Academics . Sculpture + Expanded Media . Faculty

Sculpture + Expanded Media Faculty

Program of Study

Title Associate Professor/Chair of Sculpture + Expanded Media
Department Sculpture + Expanded Media
Phone 216.421.7945

Degree MFA, Visual Studies, University of New York at Buffalo; BS, Mathematics, University of New York at Albany

Born on the edge of the Berkshire Mountains in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Sarah Paul is now an artist based in Cleveland, Ohio. She received her BS in Mathematics from the University at Albany, and MFA in Visual Studies from the University at Buffalo, before swimming west along the southern coast of Lake Erie. After stopping to rest, mesmerized by the flaming smokestacks, she wandered inland and fell in love and lust with the smokestacks, the city, and the lake. Sarah is making work that embraces and celebrates this lush rusty belt. Recent and forthcoming exhibitions and performances include the Front Yard at Burchfield Penney Art Center, SPACES Gallery, Sculpture Center Cleveland, MOCA Cleveland, Albright-Knox Gallery, UB Art Gallery, and the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art; her video work has been screened around the U.S. and abroad. In 2013, Sarah was generously supported by a Creative Workforce Fellowship granted from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture in Cleveland, Ohio. Sarah is presently an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Sculpture + Expanded Media at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Christina Cassara

Title Professor/ Acting Chair of Sculpture + Expanded Media
Department Sculpture + Expanded Media
Phone 216.421.7381

Degree MFA, Cranbrook Academy of Art; BA, Barnard College, Columbia University

Tina Cassara received a BA in urban studies, emphasis in sociology from Barnard College, Columbia University. Following graduation, she moved to Viques, in the Juan region of Peru, and studied with Francisca Mayer from Black Mountain College, teaching natural dyes derived from indigenous plants to local weavers. Her travels continued through the Collao Altiplano region of Bolivia. While living in New York City, Cassara was co-editor of Sing Out! magazine before attending Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she received an MFA from the fiber department. Cassara has since conducted extensive research into women’s labor in the American textile industry, issues of European migration and relocation, and more recently, the assigned value of labor in historically women-dominated textile industries in the South. In the late 1990s, Cassara began exploring the history of textile production. A strong advocate for organized labor, she began conducting interviews in LaGrange, GA, and nearby mill towns, speaking with retired textile workers, factory owners, surviving union organizers, and members of textile heritage societies. In 2008–09, Cassara was awarded a sabbatical to further her research in the network of textile heritage societies, including travel to Cooleemee, NC, working with organizers of the Textile Heritage Initiative and members of the Troop County Historical Society. Cassara's research also continues in Scranton, PA, where she is examining documents and photographs related to the growth of the mining and silk textile industries

Sarah Kabot

Title Associate Professor/Chair of Drawing
Department Sculpture + Expanded Media
Phone 216.421.7931

Degree MFA, Fiber, Cranbrook Academy of Art; BFA, University of Michigan

Sarah's work has been exhibited in galleries such as Vermont Studio Center; the Cultural Center of Polecni, Pieksamaki, Finland; Reinberger Gallery, Cleveland Institute of Art; and SPACES gallery, Cleveland, among others. Her awards have included a CAA Tuition Grant (2000-2002); a Merit Scholarship and Grant to the Vermont Studio Center (1999); and a Merit Scholarship for the University of Michigan (1998).

Erin Duhigg

Title Technical Specialist, Sculpture + Expanded Media
Department Sculpture + Expanded Media
Phone 216.421.7335

Contact

Degree BFA, Cleveland Institute of Art; MFA, Washington University, St. Louis

Erin Duhigg graduated from with a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2011, and earned an MFA in Sculpture from Washington University, St. Louis in 2013.

Erin exhibits her work locally and nationally. She works as a technical specialist in the Sculpture + Expanded Media department at CIA.

Amber Kempthorn

Title Lecturer
Department Sculpture + Expanded Media
Phone 216.421.7000

Degree MFA, Sculpture, Cranbrook Academy of Art; Post Baccalaureate Certificate, Maryland Institute College of Art; BA, Art, Hiram College

Artist Amber Kempthorn explores memory and cultural mythology through drawing and collage. Her work is exhibited regionally and nationally. She is a graduate of Hiram College, the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she received her MFA in Sculpture in 2008. Amber has been an adjunct member of the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Art and the College of Wooster since 2011.

Lane Cooper

Title Associate Professor/Chair of Painting
Department Sculpture + Expanded Media
Phone 216.421.7357

Degree MFA, Painting, University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa); MA, Art History, University of Alabama at Birmingham; BS, University of North Alabama

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. In 2009 she participated in a residency at The Banff Centre located in Alberta, Canada, and in the fall of 2010 she was an artist-in-residence at Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ, where she exhibited as part of the 2011-12 season. She holds a master's degree in art history with an emphasis in contemporary art and an MFA in painting. She has been teaching since 1989, and since the spring of 2001 she has taught full-time at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Bob Drake

Title Adjunct Faculty
Department Sculpture + Expanded Media
Phone 216.421.7000