 2012 and thereafter can take and improve this initiative, so the tradition get stronger and better. But my senior class, the Class of 2011, can take pride in being the founders of it all.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Want to add to the scholarship money the Class of 2011 is raising? Visit www.ccad.edu/donate or call Development and Alumni Relations Coordinator Stephanie Stover at 614.222.6188 to make a donation today.

Lisa Dent, adjunct graduate faculty member

By Lisa Dent

One beautiful day in the fall of 2010, I sat with eleven other people around a table on the third floor of CCAD’s Design Studios on Broad. Only recently acquainted with each person and unfamiliar with their background and knowledge, I scanned the room for signs of interest, apathy, or fear. All seemed present. I passed out copies of Roland Barthes’s essay “To the Seminar” and told them we would be reading this out loud together and then would discuss it for the next three hours. More confused looks. I officially started to love my new job.

As part of the requirements for CCAD’s new MFA program, students participate in my theory and criticism seminar. I prepare a list of required readings that will allow us to participate for several months in weekly discussions about the ideas that have inspired artists over the last 100 years. Scratching the surface of critical thinking about Western art is the goal. My hope is that each student will be inspired to discover more readings on his or her own later.

But first, they have to get through the ones I assign. By reading the Barthes essay together, I hoped to guide them through how this could go. I’d be less of a drill sergeant, more of a guide dog. Wait, now I’m a Labrador retriever? In any case, I looked to the great French literary theorist for a place to start. In his essay, Barthes proposes a scenario whereby all members of a seminar are on equal footing. The instructor, though sitting at the head of the table, does not have all the answers. We read through the essays together and find a way through them. There will be excitement, disappointment, and change. Although I’ve read these essays many times, I can still only look at them through my own knowledge and experience. How can I know what will come up for each of you? Together we will make this room a safe haven. Here we can talk, read, laugh, cry, argue, and confide in each other.

As I anticipated, the frustration soon revealed itself through a series of attempts to get me to shift my position. “Could you do a presentation with images of these artists’ works for us to see?” No, use the library. Keep reading and bring your thoughts to class. “I’m afraid that I’m not getting any of this at all. I’m so confused.” Of course you are. Keep reading. See you next week. I said in my first email to the class: sometimes you have to feel the burn.

So where do we find ourselves in relation to all of this theory six months later? I couldn’t tell you for sure. All of us are thinking about it every week. See how that worked? How fun is that?

Lisa Dent is an adjunct graduate faculty member at CCAD and the associate curator of contemporary art at the Columbus Museum of Art. In 1992 she was a Helena Rubenstein Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art and subsequently held curatorial positions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she completed its independent study program. Afterward, she was director of the Friedrich Petzel Gallery in New York and worked as a freelance writer, art critic, and scenic designer. She has taught modern art history and design at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and the University of California, Davis, and owned a gallery in San Francisco.

Lillie Templeton presenting at the Fall 2010 Honors Symposium.

CCAD’s Honors Program gives high-achieving students the chance to shape and expand their CCAD education—and not just in the classroom. “Several years ago a faculty and staff committee met to consider an Honors Program,” said Provost Anedith Nash. “Discussion turned on whether to do a more conventional liberal arts honors program or to fully integrate all of our educational experiences. The decision to offer Honors as part of the whole CCAD experience was important. Even more important was encouraging the Honors participants to be the creators of the program.”

When the program opened in 2009, participating students created an Honors Student Council, which took the lead in researching honors programs nationwide. “We’re one of the few art and design schools to offer an Honors program—and we are certainly pioneering by offering both seminars and studio courses in Honors,” said sophomore Lillie Templeton, the current Council president.

Templeton and fellow Council members Jennifer Chema, Dayna Smith, and Austin McClellan have worked alongside CCAD faculty and staff to launch the program, hold CCAD’s first two annual Honors Symposiums, and formulate plans for the program’s next steps.

Jennifer Chema presenting at the Fall 2010 Honors Symposium.

Jennifer Chema (JC): The Honors Symposium is a great way of saying to family members, potential employers, or community members that here is something more from CCAD.

Dayna Smith (DS): We’ve been working very closely with Career Services, and we’re hoping at some point we can get prospective employers to come to the symposium and look at it as a highlight reel for the school. It will get students to want to join and show them that this is something more than just a bunch of geeks wanting to do more work.

Austin McClellan (AM): We definitely do not want to claim that we are the best designers at this school. We just say that we are much more excited about working on projects that encompass the all-around.

DS: Right. [Honors] expands how we think outside the aesthetic. …It’s something we think about—a lot. I think the best thing about Honors is that we can trust each other, and we’re not just going to say, “Oh, that looks pretty!” We’re going to give each other really good feedback.

AM: I ask people to talk to me about my work in [Honors] class. That way, I can get a much broader spectrum because there is someone from a different major offering their advice.

DS: You learn to not only listen to these ideas but to take them in and let them change you. When you’re in a room with people who have different ideas, you grow better. I think the difference is that [our regular] classes teach us how to produce, but Honors teaches us how to…

Lillie Templeton (LT): Control it.

DS: Well, get through it. Think. It isn’t so much the product as it is how you got to the product.

AM: The process.

LT: It’s about how you think through things. We’re not geniuses; it’s not about our final work being better than someone else’s. It’s all about offering these resources to help students think through something differently.

Dayna Smith presenting at the Fall 2010 Honors Symposium.

DS: I think the people in Honors usually consider it more fun. We get to do more things, have bigger ideas. You don’t get told what to do; you pursue something that really interests you. When you do that, you’re not really doing homework anymore. And you start to learn how to apply that to everything else.

JC: I would like to say that working with our [Honors faculty] mentors is really helpful because I am one of those people who likes to work one-on-one with people.

DS: I only saw my mentor three times the whole semester, but every time I went in there he completely changed my whole thought process. And at that moment, I know my whole mind has just gone crazy and I have to write down everything. I’ll fill up half a sketchbook with writing and half with drawing and find out what works. He’s so busy, but he finds the time to work with me, which is great.

LT: And that’s a really nice thing the Honors program can offer. A lot of students will look at it and say “I’m going into this field, and you don’t offer seminars specific to that field.” Well, that’s because that’s what your major offers, and we’re trying to offer you something a little bit different, something that you won’t get elsewhere. The other nice part is that the teacher/student relationship that we offer with the mentoring is not limited too within your major. Even though I am an Ad/Graph major, I can go to an Illustration faculty member. I can go to someone in ID and say, “I’m an Honors student, would you be interested in mentoring me?” And they could say no, but…

DS: …They almost always say yes. Teachers like kids that are crazy.

Austin McClellan presenting at the Fall 2010 Honors Symposium.

AM: I like that you can also go out and find a mentor that isn’t a faculty member. I often [work with] a faculty member at Kentucky University; she’s in child development, and she helps with transferring ideas to a child, getting a child to relate to what I’m trying to communicate.

DS: I work with members of the children’s department at [the] Mayo [Clinic] who specialize in psychiatric health, and they let me in on the way the kids see agoraphobia. They’ll tell me something, and I’ll say, “Really? I never thought of it like that.”

JC: And it’s also nice that our mentors are like, “Take a breath, breathe.” They help so much at refocusing your energy and very gently saying, “Do this.” [Because] you’re not doing such time-constrained projects, it’s nice to have someone there to be gentle, and I just can’t thank my mentor enough. I don’t feel overwhelmed anymore.

Students on the quad.

Co-ed residence halls, where men and women live in the same building but not in the same room, have been a standard of college life for decades—the private Ohio liberal arts school Oberlin College made the cover of November 20, 1970, issue of Life magazine when it was one of the first colleges in the country to have co-ed halls. But gender and college housing are in the news again now, as dozens of colleges and universities across the country are offering the option for students to choose their roommates without restrictions on gender. The issue has garnered national coverage in news outlets from the Los Angeles Times to Fox News, and it has been the subject of numerous scholarly articles.

The current movement started as an effort to help gay and transgender students feel comfortable in on-campus housing. But more colleges are embracing the idea because it allows all students, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, to pick the most compatible roommates.

Students enjoying the sun.

CCAD started offering gender-neutral roommate selection last year after opening its new Design Square Apartments, which have private bedrooms.

“Many of our students share off-campus apartments with roommates of differing genders, and they wanted that same option if they continued to live on campus. Now that we have an apartment building with private bedrooms and bathrooms, the choice to provide such an option was an easy one for us to make,” said Dwayne Todd, vice president of student affairs and dean of students. “Our experience with mixed-gender housing has been virtually problem-free.”

Like most schools, CCAD only provides the gender-neutral roommate selection option to students at a sophomore level or higher. Additionally, CCAD discourages romantic partners from living together. Staff were prepared to make room transfers if couples did move in together and then broke up—but that hasn’t happened. Todd said, “We’ve found that in practically every case, our mixed-gender apartments are comprised of friends and siblings. I suppose some healthy distance is still important to those who are in romantic relationships.”

CCAD students.

Sophomore Animation major David King’s decision to live in an on-campus apartment with three female roommates stemmed from their being well-acquainted their freshman year. “We all became friends when we had foundations classes together,” he said.

Still, living with three women has been an eye-opener. As with any new roommates, “once you live with someone, you see a different side,” King continued. “The fact that they are females means we have some different perspectives on how to deal with relationships and conflict.” He acts as a buffer at times and encourages his roommates to be forthcoming about issues that could brew into larger problems. In addition, they all share their experiences dealing with members of the opposite sex. “I’ve learned a lot about women from hearing their point of view on their relationships,” he said.

“It’s an interesting balance. I think we’ve all benefited from the experience.”

REFLECT: by James Lutz Associate Professor, Advertising & Graphic Design, & Mark Burleigh, Assistant Professor, Advertising & Graphic Design

By Duncan Snyder, Associate Professor, Photography and Graduate Studies, and President of Faculty Council

Over the past year, the faculty of CCAD has worked together to describe in detail the processes we use for teaching and learning here on campus. The last step in this work was to hone all that description and detail into a sort of manifesto we call the Learning Goals. It’s just seven simple words.

Create – Communicate – Connect – Reflect – Master – Risk – Impact

Whether you attended CCAD decades ago or are studying here now, whether you’re a member of the CCAD family or a distant associate, we think you’ll recognize these words (and more importantly, the actions behind the words) as a representation of who we are, what we expect, and what we aspire to at CCAD.

I personally think of the Learning Goals as a tool—a rudder, a shield, or even a Swiss Army knife. Whether in the classroom or the individual studio, in collaboration with others or out in the community, students and professors alike can use these goals to foster the CCAD spirit. Across campus, students and faculty are discovering the power of using these ideas on a daily basis and beginning to build a collective discussion on their experiences.

But even if you never set foot on campus, I think you’ll find the Learning Goals coming to mind the next time you meet a CCAD graduate. What makes them just a little bit different? It’s these seven words.

EDITOR’S NOTE: CCAD faculty members were invited to contribute images to represent each learning goal (all images are reproduced with permission). Click any image below to see it in full.

Facetime by Dennis McNulty, as installed in the Canzani Center Gallery, CCAD. Courtesy of the artist and Green on Red Gallery.

It was there on the newsstands, staring out at me, just before Christmas. I still haven’t signed up for Facebook, partially because I’m a little worried about the latent potential of large mounds of data and partially because I know that I would probably become completely addicted to it. But there was something compelling about that image: Mark Zuckerberg’s blank, almost symmetrical face on the cover of Time magazine—magnetic, calm, unsettling, unreadable. Person of the Year. It seemed significant that a bastion of the old ways was paying tribute to the king of the new ways. The top-down distribution of information by self-appointed gatekeepers versus the flattened hierarchies of networked distribution. Physical objects versus invisible information on magnetic storage devices. People 1.0 versus People 2.0, as Zadie Smith would have it. But things are never that simple. I bought the magazine and read the feature.

Zuckerberg intrigues people, me included, because his motives are unclear. He doesn’t seem to be interested in money or coolness. In David Fincher’s movie The Social Network, Zuckerberg’s portrayed as a young guy trying to find a way to hook up with girls. As incredible as Aaron Sorkin’s script is, this was patently not the case in reality—but it’s clear why Sorkin felt he needed to create this motive for the leading man. Otherwise, where’s the plot? How can we identify with a character who makes choices for no discernible reason? You can imagine Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who plays Zuckerberg, standing on set asking Fincher, “Okay, so what’s my motivation?” and Fincher looking at his feet and saying, “I’ve told you before, Jesse, we don’t have any idea what your motivation is.”

Studying ancient Greek and Latin, as Zuckerberg has, usually means studying the ideas that were formulated in those languages, the ideas that form the basis of the society in which we live. Initially, Martin Schoeller’s Time cover shot reminded me of the award handed out to actors at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards—a mask that is in turn based on the masks used in classical Greek theatre. It’s static, almost symmetrical, impassive. I began to think of Zuckerberg as the king of a vast virtual city-state.

Dennis McNulty

But after reading the Time feature, I found myself coming to a different conclusion. I was intrigued by the descriptions of Zuckerberg targeting key people who were very focused on their own projects and ultimately converting them, persuading them to aid him in creating his vision of a world connected and re-ordered by Faceboook. What strikes me now is how Facebook, in its desire to re-engineer society, in many ways resembles a cult. Its software provides an ever-increasing number of users with a series of rituals and the language to accompany them—poking, writing on walls, friending and de-friending. However, if Facebook is a cult, it’s one where the figure of the charismatic leader has been replaced by one with a calm, inexpressive stare, a face-void to be filled with your own data.

Dennis McNulty is an artist based in Dublin, Ireland, whose practice is concerned with memory, potential, and flow. His work emerges from research, suggesting possible narratives through the overlapping of pieces in various media. McNulty’s extensive exhibition record includes representing Ireland at the São Paulo Bienal and participating in solo and group exhibitions in Ireland, Northern Ireland, France, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Colombia, and the United States. His 2011 works The Crash, Facetime, and Carbon Dating were commissioned by CCAD and Bureau for Open Culture for the exhibition Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, presented at CCAD from January 27–March 12, 2011.

Artie Isaac

From: artie@speakersite.com
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 11:44 AM
To: rob@speakersite.com
Subject: Your 2 o’clock

Hey, Rob,

I glanced at your Google calendar and saw that you’re interviewing a potential hire at 2 p.m.

Thanks for doing this. You always tell me we’re betting our company on the talents and brilliance of our creative team. “That’s our business model.” I’m grateful to you for interviewing another candidate.

Oh, and I saw the candidate’s name on your calendar. I don’t know her. But I also saw that she’s from CCAD.

I do know what “from CCAD” means.

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of candidates and hired from all over. The folks who come from CCAD come with a promise. Year in and year out, “from CCAD” means this candidate—like everyone from CCAD—

• thinks — She’s not just a pair of hands. She’s going to know the underlying strategy that supports her work. Her concepts will be “client ready.”
• observes — She doesn’t live her whole life glued to her Mac. She’s a student of the world, exploring its nuances and bringing those insights to her work.
• understands — So many young people just want “a job.” But like you tell me, “This ain’t just a job.” It’s a lot more. We’re betting our company. Our houses. Our children’s college funds. Our futures. CCAD grads get it.
• produces — Everyone from CCAD is technically competent, broadly educated, and an art and design workhorse. The rest of the staff will be inspired to keep up.

Have fun at 2. I know it will be time well spent.

– Artie

Artie Isaac co-founded SpeakerSite, an online community of public speakers and event planners (2008), and Young Isaac, an award-winning creative marketing strategy and advertising agency (1990). A sought-after teacher and public speaker, he teaches Strategy, Creativity, and Ethics in Marketing at CCAD and Personal Creativity and Innovation at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. Isaac started his career with agencies in New York, including Ogilvy & Mather. He holds an M.B.A. in Marketing from Columbia, a B.A. in English Literature from Yale, and a high school diploma—and varsity letter for cheerleading—from the Columbus Academy.

Alumnus Mark Riedy recently redesigned Budweiser's symbolic clydesdales.

Alumnus Mark Riedy (CCAD 1979) recently teamed up with creative firm Switch to redesign Budweiser’s logo. Through his employment at Scott Hull Associates, Riedy worked as illustrator designer on the project, developing and illustrating the classic logo.

“Whenever you are asked to work on a long-standing iconic image such as the Budweiser Clydesdales, the biggest challenge is striking a creative balance,” Riedy said in an interview on the company’s blog. “The art already has a name for itself. You want to add your own personal point of view while always considering the equity of the images that came before me.”

“The Budweiser Clydesdales are a symbol that is recognizable and loved by all ages,” Riedy continued. “The goal was to update the logo so that it would be more relevant and appealing to current Budweiser consumers.”

Scott Hull Asscoiates is owned by CCAD alumnus Scott Hull (CCAD 1977). In its 30 years of business, Scott Hull Associates have worked with more than 8,000 companies including Microsoft, Hasbro, Time magazine, Johnson & Johnson, and American Red Cross.

“We are helping companies understand the value of illustration and how to use it,” Hull said. “In a lot of cases, we can problem solve to get the strongest visual identity for that company. “

To learn more, visit the company’s website .

This post was included in the spring 2011 issue of IMAGE Magazine.

"Violinist," by Dean Mitchell is on display at the Canton Musuem of Art.

WVIZ/PBS in northeastern Ohio created a documentary about the life of alumnus Dean Mitchell (CCAD 1980) for his recent exhibition Dean Mitchell: Space, People & Places at the Canton Museum of Art. The exhibition features 40 recent paintings and opened with a gala Dec. 4 at the Canton Museum of Art and runs through March 6, 2011.

Mitchell has received positive critiques in The New York Times and St. Petersburg Times. He was named a “Best Bet” for collectors in ARTnews magazine and has created portraits of Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane and three others for the U.S. Postal Service’s Jazz Musicians stamp series.

Mitchell’s paintings are in the permanent collections of the St. Louis Museum, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Mississippi Museum of Art and the Arkansas Art Center. He won the American Watercolor Society’s Gold Medal of Honor. Mitchell’s life is the subject of an illustrated children’s book titled, Against All Odds: Artist Dean Mitchell’s Story.

The Canton Museum of Art is located inside the Cultural Center for the Arts, 1001 Market Ave. N in Canton, Ohio. Gallery hours are: 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Saturday, and 1–5 p.m. Sunday. For details, visit www.cantonart.org.

Watch the documentary here.

This post was included in the spring 2011 issue of IMAGE Magazine.

Richmond explains how pin-up models inspired his collection in his book "Cheesecake Boys."

Alumnus Paul Richmond (CCAD ’02) literally caught celebrities Perez Hilton, Jesse Archer, Mike Ruiz, and James St. James with their pants down (with their permission, of course!) for his upcoming Cheesecake Boy exhibition.

“Via e-mail and phone conversations, they all helped me concoct their own personalized pin-up predicaments,” said Richmond in a recent interview with Columbus Underground. “And then they supplied me with hilariously compromising photo references to help illustrate the concepts. I kept them updated as their paintings progressed, and they offered suggestions along the way.”

Richmond said that inspiration for this project came from his fascination with pin-up art from the 40s and 50s. “It was a more innocent time (at least on the surface), and I love the elaborate scenarios that artists like Gil Elvgren and Art Frahm concocted in order to justify disrobing their subjects,” said Richmond in the interview. “A loose nail, a doorknob, or a brisk wind would all work in a pinch, resulting in hapless models accidentally exposing their unmentionables. I’m interested in exploring how gender roles were reinforced by these artistic expressions of sexuality.”

Paintings from the exhibition have been used in his recent book, Cheesecake Boys: The Pin-Up Art of Paul Richmond, available for purchase on Etsy. The show opened Dec. 2 in downtown Columbus at the Luxboheme Showroom.

Read the entire interview at Columbus Underground. For more information about Richmond, visit his website.

This post was included in the spring 2011 issue of IMAGE Magazine.

by Aadam Soorma

Moreland-Garnett holding her Art Educator of the Year award.

Kymberly Moreland-Garnett (CCAD ’91) has been honored with the 2010 Middle School Art Educator of the Year award by the Florida Art Education Association (FAEA).

Moreland-Garnett, who teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at The Trinity Preparatory School (TPS), was also a member of the FAEA Board from 2007-2009. In addition to the statewide award, the CCAD alumna brought home Trinity Prep’s Teacher of the Year award in 2009.

TPS is a selective, independent school affiliated with the Episcopal Church that enrolls 834 students in grades 6 through 12 in Winter Park, Florida—approximately 15 minutes from downtown Orlando.

A 1991 fine arts graduate of CCAD, Moreland-Garnett has lived in Ohio, Wyoming, Chicago and Florida.

This post was included in the spring 2011 issue of IMAGE Magazine.

Rachael Ormond Santillan (CCAD, ’00) noticed smoke pouring from the couple’s house on Monday, Oct. 11. She attempted to find them inside but the smoke forced her back outside.

On Santillan’s second rescue attempt she found the elderly couple — one using a walker, the other a cane — struggling to get out. Santillan picked up the woman to help her escape.

The deputy fire marshall cautioned that it was risky for Santillan to enter the home but said she acted courageously and probably saved the couple’s lives.

Santillan majored in Media Studies-Still Based at CCAD. Visit her website at www.photographystudio22.com.

For local TV coverage of the story go to WRAL’s video link.

This post was included in the spring 2011 issue of IMAGE Magazine.

From the archives at www.dispatch.com

In an interview airing on CNN’s John King U.S.A., Columbus College of Art & Design trustee Jeff Stahler (CCAD, ’77) talks about what inspires his editorial cartoons.

During the interview, which aired Sept. 7, Stahler discusses cartoons that reflect his perspective on American politics, the 2010 midterm election, and the economy. Stahler explains that he tries to “capture the moment, capture what people are thinking.”

Editorial cartoonist for The Columbus Dispatch, Stahler’s work is distributed worldwide by Newspaper Enterprise Association. His cartoons appear every week in USA Today and are frequently reprinted in major magazines and newspapers, including Newsweek and The New York Times.

Stahler also creates the whimsical slice-of-life comic panel Moderately Confused for Newspaper Enterprise Association.

To see Stahler’s interview go to CNN. King was visiting Columbus for a live production of his show and as the second stop on a three-day tour that included Pittsburgh and northern Kentucky.

This post was included in the spring 2011 issue of IMAGE Magazine.

Dining set from www.brookeowensmith.com

The designs, craftsmanship and carving talent of furniture builder Brooke Smith (CCAD ’92) are highlighted in the October issue of Popular Woodworking magazine.

The Design Matters column by George R. Walker traces the steps Smith takes in designing and building pieces to grace clients’ homes—from rough sketches to a series of design options and helping clients visualize the final concept as well as the various wood tones by using watercolors in his final pencil drawings.

To see Smith’s portfolio go to www.brookeowensmith.com.

For more about the magazine article go to www.popularwoodworking.com.

This post was included in the spring 2011 issue of IMAGE Magazine.

Alumnus Matt Flynn developed the title for Universal Picture's summer hit, "Despicable Me."

As a board artist for Universal Pictures, Matt Flynn (CCAD ’03) developed storyboards to help create and test the script for the summer blockbuster Despicable Me. Flynn’s concepts can be seen throughout the movie, as well as in the trailer–specifically the minion cannon scene.

Flynn also contributed to the film in another big way: his idea for the film’s title was chosen during a title development contest

“The film changed titles midway through production,” Flynn said. “The producers asked the entire crew to submit titles, and mine was chosen.”

“Because the film had such a small crew, I didn’t really feel the impact of how big the film was,” Flynn continued. “When the marketing started to pop up and friends across the country called me when they saw it on TV, only then did I say ‘oh yeah, we are making a movie!’”

He is currently working on the adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax, set to be released in March 2012.

Find out more about Despicable Me at http://despicable.me/.

This post was included in the spring 2011 issue of IMAGE Magazine.

Image from www.beautyofthefight.com

The documentary film Beauty of the Fight by John Urbano (CCAD, ’96) has won first prize in the feature documentary category at the Athens, OH International Film + Video Festival.

Beauty of the Fight has also been accepted into the HBO-presented New York International Latino Film Festival, the Maine International Film Festival, and the Montezuma International Film Festival in Costa Rica.

Visit www.beautyofthefight.com for images, information about the accompanying book, and Urbano’s first-hand account of the experience.

This post was included in the spring 2011 issue of IMAGE Magazine.