During Family Weekend & Homecoming, alumni got a tour of the raw space that will soon house the MindMarket.

Columbus College of Art & Design is in the early stages of a new endeavor that will change how the college engages its students and alumni with entrepreneurship and the business world.

The program, called the CCAD MindMarket, will have many facets including business partnerships, charrettes, and a business incubator—which is about to enter its beta phase with a few alumni.

Only offered to CCAD alumni and students, the business incubator will assist entrepreneurs in launching their start-up companies by providing space and services that a new business owner might not otherwise have access to.

“The business incubator is designed to provide a comprehensive resource center for small, start-up businesses aimed at accelerating growth and increasing the business’s potential for long-term success by leveraging the resources at CCAD,”  said Cynthia Gravino, executive director of the MindMarket initiative. “We are able to provide physical space, basic office equipment, and office support for a fraction of what these tenants would pay if they tried to do this on their own.”

“More importantly, we will be providing our incubator tenants mentorship opportunities with industry experts, seasoned entrepreneurial artists and designers, as well as important links to the entrepreneurial community.  By having an incubator on campus, our tenants will not only have a home-base within our creative community—they will also have the opportunity to engage and embrace the energy and shared learning that is created by working with other creative start-ups and professionals. They can bounce ideas off of each other, as well as tap into the talent that is on campus.”

Incubator tenants will also have access to a network of professionals in areas outside the scope of art and design that are imperative to the success of a start-up, such as accountants and lawyers who can provide the expertise needed to navigate issues like business filings, intellectual property protection, and tax liability.

Eventually the MindMarket and its incubator program will be housed on the ground floor of Design Studios on Broad. While renovations continue on that space, the college is recruiting a select few alumni to engage in a beta test of the program to be housed in the Loann Crane Center for Design.

An email was recently sent to alumni announcing the opportunity. More than 40 alumni responded. Applications will be evaluated through December with the expectation that two beta tenants will move into their office space in early January.

During the beta phase each participant will be provided with a cubical-office space, access to meeting rooms, a computer, internet access, fax, copier, access to support personnel, and access to CCAD’s entrepreneurial support network and partners, such as TechColumbus and the Columbus State Small Business Development Center.

Since the full range of services will not be available during the beta phase, participants will be given reduced rates for their participation.  Once the full program is launched, all tenants will pay the same fees.

“By doing a beta run we can see how the program works as it is currently modeled, and we can adjust as needed,” said Gravino. “We can identify services that should be added or those that, perhaps, are not necessary.”

The incubator program is just one part of the MindMarket. Career Services is working closely with Vice President of Academic Affairs Kevin Conlon to develop curriculum that will dovetail into MindMarket-run business partnerships. In addition, plans include the development of charrettes, which will allow students to work with organizations on short-term design challenges.

“The goal,” said Gravino, “is to arm our graduates with the business savvy they need as creative professionals. Anyone who applies themselves can learn sound businesses practices. The same cannot be said of creativity—and that is what our alumni and students bring to the boardroom table.”

American Greetings logo

Visit American Greetings and you could run into as many as 23 CCAD alumni. We got a chance to chat recently with four employees about what it is like to work with fellow CCAD grads in this great creative environment.

The CCAD alumni we talked to were Senior Designer/Illustrator Kelly Grupczynski (CCAD, 2002, Illustration), Senior Writer/Illustrator Erik Flesher (CCAD, 1991, Illustration), Creative Director Mark Harvey (CCAD, 1984, Illustration), and Graphic Designer New Product Concepts Heidi Appel (CCAD, 2001, Advertising & Graphic Design).

American Greetings states that they  hire people who “are passionate about their craft, exhibit engaging personalities, demonstrate very good communication skills, and who have an insatiable appetite for the world and people around them.” The company has nothing but high regards for the alumni who are currently employed there. “CCAD students and alumni stand out in specific ways with a good right/left brain balance—a positive career path since most of our creative leaders are CCAD alumni, and their creative development process stands out.”

Q) What is it like to work with other CCAD alumni?

Kelly Grupczynski (KG): It is has been nice. Starting a new job can always be daunting, and seeing a familiar face or having a common background helps take the edge off.

Erik Flesher (EF): I have worked with dozens of alumni over the years, and I always find it interesting to hear their stories about classes and professors. There is a sense of commonality among us that I think helps build a professional camaraderie as well as a friendship. I also know that being a CCAD alumni means they have mad skills.

Mark Harvey (MH): We are scattered all around American Greetings, and it truly has become a giant melting pot of talent. We even have mini impromptu reunions!

Heidi Appel (HA): I think it is excellent—we all share such rich experiences, and it is wonderful to be able to swap stories

Q) Why do you think American Greetings has so many CCAD alumni?

All: Their past relationship with recruitment and [AG's] proximity to the school.

EF: CCAD’s emphasis on learning solid design skills as well as trying to tap into each student’s imagination is a big reason. Whether they are looking for artists or writers, American Greetings has come to expect a certain level of professionalism and talent coming out of CCAD, so they tend to hire those graduates.

Q) Any advice for current students or fellow alumni who want to become involved at American Greetings?

MH: You need to be open to all possibilities. And have multiple skill sets in each category of art. The best philosophy is to work hard and play hard.

EF:  Develop a strong work ethic. Bring your sketchbooks along with your finished pieces to show the company. It will help American Greetings see how you think and construct. If you are looking to write, bring your own voice! Also, here is a biggie—spell everything correctly in your writing submission, I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but check and re-check.

KG: Take time in your portfolio and put something unique together. Reach out to fellow alumni at the company and have them offer their suggestions and critiques.

HA: Be persistent! Keep checking job boards, and make a website that houses your work.

The Town Square at the American Greetings headquarters

Q) Why do you love your job?

HA: I love the diversity of job positions available. There are also a lot of opportunities to collaborate and work with other areas of the company.

KG: My whole life I wanted to work in children’s entertainment and illustrations and here, I’m able to do just that! Currently, I am the lead illustrator for Strawberry Shortcake, which means pretty much everything and anything Strawberry gets seen by me! It’s an exciting prospect to think that one of my own ideas can get made into a television series or toy one day for the next generation to enjoy.

EF: I have worked here nearly 20 years and I can honestly say I still love coming in every day. Oh sure, there are frustrations and headaches, but that’s going to occur at any company. There is a freedom to be creative here. In many ways, AG is like an art school—you’re surrounded every day by other creative people, all doing amazing work, sharing ideas, and speaking the same language—but, unlike an art school, you get paid to do this.

MH: I have been with American Greetings for 27 years and I still love coming to work every day!

Q) What past experiences do you share and remember from being a student at CCAD? How has this impacted your professional career?

HA: I remember working my butt off! The work ethic has followed me into my professional career.

KG: Ha! For some reason, the first thing I thought of with this question was eating at our dorm cafeteria.  One time, the cooks made chicken cordon bleu and the sauce on the chicken was actually blue … cerulean blue in fact. Sadly, I declined the blue chicken. But what I really remember about school was how enthusiastic and encouraging our instructors were. Bruce Barnes taught me animation. Ron Saks taught me story boarding. I had illustration with Dave Groff, figure drawing with Dennis Drummond, oils and watercolor with Arthur Wang, portfolio class with Evangelia Philippidis—to name a few.

EF: When I think about CCAD, I can’t help but think of me all jacked up on caffeine, trying to finish projects at two, three in the morning. If you haven’t pulled more than a few all-nighters at that school, then you’re clearly not working hard enough! I also remember all the critiques. Sitting through those critiques definitely helped me learn to accept and give feedback—both good and bad.

Dates to remember.

Per usual there is a lot going on at CCAD. Whether you’re local or planning a trip back to Columbus, here are a few things coming up that might interest you.

Through Feb. 3, 2012
Malcolm Cochran: Dutch Shoes
Dutch Shoes is an installation piece from a series of four highly personal works that Malcolm Cochran executed when he was teaching in the Netherlands in the mid-1990s. Learn more here.

Feb. 10-March 16, 2012
Two exhibitions: Bending the Mirror and home.
Opening reception is Feb 10, 6–8 p.m. in the Canzani Center Gallery.
CCAD presents two new exhibitions in the Canzani Center Gallery: Bending the Mirror, which samples the fecund diversity of international figurative art today, and home., which examines what we might call “normal” suburbia through the work of painter Jessica Rohrer and photographers Bill Owens and Mark Slankard. Learn more here.

March 30-April 27, 2012
MFA Thesis Exhibition: Join us as we celebrate our first MFA graduating class.

April  14, 2012
CCAD Art Sale, spring edition. Table sign ups should start in late February or early March (the exact date is still being determined). An email with sign up info will go out to all alumni on our email list. You can also check the Selling at CCAD’s Art Sale page for updates.

If you are an alum, but not on our email list, sign up here and be sure to check the “alumni newsletter and notices” box.

April 25, 2012
Directions Career Fair
This reverse career fair allows employers to check out portfolios and speak to soon-to-be CCAD graduates. If you are one of the many alumni that take advantage of this annual event to find fresh talent, keep your eye out for more details, including how to register.

Save the date: May 11, 2012
CCAD Senior Fashion Show Event (tickets will go on sale early in 2012)
Opening of the 133^rd Annual Student Exhibition

For a complete list of upcoming events, check out our event listings.

A student talks to an alum during the phone-a-thon.

Very recently CCAD students participated in the second annual phone-a-thon to touch base with our alumni and raise money for student scholarships.

Every evening for three weeks, a gaggle of students took over staff offices and diligently made calls. During this time they got responses that ranged from humorous to inspiring, and sometimes just really, really cool. Here is a sample of what we heard:

Best reason to get off the phone: Going into labor! (We wanted to follow up, but decided that might be a bit too intrusive.)

Coolest reason alum couldn’t talk: On a movie set, ready to shoot.

Most interesting reason to decline giving a monetary donation: One alumnus explained that he had taken a vow of poverty—he is literally a monk living in a monastery. Peace, brother!

Blake Roberts, a junior majoring in Advertising & Graphic Design, said the coolest thing he heard during the phone-a-thon was an alumnus describing how he “bit the bullet and moved to New York and is making life work.”

Blake said, “For some reason, I really respected that specific designer’s gumption to just pick up and MAKE life happen for themselves, not LET life happen. I appreciated knowing that there IS a career for me.”

Throughout the campaign many alumni were kind enough to ask the students who they talked with to stay in touch. Thank you for that!

Did you get a call from a CCAD student about the Annual Fund Drive?  If so, share here what it was like to talk to a current student from your alma mater.

Alumna Kristi Kalkman's font created for Victoria's Secret

We do our best to get most of the news you submit to us onto the CCAD News Blog, but since there are more than 10,000 of you making news all over the world, not everything can make it into the blog. We’re glad to have another venue where we can share everything with you—this newsletter’s classnotes.

You, too, can submit classnotes via the easy-to-use form on the alumni landing page. We only post career-related successes, awards, exhibitions, and publications, but we’d also love to know when you move, get married, or have children—just use that same form.

Now, without further ado, your classnotes from September, October, and November (2011).

William Walker (CCAD, 1953) was featured in a Chicago Sun-Times article about the mark he left on the city with his murals; read more here.

Ben Mahan (CCAD, Illustration, 1965) participated in the 16th International Competition of Illustration in Italy. Read more here.

Robert Tavani (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1985) participated in an exhibition at the Cummings Art Gallery featuring recent works from members of the Mercyhurst College Art Department. He showed oil paintings including both portraits and landscapes.

Anthony Baker (CCAD, Illustration, 1986) was appointed the team lead, medical illustrator at The Ohio State University’s health science library.

Christopher Yates ( CCAD, Fine Arts, 1987), Steve Bush (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1994), Hiroshi Hayakawa (CCAD, Photography, 1995), Casey Bradley (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2001), Mariana Smith (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2002), Tina Matthews (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2003), Lauren Mudd (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2004), Mylesant Carreno (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2005), Brandon Noblet (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2005), and Nicki Strouss ( CCAD, Fine Arts, 2008) all were involved in the exhibition Crossroads. Read more here.

Julie Abijanac (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1992) had work in a two-person exhibition with Dean of Faculty Char Norman. Read more here.

Steve Bush (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1994) was commissioned for a public art piece in Creekside Plaza (Gahanna, Ohio). Read more here.

Craig Swoboda (CCAD, Illustration, 1994) took the position of package creative manager at Anheuser-Busch Inc.

Nathan Greno (CCAD, Illustration, 1996) won the Joseph V. Canzani Alumni Award for Excellence. Read more here.

Kelly Weik (CCAD, Illustration, 1996) was featured as artist of the month in the Chicago-based company Faux by Kathy.

Michael Auger (CCAD, Illustration, 1998) was featured in DC Conspiracy magazine. Read more here.

Johnny Yanok (CCAD, Illustration, 1998) was featured in an exhibition at Rivet Gallery in the Short North (Columbus, Ohio). Read more here.

Josh Sutton (CCAD, Illustration, 2000) was featured in a (614) magazine article detailing his work as a freelance toy sculptor.

Matthew Klos (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2001) had an exhibition at the Still Life Gallery in Ellicott City, MD, this fall.

Ryan Green (CCAD, Media Studies, 2003) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (CCAD, Media Studies, 2005) were both hired as story artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Read more here.

Jen Chapman (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 2004) and her company, Redsnapper Baby & Toddler, were featured in HOW magazine. Read more here.

Holly Koskinen’s (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 2005) freelance agency won a 2011 American Graphic Design Award.

Molly Burke (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2006) participated in the Sculpture X Symposium and its 2011 fall juried exhibition in Cleveland, OH. Read more here.

Justin Cohen (CCAD, Industrial Design, 2006) won a 2010 Good Design award.

Kendra L. Meyer (CCAD, Fashion Design, 2007) has joined Albright College as assistant professor of fashion design.

Angela Svarda (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2008) was in ArtSpan’s 2011 SF Open Studios in San Francisco. Read more here.

Christie S. Craven (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 2009) is now working as a web designer for Direct Brands/Columbia House in Manhattan and also started her own venture, www.samplesaleavenue.com.

Kristi Kalkman (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 2010) created a font for a Victoria’s Secret campaign. Read more here.

Catherine Proctor (CCAD, Media Studies, 2010) had images published in The Ohio State University Dance Department’s annual magazine, InFORM.

Alex Alvarado (CCAD, Illustration, 2011) received a job as a look development artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Read more here.

Eric Coolidge (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2011) was featured on the Ohio Department of Education website to promote National Arts in Education Week. Read more here.

Ryan Monroe (CCAD, Photography, 2011) did the photography for the 10^th anniversary calendar for a restaurant in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

In Memoriam:

Walker, Steve (CCAD, 1970) Obituary here.

William, Walker (CCAD, 1953) Obituary here.