News

Contact:
Casey Burry cburry@cia.edu, 216.421.7404

For Immediate Release: May , 2010

CLEVELAND: David Deming will retire as president and CEO of The Cleveland Institute of Art on June 30 after a 12-year tenure.

A 1967 graduate of the Institute, Deming was appointed as the ninth president of his alma mater in 1998. After earning a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Deming had a successful 28-year career as a sculptor, professor, and college administrator at the University of Texas. He served as Chair of the Department of Art and Art History from 1992 to 1996 and Dean of the College of Fine Arts from 1996 to 1998.

At the Institute Deming has been recognized for re-aligning the curriculum and launching the plan for the Institute’s new campus. His notable contributions to the Institute include:

• Launching the school’s first digital arts department: T.I.M.E. – Digital Arts (for technology and integrated media environment). Today T.I.M.E. is CIA’s largest program and has expanded to include majors in animation, game design and video.

• Overseeing the creation of CIA’s first visiting artists endowment. The Louis D. Kacalieff Visiting Artists and Scholars Program is endowed through a major bequest left by former board member Louis Kacalieff. Deming’s vision was to create a robust program of visiting artist to the campus for students, faculty and the community.

• Establishing the Viktor Schreckengost ’29 Teaching Award to honor artist, industrial designer, and CIA alumnus Schreckengost and recognize teaching excellence at the Institute over a period of at least 10 years.

• Transitioning from a five-year to a four-year BFA program, while remaining committed to providing the high-quality education for which CIA is known.

Deming spearheaded the plan for a unified campus on Euclid Avenue that will feature substantial renovations to the Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts and construction of a new building immediately to the west of it. Renovation of the McCullough building began last spring and will be complete by the end of the calendar year; the new building will be constructed thereafter. Environmentally sensitive designs call for a “green” roof with sculpture garden and visual screens designed by acclaimed Dutch architect Winy Maas. The new campus will be part of the revitalized Uptown neighborhood of Cleveland’s University Circle.

While at the helm of the Institute, Deming has continued as a practicing sculptor whose work has appeared in more than 100 competitive and invitational exhibitions nationally and internationally, with more than 50 one- and two-person exhibitions. Locally, Deming’s work is on display at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Lakewood Public Library, on the campus of the Institute and Case Western Reserve University, in the David E. Davis Sculpture Park and in numerous corporate and private collections..

Deming will be succeeded at the Institute by Grafton J. Nunes, currently Dean of the School of the Arts at Emerson College in Boston, whose term will begin July 1, 2010.

The Cleveland Institute of Art is a premier college of art and design committed to leadership and vision in all forms of visual arts education. The Institute makes enduring contributions to education and extends its programs to the public through gallery exhibits, lectures, a continuing education program and The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, an art and independent film program.

The Cleveland Institute of Art is located at 11141 East Boulevard in Cleveland, Ohio. For more information visit cia.edu or call 216.421.7000.