Michael Goodson (second from left) during an MFA critique, photo by Luke Kramer

By Melissa Starker

CCAD has been raising its profile in Columbus quite successfully over the past couple of years.

But Michael Goodson, CCAD’s director of exhibitions since August 2011, is looking ahead with something much broader in mind.

“My goal with exhibitions and visiting artists is quite simply to bring great contemporary art and artists to the school,” he says. “This will in turn make CCAD a destination for contemporary art—not only for patrons but also for great students and teachers from all over the U.S. and, ultimately, the world.”

Formerly exhibitions director of New York’s James Cohan Gallery and a professor of art at Hunter College, Goodson has also assumed a teaching role at CCAD. He guides students in the MFA program, leading discussions and presentations of their thesis work. But as he explains, “The exhibitions programming and visiting artists are my first thought as I drag myself to consciousness each morning.”

Goodson sees a distinction between his efforts in the classroom and in the Canzani Center Gallery and believes there’s educational value in developing thoughtful programming that doesn’t always fit seamlessly into school curriculum — but his two roles are organically entwined. Each strongly informs the professional development of CCAD’s artists in training.

By exposing students of all levels to the works and real-world wisdom of a stellar assortment of visiting artists, he’s expanding and strengthening personal connections between the student body and the global community of working artists.

Stefan Sagmeister speaking at CCAD as part of the Visiting Artists & Scholars Series on Aug. 30, 2012

According to Ric Petry, director of graduate programs and part of the search committee who hired Goodson, “He has brought an impressive group of artists and scholars to campus who have been meeting with the grad students—Stefan Sagmeister, Benjamin Anastas, Eleanor Heartney, Byron Kim, Donald Moffett, and Chris Ware, to name just a few from last semester. It’s been great.”

With MFA candidates, Goodson also shares the practical experience he acquired from conducting the day-to-day operations of a top-tier commercial gallery, from developing contacts to planning and physically installing exhibitions to marketing artwork.

Petry notes that Goodson has taken these lessons off campus as well. “He has organized grad student visits to New York, where his network has provided studio visits and mentorships with a number of artists.”

At the same time, Goodson has challenged himself, branching outside of his existing network to connect the college with the finest international talents.

“Honestly, I’ve asked things of New York and Los Angeles and Hong Kong galleries since arriving here that have little if anything to do with previous connections through the New York art world,” he explains. “You ask things, respectfully and thoughtfully, and people say yes…sometimes.”

His efforts have yielded a diverse and unassailably impressive slate of exhibitions and lectures for 2013. Among the artists scheduled to make an appearance at CCAD, whether in person or through their work, are Sol LeWitt, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Nari Ward, Jim Hodges, Fred Tomaselli, and Gary Panter, along with author and cultural critic Greil Marcus (Lipstick Traces).

Such notable scores suggest an increasingly prominent role for CCAD in the art world, as well as for the city it calls home. The line-up is enough to whet the appetite of most contemporary art lovers, not just students and faculty, and holds the potential to make the college’s gallery exactly the kind of destination Goodson envisions.

“In my estimation, one reason to live in Columbus is the Wexner Center,” Goodson says. “I think that, given a little time and energy and growth, exhibitions at CCAD might be another reason.”

“Forth Wall, Starring Barbara Bloemink” by Danielle Julian Norton

CCAD faculty and alumni will exhibit their work at Wehrle Gallery at Ohio Dominican University, March 17–April 12.

This is: on the subject of art was curated by Fine Arts alumna and Assistant Professor Julie Abijanac (CCAD 1992) and features work from 11 CCAD-affiliated artists including Assistant Professor Shannon Benine; visiting faculty Matthew Flegle; adjunct faculty Nicole Gibbs; Director of Exhibitions Michael Goodson; Fine Arts alumna and Assistant Professor Danielle Julian Norton (CCAD 1999); Assistant Professor Kelly Malec-Kosak; adjunct faculty Andrea Myers; Fine Arts alumna and adjunct faculty Susan Li O’Connor (CCAD 1996); Fine Arts alumnus and Associate Professor Tim Rietenbach (CCAD 1977); Fine Arts alumna and adjunct faculty Mariana Smith (CCAD 2002); and adjunct faculty Melissa Vogley-Woods.

“Janette Knowles, the gallery director, asked if I would be interested in curating a show, and I nervously said sure, but I instantly knew I wanted to put a show together focused on the subject of art,” Abijanac said. “My goal was to bring together a strong group of artists who have very strong ideas about their subject matter as well as their approach in visually communicating that information. Along with this, I wanted to have an art historian to align and connect this idea historically, which is done in the foreword for the show.”

The foreword was written by Assistant Professor Carla Cesare, who describes the relationship between the artists, their message and medium, and reality.

There is an opening reception March 17, 1–3 p.m.

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.

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.

2011 award recipient Nathan Greno accepting the award from CCAD President Denny Griffith

The Joseph V. Canzani Alumni Award for Excellence (AAE) has been honoring extraordinary alumni since it originated in 1962. This year, the Alumni Relations team will revamp the award by adjusting the timeline to allow an earlier call for nominations and more time to coordinate plans with the recipient.

“To receive this award is quite an honor,” said Molly Gilbride, alumni & parent relations officer. “We recognize one alumna/us each year with this award, which makes it prestigious for not only the recipient, but also the college. Having an extended time frame allows for a couple of things to happen. We have more time to deliberate and research the nominees, to plan an exhibition, and to work with the winner’s personal and professional schedules to coordinate a trip back to Columbus.”

This year, CCAD will accept nominations Feb. 4–March 1. Nomination forms call for alumni who not only exemplify the CCAD brand of hard work and innovation, but can also show their accomplishments and artistic excellence and how they have impacted a broad spectrum of people.

President Griffith presents the 2010 AAE award to Rosanne Percivalle

Alumni will get the opportunity to vote on the final nominees starting March 15. Alumni votes are then used by a predetermined committee to help select the winner.

The winner not only receives the award (we’re not going to lie—it’s a pretty sweet-looking trophy), but also has their work displayed in an exhibition on CCAD’s campus.

“Michael Goodson, our director of exhibitions, has done an amazing job with installing and organizing our shows this year,” Gilbride said. “The extended timeline will take advantage of this and will allow Michael a lot more time to coordinate and install a show that really showcases the winner’s work.”

The exhibition will be installed in the fall and will be coordinated with an alumni reception to honor the winner and his or her professional career.

For a full list of previous recipients and more details on the updated timeline, click here.

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.

CCAD Exhibitions Director Michael Goodson.

When Michael Goodson joined Columbus College of Art & Design as director of exhibitions in August, he hit the ground running and quickly began tapping alumni and faculty talent.

With a fall exhibition still being pulled together, Goodson came to Columbus ready with ideas for spring. But where most people would have curated one spring exhibition— to fit nicely between CCAD’s hosting of the regional Scholastic Art Awards and the college’s first MFA thesis exhibition—Goodson curated two, brought in a rarely-seen installation piece by Malcom Cochran for its own show, and to top it off, traveled south to curate an exhibition of work by CCAD artists for the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio.

“Putting together this exhibition has been an affirmation of the great work being done in my new home town,” Goodson said of Looking Forward, the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio exhibition. “In the end, the exhibition is a meditation on the harmony that is created when we share a starting and a finishing point and the dissonance that pushes us along the path in between.”

Looking Forward went up in January and includes artwork by 10 CCAD artists: Julie Abijanac (assistant professor), Carol Boram-Hays (adjunct faculty), Matthew Flegle (instructor), Dennison Griffith (CCAD president), Danielle Julian-Norton (assistant professor and 1999 Fine Arts alumna), Michael Litzau (adjunct faculty and 2004 Fine Arts alumnus), Kelly Malec-Kosak (assistant professor), Ric Petry (director of graduate programs), Tim Rietenbach (associate professor and 1977 Fine Arts alumnus), and Mariana Smith (adjunct faculty and 2002 Fine Arts alumna). The work is on view through May 20, 2012.

Goodson also curated Bending the Mirror and home., which graced the Canzani Center Gallery, Feb. 10–March 16.

Bending the Mirror featured work by 15 artists (including alumna Danielle Julian-Norton) and sampled the fecund diversity of international figurative art today.

“The history of CCAD and the use of the figure are paired going back to the inception of the school,” said Goodson. “With Bending the Mirror I wanted visitors and students to be aware of the various ways in which this long tradition still imparts ideas and how varied the methods, perspectives, and ideas can be.

home. examined what we might call “normal” suburbia and the lives of those within. The artists involved included New York City painter Jessica Rohrer, iconic 1970s photographer Bill Owens, and Cleveland-based artist Mark Slankard.

“In many ways home. was my attempt to understand the recent transition in my own life from the endless flux of Brooklyn and New York City to the relative quiet and peace of Columbus,” explained Goodson. “What I found, however, (and what started to drive the show) was that this is not a bucolic place. Perhaps no place in America is anymore. home. has become an attempt to understand the true complex nature of American suburban life. It’s an attempt to explore the dream within the American dream.”

“Michael has a sophisticated grasp of contemporary developments in diverse fields of visual creativity,” CCAD President Denny Griffith remarked. “His fresh and inspiring ways of contextualizing contemporary art and design through exhibitions and programming will be key to the continued prominence of the college’s exhibitions program.”

Goodson comes to CCAD from the James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY, where as exhibitions director he was active in the selection of works for group and solo shows and art fairs.

Goodson has also maintained a diverse teaching practice at several institutions of higher learning. He was adjunct professor of art at Hunter College and Wright State University. He earned a BFA in sculpture from Wright State University and an MFA in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art.

In addition to curating at CCAD he is taking a very hands-on approach to the installation of other exhibitions being shown in the gallery.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s my exhibition. If it’s going up in the Canzani Center Gallery, I want to be sure that the way the exhibition is prepared and presented is a positive reflection on the college,” said Goodson.

Exhibition installation will keep Goodson busy with First: The 2012 New Projects MFA Thesis Exhibition opening March 30. The MFA exhibition closes April 27 leaving a short window of time to prepare for the May 11 opening of  Show: the 133rd Annual Student Exhibition. As these shows are coming together Goodson will also be preparing for the fall exhibitions and developing opportunities for artists to visit and present at CCAD.

“My goal for the CCAD exhibitions program is to provide the public consistent, compelling information, with a dedication to making people aware of the art of their time, the art of this moment,” said Goodson. “I always tend to think of an exhibition as a kind of theater. This sometimes entails the use of a kind of flow and narrative—at very least it involves a clear consideration of the viewer’s time, body, and perspective thoughts within the exhibition space.”

To stay up-to-date on what the exhibitions program is cooking up follow the Alumni Facebook page.

Check out images from the opening reception for both Bending the Mirror and home.

From Bending the Mirror, "Early Years" by Folkert de Jong

Columbus College of Art & Design’s exhibitions program is off to an ambitious start in 2012. The winter/spring lineup is varied and diverse, ensuring visitors plenty to see and contemplate in the coming months.

“My goal for the CCAD exhibitions program is to provide the public consistent, compelling information, with a dedication to making people aware of the art of their time; the art of this moment,” said CCAD Director of Exhibitions Michael Goodson. “I always tend to think of an exhibition as a kind of theater. This sometimes entails the use of a kind of flow and narrative—at very least it involves a clear consideration of the viewer’s time, body, and perspective thoughts within the exhibition space.”

The winter/spring series got an early start when Malcolm Cochran: Dutch Shoes was installed in the front portion of the Canzani Center Gallery, Dec. 9 2011. The work is from a series of four that Cochran executed when he was teaching in the Netherlands in the mid-1990s. Part of a private collection, Dutch Shoes is not often available for public viewing.

“This work hasn’t been seen in Columbus since an appearance in the Columbus Museum of Art in 1997,” explained Goodson. “CCAD is taking advantage of a time opportunity between larger scheduled exhibitions to invite the community to our gallery to see this absorbing work in person.”

Dutch Shoes is on view through Feb. 3, and CCAD is hosting a free closing reception with the artist Tuesday, Jan. 31, from 6–8 p.m.

Also on exhibit in the Canzani Center Gallery is the Scholastic Art Awards 2012 Central Ohio Regional Exhibition, which honors work from central Ohio artists in grades 7–12. The Scholastic Art Awards have been recognizing and encouraging excellence in the visual arts throughout the United States for more than 80 years, and the central Ohio regional exhibition is on view at CCAD through Feb. 4.

Coming right on the heels of Dutch Shoes and the Scholastic Art Awards, on Feb. 10  CCAD will open two exhibitions curated by Goodson. Bending the Mirror, featuring 15 artists, samples the fecund diversity of international figurative art today.  home.,  examines what we might call “normal” suburbia and the lives of those within. The artists involved include New York City painter Jessica Rohrer, iconic 1970′s photographer Bill Owens, and Cleveland-based artist Mark Slankard.

“The history of CCAD and the use of the figure are paired going back to the inception of the school,” said Goodson. “With Bending The Mirror I want visitors and students to be aware of the various ways in which this long tradition still imparts ideas and how varied the methods, perspectives, and ideas can be.”

“In many ways home. Is my attempt to understand the recent transition in my own life from the endless flux of Brooklyn and New York City to the relative quite and peace of Columbus,” explained Goodson. “What I found, however (and what started to drive the show) was that this is not a bucolic place. Perhaps no place in America is anymore. home. has become an attempt to understand the true complex nature of American suburban life. It’s an attempt to explore the dream within the American dream.”

CCAD will host a free opening reception for both exhibitions on Feb. 10 from 6–8 p.m. The exhibitions are up through March 16. See a full list of participating artists and images from the show on the shows’ webpage.

Opening March 30, First: The 2012 New Projects MFA Thesis Exhibition, is, as the name suggests, an exhibition of thesis work from the college’s first Master of Fine Arts graduating class. Eleven MFA candidates will present work that ranges from glass, installation, social practice, and photography to fabric design, illustration, painting, and digital media. The MFA exhibition will be on view through April 27.

CCAD’s academic year ends with a campuswide exhibition that celebrates the best work from nine BFA majors and the MFA program. Show: the 133rd Annual Student Exhibition opens May 11 and stays up through the summer. Parents, friends, and the community are invited to come and spend the evening reviewing the creative excellence that is CCAD.

CCAD exhibitions are free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. Parking is free in CCAD lots (Please note the lot adjacent to the Canzani Center is not a CCAD lot.)

Looking Forward at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio

Columbus College of Art & Design is getting off campus with an exhibition comprised entirely of CCAD faculty, alumni, and senior staff. Looking Forward, at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, is curated by the latest addition to the CCAD family Director of Exhibitions Michael Goodson.

The exhibition, which opens Jan. 21, includes work by Julie Abijanac (assistant professor), Carol Boram-Hays (adjunct faculty), Matthew Flegle (foundation studies and fine arts instructor), Dennison Griffith (CCAD president), Danielle Julian Norton (assistant professor and 1999 Fine Arts alumna), Michael Litzau (adjunct faculty and 2004 Fine Arts alumnus), Kelly Malec-Kosak (assistant professor), Ric Petry (director of graduate programs), Tim Rietenbach (associate professor and 1977 Fine Arts alumnus), and Mariana Smith (adjunct faculty and 2002 Fine Arts alumna).

“Putting together this exhibition has been an affirmation of the great work being done in my new home town. In the end, the exhibition is a meditation on the harmony that is created when we share a starting and a finishing point and the dissonance that pushes us along the path in between,” Goodson said.

The exhibition will be open Jan. 21—May 20, 2012.

A curator’s talk and gallery walk is Jan. 22, 2 p.m. and the artists’ talk and walk will be March 11, 2 p.m.

Michael Goodson

By: Michael Goodson

For the past year I’ve been working on the über “mixed tape.” (You can call it what you want to fit whatever paradigm—digital or analog—you prefer.) I’ve come to think of it as both a work of art (an edition of 100 with a few artist’s proofs) and a curatorial endeavor, and titled it An Act of Hubris: 357 of My Favorite Songs in No Particular Order…For What It’s Worth…Probably Nothing.

It started with mixed-CD exchanges I was having with some artist friends. Simon Evens, for instance, is a Kiss fan, able to lucidly delineate between their earlier, “brilliant” output and their descent into comic book treacle after Destroyer. Eric Swenson really likes “Surfin’ Bird” and actually prefers Sha-Na-Na’s version to the classic Trashmen or even Ramones versions, which is unthinkable to me. In the midst of doing this I realized that our attempt to understand ourselves via these songs was an apt application of post-structuralist theory. The record you liked when you were 14 pushing up against that which your current brain chemistry allows you to understand and enjoy—all the various contexts and relational positions being brought to bear.

It’s become a meditative time sink, a way for me to relax in the wee hours while my family sleeps. I might think of a song I had somehow missed that must be in the mix. Or edit, begrudgingly, a song I love in order to make room for something more imperative. I recently cut the Partridge Family’s “Point Me in the Direction of Albuquerque” to make way for the Jam’s “Art School.” A sound choice, I reckon. In any case, this little project has become curiously important to me.

There’s the third movement from Maurice Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor. There’s a poem by Charles Bukowski read by Tom Waits. Mostly, though, as the title suggests, it is songs from various genres—by Hank Williams, Black Flagg, Nina Simone, the Stooges, the Louvin Brothers, Gang Starr, Loretta Lynn, Mississippi John Hurt…and so on.

Still from the video Hanabira by Tabaimo, which is expected to be included in Bending the Mirror.

All of this is apropos of what I envision for exhibitions at CCAD and, in fact, my curatorial perspective in general. To be clear: This idea that Thelonious Monk’s “Abide with Me” can and should sit next to  the Bad Brains’ “Pay to Cum,” both of which are, in turn, well paired with Hank Williams’ “The Angel of Death,” is not the idea behind one good exhibition. (I am, after all, also a believer in the concepts of Harald Szeemann, the father of modern curation, so I like art to be assembled in a precise, graceful, layered, and cogent manner.) It’s a path through an arch of exhibitions over a period of time. Exhibition concepts will always be challenging but will also always attempt to be inclusive of the CCAD family, Columbus generally, or, for all practical purposes, whoever might wander into the gallery on a given day. I, for one, always want my mixed tapes to teach the people to whom they are gifted. It is my hope that each person will discover something new in spirit of these little receptacles. (Try me. Teach me something. Hand me a mixed tape and I will, within a week or so, respond in kind.)

A viewer at the opening reception for Supply and Demand (in front of Infinite time, infinite color, infinite memory, infinite destiny by Damian Aquiles.)

Bio: CCAD Director of Exhibitions Michael Goodson joined the college in August. Previously, he worked at the James Cohan Gallery in New York City, where he started in 2003 and was promoted to exhibitions director in 2006. Concurrent with his work at James Cohan, he taught sculpture and installation art at Hunter College; he has also taught sculpture at Wright State and Wittenberg universities. He holds a BFA from Wright State University and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Side story: On view until December 6 in CCAD’s Canzani Center Gallery is Supply and Demand, an exhibition of work made with repurposed consumer goods, curated by CCAD adjunct graduate faculty member (and associate curator of contemporary art at the Columbus Museum of Art) Lisa Dent. Michael Goodson’s first curated exhibitions will be Bending the Mirror, a show about contemporary figuration opening on February 10, and home, a three-artist show of paintings and photographs about suburbia opening on March 2.

work by Mylesant Carreno

An exhibition that centers on the unique approach to art making through the collaboration and mixing of media will feature 15 artists affiliated with Columbus College of Art & Design.

Alumni, faculty, and staff are all involved in Crossroads, an invitational exhibition at the Schumacher Gallery at Capital University.

Casey Bradley (CCAD 2001), a Fine Arts alumnus and Lab manager at CCAD, developed the exhibition.

“Crossroads is an exhibition devoted to the enduring spirit of the artist as a creative seeker,” Bradley said.

Bradley invited 20 artists to participate in the show. He went through a jurying process with the Schumacher Gallery director and the director’s assistant to choose the work.

“All of the artists were selected based upon the ability of their work to push the boundaries of the materials and the processes that they are working with,” he said.

The final show comprises of 55 pieces with mediums including watercolors, glass, ceramics, printmaking, found objects, and more.

“It is the orchestration methods and interactions with each artist’s materials that allow a sense of discovery to translate to the experience of the viewer,” Bradley said.

CCAD artists involved in the exhibition include Bradley, and Carol Boram-Hays (adjunct faculty),  Steven Bush (1994 Fine Arts alumnus), Mylesant Carreno (SMAC instructor and 2005 Fine Arts alumna), Elizabeth Fergus-Jean (adjunct faculty), Nicole Gibbs (adjunct faculty), Michael Goodson (Exhibitions Director), Hiroshi Hayakawa (associate professor and 1995 Photography alumnus), Kelly Malec-Kosak (assistant professor),  Tina Matthews (2003 Fine Arts alumna), Lauren Mudd (2004 Fine Arts alumna),  Brandon Noblet (adjunct faculty  and 2005 Fine Arts alumnus), Mariana Smith (adjunct faculty and 2002 Fine Arts alumna),  Nicki Strouss (SMAC instructor and 2008 Fine Arts alumna), and Christopher Yates (associate professor and 1987 Fine Arts alumnus).

For more information and the full list of participating artists click here.

The exhibition will be at the Schumacher Gallery at Capital University through Dec. 9, 2011 with a reception on Friday, Nov. 11 5–7 p.m.

Michael Goodson, director of exhibitions

Just as CCAD gears up for fall semester, the college will get an extra creative boost with a new exhibitions director and faculty member. CCAD recently announced the appointment of Michael Goodson as the  new director of exhibitions who will join the college in August and  be teaching in the sculpture department starting in fall.

“Michael has a sophisticated grasp of contemporary developments in diverse fields of visual creativity,” President Denny Griffith remarked. “His fresh and inspiring ways of contextualizing contemporary art and design through exhibitions and programming will be key to the continued prominence of the college’s exhibitions program.”

Since 2006, Goodson has been the exhibitions director at the James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY, where he was active in the selection of works for group and solo shows and art fairs.

“As the exhibition director of the James Cohan Gallery, Michael has traveled the world. His global perspective, strong ties to the art world, and his desire to return to Ohio made him the best candidate,” said Faculty Council Chair Tim Rietenbach, who was on the search committee for the position and is the chair of student exhibitions.

In addition to his curatorial experience, Goodson has also maintained a diverse teaching practice at several institutions of higher learning, starting in 1998. He has been adjunct professor of art at Hunter College and Wright State University. He earned a BFA in sculpture from Wright State University and an MFA in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Goodson will develop a rolling two-year calendar of exhibitions and related activities. He says he wants “to use this position to connect with students and faculty, and to get a feel for what will work best to create an exhibition program that will integrate with the college’s academic program in a lively and engaging way.”

Of his new job Goodson adds wryly, “I’d actually like to find it ill fitting at first, allowing a bit of room to grow.”

Read the full press release.