Marquee at 134th spring commencement

Nearly 250 Columbus College of Art & Design students graced the stage of the historic Ohio Theatre to receive their diplomas on Saturday, May 11, 2013.

The 134^th annual commencement in downtown Columbus included an address by nationally renowned artist Mel Chin, who was also awarded an honorary degree by the college.

James E. Kunk, vice chair of CCAD’s board of trustees; Dennison W. Griffith, CCAD president; Kevin J. Conlon, vice president for academic affairs; and director of graduate studies and professor Ric Petry conferred the nine master of fine arts degrees and the bachelor of fine arts.

Student government president and Advertising & Graphic Design major Cailyn Driscoll addressed the audience of peers and family, followed by recognition of the nine outstanding seniors:

• Lillie Templeton, Advertising & Graphic Design
• Tyler Crowley, Animation
• Patrick Kain, Cinematic Arts
• Katharine Hire, Fashion Design
• Stefanie Cook, Fine Arts
• Wesley Talbott, Illustration
• Justin Brown, Industrial Design
• Katelyn Venia, Interior Design
• Kayla Holdgreve, Photography

President Griffith introduced the 2013 class valedictorian, Advertising & Graphic Design major Lillie Templeton.

Following the valedictorian’s address, Griffith spoke to the graduating class. He offered them a heartfelt farewell and encouraged them to spread their talent and the message of love across the world.

Dominic Bianchi and Mark Hentemann at CCAD, photo by Katlin McNally

Dominic Bianchi and Mark Hentemann visited CCAD on April 29 and gave students a rare peek behind the curtain, showing what goes into creating a weekly, half-hour, prime-time network television program. The fact that they were hilarious while doing it shouldn’t be a surprise; they are, respectively, the supervising director and head writer/executive producer for Family Guy.

Like any good comedic act, the duo knew how to warm up their audience, opening with a montage of clips from the popular series. They then went on to detail the creative efforts that go into producing each episode—a process that  takes approximately 13 months, which means that multiple episodes are in varying stages of development at any given time.

Hentemann shows the writers’ room, photo by Katlin McNally

It all starts in the writers’ room, where Hentemann and his team collaborate on a script that must be ready for the first table read at the end of the week.

“That’s when the first version of the script is finalized and all the actors come in,” said Hentemann.  “We get about 60 people in a room at the table read, and we hear a script on its feet. (We call it hearing it on its feet—it’s performed.) We hear how it sounds, get a good sense of what’s working and what’s not.”

From there the writers will go back and rewrite jokes (aka gags) that didn’t quite work. Hentemann went on to share a few gags that were proposed in the writers’ room but didn’t make the final script—they may not have made it into the show, but they still got laughs from the CCAD audience.

Bianchi talks about the storyboarding process at “Family Guy,” photo by Katlin McNally

“Family Guy is storyboard-based show,” Bianchi said as he began to explain the process for dealing with the artwork on the show, which begins as soon as the audio track of the script is recorded.

“A director and assistant director will have two to three storyboard artists per episode,” said Bianchi. “They’ll take the audio file and listen to it, and go over the script and break it down into different scenes.” The team uses Cintiqs with Toom Boom Storyboard Pro software to begin creating thumbnails of shots for the show, which are then pitched to the supervising director, who makes edits. Bianchi and Hentemann used the episode “Back to the Pilot” (S10, Ep 5) to illustrate this process.

After more editing and rewriting, the team moves to animatics, which (at their most basic) are animated drafts that include sound. There are more rounds of editing and rewrites. At some point color is introduced, and even after that there are rewrites. During this process they also have to work with standards and practices, the network entity responsible for ensuring that a program’s content doesn’t cross legal, ethical, or moral lines that might result in anything from FCC fines to lawsuits or lost sponsors.

Bianchi shared examples of animatics from “Back to the Pilot” (S10, Ep5), photo by Katlin McNally

Anyone who has watched Family Guy can imagine the conversations between the show’a producers and the network. Hentemann read some particularly funny notes they received from standards, including one that involved the word “kleeman”—a word the writers made up to see if the standards office would tag it. They did. However, when producers noted that the word was not in any dictionary and did not actually exist, the standards office had to concede. Unfortunately, after the episode aired “kleeman” became a popular Google search term. When the writers tried to use it again four months later, they were denied, because several online dictionaries had come up with a definition.

The last stage of the production process includes final animation, which is done in Korea and can take as long as four months.

Bianchi and Hentemann ended their presentation with a Q & A that naturally generated questions about how to get a job in their industry. Both men noted that everyone has a different story for how they landed their careers, but Bianchi still offered some advice:

“No matter where you go, what job you are targeting, if you are at a job that you think will lead to that storyboard job (or whatever it is that you want), if you are PA [production assistant] somewhere, be the best PA, have a good attitude, ask questions, be indispensable at that job.”

2013 Outstanding Senior Tyler Crowley

At the end of the academic year, CCAD names the outstanding seniors for each undergraduate major.  Today, in part two of our nine-part series, meet Animation outstanding senior Tyler Crowley.

Q: What was your proudest achievement while at CCAD?

Being co-founder of the Animation Student Collective, which is the big student animation group that we founded two years ago. We were actually elected the best student group through Student Affairs last year.

Q: What scared you the most while you were at CCAD?

I don’t think I have ever been scared here. Mostly that is because I transferred here, so I got my freshman jitters out of the way.

Q: What are your plans after graduation?

To find a studio to work in. I am going to be interviewing with some California studios at Directions [CCAD's reverse career fair], as well as some back home in New Hampshire.

Q: What’s your ultimate dream job or goal?

To work in a studio out in California and eventually pitch my own show.

Q: Why is it important as an alumnus to give back to CCAD?

It’s important to give perspective to current students about what it’s like to leave this school. It is important for students to know that the people that they look up to and aspire to be were where they currently are at some point. Through the Animation Student Collective it’s been great for me to speak to alumni Chris Oatley and Alex Alvarado.

Q: Do you remember a single point that made you sit back and say, “This is why I am doing this?”

A year ago I was working on a kind of a goofy assignment where I was making a guy try to pick up a girl in the bar, and she turns around and her face is an alligator. I was struggling with it and being really critical of the project, giving myself a hard time, and I got to thinking that no matter how hard I am on myself, I am still able to do projects like this, where there is an alligator-faced person, so it can’t be that bad.

Q: What will you miss the most?

The Animation Student Collective group. It is a huge group, but I really feel like I am close friends with all of them. It is going to be difficult to move into a different group of people.

Q: If you could describe what graduation feels like in one word or sentence what would it be?

I have never been one for ceremony or anything like that; graduation for me is more of a relief that this part is done and thinking, okay, what’s next?

Q: What was your favorite class at CCAD?

Any of my animation classes—especially ones with Tom Richner, Andy Friz, and Phil Garrett.

Q: What did you like to do during your free time?

I would spend a lot of time with my friends in the animation collective group. We have five student leaders, so the five of us are as tight as can be.

Q: What is your fondest memory at CCAD?

The late nights that I spend with those five other leaders, anywhere from planning out our meeting to going to Steak ‘n Shake after, which is a tradition of ours.

Q: What would you change about your undergraduate career?

I would have come here immediately instead of spending the year at the technical college and transferring.

Q: What is your advice to future CCAD students?

Get involved in your department. Animation is one of the most collaborative art forms, so you are going to be working with a lot of people; develop those people skills, and get more comfortable talking with people both in informal and formal settings.

Crowley is from Milford, NH, and attended Milford High School.

Photo from 2012 commencement

May is quickly on its way, accompanied by rain, flowers, and, very soon, graduation caps and gowns. On May 11 Columbus College of Art & Design will celebrate nearly 250 graduating CCAD students as they cross the stage of the historic Ohio Theatre and receive their hard-earned diplomas.

As the countdown to commencement begins, CCAD honors this year’s outstanding seniors. Each year department heads choose an outstanding senior for each undergraduate major. This year’s awardees include Justin Brown, Industrial Design; Stefanie Cook, Fine Arts; Tyler Crowley, Animation; Katharine Hire, Fashion Design; Kayla Holdgreve, Photography; Patrick Kain, Cinematic Arts; Wesley Talbot, Illustration; Lille Templeton, Advertising & Graphic Design; and Katelyn Venia, Interior Design.

We sat down to interview each of these stellar students, and we’ll publish a profile a day (on school days) starting on April 29 and culminating on May 10 when we announce the class valedictorian(s).

The outstanding seniors and valedictorian(s) will be honored at commencement, which will also feature an address by nationally renowned artist Mel Chin.

The article discusses Richner’s work on shows such as The Simpsons, what attracted him to teach at CCAD, the importance of Liberal Arts classes, his students’ recent project Lumin, and some of the partnerships the department and CCAD as a whole have cultivated.

To read the full interview, click here.

Animation Career Review is an online source for aspiring animation, design, and gaming professionals seeking information on training programs, colleges, software and technology, and careers.

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.

Still from the animated film “Lumin”

An advanced animation class at CCAD has just completed a project that is now being entered in national festivals. The Advanced Time-Based Projects class, taught by Associate Professor Tom Richner, created an animated short named Lumin.

Lumin tells the story of a young boy and his escape from dozens of monsters who pursue him for one thing, his light.

The 17 students in the class spent four months creating the film from start to finish, working on all aspects from script writing and sound development to animation and final editing.

“We [the Animation faculty] have been talking about working on complete films during the course of a class,” Richner said. “When we saw the talent that was in this past fall’s class we knew we had to make a film with this group.”

The class included Animation seniors Christopher Campbell, Tyler Crowley, David King, Arianni Kurniawati, Laura Maue, Bekah Nunn, Jonathan Pezzatta, and David T. Reed; Animation junior Kelly Cumpson; Cinematic Arts seniors Alan Becker, Patrick Kain, Lauren Thornberry, and Mariah Ward; Cinematic Arts juniors Grace Kim and Aaron Zawisa; and recent Animation graduate Victor Dearing (CCAD 2012) and Cinematic Arts graduate Alex Trimpe (CCAD 2012).

“I was really impressed about how all the students handled the whole semester,” Richner said. “There was never a point where we got behind schedule. They all bought into the project and took ownership and worked very hard.”

“A lot of these students have aspirations to go work in studios, big and small, and the nature of animated films is that you need a lot of bodies to get these projects done. Working in a studio environment means that they are going to be collaborating with people, so I think giving them that chance to do it here gives them the opportunity to fine tune those skills they’ll need in the real world.”

The class had to make some decisions in order to finish the project on time, such as creating it in black and white instead of color and keeping the length of the video managable.

“Even though we did do some things on the design end to make it easier, we didn’t cut any corners in terms of the story we wanted to tell; we did what we set out to do,” Richner said.

Character line-up from the animated film “Lumin”

To complete the project, the class used Toon Boom, animation software package.

“It is a great thing for students to be exposed to this software in school since a lot of studios are currently using it,” Richner said. “We’ve had it in our classrooms here CCAD for more than 10 years now, and we were some of the early adopters of it.”

Alumni have said that their experience with Toon Boom in CCAD classrooms was beneficial as they began their careers.

“We have heard from animation alumni who have been able to stand above their peers when they can express to directors that they know how to use the software,” Richner said.

The class’ work isn’t done yet. They have submitted the film to more than 30 festivals internationally and nationally and have already been accepted into festivals including  Chile Monos, Leeds Young Film Festival, Ohio Shorts, taafi Official Selection, and Sff International Film Festival.

The spring Advanced Time-Based Projects class has a new group of students; they’re developing an animated film called Aria, which they plan on entering into festivals and contests as well.

Lumin will be shown during CCAD’s animation screenings at the opening reception of the 134th Annual Student Exhibition on May 10.

Becker is from Dublin, OH, and graduated from Dublin Scioto High School; Campbell is from Worthington, OH; Crowley is from Milford, NH, and attended Milford High School; Cumpson is from Chesterland, OH, and attended West Geauga High School; Dearing is from Westerville, OH, and attended Saint Francis De Sales High School; Kain is from Kettering, OH, and attended Kettering Fairmont High School; Kim is from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, and attended North Surrey Senior Secondary School; King is from Hamilton, OH, and graduated from Ross Senior High School; Kurniawati is from Salatiga, Indonesia, and graduated from Loyola Catholic Secondary School; Maue is from Bellbrook, OH, and attended Bellbrook High School; Nunn is from Wilmington, OH, and graduated from Wilmington High School; Pezzatta is from Columbus, OH, and graduated from Fort Hayes Metro Education Center; Reed is from Ashland, OH, and attended Ashland High School; Trimpe is from Cincinnati, and attended Elder High School; Thornberry is from Cambridge, OH, and attended Cambridge High School; Ward is from Cincinnati, and attended the School for Creative & Performing Arts; and Zawisa is from Columbus, OH, and attended Grandview Heights High School.

Update on April 25:  Lumin won a Telly Award in the “use of animation” category.

Classnotes, December 2012 Issue

We do our best to get most of the news you submit to us onto the CCAD News Blog, but because 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 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 2012.

Aminah Robinson ’60 was inducted into the city of Columbus’ Hall of Fame. Read more here.

Aminah Robinson ’60 and Linda Fowler ’74 participated in the Ohio Craft Museum’s exhibition Columbus Collects Fine Crafts. Read more here.

Joan Hall ’74 had a solo exhibition at Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis, MO. Read more here.

CV Mansoor ’77 exhibited work at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Read more here.

Dean Mitchell ’80 had an exhibition with Cutter & Cutter Fine Art in St. Augustine, FL. The exhibition also featured an article written by Walter King ’81. Read more here.

Salli Swindell ’81, co-creater of They Draw & Cook, had her illustrated cookbook reviewed in Gastronomic magazine. Read more here.

Jenny Vogt ’81 exhibited her series The Nature of Birds at the Village Hall Gallery of Arts in Bartlett, IL. Read more here.

Helen Hoffelt ’82, Rachel Girard Reisert ’02, Lian Dziura ’12, Cosby Lindquist ’12, and Crystal Tursich ’12 participated in a monthlong photography event in Cincinnati, OH. Read more here.

Kurt Fondriest ’85 was part of a group exhibition at the Life Force Arts Center in Chicago, IL. Read more here.

Hiroshi Hayakawa ’85 was featured in the fifth annual edition of the magazine Diffusion: Unconventional Photography. Read more here.

Lisa Horkin ’85, Susan Li  O’Connor ’96, Anne Holman ’02, Jennifer Deafenbough ’04, Joseph Lombardo ’06, Chris Harman ’12, and Jack Ramunni ’12 received Supply Grants from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Read more here.

Christopher Madden ’87 works as a journeyman banknote engraver at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Read more here.

Kirsten Bowen ’89, Clint Davidson ’00, Nikos Fyodor Rutkowski ’02, Daric Gill ’04, Lea Gray ’04, Adam Crum ’06, Christopher Tennant ’06, Joel Atkinson ’09, and Julia McCann ’11 participated in Urban Scrawl, an annual festival in the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus. Read more here.

Christopher Cole ’89 became the Senior VP/Creative Director for the Sprint wireless at Leo Burnett-Chicago.

Richard Mills ’89 participated in the Ashes to Art Project, an art auction benefiting volunteer fire departments in Colorado that were affected by wildfires in 2012. Read more here.

Kaname Takada ’89 and Julie Abijanac ’92 received awards for their work exhibited in the Zanesville Museum of Art’s 68^th Annual Ohio Show. Read more here.

Kurt Lightner  ’93 participated in the group exhibition Assembly 2012 at Edward Thorp Gallery in New York City. Read more here.

David Breaux ’94 had a busy year, working on productions including Terra Nova, Hunger Games, Tron: Legacy, and Iron Man 2. Read more here.

Phil Hastings ’94 is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship in Film and Video. Read more here.

Jason Goad ’96 created a pair of limited edition sunglasses for Anarchy Eyewear. Read more here.

Susan Li O’Connor ’96 is part of a group exhibition at Steinhilber Art Gallery in Madison, WI. Read more here.

Susan Li O’Connor ’96 and Mariana Smith ’02 were selected for GCAC’s Dresden Residency Program. Read more here.

John Urbano ’96 received two VMAs for the music video he directed for the band One Direction. Read more here.

Kate Labmeier ’02 and Michael Stillion ’02 exhibited their work at Marshall University’s Birke Art Gallery. Read more here.

Nikos Fyodor Rutkowski ’02 and Corey Aumiller ’06 placed in the Columbus Arts Pop-Up Project (CAP-UP). Read more here.

Nikos Fyodor Rutkowski ’02 created and installed a volcano wall at a tiki bar in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

Mariana Smith ’02 exhibited her work at Swing Space Gallery at Ohio State University; read more here. She also had an exhibition at Hammond Harkins Galleries in Columbus, OH; read more here.

Brian Williams ’03 was featured in Map Magazine, an arts and culture magazine based in Australia. Read more here.

Shannon Bonatakis ’04 had a solo exhibition, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, at Rivet, a designer toy and fine art gallery in the Short North, Columbus’ arts district. Read more here.

Manjari Sharma ’04 showed her work in a group exhibition, Social Order: Photographs from Iran, India, and Afghanistan in Seattle, WA. Read more here.

Holly Koskinen ’05 won an American Graphic Design Award. Read more here.

Joseph Lombardo ’06 has a solo exhibition at Art Access Gallery in Bexley, OH through Jan. 9. Read more here.

Michelle Dick ’08 is now working as an art teacher with After-School All-Stars, an after-school program for students in Columbus City Schools.

Evens Joseph ’09 was a featured artist in Juxtapoz magazine. Read more here.

Krista Peterson ’09 received a full-tuition scholarship to DePaul University for graduate study in the field of Human Computer Interaction. Read more here.

Kartika Mediani ’10 had work in the graphic novel One Drop. Read more here.

Amanda C. VanDenberg ’10 showed work in a group exhibition at the Little Art Gallery in North Canton, OH. Read more here.

Elena Harvey Collins ’12 had her video When They’re Gone, They’re Gone in an exhibition at Roy G Biv gallery in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

Nathan Gorgen ’12 and Elena Harvey Collins ’12 participated in Shifting Margins, a group exhibition put on by OFF Space in San Francisco. Read more here.

Jessica Miera ’12 is a concept artist for Animation Hero, an independent animation studio located in Columbus, OH. She is also working part time as an assistant film editor at HotBed Media LLC in Bexley, OH.

Screenshot from the animated short film “Reversion”

Animation sophomore William Oglesby and Illustration senior Wes Talbott were a part of an international team that won a 2012 Suzanne Award for the Best Design Short at the Blender Conference in Amsterdam.

Their entry, Reversion, is an 11-minute film from writer and director Giancarlo Ng. Talbott and Oglesby worked on the short with nearly 20 other artists and programmers.

The awards were presented as part of the Suzanne Animation Festival, which invites filmmakers, artists, animators, designers, and scientists to submit their work for judging as part of the Blender Conference.

The conference hosts a mix of technical talks, scientific presentations, case studies, and workshops by artists and developers focusing around Blender, an open-source content creation suite.

The conference was held Oct. 12–14, 2012.

Students work in animation class at CCAD, photo courtesy of Luke Kramer

CCAD is among the top three Midwest schools for studying animation based on new rankings by Animation Career Review, an online source for aspiring animation, design, and gaming professionals.

The review cites CCAD as having “a compellingly long list of veteran faculty members and an enviable roster of working alumni…Foundational studies set new students on the path to tackle more nuanced approaches as they progress. An emphasis on narrative is a hallmark of CCAD’s animation program with ample coursework in prerequisite writing, literature, and social sciences.”

“CCAD is in good company on this list,” said Admissions Director Densil R. R. Porteous II. “Our Columbus neighbor, Ohio State University, is also on the list, but doesn’t offer a BFA in Animation as we do.”

Joining CCAD in the top 5 are Minneapolis College of Art & Design (1), The Ohio State University (2), Cleveland State University (4), and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (5).

To review the entire list, click here.

Classnotes, September 2012 Issue

We do our best to get most of the news you submit to us onto the CCAD News Blog, but because 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 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 June, July, and August 2012.

John Schaffner ’60 and J. Luray Schaffner ’62 both exhibited their work at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center in Solomons, MD. Read more here.

Elena Osterwalder ’76 showed work in Celebrating UA, an exhibition at the Concourse Gallery in Upper Arlington, OH. Read more here.

Joe Howard ’72 had his piece Stone, Steel and Wood chosen for the permanent Western Art Collection of the Pearce Museum at Navarro College in Corsicana, TX. Read more here.

Jeff Stahler ’77 was interviewed in The Illustrator’s Market. Read more here.

Tim Bowers ’79 illustrated Dinosaur Pet, which climbed the best-seller lists. Read more here.

David Groff ’79 received gold and bronze awards in the 29^th annual Aster Awards for his illustrations in a hospital calendar.

Marty Husted ’79, Mark Thomas ’90, and Heather Nibert ’12 are each participating in a public arts project in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

Laura Sanders ’88, Sarah Fairchild ’94, Chris Rankin ’94, Adam Brouillette ’02,  Anne Holman ’02, Lauren Mudd ’04,  and Boryana Rusenova Ina ’06, participated in Art for the Environment, a silent auction benefiting the Ohio Environmental Council. Read more here.

Kaname Takada ’89, William Shearrow ’97,  and Michael Bonardi ’04 are featured in a group exhibition at the  Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum in Coshocton, OH. Read more here.

Peter Wachtel ’90 is now selling his product STAKE, an all-in-one BBQ tool, via Quirky, Target, Fab, and ThinkGeek. Read more here.

James Alicea ’92 organized a fundraiser for the victims of the 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan, involving artists from Japan and New York. Read more here.

Laurie Brown ’94 showed her work in a group exhibition at the Mansion at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD. Read more here.

Chad Hunt ’94 spent time training with a U.S. Special Operations Command team, and his resulting photographs were featured in an issue of Popular Mechanics. Read more here.

Chris Rankin ’94 exhibited his work in two Columbus, OH, venues this summer. Read more here.

David Hartman ’95 is a supervising director for the show Transformers: Prime, which won a 2012 Daytime Emmy®. Read more here.

Jason Goad ’96 has partnered on projects for some big-name brands and projects, including Mattel’s Hot Wheels. Read more here.

John Urbano ’96 released a limited edition photography book and directed a music video for British pop band One Direction that has been nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. Read more here.

Nathaniel Galka ’98 had work in the exhibition The Birds and Bees. Read more here.

Mike Hein ’98 exhibited his work at Mulherin + Pollard gallery in New York City. Read more here.

Dan Scanlon ’98 was featured in the LA Times for his upcoming directorial debut on Pixar’s Monsters University. Read more here.

Michael Phillips ’99 was profiled in All4You, a contemporary culture magazine based in Croatia. Read more here.

Clint Davidson ’00 worked on a mural for a public park in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

Olga Ziemska ’00 installed a sculpture at the Columbus State Community College (CSCC) main library.  Read more here.

Adam Brouillette ’02, Nikos Fyodor Rutkowski ’02, and Corey Aumiller ’06 are participating in the Columbus Arts Pop-Up Project (CAP-UP), a public art project. Read more here.

Carl Bork ’03 exhibited his paintings at the Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center in Salida, CO. Read more here.

Sarah DeAngulo Hout ’04 worked on a mural that is now in the Columbus Metropolitan Library. Read more here.

Michael Lai ’04 presented as a special guest for the Columbus Society of Communicating Arts in Columbus, OH. Read more here

Jill Raymundo ’04 exhibited her work in the City Center Gallery of the OSU Urban Arts Space in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

Manjari Sharma ’04 was featured in the Huffington Post’s iPad issue for her photography project Darshan. Read more here.

Corey Aumiller ’06 worked on a video project featuring CCAD President Denny Griffith. Read more here.

Martina Nikova ’07 had a solo exhibition at the Ohio Art League in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

Greg Beck ’09 helped start Longstride, a creative marketing company in Columbus, OH, that was featured in a local business journal. Read more here.

John Malta ’10 received a grant from the Xeric Foundation to self-publish his comic book The Professor and the Paperboy. Read more here.

Kartika Mediani ’10 showed her film The Box at the 2012 Comic-Con’s San Diego International Children’s Film Festival in California. Read more here.

Kerry Kunze ’11 displayed her work at ZenClay Gallery in Morgantown, WV. Read more here.

Rachel Cass ’12 was featured in Easton Town Center’s 2012 directory after being awarded Easton’s Fashion Design Award. Read more here.

Kathryn Chamberlin ’12 became the graphic designer at Origo Branding Company in downtown Columbus, OH.

Alex Conrad ’12 showed his work in a national MFA competition. Read more here.

Brianne Schulze ’12 earned a goldsmithery apprenticeship at the Diamond Cellar in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

The novel revolves around the theme of “here comes the rain” and includes the work of more than 15 animators and illustrators. Work ranges from digital media to traditional watercolor.

The group hopes to publish the book in October, and they are raising support and money through the online fundraising site kickstarter.

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.

CCAD alumni pictured in front of the Disney Animation Studios

Disney Animation has created beloved movies such as Tangled, Winnie the Pooh, and Bolt, and CCAD alumni have worked on story boarding, sketching, and programming for all of these hit features. We got a chance to talk to seven of our graduates about what it’s like to work with CCAD peers in this creative environment.

Meet Director Nathan Greno (Illustration 1993–1996), Story Artist Ben Lane (Illustration 1996), Character Designer Chris Oatley (Illustration 2001), Story Artist Ryan Green (Media Studies 2003), Story Artist Fawn Veerasunthorn (Media Studies 2005), CG Layout Artist Joaquin Baldwin (Media Studies 2006), and Stereoscopic Artist Trainee Darren Simpson (Media Studies 2011).

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

Nathan Greno (NG): For me, it’s always a pleasure to be working with CCAD alumni. CCAD teaches a strong work ethic and a strong work ethic, gets the job done on time.

Ben Lane (BL): It’s a bit like old soldiers who can share war stories of late nights, rubylith, and scars from dull X-Acto blades. We grumble about the young punks who have it so easy these days with them computers, unseasonably warm winters, and the ability to tote their entire portfolio on miniscule flash drives. In all seriousness, it’s nice to have a common background with people, especially when starting a new job in LA. It’s comforting to know there are people who have been in the same trenches.

Chris Oatley (CO): The CCAD alumni who have made it to Disney are top talent. Ryan Green and Fawn Veerasunthorn are not only some of my best friends at the studio, but they are also some of the most talented people I know. It’s ridiculous and inspiring.

Ryan Green (RG): I feel that we have a bond, not just because we came from the same school, but because the animation jobs we wanted were unfortunately in a city other than Columbus. We all had to venture away from home, a little naive of the rules of the LA animation industry. Some of us had more roundabout career paths than others, but in the end, we kept learning and making connections until we were finally invited into the Disney family. By the nature of our school’s distance from LA, every CCAD animation student who wants to work for Disney will have to deal with a similar journey, and I think all alumni are aware and empathetic to that fact.

Fawn Veerasunthorn (FV): Most of the people I work with went to school in southern California, so I feel this instant bond whenever I meet another CCAD alum working at Disney or other studios. It is a small group of us, but a strong one. Even if we’re from various majors, we all fought through the same tough foundation year that allowed us to be where we are today.

Joaquin Baldwin (JB): Because we are all in different departments, I don’t really work directly with any other CCAD alumni. It’s great to know that they are around in the same studio.

Darren Simpson (DS): It’s exciting knowing that there are people in the same building that graduated from the same college. I have a friend here in particular that graduated the same year as me, and we were roommates freshman year. To eventually reconnect in a professional environment is very nice.

Q)  Why do you think Disney Animation has a lot of CCAD alumni?

NG: CCAD focuses on teaching the fundamentals. Every artist that works at the Disney Animation Studios need a strong fundamental structure to succeed. It’s been over a decade since I attended classes at CCAD, but what I learned there I use every day. The technology will change over the years, but the fundamentals stay the same.

BL: CCAD has a great program. Any artist could benefit from the foundation year alone. I think Disney recognizes that quality in the students and sees the school as a good source to draw its future employees.

CO: Disney Animation is still all about strong drawing and painting. If you submit a portfolio to Disney, people will go nuts for beautiful life drawings or plein air paintings. A high value is placed on classical art skill because it’s an inextricable part of the Disney legacy, regardless of the pervasive obsession with [Computer Graphics].

RG: Disney artists who come from CCAD embody the school’s foundation program. These individuals have found strength in their drawing, painting, or design skills and deliver high-quality craftsmanship on the job.

FV: CCAD focuses so much on the strong foundation in drawing, color, and design. Those are very important skills to have regardless of the department you’re working for. Not many schools emphasize them. Technology will always be changing, but the principles you learned from color concept classes will always be relevant in your career.

JB: I have no clue! I think it’s all due to random chance, depending mostly on the amount of available positions. Our studio has been hiring a lot of new people lately.

DS: There are a lot of passionate artists from CCAD doing many great things. I feel that having a desire to be in your respective profession will get you anywhere you want to be.

Q)  Any advice for current students or fellow alumni who want to become involved with Disney?

NG: It takes a lot of hard work to become an artist at the Disney Animation Studios. It’s not easy to get in the door, but it’s a goal worth fighting for. At Disney it’s possible to create films that will be loved worldwide. Tangled is a film I will be proud of for the rest of my life. Our animated films inspire toys, theme park rides, and attractions. It’s an amazing place to work. Aim high and never stop fighting for your goals.

BL: Many people who work in the animation industry, including some of Disney’s best artists, have websites, post on twitter, and regularly blog. Google search these guys and study their work, read what they have to say, contact them (if their contact info is readily available), and get their opinion of your work. The only caveat I would add is that they may not respond—these guys are busy. If you don’t hear anything, don’t get discouraged, but don’t become a pest, either. Also, start a website, or a blog or anything accessible via the internet. It doesn’t entirely replace having a portfolio, but it comes in handy when getting opinions of your work.

CO: Do great work and be great to work with. Every investment of time, money, and energy that you make as a professional artist should be in service of one or both of these goals. So the next time you start to get overwhelmed or depressed, just ask yourself:  Is this (time, energy, emotional, financial) investment helping me to focus on one of the two principles for success in the industry?

RG: Get personally involved with artists who do what you want to do. Be proactive. Use the internet to your advantage. If you want to be a Disney story artist, find a current Disney story artist’s website, study his/her work, and email him/her questions about what it takes to get into that specific position. Show your work and ask for a brutally honest critique. If that professional feels you’re not quite up to par yet, then make new samples and get a new critique in a few months. Ultimately, keep communicating with professionals and don’t stop making new art.

FV: The internet has opened up a new world full of great references to study. I’d recommend for students to look up artist’s blogs that are currently working in the industry, and don’t be shy to ask for their advice. Lastly, keep on practicing and never be discouraged by rejections.

JB: Definitely try for the talent development program. I would say it’s even better than being hired regularly, because they train you, give you tons of free classes, have you meet other departments and great people, and they pay you for it all. It’s also easier to get in since they expect you to prove yourself once in, rather than depend entirely on previous work experience like most of the other standard positions.

DS: It’s not required, but it helps living close to the studios. I think being around the studios and creative people fuels creativity further. Also, be persistent when trying to achieve a goal, and be open minded. You will never know which skill of yours will eventually get your foot in the door—It took me by surprise.

Q)  Why do you love your job/working in a creative environment?

NG: I can’t imagine not working in a creative environment. I don’t have an easy job, but I have a very rewarding one. I can’t imagine doing anything else in the world. I’ve been at Disney Animation for 16 years. There’s no other place I’d rather work.

BL: I love working with like-minded people. It’s amazing to be surrounded by so many artists who are passionate about animation, telling stories, and creating entertainment. The caliber of talent at Disney is humbling, and I can’t help but be inspired to be a better artist.

CO: I make a living from my imagination. It’s what I was born to do, so the privilege to do that 24/7 is overwhelmingly awesome. I’m also a people person. Some folks are made to go off into the woods, live life in a log cabin and paint lakes—that’s not me. I am made to collaborate, encourage, challenge, argue, etc. So to be released to just be myself in an environment where I can learn from and be challenged by everyone…well, it’s a dream come true.

RG: Animation is a collaborative medium, especially at a studio like Disney. For me, doing my art amongst creative peers is not only inspiring and informative, but in a racehorse kind of way, keeps me focused on being the best I can be, offering the best solutions for our films.

FV: Disney Animation has a long line of legacy and knowledge that has been passed along from one generation to the next. I learn so much from my colleagues each day, and they inspire me to be better at my craft.

JB: I feel like I can provide a lot of creative input into the films we are making. There is a hierarchy here, but it doesn’t mean that only the directors and producers have a say on it all. I tend to be very vocal and push new ideas. I feel that if I was just creating the shots that I was assigned to without questioning them, I’d get bored very quickly.

DS: I love it because I get to be creative. In any creative environment with passionate people, you will get sucked up in a whirlwind of creative magic—and it feels great.

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

NG: CCAD really taught me the importance of getting the job done on time and putting the most into everything I do. I learned work ethic and skills at CCAD that I apply every day at the studio. Without CCAD, my artistic toolbox would be empty. I owe a lot to all of my instructors at CCAD. I worked hard while I was in Columbus, and my reward has been a successful career at the Disney Animation Studios.

BL: I had to explore a few different directions in art before settling on animation. CCAD exposed me to many different artistic paths and helped me discover where I wanted to go. Specifically, Ron Saks’ class on storyboarding opened my eyes to an exciting new world that I had never considered before.

CO: When I was at CCAD, the animation industry was getting turned upside-down by the likes of Woody, Buzz, and Shrek. Meaning, CG [Computer Graphics] was changing everything and art schools everywhere were trying to figure it out. The internet wasn’t really “The Internet” yet, so information moved more slowly. My teachers at CCAD knew something that has been proven true in my life over and over and over, that regardless of what changes are happening in any area of commercial art, the art part should always be your main focus. CCAD taught me to set unreachable high standards for myself and to focus on drawing and painting above all else. It took me six years to break into the industry, but ever since then I haven’t had a single day without work. I owe a great deal of that consistent success to CCAD. CCAD is unlike many art schools in that they don’t chase software trends. They focus on drawing, painting, color, composition, etc. That’s the important stuff. That’s the stuff that will get you through the long haul.

RG: Around my junior year, the Media Studies department invited Dr. Stuart Sumida, a paleontologist and animal locomotion expert, to give an intensive seminar at our school. In his “You Are What You Eat” presentation, he broke down and defined the differences between herbivores and carnivores and how their anatomy affects their movement and behavior. Fast forward to my current Disney project, a movie involving a fictitious animal. In what started as a casual conversation with my director about this animal’s movement, I was eventually asked to create a presentation for the team that would clarify how this animal would move and what features needed to be changed so the character would be more believable to the audience.

FV: During my junior year at CCAD, I took Mr. Tardino’s illustration class, despite being a Media Studies major. I learned so much about character development and story, that I went back and took it again the next semester. The knowledge I gained then has been very helpful to me as a story artist today.

JB: I remember a lot of cheap ramen. I remember freezing my butt off. I remember cleaning the ceramics lab as a student worker, and growing clay stalactites in my nostrils. I also remember picking the hard teachers on purpose so I’d be pushed harder, and always trying to do a bit more than what any assignment asked for. I think that CCAD was as much about learning art concepts and skills as it was about learning to be self dependent and self driven. In a creative work environment they look for people that can handle the tools well, but that are also able to take initiative and improve the tool set and quality of the work.

DS: Foundation year. We all have our own experiences and memories from foundation year, but it was a huge stepping stone for me. I learned a lot about so much, and I still have a lot of learning and growing to do. I’m always trying to better myself and discover/learn new ideas, techniques, etc.

Check out our alums’ websites for more information:
Ben Lane
Chis Oatley
Ryan Green and Fawn Veerasunthorn have Bluefoot Studios
Joaquin Baldwin
Darren Simpson

Richard Cowdrey’s illustration for the children’s book “Searching for the You We Adore”

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 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 March, April, and May 2012.

Eileen Mueller Neill ’65 had an exhibition, Imaginaries, at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside’s Fine Arts Gallery. Read more here.

Richard Cowdrey ’81 illustrated Searching for the You We Adore, written by Valerie Westfall. Read more here.

Janet Sopp-Sims ’85 was a finalist in the 2012 Hunting Art Prize. Read more here.

Anthony Baker ’86 presented at a conference about the importance of art in the classroom. Read more here.

Creative Arts of Women (CAW) members Helma Groot ’89, Roxanne Smith-Mansell ’87, Kristin Morris ’94–’02, Mary Ann Crago ’95, and Cat Sheridan ’03 were in a group exhibition honoring Women’s History Month. Read more here.

Richard Hughes ’88–’95 was chosen to create a poster for the eighth annual Art Affair on the Square in Urbana, OH. Read more here.

Don Slobodien ’88 earned first place in the Art at the Arnold competition. Read more here.

Chris Cosnowski ‘92 had a solo exhibition at Lyons Wier Gallery in New York City. Read more here.

Daniel Hopper ’94 had a chandelier chosen to be displayed in Coup d’Etat, a design showroom in San Francisco.

Jason Moore ’96 was named to Columbus Business First’s 40 under 40 2012 Honorees list. Read more here.

Danielle Julian Norton ’99 was in a group exhibition in New Jersey. Read more here.

Nicole Bruckman ’00 co-curated Cella Gallery’s exhibition Femme Fatale in North Hollywood. Read more here.

Irina Grebennik ’02 exhibited work in the  Orville J. Hanchey Gallery at Northwestern State University in the Inaugural 40 under 40 show.

Michael Bonardi ’04 had a solo exhibition in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

Eliza Kinkz ’04 premiered her film Chocolate Milk at the 2012 South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Film Conference and Festival. Read more here.

Michael Litzau ’04 was offered a two-week residency at Ragdale in Illinois. Read more here.

Steve Weinzierl ’05 became the creative director at Favorite Color in New York City.

Anna Porreca ’06 was hired as an apparel graphic designer for Victoria’s Secret Pink in New York City.

John O’Reilly ’07 had his first solo exhibition at RH Gallery in New York City. Read more here.

These are Things, founded by Jen Adrion ’08 and Omar Noory ’08, was featured in two trade publications (read more here) and was used as a case study for a New York Times bestselling author’s book (read more here).

Ashley K. Alexander ’09 published her second novel, The Hanged Man’s Ghost. Read more here.

Annie Kocher ’09 was featured in Alive! Read more here.

Rachel Ridgley ’10 had her photography and personal story featured in Wolfdogs magazine. Read more here.

Mason Miller ’11 was hired as a graphic designer for Big Red Rooster, a multidimensional brand experience firm.

Pallavi Sen ’11 was awarded the Lifchez/Stronach nine-month, paid curatorial internship with the Antonio Ratti Textile Center of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Read more here.

Screenshot from the "Toon Boom News" article

Toon Boom News, an animation industry newsletter, recently featured Columbus College of Art & Design’s animation department, and, in particular, Adjunct Faculty Andrew Friz.

The article noted that CCAD’s animation department works closely with local industry professionals and businesses to help students gain real-life experience and strong portfolios, committing itself to keeping up with current industry practices.

“CCAD has better equipment than most people will have in their first job,” Friz said in the article.

He offers advice to animation students, stating that “you can study and copy from great animation to learn technique, but observe and sketch from life so you can draw from experience, making work that is uniquely yours and delivering it with the highest quality possible.”

Friz continues to work professionally in the animation industry with experience in feature films, commercials, illustration, and graphic design. He leads a small, full-service animation company, The Little Black Cat, in Columbus, OH.

Richner’s book cover

Associate Professor Thomas Richner recently self-published the first volume of his series The Saga of Captain Cheeseball: Volume I, which includes three separate stories.

“The idea is based on bedtime stories I’ve been telling my kids for a while,” Richner said in a recent animation interview.  “I decided to write this one down, illustrate it, and put it into book form.”

The volume chronicles the adventures of a misfit pirate named Captain Cheeseball as he embarks on a quest to find treasure. It is the first in the series, and he has already started working on the second, planning on releasing six total.

“I am very excited about this project and plan to have the next series released this summer,” Richner said.

In the interview Richner discusses his professional journey from working on episodes of The Simpsons to his current work as a professor at CCAD.

“I think I knew back in college that I might one day want to teach,” Richner says in the interview. “I enjoy helping students pursue their dreams. Having been in the industry, I feel like I am able to give students a real world perspective on our field. I enjoy passing on what I’ve learned.”

Richner currently teaches animation and time-based media. In additional to producing his own short films, which have screened at festivals around the U.S., he continues to work with animation industry professionals in Hollywood to develop and pitch animated properties primarily for television.

To read Richner’s full interview, click here.

Christopher Ryan Evans, 2012 Outstanding Senior

At the end of the academic year, CCAD deans present the Outstanding Seniors for their divisions.  Today, we conclude our 10-part Outstanding Senior series with Media Studies major Christopher Ryan Evans.

Q) What was your proudest achievement while at CCAD?

A) My final project. I am doing a stop-motion film, and it combines everything that I have learned from the structure of the story from start to finish to learning what drives a plot. It showed me that the basics and fundamentals you learn are important, including color concept, painting, drawing…everything.

Q) What scared you the most while you were at CCAD?

A) Getting stuff done on time. I always try to push the envelope and take on more then I should. I like to step out of the safe zone, and I had to learn to balance what I am supposed to be learning with challenging myself, which sometimes made deadlines difficult.

Q) What are your plans after graduation?

A) I want to work in the movie industry. This may mean I need to weasel myself from camera operator on up, but I know that’s the direction I want to go. I have been looking at motion a design firm in Columbus, and there are a couple areas in North Carolina I may go. Going to grad school at USC is also on my radar, so we’ll see.

Q) What’s your ultimate dream job or goal?

A) Directing and making my own movies and being paid for my own creative work.

Q) Why is it important as an alumnus to give back to CCAD?

A) This school is responsible for so much talent, and it really guides every student coming in here. I think that it should be a cornerstone of everyone’s career, and it is important to give back to the CCAD family to show that.

Q) Do you remember a single point that made you sit back and say, “This is why I am doing this?”

A) When everything is done—when you finally finish a project or meet a deadline. It’s also when you work on a project and you realize that you are applying exactly what you learned in class or in your foundation year; when you look at the results and you see everything coming together, that is definitely an ‘I nailed it’ moment.

Q) What smell, word, or whatever will always remind you of your time as a student?

A) Paint, I just envision all the paint in front of me at the studios.

Q) What will you miss the most?

A) The drawing and painting. I’ll miss having all the materials sitting right in front of me and readily available.

Q) If you can describe what graduating feels like in one word or sentence what would it be?

A) The first step.

Q) What was your favorite class at CCAD?

A) My drawing classes, especially with Doug Norman and Djahangir Pirasteh. They were the first people when I came here who were really inspirational to me. They brought me to where I want to be in those skills, and they taught their classes very professionally. There was no doodling with them.

Q) What did you like to do during your free time?

A) I like to spend a lot of time outdoors, and of course movies, movies, movies, movies like crazy.

Q) What is your fondest memory at CCAD?

A) Getting parking tickets—I know that’s not the fondest, but it is something I’ll remember. My first semester here I didn’t want to buy a parking pass, thinking I wouldn’t get tickets, but I did (laughs).

Q) What would you change about your undergraduate career?

A) I wish I would have found out which major and niche I wanted to pursue quicker. I didn’t know if I wanted to aim toward animation, storyboarding, or what.

Q) What is your advice to future CCAD students?

A) Find a group of friends who are focused and driven and stick with them, they will help you accomplish a lot.

"The Best Day Ever" animated short

Adjunct faculty Andrew Friz recently worked on an animated short, The Best Day Ever: Featuring Flo the Progressive Girl & a Guy Named Jimmy, for Progressive Insurance as part of their media campaign.

The three-minute animation was produced by J.J.Sedelmaier Productions, Inc., a company based in New York City that has worked on projects such as Beavis & Butt-Head, School House Rock, and Saturday Night Live.

“I refined and expanded the storyboards and matched the audio track to make the animatic, which is a rough pass at seeing it all together,” Friz said. “I worked on character design with J.J. Sedelmaier Productions and finished the project by painting backgrounds and finishing the rest of the animations as needed.”

Friz leads a small, full-service animation company, The Little Black Cat, in Columbus, OH. He is an award-winning artist with experience in feature films, commercials, illustration, and graphic design.

An early rendition

On May 11 Columbus College of Art & Design will open its annual student exhibition (the 133rd for those of you who are counting). This phenomena is a massive celebration of the best work of CCAD’s academic year.

Most of the art and design work in the show—representing the college’s graduate program and its nine undergraduate majors—is the result of thesis projects, contests, and class assignments. One project is simply a labor of love.

Each year students from the three-dimensional illustration class produce a crowd-pleasing piece that, while whimsical, is also masterful. This year’s creation is sure to be another attention getter—and its makers, who have spent the entire academic year building it, did so on their own time.

The colossal blood-sucking monster from a lost age

So what is this mysterious beast? Well, to call it a giant flea doesn’t really do justice to something the size of a compact car. It has been described as a “colossal blood-sucking monster from a lost age” and a “terrifying beast from a distant planet.” The beast isn’t alone; it will be ridden by a woman (presumably some type of warrior). When we asked her name, there was a quick scramble to come up with ideas—Fleaopatra seemed to stick.

You would think all this extracurricular work would just be added stress for a graduating senior, but Christopher Castorano says differently.

“This guy’s been keeping me sane,” explained the Illustration major with a smile.

The journey to build the beast and its rider began fall semester with Castorano and Illustration junior Tyler Crooks (both also work as Illustration lab techs). In spring they were joined by two juniors and fellow lab techs Henry Scott (Illustration) and Allison Cundiff (Animation). Leading the monster squad (and credited as the mastermind) is 3D Illustration Professor Mark Hazlerig.

“Mark’s been wanting to do this for 20 years,” explained Scott, who has known Hazlerig since Scott was first a student at CCAD in 2000. Scott left the college to join the military, returning to continue his studies after serving four tours.

The team will be working up until the last minute, bringing in one extra hand to help with the painting. At their most basic, the 3D pieces are constructed of blue foam and covered in latex. But, as with all good things, the process is much more complicated than that. (When we asked about construction, terms such as two-part foam, molding, and resins were bandied about). Anyone seeing the beast in person will appreciate the extraordinary level of detail, right down to the spindly little insect hairs.

Come see the colossal beast along with many other exquisite examples of art and design work from CCAD’s undergraduate and graduate programs. CCAD offers nine undergraduate majors, Advertising & Graphic Design, Animation, Cinematic Arts, Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Illustration, Industrial Design, Interior Design, and Photography; the graduate program is a multidisciplinary one called the MFA in Visual Arts: New Projects. THE SHOW: the 133rd Annual Student Exhibition opens Friday, May 11, at 4 p.m. and will be open through the summer.

Business representatives look over students' portfolios at Directions

Where can you find big-name companies such as Express, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and Skreened, right alongside all our fresh, ready-to-enter-the-world CCAD talent? At Directions, CCAD’s reverse Career Fair, where things are a bit different. At this career fair, more than 100 students are stationed at booths organized by major, with their portfolios laid out, ready to pitch to business representatives from small, large, and international companies.

This year Directions was held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Columbus on April 25, 2012.

“It is the passion that really drives me to come to this event every year,” says Bob Campell, creative director at Victoria’s Secret and 2000 Industrial Design alumnus. “Coming to these events you get to not only see what talent is coming into the work-force, but you also get inspired seeing fresh, young, passionate designers and creatives presenting their ideas.”

Bob Campbell was one of the many professionals who returned to visit the fair this year. Another was Lileah Porter from Tween Brands who came to check out the talent in the Fashion Design department.

“Last year we hired one full-time individual, and we also had some internships come from this,” Porter said. “I love the way CCAD sets this up. Here the students can have all their information and portfolios spread out, and they can present to us in a more relaxed environment.”

Dion Utt, a Fine Arts senior, was excited and eager for the professionals to walk in the door.

Joel VanGilder stands in front of his booth at Directions

“This is really a chance to present myself to the business world and help get my name out there,” Utt said. “The real benefit is being able to network. There aren’t many opportunities like this where you can have a diverse crowd of professionals who are all 100% interested in what you do.”

Not far from Utt, was Joel VanGilder, an Industrial Design senior who is already working as a designer for Worthington Cylinders and brought his coworkers to the event to scout out more talent.

“It is nice to have this exposure as a student,” Van Gilder said. “I was lucky to get placed in a job already, and I am using this time to continue to pitch myself to companies. It is interesting because there are a lot of companies that you may not know even existed who are looking for a product that you can help create with them. As a designer it is important to think outside of your niche sometimes and look at companies that may host a wide range of products and may need an illustrator or an industrial designer and this is an opportunity to discover that.”

Daniel Fox, founder of Skreened, roamed the Illustration and Advertising & Graphic Design aisles searching for talent to fill in as freelance designers for his Columbus clothing company.

“CCAD and Columbus are great places to pull local talent and creatives from,” Fox said. “This is my first time coming here, and I am really excited to be able to look at all these students’ work and see if there is a fit for us.”

Skreened owner Daniel Fox examines a student's work

Christian Cimoroni, an illustration senior, views this as a final step before he enters the real world.

“I feel accomplished,” Cimoroni said. “After all this work I can stand out here confident and talk to these professionals. I can gain a lot of contacts and start to network with people in Columbus.”

Ted Smirniotopoulous, Photography senior, was also really excited about the networking opportunities Directions allowed.

“This is a really good opportunity to meet and connect with people. I want to be able to expand my horizons and continue to learn after I graduate, and this is a perfect outlet to meet people from companies all around Columbus, whether local, national, or international.”

The event hosted students from all nine CCAD majors: Advertising & Graphic Design, Animation, Cinematic Arts, Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Illustration, Industrial Design, Interior Design, and Photography. More than 600 professionals representing close to 400 businesses attended the event.

"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.

Final image in Nationwide video, painted by Alan Becker

Twenty-five students in CCAD’s Pipeline Project recently created a video for Nationwide to display in the lobby of their downtown Columbus corporate offices.

The Pipeline Project, now in its sixth year, is an extra curricular program at CCAD that provides students a chance to produce a film in a collaborative, team-oriented manner that mirrors professional practice.

The project was led by Assistant Professor Thomas Richner, who met with executives from Nationwide throughout the process and presented the final 30-second video.

The final video focused on the history of Nationwide. It featured a white eagle flying over different Ohio landscapes and a chronological succession of buildings bearing Nationwide’s logos.

“The Pipeline Project allows students to work with real-world factors such as deadlines, meetings, and client requests,” Richner said.

Mardi Girard, a senior in Animation, has participated in the Pipeline Project twice.

“This project was not only a resume builder, but it also taught me how to work with other animators when trying to make a cohesive animation,” Girard said.

Animation senior Bekah Nunn was excited to work in a large group.

“It modeled what we will be doing when we leave school,” she said. “I was able to network with other students and get more experience in completing a team project start to finish.”

Other students who worked on this year’s project include Animation sophomore Kelly Cumpson; Animation juniors Joann Cundiff, Jonathan Pezzatta, Donald Yoakam, Chris Campbell, and Tyler Crowley; Animation seniors Brittney Kellogg, Victor Dearing, Shannon Beech, and DeJuan McCoy; Media Studies juniors Alan Becker and Manuel Austin; and Media Studies senior Jessica Miera.

FLIP logo

Seven students in an experimental animation class at CCAD recently showed their work at the Flip Animation Festival, held in the United Kingdom at the end of October.

Established in 2004, Flip is a mix of all things animation. The festival provides educational workshops, feature film screenings, and spotlights on animation studios.

Tracy Robbins, associate professor of Animation, gave the assignment for her students to enter the festival’s Flippin’ Stings competition, which called for a 1o-second “animated sting” that had to use one of the festivals sound bites and the word “flip” or the festival logo.

“This was an amazing experience for the experimental animation class, where students incorporate a variety of materials such as small objects, clay, sand, collage, traditional drawing materials and digital tools into their work,” explained Robbins.

“I presented the competition the week it was due, so they didn’t have time to over think it.,” she added.  “They had one class to work on the 10-second animation, then it had to be posted to the competition site within three days. They were able to use any style or technique and could even incorporate clips of animation that they had been working on. The students did a remarkable job with the challenge, especially considering that, for many of them, this was their first animation class. It allowed them to use the same process of many independent animators, who will incorporate the ideas, techniques and experiments from their personal work into professional projects. It drove home the fact, that, as animators, we can say something in 10 seconds, which is great to understand. As well, it was just exciting for all of us to know that the stings were being used in between sessions featuring Aardman Animation, Bill Plympton and many other inspirational animators at a festival in the UK.”

The students’ stings were  shown at the festival between workshops, panels, and screenings. The students whose work was shown include sophomores in Animation Zach Brown, Xuan Shang, and Scott Ciprian; sophomores in Cinematic Arts Elizabeth Mort and Matt O’Grady; junior in Illustration Colleen McDonnell; and senior in Animation Shannon Beech.

Follow the links to view the students’ work. Xuan Shang, Colleen McDonnell, Zach Brown, Shannon Beech, Scott Ciprian, Elizabeth Mort, and Matt O’Grady.

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.

Media Studies alumnus Nick Burkard worked on feature film Puss in Boots

Classnotes

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 June 2011 – August 2011.

Jerry W. McDaniel (CCAD, Illustration, 1957) opened an art gallery and created a process video. Read more here.

Ming Fay (CCAD, Industrial Design, 1965) marked his 20-year anniversary displaying at Butters Gallery with his exhibit Full Circle.

James Markle (CCAD, Industrial Design, 1970) presented a speech about his environmental photography at the Tahoe Art League. Read more here.

Ron Miller (CCAD, Illustration, 1970) illustrates a French youth science magazine. Read more here.

Jamie Berger (CCAD 1975-1978) was featured in a HOW magazine article detailing the rebranding and success of their printing company. Read more here.

Jon Hair (CCAD,  Advertising & Graphic Design, 1976-1978) was featured in North Carolina’s Our State magazine. Read more here.

Kate Rivers (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1977) had an exhibition in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Read more here.

Michele Householder Funk (CCAD, Illustration, 1978) has released her children’s book, The Adventures of Pete and Max and the Lost Sock. Read more here.

David Groff (CCAD, Illustration, 1979) had illustrations featured in a healthcare calendar.

Matthew Kaser (CCAD, Industrial Design, 1984) and his design firm, Kaser Design, were recently awarded another interpretive planning and design job in Texas. The newest project is the historic site Presidio de San Sabá, in Menard, Texas.

Kurt Fondriest (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1985) was included in the annual Misericordia Home group show, which was visited by more than 1,400 guests. Read more here.

Jeff Preston (CCAD, Illustration, 1985) is featured in the DVD Masters of Art: Markers with Jeff Preston. Read more here.

Edward Buchanan (CCAD, Fashion Design, 1988-1991) had his designs  featured in the spring 2011 issue of France’s Blast magazine. Read more here.

Paul Hamilton (CCAD, Illustration, 1988) received the Phil Desind Award, given annually by the Butler Institute of American Art to an outstanding representational work. Read more here.

Scott Musgrove (CCAD, Illustration, 1989) launched an online show and nearly sold out in only three weeks. Read more here.

Tracy Hayes (CCAD 1990) recently moved her design firm SKUBA Designs to a new location on New Orleans’s popular Magazine Street. Read more here.

Peter Wachtel’s (CCAD, Industrial Design, 1990) invention, STAKE, is available for presale on Quirky. Read more here.

Wendy Emrey’s (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 1991) long career influenced a new pursuit. Read more here.

Julie Abijanac (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1992) has been accepted into the Studios of Key West Artist in Residency Program for the summer 2012. Read more here.

Samantha Bennett (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1995-1999) appeared on an episode of Everyday People on TLC’s NY Ink. Find out more here.

Hiroshi Hayakawa (CCAD, Photography, 1995) showed his kinetic sculptures in a Columbus gallery. Read more here.

Susan Li O’Connor (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1996) was one of three artists featured in an exhibition at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Carnegie Gallery. Read more here.

Sara Adrian (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1998) presented in September at FLASH!, an art show in Columbus.

Several CCAD alumni received awards at the opening of this year’s fine arts exhibition at the Ohio State Fair, including Andrew Ina (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2006), Corey Aumiller (CCAD, Media Studies, 2006), Amanda H. Cook (CCAD, Illustration, 1999), Eric Homan (CCAD, Media Studies, 1998), Brandon Antczak (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2007), and Adam Brouillette (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2002) . Find out more here.

Justin Shady (CCAD, Media Studies, 1998) interviewed Michael Altman (CCAD, Media Studies, 2000) in OC Weekly. Read more here.

Danielle Julian-Norton (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1999), a co-founder of Suite 42,  had an open-studio exhibition in Dresden, Germany. Read more here.

Michael Marucco (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 1999) has been promoted at Limited Brands, Inc., to senior art director of internet content for Victoria’s Secret Direct.

Damian Ward (CCAD, Illustration, 1999) illustrated a book written by Oscar-nominated writers. Read more here.

Anthony M. Nesossis (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 2000) recently completed a rebrand of various materials for the Educational Council. Read more here.

Brent Woodard (CCAD, Illustration, 2000) helped with a global anti-drug message. Read more and see the image here.

Paul Tepper (CCAD, Illustration, 2001) was recently featured on the cover of Columbus Alive! Read more here.

Nikos Rutowkski, (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2002) helped coordinate Franklinton’s Go West Festival, which featured work by several CCAD Alumni. Read more here.

Michelle Rozic (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2003) was appointed the new assistant professor of art at California State University, Northridge.

Cat Sheridan (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2003) was featured in a Wexner Center blog for her volunteer efforts. Read more here.

Michael Carney (CCAD, Media Studies, 2004) and John Malta (CCAD, Illustration, 2010) were both in the NY Times in August. Read more here.

Jen Chapman (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 2004) will be featured in HOW magazine in the fall of 2011 for her company Redsnapper Baby & Toddler. Read more here.

The alumni music trio of Beth Murphy (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2004), Adam Elliot (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2004), and Jared Phillips (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2004) performed at the Wexner Center and were featured in the Columbus Dispatch. Read more here.

Manjari Sharma’s (CCAD, Media Studies, 2004) latest project was featured on an NPR blog. Read more here.

Gabe Shultz (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 2004) created an experimental multimedia project and music album samples from the music of rock band Steely Dan. Read more here.

Elizabeth Weissbrod (CCAD, Illustration, 2004) was one of the featured artists in the June 2011 Hopkins Medicine magazine article “Illustrators of the Century.” Read more here.

Brian Scott Campbell (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2005) was invited to Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina as a visiting artist in September and will also be an artist in residence this fall at the McColl Center for Visual Arts in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Steven Weinzierl (CCAD, Media Studies, 2005) has been named Favorite Color’s new creative director. Read more here.

Molly Burke (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2006) recently participated in a Cleveland West Art League (CWAL) exhibition with Cleveland painter Julie Morgan. Read more  here.

Andrew Ina’s (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2006) exhibition New Frontier was recently reviewed in the Columbus Dispatch. Read more here.

Melissa (Hofelzer) Spencer (CCAD, Media Studies, 2006) designed an exhibition invite and an interactive website. Read more here.

Seven alumni, including Nate Burns (CCAD, Illustration, 2010), Travis Czekalski (CCAD, Media Studies, 2010), Julie Hall (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2010) Katie Herbst (CCAD, Media Studies, 2010), Michael Lovett (CCAD, Fine Arts 2011), Alex Moore (CCAD, Fine Arts 2011), and Kevin Smalley (CCAD, Media Studies, 2006-08) teamed up to present Fringed: A Fashionably Fine Art Exhibition in Columbus. Read more here.

Nick Burkard, (CCAD, Media Studies, 2007) Dreamworks effects animator, detailed the work he did on the upcoming film Puss in Boots. Read more here.

Michelle Dick (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2008) had her first trunk show hosted by a Columbus boutique. Read more here.

Ashley K. Alexander (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2009) published her first novel. Read more here.

Cory Cantelupe (CCAD, Illustration, 2009) is currently doing work as a freelance sculptor for Hasbro, Inc.

Navy Seaman Jessica M. Pettinger (CCAD, Interior Design, 2009) recently completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois.

Emily Spear (CCAD, Illustration, 2009) is finishing her first year as an associate product designer for Hasbro Inc.

Ian Horn (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2010) has found success with a new NYC business. Read more here.

Mallory McClellan (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2010) was featured in Columbus Alive! for the sculpture she built for Harrison Park in Columbus. Read more here.

Kartika Mediani (CCAD, Animation, 2010) was one of 40 college students across the country to receive a summer internship with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. Read more here.

Ross Caliendo (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2011) was featured in a weekly Cincinnati newspaper for his participation in an exhibition. Read more here.

Jen Hutson (CCAD, Fine Arts, 2011) has been accepted into the St. Petersburg Clay Company’s Artist in Residence Program for the 2011-2012 term.

Angela Mancuso (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 2011) was appointed as the newest art director at Peebles Creative Group. Read more on their blog.

Amy McQuillin (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 2011) was hired as the Upper Arlington’s Cultural Arts Division’s intern.

Local tech company Bluemile, ranked in 2010 by Inc. Magazine as one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, is featuring artwork by CCAD alumni and faculty in its New Albany office as one way to introduce visitors and other programs to the college. Read more here.

In Memoriam
Edmund Kuehn, (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1938). Read more here.
Charles (Chip) Kirker III, (CCAD, Illustration, 1971). Obituary here.
Dan (Danny) J. Schroll, (CCAD, Fine Arts, 1973). Obituary here.
Gerome Alexander, (CCAD, Advertising & Graphic Design, 1982). Obituary here.
Teresa Williams, (CCAD, Illustration, 1988). Obituary here.
Kathryn A. Gough, (CCAD, 1990). Obituary here.
Lacey L. Pope, (CCAD, Industrial Design, 2002). Obituary here.
Christine Salisbury, (CCAD, Media Studies, 2005). Obituary here.

Animation alumna and University of California graduate student Kartika Mediani has accepted an internship with the Academy of Television.

Animation alumna Kartika Mediani (CCAD 2010) is one of 40 students across the country to receive a summer internship with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation.

The program is designed to provide college students with in-depth exposure to professional television production during an eight-week summer period in Los Angeles. It is considered to be one of the top 10 internships in the country.

Mediani is currently working toward an MFA in animation at the University of California. She was the  2010 Best Animation winner at the HelloFest in Jakarta, Indonesia; a finalist in the 2010 Anima Mundi Web & Cell Contest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and the recipient of the Chris Statuette Award at the 2010 Columbus International Film + Video Festival in Columbus, Ohio.

Learn more about Mediani on her website.

Singing on the Great Day by Matthew Houston

An Illustration senior’s first-place entry in a recent poster contest is on display through Sunday, May 29 in a central Ohio gallery.

The digital print Singing on the Great Day by Matthew Houston can be seen at Hammond Harkins Galleries. Next, Houston’s poster will move to a permanent display at the State Library of Ohio.

Houston submitted the top entry in the recent Forever Free Emancipation Poster contest held in conjunction with an Abraham Lincoln exhibition at the state library. CCAD students were invited to submit posters that would visually communicate emancipation to a slave in 1863 unable to read.

The state library also will permanently display the second- and third-place contest posters by Fine Arts graduate Jerrica Fields (CCAD, 2011) and Joshua Kingsbury, a sophomore studying Animation.

Read the full press release announcing the students’ winning designs.

Animation major Chelsea Mummert was named the 2011 Outstanding Senior for her department.

At the end of the academic year, a graduating senior from each major is named the Outstanding Senior for that department. Today in part five of our 10-part series, we interviewed senior Chelsea Mummert (CCAD 2011), who was named Outstanding Senior for the Animation department.

Q.) Describe a particular thing you learned at CCAD that didn’t make sense to you at first, but that you realized later “Oh, that’s what that meant!”
A.) I would say a lot of things I learned foundation year fits into this category. For example, the project where we had to put three black squares on a white page. I realize it was the simplest form of composition, balance and hierarchy, something that I consider for each scene of animation.

Q.) What’s the ultimate dream job?  Or goal? Basically, when will you be able to sit back and say ‘I’ve made it’?
A.) When I am working in a major animation studio like Pixar or Disney as a part of their core team!

Q.) Why is it important as an alum to continue giving back to your alma mater?
A.) I think it is important for students to hear from us because we come from the same background. When Mike Altman (who was recently tapped as spring 2011 commencement speaker) came to talk to us after landing a job at Pixar, it really made me feel like it was all possible.

Q.) Do you remember a single point that made you sit back and say, “This is why I am doing this?”
A.) When I can sit at my computer for hours at a time and it only feels like a few minutes has passed. Then there are moments when I look at my work and am amazed to think to myself, I made that! It just amazes me what can be accomplished with passion and dedication.

Q.) What smell, word, object, or whatever always reminds you of your time here as a student?
A.) I would say Hounddogs pizza reminds me of my time here because of all of the times I spent there with my closest friends through all hours of the night. It’s a place you don’t go to for the service but the pizza is amazing!

Q.) If you can describe what graduating feels like in one word (okay, one sentence), what would it be?
A.) It’s like the end of a very intense training program and the beginning of a very long and beautiful dream come true.

Q.) Finish the sentence. I hope future CCAD students …
A.) Take their time here seriously and get the most out of their experiences because now is the time to grow and experiment. I also hope that they are not afraid to challenge their teachers or push the “limits” of creativity.

Learn more about Chelsea on her website.

132nd Annual Student Exhibition

It is tradition for CCAD to end its academic year with a spectacular exhibition that reflects the best student art and design work created during the previous 12 months.

On Friday, May 13^th we open SHOW the 132^nd Annual Student Exhibition, and even after 132 years, there is always a surprise or two.

One exciting new addition to this year’s SHOW is the MFA exhibition. CCAD’s recently launched graduate program, Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts: New Projects, will showcase the first year of work by the 11-member MFA class of 2012.

“It’s exciting because many of these graduate students are venturing out of their comfort zones,” said Graduate Studies Director Ric Petry. “They are taking risks and exploring new territory. We are finishing year one of a two-year program, so many of the works seen in the exhibition are setting the stage for what will be developed in their final thesis projects next year.”

MFA works, which will be exhibited on the second and third floors of Design Studios on Broad from 4-9 p.m. during the May 13 opening, include fiber arts, illustration, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and social/performance-based work.

Undergraduate work in the exhibition represents each of CCAD’s nine majors: Advertising & Graphic Design, Animation, Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Illustration, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Media Studies, and Photography.

While art and design work is presented throughout campus, the main Canzani Center Gallery comprises work by upper-level students who show a mastery of skill within their chosen disciplines. The Canzani Center will also be the focal point for Media Studies and Animation screenings, which are presented to a packed audience in the 400-seat auditorium from 6-8 p.m. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors are eligible to be considered for the opening night screenings.

“Each division has their own method for selecting work in the show,” explained Director of Student Exhibitions Tim Rietenbach. “But the approach is generally the same: All faculty members collect the best work from their classes, which is then reviewed by a smaller group of senior faculty who choose the final pieces for the show.”

Although the process for choosing work remains relatively the same, there are several new features at the opening night celebration. In addition to the MFA exhibition, the Acock galleries (on the second-floor of the Canzani Center) will house, for opening night only, examples of Foundation Studies interactive group projects. Also, for the first time, CCAD’s Fashion Show fundraising event will take place the night of the exhibition opening. In past years the fundraising event was hosted a week earlier, and on the night of the exhibition opening, a smaller-scale version of the fashion show was presented in the auditorium. This year the full production and event will take place on opening night.

“Moving the fashion event to the same night as the exhibition opening just made sense,” explained Vice President for Institutional Advancement Stephanie Hightower. “This is our signature event and we bring more than 700 people to campus. We want our guests to experience our whole creative community and to share in the excitement and celebration that comes with this time of year.”

While some things have changed, other traditions continue. Each year the three-dimensional Illustration class brings to the exhibition a fun and quirky crowd favorite. Last year it was pirate bears, in the past we’ve seen animatronic spiders, Alice in Wonderland, a monster classroom, and robots. This year they’re making  … well you’ll just have to come and see.

Find more details on the opening night schedule and event night parking on the event page.

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.

Image from Bed Time Bunny Tales

An adjunct instructor in Animation recently finished 3D work on an interactive children’s book aimed at helping parents get their children into bed.

Work by Mark Fitzpatrick (CCAD 2007) is featured throughout Bed Time Bunny Tales. Every story in the book, which is created to work on iPads or Android phones and will be available later this summer, ends in a lullaby.

Fitzpatrick, a Media Studies alumnus, is part of the team at New Fuel Studio and Home Grown Apps, which produced the book.

Singing on the Great Day by Matthew Houston

Three CCAD students were announced as winners of the Forever Free Emancipation Poster contest, held in conjunction with an Abraham Lincoln exhibition at the State Library of Ohio.

First place was awarded to Matthew Houston, a junior majoring in Illustration, for his digital print Singing on the Great Day. A mixed media piece, Freedom Quilt, by Fine Arts senior Jerrica Fields claimed second place and Joshua Kingsbury, a freshman studying Animation, placed third with his New Day digital print entry.

CCAD students were invited to submit posters that would visually communicate emancipation to a slave in 1863 unable to read. The contest was held in conjunction with the Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation exhibit at the State Library of Ohio from March 7 through April 15, 2011. The winning entries were announced at the exhibit’s recent opening program and reception.

Houston’s poster will be on display at Hammond Harkin Galleries in Bexley for a short time following the conclusion of the exhibition. All three artists will have their posters on permanent display at the State Library of Ohio and received gift cards to Utrecht Art Supplies.

“Matthew, Jerrica, and Joshua each expressed visions of survival and hope in their work,” said Marsha McDevitt-Stredney, director of marketing & communications at the state library. “The students researched slavery, the Civil War, and the Emancipation Proclamation. Their work clearly communicates an understanding of the objective of the contest and compassion for those that suffered during that oppressive time in our history.”

Read the full press release announcing the contest winners.

Alumnus Dean Mitchell (CCAD '80) exhibited at the Canton Museum of Art in Canton, OH.

One of the big changes we’ve made recently is to take Alumni Classnotes out of IMAGE magazine and bring them to you on our CCAD News Blog. We do our best to make sure most of the news our alumni submit to us ends up there, but since there are more than 10,000 of you making news all over the world, it’s a tough job to keep up with it all. Ultimately, not everything can make it into CCAD News. What doesn’t, ends up here.

We’ve also changed how you can submit classnotes. Now when news happens, let us know 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 July-December 2010.

Career successes and awards
KATHLEEN (RIVERS) LANDES ’77 is a July 2010 artist in residence at the Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe NM.

JON HAIR ’79 was recently honored by the city of Shanghai for his artistic contribution to the city’s efforts to revitalize its downtown theater district. In addition, his contemporary sculpture “Lucky 8” was commissioned by the city of Beijing and the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee and is now permanently installed at the Beijing International Sculpture Park.

JIM WEITZEL ’79 recently launched a new website and completed a steel sculpture for the grounds of Cooperris, a community based mental health program in western NC.

MATTHEW KASER ’84 received a multi-year Interpretive Design contract from the Texas Historical Commission for two historical sites. M. Kaser & Associates, Inc., was also awarded a contract with the US Army Corp of Engineers to design and produce an indoor and outdoor interpretive program at the Port Allen Navigation Lock in West Baton Rouge Parish LA.

KURT FONDRIEST ’85 had a selection of poetry published in the Winter 2010 issue of the Expressive Art Therapy Journal.

SANDRA (KESSLER) KAMINSKI ’93 recently accepted a position at the Pittsburgh Project located in Pittsburgh PA as visual arts instructor. Check out our blog for more information on Sandra.

ALYCIA (PARKER) YATES ’99 recently received her teaching license in Art Education from Ohio State University and is working toward her Master’s degree.

DAVID CROSLAND ’00 was selected as one of the winners in ArtSlant’s sixth juried Showcase of 2010 for his collaborative art piece “Booty & The Beast.” David also illustrated Yo Gabba Gabba! Comic Anthology. Find out more here.

MARIANO SANTILLAN ’00 had his comic book Seven Citadels released as a mobile comic by Robot Comics for iPhones, iPads and Droid devices.

KRISTI VALIANT ’00 has illustrated the recently published picture books The Goodbye Cancer Garden, Do You Love Me More?, Oliver’s First Christmas, and Dancing Dreams. She has also recently become the Regional Advisor of the Indiana region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

ELIZABETH WEISSBROD ’04 received a MA in Medical Illustration from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in May 2010. She now works for the Corbin Company as a medical illustrator/animator at the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences – Simulation Center in Bethesda MD.

STEVEN WEINZIERL ’05 recently completed projects for Nickelodeon, MTV, Discovery, and HBO through his Art Directing position at Click 3X. He also worked on Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” music video.

ALEXANDER KWAPIS ’06 recently accepted a position as Creative Director at Fusion Packaging, located in Dallas TX.

HAZEL TARR ’07 assisted with Shadowbox’s first three-week Summer Intern Bootcamp, Sketch Comedy Fest, and collaborative, “Seven Deadly Sins.”

MICHELLE DICK ’08 created custom hair accessories for the Vera Wang trunk show in July 2009. Her company, Mimi’s Closet, sells items at Big Rock Little Rooster in Columbus’s Short North.

EDEN (HUTCHINSON) WHITSETT ’08 currently owns and operates a tattoo and body piercing shop in Marion OH called Bettie’s Body Shop: Custom Tattoos and Body Piercing.

NICHOLAS CAVALIER ’09 accepted an editor position at Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago IL.

BARBARA BENAS ’10 is part of the official selection of artists featured on Cartoon Brew TV’s first annual Student Animation Festival, with her short Always, Only, Ever. The festival features work by emerging talents from around the world. The film has also been accepted into the Animation Block Party at Rooftop Films in Brooklyn NY. The Animation Block Party is New York City’s premiere animation film festival.

BERNADETTE CARSTENSEN ’10 was selected as to receive a full-ride scholarship to attend IlluXcon 3 in Altoona PA in November 2010.

KARTIKA MEDIANI ’10 has been accepted into the Animation Block Party at Rooftop Films in Brooklyn NY with her film, “Breath.”

Exhibitions
BERNARD BEN PEARCE ’70 Trinidad’s National Musuem, Port of Spain, Trinidad.

KATHLEEN (RIVERS) LANDES ’77 Istvan Gallery, Oklahoma City OK.

WALTER KING ’81 Walter King: Midwest Dialog, Fort Hayes Shot Tower Gallery, Columbus OH.

DANIEL DAY ’86 Colosseum Fine Arts, La Jolla CA.

PAUL HAMILTON ’88 Paul Hamilton: Poetry of Place, Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, Lancaster OH.

CHRISTOPHER GASTON ’90 and DOUGLAS BLACK ’90 Three Roads to Mashiko, MIDORI, Mashiko, Japan.

SANDRA (KESSLER) KAMINSKI ’93 State of the Art, State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg PA.

JAMIE SNELL ’94 Star Wars Celebration V, Orange County Convention Center, Los Angeles CA.

ROBERT ENGLERT ’96 Edge of Art New York State Artists Series: Designed to Scale, Everson Art Museum, Syracuse NY.

ROXANNE HOLONITCH ’97 Core Fitness Studio, Columbus, OH.

JONATHON REESE ’98 and SALEM REESE ’08 The Reunion Show, Art Outreach Gallery, Youngstown OH.

JAMES BAKER ’02 Wild Thing, Roberts & Tilton, Culver City CA.

RYAN OREWILER ’04 The Language of Art, Carnegie Gallery at Columbus Metropolitan Main Library, Columbus OH.

MANJARI SHARMA ’04 Elements of Water, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins CO; PAANI, Richard Levy Galley, Albuquerque NM; SULTRY II, DUMBO, Brooklyn NY.

ANDREW STATTMILLER ’05, Mischief, Studio Gallery, San Francisco CA.

ANDREW INA ’06, BORYANA RUSENOVA INA ’06 Landing, Art Access Gallery, Columbus OH.

MICHELLE DICK ’08 ArtPrize 2010, Peaches Bed & Breakfast, Grand Rapids, MI.

MALLORY McCLELLAN ’10 Savage Gardens, Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus OH.

EMILY RICKARD ’10 Material Collections, Wild Goose Creative, Columbus OH.

In the news
DEAN MITCHELL ’80 “Paintings by Dean Mitchell,” recave.com.

LAURA (PATTERSON) SANDERS ’88 CMH magazine.

MANJARI SHARMA ’04 Pdnedu magazine.

Leonard Maltin’s Movie Crazy blog highlighted Stop-Motion Marvels!, which chronicles vintage stop-motion animation shorts, and the collaborators who produced it.

“From the attractive packaging to every aspect of the presentation, it’s clear this DVD was a labor of love. It belongs in every animation collection, and I feel certain it would fire the imagination of kids everywhere …,” Maltin wrote.

McKissick (CCAD, ’79) worked with Steve Stanchfield and Ken Priebe at Thunderbean Animation over several years to feature Kinex films as well as other vintage stop-motion animation shorts. The DVD includes commentary tracks with leading stop-motion animators and a booklet McKissick wrote of the history of the Kinex films. McKissick also did the artwork and packaging for the collection. CCAD provided a faculty enrichment grant to help McKissick, who majored in Illustration at CCAD, with production costs.

Additional reviews of Stop-Motion Marvels! are at Cartoon Brew and DVDtalk.com.

CCAD alumnus Nathan Greno co-directed Disney's "Tangled."

Nathan Greno (1993-1996) worked as one-half of the directing duo for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ recent box-office smash, Tangled. Together with Director Byron Howard, Storyboard Director Greno successfully created the Rapunzel-based musical film.

“Byron and I, we really shoot for the moon when it came to this movie,” said Greno in an interview with Bill Graham of collider.com. “We kind of ask for everything. If something’s a B, we want it to be an A+. What that involves is longer hours for us, for the crew, for everyone, but then at the end of the day, hopefully the movie is stronger for it. That’s the point.”

Those long hours have paid off in a big way. Tangled ranked number one in the box-office opening weekend, beating out the seventh installment in the Harry Potter series.

Greno has worked with Walt Disney Animation since 1996 on films Mulan, John Henry, Brother Bear, Meet the Robinsons, and Bolt. Greno currently resides in Glendale, California.

Read the entire interview here.

Still frame from Always, Only, Ever by Barbara Benas

Always, Only, Ever, a film by CCAD alumna Barbara Benas, was selected as best student film at the 2010 Animation Block Party, a New York City-based event dedicated to exhibiting the world’s best independent, professional and student animation.

Benas (Animation, 2010) participated in Program Two of the summer event, which showcased exceptional student films, professional content, and narrative shorts.  For more information about the artist check her blog at http://www.tubbirdbelty.com.

Information about the 2010 awards is on the Block Party blog.

Benas’ film debuted at the 2010 Cartoon Brew festival.

Short films by Barbara Benas and Kartika Mediani, both 2010 graduates majoring in Animation, will be shown on the second and third days of the festival at BAMcinématek in Brooklyn.

Always Only Ever by Benas will be shown Saturday, July 31 at 4:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. as part of Program Two, which will showcase exceptional student films, professional content and narrative shorts. More information is available on the artist’s blog at http://www.tubbirdbelty.com/

Breath by Mediani will be shown Sunday, Aug. 1 at 2 p.m. and 6:50 p.m. as part of Program Three, which will feature award winning independent shorts, studio animation and other standout works. Additional details are available on Mediani’s blog at http://7414stars.blogspot.com/

For complete details about the 2010 block party, including how to purchase tickets, go to http://animationblock.com/summerfest2010/.

Galgas worked several months as a 2D animation production coordinator on Day & Night and Altman was responsible for modeling and articulating all of the short’s 3D characters. Altman also worked on Toy Story 3 as a technical director in modeling and articulation, focusing on rigging toys in Sunnyside Day Care.

A recent review in The New York Times included the following about Day & Night, “. . . a charming little movie about two characters, opposites in temperament and outlook, hostile at the start, who gradually learned not only to find delight in each other, but also to appreciate how much they had in common. This film is whimsical, inventive, crammed with visual virtuosity and six minutes long.”

Both Altman (class of 2000) and Galgas (class of 2001) majored in Media Studies Time-Based at CCAD.

Cover art by Stewart McKissick

Stewart McKissick, professor, Illustration and Graduate Studies, is bringing film and animation history to light and preserving it for the future. After nearly eight years of research, the CCAD alumnus (Illustration, ’79) has contributed to Stop Motion Marvels!, a DVD and 12-page booklet chronicling vintage stop-motion animation shorts.

McKissick’s interest in animation and the imagery of classic cartoons has long influenced his style of illustration and his collection of 16mm animation films. His interest lead him to attend and eventually begin coordinating Cinevent, an annual three-day classic film convention begun in Columbus in 1969.

Steve Stanchfield, another collector and instructor at College for Creative Studies in Detroit, gave McKissick some silent stop-motion shorts made by Kinex studio to show at Cinevent in 2002. Although the two enthusiasts knew very little about the shorts, they proved to be popular with Cinevent’s audiences. A collaborative effort to learn more began.

Stop Motion Marvels! features Kinex films as well as other vintage stop-motion animation shorts. The DVD includes commentary tracks with leading stop-motion animators and a booklet McKissick wrote of the history of the Kinex films. McKissick also did the artwork and packaging while Stanchfield mastered the disc and cleaned up the films. CCAD provided McKissick a faculty enrichment grant to help with the production costs.

Premiered at the most recent Cinevent, Stop Motion Marvels is now for sale on Amazon’s website. To read some reviews of Stop Motion Marvels go to http://www.cartoonbrew.com and http://www.dvdtalk.com.

Students receiving award certificates from the visual communications magazine are Erich Burchfield, project director (Animation, ’10), Greg Browe, lead story artist (Media Studies, ’11), Meghann Pearson, director of photography (Photography, ’10), Jennifer Stefanski, head of animation (Animation, ’10), and Dan Zimmer, head of technical direction (Animation, ’10). Their project was inspired by the college’s recent branding initiative and resulted in a 24-minute video about CCAD from the students’ perspective.

To see some footage produced through the award-winning project click here.  Frame grabbed images of the project will be printed in Applied Arts annual publication and put on display at the Applied Arts awards exhibit, which will be held in November in Toronto at Artscape Wychwood Barns.

Twenty finalists will be featured on Aniboom’s site and Saatchi & Saatchi’s Worldwide Creative Board will choose the winner from these. Website visitors also will be invited to vote on the 20 finalists to determine a People’s Choice entry, which will be featured and celebrated on Aniboom and on Saatchi & Saatchi’s NDS channel on YouTube.

Mele graduated in May 2010 and was recognized as the outstanding senior in Animation.

Ohio Theatre

Columbus College of Art & Design presented 233 diplomas during the 131st annual spring commencement on Saturday, May 15, at the Ohio Theatre in downtown Columbus.

The commencement speaker was Author, Editor & Illustrator Michael Rosen. The 2010 class had two valedictorians, Stacey Lawless-Gibson and Erica Podwoiski, and 10 outstanding seniors:

• Susan Burke, Advertising and Graphic Design, New Knoxville, OH
• Tyler Mele, Animation; Wellington, OH
• Elizabeth Munn, Fashion Design; Aurora, OH
• Ian Horn, Fine Arts; Hyde Park, OH
• Erica Podwoiski, Fine Arts; Garden City, MI
• Jacob Murray, Illustration; Fort Wayne, IN
• Shawn Fortner, Industrial Design; Canton, OH
• Kimberly Priestman, Interior Design; Lansdale, PA
• Matthew Dickerson, Photography; Columbus, OH
• Joseph Lombardi, Media Studies; St. Louis, MO

A copy of Rosen’s commencement address is available here (pdf).

Behind-the-scenes work by Nick Cavalier

Media Studies student Nick Cavalier filmed a behind-the-scenes look at the 2009 CCAD Pipeline Project. Check out his 12-minute clip on YouTube.

The annual Pipeline Project is a semester-long extracurricular opportunity that allows students to produce a film in a collaborative, team-oriented way that mirrors professional production practices. The 2009 Pipeline Project was inspired by the college’s recent branding initiative and resulted in a 24-minute video about CCAD from the students’ perspective. Cavalier filmed the filming process.

The commercial for Ohio-based Imaginatives, Ltd., which was produced within four weeks by Thomas Richner, assistant professor, Animation, adjunct instructors Andy Friz and Dwayne Marley, and alumni Mark Fitzpatrick (CCAD ’07) and Steven Umbleby (CCAD ’08), features an animated elf and a companion illustrated book. It won bronze awards in the following categories: Local TV & Local Cable-Children’s Audience, and the Local TV & Local Cable-Use of Animation.

The Christopher-Pop-in-Kins commercial combines 3D and 2D elements and animation. The commercial aired in December 2009 in the Akron and Canton, OH viewing areas. The Telly Awards honor local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as video and film productions, and work created for the Web.

For more information go to www.tellyawards.com.