Left to Right: Molly Burke, "Untitled (Body Forms)" and Virginia Kistler, "Untitled"

The Sculpture X Symposium and its 2011 fall juried exhibition will play host to Molly Burke (CCAD 2006), fine arts alumna and graduate admissions officer, and Virginia Kistler, current CCAD MFA student.

“Out of 60 applicants from 20 different institutions, Virginia and I were chosen, I think that speaks highly of the talent at CCAD,” Burke said.

The After the Pedestal, the 7^th Annual of Small Sculpture from the Region exhibition will host 14 artists, all current MFA students or recent graduates of programs in the Midwest.

Molly Burke has two pieces in the show. Her first piece, We’re Not Broken, is a sculpture featuring egg forms.

The sculpture has various broken, cracked, and whole egg shells. The work plays with shadows and light within an open, white palate.

“I am attracted to the overall smooth form and the balance that is apparent. The piece also has the representation of people, having each person showing different cracks or experiences in their shells,” said Burke.

Her second piece, Untitled which is subtitled Body Forms, pulls inspiration on a microscopic scale. It looks at organic cells and their idea of movement and health.

“I create artwork that a person wants to look out and touch, they want to interact with my pieces,” Burke said.

This piece features bright colored, sandblasted glass orbs, tucked inside a nylon sack which is hung from the ceiling, dangling at eye level.

Kistler will be showing her piece, Untitled, in the exhibition. Her work incorporates acrylic, tar, and found objects. It is a mounted wall piece that represents a biological growth out of control.

“The inspiration for the piece comes from images of cities at night taken from the International Space Station.  The piece is about the expansion of urban areas and the reasons for the growth,” said Kristler.

Kistler will complete her MFA at CCAD in spring 2012. The sculpture that is being shown was her spring 2011 semester project at CCAD.

The juror, Barbara Hunt McLanahan is the executive director of the Judd Foundation and a board member of the Jerome Foundation.

She chose work that “urges us to certainly be concerned, literally, about the dark—we should be more mindful of mankind’s depletion of the earth’s natural resource, and planning a future that has found more sustainable forms or energy or safer agriculture,” McLanahan said.

The juried exhibition is put on by the Sculpture Center in Cleveland, Ohio and is on display Sept. 16–Oct. 22, 2011. SculptureX Symposium #2: The State of the MFA will be on Oct. 15, 2011 at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

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.

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.

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.

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.