Congrats to the 2018 Outstanding Seniors

Every year at Columbus College of Art & Design, Outstanding Seniors are selected by faculty for their academic and artistic accomplishments. Congrats to the 2018 Outstanding Seniors!

Advertising & Graphic Design

Kendra Bosse

Kendra Bosse grew up in Tiffin, Ohio, where she developed her love for the arts and creative expression. She attended CCAD’s College Preview program before her senior year of high school and decided to call Columbus home for the next four years.

During her time at CCAD, Bosse was part of CCAD’s Advertising & Graphic Design Student Collective leadership team and worked as a designer for the CCAD Student Agency. This year, she served as co-president of the Advertising & Graphic Design department’s Chroma Senior Thesis Committee, and she has been involved with planning Chroma for the past two years. She participated in several special topics courses, including working with Airstream, BrewDog, Easton Town Center, and Interbrand. Through the Off-Campus Study program, Bosse traveled to Germany and New York. Last summer, she interned with Abercrombie & Fitch as a member of their marketing design team. After graduation, Bosse plans a move to New York to pursue a career in advertising and art direction.

 

Animation

Allie Vanaman

Allie Vanaman grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, surrounded by cartoons, picture books, and video games that prompted her interest in art at an early age. Despite this, she spent most of her life pursuing a career in creative writing; it wasn’t until junior year of high school when she recognized that her dream of being an animator was possible. She has been an active member of the Animation Student Collective and a president’s list honoree every semester.

Her thesis film, The Finvestigations of Sharklock Foams, has been screened at numerous domestic and international film festivals, including the World Animation Celebration at Sony Pictures Animation, and is the recipient of the 2017 Animation President’s Award — presented by CCAD — and an Award of Excellence — presented by the Columbus Society of Communicating Arts. After graduation, Vanaman hopes to land a job as a story artist at a feature animation studio.

 

Fashion Design

Luyao Zhang

Luyao Zhang grew up in Zhengzhou, China, in a family with a rich tradition in knitting, which she learned at a very young age. This and a passion for travel, museums, and books helped develop her interest in fashion design. After graduating from high school in Pittsburgh with a 4.0 GPA, Zhang was excited to start her design career at CCAD. During her four years at CCAD, Zhang has worked in the Beeler Gallery, fashion labs, and as a teaching assistant in CCAD’s Saturday Morning Art Classes program. She has made the president’s list every semester and has worked diligently in her fashion studies and Photography minor. Focusing on knitwear, Zhang interned at Seven 00 Knitwear Studio, where she participated in designing a knitwear collection for the Spin Expo in Paris, London, Shanghai, and New York. Upon graduation, Zhang plans to pursue a career in knitwear design.

 

Film & Video

Clark Baker

Clark Baker graduated from Boardman High School and headed straight to CCAD to pursue a degree in Advertising & Graphic Design. But, in his first year, it became apparent that his love of screenwriting and narrative were taking him in a new direction. Baker changed his major to Film & Video and took his first steps toward a dream of writing screenplays and making films in the horror genre.

While at CCAD, Baker has been on the president’s list five times, but he says his most important accomplishments have to do with his on- and off-campus activism. Baker is an active member of the transgender community and has worked tirelessly to educate and inspire an inclusive community at CCAD — and beyond. Upon graduation, Baker plans to stay active as a screenwriter and will remain in Ohio to continue his art and his activism.

 

Fine Arts

Jason Elizondo

Jason Elizondo is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work seduces viewers into visceral confrontations with the queer body. His work has been featured in multiple exhibitions, including Making Stock (Brooklyn, New York), UNCONVENTIONAL (Dayton, Ohio), and THIS IS NOW (Columbus, Ohio). Elizondo was a resident artist at the New York Studio Residency Program, a recipient of the Mary Lane Grant and Smilack Grant for academic achievement, and an Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio 2018 nominee for Excellence in the Visual Arts. His work has been included in POPULUV’s Meet Jason Elizondo, Ohio’s Most-Talked-About Student Artist and Outlook Ohio Magazine’s My Art Could Mean Anything. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Elizondo plans to attend graduate school in fall 2018.

 

Illustration

Erica Eppert

Erica Eppert is an illustrator and motion designer from Cincinnati, Ohio, currently residing in a creaky old house in Columbus. After she graduates with her BFA in Illustration with a minor in Business from CCAD, Eppert plans to go on a ghost tour road trip across the United States. She enjoys exploring with her sketchbook and a good friend — whether that’s a person or a dog (the cat refuses to come).

Her work is inspired by fond childhood memories of the adventures that shaped her imagination, and an endless curiosity about the forms she finds in nature. When not playing with scissors or flammable objects, she fills her free time mentoring her former high school’s robotics team and taking long hikes through any cluster of trees she can find.

 

Industrial Design

Taylor O’Donnell

Taylor O’Donnell grew up in Centerville, Ohio, and received her associate degree from the University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash. After a year doing instructional design for Macy’s corporate, she knew she wanted to pursue ID for her undergraduate degree. O’Donnell explored multiple schools, but her heart was with CCAD — the small class size and creative community drew her in instantly.

Storytelling has always been a passion for O’Donnell, whether told through design or photography. She decided to minor in Design Research hoping to improve others’ stories through design. After graduating, she plans to pursue a career in research and photography with a hope of moving out west.

 

Interior Design

Kristina Clark

From her first year in the Interior Design program, Kristina Clark has been drawn to the user-centered perspective of design — always thinking of others first. In freshman and sophomore years, Clark was inspired by handicap-accessible designs and has pushed that passion throughout her time at CCAD. Clark also has been the honored recipient of several awards, including the Suzie Edwards Endowed Scholarship, the Ohio Governor’s Award, the Hilson Scholarship, and the Sloan Patron Scholarship. Her hard work has put her on the president’s list every year and she has been the CCAD Project Design intern for two years. As an interior designer, Clark wants to focus her career on universal design strategies and hopes to affect others positively through her inclusive design work.

 

Photography

Kyle Benson

Kyle Benson hails from Canton, Ohio, where he graduated from Glen Oak High School. Since childhood, Benson’s family has supported his creativity. They were delighted for him as he headed to CCAD to pursue his dream of studying photography. While at CCAD, Benson became an enthusiastic member of the community and has served in various roles at the college, including president of the Photo Collective and as an award-winning lead photographer for the CCAD Student Agency. Benson reports that all this probably happened because of his love of the free food CCAD offers at student events.

He especially appreciates the sense of community CCAD has provided during his education and the strong friendships he’s built there destined to thrive well beyond graduation. Benson’s hard work is evident — he has been on the president’s list seven times. He is looking forward to doing commercial photographic work as well as pursuing more marketing opportunities upon graduation.

 

Studio Art with an Emphasis in the History of Art & Visual Culture

Samantha Thune

Samantha Thune grew up in Westerville, Ohio, where she cultivated her love for fashion and history. Thune began her tenure at CCAD as a fashion major, inspired by a family tradition of sewing and the fashion classes she took while finishing high school. As a result of the research she does to inform her fashion projects, Thune decided to pursue a BFA in Studio Art with an Emphasis in the History of Art & Visual Culture. Her senior thesis analyzes the history of androgyny in Western fashion. Thune is excited to create and loves costume design. After graduation, she plans to continue her research in fashion preservation.