Student Designs Movie Poster for Film Fest Flick

March 15, 2010 – 10:35 am

CIA senior Trevor Marzella can now add movie poster designer to his resume: Out of Place film director Scott Ditzenberger chose Marzella’s poster to represent his film as part of a class assignment last month.

Lizzy Lee, an adjunct faculty member in CIA’s Communication Design program, approached Ditzenberger to bring a real-life graphic design assignment into her classroom. “Scott gave the class a wonderfully detailed creative brief which allowed the students to deliver exactly what he was looking for—and students learned about looking locally to find amazing design opportunities.”

“I want to thank all the artists for their hard work and creativity,” Ditzenberger said in a blog entry about the CIA class assignment. “They were all great and a few really touch on the essence of the movie. We incorporated [Trevor’s] blue and red poster into a postcard that is being printed in Santa Barbara as we speak.”

Out of Place will play on March 19, 21, and 22 in downtown Cleveland’s Tower City Cinema during the 34th Cleveland International Film Festival. The locally produced film documents Cleveland’s underground community of Lake Erie surfers.

For more information, see outofplacemovie.com or clevelandfilm.org. And read more about CIA’s Communication Design program.

Attention film fans: Don’t miss Cleveland’s first Cult Film Festival, showing at The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque from March 19–27. For a film schedule, see cia.edu/cinematheque.

By Julie Mason | Posted in CIA Students, Cleveland, Cleveland Institute of Art, Featured | Comments (0)

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Article in “Art in America” Mag

March 12, 2010 – 10:35 am

CIA Associate Professor Saul Ostrow has published an interview with Chicago painter Michelle Grabner in the March issue of Art in America magazine. In “The Pragmatist: Michelle Grabner Interviewed by Saul Ostrow,” Ostrow asks Grabner about all aspects of her work, from painting to writing to ideology.

“I was aware that Grabner has a significantly diversified practice,” said Ostrow in the article introduction, “but I didn’t realize that she was one of the busiest people in the art world, since she always seems to have the time, and the generosity, to do just one more little thing: write an article, give a talk, be on a panel, give an interview. Grabner seems to engage every aspect of artistic production and distribution.”

An artist, critic, curator, and editor, Saul Ostrow earned his MFA from the University of Massachusetts and a four-year certificate from the School of Visual Arts, NYC. Ostrow administers curriculum development and program planning for the Visual Arts and Technologies Environment at The Cleveland Institute of Art. He is art editor of Bomb magazine and his writings have appeared in numerous other publications, including Art in America magazine. He has curated more than 70 exhibitions.

By Julie Mason | Posted in CIA Faculty, Cleveland Institute of Art, Featured | Comments (0)

Film Magazine Features CIA Cinematheque Director

March 10, 2010 – 10:35 am

CIA film expert John Ewing is featured in the spring issue of Cineaste, a national magazine focused on the art and politics of the cinema.

Ewing, director of The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, contributed commentary on the challenges and joys of curating and organizing film programs in the magazine’s featured article, “Repertory Film Programming: A Critical Symposium.”

“Film programmers are a vitally important but often unacknowledged part of the film cultural landscape,” says article author Jared Rapfogel. “They labor not only to keep great films in circulation, and to discover those forgotten or overlooked, but also to ensure that films are seen as they were intended to be seen.”

Since 1986 John Ewing has served as both Director of the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque (formerly the Cleveland Cinematheque, which he co-founded) and Associate Director for Film at the Cleveland Museum of Art. He programs at least 350 different feature films annually. The New York Times recently named the Cinematheque “one of the country’s best repertory movie theaters.”

Find out more about John Ewing, The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, or Cineaste magazine.

By Julie Mason | Posted in Cinematheque, Cleveland Institute of Art, Featured | Comments (0)

Spring Break on the West Coast

March 8, 2010 – 10:35 pm

Hello blog readers of CIA. This is Sasha Thueringer reporting on our spring break this year! I am currently on the West coast, well, Arizona to be exact. I know in Cleveland it’s snowy and slushy, but here it’s beautiful. A little rain on the drive home from the airport, but it doesn’t kill my spirits. I’m armed with 13 rolls of film and two cameras, as well as two wonderful little sisters to be my tour guide. It has been three years since I’ve been here.  It’s weird coming back to where you grew up, especially when you’ve been away for so long.

Now that Spring Break is here, I know it will fly by, so enjoying it is what I’m going to try my best to do. I thought a break away from Ohio would be best, and by now I was really missing my Arizonian family. My dad picked me up, and there was a little wind and a few sprinkles, but overall, the dress I was wearing was perfect attire for the Arizona “winter”. Now I won’t go on and brag about this weather much longer, because I know my poor fellow Clevelanders are still bundled up, but here is a suggestion I have for all of you.

Want to get rid of those winter time blues? One trip, even if it’s just a few days, to somewhere warm will lighten your spirits, because there really is nothing like driving on the interstate with the window down, with no humidity, at 8 o’clock at night. It is quite refreshing and simply comforting after the long winter months.

I plan to do a photo project while I’m here, so wish me luck that it stops raining. I got a lot of catching up to do with some family for now though, so I bid you farewell. For just a couple hundred dollars, you too can join me. Hop on a plane, come on! No…? Well, I’ll keep you updated on this trip, the biggest thing I’ve done in quite a while.

Goodnight Ohio (it’s 1:45 a.m. there) and Goodnight Arizona (it’s only 11:45 here, but I’m on Ohio time!)

By Sasha Thueringer | Posted in Cleveland Institute of Art, Student Blogger | Comments (0)

CIA Prof Scott Ligon Publishes Book on Digital Fine Art

March 3, 2010 – 10:35 am

Digital artist and filmmaker Scott Ligon, a CIA associate professor who coordinates the Institute’s digital foundation curriculum, has written a book on digital fine art that will be published by Random House subsidiary Watson-Guptill. Titled “Digital Art Revolution: Creating Fine Art with Photoshop,” the book will be released internationally on March 9, 2010.

Aimed at an audience of visually creative people, from professionals to students to teachers, “Digital Art Revolution” discusses how technology is influencing the way artists approach the creative process. The book combines artistic theory with step-by-step Photoshop tutorials.

“Digital art functions as a revolutionary tool that integrates with virtually every medium even while it obliterates the boundaries and definitions of mediums,” says Ligon. “Rather than imitating art history and the great, unique artists that made it, this book encourages artists to explore the possibilities of digital art and make art history.”

Ligon earned his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and started his career as a graphic designer and illustrator. He soon began to utilize his perspective as a painter to explore the expansive possibilities of digital technology as an art-making tool. His animated short film “Escape Velocity,” created in the style of his digital paintings, has played in festivals and theaters all over the world.

For more details or to order the book, visit digitalartrevolution.com.

By Julie Mason | Posted in CIA Faculty, Cleveland Institute of Art, Featured | Comments (0)

Design Revolution Road Show Stops at CIA March 29

March 1, 2010 – 10:35 am

Do you want to learn how product design can change the world? See a collection of innovative humanitarian design solutions when the Design Revolution Road Show visits The Cleveland Institute of Art on March 29. Stop by the Institute’s parking lot at 11141 East Boulevard between 11am and 5pm to view this exciting one-day exhibition, displayed in an Airstream trailer. And come to a free, public speech by project founder Emily Pilloton at 12:15pm in CIA’s Aitken Auditorium. Read on for details.

PROJECT H TAKES THE DESIGN REVOLUTION ON THE ROAD
Courtesy of Project H Design

The Spring 2010 Design Revolution Road Show will promote design for social change: 25 schools, 6300 miles, 75 days, 1 mobile trailer exhibition, 40 products to change the world. As some creative professionals and designers have begun to rethink their traditional consumer-based practices, prioritizing design as a tool for problemsolving and social action, San Francisco-based design nonprofit Project H Design is taking design for the greater good on the road.

From February to April 2010, the Design Revolution Road Show will bring a lecture series and traveling exhibition of “design that empowers people” to 25 design universities and high schools across the US. A Project H Design initiative, the road show will feature a biodiesel-powered truck and Airstream trailer exhibition of 40 humanitarian design solutions that have been showcased in the book Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People, written by Project H founder Emily Pilloton. The products range from homemade water filters made in the developing world to user-friendly blood glucose monitors for a retail market, mobility tools for the elderly, and educational toys for mentally challenged children. Each product is an example of how design can enable and improve life, rather than simply take up space as a commodity or accessory.

The 25 schools include design universities and high schools. By bringing the Design Revolution Road Show to students, rather than professionals, Project H hopes to make a stronger connection between education and design, both as provocative and socially relevant subject matter and as a way to learn and teach problem solving through design thinking and creativity.

The Design Revolution Road Show’s programming will bring the evidence of and tools for design for social impact to the doorsteps of students, with the ultimate goal of enabling and empowering the next generation of creative problem-solvers to apply their skills to the world’s most pressing problems and improve life on a global scale.

“We believe design can change the world, and we’re taking the show on the road,” say Project H founder Emily Pilloton and project manager Matthew Miller, who will be behind the wheel for the duration of the tour.

The Design Revolution Road Show is a Project H Design initiative and has been made possible through the support of the Adobe Foundation, Sappi Paper’s Ideas That Matter Grant Program, and C2 LLC (Creative Capital).

More information at projecthdesign.org.

By Julie Mason | Posted in Cleveland Institute of Art, Exhibits, Featured | Comments (2)

Vote for CIA Seniors to Win Statewide Art Award

February 25, 2010 – 10:35 am

Cleveland Institute of Art seniors Andrew Kuhar, Morgan Carlson, and Lauren Juratovac were recently chosen from among their peers as nominees for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio (AICUO) Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts.

This competition recognizes outstanding senior artists from independent colleges throughout Ohio who compete for a Grand Award, including a cash prize of $2,500. Portfolios of all artwork submitted by the student nominees are currently being judged by independent college faculty, community artists, art journalists and state legislators to determine finalists for the Grand Award.

The students’ artwork is also eligible to win a People’s Choice Award, chosen by visitors to the Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts Web site. The general public is encouraged to vote online at aicuoartaward.com.

In addition to the Grand Award and the People’s Choice Award, five student nominees will receive awards as competition finalists at a public reception on April 26th at the Bryant Gallery on the campus of Denison University. All nominees from around the state will have their online art portfolios available for viewing at aicuoartaward.com.

Pictured: “React Table Set” (senior thesis project) by Morgan Carlson

By Julie Mason | Posted in CIA Students, Cleveland Institute of Art, Featured | Comments (1)

Berlin Study Trip Open to All Art + Design Students

February 24, 2010 – 10:35 pm

Can you imagine yourself at the Bauhaus, one of Europe’s most famous art schools? Experience the Bauhaus in Dessau and Weimar, and explore the vibrant international art scene of Berlin this May during CIA’s study abroad program “Art and the City – Berlin 2010.” You and your classmates will examine the cultural landscape of this exciting German metropolis, then show your collected impressions this fall in Cleveland.

Organized by The Cleveland Institute of Art, this 17-day study trip is open to students of all art disciplines from any Northeast Ohio college. CIA students are eligible for three course credits.

The trip is directed by CIA Associate Professor Dr. John Powers, Visual Arts. Prof. Powers is an artist and scholar, California-born and educated, who earned his MA and PhD at the University of the Arts Berlin. He realized sculpture and installation art in numerous public places in the U.S. and particularly in Berlin during the last 20 years.

Associate Professor Christian Wulffen, Foundation, will also accompany the study trip. A German who earned his MFA from the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, he is intimately familiar with the country’s arts scene. Prof. Wulffen has exhibited internationally, with work archived at the Foundation of Concrete Art in Reutlingen Germany and represented by two galleries in London and Stuttgart. His most recent show was at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland.

Home to the largest art school in Europe, Berlin is a fascinating city whose identity is tied to music and art unlike any city in the U.S. You will experience this connection through Berlin’s universities, museums, public art, monuments and more. In addition to Berlin, you will spend several days in Dessau and Weimar, staying in the actual studios used by Bauhaus artists in the 1920s. And you’ll meet students and faculty and attend a special lecture by American-born professor Liz Bachhuber at Bauhaus University Weimar.

“Art and the City – Berlin 2010” departs Cleveland on Sunday, May 16 and returns on Thursday, June 3. The course fee includes accommodations, all breakfasts and dinners, an S-Bahn (transit system) ticket, studio space, and sightseeing entrance fees.

Expression of interest along with deposit must be received no later than noon March 5. Final payment is due by March 16. Please contact Prof. John Powers at jpowers@cia.edu.

By Julie Mason | Posted in CIA Students, Cleveland, Cleveland Institute of Art, Featured | Comments (0)

CIA Students Present Colorful iPhone Game Feb 26

February 22, 2010 – 10:35 pm

Five digital art students from The Cleveland Institute of Art will present an explosively colorful game soon to hit iTunes in a lunchtime panel discussion on February 26 at the Institute. The students, all majoring in T.I.M.E.-Digital Arts, developed the game in collaboration with a group of computer science majors from Case Western Reserve University as a requirement of a game design course offered jointly by the two colleges last semester.

ChromaWaves, as the game is called, is an application (or app) designed specifically for play on the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch. Meant to be played in quick, pick-up-and-play sessions, ChromaWaves makes use of the multi-touch features of the iPhone for basic color-mixing and matching play mechanics. The player shoots at enemy chromites, or balls of color, some of which explode and leave what look like ink stains on the screen. As the ink stains linger and overlap, the screen can take on interesting patterns and colors.

Students will discuss the pitfalls and liberties of game development in an educational environment in this panel discussion set for 12:15 pm in the Ohio Bell Auditorium of the Gund Building.

Three producers and a creative director from videogame producer Electronic Arts (EA) gave ChromaWaves high marks when they participated in the final critique of the game via videoconference in December. They encouraged the students to have the game published on iTunes and the students hope to do so in the coming weeks. All proceeds from the sale of the game will benefit Child’s Play, an organization that furnishes children’s hospitals (including the Cleveland Clinic and Akron Children’s Hospital) with videogames, DVDs and other toys on their wish lists.

For more information, check out the game’s website at chromawaves.com.

By Ann McGuire | Posted in CIA Students, Cleveland Institute of Art, Featured | Comments (0)

CIA Students Design Haiti Fundraisers – Part 2

February 19, 2010 – 10:35 pm

Last week, communication design professor Lizzy Lee described how she challenged her students to design creative ways to help raise disaster relief funds for Haiti. Read on to find out what the class came up with, and click here to view photos of their projects.

Ami Rizek created booklets with instructions for how to survive an array of natural disasters. She will offer them for sale in the CIA library at the amount of the donor’s choosing. The donation box resembles a first aid kit.

Cassandra Cortez designed “Hearts for Haiti,” a campaign to sell heart-shaped lollipops for Valentine’s Day. At $1 each, all proceeds from selling the lollipops at CIA and her parents’ workplaces will be pooled into one check from CIA.

Diana Peraita designed circle-shaped cards to stick to doors in her apartment building as a nontraditional letter-writing campaign. The cards encourage her neighbors to donate to Doctors without Borders.

Jessica Obando is organizing a dance for students at Collinwood High School, where the principal was looking for opportunities to help Haiti. One of her friends is donating his services as a disc jockey.

Katie Parland made 10 handmade sketchbooks out of brightly colored paper. The proceeds from the sketchbooks, priced at $10 each, go to Partners in Health.

Kira Makshova designed round paper cards to hang with ribbon on her neighbor’s doorknobs, encouraging people to donate to UNICEF “without getting in their face about it.”

Kyle Wilson screen-printed a logo onto several t-shirts that will be worn by helpers as they circulate at the Grog Shop asking for donations. Each donor will have their picture taken and posted on a Facebook page.

Matt Verkamp responded to negative comments from Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh about donating to Haiti. He designed posters mocking their comments and included a call to action to text a donation to UNICEF.

Trevor Marzella organized a foosball tournament with buy-in money going to a charitable donation. He is also creating a poster and donation box to display at the Cleveland Food Co-op.

By Julie Mason | Posted in CIA Students, Cleveland Institute of Art, Featured | Comments (0)