Classnotes, March 2013

We do our best to get most of the news you submit to us onto the CCAD News Blog, but because there are more than 10,000 of you making news all over the world, not everything can make it into the blog. We’re glad to have another venue where we can share everything with you—this newsletter’s classnotes.

You can submit classnotes via the easy-to-use form on the alumni landing page. We only post career-related successes, awards, exhibitions, and publications, but we’d also love to know when you move, get married, or have children—just use that same form.

Now, without further ado, your classnotes from December, January, and February!

Tim Rietenbach ’77, Joel Gundlach ’86, David Burghy ’89, and Danielle Julian Norton ’99 showed their work in a CCAD faculty exhibition at Columbus’ Cultural Arts Center. Read more here.

Jamie Berger ’78 curated PUSH Print, a book on contemporary printmaking published by Lark Crafts. Read more here.

Paul Emory ’78, Ellen O’Connell Bazzoli ’83, Alex Conrad MFA ’12, Nicole Crock MFA ’12, and Virginia Kistler MFA ’12 showed their work in the Ohio Art League Curated Exhibition, presented at the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery. Read more here.

Richard Cowdrey ’81 illustrated the re-released children’s book The Legend of the Candy Cane. Read more here.

Joel Gundlach ’86 designed new starting blocks for New Albany High School’s natatorium. Read more here.

Ed Valentine ’91 and Michael Stillion ’02 had exhibitions at Linda Warren Projects in Chicago. Read more here.

Julie Abijanac ’92 had her piece Disease Mapping selected for the Fiberart International 2013 exhibition. Read more here.

Anthony Weiler ’94, Annie Weihrauch ’03, Hazel Tarr ’07, and Maggy O’Reilly VanOrder ’09 are participants in CCAD’s MindMarket Incubator. Read more here.

Benjamin Lane ’96 is now a story artist at Disney Feature Animation Studio in Burbank, CA.

Daniel King ’00 was featured in Temporary Art Review discussing his artistic career and inspiration. Read more here.

Anne Holman ’02 had a busy winter full of exhibitions and art sales. Read more here.

Mariana Smith ’02 showed work in exhibitions from the East Coast to the West Coast. Read more here.  She also had her piece Untitled (After Tarkousky Stalker) in the 34th Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition, hosted by Bradley University, Peoria, IL. Read more here.

Brian Williams ’03 had an illustration featured in ARTnews. Read more here.

Lea Gray ’04 and Eric Jefferson ’04 were featured in Alive!, a weekly magazine that covers events and culture in Columbus, OH. Read more on Gray here and Jefferson here.

Sean Conner ’05, Nate Reese ’05, Chris Meister ’06, Andrew Mark ’07, Scott Ulliman ’10, and Chavilah Bennett ’12 took home Columbus Society of Communicating Arts (CSCA) Creative Best Awards for their work with S77, a motion graphics company in Columbus, OH. Read more here.

Joaquin Baldwin ’06 was a juror for the 40^th Annual Annie Awards. Read more here.

Andrew Ina ’06 received a Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) Individual Art Fellowship in Media Arts this year. Read more here.

Boryana Rusenova Ina ’06 was in two group exhibitions in Michigan. Read more here.

Brent Payne ’06 was included in two juried exhibitions in Ohio. Read more here. He was also had work in an exhibition hosted by Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, TX. Read more here.

Michelle Dick ’08 is now working as an interior designer with Organized Home Remodeling, in Columbus, OH.

Brian Uhl ’08 had a solo exhibition at Static Age Gallery in Cincinnati. Read more here.

Steve Hubbard ’10 worked on animations for the movie Life of Pi. Read more here.

John Malta ’10 had his third illustration published in The New York Times. Read more here.

Kerry Kunze ’11 showed work in a group exhibition at Mount Vernon University. Read more here.

Alex Conrad MFA ’12, Nicole Crock MFA ’12, Leah Fisher ’12, and Crystal Tursich MFA ’12 had work included in the 13^th annual ImageOhio exhibition organized by Roy G Biv Gallery. Read more here.

Amanda Rouse MFA ’12 had a busy exhibition schedule including three juried and two group exhibitions. Read more here.

Close-up shot of Tim Rietenbach’s work that will be in “FUNCTION.” Photograph by Luke Kramer.

Seven CCAD faculty members will come together and show their work at Columbus’ Cultural Arts Center in a group exhibition, FUNCTION, Jan. 9–Feb. 8, with an opening reception Friday, Jan. 11, 6–8 p.m.

“The exhibition looks at the idea of function,” said Michael Goodson, CCAD’s exhibitions director. “We have faculty that have a design background and faculty that have a fine arts background in this show, and they are coming together to look at functionality and dis-functionality for items designed to function and those based on the idea of function.”

Goodson helped organize the exhibition and will show his work along with Associate Professor and Industrial Design alumnus Davis Burghy (CCAD 1989), Foundation Studies and Fine Arts instructor Matthew Flegle, Dean of the School of Design Arts and Industrial Design chair Tom Gattis, Professor and Industrial Design alumnus Joel Gundlach (CCAD 1986), Assistant Professor and Fine Arts alumna Danielle Julian Norton (CCAD 1999), and Associate Professor and Fine Arts alumnus Tim Rietenbach (CCAD 1977).

Work will range from Burghy’s deconstructed stair banisters to Flegle’s illustrations of colliding objects. For more information and gallery hours, visit the Cultural Arts Center’s website.

New Albany High School’s starting blocks, designed by Joel Gundlach

Industrial Design alumnus and professor Joel Gundlach (CCAD 1986) just completed a unique design project for New Albany High School’s natatorium—he redesigned the pool starting blocks.

The project was especially close to home for Gundlach, who is a New Albany swim team parent. A generous contribution from the Berend family allowed the school to ask Gundlach to look at recreating the starting blocks.

“My approach to designing anything is that this is your one opportunity to do everything you dreamed about and put all those features you dreamed of into one object,” Gundlach said.

Left to right: Joel Gundlach, Keith Berend, Cindy Berend, and Jay Gundlach

Gundlach, with help from his brother Jay, talked to swimmers, volunteers, judges, and parents about their needs. He also reviewed the research of a colleague who designed blocks for a Worthington pool. The Gundlachs spent more than 300 hours designing, sketching, and then meeting with Columbus Machine Works, Inc., who manufactured the blocks.

One of the special features Gundlach included in the starting blocks were speakers. After talking with the swim team, he realized that swimmers in the last lane often cannot hear the judge start the race putting them at a disadvantage. Speakers help every swimmer hear the starting horn. The blocks also have a strobe light built in that goes off when the race starts. Gundlach also incorporated steps, since the blocks are used by young adults and children; fins to add traction, similar to those on a runner’s sprinting block; and a compartment to hold volunteers’ timers so they are no longer placed on the ground in between heats.

The blocks also had to coordinate with strict regulations such as the edge being no more than 30 inches from the water and the platform being tilted at no more than a 10-degree angle.

“The donation to create the blocks was a great benefit,” Gundlach said. “We were able to include all the features we wanted and also use stainless steel as a material. Stainless steel is perfect in that it is resistant to the harsh chemicals in the pool and the humidity in the natatorium.”

The blocks were installed just in time for the team’s first home meet on Dec. 4, and so far reviews have been great. Gundlach has created custom furniture since 1985 and has worked on projects for CCAD including drawing horses for the Fine Arts studios and tables for the ceramic classrooms.

ID sophomores in the Cardboard Regatta, photo by Katlin McNally

On a cloudy but warm Saturday in May, teams raced in cardboard boats through rough pond waters, paddling around obstacles, and trying to remain afloat.  It was the annual Cardboard Regatta held for sophomores in CCAD’s Industrial Design department.

In its eighth year, The Cardboard Regatta pits professor and alumnus Joel Gundlach’s class against a class led by adjunct faculty Greg Thune.

“This is a great tradition that the department has,” Gundlach said. “The students work hard all year, and now it’s time for them to apply their skills in an entertaining and fun way.”

The two teams each have to construct three different water vessels in three hours using only cardboard, plastic sheet, PVC pipe, and duct tape. Students then compete on the water in three timed events featuring one-, two-, and three-person boats.

Congrats go to team Gundlach, which claimed this year’s Cardboard Regatta trophy.

Senior Ryan Slicer was named Outstanding Senior for the Industrial Design department.

At the end of the academic year, a graduating senior from each major is named the Outstanding Senior for that department. Today in part nine of our 10-part series, we interviewed s

enior Ryan Slicer (CCAD 2011), who was named Outstanding Senior for the Industrial Design department.

Q.) What’s it feel like to graduate with not one but two job offers?
A.) It feels great. I feel like all the sleepless nights and long hours were worth something in the real world.

Q.) What’s the ultimate dream job?
A.) The ultimate for me is pretty simple. I just want to design new solutions for existing problems. As long as I am able to do that, I will be happy. Eventually, I would really like to start my own firm here in Columbus.

Q.) Do you remember a single point that made you sit back and say, “This is why I am doing this?”
A.) Actually receiving this award. I think this means the most because it’s validation from the faculty that I have done well in the program.

Q.) What smell always reminds you of your time here as a student?
A.) Definitely the smell of walnut sawdust. Junior year I built a dining room table from walnut, and the shop and I smelled like sawdust for weeks. It smelled wonderful.

Q.) What are you going to miss most about CCAD?
A.) Everyone sitting down in room 108 on the cintiqs. We would stay down there together for days it seemed, laughing. The people here are great.

Q.) Finish the sentence. The best class at CCAD was…
A.) ID302 with Joel Gundlach.

Q.) What was your favorite thing to do on the weekends?
A.) Put away all my stuff to spend time with my wife—as long as there was no presentations the following week.

Q.) Any advice for future CCAD students?
A.) Take it upon yourselves to see that you are successful.

Ryan’s Coroflot portfolio is available here.

Team Gundlach at the 2010 'cardboard regatta'

The traditional end of Industrial Design’s sophomore studio course is the Dean’s Cup Design Challenge, which pits teams from Tom Williamson’s class against Joel Gundlach’s class to build three boats in three hours out of cardboard, duct tape, PVC pipe and plastic sheeting. Students have one week to develop conceptual ideas utilizing sketching and scale models before competing on the water in three timed events featuring one-, two- and three-person boats. Race day efforts are dedicated to constructing, testing and competing for the Cardboard Regatta trophy, which was claimed by Team Gundlach in the sixth annual event on May 8.

Participants in Elmer's business partnership with Industrial Design

CCAD students in Industrial Design’s junior studio class designed X-Acto pencil sharpeners for a business partnership project with Elmer’s during spring semester. After conducting group research of various markets, students pursued individual designs to compete for prize money. The first-place design was submitted by Hongjie Yang. Igor Zemskov and Jeff Ras placed second and third, respectively, with Steve Hughett and Christos Ragias receiving honorable mentions. Professors Tom Kier and Joel Gundlach coordinated the partnership activities.