Nari Ward’s “We the People.” Photo credit: Will Brown

Looking to add some color to Ohio’s long, grey winter months? Well, look no further then CCAD’s packed exhibitions line-up.

The seven exhibitions planned for this winter and spring will spur conversations ranging from the limits limits of a gallery wall, perceptions of reality, and the battle between good and evil.

“We have been expanding the reach of the gallery and increasing the variety of artists and topics we explore,” said Michael Goodson, director of exhibitions at CCAD. “Additionally, we expanded our hours for the Canzani Center Gallery and Room to provide more options for the community to view the exhibits and to join the conversation at no cost.”

The new year got a quick start with Sam Martineau’s Fair Touching, which is on view in Room, CCAD’s new project space. Martineau’s exhibition will run through Feb.1.

The Scholastic Art Awards 2013 Central Ohio Regional Competition opens January 18 and will be on view through Feb. 2 in the Canzani Center Gallery.

This is CCAD’s 26^th year hosting the Scholastic Awards exhibition, which features a  juried selection of work from students grades seven through 12.

“Guilty” by Fred Tomaselli

“CCAD’s investment in the local community is critical as we aim to support the development and enrichment of the creative community in which we reside,” said Densil R. R. Porteous II, CCAD’s director of admissions. “This event presents a great opportunity to recognize and nurture the creative talents of students in our area and to further encourage students to pursue their creativity.”

Room will next host the work of Trenton Doyle Hancock, who is internationally known for his evolving, absurdist narrative of the battle between good and evil. His work will be up Feb. 4–March 14.

WALL will be in the Canzani Center Gallery Feb. 21–April 4 and will show work from 11 artists. On Feb. 21 there will be a sneak preview, an artist talk by Trenton Doyle Hancock, and a reception.

WALL will push the limits of the gallery’s walls, perhaps even encouraging visitors to view the artists as unruly tenants who leave indelible marks on the space that acts as their host. Artists include A. Balasubramaniam, Sarah Cain, Sean Foley, Jim Hodges, Sol LeWitt, Karin Sander, Jennifer Steinkamp, Mary Temple, and Nari Ward.

Painter Fred Tomaselli’s New York Times will take over Room, March 18–April 8, with a sneak preview, artist talk, and reception on April 4.

Tomaselli’s exhibition shows a series of vividly altered front pages of the New York Times.

The MFA Thesis Exhibition, April 12–May 3, will feature the culminating achievements of CCAD’s 2013 class of MFA candidates. Work ranges from glass, installation, video, and photography to illustration, painting, and digital media.

A second student exhibition will follow right on its heels— CCAD’s 134^th Annual Student Exhibition will run May 10–June 28.

This exhibition is one of the college’s longest-running traditions and will draw work from all nine undergraduate programs.

CCAD also has a summer exhibition in the wings featuring artist Leonardo Drew, which is schedule to open Aug. 29.

Exhibitions at CCAD are presented with the support of the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and CD102.5. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. and closed on Mondays. Parking is free in CCAD lots.

From Chris Ware’s exhibition “Jimmy Corrigan”

This fall, as classrooms are filling up with students, CCAD’s exhibitions program will bring to campus an impressive series of exhibitions.

Debuting this year is a new exhibition space called Room, developed by Exhibitions Director Michael Goodson. Room is a project space in CCAD’s Canzani Center Gallery that will host small exhibitions, projects, and video installations that sometimes complement the main gallery show and other times stand alone.

Kicking off the fall season in Room is Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan, running Sept. 21 to Oct. 12.

Ware is an American comic book artist notable for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth.

The exhibition presents artwork from the novel, which follows four generations of the fictional Corrigan family. The exhibition is being shown in conjunction with the Mix 2012: Comics Symposium, which is bringing Ware in as the keynote speaker.

Todd Slaughter’s “My EMF Comfort Zone”

Opening in the main gallery Sept. 27 is Todd Slaughter’s American Primitives. Slaughter, a former CCAD faculty member, points out parallels between American individualism and isolationist groups in the exhibition, which runs through Nov. 8.

Oct. 16 to Nov. 9, Room will showcase Ian Ruffino’s Sleep, which explores the artist’s decision to remove every color from his wardrobe except for blue.

Nov. 16 will be the beginning of two exhibitions by Donald Moffett in the main gallery,  The Radiant Future and Mr. Gay in the U.S.A. Byron Kim’s The Sunday Paintings will be featured concurrently in Room.

In The Radiant Future, Moffett’s paintings shift our expectations of what a painting should be. They are oil on panel, to be sure, but each blade, hair, and fiber of paint is methodically extruded onto the picture plane so that the surfaces resemble curiously, radiantly pigmented AstroTurf. Mr. Gay in the U.S.A is a group of 17 courtroom drawings from the case of Ronald Gay, a Vietnam veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Donald Moffett’s “Lot 080711″ (detail)

 The Sunday Paintings is a series of sky-colored fields made by Kim as diary entries every Sunday since 2001.

Rounding out the fall exhibition schedule is Simulacrum, Nov. 17–Jan. 11. Simulacrum unites the work of artists whose art making freely borrows from the worlds of ethnographic and material culture, folk art, fashion, hobby crafts, DIY, hyper-realism and the shelves of Home Depot.

Participating artists include Conrad Bakker, Libby Black, Tom Burckhardt, Folkert de Jong, Chris Hanson, Kiel Johnson, Tony Matelli, Taylor McKimens, Ree Morton, Kaz Oshiro, Hendrika Sonnenberg, Lee Stoetzel, Jude E. Tallichet, Alison Elizabeth Taylor, and Jade Townsend.

CCAD’s exhibitions are free and open to the public. Gallery hours: Monday, closed; Tuesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, noon–5 p.m.

CCAD’s exhibition programs are supported by the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Ohio Arts Council, and CD 102.5.

Aumiller (far left) takes video of Griffith working two of the puppets

Media Studies alumnus Corey Aumiller (CCAD 2006) is featuring CCAD president Denny Griffith, CCAD’s iconic ART sculpture, and some rather unusual co-stars in a video called Time Tunnel to be released in late September of this year.

Aumiller’s project is part of the Columbus Arts Pop-Up Project (CAP-UP), which is a series of 10 window installations that will be placed in downtown Columbus, OH, in celebration of the city’s bicentennial.

Included in the video are eight ex-presidents who were Ohio natives—in puppet form. Aumiller was tasked with the restoration of the puppets, which were originally displayed at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus.

The video, produced with the help of fellow artist Dan Gerdeman, will feature the eight puppet presidents at various landmarks around Columbus. The video segment featuring Griffith involved three of the puppets working on portraits with the ART sculpture as a backdrop. CCAD’s president (who is always a good sport) offered up helpful artistic advice and encouragement to the puppets/painters.

Other sites include the Ohio Statehouse, the Columbus Metropolitan Library, the Ohio Stadium, and the Ohio State Fair.

The video will be on view in the window of 65 E. State St., Columbus, OH, Sept. 27–Jan. 3.

Read about other CCAD-affiliated artists involved in CAP-UP here.