2011 AAE recipient Nathan Greno (right), accepting award from Denny Griffith (left)

Sixteen distinguished Columbus College of Art & Design alumni have been nominated for the 2012 Joseph V. Canzani Alumni Award for Excellence (AAE). Nominees range from a fashion knitting queen to a Pixar storyboard artist and an art therapy director to an internationally recognized fine artist.

The nominees are Bryan Ballinger ( CCAD 1990), Charlotte Belland (CCAD 1997), Samantha Bennett (CCAD 1995–1999), Sean Blanton (CCAD 2011), Roy Doty (CCAD 1942), Nicky Epstein (CCAD 1974), Michael Flechtner (CCAD 1981), Scott Hull (CCAD 1977), Matthew Kaser (CCAD 1984), Jon Hair (CCAD 1976–1978), Catherine Hyland Moon (CCAD 1978), Paitoon Ratan (CCAD 1993), William D. Ray (CCAD 1992–1994), Benjamin Roseland (CCAD 2005), Dan Scanlon (CCAD 1998), and Charles Wilkin (CCAD 1992). Read the nominee bios here.

The AAE will be presented on Saturday, Oct. 13, during Family Weekend & Homecoming. This event is part of an entire weekend of events for the whole CCAD family, including alumni, students, parents, faculty, and staff.

Each year CCAD accepts nominations for AAE as a way to acknowledge not only the success and contributions of one very deserving graduate, but also the impact CCAD alumni have all over the world. Alumni are currently voting on the finalists, after which a committee will review the nominees and choose the recipient. To learn more about the nomination and voting process, click here.

John Jude Palencar’s illustration for the best-selling children’s novel “Eragon”

We do our best to get most of the news you submit to us onto the CCAD News Blog, but since 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 2011, January 2012, and February 2012.

Ron Miller ’70 created the illustrations for an iPad app Journey to the Exoplanets. Read more here.

Nicky Epstein ’74 has finished her 24^th book about knitting design. Read more here.

Tim Rietenbach ’77, Danielle Julian Norton ’99, Mariana Smith ’02, and Michael Litzau ’04 were among 10 CCAD-affiliated artists in a recent exhibition. Read more here.

Tim Rietenbach ’77 is a participating artist in FINDING TIME: Columbus Public Art 2012, a multi-artist public art project to celebrate the city of Columbus’ 200^th birthday. Read more here.

Kent Roberts ’77 had his work accepted in the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s Annual Show.

Wong Wo Bik ’77 was in the group exhibition Memory and Fiction at Blindspot Gallery in Hong Kong. Read more here.

John Jude Palencar ’80 illustrated the newest book in a best-selling children’s series, the Inheritance Cycle. Read more here.

Michael Neno ’84, Andy Bennett ’94, and Ryan Brinkerhoff ’08 all worked on the fourth issue of a Columbus based comic book. Read more here.

Kurt Fondriest ’85 was featured in the film Operation Rhino, which received a Midwest/Chicago Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Read more here.

Inka Essenhigh ’91 had a solo exhibition at Tomio Koyama Gallery in Kyoto, Japan. Read more here.

Anita Miller ’91–’99 continues to tour her exhibition The Eyes of Freedom: the Lima Company Memorial. Read more here.

Nathan Greno ’93–’96 co-directed Disney’s animated short Tangled Ever After. Read more here.

David Breaux ’94 is a senior animator on the FOX television series Terra Nova, produced by Steven Spielberg. Read more here.

Sandy Kessler Kaminski ’93 had her piece Around 65 featured in Studio Visit magazine, vol. 14.

Ron Stasko ’93 had his work Liquid Color displayed in Tsunami, a Baton Rouge restaurant.

Kathleen ’94 and David Hartman ’95 both worked on the film John Dies at the End, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Read more here.

Samantha Bennett ’95–’99 had a solo exhibition, Scars, Portraits and Beyond, at Hayley Gallery in New Albany, OH. Read more here.

Michael Newton ’96 and Jeremy Sorrell ’04, exhibited their work at Rivet Gallery in downtown Columbus, OH. Read more here.

Laine Bachman ’97 had a solo exhibition, Birds of a Feather, which was reviewed by The Columbus Dispatch. Read more here.

Nicole Bruckman ’00 was in a group exhibition at WWA Gallery in Culver City, California. Read more here.

Michael Guinane ’00 showed his work at the Cultural Arts Center in Columbus, OH.

Adam Brouillette ’02 and Boryana Rusenova Ina ’00 were on the Best Local Artists list of 2011 in Columbus Underground. Read more here.

Anne Holman ’02 is featured in The New Artisans: Handmade Designs for Contemporary Living. Read more here.

Carl Bork ’03 had a solo exhibition at Tointon Gallery in Greeley, CO. Read more here.

Kenneth Hall ’04 had a solo exhibition at Parkland College Art Gallery in Champaign, Ill. Read more here.

Manjari Sharma ’04 was featured in The New York Times discussing her photography project Darshan. Read more here.

Melissa Spencer ’06 displayed her photography in Cleveland, OH at Sunny Side Up Gallery.

Maris Turner ’07 and Sara Renner ’08 opened a boutique in Ann Arbor. Read more here.

Genoveva Christoff ’09 was a finalist in the E! Live from the Red Carpet Design Contest and presented her work at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

Photo courtesy of Epstein's blog.

“To the world of knitters,” Charleston Daily Mail reporter Monica Orosz writes, “Nicky Epstein’s name is about as well known as that of Madonna or Mick Jagger. She is a rock star, only with string and sticks rather than a microphone and guitar.”

As an Advertising & Graphic Design alumna, Epstein (CCAD 1974) launched her fashion career after winning a McCall’s Needlework design contest in 1979.

The article continues, “Ever mindful of what other designers were doing, however, Epstein said she was inspired to constantly challenge herself to come up with something different. ‘I just had to keep reinventing myself,’ she said. She designed flowers and other embellishments. She created unusual constructions for scarves and sweaters – such as scarves made of knitted circles.

She is now a world renowned knitwear designer, teacher and author of more than 20 bestselling books. She has won the National Independent Book Publisher’s Award for Best Craft Book Of The Year three times.

Her award-winning designs have appeared in every major knitwear magazine, in museums and on television, and she has taught classes to knitters around the world and hosted many Vogue Knitting Tours overseas as well as others. She has also designed her own beautiful line of silk scarves, buttons and clasps.

Learn more about Nicky on her website.

Read the entire article here.