Jeni Britton Bauer and cartoonist Thi Bui among speakers in CCAD President’s Lecture Series

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mar 13, 2019
thi bui portrait
jeni britton bauer portrait

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An award-winning cartoonist and a well-known ice cream entrepreneur are among the speakers coming to Columbus College of Art & Design for the 2019 CCAD President’s Lecture Series.

On Wednesday, March 20, CCAD President Melanie Corn will host a free talk by Thi Bui, the Vietnam-born author of the bestselling graphic novel The Best We Could Do. And on Thursday, April 11, Dr. Corn will host a free, public conversation with Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.

The events with Bui and Britton Bauer are part of a 2019 series aimed at celebrating CCAD’s 140th anniversary and its core values: inspiration, respect, positivity, and accountability. More events will be announced for fall 2019.

“Columbus College of Art & Design has a long history of creative excellence and bringing challenging dialogue around art and design to Columbus since our founding in 1879,” said Dr. Corn. “Both cartoonist Thi Bui and ice cream entrepreneur Jeni Britton Bauer have incredible journeys that will impact our students and our greater community. I’m excited to have them share their stories at CCAD as we celebrate our 140th anniversary.”

In Bui’s talk, which is supported by Puffin Foundation West, the cartoonist will discuss her work, including The Best We Could Do, a 2017 illustrated memoir that portrays her family’s journey from war-torn Vietnam. The book was the most recent reading selection for first-year students at CCAD.

Britton Bauer will discuss her career path and how her creativity has helped her throughout her life.

Following each event, CCAD will host a reception, and Bui and Britton Bauer will sign copies of their books, with Bui signing copies of The Best We Could Do and A Different Pond and Britton Bauer signing copies of The Artisanal Kitchen: Perfect Homemade Ice Cream: The Best Make-It-Yourself Ice Creams, Sorbets, Sundaes, and Other Desserts.


About Thi Bui

Thi Bui was born in Vietnam three months before the end of the Vietnam War, and came to the United States in 1978 as part of the “boat people” wave of refugees from Southeast Asia. Her debut graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do (Abrams ComicArts, 2017), has been selected as UCLA’s Common Book for 2017, a National Book Critics Circle finalist in autobiography, an Eisner Award finalist in Reality Based Comics, and made several Best of 2017 book lists, including Bill Gates’s top five picks. Bui is also the Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator of A Different Pond, a picture book by the poet Bao Phi (Capstone, 2017). Her short comics can be found online at the Nib, PEN America, and BOOM California.  She is currently researching and drawing a work of graphic nonfiction about how Asian American Pacific Islanders are impacted by detention and deportation, to be published by One World, Random House. Bui taught high school in New York City and was a founding teacher of Oakland International High School, the first public high school in California for recent immigrants and English learners. Since 2015, she has been a faculty member of the MFA in Comics program at the California College of the Arts. Bui lives in the Bay Area.

Thi Bui will speak at CCAD on Wednesday, March 20, at 6:30 p.m. in the Canzani Center Auditorium (60 Cleveland Ave.) as part of the CCAD President’s Lecture Series celebrating Columbus College of Art & Design’s 140th anniversary. The event is free and open to the public. Learn more at ccad.edu/presidents-lecture-series.


About Jeni Britton Bauer

Jeni Britton Bauer has been making ice creams professionally for two decades. Before that, she studied art, worked in a bakery, and had a serious hobby blending perfumes and collecting essential oils. Britton Bauer founded Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in 2002. Her ahead-of-the-trend vision—using whole ingredients and dairy from grass-pastured cows, rather than synthetic flavorings and commodity ice cream mix—coupled with inspired flavors sparked the artisan ice cream movement more than a decade before it would become a top food trend. Britton Bauer is a James Beard Award-winning author of two cookbooks and has been recognized by Fast Company as one of the most creative people in business.

Jeni Britton Bauer will speak at CCAD on Thursday, April 11, at 6:30 p.m. in the Canzani Center Auditorium (60 Cleveland Ave.) as part of the CCAD President’s Lecture Series celebrating Columbus College of Art & Design’s 140th anniversary. The event is free and open to the public. Learn more at ccad.edu/presidents-lecture-series.


About Columbus College of Art & Design

Columbus College of Art & Design teaches undergraduate and graduate students in the midst of a thriving creative community in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1879, CCAD is one of the oldest private, nonprofit art and design colleges in the United States, and in 2019, the college is celebrating 140 years of creative excellence. CCAD offers 12 BFA programs and two master’s programs in art and design that produce graduates equipped to shape culture and business at the highest level. For more information, visit ccad.edu.


Media contact

Jeannie Nuss
Director of Public Relations 
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