Logo from the Columbus Police Department’s “It Gets Better” premiere

Columbus College of Art & Design premiered the Columbus Police Department’s contribution to the national anti-bullying campiagn It Gets Better on Friday, June 7, in the Canzani Center to a crowd of nearly 200 people.

The 20-minute documentary is aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth and includes CPD-affiliated personnel from officers to dispatchers sharing their stories of coming out to friends and family.

The idea for the video began when Commander Rhonda Grizzel saw other organizations’ and cities’ videos for the It Gets Better campaign and wanted Columbus and her force to become involved. She contacted CCAD Assistant Professor Vicki Golden, whose husband works on the force.

“I immediately said yes,” Golden said. “I told her I was all in and felt like we needed to do this.”

Golden helped by arranging interviews and completing all the necessary graphic work for the video. She pulled in fellow CCAD faculty Phil Garrett to film and edit the project. Garrett got assistance from two students, Photography sophomore Sakhile Vanqa from Taung, Botswana, and MFA candidate Yang Wu from Lanzhou, China.

“I was really proud of Sakhile,” Golden said. “He did a spectacular job creating the behind the scenes video, and I know he felt really excited about spreading this message.”

Golden’s enthusiasm extends to the whole project team; she commented that it could not have been a more perfect project. She plans to continue to brainstorm with the CPD to find other ways their talents can be used to create more anti-bullying and awareness videos.

The It Gets Better campaign is a national movement to communicate to LGBT youth the message that life gets better as LGBT people grow up and acknowledge their identity. More than 50,000 videos have been added to the site including clips from celebrities, politicians, activists, and organizations including President Barack Obama, Ellen DeGeneres, Hillary Clinton, and staffs at companies like Pixar, The Gap, and Google.

To view a teaser of the documentary, click here.

Class of 2013 during the president’s picnic

Greetings. It’s June. Those of you who are newly minted alumni may still be in recovery. Those of you who have been away for awhile may be curious as to how this last school year went—so here’s a little wrap-up for you.

First: Congrats to the class of 2013. You survived!

Nearly 250 students graduated and joined the ranks of (can we say it) amazing alumni! Check out the CCAD Alumni Facebook page to look through commencement photos (including a picture of a unicorn!) and the senior sendoff album.

We have a new crop of outstanding seniors

In case you’ve forgotten, at the end of the academic year faculty select outstanding seniors for each undergraduate major. Check out this year’s nine students.

• Lillie Templeton, Advertising & Graphic Design
• Tyler Crowley, Animation
• Patrick Kain, Cinematic Arts
• Katharine Hire, Fashion Design
• Stefanie Cook, Fine Arts
• Wesley Talbott, Illustration
• Justin Brown, Industrial Design
• Katelyn Venia, Interior Design
• Kayla Holdgreve, Photography

P.S. We recently followed up with last year’s outstanding seniors (there were 10) in IMAGE magazine.

Teaching Excellence awards ceremony from left to right: Ronald Tardino, Kevin Conlon, James Lutz, Mark Hazelrig, Stewart McKissick, and Denny Griffith

Annual student exhibition caps the year

We celebrated another year of amazing student work with the annual student exhibition, which will be up in the Canzani Center Gallery through June 14.

Two professors earn Teaching Excellence Awards

This year the Teaching Excellence Award was snagged by not one, but two professors—Mark Hazlerig (CCAD 1974 and 1977) and James Lutz (1978).

The recipients were selected from 57 nominations, which were solicited from students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Read the full story here.

Retiring professors say farewell

After serving CCAD for more than 40 years, Professor Ronald Tardino (CCAD 1971) retired this year, with a promise to come back and teach a couple classes and remain active in our community.

Adjunct faculty Ben Mahan (CCAD 1965) also retired after being an important part of the Illustration faculty for more than 35 years.

Fashion Show wows crowds again

The Senior Fashion Show was once again a great success, raising nearly $200,000 for scholarships. See pictures and read more about it here.

‘Fab Lab’ debuts

The new 3D printing lab, dubbed the “Fab Lab,” is up and running in Kinney Hall thanks to a generous donation from Nancy and Tad Jeffrey.

CCAD named Center of Excellence

On April 26, CCAD was officially declared a Center of Excellence by Toon Boom, a global leader in digital content and animation software. We are the first college or university in the U. S. to receive the honor.

Exhibitions and Visiting Artists

Director of Exhibitions Michael Goodson produced, yet again, a fantastic lineup for the school year. We saw group exhibitions such as Simulacrum and Wall that mixed local, national, and international artists, as well as solo exhibitions that brought artists such as Todd Slaughter and Byron Kim to campus not only to show their work but to discuss it in visiting artist presentations.

In addition, Goodson, CCAD faculty, and the MindMarket curated a healthy mix of other creative visitors, ranging from graphic designer superstar Stefan Sagmeister to Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet Sharon Olds, and activist/director Gwenaëlle Gobé to Family Guy producer and director Mark Hentemann and Dominic Bianchi.

MIX: comics, comics, and more comics

This was the inaugural year for MIX, our comics symposium, which will take place again Sept. 27–28 with keynote speaker Jeff Smith.

What’s next?

Be sure to check out our Save the Date post for upcoming events on (and sometimes off) campus.

Liz Trapp’s “Orifice Installation”

Adjunct faculty Andrea Myers and MFA candidate Liz Trapp will have work in Tell/Tale, a one-day exhibition on May 18.

Myers curated the exhibition, which will feature her work alongside that of Trapp and another local artist, Josh Welker. The show is part of the Rooms to Let Temporary Art Space program.

Tell/Tale refers to Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” bringing attention to the internal life and space of the architecture with a parallel interest in the formal space between painting and sculpture.

Rooms to Let was founded in 2010 by adjunct faculty Melissa Vogley Woods. It allows artists to show their work in diverse environments by staging exhibitions in empty houses, lots, and warehouses.

Tell/Tale will take place in a vacant house at 219 N. 22nd St., in Columbus, OH. The house was provided by Homeport.

Part of Andrew J. McCauley’s final thesis

On April 12, CCAD will open the exhibition Trace of a Moving Point, which is the culmination of two years of intense study for nine MFA candidates.

The exhibition in the Canzani Center Gallery will showcase the graduating MFA students’ innovative work, ranging from glass, installation, video, and photography to illustration, painting, and digital media.

The artists are Kristin Baird, Amy Cubberly-Yeager, Linda T. Diec, Laurie Ihlenfield, Mike Laughead, Andrew J. McCauley, Liz Morrison, Amy Lynn Schweizer, and Pamela I. Theodotou.

“My work revolves around the effects that diseases like multiple sclerosis have on the body and mind,” Andrew J. McCauley says in his artist statement.

McCauley’s multimedia paintings incorporate the human figure into a narrative landscape that acts as a metaphor for memory loss.

Photograph by Amy Schweizer

He creates his work by carving into the surface, adding a mixture of gasoline and paint pigments to the panels, and then igniting them. The stains left on the surface call to mind blood vessels and neurons underneath the skin.

Another MFA candidate, Amy Lynn Schweizer, also relates her work to illness. “Illness is a common thread that connects all people to one another. And as changes in health occur, one’s sense of self can change as well,” she says in her artist statement.

Schweizer photographs in black and white, capturing the subjects as they are moving, to create a ghostlike appearance.

Still from Pamela I. Theodotou’s “Pandora”

Pamela I. Theodotou’s final thesis also explores the world through a lens.

During her time at CCAD, Theodotou created three “cinemagraphic novels,” which combines words, images, video, and motion graphics. According to her artist statement, the final one, Pandora, looks at “confrontations created when beauty and the grotesque are brought into the philosophiocal dualities of truth and immortality.”

Theodotou was the writer, producer, cinematographer, artistic director, and production designer for the project. The second film in her series, Stark Justice, will appear in film festivals in Columbus, OH, and Los Angeles this year.

The cover of Mike Laughead’s graphic novel

While Theodotou uses moving pictures for her “novels,” Mike Laughead takes a more classic illustration approach with his thesis project. The Legend of Acornhead is a fantasy-genre graphic novel about a teenage girl leaving her religious commune to seek a husband.

Laughead collaborated with an inker and colorist to develop the story, for which he drew inspiration from his experiences as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and, in particular, his time as a missionary in Argentina. The graphic novel addresses themes of acceptance between people with different points of view, but with a sense of humor to appeal to a younger audience.

Amy Cubberly-Yeager’s multiple self-portraits

The idea of identity is explored in Amy Cubberly-Yeager’s final thesis. Her work explores portraiture and self-portraiture in materials such as oil, charcoal, wood, wool, coffee, and beans.

Cubberly-Yeager uses repeated self-portraits to reveal her true identity through repetition and redundancy. This process, according to her artist statement, is similar to when a word is repeated over and over again and begins to sound bizarre and lose its meaning.

Kristin Baird’s paintings deal with repetition—in her case, the patterns of “the urban core, be they structures that make up the urban environment, the footprint on which the city is built, or the human interactions and relationships occuring within the city,” as noted in her artist statement.

Detail of Kristin Baird’s “Tracing 1″

Her two- and three-dimensional works showcase layers of patterns and elements found in her urban surroundings and her movements within them.

Another MFA candidate that explores repetition and order is Laurie Ihlenfield. Her work considers the idea that order is consistently being challenged by nature and time and that man has no control over this.

“We find comfort in order, but our push toward order is constantly challenged by nature and time,” Ihlenfield said in her artist statement. “Nature is a force that can be altered, but not ignored.”

Detail shot of Laurie Ihlenfield’s work

Her large-scale embroidered drawings have a sense of grandeur, but at the same time are delicate and precise.

Her inspiration comes from the the cities, cultures, and landscapes she has viewed in her lifetime and her observation of how humans arrange and react those environments.

Linda T. Diec is similarly inspired by her culture and environment. A first-generation American born to Vietnamese refugees, she grew up in a home where her parents were pressured to stop speaking their native language. This led Diec to look at the meaning and origins of language and translate that investigation into her work.

Linda Diec in her studio

Diec’s final project, Halo, “illustrates the ego and futility of the human desire for perfection with poetic environments rich in cultural, spatial, and theoretical irony.” Her artist statement also describes her desire to create something extraordinary out of common materials.

Liz Morrison’s final thesis derives from something that is certainly not a common material— the night sky and the chaos and beauty in its constellations.

Her original poetry is presented visually as though it were a constellation—with clusters of words and connecting lines highlighted against deeply colored backgrounds.

Detail of one of Liz Morrison’s works

“The setting for the stories is a quiet, personal cosmos, an intimate experience of the infinite created through scale and construction,” she says in her statement. “Whereas the expansive night sky overhead is overpowering, these modestly sized pieces are approachable.”

Check out all nine candidates’ work in Trace of a Moving Point, April 12–May 3 in the Canzani Center Gallery. There will be an opening reception April 12, 6 p.m.

CCAD’s MFA in Visual Arts is a project-based, non-media-specific curriculum that focuses on individual artistic/design development and creative leadership. It brings together talented individuals from a variety of different media to build a community that fosters exploration, professionalism, and creative success.

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.

Leah Fisher’s “Parsons Avenue, 04/01/12″

Four CCAD alumni have their work included in the 13^th annual ImageOhio exhibition organized by Roy G Biv Gallery and on view at The Shot Tower Gallery at Fort Hayes Metropolitan Educational Center, Jan. 18–Feb. 15.

The exhibition is juried by Bill Horrigan, curator at large for the Wexner Center for the Arts. Work includes photographs, projections, and video.

Although there is no official theme, much of the work focuses on observations of the changing world.

There are 27 artists in the exhibition; CCAD alumni include 2012 MFA alumni Alex Conrad, Nicole Crock, and Crystal Tursich, as well as Photography alumna and library archivist Leah Fisher (CCAD 2012).

Ellen O’Connell Bazzoli’s “Spring 1104″

CCAD alumni and faculty will show their work in the Ohio Art League Curated Exhibition, presented by the Ohio Arts Council at the Riffe Gallery, Jan. 31–April 14.

The Ohio Art League Curated Exhibition contains work from 18 artists chosen by curator Dennis Harrington, director of the Weston Art Gallery in Cincinnati, OH. The work in the exhibition features seasoned and emerging artists, and explores a dialogue of visual connections created by assembling a group of eclectic and inspired works in one place.

CCAD artists include associate alumna Ellen O’Connell Bazzoli (CCAD 1983), MFA alumni Alex Conrad and Nicole Crock (CCAD 2012), Assistant Professor Steven Elbert, associate alumnus Paul Emory (CCAD 1978), adjunct faculty and MFA alumna Virginia Kistler (CCAD 2012), and coordinator of printmaking Kathy McGhee.

There will be an opening reception Jan. 31, 5–7 p.m., and a tour with the curator Feb. 1, noon–1 p.m.

The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically.

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.

“This is a great opportunity for beginning filmmakers to see their work on the ‘big screen’ with an audience made up of other filmmakers, artists, and enthusiasts,” said Philip R. Garrett, visiting faculty in Cinematic Arts, who showed his short experimental/quasi-documentary The Astronomer at the event.

CMIAR is a quarterly screening that includes works from local artists. This December marked the 13^th event.

Videos by CCAD students featured in CMIAR included:

• Great Destroyer by Advertising & Graphic Design and Cinematic Arts sophomore Hunter Preston
• Violent Bliss by Cinematic Arts sophomore Tom Lepley
• I love BMX by Cinematic Arts sophomore Brant Moore
• Video 1 Project by Cinematic Arts sophomore Yazmin Ruiz
• Tattoo Taboo and Self Portrait Stop Animation by Cinematic Arts junior Amanda Hess
• Paralyzed by Photography sophomore Karl Allsop
• See Birds and Imperfect from Photography sophomore Sarah Brevick
• One Day by graduate student Yang Wu

Alumna Amanda Rouse in front of some of her artwork

MFA alumna Amanda Rouse (CCAD 2012) has had a busy exhibition schedule including three juried and two group exhibitions.

Rouse currently has work in the group exhibition Taking Home with You, which originated in New Orleans, LA, and is now traveling to cities in Ireland including Belfast, Bangor, and Limerick. She also had two prints exhibited at the Artist’s Alley in San Francisco, CA.

She has successfully entered three juried exhibitions, including Boundless: New Work in Contemporary Printmaking in New Haven, CT; Hand-Pulled: Ohio Printmakers at Art Space in Lima, OH; and Movements an exhibition at the Tuska Museum in Lexington, KY.

Lian Dziura in front of her work at the Thunderdome awards reception at Clifton Cultural Arts Center.

FOTOFOCUS is a monthlong celebration in Cincinnati, OH that combines exhibitions, conferences, presentations, and other special events to honor the art of photography. Many CCAD alumni, students, faculty, and staff were involved with various exhibitions around the city in October.

Professor and Illustration alumna Helen Hoffelt (CCAD 1982) showed work in the Midwest Society for Photographic Education Members Exhibition at the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center in Covington, KY, Sept. 28–Oct. 31. Hoffelt also had work in Images of the Great Depression: A Documentary Portrait of Ohio 1935-2010 at the University of Cincinnati’s Sycamore Gallery, Oct. 1–Oct. 27.

Henry Scott with his work at the Thunderdome awards reception at Clifton Cultural Arts Center.

Media Studies alumna Rachel Girard Reisert (CCAD 2002) had a solo exhibition Tropism at 1305 Gallery, Sept. 28–Nov. 11. Reisert also presented during the Midwest Regional Society for Photographic Education Conference on Oct. 13.

A senior in Photography, Kayla Holdgreve, exhibited two of her pieces in Current: MW Society of Photographic Education Student Juried Exhibition at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Oct. 4–31.

Photography alumna Lian Dziura (CCAD 2012), Junior in Cinematic Arts Tom Hoying, MFA alumnus Cosby Lindquist (CCAD 2012), Photography alumnus Marcus Morris (CCAD 2012), junior in Photography Henry Scott, and MFA alumna Crystal Tursich (CCAD 2012) participated in the juried invitational exhibition Thunderdome, at Clifton Cultural Arts Center in Cincinnati, OH, Oct.13–14. Lindquist was one of three award winners and Dziura received an honorable mention.

The exhibition includes the work of 22 artists and will be shown in two different locations. Part of the exhibit will be at the Aggregate Space in Oakland, CA, running through Oct. 20, and the other part will be at the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco, running through Nov. 10.

OFF Space describes itself as a gallery without walls, a nomadic venture exploring real-world site-specificity. Their aim is to raise the level of public discourse around contemporary art by staging aesthetically engaging and thought-provoking exhibitions in traditional and nontraditional spaces.

Shot from Pamela Theodotou’s film “Stark Justice”

MFA candidate Pamela Theodotou’s film project Stark Justice made the first cut in The Columbus International Film + Video Festival (CIF+VF) Experimental Shorts Division.

The film is a neo-noir cinemagraphic novel following a main character, Tom Stark, who is an assassin hired by the government.

“One of the goals of the project was to explore new media options in presenting narrative,” Theodotou said. “I wanted to create a work that visually reads like a novel but uses video, art, and special effects to enhance the experience. There are no vocals—just music and sound effects and written dialogue in the form of kinetic text.”

CIF+VF, now in its 60^th year, is Nov. 13–18.

To watch Theodotou’s Stark Justice, click here.

Alex Conrad with his work

MFA alumnus Alex Conrad (CCAD 2012) will be showing his work in the First Street Gallery’s 2012 MFA National Competition in New York City.

The annual exhibition is open exclusively to MFA students throughout the United States. Juried by John Yau, art critic, poet, and professor at Rutgers University, the exhibition features paintings, drawings, prints, mixed media, and sculpture.

Conrad’s final thesis project involved embedding X-ray and MRI films in resin. Inspiration was pulled from his childhood. His father was a radiologist, and when he was on call Conrad would often play with his X-ray films and their backlighting.

Kayane Kouzoujian in her studio

The end of spring is always an exciting time around CCAD’s campus. Although we have to say farewell to another group of graduating students, we also get to welcome them all into our talented group of alumni.

This year, there was something different about our new alumni, a new breed you could say; we had the first students graduate from our multidisciplinary MFA program.

Our 11 candidates came from all over—some local, some out of state, and some international.

Kayane Kouzoujian traveled the farthest to attend CCAD, coming from her home of Qatar in the Middle East. She was able to not only enhance her artistic skills, but also experience a completely different culture.

Elena Harvey Collins in her studio

“I am surrounded by people who are not only practicing, but living art,” Kouzoujian said. “This program exceeded all expectations. I was able to have creative freedom with my work and really prove to myself that I can do anything.”

For her final thesis, Kouzoujian compiled a video piece that broke down memories and other moments in her life into short narratives.

Elena Harvey Collins did not travel as far, but she had specific reasons for choosing CCAD.

“I came to CCAD because I wanted and needed to be able to work on a wide range of projects and mediums,” Harvey Collins said. “I liked the multidisciplinary element. I had no limitations, and this group has been very supportive. I have two kids and the program understood that; I was able to have a comfortable and safe environment for them and a flexible program for me.”

Nicole Crock in her studio

Like Kouzoujian, Harvey Collins also made a video installation. She documented everyday occurrences in an abandoned parking lot—everything from driving lessons to trash blowing in the wind.

During her time at CCAD, Harvey Collins taught an honors course on art and social practice. She is now applying for residences, fellowships, and exhibitions.

“I just want to get out and continue to learn and teach,” she said.

Nicole Crock pulls her inspiration from moving around a lot during her childhood, having never experienced the feeling of having permanent roots.

Nathan Gorgen working in his studio

“I gained a lot of confidence during my time here,” Crock said. “Art is a way of communicating an idea and I was able to voice my ideas here at CCAD and really grow as an artist.”

Crock works in a range of mediums, so the multidisciplinary aspect of the program was key to her completing her MFA.

“All of us in the program worked very closely with one another, and we were able to pull knowledge not only from our professors, but also each other,” Crock said.

She plans to stay in Columbus for the time being and wants to focus on being a full-time artist, finding studio space, and enjoying the city.

Nathan Gorgen was unsure about Columbus and what the artistic environment would consist of outside CCAD. Having lived in lively cities such as New York and Baltimore, he was used to the constant creative energy in a bustling city. He decided to study at CCAD and see what Columbus had in store—and he was impressed.

Cosby Lindquist in front of his work

“The Short North area and everything around here is focused toward the creative community, and CCAD is somewhat the epicenter of it all,” Gorgen said. “The support you have throughout this program is truly amazing. I was able to tackle ambitious projects and get a better conceptual understanding of art.”

For his final thesis, Gorgen completed an installation structure that demonstrates his combined interests in architecture and painting.

Cosby Lindquist’s final thesis project was a series of collages that wove together landscape images of Columbus and New Mexico, where he plans to move after graduation.

“Over the summer I will be teaching art classes to children at the Fuller Lodge Art Center in Los Alamos,” Lindquist said. “I will then look for adjunct teaching positions and galleries to show my work—it’s a very exciting time.”

Lindquist told himself throughout the program that he would not limit himself. He knew he had to take risks and possibly make mistakes in order to break out of his comfort zone and make the most of his MFA experience.

Woodrow Hinton III

Lindquist wasn’t the only one who thought big when it came to the program. Being part of the first graduating MFA class, Chris Harman, a Columbus native, knew he had to step it up.

“I liked being the first of this program; we set the bar high and I think that was our job,” Harman said. “We were supposed to be an example of the best artist that CCAD can produce, and I think we did that.”

Harman embraced the multidisciplinary nature of the program in his thesis project, in which he combined his glasswork with a social experiment. Glass vases and bowls were displayed in rows. Harman invited gallery visitors to step up on a podium and smash one with a gold hammer, all while being filmed.

“I really want to see how many heartstrings I can pull before one snaps,” he said. “Is the art the act of smashing the glass or the result of smashing it? That is something I want to explore and answer.”

Woodrow Hinton III agrees, believing that the overall question that an artist is always trying to answer “what is art?”

“I really enjoyed not only working alongside my peers, but also learning a lot from them and showing them my art skills and illustration niche,” Hinton said.

Amanda Rouse in her studio

His final project was a graphic novel he wrote and illustrated based on Shakespeare’s play As You Like It.

“I was able to learn so much during my time here,” Hinton said. “Even though my final thesis didn’t incorporate screen printing or photography, like my classmates, I enjoyed spending time and learning alongside them. There is something to say about a learning environment when you are with artists and people who have the same interests and passions and help drive you to succeed.”

Amanda Rouse spent her time at CCAD fine-tuning her work in printmaking.

Crystal Tursich in her studio

“I actually heard about CCAD while studying abroad in Italy,” Rouse said. “A couple of my friends had either visited or attended here, and I loved the entrepreneurial aspect of the school. I wanted to step up my skills and not only focus on my work, but teach and really get involved with pumping up my resume.”

Rouse will be venturing off to the west coast after graduation, planning to teach and continue her own work—and eventually hoping to open her own printmaking shop.

Crystal Tursich focused on photography for her final thesis, exploring the emotions that she has dealt with as a result of growing up as the child of an alcoholic.

“The biggest reason I chose CCAD was so I could be a part of this new MFA class,” Tursich said. “It is something to say when you can be the first of something as great as this, and you can come in on a clean slate and help build the program.”

Virginia Kistler in front of her installation

Tursich’s time here in Columbus left an impact, and she plans to stay in the city for a while, ultimately wanting to teach at the collegiate level.

Virginia Kistler has lived in Columbus for the last 13 years, and her final thesis project reflected her time in Columbus quite literally.

Kistler’s project was centered around a light impression taken of Columbus that she expanded into a large installation piece.

Alex Conrad in front of his final thesis project

“I liked that the program at CCAD was project based, and I had an overall good vibe about my decision when I came and visited campus,” Kistler said. “During my time here I was able to get a better understanding of where I would like my work to go and develop a more contemporary feel to it.”

Inspiration can also be pulled from childhood memories, as in Alex Conrad’s case. His father was a radiologist, so Conrad would often play with X-rays and their backlighting while his father was on call. For his final project he took X-rays and MRIs of himself and embedded them in resin.

“I not only got to focus solely on my work while here, but I also was able to fine-tune how to talk, present, and write about my work, which are all important aspects in becoming a successful artist,” Conrad said.

As our new MFA graduates join the already strong group of CCAD alumni, we know they will be heading in different directions—but what will always tie them together is that CCAD was a key part of their artistic journey.

132nd Annual Student Exhibition

It is tradition for CCAD to end its academic year with a spectacular exhibition that reflects the best student art and design work created during the previous 12 months.

On Friday, May 13^th we open SHOW the 132^nd Annual Student Exhibition, and even after 132 years, there is always a surprise or two.

One exciting new addition to this year’s SHOW is the MFA exhibition. CCAD’s recently launched graduate program, Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts: New Projects, will showcase the first year of work by the 11-member MFA class of 2012.

“It’s exciting because many of these graduate students are venturing out of their comfort zones,” said Graduate Studies Director Ric Petry. “They are taking risks and exploring new territory. We are finishing year one of a two-year program, so many of the works seen in the exhibition are setting the stage for what will be developed in their final thesis projects next year.”

MFA works, which will be exhibited on the second and third floors of Design Studios on Broad from 4-9 p.m. during the May 13 opening, include fiber arts, illustration, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and social/performance-based work.

Undergraduate work in the exhibition represents each of CCAD’s nine majors: Advertising & Graphic Design, Animation, Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Illustration, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Media Studies, and Photography.

While art and design work is presented throughout campus, the main Canzani Center Gallery comprises work by upper-level students who show a mastery of skill within their chosen disciplines. The Canzani Center will also be the focal point for Media Studies and Animation screenings, which are presented to a packed audience in the 400-seat auditorium from 6-8 p.m. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors are eligible to be considered for the opening night screenings.

“Each division has their own method for selecting work in the show,” explained Director of Student Exhibitions Tim Rietenbach. “But the approach is generally the same: All faculty members collect the best work from their classes, which is then reviewed by a smaller group of senior faculty who choose the final pieces for the show.”

Although the process for choosing work remains relatively the same, there are several new features at the opening night celebration. In addition to the MFA exhibition, the Acock galleries (on the second-floor of the Canzani Center) will house, for opening night only, examples of Foundation Studies interactive group projects. Also, for the first time, CCAD’s Fashion Show fundraising event will take place the night of the exhibition opening. In past years the fundraising event was hosted a week earlier, and on the night of the exhibition opening, a smaller-scale version of the fashion show was presented in the auditorium. This year the full production and event will take place on opening night.

“Moving the fashion event to the same night as the exhibition opening just made sense,” explained Vice President for Institutional Advancement Stephanie Hightower. “This is our signature event and we bring more than 700 people to campus. We want our guests to experience our whole creative community and to share in the excitement and celebration that comes with this time of year.”

While some things have changed, other traditions continue. Each year the three-dimensional Illustration class brings to the exhibition a fun and quirky crowd favorite. Last year it was pirate bears, in the past we’ve seen animatronic spiders, Alice in Wonderland, a monster classroom, and robots. This year they’re making  … well you’ll just have to come and see.

Find more details on the opening night schedule and event night parking on the event page.

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.

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.

Hope by Ric Petry

A work of art by Ric Petry, professor, Media Studies and Graduate Studies, will be distributed to major donors of Pelotonia, a Central Ohio bike tour that raises money for cancer research.

Hope is a digital image assembled from scans of wire, thread, cheesecloth and various objects from Petry’s studio. The work is dedicated to the many professionals at Ohio State University’s cancer hospital who have helped a close friend of Petry’s with his fight against multiple myeloma.

Petry also is director of graduate program development and implementation at CCAD.

For information about Pelotonia go to http://www.pelotonia.org.

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.