Media contact:
Leah Spellman,
APR Director of Communications
Columbus College of Art & Design
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) is pleased to announce its speaker lineup for the fall 2021 Visiting Artists & Scholars Series. Nationally renowned authors, artists, activists, and educators will visit CCAD’s campus in person and virtually beginning Saturday, Oct. 2, with world-renowned cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Bechdel will speak with Hilary Price about her latest book, The Secret to Superhuman Strength, for the Cartoon Crossroads Columbus keynote.
Then, on Tuesday, Oct. 19, author, activist, and Columbus native Hanif Abdurraqib who was recently named a MacArthur Foundation 2021 “genius” grant winner and whose book, A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance recently received a National Book Award nomination, will lead a panel discussion: Mental Health, Systemic Racism, and Young Black Artists, Designers, and Activists. Abdurraqib’s essay collection They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us was selected by CCAD's Writing, Literature & Philosophy Department as the college’s First-Year Common Read for the second consecutive year.
Finally, on Thursday, Nov. 11, Dori Tunstall, PhD, dean of the faculty of design at Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto, Canada, pays a virtual visit to deliver the President’s Lecture online. Dr. Tunstall has been featured in such publications as Fast Company, Deem, and Azure, and will discuss her mission to redesign design education in an effort to decouple the practice from colonialism and create design with respect.
“This slate of speakers is exceptional in the diversity of thought, approaches, and perspectives it brings to art and design,” says Jennifer Schlueter, PhD, Dean of Graduate Studies at CCAD. “CCAD is honored to be able to support them for our own community, and for the community at large. The conversations they will instigate around healthy creativity--in all its forms, both for the individual and for the field--are vital for us all to engage with at this moment.”
About the events
CXC Keynote: Alison Bechdel in conversation with Hilary PriceSaturday, Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m. (EDT), Canzani AuditoriumCCAD will host the Cartoon Crossroads Columbus keynote conversation between two comics world luminaries: Alison Bechdel (Fun Home) and Hilary Price (Rhymes with Orange). Beyond their common creative discipline, comics, Bechdel and Price share an interest in physical exercise and play, the focus of Bechdel's latest book, The Secret to Superhuman Strength. The pair, longtime friends, do something sports-related whenever they see each other, from Bechdel attending one of Price's hockey games to Price giving Bechdel and her partner a badminton set (which they use frequently) to them joining up to go Nordic skating together last winter. The event is free and open to the public but advance tickets are required.
Mental Health, Systemic Racism, and Young Black Artists, Designers, and Activists: A Panel DiscussionTuesday, Oct. 19, 2021, 7 p.m. (EDT), Canzani Auditorium
Columbus' next generation of Black artists, designers, and activists face extraordinary psychological pressures simply living within a culture of systemic white supremacy, let alone when they focus their energies and talents into anti-racist and abolitionist work. As part of his October residency at CCAD, author and activist Hanif Abdurraqib will moderate this panel discussion about the mental health challenges encountered by young Black, indigenous, and POC creatives and activists, including the unique intersectional and systemic prejudices which oppress LGBTQIA+ people and communities of color.The panel will also dialogue about practical advice and community resources, as well as the benefits and importance of liberation art and politics, and their future in Columbus. This event, which is presented by CCAD's Counseling & Wellness Center, Visiting Artists & Scholars program, and Department of Liberal Arts, is free and open to the public.
President’s Lecture: Dori Tunstall, PhD
Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021, 6:30-7:30 p.m. (EST), Online
Dori Tunstall, PhD is dean of the faculty of design at Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto, Canada and the first Black person—and first Black woman—to be dean of a faculty of design anywhere in the world. Dr. Tunstall has been featured in such publications as Fast Company, Deem, and Azure, and will join CCAD via Zoom to discuss her mission to redesign design education in an effort to decouple the practice from colonialism and create design with respect. The President’s Lecture is free and open to the public but advance registration is required.CCAD’s Visiting Artists & Scholars Series is made possible thanks to support from the Ohio Arts Council, and the Skestos Endowment Fund for Visiting Artists & Lectures.
