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Foundation Program

I’m excited to begin my creative career with my other artists and designers.

A Year Of Exploration

Explore processes, connect ideas, develop compelling visual narratives, and approach your work with confidence and originality. You’ll spend the year taking risks and experimenting with unfamiliar materials, techniques and concepts while building the foundation for your education. And the best part is you get to work with your peers across a variety of disciplines and majors.

The City Is Your Studio

University Circle and Cleveland will be a source of inspiration and your extended studio. You’ll spend time in the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and Natural History Museum capturing the beauty you see and practicing the skills you learn in the classroom.

A student is wearing wings that she designed and is getting posed for a photo by a technical assistant.

Studio Discovery

This is an opportunity to explore, discover interests, and investigate new concepts. By the end of the semester, you’ll have a better understanding of the wide range of offerings at CIA. This is one of the best classes during your first year!

You will take courses in life drawing, observational drawing, 2D design, 3D design, and digital techniques. These allow you to explore different mediums and stretch your creative skills while building the foundation for the rest of your time at CIA.

Explore the full curriculum

Learning Outcomes

Conduct visual and written research for studio projects using school and community resources.
Explore, experiment, and develop multiple ideas and approaches to a given problem.
Manipulate elements and utilize principles of visual organization and basic color theory to create cohesive and impactful compositions.
Demonstrate observational drawing skills across a range of subject matter.
Organize formal compositional relationships between materials, structure, and space.
Link subject, form, content, to create compelling visual relationships.
Execute projects with technical proficiency across analog and digital making.
Identify core aspects, skills, and career possibilities of various majors in art and design.
Communicate ideas (visual, verbal, written) in a professional manner.
Demonstrate critical analysis and the use of art and design terminology.

Meet Faculty

Nicole Condon-Shih

Associate Professor + Division Chair

Nicole Condon-Shih is an artist, educator, and academic leader exploring the intersection of art, science, and technology. Her research-based studio practice examines the dichotomy between the microscopic versus the macroscopic…

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Zoe Brester-Pennings

Visiting Assistant Professor

Zoe Brester-Pennings is an interdisciplinary artist and educator currently living and working in Ohio. Her work ranges from print, sculpture, and video art, exploring concepts of beauty, femininity, and humor.…

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Rachel Ferber

Assistant Professor

Rachel Ferber is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in Cleveland, OH. Her work explores the sticky sides of power, performance and sustainability through the lens of commodified private…

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Joey Goergen

Visiting Assistant Professor

Joey Goergen is an artist from Buffalo, New York. He is currently a visiting professor at the Cleveland Institute of art. Goergen attended the University At Buffalo for his MFA…

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Scott Goss

Assistant Professor

Scott Goss is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores various mediums including public art, sculpture, interactive installations, and glass. His work has been exhibited nationally and is represented by galleries…

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Kevin Kautenburger

Professor

Kautenburger’s sculpture functions to contain sensations of the natural environment, housing and presenting natural phenomena as an invitation for anyone so inclined to poetic ponderance. Work often involves insect habitats…

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Scott Ligon

Associate Professor

Scott Ligon has written a book about creating digital fine art in Photoshop, “Digital Art Revolution”, published by Random House. His animated short film, “Escape Velocity,” has played in festivals…

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Laura Medina

AICAD Post-Graduate Fellow

Laura Camila Medina (1995) is an interdisciplinary artist born in Bogotá, Colombia. Her practice is deeply inspired by the kisses between mountains and sky of her birthplace intertwined with the…

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Foundation Program

A Year Of Exploration

The City Is Your Studio

Studio Discovery

Learning Outcomes

Meet Faculty

Nicole Condon-Shih

Zoe Brester-Pennings

Rachel Ferber

Joey Goergen

Scott Goss

Kevin Kautenburger

Scott Ligon

Laura Medina

Ariel Wills

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