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Major Painting

I am driven by a need to show the world my creativity through every brushstroke.

Discover Your Voice

Painting is more than self-portraits or still lifes. More than canvases, brushes and paint. It’s a bold and expressive way to share your truth. It’s a way to build depth and meaning when words aren’t enough. You’ll discover your own style, voice and genre through exploration, experimentation and risk-taking.

Why Painting at CIA?

A student is talking at the opening of Ready, Set, Relay!

Role of the Artist as Producer

There are so many more ways to engage with the larger world beyond the realm of the gallery or museum. During your junior year, you’ll explore various models of artistic production including performer, activist, curator and provocateur. You and your peers will end the semester with a capstone project, often a group exhibition, where you learn how to curate, market and engage with partners.

Student Experience

Ashton is working in his studio. The paintbrush is on the canvas and he is working from a digital painting.

In many respects, my time as a Painting Major at CIA has been incredible. I've been challenged to be my best and push myself in numerous ways by my professors and fellow students. I now know various approaches to growing my practice that I plan on using beyond my college career.

— Ashton Burton ’26

Max McMillen ’21 is the Program Assistant + Social Media Manager at the Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center, which transforms lives by preserving, educating, and promoting Latino heritage through the teaching and practice of history, culture, the visual, performing, and literary arts.

Maxmillian Peralta ’21 is the founder and program director of (feverdream), a non-profit that provides artists with resources to cultivate and advance the arts. He also commissioned to created a portrait of NBA king LeBron James.

Davon Brantley ’18 is a working artist and the Senior Admissions Counselor at CIA. He has exhibited and curated exhibitions at places like Bay Arts, The Museum of Contemporary Art (Cleveland) and more.

Bridget McGuire ’14 is an Adjunct Professor of Foundations at Montclair State University. She received her MFA in Fine Arts from SUNY Purchase.

Nikki Woods ’12 is a working artist in Cleveland and the Director of Reinberger Gallery at CIA. She has organized numerous exhibitions for the gallery.

Meet Faculty

Lane Cooper

Professor

Lane Cooper is an artist who works through painting, sound, video, text and, on occasion, performance. Her work has been presented in venues ranging from Birmingham, AL, to Madrid, Spain.…

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Anthony Ingrisano

Associate Professor

Anthony Ingrisano is an instructor in CIA’s Painting and Foundation departments. Ingrisano shows with Lesley Heller Workspace in New York. Before he started at CIA, he taught at Briarcliffe College.…

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Michael Meier

Assistant Professor

Mike Meier is a painter whose work examines how violence reverberates in the American psyche through media, art history, and popular culture. Meier has exhibited in numerous galleries and non-profit…

Major Painting

Discover Your Voice

Why Painting at CIA?

Role of the Artist as Producer

Student Experience

Meet Faculty

Lane Cooper

Anthony Ingrisano

Michael Meier

Student Work

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