Fine Arts

Arts and culture intersect on WOSU's Broad & High, a weekly magazine show that featured Denny Griffith and Fine Arts alumnus Jason Wolff (CCAD 2006) on Dec. 18.

The program includes interviews, artist profiles, local events and exhibitions, and stories of national interest that highlight the character and creativity of Columbus.

Tiny masterpieces are on display at the Ohio Art League's Thumb Box exhibition, running through Dec. 28 at the OAL Gallery in South Campus Gateway of Columbus, OH.

The annual show challenges OAL members to submit 2D and 3D works which can measure no more than 6 inches by 6 inches by 6 inches.

Fine Arts alumnus Nicholas Nihira (CCAD 2002) was selected to receive an Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award.

Nihira, an assistant professor of art at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, MO, was one of 104 St. Louis-area teachers ranging from kindergarten to college level chosen to receive the award. Honorees were selected by their school’s administration for their achievements and dedication to teaching.

Art by CCAD students will soon grace the walls of Target's newest distribution center in West Jefferson, OH, opening in March 2014. The national retailer held an art acquisition contest in March, charging CCAD students with the task of creating and pricing two-dimensional art suitable for a workplace environment.

Fine Arts alumna Nicki Strouss (CCAD 2008) is included in the Ohio Art League member-curated exhibition Tendrils: A Delicate Twist. The show, dominated by female artists, features paper, embroidery, and textile designs that demonstrate boundary-stretching fiber art.

Strouss' ceramic, felt, and paper vessels are on display alongside works by Ohio natives Esther Hall and Megan A. Coyan.

Fine Arts alumnus Adam Grimm (CCAD 2000) won the federal duck stamp competition for the second time with his oil painting of two canvasback ducks. The image will appear on the 2014–2015 stamp.

Hunters of ducks and geese are required to purchase the $15 stamp, and most of the proceeds, estimated at about $25 million by the Columbus Dispatch, go toward conservation efforts around the country.

Grimm first won the competition more than 10 years ago when his oil painting of a mottled duck was featured on the 2000–2001 stamp.

Fine Arts alumnus Joseph Gargasz (CCAD 1995) was selected to participate in the 2013 North Carolina Botanical Garden Sculpture in the Gardens exhibition in Chapel Hill. His pieces Talisman 3 and Amulets 1–10 are on display through Dec. 8 as a part of the invitational show that includes more than 40 sculptors.

Gargasz received a merit award for Amulets 1–10, a series of cement pieces cast in molds made of salvaged foam, plastic, and cardboard materials.

Fine Arts alumna and Associate Professor Casey Bradley (CCAD 2001) is the curator of Presence: A Dialogue with the Human Form at Capital University's Schumacher Gallery.

The exhibition features the work of CCAD alumni and faculty among a group of artists whose work is inspired by the human figure.

Fine Arts alumnus Josh Foy (CCAD 2002) was awarded best of show in the professional division for his sculpture, The Details II, at the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition in August.

The exhibition featured 223 pieces by professional and amateur Ohio artists in visual arts and film/video.

Foy's sculpture, a giant structure made from folded clothes, was among 14 award-winning pieces created by CCAD alumni and faculty, three of which captured the show's top awards.

Fine Arts alumnus Ed Valentine (CCAD 1991) has returned to Columbus for his first solo hometown exhibition after showing nationally and internationally for 40 years.

The exhibition, Ed Valentine, Recent Works, opened as the premier show at the Angela Meleca Gallery on Sept. 19 and will run through Nov. 1.

“I enjoy the job of being an artist: the work, building paintings, arranging the parts, the structure of it, juggling the visual and the conceptual, solving little problems, and stumbling across ideas during the process,” Valentine said.