Life at CCAD

CCAD alumni pros from Abercrombie & Fitch, Zulily, and several other CCAD alumni-loving companies tackled everything from resumes and portfolios to personal style and work environment during a recent panel discussion with students. With varying years of experience and on-the-job duties, the five-person crew offered up wisdom and tips from the front lines of the art and design industries.

1. Be bold.

By Emma Pennington

Greetings, my name is Emma Pennington and I am an Animation senior. I love telling stories and, for me, animation is the perfect medium to communicate those stories.

Since I was small, I've adored cartoons. I also really love drawing-—ever since I could hold a crayon. A pivotal moment in my childhood was realizing that there was a team behind my favorite animations, and I knew that I wanted to be on one of those teams someday. I'm one of the few who knew what I wanted to do before going to college.

MFA alumna Liz Roberts' experiential video sculpture Always Nowhere is competing on a national stage at ArtPrize, a 19-day competition spanning more than 170 venues across Grand Rapids, MI.

An experiential marriage of fine art and cinematography, Always Nowhere taps into viewers' senses, giving them the sensation of riding or driving in a car that in reality is motionless. Moving footage plays inside the windows and mirrors of the four-door sedan.

With a chart-topping single on iTunes, Alternative Hot 100, and Sirius XM's Alt Nation, the foursome SomeKindaWonderful is off to strong start — fueled by a video created by CCAD alums.

New kids on the alternative rock block, the Cleveland-based group recently debuted the music video for Reverse, their single that was spontaneously recorded in just three hours following a chance meeting at a Cleveland bar.

The New York Times called it "a mission that even more established museums might fear to take on."

After nearly 1,000 visits to artists' studios across the country, curators at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art have compiled a collection to illustrate the best contemporary American art being created today.

Renowned CCAD alumna Aminah Robinson will add another impressive feather to her cap on July 26 when she is inducted into the Lincoln Theatre’s Walk of Fame.

Best known for her rag and cloth paintings called RagGonNons, Robinson has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States and has work in many private collections. In 2004, she was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (commonly called “the genius grant”).

Hundreds of community members gathered on Long Street on July 10 for the unveiling of the Long Street Cultural Wall, a visual tribute to the King-Lincoln and Discovery districts created by mixed media artist Larry Winston Collins (CCAD 1986) and photographer Kojo Kamau.

The cultural wall is part of a recently built cap bridge over I-71. The bridge includes green space, benches, and art creating a pedestrian-friendly connection between the King-Lincoln and Discovery districts.

By Sakhile Vanqa

RAW, an independent organization of artists from all over the world, will showcase 25 local artists, including several CCAD alumni and current students, on Feb. 26 from 7–11 p.m. at Skully's Music Diner.

The event, titled Pixels, will feature film, musical performance, a fashion show, an art gallery, performance art, and a featured hairstylist and makeup artist.

The Short North Alliance and 11 partner galleries and art institutions launched an outdoor mural series for a second time Feb. 18, including a work by Joe Lombardo (CCAD 2006), Fine Arts alumnus and CCAD adjunct instructor.