Karla Norquist created tropical-themed summer cruise wear look. Photo by Kristen M. Foley

By Kristen M. Foley

Karla Norquist’s love of fashion was uncovered when she was just a tween. She completed her first fashion sketch at age 11, even though at the time she admits she really didn’t know what she was doing.

“I liked an outfit in my mom’s fashion magazine so I drew it,” she remembers. “Then I started drawing a version of what I would want. When I showed my mom she told me I should look into fashion as a career.”

Karla still has that first sketch. It’s a constant reminder of what she loves and what she wants from the future, including her senior collection, which she considers “tropical jungle wear.”

In her designer brief she notes that she “wanted to capture the energy and creativity of youthful street fashion through silhouette and color” and “based on upcoming trends, chose a tropical theme for spring and summer cruise wear.”

Karla was also inspired by street fashion. Photo by Kristen M. Foley

Just as Karla’s relationship with fashion started young, so did her education at CCAD. An alumna of the Saturday Morning Art Classes program as well College PreView, Karla quickly learned that there was a place for her in the CCAD community.

Karla notes that she also chose CCAD because she had the option to take classes from different fields of study. If she had attended a fashion-only school she wouldn’t have been able to take classes in ceramics, oil painting, or advertising, all of which she felt were essential to her creativity.  However, fashion has always been a guiding force in her art direction

As she has developed her skills in fashion design, Karla found that by draping the fabric on a form first, she would get a better idea of what she wanted to create.

Karla started at CCAD young in the Saturday Morning Art Classes program.

“I worked backwards,” she laughs. “I’m much better at draping so I just started draping forms on mannequins. I initially came up with this scaled looking garment with all these inverted pleats down the back. Once I made my first look my classmates told me I should use brighter colors and before I knew it, it was tropical.”

With her senior collection done and graduation nearing, Karla had a moment to think about what advice she would give to next fall’s incoming class.

“At CCAD you’ll take a lot of classes that seem like they have nothing to do with your major, but pay attention in these classes,” she said. “They have everything to do with your creative process and design influence. Keep an open mind and you’ll learn a lot. You’ll be surprised what ceramics can do for a fashion major.”

You’ll have a chance to see some of Karla’s vibrant cruise wear on May 10 during the CCAD Senior Fashion Show. Order your tickets today before you miss the boat.

Karla Norquist is a native of Eagan, MN, and a graduate of Northridge High School.

Rachel Chertoff’s collection concept is “Human Desire.” Photo by Kristen M. Foley

By Kristen M. Foley

You often hear stories from artists about how they were able to channel a certain personal experience or passion into their work. Rachel Chertoff takes raw emotion and channels it into wearable art.

“I am able to come up with my concepts when I am kind of miserable, as weird as that sounds. It helps me get whatever is bouncing around in my brain onto paper and then to move on and forward with that concept,” she explains. “At the end of the day I know I will have my creativity and that’s what I rely on, especially through those rough times we go through in life.”

She describes her collection, “Human Desire,” as having everything to do with the beauty she sees in the way humans desire, whether it’s one another, materialistic things, or ideas. She also notes that there is beauty in the low points of our lives.

“I kind of was lost this past summer because I was just getting out of a long relationship with someone who helped get me where I am today as a designer,” said Rachel. “So I was trying find myself and figuring out what I wanted with my life and what I wanted my next step to be.”

Her experience and emotions fueled her creativity as she developed her collection, but her themes are also reflected in tangible ways.

Rachel’s collection features several hand-knit, hand-crocheted pieces. Photo by Lacey Luce

“I went to this idea of showing parts of the body that I think are beautiful and what other people desire to see,” said Rachel. “The designs are also functional pieces for the carefree person who is taking things one step at a time.”

Rachel incorporated her love of knitting and crocheting, or as she calls it her “grandma habit,” into her collection, but on an elevated and youthful level.

“I hand-crocheted and knitted big pieces. It’s one of the most time consuming things I have done, but it’s worth it in the end,” Rachel said. “Using those skills helps convey my concept because this collection is like showing the public a very special secret piece of me that I wouldn’t normally share. I am excited to be conveying this piece of me to the public.”

Expressing her personality through fashion has always been important to Rachel; however, it wasn’t always easy to do, especially since she relied on the hand me downs of her sister and sister’s friends.

Rachel makes adjustments during the photo shoot. Photo by Katlin McNally

“I am a girl of 5’1″ stature and clothing that I would want to wear was always difficult to come across,” she said. “But it was always a way for me to express how I was doing in my life.”

After years of hard work at CCAD, Rachel can express herself through designs of her own making. Her CCAD journey began when she visited the college on the advice of her guidance counselor.

“I came and received a tour and then I was told about the College PreView program, which I then attended, and I just fell in love with the school,” she said.

Now as graduation nears, Rachel reflects on her time and offers those just starting their college experience a little advice.

“Don’t get discouraged. Things get tough and it’s a difficult journey but you can’t forget the good times you have along the way and focus on the bad,” she advises. “You will have great friends who last a lifetime and the goofy memories that you’ll keep.”

To see Rachel’s six-look collection on the runway May 10, you’ll need to get your tickets ASAP.

Rachel Chertoff is a native of Buffalo, NY, and a graduate of Williamsville East High School.

Students work in CCAD’s College PreView program

As we eagerly wait for the temperatures to rise in Columbus, we can’t help but get excited about our upcoming summer programs, which cater to all ages and cover many visual arts interests.

For more than a decade, Creative Summer Workshops have been a popular destination at CCAD, serving everyone from age 6 to 90. The one- to two-week workshops run half days, Monday through Friday, and both morning and afternoon classes are available.

For parents, these workshops provide a perfect day camp for their creatively inclined children. Class subjects range from classic drawing to digital art to comic book drawing and photography. The workshops are arranged by grade level so students can learn and play alongside their peers.

For adults, the workshops can be a wonderful staycation adventure—imagine taking glassblowing every morning for your vacation. New this year is an exciting two-week workshop titled Cast to the Future. Participants in this workshop will work in CCAD’s new Fab Lab with CCAD’s dean of design arts and chairs of Animation and Dimensional Studies. Students will generate a piece of jewelry from a virtual 3D object, learn the basics of 3D polygonal modeling, print their model on a state-of-the-art 3D printer, and harness the power of a 3000-year old technology to cast the print in bronze, silver, or gold.

CCAD’s popular College PreView returns, offering high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors a three-week college experience. During the program, students are able to live in our residence halls, take classes with our faculty, meet professional artists, exhibit their work, and explore Columbus and its art scene. New this year, the program is offering an additional option to take a guided trip to New York City.

This summer also launches CCAD’s Discovery Club. The weeklong residential art camp allows students an experience similar to College PreView, but designed for grades 7–10.

Summer is also a good time to take one of CCAD’s degree courses. The term is more condensed in the summer, and with lighter summer BFA enrollment there is a greater likelihood of non-degree-seeking students getting into classes.

“We often see art educators take advantage of CCAD’s degree courses during the summer,” said Cat Sheridan, director of Continuing & Professional Studies. “During the summer, educators may have more flexible schedules, so it is easier to take advantage of these classes. They are able to use our facilities, learn from our faculty, and develop both professionally and personally.”

To view a complete list of workshops offered to children and adults, click here. To learn more about College PreView and Discovery Club, click here.

College PreView students work on paintings

By Kristen M. Foley

CCAD’s resident College PreView program provides 10^th-, 11^th- and 12^th-grade students an immersive three-week, college-life experience. This year the college is going even farther with this popular program.

College PreView is expanding to offer an option for middle school students who want to investigate life at an art college, and is adding an optional New York excursion week to its high school program.

College PreView was created to provide students an on-campus, intensive core art curriculum, while still allowing them to focus on an elective area of their choice, just as they would if they were attending college to earn their degree. While here the students are afforded the opportunity to interact with professional artists and faculty, exhibit their own artwork, and explore Columbus and its local arts scene. It’s a collection of college-life experiences that can enrich a student’s future art education.

This year CCAD wanted to open up that experience to students in seventh-, eighth-, and ninth grade by offering CCAD Discovery Club. Discovery Club is an in-residence experience, has core classes and focused electives that relate to the college’s major areas of study, and includes local excursions to round out the college life experience. CCAD Discovery Club is designed with a younger audience in mind, and is one week long rather than three.

“We know that the students who come will be transformed and will understand better what they would like their path to be,” said Cat Sheridan, director of Continuing & Professional Studies. “These younger students can also discover what it is they want to do and we can help them to dip their fingers in all the pots and figure which one is best for them.”

In addition to broadening the audience for a College PreView experience, CCAD is taking it farther—to New York City

Junior and senior high-school students can participate in an optional five-day trip to one of the nation’s art centers.

“We wanted to provide these students with an even deeper experience,” said Sheridan. “We want to help them understand what CCAD grads are doing in the art industry and allow them to take a look at the different art contexts they can jump into when they earn an art degree.”

Students receive three college credits for participating in the traditional College PreView program and the additional travel week for juniors and seniors will earn them an additional credit as well as an enriching art experience.

Sheridan expects students from all over the country to participate in both programs and spaces will fill up fast.

The College PreView program runs July 7 – 27 with the additional optional travel week that runs July 28-Aug. 3. Students can start the application process now and some scholarships are available. Learn more here.

Discovery Club’s weeklong residential art camp is offered three times over the summer so students can choose the week that best fits their schedule. Session one: July 7 to 13, session two: July 14 to 20, or session three: July 21 to 27. Registration starts March 1, learn more here.

For more information on both programs, click here.

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.”

College PreView students paint in the CCAD studios.

With a decade of a success, CCAD’s College PreView program offers high school students an exhilarating college experience in art and design. For three intensive weeks, students live in residence halls, take classes, work in the studios and labs, meet professional artists, exhibit work, and explore Columbus—phew, we said it was intense (but it’s also a lot of fun).

At the end of College PreView 2010, the program’s Facebook group saw posts from enthusiastic participants, including…

“Preview helped me so much in finding artistic direction, most of my portfolio is based off of concepts I developed there. Plus I made the best friends everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.”—Danielle Steele

“College Pre-view changed my life. It made me 100% sure on what college i was going to attened. I will be attending CCAD in the fall ”—Sarah Elizabeth Wong

“♥ … I MISS YOU!”—Patrick Thomas

“Now that I am back in school, I miss CCAD that much more ”—Tyler Newbauer

“Yeah, PreView was basically one of the best experiences of my life. I really miss it ”—Michelle Vieira

Another measure of the program’s success? 81 of CCAD’s current undergraduate students are College PreView alumni—that’s a whole lot of CCAD love.

Find out what College PreView will mean to you during the 2011 program. For more information and to register for the program, check out the website. And to read more from former College PreView attendents, visit the program’s Facebook group.