CIA faculty turn time off into time well spent

By Carlo Wolff

Faculty who want to get the best from their break in teaching can do well to keep a few tips in mind. First, welcome new ideas and environments. Second, apply a strong work ethic so no time is wasted.

So say ceramics artist Seth Nagelberg, associate professor of Craft + Design at CIA, and Barry Underwood, chair of Photography + Video.

Nagelberg took his first sabbatical in Spring 2022 semester. He worked at home, traveled to various art sites and gatherings, familiarized himself with other cities, and taught ceramics as a visiting artist at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. He also took a 3D printing class through CIA Continuing Education and bought a 3D printer for his studio.

In leaving “room for the unknown,” as he put it, Nagelberg’s technological acumen expanded and his viewpoint changed.

“For years, I preferred the man-made— architecture, machines, toys,” he says. “Now I am seeking the connection between nature and mathematics. Crystals, bubbles and branches can all be explained with geometry and numerals. I learned that my practice can inform my practice. Being immersed has allowed me to form connections between the various things I do.”

What advice does he have for CIA alumni considering a sabbatical?

“Make a plan that includes time to get off-track,” Nagelberg says. “Don’t expect that you will have amassed so much work at the end but that you will have ideas to propel you into the future.”

Continued from page 1 and automotive work. Graduates have not just survived on glass, they have raised families, run businesses, earned awards and taught new generations.

Nate Cotterman ’07 makes contemporary glass barware, lighting and home decor items. He and his wife, Antonia Campanella ’10, run Nate Cotterman Glass in their home studio in Northeast Ohio. He credits CIA for giving him the problemsolving skills and lots of studio time to hone his craft. “It is truly a privilege to make a living creating work in a material I love,” he says. “It is awesome that I have been able to create a variety of lines of work that speak to my interest in industrial design, and that I can bring to life in glass.”

While none of the CIA artists have achieved household name status like Chihuly, many have enjoyed great success and made an impact in the glass world. “We’re all contributing and have our own identity,” Young says. “I’m proud of that.”

Building a legacy on teamwork

One memorable experience of Young’s tenure was the big move. In 1983, the College moved some departments out of its headquarters on East Boulevard and into “the Factory” on Euclid Avenue. Glass was among them. The whole department had to be moved during holiday break between ’82 and ’83. The task was enormous, but, Young says, “We didn’t think twice about it. And we were hot over there in a matter of a month.”

What got the job done so efficiently was teamwork. Young was purposeful about glassmaking as, in part, a process that took place in community. He assigned projects that required seasoned students to work with newbies. Studio cleaning

Where Nagelberg navigated all things urban, Underwood positioned himself in the natural. He spent his 11th residency during summer 2022 at the Lucid Arts Foundation in Inverness, Calif. During his three weeks there, he made sure to create new work, but he also had time to simply think.

“Being alone on a hillside with a fox, deer and some quail allowed plenty of self-reflection,” says Underwood.

“It is a privilege to be given an environment to work in, a studio to work out of and do prep work, and the time to do the work.”

Underwood pursues residencies in places that highlight nature. The weather and solitude rekindle his empathy for his students.

“Every time I begin a new residency, I think of how this is a similar experience that the students might be going through when they arrive,” he says. “As an artist, you need to keep learning something, be it technical skills or tools, new concepts, or something happening in society.”

Search for residency opportunities in environments you want to experience, he advises. Avoid residencies that charge a fee and don’t expect miraculous transformations.

“Being an artist is a job,” Underwood says. “There are no magical experiences. You go to whatever your studio is and make something.

Art is about “making and trying and failing and trying again and again, along with being open and exposed to various types of culture. Pieces and ideas connect. Then you go to bed, get up the next day, and try it again.”

Now pursuing her MFA at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., Duncan remembers one especially difficult day when she was struggling with emotions. Her parents had left the U.S. to return to Thailand. She told Johnson she didn’t feel well and wanted to leave class.

“We talked about what needed to get done since I wasn’t going to be there. Then he left me alone— except he came back to ask me something,” Duncan says. “I was such a ball of negative emotions that I had to look up to the ceiling to stop myself from crying, so of course Ben noticed something was wrong.” was done as a group. As part of the school’s Craft Guild, students worked together to organize popular sales of their art. Glass students took (and still take) group field trips.

From such efforts, enduring relationships grew. Michael Mikula ’87 has been a full-time self-employed artist since 1988. Soon after graduation, he was invited to join Young and Mark Sudduth ’83 in their hot shop.

“Brent sought and succeeded at building a sense of community in the Glass Department,” Mikula says. “We took pride in our then-shiny new department, and enjoyed a genuine collegiality with deep friendships that have carried on ever since. A lot of changes have occurred at CIA since 1987, but I still feel at home there.”

That sense of community continues under Johnson, and it helped sustain Duanngamon “Liz” Duncan ’21 as she was learning to be an art student far from her family in Thailand.

Duncan talked. Johnson listened. On that day, “Ben wasn’t only the instructor, and the program wasn’t just a way to get a job,” she says. “It was my community and support system. I saw Ben as a role model, really. He was one of the best parts of my experience as a Glass major.”

These days, Glass continues as part of the Craft + Design department. The reorganization allows students to explore within craft disciplines while still focusing on their chosen medium.

Johnson, who joined CIA in 2018, has many of the same goals for his students that Young had during his tenure.

“I don’t tell students what they should make, how they should be, or what material they should use,” Johnson says. “I just try to get them to develop their own voice, so that they’re expressing themselves in some way with some material, and so that they have a studio practice that they can figure out how to sustain.”

Richard Newman ’60 published a book, Throughlines, on his evolution as an artist and his education at CIA, Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. and Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and his teaching and artistic career from 1965–2023.

Rebecca Kaler ’64 had a solo show, Fallout: Rebecca Kaler, Paintings from 2003–2022, at Artists Archives of the Western Reserve in Cleveland.

Charlotte Lees ’65 had work in Arts Beacon of Light at Riffe Gallery in Columbus, Ohio, and will show in the Heights Arts Members Show at the Cleveland Heights, Ohio gallery starting June 16.

Ron Testa ’65 had work in Motion > Blur at Praxis Photo Arts Center in Minneapolis.

William Harper ’67 had jewelry and enamel works enter the collections of The Cleveland Museum of Art; the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Conn.; The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design in Providence; The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock; Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, Calif. and the Swedish Museum in Stockholm. Harper recently gave a presentation at Yale University.

Tom Roese ’71 had 19 drawings added to the permanent collection of the Southern Ohio Museum in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Debrah Butler ’74 had work in the 86th National Midyear Exhibition 2022 at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio; the 46th Annual Art Exhibition at Fairmount Center for the Arts in Russell Township, Ohio; and the 20th Annual Kaleidoscope Juried Exhibition at Summit Art Space in Akron, Ohio.

Larry Garber ’75 had 14 drawings in the alumni art show of Sewickley Academy in Sewickley, Pa.

Nicole Mawby ’75 had two watercolors in the 51st Annual Gates Mills Art Show at Gates Mills Community House in Gates Mills, Ohio.

John Parker ’75 had work in the 2nd Annual Apex Sculpture Walk in Apex, N.C.; The Danville Art Trail 2022 in Danville, Va.; The 16th Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in North Charleston, S.C.; The 11th Annual Fenton Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in Fenton, Mich.; The 4th Annual Morros Greenway Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in Detroit; The 5th Annual Mount Clemens Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in Mount Clemens, Mich.; and The 5th Annual City of Sandusky Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in Sandusky, Ohio.

John Jackson ’77* was honored in Against Gravity: Remembering John Jackson at Artists Archives of the Western Reserve in Cleveland.

Petra Soesemann ’77 (Faculty Emeritus) had a piece, “Saturn’s Hexagon” featured on the cover of Constellation, a new book by Harvey Hix to be published by Cloudbank Books and awarded the Vern Rutsala Book Prize. Recent work also appeared in Essential Matter at the College of Wooster Art Museum in Wooster, Ohio.

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2023 Alumni Exhibition: Submissions will be accepted from April 1 through May 22. Visit cia.edu/alumni for details.

Gloria Mark ’78 was a guest on Experts on Expert, an extension of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, where she discussed her book, Attention Span

Babs Reingold ’78 had a solo show, Lost Trees, at Hillsborough Community College Gallery in Tampa, Fla.

Jack Thomas Hamilton ’81 has work in Pencil and Paint through May in the Beeghly Hall Galleries at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio.

John Hrehov ’81 had work featured by Gallery Victor Armendariz in the 2022 Mid-Summer River North Gallery Walk in Chicago; South Shore Arts’ 79th Annual Salon Show in Munster, Ind.; and in Nocturne and In a Midnight World, both at Artlink Gallery in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Marsha Sweet ’81 had work in CONNECT: Small Prints by Members of The Boston Printmakers at Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Conn.

Charles Szabla ’81 was included in the juried exhibitions NewNow2022 at Cuyahoga Community College’s Gallery East in Highland Hills, Ohio and Fresh at Summit ArtSpace in Akron, Ohio.

Lucia De Marinis ’84 had work in Mapping Space and Time, an exhibition of works on paper at Preston Square in Ottawa, Canada.

William Moore ’84 had sculptures included in Artexpo in New York; the 2023 Art of Possibilities

Art Show and Sales at the Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute in Minneapolis; the Valentine International Exhibition with Biafarin online and the Diversia 32nd UN Calendar International Group Exhibition with Biafarin and Exhibizone Exhibitions in Toronto.

Rodney Carpenter ’85 had a solo exhibition, New and Different, at the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Libraries in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Judy Takács ’86 won the first-place prize in the 91st Akron Society of Artists Annual Juried Members Exhibition at Akrona Galleries in Akron, Ohio. A solo show, The Goddess Project: Warriors, will debut at the Ashtabula Arts Center in Ashtabula, Ohio from July 7 to July 29. A painting by Takács was accepted into the 19th Annual FRESH Juried Exhibition at the Summit Artspace in Akron. Work was also included in the Ohio Artist Registry 2023 Juried Exhibition at the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Columbus, Ohio.

Pamela Argentieri ’87 was invited to participate in an exhibition organized by 4BYSIX, a community interest company using creative means to support the disadvantaged and homeless, in London as part of the Break in Emergency series. Artists transformed decommissioned London bus panels into artwork.

Eddie Mitchell ’87 had work in Color, Light and the Outdoors at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Bedford, Pa.

Earl James ’88, Linda Zmina ’89, Kevin Snipes ’94, Andrea LeBlond ’95, Scott Goss ’06 Valerie Grossman ’12 and Kelly Pontoni ’19 had work in The Series and the Multiple at YARDS Projects in Cleveland.

Kristen Cliffel ’90 and Ewuresi Archer ’21 are among the 2023 artists-in-residence at Akron Soul Train in Akron, Ohio.

Melanie Mowinski ’92 published a book, Collage Your Life: Techniques, Prompts and Inspiration for Creative Self-Expression and Storytelling with Storey Publishing, a division of Hatchette Press, in 2022.

Laura D’Alessandro ’93 and Violet Maimbourg ’21 had work in a group show, The Occult, at Doubting Thomas Gallery in Cleveland.

Salvatore Perconti ’94 received a first-place award for an outdoor exhibition, Wendy Park: Connecting People to a River’s Recovery, from The National Association of Interpretation. The exhibition’s sign design and sculptural sign holders were recognized by the award. The exhibition took place at Wendy Park in Cleveland Metroparks Lakefront Reservation.

Jeanetta Ho ’96 had work in the DayGloSho at Waterloo Arts in Cleveland and a piece in the 11th Annual Juried Exhibition at the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland.

Chris ’98 and Shelley Harvan’s ’97 Aril Memorial (formerly Memento Memorials) has launched two new product lines. BARE is the first cremation urn that is its own shipping box and is certified by the Green Burial Council for Green Burial. The ROOK is a hand-held, all wood keepsake urn with custom engraving options. The Harvans continue to wholesale and retail their other product lines through their Aril Memorial website.

Lori Kella ’97 had work in State of the Art: Constructs at the Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio, and in a solo exhibition, Shifting Ground, at Youngstown State University’s McDonough Museum of Art in Youngstown, Ohio.

Susan Danko ’98 had work in Inspired by Shenandoah, an exhibition featuring work from the 2022 Shenandoah National Park artists-inresidence at ART 180 in Richmond, Va.

Timothy Callaghan ’99 had a solo show, Factotum, at William Busta Projects in Cleveland and The Nexus of Art and Health at Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. Work was commissioned by MetroHealth’s Glick Center in Cleveland and Summa Health in Akron, Ohio.

Amy Casey ’99 was covered by cleveland.com for her art practice, which includes a selection of her work as the cover art for a new album by indie/ alternative rock band The New Pornographers. Casey had work in State of the Art: Constructs at the Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio.

Adam Holtzinger ’03 and Susan Spiranovich ’04 discussed their glass work with The Business of Home

Jason Milburn ’03 had a solo show, Jason Milburn: Supply Chain, at the Sally Otto Gallery of University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio.

Candice Willett ’03 received two EyesOn Design Awards at the 2022 North American International Auto Show.

Natalie Lanese ’05 painted a mural in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood.

Ben Kinsley ’05 and Jessica Langley ’05 will present their curatorial project, “The Yard,” on the panel “Alternative Exhibition Platforms in a Time of Emergence and Endemic Infection” at the 2023

Obituaries

Gerald Garfield ’51 passed away January 2, 2023. He studied Painting and Illustration.

Robert Jergens ’60 (Faculty Emeritus) died January 29, 2023. He majored in Painting.

Peter Marks ’66 passed away October 20, 2022. He majored in Graphic Design.

College Art Association Annual Conference in New York.

Oliver Barrett ’07 won two silver Clio Awards in Key Art + Packaging for a Steelbook-edition of The Hurt Locker (2008). Barrett also completed work for Nike’s World Cup 2022 campaign, “Into the Footballverse.”

Cheryl Cochran ’08 recently completed a series of 10 pieces for LAND studio that will be installed in the labor and delivery rooms of the new MetroHealth Glick Center in Cleveland.

Lauren Chaikin ’09 had work in the Foot Squared exhibition at YARDS Project in Cleveland.

Josh Greiner ’09 designed the interior of the newest Ford Mustang.

Georgio Sabino ’09 had work in the Ohio Artist Registry 2023 Juried Exhibition at the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Columbus.

Lauren Yeager ’09 was selected as one of the participating artists in the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy.

Kara Hungate ’10 had a collection of work on view in the Fairmount Gallery of the First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Carmen Romine ’10 had work in Paper and Printed Landscapes at BAYarts in Bay Village, Ohio.

Leigh Brooklyn ’11 won a Future Art Award through Mozaik Philanthropy’s international show, Women. Life. Freedom. Her work was part of a public art projection of 30 international artists onto the façade of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Work was also in a show with Gallery Art Unified in Los Angeles; Her Story at Virgil Catherine Gallery in Chicago; and Woman XV at the Gallery at Lakeland in Kirtland, Ohio.

Katy Richards ’11 has a solo show, Pocket Full of Posies, on view through April 28 at HEDGE Gallery in Cleveland.

Martinez E-B ’12 and Edward Valentin-Lugo ’19 had work in The Body Rock at Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood, Ohio.

Clotilde Jiménez ’13 had a solo show, La Memoria del Agua, with Mariane Ibrahim in Mexico City.

Nolan Beck-Rivera ’15 and CIA Liberal Arts faculty member Elizabeth Hoag talked about the growing effort from museums and organizations to repatriate stolen and looted artifacts and artwork on Ideastream Public Media’s The Sound of Ideas

Amber Ford ’16 curated Amanda D. King: Root Matter on view at Youngstown State University’s McDonough Museum of Art in Youngstown, Ohio. Ford also has a solo exhibition, Someone, Somewhere, Something at moCa Cleveland through June 11.

Kimberly Chapman ’17 had work in the Valley Art Center’s 51st Annual Juried Art Exhibition in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The show also includes work from Debrah Butler ’74, Bill Fleming ’74, Christina Blaschke ’15, Violet Maimbourg ’21 and Madeline Davis ’22

Orlando Caraballo ’18 had work in solo exhibition, Capicú, at Akron Soul Train in Akron, Ohio.

Bianca Fields ’19 discussed her work in an article with KC Studio

Julia Milbrant ’19 and Sydney Nicole Kay ’21 were featured in the “Who’s Next” article in the Winter 2022 edition of Canvas magazine. Kay’s photograph was featured on the magazine cover. Derek Walker ’23 was also featured.

Violet Maimbourg ’21 gave an artist talk at Carnegie Mellon University, College of Fine Arts in Pittsburgh as part of the Frank Ratchye Studio for Creative Inquiry. Maimbourg also taught a two-day workshop on creating silicone prosthetics in an Activated Animorphs class at Carnegie Mellon University. Work was also on view in a group exhibition Paroxysm at Westbeth Gallery in New York City.

Amani Williams ’21, along with Nijole Palubinskas ’55, Karen Beckwith ’87, Yuko Kimura ’94, Rebekah Wilhelm ’09, Nikki Woods ’12 , Davon Brantley ’18, Kelly Pontoni ’19 Connor Goodwin ’20 Savannah Saliby ’20 Ewuresi Archer ’22 and CIA Printmaking chair Maggie Denk-Leigh, had work in Cleveland Prints at Cuyahoga Community College’s Gallery East in Highland Hills, Ohio.

Ewuresi Archer ’22 and Susan Squires ’83 were first place winners of the inaugural Paul and Norma Tikkanen Prizes at the Ashtabula Art Center in Ashtabula, Ohio. Rebecca Kaler ’64, Judy Takács ’86, and Leigh Brooklyn ’11 all won honorable mentions. Paul Tikkanen* is a 1949 CIA alum.

Alyssa Lizzini ’22 was named the recipient of the NEO Artist Residency with Zygote Press in Cleveland.

Teagan Ferraby ’22 was among the first artists to be selected to produce a limited-edition collection with Otentu.

Ohio Arts Council: The following CIA alumni were among the 75 Ohio artists who received an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council: George Kozmon ’82 Guy-Vincent ’83 Judy Takács ’86, Greg Martin ’89, Lori Kella ’97 and Crystal Miller ’23

Marlene “Rocky” Gribner ’70 died November 16, 2022. She majored in Illustration.

Jane Van Halteren Ferdinand ’71 passed November 30, 2022. She studied Graphic Design.

David Jupp ’86 passed away January 2, 2023. He was a Graphic Design major.

David Houry ’07 died January 20, 2023. He was a Technology + Integrated Media Environment (T.I.M.E.) major.