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.”

From left, Animation Chair Charlotte Beland, Toon Boom CEO Joan Vogelesang, CCAD President Dennison Griffith, Cinematic Arts Chair Ron Saks, and Toon Boom Market Development Director Mark MacLellan,
photo by Katlin McNally

This morning Columbus College of Art & Design was officially declared a Center of Excellence by Toon Boom, a global leader in digital content and animation software. CCAD is the first college or university in the U. S. to receive such an honor.

The announcement was made, fittingly, in the college’s labs for Animation and Cinematic Arts. Toon Boom CEO and President Joan Vogelesang flew in from Montreal (where the company is based) to celebrate CCAD’s selection with faculty, staff, students, guests, and media including WCMH-NBC4, WBNS-10TV, and WSYX . As CCAD was honored, a moment was taken to give a special thanks Cinematic Arts Chair Ron Saks for his ongoing commitment to the industry

“CCAD has been a long-standing customer and supporter of Toon Boom. We are thrilled to see them become the first Center of Excellence in the U.S. and prepare students for the marketplace. CCAD will be highly recommended to all our customers as a prime source of talents for their productions,” Vogelesang said.

Dana Turtle (right) interviews Don Yoakam while a few feet away Angela An interviews Andrea Rawson and Emma Pennington, photo by Katlin McNally

When asked why Columbus was chosen for the site of their first U.S. Center of Excellence, Vogelesang noted that in addition to Columbus having a solid reputation, CCAD was an early adopter of the technology. Toon Boom began changing how animation was produced 14 years ago. They not only sought to create paperless methods of production, but to utilize technology in a way that allowed for more creative flexibility. CCAD was among the first institutions to embrace these advances in the industry.

“Being a Center of Excellence provides CCAD students with the opportunity to test and use the latest versions of this industry-leading software and maximize their value among film and animation employers,” said Dennison Griffith, president of CCAD. “Employment opportunities in this field are growing significantly with the use of animation not just in the entertainment industry, but in the development of apps, software, and gaming technology.”

Rather than explain the value of Toon Boom software in Animation and Cinematic Arts work, CCAD chose to show how students work with the product. A team of three Animation students worked together to animat three local television anchors.

Juniors Andrea Rawson and Don Yoakam along with sophomore Emma Pennington turned Angela An (WBNS-10TV), Monica Day (WCHM-NBC4), and Dana Turtle (WSYX) into animated characters.

Juniors Andrea Rawson and Don Yoakam along with sophomore Emma Pennington turned Angela An (WBNS-10TV), Monica Day (WCHM-NBC4), and Dana Turtle (WSYX) into animated characters—which were shared to the delight of the gathered audience, which included An and Turtle.

The audience also viewed a live demonstration, thanks to senior Alan Backer, who showed how the software works through each phase of concepting and producing animation.

The audience was also shown a trailer for the student-made film Lumin, which utilized Toon Boom software in its production. Lumin has been submitted to more than 30 festivals internationally and nationally and it has already been accepted into several, including Chile Monos, Leeds Young Film Festival, Ohio Shorts, taafi Official Selection, and Sff International Film Festival.

To cap off the event, CCAD announced a storyboard contest for high school students with a prize worth nearly $3,000. Students are invited to create and submit a storyboard for a short film (not to exceed one minute of screen time). The winner will receive a full-ride scholarship to attend CCAD’s three-week residential summer program College PreView, where they will be able to focus on Animation and Cinematic Arts and work with Toon Boom production suite software. Details on the contest can be found here.

The choice of CCAD as the first American Center of Excellence follows Toon Boom’s selection as an official educational resource and curriculum to support development of 21st century skills among Canadian students by the Information and Communications Technology Council in Canada.

Becker is from Columbus, OH, and graduated from Dublin High School; Rawson is a from Buffalo, NY, and graduated from Williamsville East High School; Yoakam is from Delaware, OH, and graduated from Bishop Watterson High School; and Pennington is from Hilliard, OH, and graduated from Hilliard Bradley High School.

Artist Mel Chin to deliver CCAD commencement address on May 11

Columbus College of Art & Design welcomes artist and sculptor Mel Chin to deliver the commencement address on May 11 at the Ohio Theatre to more than 200 CCAD graduating seniors and master of fine arts graduates.

Chin is a visual artist inspired by political, cultural, and social circumstances. He is known for his broad range of approaches, including works that require multidisciplinary, collaborative teamwork and works that conjoin cross-cultural aesthetics with complex ideas.

“Mel Chin’s choice to incorporate advocacy, activism, and social responsibility into his artwork is a key message for our graduates to hear as they begin to chart their professional careers,” said Dennison W. Griffith, president of CCAD. “Commencement is a celebration and an opportunity for CCAD to share one more lesson with the students who have spent the last several years developing their creative talents on our campus and are now ready to become leaders in the art and design fields.”

Chin insinuates art into unlikely places, investigating how it can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility. Chin created and developed Revival Field, a project that has been a pioneer in the field of “green remediation,” the use of plants to remove toxic heavy metals from the soil. In KNOWMAD, Chin worked with software engineers to create a video game based on rug patterns of nomadic people facing cultural disappearance.

He also promotes works of art that benefit the environment, as in the recent Operation Paydirt/Fundred Dollar Bill Project, an attempt to make New Orleans a lead-safe city.

Chin’s work was documented in the popular PBS program Art of the 21st Century. He has received numerous awards and grants from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, Art Matters, Creative Capital, and the Penny McCall, Pollock/Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Rockefeller, and Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundations.

CCAD is celebrating its 134th Commencement Ceremony at the Ohio Theatre, on May 11, 2013.

Professors working in the new Fab Lab

The CCAD campus has undergone some serious changes that I bet some of you would find very interesting if you came back for a visit (hint: we would love for you to come back and visit).

One of the big additions that we’re particularly excited about is the new 3D printing lab, dubbed “The Fab Lab,” which is now officially up and running in Kinney Hall.

The Fab Lab was funded by Nancy and Tad Jeffrey and includes equipment like a Shopbot 3-axis CNC router, a 4-axis CNC Milling Machine, a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), a laser cutter, a format printer, and a vacuum former.

“Students are getting to learn how to use this equipment in the safe confines of the college so when they get out into the real world they will have a competitive edge,” said Tom Gattis, dean of the School of Design Arts.

Not only Industrial Design students, but all majors have started working with the equipment in the lab and are excited about the possibilities. CCAD has begun to bring in technicians versed in the technology to show students the application of these tools in the real world.

“Some of our students may not end up with a design firm that has this equipment in house, but they may be working with a service bureau that they get pieces and parts from, so having the ability to communicate with those technicians is huge,” Gattis said. “They may design something and realize that the technician will need to modify this or flip that part. That give and take is part of the design process. Learning communication and compromising skills as a student is invaluable.”

The lab may be a dream come true to students and faculty, but Gattis isn’t done just yet.

“In five years I just want to see more,” Gattis said. “I would like to see a farm of this equipment, so to speak. My greatest hope and fear, quite frankly, is that come fall semester we are saying, ‘Ahhh, we are overwhelmed.’ This equipment will have a great benefit to the students, all students, no matter what their major is.”

But enough from us; check out the photos below of the new Fab Lab!

Wahls answers student questions.

Zach Wahls shared his very personal story of becoming an advocate for marriage equality with CCAD students during a visit to campus March 1. In his presentation, he discussed his new-found celebrity and becoming one of the key voices on the often controversial topic, “What Makes a Family.”

Zach was just 19-years-old, a University of Iowa engineering student, when he gave a heartfelt testimony in front of the Iowa House Judiciary Committee.  He’s the son of two lesbian mothers and Iowa was about to vote on House Joint Resolution Six, banning gay marriage.

In the end, Iowa became one of the nine states to grant marriage equality rights, along with the District of Columbia.

CCAD’s student programming board organized Zach’s visit to campus, and led the Q & A discussion that followed his presentation. The presentation also was part of the monthly Fusion events sponsored by Stonewall in Columbus. Fusion is a monthly social for LGBT college students that rotates among the various college campuses in Columbus

See the now famous video of his testimony, which has been seen over 17 million times on YouTube.

Check out Zach’s appearance on the Ellen show.

Follow the CCAD’s student programming board on facebook, for updates on upcoming events during fall and spring semesters.

Ologie created a suite of materials that show that a CCAD degree is anything but impractical.

It’s been a whirlwind six months for CCAD’s admission staff. They welcomed an energetic new director, launched an aggressive series of additional events, and unveiled an exciting suite of fresh recruitment materials—the result:  A notable uptick in applications submitted well before the Feb. 15 priority deadline.

“It’s exciting,” said Densil Porteous, director of admissions, about the rise in applicants. “We tried some new things, and people really responded to them. That is always gratifying.”

Porteous joined CCAD in August and hit the ground running. An early initiative of the office, which Porteous embraced, was the development of a series of new on-campus events called CCAD Discovery Days.

“We had a good problem. Routinely we were seeing that our on-campus admissions events were coming in well over capacity,” said Porteous. “We realized that a large number of prospective students wanted opportunities to engage with the college and so we developed an additional series of events that also included opportunities to discover our city, Columbus, as well as our campus.”

Not only were the new events a huge success but the existing events continue to register to capacity.

Another addition to the admissions tool kit was a new suite of recruitment materials.

“One of our challenges was overcoming the myth of the starving artist,” explained Robin Hepler, CCAD’s director of Marketing & Communications. “The tricky part is showing how an art and design college is a good investment without diluting the creative part of what we do. We need to speak to the practical and the artistic sides of students and parents.”

To help CCAD with this challenge the college engaged Ologie , a nationally recognized branding company owned and operated by alumna Bev Bethge.

In a recent posting Ologie described their approach: “In response, Ologie developed an integrated campaign with several pieces: an eye-catching poster for generating leads, a kit for introducing CCAD to art teachers and guidance counselors, and an oversized viewbook for following up with prospects. The viewbook included a glossary with some 60 potential careers for graduates, making it clear that a CCAD degree is anything but impractical.”

“Ologie gave us several new tools to use,” said Hepler. “One of the things I love most is how they play with our name—taking us beyond Columbus College of Art & Design in a way that is playful and a little quirky.”

Whether prospects responded to the new events or the idea of being part of “Columbus College of Loving What You Do” they responded.

“Not only have we seen more applications, we’ve been really impressed by the quality of work in the portfolios we’ve been reviewing,” said Porteous. “I think the next few weeks are going to be especially exciting as we come up on our Feb. 15 priority deadline. Students who apply by this date will get priority consideration not only for admission, but also for scholarships. It’s going to be a very busy two weeks.”

Learn more about applying to CCAD here. The college is hosting its next CCAD Discovery Days event on Saturday, April 13 (which is also the date for the CCAD Art Fair).

Trenton Doyle Hancock, photo courtesy Bill Surface

CCAD’s Visiting Artists & Scholars Series will bring in speakers ranging from poets and music critics to sculptors and painters for its spring season.

“Our Visiting Artist & Scholars series has continued to grow,” said Kevin Conlon, CCAD’s vice president for academic affairs. “Having well-known speakers come to our campus and speak on their career and/or in conjunction with exhibitions allows us to engage the community with our programming and events and also with the Columbus arts scene.”

The first artist talk will come from John B. Carls, Jan. 30, 7 p.m. Carls is an award-winning film producer whose credits include the Oscar winning Rango, which won for best animated feature film and Where the Wild Things Are, which was nominated for a Golden Globe. Carls was the executive producer on The Little Bear Movie and Open Season, which he also co-wrote.

Following Carls’ talk will be Trenton Doyle Hancock, Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Hancock will be showing his work in CCAD’s project space, Room. Hancock is internationally known for his narrative of the battle between good and evil—executed across a wide variety of media that includes painting, collage, sculpture, print, and the performing arts.

Shortly following Hancock, CCAD will host poet Sharon Olds, Feb. 28 at 6:30 p.m. Olds is the author of eight volumes of poetry. Her most recent collection, Stag’s Leap, was published this fall and earned her the T.S. Eliot Prize. She is the first American woman to be awarded, and her work is described by judges as “a tremendous book of grace and gallantry, which crowns the career of a world-class poet.”

Greil Marcus, photo courtesy Thierry Arditti

Following Olds, on March 14 at 6:30 p.m., is sculptor Nari Ward. Ward creates dramatic sculptural installations from material found in his urban neighborhood in New York. His work is included in the exhibition WALL, which will be in the Canzani Center Gallery, Feb. 21–April 4.

Painter Fred Tomaselli will speak on April 4 at 6:30 p.m. Tomaselli first became known for highly decorative, intensively worked paintings that evoked escapism through both their imagery and their materials.

Tomaselli’s exhibition New York Times can be seen in Room, March 18–April 8, and his artist talk will be followed by a reception and an opportunity to view his work.

Sharon Olds, photo courtesy Brett Hall Jones

Greil Marcus will join CCAD April 11. Marcus has been America’s foremost expert on pop music for more than three decades. He is an iconic columnist and the author of classic books such as Mystery Train and Lipstick Traces.

The season will wrap up May 2 and 3 with an exciting duo, the internationally renowned retail design and branding expert Marc Gobé and his daughter, Gwenaelle Gobé. Their visit is part of the CCAD MindMarket’s ThoughtLab and presented with support from the Easton Foundation. More information coming soon.

Presentations are held in the Canzani Center Auditorium and most are free unless otherwise noted.

CCAD’s Visiting Artist & Scholars Series is sponsored by the Skestos Endowment Fund for Visiting Artists & Lectures, Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Greater Columbus Arts Council.

Check out CCAD’s Visiting Artists & Scholars web calendar for full event details.

Promotional image for Nigel Ewan’s collection for One

CCAD’s Honors Program has always been inventive in their projects (think DNA necklaces), and this semester is no different. This semester’s honors retail class chose to create a pop-up store on campus called One. The store will be open in Beaton Gallery Dec. 9, 1–9 p.m. and Dec. 10, 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m.

“One is a curated shopping experience for the creative community in Columbus,” said Lillie Templeton, a senior in Advertising & Graphic Design. “We are handpicking the product, designing the space, and building the displays. To give it an extra twist, we’re working with 14 of CCAD’s finest designers across multiple disciplines and classes. These designers are making one-of-a-kind collections specifically for the store.”

Templeton worked alongside six other students in the class with Adjunct Faculty Marcia Tabler leading the project. Students handled everything from the marketing strategy to the promotional photography and video, to the store design. Students in the retail class include Advertising & Graphic Design sophomore Qisha Kendy,  junior Haley Fischer, and seniors Lillie Templeton and Katie Westbrook; Fashion Design senior Krista Sison; Illustration junior Katie Vasey; and Media Studies junior Amanda Hess.

Promotional image for Ryun Harrison’s collection for One

“It seems like a fun and creative way to try and sell some of my creations,” said Audrey Swart, Fashion Design junior and designer for One. “It is an interesting and beneficial way to get my name out there for people to see.”

Swart’s collection for One will include classic denim fashion that has been updated with studs, leather, and other innovative materials to create a more punk and edgy look.

Fashion Design junior Ryun Harrison is making unisex clothing inspired by various spiritual practices, goth and grunge styles, and the eccentricities that surround him.

Promotional image for Audrey Swart’s collection for One

“Doing a collection for One enables me to influence what my peers wear, become a part of various established styles, and get my name out there as a designer,” Harrison said. “This is a great project, and I am glad to be a part of it.”

Work in the store will range from bowties to screenprinted shirts. The student designers will keep 100% of their profits.

“I was really intrigued with the idea of creating a store with other designers with different styles,” said Bryston Walters, a Fashion Design junior. “I think it is going to be a really fun experience to be able to walk through a store and see just how differently people handle materials, and what their design aesthetic is.”

The store will sell designs from Advertising & Graphic Design junior Nigel Ewan and seniors Warren Kipperman and Alex Laniosz; Fashion Design juniors Rachel McElvogue, Ryun Harrison, Seth Stephens, Audrey Swart, and Bryston Walters and seniors Rachel Chertoff and Heather Hodge; Fine Arts sophomore De’Niro Brown and seniors Ariana Lindenfelser, Greg Ponchak, and Ben Quinn.

To read interviews and information on all 14 designers, click here. One will be open in Beaton Gallery Dec. 9, 1–9 p.m. and Dec. 10, 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m. The store will accept cash and credit/debit cards. Check out the video documenting the building and final result of One here.

CCAD MindMarket lobby, photo courtesy Danielle Ford (2013)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lobby of CCAD Mindmarket, located in Design Studios on Broad

The architects for CCAD’s Design Studios on Broad (DSB) received an architectural award from the Columbus Chapter of  AIA, the American Institute of Architects.

Acock Associates Architects transformed the 97,000-square-foot former car dealership into a custom-designed spaces for CCAD’s MindMarket, Fashion Design program, and MFA program.

The firm also received an Excellence in Architectural Design award in 2011, an Honor Award in 2009 for CCAD’s Design Square Apartments, and a Merit Award in 2005 for CCAD’s Loann Crane Center for Design.

Roger Martin

As jobs and the economy continue to be a hot topic of national debate, the necessity of creative thinking and innovation in the American marketplace is of particular interest to artists and designers, and CCAD is bringing Roger Martin to Columbus on Sept. 28 to share his thoughts.

Best known in design circles for his book The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage, Martin was named in 2010 as one of the most influential designers in the world and in 2011 as the sixth top management thinker in the world.

Martin is the dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and an adviser on strategy to CEO’s of several major global corporations. He writes extensively on design and is a regular contributor to Washington Post’s On Leadership blog and to Financial Times’ Judgment Call column.

Martin’s presentation coincides with the launch of the CCAD MindMarket, a creative center that integrates art and design talent with business practices via business partnerships, a business incubator, and the ThoughtLab—an initiative that will recruit leaders in business and design to discuss and study the connection between creativity and economic value.

“We are so excited to bring Roger Martin to CCAD and Columbus,” said CCAD MindMarket Director Cynthia Gravino. “He is a respected leader in the business community and is seriously raising the level of debate on the idea of design thinking and its importance to our economic future. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the CCAD MindMarket, an innovative college program that connects the talent our students and alumni with the business community.”

Martin comes to CCAD, Friday, Sept. 28. After a cocktail reception at 4:30 p.m., Martin will speak at 5:30 p.m., with a Q & A session with the audience at 6:30 p.m. in the Canzani Center Auditorium. After the lecture, in CCAD’s Design Studios on Broad, Martin will do a book signing for ticket holders, tours of the new CCAD MindMarket will be available to ticket holders and the public. Also in Design Studios on Broad there will also be a free and open to the public party hosted by idUS —Columbus’ citywide celebration of innovation and design. Visit the event page for more info.

Tickets to see Roger Martin are $100 and may be purchased online. The post-lecture CCAD MindMarket tours and idUS party are free and open to the public.

Leah Wong recently talked with Yu Qiduo (Duoduo) on Shanghai TV.

Leah Wong, who has taught at CCAD and is assisting the college with a teaching exchange with the China Academy of Art, was recently invited to be a guest on an education focused show on Shanghai TV.

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

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

Learn more about CCAD’s education exchange with the China Academy of Art here.

In Ohio, 18 students in each of CCAD drawing instructor Joe Lombardo’s two Figure and Anatomy drawing classes are participating.

A discussion between two art college presidents about the critical role of foundation courses for students has spawned a comparative teaching effort between Columbus College of Art & Design and China Academy of Art.

Dennison Griffith, CCAD president, and Xu Jiang, president of CAA, and Song Jianming, vice president of CAA, met during CCAD’s 2011 visit to Shanghai and Hangzhou art schools. The leaders’ discussion has evolved into a shared e-classroom for first-year drawing students in Columbus and Hangzhou for spring semester 2012. A joint exhibition of the final course work is set for this fall on the CAA campus in Hangzhou, China.

Instructors from the two schools, located on opposite sides of the globe, use a blog to their course structure and weekly lesson guides, along with their philosophies about how to teach specific components. Student work from each lesson is uploaded for critique by both sides to review the teaching approach and results. In Ohio, 18 students in each of CCAD drawing instructor Joe Lombardo’s two Figure and Anatomy drawing classes are participating. (Follow the week-by-week assignments and progression of Lombardo’s class here.)

Griffith, CCAD’s president since 1998 and a practicing artist, said the shared teaching experience provides fresh ideas for communicating fundamental skills courses, and noted that “this exchange of teaching and learning methodologies creates a splendid platform for cultural understanding and future collaborations. We are pleased and honored to have this new relationship of exchange programs with CAA.”

In addition to his leadership role at CCAD, Griffith currently serves on the boards of the Columbus Partnership, Experience Columbus and the National Association of Schools of Art & Design, the national accreditation body for art and design education in the U.S.

Alongside his administrative career he has maintained a vigorous commitment to his work as an artist. His paintings have been included in more than 90 solo and group exhibitions and are represented in many public and private collections. He is represented by Hammond Harkins Galleries in Columbus. www.ccad.digication.com/dennisonwgriffith.

“As our curriculum evolves to meet the changing needs of the international marketplace and global audience, this type of research will be invaluable for our faculty and our students,” said Julie Taggart, dean of the School of Studio Arts at CCAD. “Drawing mastery and the visual acumen gained through the act of drawing have defined CCAD’s core competencies for artists and designers. The comparison with the China Academy of Art will allow us to see the impact of drawing in a broader cultural context.”

In addition to the collaborative teaching effort, CCAD and the China Academy of Art have established a formal student exchange program that began in January 2012. Currently, two exchange students from CAA, Nuonan Ruan and Jin Dan, are enrolled in master’s level classes at CCAD.

Scroll down to read a letter from President Griffith about the collaboration.

Click here to visit the CAA site.

哥伦布艺术与设计学院(CCAD)/中国美术学院(CAA)基础绘画教学比较研讨博客概述

哥伦布艺术与设计学院和中国美术学院的学生共享基础绘画课春季学期的教学方法和作品评定，两校学生的基础绘画作业作品展览定于2012年秋季在杭州中国美术学院美术馆举行

2011年春， 哥伦布艺术与设计学院院长丹尼森·格里菲斯（Dennison Griffith）一行在访问上海和杭州艺术院校时， 参观访问了和中国美术学院。 在和中国美术学院院长许江，副院长宋建明的会面交谈中，院长们强调了艺术基础教育于国际交流的重要性。 两校在此基础上于2011年秋季建立了交流关系。

为了促进两校的教学交流，哥伦布艺术与设计学院与中国美术学院之间开展了一个教学比较研究项目。

今年春季学期, CCAD和CAA的一年级绘画专业学生设立了共享电子教室。计划今年秋季在中国杭州的中国美术学院美术馆举行学生结业作品联展。

中国 － 美国，来自地球两边的两所院校的教师，通过博客来介绍各自的课程结构和每周的授课大纲，并针对各自的具体教学内容交流各自的理念。每一课的学生作品的图片均上传到博客网上，供双方进行教学方法及成果评定。在俄亥俄州，哥伦布艺术与设计学院绘画教师乔·隆巴多（Joe Lombardo）执教的“人物造型与人体解剖”绘画课两个班的18名学生参加这个教学研究项目。

丹尼森•格里菲斯 (Dennison Griffith), 自1998年起任哥伦布艺术与设计学院的院长，本人也是专业画家。他认为教学交流可为基本技能和基础课程提供新的教学思路，并表示：“这次两校的教学大纲和教学方法的交流为建立彼此的文化理解和未来的交流合作创造了一个出色的平台。我们很高兴也很荣幸，通过交流项目与中国美术学院建立新的关系”。

除了担任哥伦布艺术与设计学院的领导工作以外，格里菲斯院长 还任哥伦布市合作计划 董事会会员、担任体验哥伦布计划和全美艺术与设计院校协会的理事。 全美艺术与设计院校协会是美国艺术及设计教育的全国性认证机构。

格里菲斯院长是一个经历丰富的领导人和艺术家，他曾参加过90多次个人及集体画展，他的绘画作品被许多公共及私人机构收藏。哥伦布的Hammond Harkins画廊代理他的作品。
画廊网址：www.ccad.digication.com/dennisonwgriffith。

“为了适应国际市场和全球受众需求的不断变化，我们也在调整课程设置。在这种时候，此类研究对我们的教师和学生都有无可估量的价值”，哥伦布艺术与设计学院工作室艺术学院院长茱莉·塔加特（Julie Taggart）表示：“通过绘画的实践来掌握精熟的绘画技能和敏锐的视觉是哥伦布艺术与设计学院培养艺术及设计人才的核心能力。通过与中国美术学院的比较研究项目，我们得以在更大的文化背景和影响下来理解绘画”。

哥伦布艺术与设计学院和中国美术学院自2011年秋季正式设立了学生交流计划。2012年1月, CAA 已派首期交换学生来CCAD 交流， 目前两位中国美术学院的硕士研究生阮诺南（服装设计）和金丹（陶瓷艺术）正在哥伦布艺术与设计学院的硕士班学习。

哥伦布艺术与设计学院 (Columbus College of Art and Design) 建立于1879年，  CCAD 坐落于美国俄亥俄州哥伦布市市中心，授予艺术及设计专业的学士和硕士学位。目前在校学生1,350人。具体了解哥伦布艺术与设计学院的课程设置，学院的校园美国地理位置及学院生活，请查阅CCAD 学院介绍

Download the CCAD Chinese International Student Brochure (PDF 8MB)

CCAD President Dennison W. Griffith

In April of 2011 I had the privilege of visiting Hangzhou, and visited both of CAA’s campuses.  I was very impressed with the quality of the facilities and with the quality of the student work I saw.  This visit was arranged for me by one of your distinguished alumni: Leah Wong (Wang Lihua), who, I am happy to say, is a member of the Columbus College of Art & Design faculty.

Due to the efforts of Wang Lihua, I was accorded the honor of meeting both President Xu Jiang and Vice President Song Jianming.  What kind and talented leaders they are!  I was very impressed with their generosity, their openness to us, and the quality of their thinking and ideas.

It became quite evident to me that both China Academy of Art and Columbus College of Art & Design have very similar goals and face the same challenges and opportunities in art education, in the cultivation of creative and business skills in our students, and in making international connectivity a real and vital part of our work.

I am very happy that our two institutions have established this international exchange (we currently have two graduate students from CAA on our campus this semester) and look forward to future programmatic collaborations and exchanges.  As one of  the oldest art schools in America,  this budding relationship establishes new ground for us, and we are excited about our future together!

Dennison W. Griffith

President

April, 2012

From Bending the Mirror, "Early Years" by Folkert de Jong

Columbus College of Art & Design’s exhibitions program is off to an ambitious start in 2012. The winter/spring lineup is varied and diverse, ensuring visitors plenty to see and contemplate in the coming months.

“My goal for the CCAD exhibitions program is to provide the public consistent, compelling information, with a dedication to making people aware of the art of their time; the art of this moment,” said CCAD Director of Exhibitions Michael Goodson. “I always tend to think of an exhibition as a kind of theater. This sometimes entails the use of a kind of flow and narrative—at very least it involves a clear consideration of the viewer’s time, body, and perspective thoughts within the exhibition space.”

The winter/spring series got an early start when Malcolm Cochran: Dutch Shoes was installed in the front portion of the Canzani Center Gallery, Dec. 9 2011. The work is from a series of four that Cochran executed when he was teaching in the Netherlands in the mid-1990s. Part of a private collection, Dutch Shoes is not often available for public viewing.

“This work hasn’t been seen in Columbus since an appearance in the Columbus Museum of Art in 1997,” explained Goodson. “CCAD is taking advantage of a time opportunity between larger scheduled exhibitions to invite the community to our gallery to see this absorbing work in person.”

Dutch Shoes is on view through Feb. 3, and CCAD is hosting a free closing reception with the artist Tuesday, Jan. 31, from 6–8 p.m.

Also on exhibit in the Canzani Center Gallery is the Scholastic Art Awards 2012 Central Ohio Regional Exhibition, which honors work from central Ohio artists in grades 7–12. The Scholastic Art Awards have been recognizing and encouraging excellence in the visual arts throughout the United States for more than 80 years, and the central Ohio regional exhibition is on view at CCAD through Feb. 4.

Coming right on the heels of Dutch Shoes and the Scholastic Art Awards, on Feb. 10  CCAD will open two exhibitions curated by Goodson. Bending the Mirror, featuring 15 artists, samples the fecund diversity of international figurative art today.  home.,  examines what we might call “normal” suburbia and the lives of those within. The artists involved include New York City painter Jessica Rohrer, iconic 1970′s photographer Bill Owens, and Cleveland-based artist Mark Slankard.

“The history of CCAD and the use of the figure are paired going back to the inception of the school,” said Goodson. “With Bending The Mirror I want visitors and students to be aware of the various ways in which this long tradition still imparts ideas and how varied the methods, perspectives, and ideas can be.”

“In many ways home. Is my attempt to understand the recent transition in my own life from the endless flux of Brooklyn and New York City to the relative quite and peace of Columbus,” explained Goodson. “What I found, however (and what started to drive the show) was that this is not a bucolic place. Perhaps no place in America is anymore. home. has become an attempt to understand the true complex nature of American suburban life. It’s an attempt to explore the dream within the American dream.”

CCAD will host a free opening reception for both exhibitions on Feb. 10 from 6–8 p.m. The exhibitions are up through March 16. See a full list of participating artists and images from the show on the shows’ webpage.

Opening March 30, First: The 2012 New Projects MFA Thesis Exhibition, is, as the name suggests, an exhibition of thesis work from the college’s first Master of Fine Arts graduating class. Eleven MFA candidates will present work that ranges from glass, installation, social practice, and photography to fabric design, illustration, painting, and digital media. The MFA exhibition will be on view through April 27.

CCAD’s academic year ends with a campuswide exhibition that celebrates the best work from nine BFA majors and the MFA program. Show: the 133rd Annual Student Exhibition opens May 11 and stays up through the summer. Parents, friends, and the community are invited to come and spend the evening reviewing the creative excellence that is CCAD.

CCAD exhibitions are free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. Parking is free in CCAD lots (Please note the lot adjacent to the Canzani Center is not a CCAD lot.)

President Griffith builds a site-specific installation on the quad.

It’s good to be president—especially if you’re president of Columbus College of Art & Design, you’re also an artist, and you have the impulse to create a site-specific installation on the campus quad.

CCAD President Dennison W. Griffith recently completed a snow fence sculpture on the quad, which will be in place until spring.

The installation was built over two days and is the seventh such piece Griffith has undertaken in the last several decades. Construction of the sculptures is fairly improvisational, and largely driven by observation and responses to the sites where they are installed.

“In the case of the CCAD piece, I have been gazing at the quad from my office here on the second floor of the Canzani Center,” said Griffith. “There is a gently curving seat wall that bisects the quad, which is surrounded by a bed of crushed, brick-red, gravel-like material. The general arc of the CCAD piece and the way it is perforated near its midpoint, with a break that one can walk through, are meant to generally mirror the seat wall.”

Griffith and a crew of students laced together the snow fencing to form undulating waves that work with the natural rise and fall of the surrounding grounds.

“The piece uses the elevation to good effect, and this elevation is amplified by the ever-higher stacking of shorter fence pieces,” said Griffith.  “At that focal point the fence functions less organically than the surrounding sections, and it begins to compare itself more to the adjacent architecture. Thus, this piece lives a bit in both the natural and architectural worlds.”

With the plan to leave the piece up through the winter, Griffith hopes students and visitors will come and stroll through it.

“This was fun to do, and it was really satisfying to have a number of students pitch in to help,” said Griffith. “I’m eager to see it covered in snow and melding seamlessly with the snow on the ground around it. However, it’s also satisfying to see how, both at ground level and seen from the upper floors of surrounding buildings, the red of the snow fence echoes the red of the decorative gravel bed nearby.”

Griffith’s first snow fence piece was an indoor installation in the Short North, Columbus’s arts district. He has done outdoor pieces in Amesville, OH (just outside of Athens); in Cleveland at Edgewater Park; in Mentor, OH, at the Holden Arboretum; at ArtPark in Lewiston, NY, and at SUNY Buffalo (when it was Buffalo State College.)

Gov. John Kasich and CCAD senior Aaron Roberts

Surrounded by reporters on a rainy Monday morning, CCAD President Dennison W. Griffith and Ohio Governor John Kasich along with a CCAD senior design student, Aaron Roberts,  unveiled the new designs for Ohio’s license plate and driver’s license—the results of a four-month collaboration between the college and the state.

The project started with an invitation by Mark Kvamme, interim chief investment officer and president of JobsOhio, to redesign the state’s most visible moving moniker and the identification card carried by millions across the state.

Griffith said CCAD’s Design Group, led by Creative Director Lindsay Kronmiller, researched every plate in Ohio history and reviewed samples from across the country and around the world to identify the elements that meet the requirements of safety and law enforcement officials, while at the same time creating a vibrant and memorable image for the state.

From left, Aaron Roberts, Gov. John Kasich, Walker MacKenzie Crane, Mark Kvamme, Isuri Merrnchi Hewage, Katlyn Westbrook, and Taylor Hicks

The five members of the CCAD team on the license plate project included: Aaron Roberts; Walker MacKenzie Crane, Granville, Ohio; Isuri Merenchi Hewage, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Taylor Hicks, Columbus, Ohio; Katlyn Westbrook, Pataskala, Ohio. The student designers brainstormed more than 100 concepts and toured the production plant in an Ohio prison to see the parameters of the presses where their designs would be fabricated. The team selected five final concepts to present to their clients, Public Safety department and BMV administrators. And, finally, a choice was made:  Aaron Roberts’ aviation-inspired theme, which features an aviation wing shape embedded with an outline of the state, along with a series of phrases from Ohio’s history screened in gray on the white background area.

“This partnership has provided our students with opportunities to manage client relationships and design challenges,” said Griffith. “In today’s economic climate, where creativity is key to solving business problems, projects such as this one give our students the experience they need to transition from the classroom to the job market.”

During the press event, the Governor announced an interactive twist to the project. The public will get to vote on the phrases and words from Ohio’s history that will be used on the plates, which range from “The Buckeye State” to “Home of Astronauts.”  Voting will take place online until Jan. 8, 2012, at http://myplate.ohio.gov.

“To see something that you designed shared every day, with everyone in Ohio and that represents the pride of our state, is really sublime,” said Roberts, a senior majoring in Advertising & Graphic Design .

After the voting is completed the new designs will go into production, a process that can take six to nine months. The new plates and licenses are expected to be available in December 2012, after the current inventory has been used.

Check out video about the project here: Meet the Designer & See the Design Process, and read the related press release online.

Students participating in College PreView

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

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

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

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

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

Mayor Michael Coleman speaks on CCAD campus

CCAD and its Art sign are officially blazing the trail for the city’s latest program–Columbus Arts Walk, which is a program to promote healthy living that features artistic, historical, and architectural sites in nine Columbus neighborhoods.

On Monday, Oct. 17, 2011, CCAD unveiled their sign under the ART statue in front of the Joseph V. Canzani Center. Mayor Michael Coleman, Columbus city council member Priscilla Tyson, Columbus public health commissioner Dr. Teresa Long, and other community members joined Vice President of Academic Affairs Kevin Conlon at the ceremony.

“It is great that we have become involved in this community culture,” Conlon says. “It promotes conversations and the exchange of ideas.”

The program was developed by Columbus Public Health to promote active living and help to build healthy environments.

There will be 26 sites incorporated into Columbus Art Walks and free educational resources to help plan outings and trips to the destinations.

“Art acts as a magnet to attract creative and innovative people to those spaces, creating a domino effect that benefits the entire community.”

Design Square Apartment Award

CCAD’s Design Square Apartments has yet another award to hang for its architectural design.

The apartments originally opened in the fall of 2009. The five-story building combines the convenience of on-campus housing with the independence of apartment living for upperclass students, and includes a dining facility and convenience market.

AIA Ohio, A Society of the American Institute of Architects presented its excellence in architectural design award to CCAD for the Design Square Apartments this year.

This is not the first design award the apartments has received. In 2009, they won the Honor Design Award from the Columbus chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The building was designed by Acock Associates. They were founded in 1967 by former trustee George W. Acock, AIA, NCARB. The firm also received an AIA Columbus Merit Award in 2005 for CCAD’s Loann Crane Center for Design.

The apartments gained media attention when they opened and were a  part of a new trend toward gender-neutral roommate selection. Students are able to choose their roommates regardless of their gender to help pick the most compatible living arrangement. The movement also helps to gay and transgendered students feel comfortable in on-campus housing.

Family Weekend & Homecoming was Oct. 7 & 8, 2011

First we combined Family Weekend & Homecoming. Next we decided to host Start Up Weekend Columbus, and then we opened a fall exhibition—and we did it all on one spectacular weekend.

Oct. 7-9 brought hundreds of people to campus. Some were new and some hadn’t been back to visit for a while, and others were slated to spend their weekend in whirlwind entrepreneurial enterprise that launches the next great idea or business.

While our Startup Weekend guests were hard at work in the Loann Crane Center for design, families and alumni joined students for a slew of activities—many of them outside in the perfect Indian-summer weather.

The weekend kicked off Friday with dinner in the market, followed by an opening reception for CCAD’s latest exhibition Supply & Demand. Later in the evening, guests were treated to a performance by the improve troupe the Dixie Cups.

Saturday started bright and sunny with a free breakfast in the Market. Alumni, parents, grandparents, siblings, nieces, nephews, faculty, staff, students—OK, basically everyone—showed up to eat and mingle.

The kick-off/welcome assembly after breakfast gave parents and alumni a chance to hear from the president and vice presidents about exciting new initiatives coming up for CCAD. They were followed by a panel discussion with recent CCAD grads who talked about what life is like for them post-graduation. A common theme: everyone seemed to appreciate that they get more sleep now then when they were students.

The rest of the afternoon, was basically a big party. Gay street was blocked off and food trucks were brought in. The quad was filled with inflatables and tables that had everything from face painting and henna tattoos to caricature artists and people making balloon animals. About 50 plus people joined the campus tour, and an alumni presentation in the auditorium gave some a chance to take a little break and hear about the professional journey of three successful CCAD alumni.

The Family Weekend &  Homecoming wrapped up with an alumni reception, where Nathan Greno (CCAD 1993-1996) was honored with the Joseph V. Canzani Alumni Award for Excellence. Following the alumni reception the class of 1974 hosted a reunion and honored beloved, former faculty Billie Ingram by establishing a scholarship in her honor.

Startup Weekend Columbus continued through Sunday. Read about the project proposals that came out of the weekend & more at http://columbus.startupweekend.org/ For a great article about the weekend and the value of having creative thinkers as part of the process check out the TechLounge blog.

Check the CCAD & Alumni Facebook pages for tons of photos.

Char Norman, Dean of Faculty

CCAD staff member Char Norman has taken on a new appointment as the CCAD dean of faculty.

Norman has worked full time with CCAD since 1998 in roles that include director of continuing education, interim vice president of academic affairs, and associate provost.

During her tenure, Norman has created new opportunities by expanding the college’s extracurricular and continuing education programming, which includes everything from workshops for art and design professionals to international study opportunities.

Her new position focuses her experience and skills in a direction where she will be able to chart a new path for CCAD and its faculty.

“This is the first time this position has existed at CCAD and I look forward to becoming an advocate for the faculty, being their resource, and ensuring accountability,” Norman said.

The position will have an impact internally and externally. Faculty members will gain greater opportunities by working on partnerships both nationally and internationally within the artistic community.

The position was created based in large measure on the feedback provided at CCAD’s 2011 Academic Leadership Retreat, Many Voices: Forging Excellence and Sustainability. Conversation at the retreat indicated the need for additional support for faculty at the college.

“I see her role as a critical one that will provide support of teaching professionals, development of their pedagogy and engagement in a community of practice, and help for them to set their own standards for faculty excellence through hiring, evaluation, development, and review,” said Kevin Conlon, vice president of academic affairs.

“Through the conversations I have had with Char there is one consistent theme of her being thoroughly engaged with the institution and its faculty, their efforts, and their needs,” Conlon added.

Norman is viewed as a peer among faculty members and an appropriate representative for them.  Her appointment not only will mean a transformation in faculty relations but also will translate into a stronger presence for the college’s faculty within a broad community of practicing professionals and peer institutions.

“Not only do I have this knowledge of higher education and assessment, but I am also a professional artist and in the trenches along with them,” Norman said.

Norman holds a BA from Scripps College and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University. She is an accomplished artist specializing in fiber sculpture and papermaking, and she has an extensive national and international record of teaching and exhibitions.

Most presentations take place on Mondays from 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in CCAD’s Canzani Center Auditorium, downtown at Cleveland Ave.  and Gay St.

Fall 2011 Schedule:

• Sept. 26: Juan Granados, Ceramist, more …
• Oct. 24: Jacqueline Osherow, Author and Poet, more …
• Oct. 31: James Gurney, Author and Illustrator, more … 
• Nov. 7: Simonetta Moro, Painter, more …
• Nov. 14: Jerry Roscoe and Fred Andrle, Poets, more …
• Dec. 5: Alireza Massoumnia, Fashion Designer, more …

Be sure to check the full schedule for updates and additions.

Ongoing support for the CCAD visiting artists series is received from the Skestos Edowment Fund for Visiting Artists & Lectures, Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel, and The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Designed by CCAD students, Taylor Hicks and Danielle Williams

As fall semester gets into full swing, CCAD students will start seeing the fruits of some labors that began last year. The Market (CCAD’s dining hall) is going green.

“It began with a zero landfill concept,” said Dwayne Todd, vice president of student affairs and dean of students about the Student Government’s work to turn the Market into a sustainable dining center.

“Before we went ahead with any decision about sustainability within the Market we discussed the idea in an open forum with the Student Government last spring,” Todd said.

Danielle Williams, a sophomore Advertising & Graphic Design major and member of the Student Government, was involved with the committee that helped initiate the program.

“I see friends who are at universities that have all these sustainable options and to-go containers, so I figured it was time for our school to initiate a program,” Williams said.

Last year CCAD diners threw out roughly 250 to-go containers a day. This year the Styrofoam to-go containers and wax-lined paper cups are gone and the dining area is trayless and using china plates. The Market has also adopted biodegradable to-go products made out of plant materials instead of synthetics.

CCAD’s dining services recycle cardboard, aluminum, glass, and even grease. The dining service also uses biodegradable trash bags. This means that the trash bags will open and breakdown in a landfill, allowing the contents inside to break down sooner.

“It is great that we had an idea and and presented our feedback and research to Dwayne Todd and he ran with it and helped our idea become a reality,” Williams said.

But the process wasn’t all smooth sailing when they had to reach a decision about funding the project, in particular the to-go containers. A higher level of sustainability comes at a higher cost for the college. So how did they compromise?

The student government worked out a plan for the students. Instead of charging every student a higher fee for their meal plans, they decided to charge 25 cents per to-go container. The extra cost of the new containers is a total of 50 cents per container, so the college is covering half of the cost. In addition, each diner, upon purchase of a meal plan, is offered five free to-go containers.

“The Market was designed to be a social environment and this charge encourages the students to interact in the dining hall, but does not punish those who may need to take their meals with them,” Todd said.

“As a freshman, I remember our trash cans in our dorm would overflow with the old to-go-containers because everyone would just go back to their room to eat their food. With the new facilitates and initiative it will hopefully help foster interactions within our student body and college community,” Williams said.

“I am really excited to watch this initiative progress; we will continue to gather feedback from the program and make adjustments where need be. As a long-term goal, I hope to work towards gaining appropriate recycle bins in the dorms and work study areas,” Williams said.

The green initiative for the Market hopes to be completely rolled out by the end of September. The final piece is the composting dumpster. Then, student-created marketing materials will go up around campus to help explain the new sustainable changes.

So keep your eyes peeled and those sustainable minds conscious!

Dancing to Way Yes

This past Friday (Sept. 2) CCAD’s Student Programming Board put on their first event of the season, the annual back-to-school staple, WelcomeFest. Kicking off the year in its shiny new location right under the Art sign, WelcomeFest was bigger and better this time around with musical appearances from Way Yes, Yellow Light Maybe, and Jonathan Hape. The guys from Make Believe Monsters and FDZ Clothing were there too doing their thing. Oh and did I mention The Cheesy Truck? It was there. In all of its $100 caviar grilled-cheese glory. Yeah. Just saying.

The night was described as “very welcoming” by many students, so, you know, the name is fitting. SPB members Blake Roberts and Lacie Daley (both juniors in Advertising & Graphic Design) were thrilled with the greater turnout of the event this year, mostly credited to its new location right in the heart of campus. Blake also mentioned that this time there was a more relaxed vibe than past years with friends catching up on the quad, playing cornhole, foursquare, skateboarding, biking, and lazily laying in the grass (this girl), which is what they’ve always shot for.

Besides their usual annual events like WelcomeFest, Family Weekend, Big Boo, and Winterfest, SPB is also throwing out a few wild cards this year that you should watch out for. I prodded them into giving me the skinny on what they’ve got brewing and the upcoming event you should pencil in is CCAD’s Got Talent offering cash prizes to the winners and a guaranteed good time, obviously, for everyone. Auditions are this Thursday, Sept. 8. at 9:30 p.m. in the Crane Center, and the final show is Sept. 15 at 9:30 p.m. in the auditorium. Don’t forget to sign up for an audition slot this week on the front desk of Crane. See you there!

CCAD's recruitment DVD was nominated for an Emmy. Results to be announced in July.

During a live web stream on June 8, CCAD’s recruitment video was announced as a nominee for the 47th Annual Ohio Valley Regional Emmy® Awards.

Produced by Columbus’s MediaSource, the DVD is composed of eight sections, including Think. Do., Undergraduate Majors, Foundation Studies, Creative Community, Columbus, Career Opportunities, Campus, and Applied Creativity. Watch them all (and check out the rest of our videos) on the CCAD YouTube channel.

The recruitment piece is included in the category for best informational/instructional program. It’s up against WOSU’s Chefs in the City, Salt Run Production’s Green Jobs, Mills James Productions’ The Piano Guy, and MediaSource’s Ross Heart Hospital.

The Awards Ceremony will be July 30th at the historic Seelbach Hilton in Louisville, Kentucky. Learn more about the event here.

Vice President of Academic Affairs Kevin J. Conlon

Columbus College of Art & Design recently announced that Kevin J. Conlon will become the new vice president of academic affairs (VPAA) at CCAD, effective June 23, 2011.

“Kevin has a keen grasp of contemporary academic challenges and trends, rich experience in the nurturing and development of art and design faculty and students, and a clear love affair with our distinctive kind of higher education,” said President Dennison W. Griffith. “As both artist and administrator, he brings the sensibilities and sensitivities we need to continue to sharpen our work and elevate our quality. I couldn’t be happier about his appointment and am very eager to have him join the CCAD family.”

Conlon most recently served as the associate vice president for academic affairs atRingling College of Art and Design. Previously, he served as dean of undergraduate studies at Savannah College of Art and Design. Conlon earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of South Alabama and his Master of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University.

In addition to his administrative positions, Conlon also works as a writer and consultant in the fields of interaction design, architectural restoration, foundry work, curriculum design and institutional effectiveness. He has maintained his studio practice for more than 25 years. His distinctive sculptural works in bronze, cast resin, clay, and fiberglass, as well as oil paintings and works on paper have won many awards and honorariums, and have been exhibited widely.

Conlon is looking forward to working with faculty and staff. “I feel that CCAD is perfectly poised to take advantage of unique synergies being developed around the idea of creativity and creative thinking as a force for change,” he said. “You see, the kind of thinking that artists and designers do every day is not only being realized in today’s very powerful creative economy, but also being recognized as a potent way to seek and solve today’s problems.  This means that CCAD students are going to remain well-poised to become not only the next generation of visual communicators, but also the next generation of global leadership.”

As the college’s chief academic officer Conlon is expected to lead the continuous improvement of academic programs by shaping the academic and cultural tone of the institution. He will perform an essential role in orchestrating faculty and academic leadership’s creation of a coherent and forward-looking platform for design-based, cross-disciplinary education and will assist Griffith in formulating policy and in strengthening and developing partnerships with other academic institutions.

Dean of Fine Arts and Foundation Studies Julie Taggart was on the search committee for the position. “I was looking for an individual with creative vision and leadership experience within an institution like CCAD,” Dean Taggart said. “I feel confident that Kevin’s ideas, energy and enthusiasm will accelerate the progression of innovative concepts that fuel a dynamic curriculum.”

Read the full press release.

The 132nd Student SHOW

CCAD’s campus was a buzz of hyper activity Friday night as thousands converged for the slew of events that were taking place.

Students, alumni, family, faculty, staff, supporters, friends, businesses, even the mayor were on hand to celebrate the college and all it stands for.

The large campus crowd was due to several celebratory events. CCAD opened its 132^nd Annual Student Exhibition, which showcases (throughout campus) the best work of the academic year. This year the exhibition included work by MFA students. As in years past the opening included screenings in the auditorium of the media studies and animation work from 6-8 p.m.

At 8 p.m. CCAD’s Alumni Relations office welcomed the class of 2011 into the ranks of alumni with a Senior Party. Red Bull made an appearance and DAGR (Walker Crane & Alex Trimpe) brought the tunes.

While all of this was going on the college was also hosting its signature fundraiser the CCAD 2011 Senior Fashion Show. This year’s event, which raises money for scholarships, included a pre-runway party and an après-runway dance party. Read all about it and see pics on the Fashion Show blog.

Find lots of pics (now and more throughout next week) on the CCAD Facebook page, the CCAD Alumni Facebook page and the fashion show blog.

The Creative Excellence Fund was established in 2010 with a visionary leadership gift from the Davis Foundation as a last-dollar scholarship fund to help students who are short on cash—but not on hard work—look forward to graduating from CCAD and contributing their talent and intellect to the creative economy.

“In this period of unprecedented economic uncertainty, CCAD has found that there is a vulnerable point between the junior and senior years in students’ paths toward graduation,” said CCAD President Dennison W. Griffith. “Severe challenges can result from changes in families’ financial situations and increases in the annual cost of studio materials for higher-level classes. The Creative Excellence Fund directly addresses this need.”

Specifically, the endowed fund generates need-based scholarships to support CCAD juniors and seniors with excellent academic records who have fallen short of funding for their education despite having applied for all available aid. The first scholarships will be distributed in the 2011-2012 school year.

“Last-dollar scholarships like these can be the difference between educational success and failure for students at CCAD,” Griffith continued. “The Davis Foundation grant means that some of our best students will be able to continue their education and graduate.”

Valedictorian Sean Blanton was also named Outstanding Senior for the Photography department.

Photography senior Sean Blanton (CCAD 2011) has been named the valedictorian for the graduating class of 2011. Blanton will be honored during the commencement ceremony, Saturday, May 14, at The Ohio Theatre.

Pickerington, OH  native Sean Blanton, 22, was named the 2011 Outstanding Senior for the Photography department at Columbus College of Art & Design. Blanton is the son of Charles and Diana Blanton and a 2007 graduate of Pickerington North High School.

He has accepted a retouching position at Lane Bryant to begin upon graduation.

You can read an interview with Blanton here.

Learn more about the 2011 Commencement ceremony on the CCAD Events page.

Earrings by Stephen Webster with black and white diamonds set in 18k white gold

Designer Ticket holders for the 2011 CCAD Senior Fashion show have yet another reason to get excited about Friday, May 13. One lucky VIP will go home with a pair of Jules Verne Vortex earrings  with black and white diamonds set in 18k white gold by designer Stephen Webster.

Diamond Cellar has donated the earrings to be raffled off exclusively for Designer Ticket holders during the VIP pre-runway party.

In addition, Designer Ticket holders will enjoy a special Middle West Spirits tasting at the VIP pre-show party, reserved seating at the runway show, complimentary bar all evening (including both pre- and post-show parties), and a VIP gift of Iconic, the signature scent custom blended by Mukha in honor of the fashion show. Tickets are $350 (or purchase a pair for $650)— there are still a handful available at www.ccad.edu/fashion.

2010 graduates and families outside The Ohio Theatre

In honor of the 233 students who will receive diplomas at CCAD’s 132^nd annual spring commencement, we’ll be counting down the days to commencement by publishing interviews with our 10 Outstanding Seniors and we’ll be announcing the class valedictorian(s).

And while we don’t know who is at the top of the class just yet (final grades are yet to be submitted), we do know who has been named the outstanding seniors for 2011. They are: Jordan Edwards, Advertising & Graphic Design; Chelsea Mummert, Animation; Carolyn Martin, Fashion Design; Kenneth Aschliman, Fine Arts; Graham Erwin, Illustration; Phong Nguyen, Illustration; Ryan Slicer, Industrial Design; Justin Highlander, Interior Design; Taehee Lee, Media Studies; and Sean Blanton, Photography.

Also coming along for the commencement ride is alumnus Mike Altman (CCAD 2000), who will deliver the commencement address. Altman worked as a technical director in modeling and articulation on Pixar’s Academy Award winning Toy Story 3 and was also responsible for modeling and articulating all the 3D characters for Day & Night, the short at the beginning of the film, which was also nominated for an Academy Award. Learn more in our blog, Alumnus, Pixar Animator Slated to Deliver Commencement Address.

Check back Monday, May 2 as we introduce you to Illustration senior Graham Erwin. We’ll publish one a day (on school days) through Friday, May 13.

Female Focus on WBNS

WBNS’s Female Focus segment, hosted by Andrea Cambern was all about CCAD’s 2011 Senior Fashion Show, Wednesday, April 27th. Featuring Fashion Design Instructor Richard Hurley and senior Sung Kim the show shined a spotlight on CCAD’s Fashion Design Program program, the May 13 event, and the enormous talent of CCAD students.

Check it out at on 10TV’s website.

There are still a handful of tickets avialable at www.ccad.edu/fashion.

A membership meeting of the Black Student Leaders Association. From left: Current student Joe Washington, alumnus and BSLA leader Corey Favor (CCAD 2002), and current students Kourtney Thorn and Marquis Engle.

On graduation day, the last thing on the mind of most students is, “I wonder how I can repay my college for everything I have experienced and accomplished.” Most alumni don’t even think about giving back until years down the road—and it’s usually in the form of a donation. But two recent CCAD graduates are giving CCAD less common gifts: leadership and passion.

A New York City native, Corey Favor graduated from CCAD in 2002 with a B.F.A. in Illustration and has stayed in Columbus. Now the graphic designer and digital support coordinator for Radio One, Favor admits to missing the fast pace of the Big Apple. Rather than pick up a new hobby, he started mentoring African American high school students—but was not fully satisfied.

A membership meeting of the Black Student Leaders Association.

“This may sound over-sentimental, but I had a moment of clarity [when I] knew I had a deeper purpose. As an African American artist and college graduate, I felt a responsibility to help young African American artists, in hopes of giving them better guidance than I ever had when I was young,” said Favor. He knew he had to go back to CCAD.

Favor describes his college days at CCAD as lonely. He was a minority who was far from home, he said, and “back then, there were only a handful of us [African Americans]. We didn’t have any mentors or alumni to look up to, so we supported each other.”

Why would mentors have helped? Favor recalls, “When you’re at school, that’s all you see. The outside world doesn’t really exist. Now picture CCAD as a boot camp for art. You receive orders from a figurehead about how to use your skills and your tools—and some visual examples—but there are no veterans to tell you what battle is like. At graduation, you’re thrust into the battlefield we call life, and all the while, you wish someone would have told you more.”

A membership meeting of the Black Student Leaders Association.

Since Favor’s reconnection with CCAD last summer, he has become the co-advisor of the campus’s only African American-focused student organization, the Black Student Leaders Association (BSLA). With the help of fellow African American alumnus Marshall Shorts (CCAD 2006) and CCAD staff, Favor supports the group as it holds programs around campus. He facilitates the development of members’ leadership skills through frank and insightful conversations. He also makes it a point to bring two guest speakers a month to attend the membership meeting. But these presenters aren’t just anybody. They are successful African American artists or designers from diverse disciplines who are recognized leaders in the Columbus community.

“I set up these guest speakers because I want students to feel empowered. I want them to leave the meeting saying, ‘Wow! If he or she can do it, I can do it,’” said Favor.

A membership meeting of the Black Student Leaders Association.

Favor’s hard work has paid off. Since September, BSLA has grown from 4 students to a large group of over 20 dedicated members.

“Having someone to talk and relate to has been great,” said Jocelyn Williams, a Junior in Interior Design. “He [Favor] knows what it’s like to be at CCAD as a black student.”

Another student, Josh Wallace, admits that he appreciates the sense of community that has emerged since BSLA started. Students have even begun to network with other African American student organizations in the Columbus area. “It’s great that we have someone to do this…[to] listen and advise us,” said Wallace. “But what’s even better is seeing someone be successful and [then] return to help us out.”

Favor’s response? “I just hope that there are alumni like me at every campus.”

The Short North is one of the vibrant neighborhoods near downtown Columbus.

CCAD students know our city’s vibrant arts scene well—from the Short North Arts District with its well-established galleries, killer shopping, and first-class restaurants to the rich indie arts scene with popular events like Independents’ Day, successful organizations like Couchfire Collective, and an exciting entrepreneurial landscape. In fact, according to a January 18 article by Richard Florida in The Atlantic magazine, Columbus is beginning to experience a “brain gain,” as college grads increasingly choose to make the city their home—slowing the previous flow to Sunbelt cities such as Phoenix, Atlanta, and Charlotte.

CCAD contributes to the growing success of the city in many ways: most importantly by preparing our students to be creative leaders who vitalize both the global and local creative economies.

CCAD is also an active partner in community initiatives such as EasyColumbus.com, which bolsters the city’s competitive position globally. EasyColumbus has a single mission, to engage and ultimately retain college students from the 11 college campuses in the central Ohio region.

“This project…is an excellent example of the collaborative efforts and desires of the local community to make our four-year visitors feel connected and at home in Columbus,” said Dennison W. Griffith, CCAD president and co-chair of EasyColumbus. “We are pretty confident that once students get to know Columbus a little better, they’ll love us and have more reasons to start their future here.”

But CCAD is also having a concrete (and bricks and mortar) impact on the built environment of Columbus’s core. The success and growth of the college itself is leveraging investment in downtown and in the Discovery District neighborhood that is home to the campus. Building on recent additions to the CCAD campus and the expansion of the Columbus Museum of Art next door, the 2010 Downtown Columbus Strategic Plan proposes an expansive “Creative Campus” district around and through the CCAD campus with Gay Street as its core.

Vince Papsidero, planning administrator for the City of Columbus, emphasizes the area’s valuable potential to attract creative people—both as visitors and residents. The plan proposes open space, new streetscapes, mixed-use infill construction, and a new, shared parking garage to create an interconnected and active campus between CCAD, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Jefferson Center for Learning and the Arts, and Columbus State Community College. “The plan will enhance the experience of students, residents, and visitors to the area by creating a new cultural neighborhood that is interconnected and vibrant,” Papsidero said. “Ultimately the plan aims to improve downtown and solidify its place as the employment, governmental, institutional, entertainment, and commercial core of Central Ohio.”

Jeff Stahler (CCAD 1977)

Ninety percent of CCAD students receive some share of the more than $10,000,000 in scholarships and financial aid that CCAD awards each year. This year for the first time, students who have benefited from donor generosity in years past were invited to take a firsthand role in providing that same support for future students. And they’re succeeding in a big way.

In the first-ever CCAD phonathon, four student callers telephoned more than two hundred alumni who graduated within the last decade, asking for their financial support. They weren’t asking for much—just whatever the recent grads could afford. And whenever a donation was made, the student called that alum back a few days later to express their gratitude (during the even more popular inaugural “thankathon”). We have to say that these students were true rock stars of fundraising, reaching their goal in a matter of days.

Now the Senior Class is getting in on the action, raising money for their Senior Class Gift—a donation to the CCAD Scholarship Fund—by hosting concerts and parties during their last semester on campus. They’re spending as much time together as they can before graduation, while providing some financial assistance to the next batch of students at the same time.

Caption for Jeff Stahler cartoon (right): Board member and alumnus Jeff Stahler (CCAD 1977) came to campus with some other CCAD friends to join the phonathon team for one night, making calls for support on the college’s behalf—and was gracious enough to follow it up with an original cartoon just for Image. A syndicated cartoonist for the Columbus Dispatch, his work appears regularly in USA Today, Newsweek, and the New York Times, and, now, for the first time, in Image.

Students working at the phonathon.

By  Kyle Franklin, Advertising & Graphic Design and Media Studies Freshman

If every student got to experience what I did through the phonathon, they could learn so much about our school. It fits in right between taking a class and doing an internship: because you’re talking to alumni, they’re providing you with something personal about this school, and because they’ve found a lot of success in their careers, they give you tons of advice. Here’s what I learned:

1. I made the right choice in coming here. Hearing about the alumni’s success and stories from being a student hit really close to home for me. Someday I will find the same success—and I’ll get to have the same amount of fun along the way.
2. You can never know enough about what classes to take and what professors to take them with. The alumni offered me so much advice about their majors, down to recommending classes and teachers. So I’d sit their writing down a bunch of things—pretty much everything they said. (Side note: I got three internship offers!)
3. The hard work pays off. A lot of them said that they have people who apply for jobs who don’t know how to work the Adobe programs, and their portfolios are just, uggh. I spoke with one alumna who does a lot of hiring at Limited Brands, and she said she can always tell when someone is a CCAD student because there is a certain work ethic and talent level that is so identifiable.
4. Giving back means paying it forward. A lot of our alumni received scholarships while they were here, so that’s why they give back. They even said that they couldn’t have done what they had without the scholarship they received. I’m the same way, so that’s why I’ll give back once I graduate.
5. We’re a part of one great big, growing family. Some people go to college strictly to get an education, but here it feels a lot more personal, like you and CCAD chose each other. I don’t know one student here who isn’t passionate about what they do, and when I talked to the alumni they were exactly the same way. It’s pretty cool to know that there are thousands of people in the world who have the same experience I do.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The student callers’ efforts paid off in a big way: in 2010, giving from alumni who graduated within the last 10 years increased by more than 1,000 percent.

David Merz

By David Merz III, Advertising and Graphic Design Senior and President of the Class of 2011

When I came to CCAD, someone gave a gift to the college that the college then passed along to me in the form of a scholarship. That single financial donation has given me the opportunity to pursue my passion and hone my craft. It has allowed me to work alongside some of the most talented people around and to have those same people turn from classmates to friends. And now that I’m a senior on the brink of graduation (aahhh!), it’s giving me the opportunity to make the same reality possible for someone else.

The idea to leave a Senior Class Gift to the college was pretty simple. The idea to raise money together as the Class of 2011 and donate it to the school’s scholarship fund was even easier.

After all, the point isn’t the amount of money we raise (though raising a lot won’t hurt anyone); it’s the act of doing something together as a class to better the future of the college we all love.

The truth, though, is that we students are broke, and that makes asking for money tough. But we would all be far more broke and have thousands more to pay back (with interest!) if it weren’t for the scholarships we received. So we’re starting small, asking for a dollar here and another there, hoping it will add up to make enough of a difference. And during all the fundraising events we get to hang out together in our final days as CCAD students, which makes the money out of our pockets totally worth it.

This is a small tradition that we’re starting, and we hope the classes of 2012 and thereafter can take and improve this initiative, so the tradition get stronger and better. But my senior class, the Class of 2011, can take pride in being the founders of it all.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Want to add to the scholarship money the Class of 2011 is raising? Visit www.ccad.edu/donate or call Development and Alumni Relations Coordinator Stephanie Stover at 614.222.6188 to make a donation today.

Lisa Dent, adjunct graduate faculty member

By Lisa Dent

One beautiful day in the fall of 2010, I sat with eleven other people around a table on the third floor of CCAD’s Design Studios on Broad. Only recently acquainted with each person and unfamiliar with their background and knowledge, I scanned the room for signs of interest, apathy, or fear. All seemed present. I passed out copies of Roland Barthes’s essay “To the Seminar” and told them we would be reading this out loud together and then would discuss it for the next three hours. More confused looks. I officially started to love my new job.

As part of the requirements for CCAD’s new MFA program, students participate in my theory and criticism seminar. I prepare a list of required readings that will allow us to participate for several months in weekly discussions about the ideas that have inspired artists over the last 100 years. Scratching the surface of critical thinking about Western art is the goal. My hope is that each student will be inspired to discover more readings on his or her own later.

But first, they have to get through the ones I assign. By reading the Barthes essay together, I hoped to guide them through how this could go. I’d be less of a drill sergeant, more of a guide dog. Wait, now I’m a Labrador retriever? In any case, I looked to the great French literary theorist for a place to start. In his essay, Barthes proposes a scenario whereby all members of a seminar are on equal footing. The instructor, though sitting at the head of the table, does not have all the answers. We read through the essays together and find a way through them. There will be excitement, disappointment, and change. Although I’ve read these essays many times, I can still only look at them through my own knowledge and experience. How can I know what will come up for each of you? Together we will make this room a safe haven. Here we can talk, read, laugh, cry, argue, and confide in each other.

As I anticipated, the frustration soon revealed itself through a series of attempts to get me to shift my position. “Could you do a presentation with images of these artists’ works for us to see?” No, use the library. Keep reading and bring your thoughts to class. “I’m afraid that I’m not getting any of this at all. I’m so confused.” Of course you are. Keep reading. See you next week. I said in my first email to the class: sometimes you have to feel the burn.

So where do we find ourselves in relation to all of this theory six months later? I couldn’t tell you for sure. All of us are thinking about it every week. See how that worked? How fun is that?

Lisa Dent is an adjunct graduate faculty member at CCAD and the associate curator of contemporary art at the Columbus Museum of Art. In 1992 she was a Helena Rubenstein Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art and subsequently held curatorial positions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she completed its independent study program. Afterward, she was director of the Friedrich Petzel Gallery in New York and worked as a freelance writer, art critic, and scenic designer. She has taught modern art history and design at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and the University of California, Davis, and owned a gallery in San Francisco.

Lillie Templeton presenting at the Fall 2010 Honors Symposium.

CCAD’s Honors Program gives high-achieving students the chance to shape and expand their CCAD education—and not just in the classroom. “Several years ago a faculty and staff committee met to consider an Honors Program,” said Provost Anedith Nash. “Discussion turned on whether to do a more conventional liberal arts honors program or to fully integrate all of our educational experiences. The decision to offer Honors as part of the whole CCAD experience was important. Even more important was encouraging the Honors participants to be the creators of the program.”

When the program opened in 2009, participating students created an Honors Student Council, which took the lead in researching honors programs nationwide. “We’re one of the few art and design schools to offer an Honors program—and we are certainly pioneering by offering both seminars and studio courses in Honors,” said sophomore Lillie Templeton, the current Council president.

Templeton and fellow Council members Jennifer Chema, Dayna Smith, and Austin McClellan have worked alongside CCAD faculty and staff to launch the program, hold CCAD’s first two annual Honors Symposiums, and formulate plans for the program’s next steps.

Jennifer Chema presenting at the Fall 2010 Honors Symposium.

Jennifer Chema (JC): The Honors Symposium is a great way of saying to family members, potential employers, or community members that here is something more from CCAD.

Dayna Smith (DS): We’ve been working very closely with Career Services, and we’re hoping at some point we can get prospective employers to come to the symposium and look at it as a highlight reel for the school. It will get students to want to join and show them that this is something more than just a bunch of geeks wanting to do more work.

Austin McClellan (AM): We definitely do not want to claim that we are the best designers at this school. We just say that we are much more excited about working on projects that encompass the all-around.

DS: Right. [Honors] expands how we think outside the aesthetic. …It’s something we think about—a lot. I think the best thing about Honors is that we can trust each other, and we’re not just going to say, “Oh, that looks pretty!” We’re going to give each other really good feedback.

AM: I ask people to talk to me about my work in [Honors] class. That way, I can get a much broader spectrum because there is someone from a different major offering their advice.

DS: You learn to not only listen to these ideas but to take them in and let them change you. When you’re in a room with people who have different ideas, you grow better. I think the difference is that [our regular] classes teach us how to produce, but Honors teaches us how to…

Lillie Templeton (LT): Control it.

DS: Well, get through it. Think. It isn’t so much the product as it is how you got to the product.

AM: The process.

LT: It’s about how you think through things. We’re not geniuses; it’s not about our final work being better than someone else’s. It’s all about offering these resources to help students think through something differently.

Dayna Smith presenting at the Fall 2010 Honors Symposium.

DS: I think the people in Honors usually consider it more fun. We get to do more things, have bigger ideas. You don’t get told what to do; you pursue something that really interests you. When you do that, you’re not really doing homework anymore. And you start to learn how to apply that to everything else.

JC: I would like to say that working with our [Honors faculty] mentors is really helpful because I am one of those people who likes to work one-on-one with people.

DS: I only saw my mentor three times the whole semester, but every time I went in there he completely changed my whole thought process. And at that moment, I know my whole mind has just gone crazy and I have to write down everything. I’ll fill up half a sketchbook with writing and half with drawing and find out what works. He’s so busy, but he finds the time to work with me, which is great.

LT: And that’s a really nice thing the Honors program can offer. A lot of students will look at it and say “I’m going into this field, and you don’t offer seminars specific to that field.” Well, that’s because that’s what your major offers, and we’re trying to offer you something a little bit different, something that you won’t get elsewhere. The other nice part is that the teacher/student relationship that we offer with the mentoring is not limited too within your major. Even though I am an Ad/Graph major, I can go to an Illustration faculty member. I can go to someone in ID and say, “I’m an Honors student, would you be interested in mentoring me?” And they could say no, but…

DS: …They almost always say yes. Teachers like kids that are crazy.

Austin McClellan presenting at the Fall 2010 Honors Symposium.

AM: I like that you can also go out and find a mentor that isn’t a faculty member. I often [work with] a faculty member at Kentucky University; she’s in child development, and she helps with transferring ideas to a child, getting a child to relate to what I’m trying to communicate.

DS: I work with members of the children’s department at [the] Mayo [Clinic] who specialize in psychiatric health, and they let me in on the way the kids see agoraphobia. They’ll tell me something, and I’ll say, “Really? I never thought of it like that.”

JC: And it’s also nice that our mentors are like, “Take a breath, breathe.” They help so much at refocusing your energy and very gently saying, “Do this.” [Because] you’re not doing such time-constrained projects, it’s nice to have someone there to be gentle, and I just can’t thank my mentor enough. I don’t feel overwhelmed anymore.

Students on the quad.

Co-ed residence halls, where men and women live in the same building but not in the same room, have been a standard of college life for decades—the private Ohio liberal arts school Oberlin College made the cover of November 20, 1970, issue of Life magazine when it was one of the first colleges in the country to have co-ed halls. But gender and college housing are in the news again now, as dozens of colleges and universities across the country are offering the option for students to choose their roommates without restrictions on gender. The issue has garnered national coverage in news outlets from the Los Angeles Times to Fox News, and it has been the subject of numerous scholarly articles.

The current movement started as an effort to help gay and transgender students feel comfortable in on-campus housing. But more colleges are embracing the idea because it allows all students, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, to pick the most compatible roommates.

Students enjoying the sun.

CCAD started offering gender-neutral roommate selection last year after opening its new Design Square Apartments, which have private bedrooms.

“Many of our students share off-campus apartments with roommates of differing genders, and they wanted that same option if they continued to live on campus. Now that we have an apartment building with private bedrooms and bathrooms, the choice to provide such an option was an easy one for us to make,” said Dwayne Todd, vice president of student affairs and dean of students. “Our experience with mixed-gender housing has been virtually problem-free.”

Like most schools, CCAD only provides the gender-neutral roommate selection option to students at a sophomore level or higher. Additionally, CCAD discourages romantic partners from living together. Staff were prepared to make room transfers if couples did move in together and then broke up—but that hasn’t happened. Todd said, “We’ve found that in practically every case, our mixed-gender apartments are comprised of friends and siblings. I suppose some healthy distance is still important to those who are in romantic relationships.”

CCAD students.

Sophomore Animation major David King’s decision to live in an on-campus apartment with three female roommates stemmed from their being well-acquainted their freshman year. “We all became friends when we had foundations classes together,” he said.

Still, living with three women has been an eye-opener. As with any new roommates, “once you live with someone, you see a different side,” King continued. “The fact that they are females means we have some different perspectives on how to deal with relationships and conflict.” He acts as a buffer at times and encourages his roommates to be forthcoming about issues that could brew into larger problems. In addition, they all share their experiences dealing with members of the opposite sex. “I’ve learned a lot about women from hearing their point of view on their relationships,” he said.

“It’s an interesting balance. I think we’ve all benefited from the experience.”

Facetime by Dennis McNulty, as installed in the Canzani Center Gallery, CCAD. Courtesy of the artist and Green on Red Gallery.

It was there on the newsstands, staring out at me, just before Christmas. I still haven’t signed up for Facebook, partially because I’m a little worried about the latent potential of large mounds of data and partially because I know that I would probably become completely addicted to it. But there was something compelling about that image: Mark Zuckerberg’s blank, almost symmetrical face on the cover of Time magazine—magnetic, calm, unsettling, unreadable. Person of the Year. It seemed significant that a bastion of the old ways was paying tribute to the king of the new ways. The top-down distribution of information by self-appointed gatekeepers versus the flattened hierarchies of networked distribution. Physical objects versus invisible information on magnetic storage devices. People 1.0 versus People 2.0, as Zadie Smith would have it. But things are never that simple. I bought the magazine and read the feature.

Zuckerberg intrigues people, me included, because his motives are unclear. He doesn’t seem to be interested in money or coolness. In David Fincher’s movie The Social Network, Zuckerberg’s portrayed as a young guy trying to find a way to hook up with girls. As incredible as Aaron Sorkin’s script is, this was patently not the case in reality—but it’s clear why Sorkin felt he needed to create this motive for the leading man. Otherwise, where’s the plot? How can we identify with a character who makes choices for no discernible reason? You can imagine Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who plays Zuckerberg, standing on set asking Fincher, “Okay, so what’s my motivation?” and Fincher looking at his feet and saying, “I’ve told you before, Jesse, we don’t have any idea what your motivation is.”

Studying ancient Greek and Latin, as Zuckerberg has, usually means studying the ideas that were formulated in those languages, the ideas that form the basis of the society in which we live. Initially, Martin Schoeller’s Time cover shot reminded me of the award handed out to actors at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards—a mask that is in turn based on the masks used in classical Greek theatre. It’s static, almost symmetrical, impassive. I began to think of Zuckerberg as the king of a vast virtual city-state.

Dennis McNulty

But after reading the Time feature, I found myself coming to a different conclusion. I was intrigued by the descriptions of Zuckerberg targeting key people who were very focused on their own projects and ultimately converting them, persuading them to aid him in creating his vision of a world connected and re-ordered by Faceboook. What strikes me now is how Facebook, in its desire to re-engineer society, in many ways resembles a cult. Its software provides an ever-increasing number of users with a series of rituals and the language to accompany them—poking, writing on walls, friending and de-friending. However, if Facebook is a cult, it’s one where the figure of the charismatic leader has been replaced by one with a calm, inexpressive stare, a face-void to be filled with your own data.

Dennis McNulty is an artist based in Dublin, Ireland, whose practice is concerned with memory, potential, and flow. His work emerges from research, suggesting possible narratives through the overlapping of pieces in various media. McNulty’s extensive exhibition record includes representing Ireland at the São Paulo Bienal and participating in solo and group exhibitions in Ireland, Northern Ireland, France, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Colombia, and the United States. His 2011 works The Crash, Facetime, and Carbon Dating were commissioned by CCAD and Bureau for Open Culture for the exhibition Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, presented at CCAD from January 27–March 12, 2011.

Exterior view of the Sloter Mansion in Columbus

The first public viewing of the opulent, turn-of-the-century Sloter mansion in downtown Columbus will benefit the CCAD Scholarship Fund.

Scheduled for Sunday, April 17 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., the open house is at 475 E. Town St., in the city’s Discovery District. The home was left to CCAD by Ronald C. Sloter in 2007 and is across from the Topiary Park.

The college is partnering with Loth, Inc., Coalesse Furniture, and Maharam Textiles to allow visitors to view the historic home, including a room adorned from floor to ceiling in Rookwood Pottery tiles. Suggested admission is $5.

Hand-drawings and sketches by CCAD Interior Design students who used the architectural setting as a backdrop will be shown during the open house. Additionally, unique modern furniture is staged throughout the mansion, including Danish-inspired Hans Wegner pieces and the emu collection from Coalesse.

Loth Director of Sales John Myers said, “We are excited to not only be able to show off this treasure of Columbus architecture but to also highlight the work of the CCAD students.”

Contact Myers at 614.487.4141 for details about the event and ticket information.

AndrewAndrew the ipad DJs

Forget two turntables. That’s so 2009. It’s two ipads and a Mac laptop for NYC’s enigmatic DJ duo AndrewAndrew who will be turning out the beats on May 13 at CCAD’s Fashion Show EVENT. (That’s right. I all-caps’d it).

FYI: AndrewAndrew. Not a typo. They are literally two Andrews who share a special Andrew identity—more on that in a sec, first let me tell you what they’ll be up to in Cbus.

In addition to doing their live show for the après-runway dance party, the Andrews will be producing the mix for the runway show and the pre-parties. The audience will hear stuff they recognize but haven’t heard in ages, stuff they just heard the other day, and stuff they’ve never heard before—and they’ll end up asking: who was that and where can I download it?

Two parties sandwiching a couture runway show, with custom-mixed music = EVENT.

Dubbed the ipad DJs, AndrewAndrew have been DJing (and more) around the world as well as from their Gotham homebase, where they have standing gigs online at EastVillageRadio.com (every Tuesday), and in person at the Rif Raff club on Thursdays. In addition to DJing, they video blog everything from reviews to whatever strikes their fancy. They just got back from SXSW where they reported from the HP Mobile Park. In addition to interviewing the likes of Matt & Kim, the Submarines, and Shinobi Ninja; they asked random festival goers what the HP in HP Mobile Park stood for (you just have to see it)

AndrewAndrew are also well known for their absolute and total dedication to maintaining a shared Andrew identity—same dress, same look, same first name; and no last name, hometown or any other personal details that might distinguish one Andrew from another. It is their Andrewness that got them a profile in The New York Times earlier this year.

AndrewAndrew will set the tone for the night. But if you’ve got fashion and music, you’ve got to have video. For that we’ve brought on board local VJ Rainer (DIG!), who will be joining us fresh from his stint at the Wex’s Off the Grid event. He’s been shooting for months now and will have the walls pulsating with a menagerie of imagery during the dance party.

You can’t see it, hear it, or dance to it unless you have a ticket and those are selling fast so, don’t delay … buy online today at www.ccad.edu/fashion.

CCAD Opens Summer Art Class Registration

CCAD’s Continuing Education (CE) Office has started registering for summer programs, and spaces are filling up.

“Summer is a great time at CCAD,” said Cat Sheridan, director of Continuing Education. “We have weeklong workshops for kids, studio classes that are really useful for art educators, and our usual array of design classes and workshops that have become very popular with professionals looking to brush up on their skills. In addition to all this, summer is when we run our College PreView program, which let’s rising high school juniors and seniors come and live on campus for three weeks and take classes—it’s like a test drive for art college.”

Search to find classes & workshops for the community--adults & children

In addition to opening up summer registration, the college launched a CE class and workshop finder. This new system allows people to search based on whether they are looking for adult or children’s classes and to refine that search by grade and/or area of interest, the system will then pull classes or workshops available through Continuing Education that match their criteria. While currently the system is only showing summer options, soon the other semesters will be added.

“The old set up was clunky,” explained Sheridan. “We could only post one term at a time and we had to organize courses by program. Now we can send our customers to one place and they can search based on who they are and what they are looking for. Eventually, when a parent looks for classes for a third grader they will get a listing of options that include classes in our Saturday Morning Art Classes program and our Creative Summer Workshops program—we will soon be able to show a year’s worth of options in one search.”

Anyone interested in taking an art or design class, workshop or symposium (or signing their child up for a Creative Summer Workshop) can go to www.ccad.edu/ce to search, register and pay online.

Parents and high schools students interested in checking out CCAD’s College PreView program should visit the website for details.

CCAD's Viewbook is honored with a merit award in the March issue of HOW Magazine.

CCAD’s collaborative project with Columbus-based branding agency Ologie was recognized recently when the college’s Viewbook was honored by HOW magazine’s 2011 International Design Awards, garnering a merit award. The piece and its award are featured in the March 2011 issue.

The relationship between Ologie and CCAD’s in-house Design Group was featured in the fall 2010 issue of IMAGE Magazine. “Students worked for many hours with staff members from the college and from Ologie, enriching their professional development while still in school. ‘As the students were doing their work, they were presenting their concepts to senior-level staff, which might not have happened in a regular internship at a design firm,’ says Creative Director Lindsay Kronmiller. Students develop the communication skills needed to articulate their concepts and are taught to understand client needs. Well prepared to bridge the gap between school and the professional world, most Design Group alumni are employed within three months of graduation.”

“’When prospective students, parents, and the general public encounter our materials, they are seeing student work,” said Kronmiller. ‘It is a great testament to the talent and ability of our students.’”

Owned by board of trustee member and alumna Bev Bethge (CCAD 1982-1986), Ologie is an award-winning branding agency that serves national and international clients. Ologie’s mission is to build brands that are clear, compelling, and consistent so they will be better known, better understood, and completely unique.

Another collaborative piece, “Think. Do.” received a silver ADDY award and a merit award from HOW magazine. Read more here.

Read the entire IMAGE story here.

Collaborative project "Think. Do." won two advertising awards recently.

CCAD’s collaborative project with Columbus-based branding agency Ologie was recognized recently when the college’s “Think. Do.” piece received two advertising awards.

“Think. Do.” received a silver award in the ADDY Awards Competition, a three-tiered national competition conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation. The ADDY Awards Competition is the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition for creative excellence.

The piece was also recognized and honored by HOW magazine’s 2011 International Design Awards, garnering a merit award, which is featured in the March 2011 issue.

Owned by board of trustee member and alumna Bev Bethge (CCAD 1982-1986), Ologie is an award-winning branding agency that serves national and international clients. Ologie’s mission is to build brands that are clear, compelling, and consistent so they will be better known, better understood, and completely unique.

Ologie won a total of fourteen ADDY Awards in AAF District 5 for its engagement with CCAD, Capital University, Houghton College, Nationwide Insurance, and Purdue University.

Learn more about the collaboration between CCAD and Ologie in the 2010 spring and fall issues of IMAGE magazine.

Click here to see a video version of the publication.

Poster designed by Class of 2011 President David Merz.

CCAD’s Class of 2011 kicked-off their last 100 days at CCAD with a fundraising concert in the Loann Crane Center for Design Thursday evening. All funds raised during the event will go toward the senior class gift.

This marks the first senior class gift in CCAD’s history. Seniors will raise funds during the remainder of their time here and donate all proceeds to the school’s general scholarship fund.

“Giving the gift of a scholarship was pretty much a no-brainer,” said Class President David Merz a senior majoring in Advertising & Graphic Design. “And getting to spend time with our classmates during our last days on campus makes giving back totally worth it.”

Emceed by Merz, the event opened with sets from local band Good Buddy and CCAD Advertising & Graphic Design senior Steven VanScoy. Columbus-based, nationally-touring band Yellow Light Maybe rounded out the evening.

Want more? Check out photos by emcee Merz on his very cool “the final semester” blog.

Make a donation toward the Senior Class Gift here. Include the words “Senior Class Gift” in the comment box.

The opening of "Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven" brought large crowds to the Canzani Center Gallery.

The opening of  CCAD’s most recent exhibition, produced by the Bureau for Open Culture, brought large crowds and several international and award-winning artists to CCAD’s Canzani Center Gallery Thursday evening.

The opening event culminated in a participatory psychic event and a post-reception dance party.

Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven features 42 works by 17 artists in a wide range of media, including photography, video, painting, sculpture, social intervention, and sound installation. On-hand for the opening reception were featured artists Dennis McNulty (Dublin, Ireland), Ben Kinsley (Pittsburgh, PA), Lara Kohl (Brooklyn, NY), Jeremy Kost (New York, NY), Alejandro Vidal (Barcelona, Spain—actually, he was stuck in New York due to the weather, but he was there in spirit), Malcolm Cochran (Columbus, OH), and Cassandra Troyan (Chicago, IL).

After the opening, Kinsley invited guests to circle around his work—a blown-glass bowl filled with water in an all-black room with around-the-clock audio and video surveillance—for a participatory psychic event. Attendants chanted while Kinsley and Columbus-based psychic Larry Copeland clapped their hands and joined in the rhythmic song. After a minute or so, Copeland instructed the audience to cease their chant and pass all their energy toward the bowl. Some pointed their hands at the vessel, others shouted, most took on the more passive approach, sharing their energy with their minds.

Every Friday through March 4, musicians will play music to the installation. On March 11, Kinsley and Copeland invite the community back to review the surveillance footage with them, identifying and discussing any paranormal action caught on tape and the affect the performances made on the object.

Curated by Director of Exhibitions James Voorhies, Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven explores the way life is charged with an underlying awareness of the passage of time and marked by residues of our culture. The show features the works of Guy Ben-Ner, Joachim Brohm, Gerard Byrne, Malcolm Cochran, Peter Dayton, Ben Kinsley, Lara Kohl, Jeremy Kost, Mark Leckey (Turner Prize winner), Mary Lum, Dennis McNulty, Timothy Nazzaro, Johannes Nyholm (films selected for Cannes 2008, 2009), Pipilotti Rist (honored by Guggenheim Museums), Cassandra Troyan, Jeffrey Vallance (John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation award winner), and Alejandro Vidal.

The exhibition is open through March 12. Information about gallery hours and location is on CCAD’s website.

Presentations take place on Mondays from 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in CCAD’s Canzani Center Auditorium, downtown at Cleveland Ave. & E. Gay St (unless otherwise noted)

Spring 2011 Schedule:

• Jan. 31: Eric Homan (CCAD ’98), videographer, more …

• Feb. 7: Bevil Conway, artist and neuroscientist, more …

• Feb. 21: Anthony S. Baker (CCAD ’86), medical illustrator, more …

• Feb. 28: Christopher Cole (CCAD ’89) creative director, art director, more …

• March 14: Gabriel Esquivel, architect, assistant professor, more …

• March 28: Nora Sturges, associate professor of art, more …

• April 4: Erika Meitner, author, poet, more …

• April 11: Arthur Liou, associate professor of digital art, more …

• May 2: Stephen Fellner, poet, author, more …

Check the full schedule for updates and additions as well as other CCAD lectures.

Ongoing support for CCAD’s Visiting Artists Series is received from the Skestos Endowment Fund for Visiting Artists & Lectures, Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel, and the Ohio Arts Council, which helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Baker majored in Illustration, Cole majored in Advertising & Graphic Design, and Homan was a Media Studies-Time Based major at CCAD.

CCAD's Senior Fashion Show is May 13, 2011

CCAD’s annual Senior Fashion Show fundraiser has become THE event to attend in May. This year’s Master’s of Design event will shift from a high-class brunch followed by a runway show to a high-octane runway show capped by two parties. The event is growing and so are the number of community members and companies that want to be a part of it. With tickets going on sale in less than two weeks, CCAD has announced the roster of sponsors and host committee members who are supporting this year’s fundraiser.

“Our runway show is a high-energy and chic experience,” said Stephanie Hightower, CCAD’s vice president for institutional advancement. “But more importantly this is a benefit to raise funds for scholarships, and the support of these sponsors allows us to not only create an exceptional event, but to leverage the college’s educational opportunities for the next generation of creative leaders.”

Limited Brands is leading the pack as title sponsor.

Additional sponsors include: Après-Runway Dance Party Sponsor: alive!; Runway Sponsor: EXPRESS; VIP Pre-Party Sponsor: Nationwide; ICON Award Sponsor: Justice; Catalogue Sponsor: Abercrombie & Fitch; Couture Sponsors: Huntington Bank, Macy’s, and R.G. Barry/Dearfoams; Media Sponsors: Capital Style, CD101 at 102.5, Radio One, Fashion Wire Press; In-kind Sponsors: AKADA Hair Salon, Cameron Mitchell Catering, The Diamond Cellar, Donatos Pizza, FRESH French Floral Boutique, Heidelberg Distributing Company, Lasting Impressions Event Rentals, Live Technologies Inc., Mukha Custom Cosmetics, Ologie, Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Columbus, Scott Cunningham, Tork.

Find these sponsors and the host committee listed at www.ccad.edu/fashion.

Tickets go on sale with special early-purchase pricing on Feb. 1 at www.ccad.edu/fashion.

Guy Ben-Ner, I'd give it to you but I borrowed it, 2007 single channel video with color and sound, 12 minutes courtesy of POSTMASTERS GALLERY, New York

Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, an exhibition opening Jan. 27 in the Canzani Center Gallery, explores the way life is charged with an underlying awareness of the passage of time and marked by residues of our culture. The exhibition will feature 42 works by 17 artists in a wide range of media, including photography, video, painting, sculpture, social intervention, and sound installation.

Participating artists include 2008 Turner Prize winner Mark Leckey, Malcolm Cochran, professor with the Department of Art at The Ohio State University, with a specially-commissioned work, and Dublin, Ireland-based artist Gerard Byrne, who will show part of a work he presented at the 2007 Venice Biennale.

Taking its title from a 1985 album by the British pop band Love and Rockets, the exhibition examines how culture creates and sustains deeply personal connections with past moments. Collective and individual memories are embedded in materials, sounds, and sites. A publication also accompanies the exhibition.

Upon entering the gallery, viewers encounter a video and companion installations that set a slightly innocent, optimistic tone, evoking what viewers might readily conjure upon hearing the word “teenager.” As visitors proceed through the exhibition it becomes increasingly dark and foreboding.

Eight of the featured artists will be in Columbus 6-8 p.m. Jan. 27 for the opening reception, including Dennis McNulty (Dublin, Ireland), Ben Kinsley (Pittsburgh, PA), Lara Kohl (Brooklyn, NY), Jeremy Kost (New York, New York), Alejandro Vidal (Barcelona, Spain), Malcolm Cochran (Columbus, Ohio), and Cassandra Troyan (Chicago, IL). A few will be in residence for a week or more to produce site-specific works. Dublin-based Dennis McNulty, for example, will make a sound and video work called Carbon Dating. It investigates Brutalist modernist architecture and is especially commissioned for this exhibition.

Exhibition artists are Guy Ben-Ner, Joachim Brohm, Gerard Byrne, Malcolm Cochran, Peter Dayton, Ben Kinsley, Lara Kohl, Jeremy Kost, Mark Leckey, Mary Lum, Dennis McNulty, Timothy Nazzaro, Johannes Nyholm, Pipilotti Rist, Cassandra Troyan, Jeffrey Vallance, and Alejandro Vidal.

Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, curated by James Voorhies, director of Exhibitions and adjunct graduate faculty, is produced by Bureau for Open Culture and funded in part by the Greater Columbus Arts Council. In addition the Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. Media sponsor is WWCD-FM 102.5.

The exhibition is open through March 12. Information about gallery hours and location is on CCAD’s website.

“The BIT arose from the global reality that some students now come to college with pre-existing mental issues and histories of concerning behaviors,” said Chris Mundell, assistant dean of students and chair of the BIT. “Instead of reacting to the situations that may arise due to these issues, we have adopted a community approach to awareness. All members of the CCAD family are invested in identifying students who may be in distress and getting them the help they need.”

CCAD President Dennison W. Griffith recently issued a reminder that awareness and intervention are key to maintaining safety on campus.

“The continued success of CCAD’s Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) is imperative in maintaining the safety and well-being of our students and community,” Griffith said. “With classes resuming Tuesday, Jan. 18, and in light of the recent events in Arizona, we all are reminded of the importance of identifying and assisting individuals who exhibit high-risk behaviors as early as possible.”

At the beginning of each semester, the BIT reminds faculty, staff, and parents to contact them if concerned about potentially harmful, threatening, or disruptive behavior of a student. Depending on the nature of the behavior, the severity of the safety risk, and the needs of the student, the BIT may respond with a behavioral contract, parental notification, a student conduct response from Judicial Affairs, a psychological assessment, or mandated medical leave.

Mundell holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Miami University and serves as president-elect of the Ohio College Personnel Association, a state division of the American College Personnel Association. He has worked as a student affairs administrator for seven years and contributed to an upcoming book, Contested Issues in Student Affairs by Peter M. and Marcia Baxter Magolda, which is due out in July.

Read the full press release.

Green vase by Molly J. Burke

The old adage  “if you want a job done, ask a busy person” describes the students and alumni who make CCAD’s annual art sales successful events.

Consider students Chavilah Bennett, Michiella Sturiano, Dion Utt, and alumna Molly J. Burke.

Between the four, they work 10 part-time jobs and one full-time position. In their spare time they create art for CCAD’s Art Sale, held this year on Dec. 4 in the Loann Crane Center for Design.

Burke, a Graduate Admissions officer and adjunct instructor at CCAD, offers blown glass sculptures, vases, and ornaments, which she specifically makes for the art sale.

Sturiano is making glass, cut paper, and relief prints. Although she has helped coordinate past sales, 2010 is the first year she’s selling her nature-related and abstract art.

An Ad & Graphic Design junior, Sturiano is weighing input from experienced participants. She’s been advised to not underestimate the value (selling price) of her art and to “reasonably bargain” if a customer loves a piece but can’t afford it.

“This shows you’re passionate about your work and not just out to make a quick buck,” Sturiano said. She’s selling not only for profit but also to network and to be active within the CCAD community.

Portrait by Chavilah Bennett, class of 2012

Bennett, a junior majoring in Ad & Graphic Design, and Utt, a Fine Arts major, are sharing their sales space. Bennett already knows of people coming to the art sale specifically to buy her small 3D fish necklaces and keychains. The third grade teaching assistant in the Saturday Morning Art Classes (SMAC) program also is advertising examples of her portrait work and hopes to obtain a commission.

Utt, also a SMAC teaching assistant, is making metal and wood earrings and small sculptures for his first sale.

As a first-time participant Bennett is fulfilling a promise she made to herself as a freshman. She spent the past two years observing the holiday and spring sales, taking notes, and asking questions.

Bennett describes the sales as festive and fun. “It’s incredibly rewarding to sell something that I’ve made. I currently view graphic design as my future career, and my drawing, 3D, and illustrative skills as my hobby. I don’t have the stress of being forced to rely on selling my drawings and 3D art, so the CCAD art sale is fun for me,” she said.

A veteran participant, Burke (Fine Arts, ’06) reflects on how she has grown professionally as an artist. “I know what to prep for the sale and how long it takes to set up. I remember scrambling at times as a student but now it’s only a little added stress. I have yet to come up with the perfect way to display the ornaments so I may break down and build something this year. I have to admit it’s hard to find the time for that when sometimes its hard to even have time to make the artwork.”

The artists aren’t immune to some shopping of their own. At past sales, favorite buys have included jewelry, scarves, vases, a stuffed animal, and purses. And if funds are tight a plethora of wanted items can still be found.

Burke confesses to some occasional end-of-the-day exchanges. “Sometimes I will trade with people at the end of the sale. It’s a lot of fun that way. I usually trade for something smaller in size. I have this thing about not wanting to carry out more weight than I came with,” she said.

Scooby Doo & the Gang

With more than 600 in attendance, last Friday’s annual The Big Boo! Halloween party saw plenty of high-octane costumes, but three entries won the night.

First prize in the costume contest went to the Scooby Doo Gang, including Ian Ballantyne as Fred, Elsie Mort as Daphne, Hannah Rivera as Velma, Josh Adams as Shaggy (holding a Scooby Doo doll), and Philip Mains as a ghost—Zoinks!

Second prize went to Samantha Sweigart as a Pop Tart, and third prize went to Richard Coyne as Kim Kardashian—scary.

While anyone could buy a ticket to party with the best costumes in Columbus, Only CCAD students were eligible for the costume contest.

The Big Boo! Was organized by CCAD’s Student Programming Board.

The Venerable Geshe Kalsang Damdul (Gesha la) blesses CCAD's MFA space

The Venerable Geshe Kalsang Damdul (Gesha la) completed a two-day visit to Columbus College of Art & Design, speaking to students and blessing the new Master’s of Fine Arts (MFA) space.

On Monday, Oct. 25, students, faculty, and community members came together for an event that filled Canzani Auditorium to capacity. In his presentation, Enjoying the Path, Geshe La focused on learning through reasoning and logic and drew analogies to modern day dilemmas.

“Growth comes in three stages of wisdom: studying, contemplation, and experience. This sequence is engaged in the present moment. If your mind wanders to the past or future, you have lost focus and mindfulness.”

He continued, “If you have [so much] homework, take a breath and sit silently for a moment. Don’t spoil the end result with overexertion and rigidness. Casually open your heart and mind; this allows peace and happiness to dawn inside you.”

At the conclusion of the program, Geshe la invited audience members to place their art-making tools on stage for a personal blessing. Participants watched quietly as the rhythmic prayer was directed toward an array of SLR cameras, graphite pencils, sketch pads, and glass blowing instruments.

“We believe that the deities are here to witness,” said Geshe la. “[During the blessing], we request that they protect the objects, that they serve as their guardians. We also say a series of auspicious prayers for the auspiciousness of them.”

Geshe la’s visit to CCAD continued Tuesday, Oct. 26, during a luncheon and blessing at the new MFA space on the third floor of Design Studios on Broad.

The Rev. Tim Ahrens, First Congregational Church, joined Geshe la in his blessing of the MFA space. “My blessing is that all that happens here is blessed, combines the best of the human spirit, and gives back to all of us,” said Ahrens after the traditional Buddhist blessing.

“You’ve done a remarkable thing for us,” said CCAD President Denny Griffith. “It’s an unusual moment for an art school to have a world religious leader on campus, and we appreciate your presence, wisdom, and humor.”

Working directly under his Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama, Geshe la is the assistant director of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India. He has traveled throughout Europe and the US and has taught at Portland (Oregon) State University as a visiting Tibetan Scholar.

Geshe La is teaching Tibetan Culture and Buddhism at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio through Nov. 3.

A participant of TEDxColumbus

By Melissa Ricksecker

Six hours, 14 speakers and performers, two breaks (one for sweet and one for salty treats), and more people doing live twitter feeds (#tedxcbus) than I could count added up to more that the sum of their parts at the TEDxColumbus conference that took place at CCAD’s Canzani Center auditorium on Friday, October 22. An overflow crowd of students watched the event via simulcast upstairs.

People and topics as diverse as Doug Kridler, president of The Columbus Foundation, reminding us how Columbus is a place where an “inner go” moves people to become community influencers, to Meagan Jones, a recent graduate of Columbus’ Metro High School who told how she moved seamlessly from Metro’s rigorous STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program to study history at OSU.

Throw in performances by Matt Slaybaugh, artistic director of Available Light Theatre and pianist Andrew Varner, who connected the dots of the speakers with some nice boogie-woogie piano chops, and you get a potent recipe for cranial combustion.

Check out the TEDxColumbus website www.tedxcolumbus.com for a rundown of the event. It’ll get you thinking. And maybe it’ll get you doing too. Just don’t let your head explode.

Steven Webster with CCAD jewelry making class

By Aadam Soorma

CCAD was pleased to welcome world-renowned jewelry artist Stephen Webster to campus on Monday for a special lecture and luncheon.

Arriving from London, in collaboration with The Diamond Cellar of Columbus, Webster had lunch and met with students to discuss his own personal journey from art school, to apprenticeship, and on to starting his own business as a recognized, influential jewelry artist. Today he operates a global chain of boutiques that craft a large selections of items for a wide range of clients.

In 2008, Webster partnered with Christina Aguilera to endorse a collection called “Shattered,” for which she serves as lead spokesperson in his advertising campaign. Today his accessories complement outfits worn by several, well-known celebrities, including Madonna, Katy Perry, Ashley Olson, and Rihanna. His current collection—the seven deadly sins—was put on display for students to experience first-hand.

Dion Utt, a junior majoring in fine arts with an emphasis on jewelry making, has been working with different metals and noted Webster’s use of gemstones and vibrant colors.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to travel as much as him,” Utt said. “But you can look at his work and draw the influence straight to other parts of the world. He is a perfectionist and seeing the jewelry in person is magical—so much better than on a computer screen. It’s something I hope to incorporate into my own art.”

Webster spoke one-on-one with students in the jewelry lab and gave pointers to the aspiring jewelers.

“These days, the students learn so much faster and I’m really impressed by what they are working on,” Webster said. “There is so much jewelry out there and as long as you can make a statement—give people a reason to want yours—then you don’t have to fully conform and create an identity.”

Stephen Webster’s collections can be found online at: www.stephenwebster.com

Dubbed 2 BY 2012, the movement’s goal is for each citizen of Central Ohio to bike to work two days per month by 2012.  Realizing the goal will help Columbus and Central Ohio to successfully increase green transportation by 300 percent to join Portland, OR as one of the top green transportation cities in the United States.

Organized by Consider Biking, 2 BY 2012 is providing businesses and organizations a comprehensive turnkey service to encourage bicycling to (and away from!) work. Consultation services include the nationally-recognized “Two-Wheel Toolkit” to provide the basic case for supporting bicycling. CCAD will help educate staff, faculty, and students about the personal, environmental, and community health benefits of bicycling, as well as the cost savings and reduced dependence on foreign oil associated with the initiative.

The public launch of the campaign was September 30. To learn more go to www.considerbiking.org.

Family Weekend 2010

The students are moved in and  classes are well underway, it’s time for a  little family visit. At CCAD we like to turn the family visit into a high-octane event with the annual Family Weekend.

This year’s event kicked off with comedian and magician Michael Kent, who performed to a packed Canzani Center Auditorium Friday night.

Saturday, after breakfast and a chance to get caught up on what’s going on with CCAD, the Student Programming Board raised the energy level with a Project Runway inspired family contest.

The challenge (a team challenge): make a garment from a selection of household objects (including trash bags, paper, tape and office supplies) in less than half an hour.

In true Project Runway fashion, each team’s garment was featured in a runway show and then scored by three judges. No one was out, but prizes were given to the top three winners. Family team winners were: team Swiler, third place; team Vetterly, second place; and first place went to team Stauble.

Clouds and the threat of rain didn’t dampen the festivities. For the rest of the afternoon students and their guests had a range of activities to check out, including the yearly favorite the carnival on the quad, tours of CCAD’s newest building, Design Studios on Broad, and demonstrations in ceramics and glass blowing.

Venerable Geshe Kalsang Damdul

CCAD is honored to welcome the Venerable Geshe Kalsang Damdul to campus to dedicate its new Master of Fine Art studio space. The Tibetan and Buddhist scholar will be joined by 11 students in the college’s inaugural MFA class for the private ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 26, during which he will dedicate the new MFA space and discuss the goals and direction of the graduate program.

Gesha la also will offer a public lecture as part of CCAD’s visiting artists series on Monday, Oct. 25 from 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in the Canzani Center auditorium. His presentation, Enjoying the Path, will touch on his own journey from Tibet to Northern India, but will focus on the importance of the journey in the creative process. It is free and open to the public and all audience members will be invited to place their art-making tools on the stage for a blessing.

More information about Geshe la and his campus visit are available in the Events section of www.ccad.edu.

To read the full press release about the MFA dedication ceremony go to www.ccad.edu.

Industry + Artistry = Innovation, CCAD’s inaugural Business Plus Creatives conference is Oct. 22 and 23, and offers a mix of business sense and creative inspiration that all attendees can put into practice.

“We’ve designed this conference to bring together  professionals in business and administration with artists and designers to formulate a common language.,” said Char Norman, CCAD’s associate provost. “For example, we have a session to help artists/designers navigate their business needs. We also have sessions to help professionals in the business community better leverage creative talent and innovation.”

Susan Koblin Schear will present the keynote address on Friday, Oct. 22. Schear is the founder of ArtIsIn, which offers comprehensive business development and management services for the arts and culture.

Artie Isaac will open Saturday morning (Oct. 23) before the sessions get underway. Isaac  is a co-founder of SpeakerSite, the world’s largest social network of public speakers and event planners, and Young Isaac, an award-winning marketing and advertising agency in Columbus, he is also an adjunct instructor at CCAD.

Registration is required; participation is $25 and includes eight hours of programming. For complete details and registration information go to CCAD Events at www.ccad.edu.

Rocco Landesman is interviewed during a tour of Design Studios on Broad with Denny Griffith.

National Endowment for the Arts chairman Rocco Landesman stopped by CCAD Sept. 27, touring the Design Studios on Broad and viewing the biennial faculty exhibition with CCAD President Denny Griffith.

Landesman came to Columbus as part of a multi-city tour to promote creative careers. “There are 5.7 million full-time art-related jobs in this country,” he said to Columbus Dispatch reporter Jeffrey Sheban during the campus tour. “We’re tired of being on the defensive. We’re going to be on the offensive.”

During his brief time in the city, Landesman made opening remarks at the annual International Economic Development Council, taking place in Columbus. He also toured popular Columbus attractions the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus Musuem of Art, COSI, Lincoln Theater, and Wexner Center for the Arts.

To read more about Landesman’s visit, click here.

CCAD Student-Made Video About What Donations Mean to Them

Everyone knows that donations to CCAD are supposed to impact students, the college, and the community. But if you really want to understand the on-the-ground difference that donor dollars make then you have to hear what students have to say—they may surprise you.

A group of CCAD students got together this summer and made a short video about how private donations have influenced their experience at CCAD.

“We’ve had an amazing year of growth,” said CCAD President Denny Griffith. “Despite a dragging economy, the personal and financial investments of many friends are allowing us to open new facilities; debut our first graduate program; update and strengthen our undergraduate curriculum; and develop more and better professional opportunities for our students.”

“Watch the clip,” added Griffith. “You’ll see that college isn’t just about paying tuition and going to class. A thriving creative community is 24 hours—it includes an inviting dinning hall and cutting-edge labs. Scholarships help offset cost, but they also build a budding artist’s confidence that they belong at CCAD.”

Watch the student-made video (above), and learn more about how you can be part of CCAD’s growth on CCAD’s Annual Fund Drive page.

Image from Jon Rubin's Waffle Shop Project

The New Administration of a Fine Arts Education is a series of four public conversations at CCAD featuring leading individuals in contemporary art, culture, and education who engage in multiple and overlapping artistic and pedagogic practices. Their exhibitions, writing, artworks, and teaching are innovative integrations of cultural production, lifestyle, studio, and teaching.

The New Administration of a Fine Arts Education seeks to contribute to both art and education by generating questions about how we educate artists and what it means to be a practicing artist today. An accompanying publication will be available in March 2011.

All four presentations will take place at CCAD Design Studios on Broad, 390 E. Broad St., at 7 p.m. on the dates indicated below. All are free and open to the public.

Oct. 14, 2010: Jon Rubin
JON RUBIN is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the social dynamics of public places and the idiosyncrasies of individual and group behavior. His solo and collaborative projects include creating a game show for ideas, opening a fake store in an indoor shopping mall, starting a restaurant that secretly operates via take-out orders from its double across the street, broadcasting an office’s telephone conversations through a talking piano, running a neighborhood truck that gives away free homemade goods and services, operating a radio station that only plays the sound of an extinct bird, and developing a free, nomadic art school. He has exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museo Tamayo de Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico, the Rooseum in Sweden, the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen in Germany, and the Nemo Film Festival in Paris. Rubin is an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Nov. 17, 2010: Matthew Higgs
MATTHEW HIGGS is an artist and curator based in New York City. He is director and chief curator of White Columns, New York’s oldest alternative arts space, founded in 1970 by Jeffrey Lew and Gordon Matta-Clark. Higgs has curated numerous exhibitions of international art, served as a curator at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, and has contributed to the journals ArtForum and Frieze, among many others. As an artist, he has exhibited widely with recent solo exhibitions in New York, Vancouver, and London. He has taught in the curatorial practice program at California College of the Arts.

Jan. 31, 2011: J. Morgan Puett
J. MORGAN PUETT is known for her distinctive fashion designs and installations. Her large-scale collaborative projects engage communities, local cultures, and historical sites, drawing from traditions of costume, labor, personal appearance, and adornment. Recent projects have been commissioned by the Queens Museum of Art, the Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum, MassMoCA in North Adams, MA, the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, Wave Hill in the Bronx, and the Serpentine Gallery in London. Puett and the artist Mark Dion operate Mildred’s Lane, an educational and cultural institute located on their 96-acre farm in the Upper Delaware River Valley in rural Pennsylvania. Both indoors and in the landscape, Mildred’s Lane presents workshops, readings, performances, screenings, temporary exhibitions, and architectural installations. Central to the project is a connection between research, working, making, and living with art. Puett is a visiting faculty member at California College of the Arts.

Feb. 2, 2011: Michael Mercil
MICHAEL MERCIL is an artist and a professor of art at The Ohio State University (OSU). Mercil has recently exhibited at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York, the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, and Columbus Museum of Art. His practice reflects interests in the intersections of agriculture and urbanism, searching for sustainable ways of inhabiting land. As part of his ongoing investigations with the Initiative for Living Culture, Mercil’s public works “The Beanfield” and “The Virtual Pasture,” produced in partnership with the Wexner Center for the Arts, the OSU Department of Art, and the Social Responsibility Initiative in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at OSU, consider the original history of OSU’s land as a site of agricultural production.

Curators: James Voorhies (Bureau for Open Culture & CCAD) with Lisa Dent (Columbus Museum of Art & CCAD)
Produced By: Bureau for Open Culture

Students outside of CCAD's Canzani Center

Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) opened its 132^nd school year with 1,385 students, an 8 percent increase over projections.

“I’m very happy that our fall enrollment substantially exceeded our expectations,” said CCAD President Dennison W. Griffith. “Like many other institutions in its competitive cohort, CCAD slightly increased the amount of money awarded via scholarships and need-based aid in our efforts to secure a more robust class”

An example of the caliber of students in the incoming freshman class is one who got a shout out in the September issue of NYLON Guys magazine. Charlie Malta creates what the magazine describes as the “best custom sneakers we’ve seen.”

With the launch of its Master of Fine Arts program, CCAD enrolled the largest group of international students in its history, including 23 international students from 15 countries. The incoming class also includes students from 24 states (plus Puerto Rico). Seventy-four percent of students are from Ohio.

The 11 MFA students hail from four states, with one international graduate student from Qatar. New, custom-designed MFA studios, offices, and seminar rooms are housed in the 8,500-sq.-ft. third floor of CCAD’s Design Studios on Broad. The dedication of the MFA space will take place on October 26.

To read the full press release go to www.ccad.edu.

Most presentations take place on Mondays from 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in CCAD’s Canzani Center Auditorium, downtown at Cleveland Ave. & Gay St.

Fall 2010 Schedule:

• Sept. 20: CANCELED.

• Sept. 27: John Frassanito, Industrial Designer, more …

• Oct. 4:  Richard Bargdill, Psychologist, Artist, Poet, and Songwriter, (added 9/28/10), more …

• Oct. 11: Bolivar J. Bueno, Marketing Consultant, more …

• Oct. 18: Ruth Milligan, Communicator (added 9/29/10), more …

• Oct. 25: Venerable Geshe Kalsang Damdul, Assitant Director of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, more …

• Nov. 8: Terri Cohn, Art Historian, more …

• Nov. 15: Heather Bayless, Metalsmith & Graphic Designer (added 9/29/10), more …

• Dec. 6: Mitch O’Connell, Illustrator, more …

• Thursday,  Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.: Odili Donald Odita, fine artist, more …

Be sure to check the full schedule for updates and additions.

Ongoing support for the CCAD visiting artists series is received from the Skestos Edowment Fund for Visiting Artists & Lectures, Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel, and The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Design Studios on Broad is a renovated car dealership in the heart of downtown Columbus.

The finishing touches are done and CCAD’s inaugural class of MFA students have moved into 9,700 square feet of freshly renovated digs on the third floor of Design Studios on Broad.

The Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts: New Projects, is underway with spectacular learning spaces that include 11 individual studios (more to be added as the program grows), a kitchen, lounge, seminar room, exhibition space, and offices. The floor has secure 24/7 access and is wireless with high-speed broadband. Add to that plenty of natural light and downtown views from eastern, southern and western exposures. Before the grad students moved in, we took some pictures.

CCAD's Student Programming Board is hosting a Welcome Fest

While classes officially start on Monday (Aug. 30), Columbus College of Art & Design has already launched a series of events to welcome more than 1,300 students to campus.

With move-in day happening Thursday, Aug. 16, new students start their first official day at CCAD on Friday Aug. 27, with orientation, which is followed by an evening picnic with President Denny Griffith—where the whole CCAD family is invited to eat, greet and be merry.

Throughout the following week and into September, students will get back into the swing of school with events such as, the Welcome Assembly featuring Bevil Conway, Sept. 2; Welcome Fest (hosted by CCAD’s Student Programming Board and featuring three bands) Sept. 3; CCAD’s Day of Service, Sept. 4; and on Sept. 8 the Student Involvement & Organizations Fair and the opening of Shared Spaces: the 2010 CCAD Faculty Biennial Exhibition.

Find complete student event listings and details online.

Official Honoree in the 14th annual awards

Columbus College of Art & Design’s website has been selected as an Official Honoree in the school/university category of the 14th Annual Webby Awards. The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to the top 15 percent of nearly 10,000 entries received from all 50 states and more than 60 countries.

CCAD redesigned its site and information architecture in 2009 with local digital design agency DynamIt Technologies, launching the new site in July.

Established in 1996 and presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the Webby is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. For more information go to http://www.webbyawards.com.

See the full press release.

Campus fitness center

The Campus Fitness Center has moved to the ground level of the Schottenstein Residence Hall (former location of the CCAD cafeteria).

The center is open to all CCAD students, faculty and staff with a valid CCAD ID (ID is required to enter).

During regular semesters the fitness center will be available 24/7. The center features workout equipment, restrooms, water fountain, vending machines, and a seating area.

For more information go to the fitness center Web page.

Utilizing a structure rare in the United States, the multidisciplinary, project-based program is designed to develop not just a candidate’s artistic skills, but also skills in planning, communications, and leadership.

“Our new program will encourage focused theoretical and practical inquiry, complemented by an expectation of entrepreneurship. It’s designed to help artists achieve not only a more mature level of work but also the ability to successfully deliver the work to its audience,” said CCAD President Denny Griffith. “The project-based nature of this new MFA is a point of differentiation for us. I believe we will incubate some prodigious new talent here in Columbus, Ohio.”

Visit the MFA Web pages for more information. Applications are due April 15, 2010.

See full press release.

The award-winning Design Square Apartments

Design Square Apartments, the newest work of Acock Associates Architects on CCAD’s campus, received the Columbus chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2009 Honor Design Award.

The five-story building combines the convenience of on-campus housing with the independence of apartment living for upperclass students, and includes a dining facility and convenience market.

Acock Associates was founded in 1967 by former trustee George W. Acock, AIA, NCARB. The firm also received an AIA Columbus Merit Award in 2005 for CCAD’s Loann Crane Center for Design.

Tom Kelley of IDEO

CCAD’s Business Advisory Council (BAC) is bringing nationally renowned speaker Tom Kelley to Columbus to talk about the Art of Innovation.

Kelley is the general manager of IDEO, the world’s leading design consultancy specializing in innovation. IDEO brought us the Apple mouse and the Palm V, just to name a few. Kelley will talk specifically about how an organization can foster a culture of creativity and innovation — traits that are critical to business success in today’s economy.

Sponsored by Entrepreneurs’ Organization, the 5 p.m. lecture is Wednesday, Nov. 4 in CCAD’s Canzani Center auditorium. A reception follows. Tickets are $100.

See the full press release.

Ceremonial ribbon cutting by CCAD student

On September 14, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. hundreds came to CCAD’s campus to dedicate two new buildings that have changed the downtown landscape.

The dedication was the capstone event of CCAD’s Creative Drive Comprehensive Campaign, the largest in the college’s history. During the event President Denny Griffith announced that the campaign had exceeded its $12 million goal thanks to donors who have helped CCAD to reaffirm the bright future of our students.

Go to related press release.

Design Studios on Broad

Simple and to the point, CCAD’s newest building signage installation is big, bold, red letters spelling “DESIGN” and spans down the corner of CCAD’s Design Studios on Broad (formerly Byers Auto).

Installed July 25, each aluminum, wedge-shaped letter is 4 feet 7 inches high. The audacious addition is a perfect capstone to the Design Studios on Broad renovation, which will be dedicated September 14, along with the new Design Square Apartments.

CCAD’s Design Studios on Broad is a renovated early 20th century car dealership that includes 9,700-square-foot of space.

Creative Columbus: a picture of the creative economy of Central Ohio

A new report reveals in-depth data about the number of Central Ohio employees working in the creative sector — arts, design, performance, media, and marketing fields — and their wages, state, and local tax revenues, and business receipts. The findings are in Creative Columbus: a picture of the creative economy of Central Ohio.

Learn more and fine the full report on the Creative Columbus Web page.

Read the full press release.