Commencement 2019

Saturday, May 11, 2019 | 10–11:30 a.m.

United States

Congrats! All that hard work paid off, and you made it. We're excited to celebrate your awesome accomplishment at Commencement.

Parents, family, and friends, join Columbus College of Art & Design for our 140th Commencement. 

 

Information for family & guests

Location

Wexner Center for the Arts’ Mershon Auditorium

1871 N High St. Columbus, OH 43210

Seating

Tickets are required to attend.

Tickets, 8 per graduate, will be distributed at the time of cap and gown pick-up in late March. There will also be additional tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis on Friday, April 19 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Executive offices on the 2nd floor of the Canzani Center. 

For guests with tickets, seating at the Mershon Auditorium is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Parking information

The closest parking options available at Mershon Auditorium and the Wexner Center for the Arts are the following:

  • Arps Garage to the north of the Wexner Center on High Street is available for visitor parking after 4PM and on weekends.
  • Ohio Union South Garage, just a little south of the center, is accessible from High Street and College Road.
  • Wheelchair-accessible parking is available in the Ohio Union South Garage.

For additional information please visit the CampusParc website. This will provide you with the most up-to-date parking information for the Ohio State University campus and provide a list of additional parking options.

PLEASE NOTE:  Drivers will need to pay $5 (cash only) to enter the garage, and will not be charged upon exit. Please hold on to your garage ticket, as it may be needed to exit the garage.

Commencement speakers

The Commencement Speakers for Commencement 2019 are Ruben and Isabel Toledo.

Ruben and Isabel Toledo. Credit: Karl Lagerfeld

Ruben and Isabel Toledo. Credit: Karl Lagerfeld

About Isabel & Ruben Toledo

Award-winning artist designers Isabel and Ruben Toledo have created and evolved their uniquely individualistic art and design vocabulary since they married in 1984. The Cuban-born teenagers met and forged a romantic and professional love affair which flowered into a wide-reaching repertoire traversing disciplines such as fashion and costume design, illustration, graphic design, animated films , furniture, mannequin and ceramic designs, all resulting in a Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Fashion Design in 2005. Their body of work has been exhibited in numerous museums worldwide, and publications on their work include Toledo/Toledo: A Marriage of Art and Fashion in 1998, Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out in 2008 from Yale University Press and a memoir Roots of Style in 2012 from Penguin Books.

Described as a radical classicist, Isabel Toledo designs and constructs her namesake collections at the Toledos’ legendary Midtown studio since 1984, and has participated in New York, Barcelona, and Paris Fashion week presentations. Isabel Toledo was named creative director of the iconic brand Anne Klein in 2006. She is highly regarded for her iconic lemongrass inauguration dress designed for first lady Michele Obama in 2009. Her insider/outsider status has allowed her to design large-scale collaborations with major brands such as Target and Lane Bryant while remaining a well-kept fashion insiders’ secret with her couture designs. Isabel Toledo was nominated for a Tony award for her costumes in the Broadway musical After Midnight with music by Duke Ellington and musical director Wynton Marsalis and has also created costumes for dance legends Twyla Tharp and Christopher Wheeldon.

Ruben Toledo is a painter, sculptor, fashion chronicler, and critic has created witty and incisive illustrations for top international fashion magazines and journals including The New Yorker, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Visionaire, and The New York Times. His watercolors of 100 global cities are found in the Louis Vuitton City Guide series for LVMH. Ruben’s work has been exhibited at prestigious institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as well as Piti Palace in Florence, Italy. He animated a film about the history of couture titled Fashionation. He is author of Style Dictionary and The Fashion Almanac, has illustrated many books including Nina Garcia’s series of books on fashion and Laren Stover’s Bombshell’s Manual of Style. Ruben illustrated the Penguin Classic series, which includes Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, and Wuthering Heights.

The Toledos launched their first fragrance collection in 2015—Hot House Beauties—including Crystal Honey, Kubarose, Pink Putti, and Isabel Isabel Moon Orchid, which garnered a Rising Star Award from Fashion Group International. The Toledos have been the subject of numerous museum exhibitions of their combined works including Bodies @ Work at Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio in 2017 and most recently, Labor of Love at Detroit Institute of Arts in 2019.

Awards 

  • The Fashion Group International Rising Star Award, 2017
  • American Apparel & Footwear Association Future of Fashion Award, 2015 
  • Otis College of Art and Design Innovation Award, 2014
  • DIFFA: Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS Rockwell Service Award, 2013
  • American Image Awards Fashion Maverick Award, 2011
  • Vanidades Icon of Style Award, 2011 
  • High School of Fashion Industries Award, 2011 
  • Fashion Group International Lifetime Achievement Award, 2011 
  • El Diario Newspaper’s Premio Mujer Destacada Award, 2011 
  • The Savannah College of Art and Design André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award, 2009
  • The Gordon Parks Foundation Award for Excellence in the Arts Award, 2009 
  • Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion, 2008 
  • Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar Golden Needle Award, 2008 
  • Fashion Group International Design Excellence Award, 2006
  • Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Fashion Design, 2005
  • Kent State University Fashion Hall of Fame Award, 2005
  • Antonio Lopez Moda Award for Hispanic Designers, 1995   

Isabel and Ruben Toledo were awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts in 2010 from Otis College of Art and Design in California.

Outstanding Seniors

Every year, CCAD faculty members from each major select an Outstanding Senior based on their academic and artistic accomplishments. Learn more about this year's Outstanding Seniors here.

Photos

Commencement photos will be available for download at ccad.edu/graduation2019 after May 21.

Where to eat

Planning lunch or dinner after commencement? Go to Experience Columbus for information on nearby restaurants. Want to check out a locally owned restaurant? Click here to dine local.

Information for graduates

Go to the Graduation Information page for a list of important reminders, dates, and deadlines for graduating seniors and MFA candidates.

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