Link Spring 2024: Scholarship Travels

CIA

LINK

WELCOME

As we are now a few months into 2024, and as the spring season draws near, I remain grateful for the wisdom of winter. This time of year often brings forth reflection, restoration and reconnection.

From strategizing with fellow college presidents at national convenings to meeting with longtime alumni and outof-state donors, and from digging into the next phase of our strategic plan with my Cabinet to engaging in critical new projects, the connective tissue remains strong within CIA’s community and across higher education.

Still, the threat of divisiveness always lurks. This year’s presidential election will likely lead to increased polarization across the country and beyond, and impassioned discussion around international affairs will almost certainly continue.

These times are complex, and I am proud that at CIA we are able to convene and engage in civil and deliberative discourse while also celebrating differences in pursuit

of truth, knowledge and mutual understanding.

Separately, it’s no secret that the higher education sector faces challenges. This includes the “demographic cliff,” or the current and expected decline in the number of traditional college-aged students. It also includes students’ college readiness and mental health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. And, it also includes challenges to the value of higher education and an increased federal regulatory environment.

Despite those challenges, I am more inspired than ever by the impact of CIA’s collective community. Learning about the work of Melissa Harvey ’23 to advance the field of medical illustrations for procedures for transgender patients—as highlighted in the winter 2023 issue of Link—was particularly inspiring.

Also, I was moved by the Black Scholars and Artists club’s powerful second annual Black History Month exhibition, Is it Because I’m Me BLACK!!?, which was on view in February at CIA. And, seeing Sculpture + Expanded Media chair Jimmy Kuehnle take his teaching to new heights through experimentation with artificial intelligence also helped fuel my much-needed winter recharge.

With that, I embrace every season equally and can’t wait for the continued inspiration—not to mention key CIA milestones and traditions—that spring will bring.

Spring 2024

Vol. 27, Issue 3

Copyright © 2024

Cleveland Institute of Art

Kathryn J. Heidemann President + CEO

Kathryn J. Heidemann President + CEO

Malou Monago Vice President of Institutional Advancement + External Relations

Michael C. Butz Director of College Communications + External Relations

Stephen Valentine Graphic Design Helping alumni and friends of Cleveland Institute of Art remain informed of campus, faculty and alumni news. CIA publishes Link four times a year.

Submit ideas and updates for Link:

SIE 78 up through early April in Reinberger Gallery

Compiled by Michael C. Butz

The 2024 Student Independent Exhibition opened with great fanfare in February. If you missed the reception, be sure to visit Reinberger Gallery by Sunday, April 7 to see all of the amazing work. This year’s prize winners are Elly Arvizu ’24, Janoi Daley ’24, Karl Edwards ’24, Mason Kovacs ’24, Tristen Kovacs ’24, Cale Ours ’24, DD Patton ’24, James Schaffer ’25, Ashton Burton ’26, Gwen Canfi eld ’26, Bianca Curry-Naguit ’26, Lillian Gomez ’26, Claire Miles ’26, Jazzalyn Palma ’26, Theadis Reagins ’26 and Grace Robin ’26

2024 Alumni Exhibition submissions now open

Calling all CIA alumni! Submissions are now open for the 2024 Alumni Exhibition. Submissions will be accepted through April 19, and all alumni are encouraged to apply. There is no fee to submit. All mediums are welcome. Visit cia.edu/alumni or scan the QR code for more information. The 2024 Alumni Exhibition will be on view from June 21 through August 9 in Reinberger Gallery.

Mark your calendars for the 2024 Spring Show

Celebrate with us as CIA unveils some of the best work created by students of all levels working across our majors. At the 2024 Spring Show, visitors can meet CIA students—the next generation of artists and designers—and see work throughout the College. An opening reception will take place from 6 to 8pm Tuesday, April 23. The annual student-organized Runway Show will take the stage during the reception at 7pm in the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Atrium. Aspects of the 2024 Spring Show will be on view throughout the week of April 23–26.

Holton establishes inclusion scholar program

Curlee Raven Holton ’89 recently established CIA’s new Curlee Raven Holton Inclusion Scholar Program, which provides established and emerging artists from traditionally marginalized groups—such as African American, Latinx, Native American and other groups—opportunities to engage with students in professional development and networking at CIA.

These visiting scholars will encourage open dialogue about the practices and strategies employed by successful practicing artists, and while at CIA, they will engage surrounding communities in gatherings designed to broaden the understanding and appreciation of the critical role that the arts play in our personal lives and greater cultural vitality.

The program’s first scholar was celebrated international artist Clotilde Jiménez ’13, who participated in a public discussion moderated by CIA associate professor of Art History David C. Hart, PhD on March 7 in CIA’s Peter B. Lewis Theater.

Schwartz remembered for leadership, service Director Emeritus Michael Schwartz, who served on the CIA’s Board of Directors from 2009 to 2023 and as Board chair from 2012 to 2015, passed away January 2 following a long illness. He left an indelible mark on CIA.

Schwartz led CIA’s Board through the sale of the original George Gund Building on East Boulevard to Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art. He also played a key leadership role in the construction and launch of CIA’s current campus.

For those efforts and more, Schwartz earned the CIA Award for Excellence—the College’s highest honor—in 2015. He received the Award for Service, which honors individuals and organizations that have supported and advanced art and design at CIA through financial contributions, leadership and advocacy.

In Memoriam

William G. Grayell ’49, who majored in Industrial Design, died December 13, 2023. Anthony L. Paluckas ’54, who majored in Illustration, passed away December 22, 2023. Richard Immarino ’63 died January 16 and was a Painting major. Deirdre Daw ’80 passed away December 9, 2023 and was a Ceramics major. Katherine Porter ’02 , who majored in Illustration, died December 26, 2023.

Visitors view work during the opening reception of the 2024 Student Independent Exhibition in Reinberger Gallery. Photo by Amber N. Ford ’16.

Toward a common future: Disney and CIA build on a shared past

By Carlo Wolff

The relationship between the entertainment giant that brothers Walt and Roy Disney founded in 1923 and the Cleveland Institute of Art, which was founded in 1882, continues to bear fruit for both.

People who attended and/or graduated from CIA have worked for the Hollywood-based firm since its formative years and continue to do so as Disney celebrates its centennial with TV specials, re-releases of The Lion King and Moana, and upgrades to Disney resorts and theme parks.

Early Days

Among the early Disney animators associated with CIA are David Hilberman, who attended the school in the early 1930s, and Grace Bailey, an inker who studied at the Cleveland School of Art, CIA’s predecessor, in 1922.

In 1936, Hilberman joined Disney as an assistant animator and shortly began work on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the first animated feature film produced in the United States. A Communist for a time, Hilberman fell out of favor with Walt Disney in the early 1940s because of his increasing involvement with union organizing that led to the 1941 Disney strike for better wages.

Bailey headed the Ink and Paint Department at Disney from 1954 to 1972. She was vigilant about keeping the company’s color palette fresh and worked on such early Disney efforts as “Silly Symphony,” a series of shorts that began in black-andwhite but evolved into color.

Ambrozi Paliwoda ’32 and his classmate Ethel Kulsar also worked on Disney classics. Paliwoda was an Honors graduate

Animation chair Anthony Scalmato ’07, right, led CIA students to the Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California while the group was in town to participate in the 2019 CTN Animation eXpo. Submitted photo.

that Disney executive Don Graham, who had taught at CIA, hired for his fine arts background. Besides Snow White, Paliwoda worked as an animator on Bambi and Sleeping Beauty and as an assistant animator on Pinocchio. He also helped create Pinocchio’s buddy, Jiminy Cricket. Kulsar was the first female storyboard artist on Fantasia and was a background and character designer on its celebrated “Nutcracker Suite” sequence.

Contemporary Connections

Modern-day CIA alumni have kept the tradition of working at Disney going into the 21st century. One of them is Zharia Rahn ’21, a prop designer for Disney TV.

Rahn began three years of work at Disney as an intern in spring 2021, just after she graduated from CIA. She’s particularly proud of her work on Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, a Disney TV series, but it was her work on The Owl House, another Disney TV show, that affirmed Rahn’s affection for her employer. Working on Owl reminded her how global Disney is.

“It was really interesting collaborating with all of these insanely talented artists from all over the world,” she says. “We were all coming together and hyping each other up. It was just such a positive experience working with them. It really just felt like a bunch of kids making a cartoon.”

Rahn credits CIA for teaching her the fundamentals, adding her work as a teaching assistant immersed her in the necessary software, especially Photoshop. “I think CIA was very good at teaching me how to draw perspective and how to actually get my brain into artist mode, how to see something,” she says.

Technology also was a lure for Zack Petroc ’97, a Disney shorts director and writer. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, one of the first blue-screen films, drew the CIA Sculpture major to Los Angeles with only $300 to his name and a friend he could stay with. To his happy surprise, a single interview paid off, landing him work on that pioneering film.

In combining live actors with computer graphics, Sky Captain opened Petroc’s eyes to new technological possibilities.

Petroc has been a model supervisor for Disney Feature Animation. He worked on Big Hero 6, which won an Oscar in 2015 for Best Animated Feature, and his work on its Baymax character garnered a Visual Effects Society award. He’s been with Disney since 2009.

“Typically, the visual effects industry is project-to-project,” Petroc says. “It can be very hit-or-miss, and you’re at the whim of the economy and how everything else is doing. But at Disney, you roll from one film to the next because they always have a consistent pipeline of projects in place.” To Petroc, the keys to Disney culture are security, flexibility, variety and collaboration. Not to mention creativity.

“When I was at CIA, we would have root critiques, and they didn’t pull any punches,” he says. “At Disney, it’s a similar

process, where you are creating a piece of art with a directive in mind, and throughout that process you gather with a group and the art is critiqued. You have to know how to work in that kind of environment. I think that was the thing that helped me most coming out of CIA.”

Keeping Current

In 2005, Kevin Geiger ’89 made history as computer graphics supervisor on Chicken Little, Disney’s first fully computer-animated feature film.

Geiger, who spent 15 years with Disney in Burbank and Beijing, is partner, head of production at tellretell, a Taipei, Taiwan-based animation development and production company.

Disney and CIA both have “open, creative environments, diverse cultural demographics, and a commitment to excellence,” he says.

“Be open to new ideas, new tools, new ways of working, and new reasons for working,” Geiger advises students considering animation as a major and a career. “Study what came before you, be aware of what’s around you, have a vision for where you want to go and pivot as you like.”

When CIA named associate professor Anthony Scalmato ’07 chair of its Animation department, one of his goals was to connect students to industry, and not just film. He wants to broaden their view of the field, which, beyond TV and movies, is used in gaming, mobile phone technology, on TikTok and more.

Outside his office is a wall Scalmato uses to remind students of the ties between Disney and CIA. It features framed biographies of animators who joined Disney from CIA when the entertainment company was young and animation sprang from the tip of a pencil. There are movie posters for Snow White and Pinocchio and a string of subsequent blockbusters.

The wall is a good reminder of an important legacy.

“I like history,” Scalmato says. “I like the ties to CIA because I’m a CIA graduate. That’s why I started hanging up the posters. I really want to build a sense of pride that you’re going to school learning where all these prominent people have come from. It’s all about building the community.”

Kevin Geiger ’89

Zack Petroc ’97

Zharia Rahn ’21

Anthony Scalmato ‘07

Scholarship travels broaden artists’ perspectives

By Karen Sandstrom ’12

One of the hallmarks of the Cleveland Institute of Art’s dedication to its students is the century-old tradition of awarding named scholarships to a select group of students upon graduation. Known as the President’s Traveling Scholarships, the awards support the artists’ travels for the purposes of extending their practice and pursuing a project they have proposed in detail.

Since the first Agnes Gund Scholarship was awarded to Wilbur Peat in 1923, hundreds of alumni have had the opportunity to embark on adventures with this support from CIA. We caught up with a few recipients to learn about their experiences.

Josh Maxwell ’13 | Kelleys Island

A large crowd stood on the dock the day Josh Maxwell stepped off the ferry that had taken him to Kelleys Island in Lake Erie. Maxwell had come to work with sculptor Charles “Chuck” Herndon ’71, who has his home, gallery and a sculpture

garden on the island. When he saw the masses, he figured they were waiting to catch the ferry back to the mainland.

Instead, they had come simply to welcome him. It remains a vivid memory.

“They were just excited that there was an artist committed to doing their practice out there and supporting another artist who had already committed to the island,” says Maxwell. “And the reception continued. Not full time, but there were moments when you would just be in your own head exploring the island or downtown trying to get a bite to eat, and someone who would be like, ‘What are you working on today?’”

Maxwell earned his BFA in Biomedical Art. His scholarship experience grew out of his BFA project, a temporary exhibit that highlighted the coastal ecology of Lake Erie. He first met and interned for Herndon thanks to an introduction by longtime CIA professor Barbara Stanczak ’90. Continuing his exploration

of the Lake Erie coast, with Herndon as a guide, seemed like the next right move after graduating.

“I was learning the techniques of how he created his work, and then was essentially testing that out on my own work,” Maxwell says. “So it was a lot of failed tests, but I did get a couple pieces out of it at the end. And the best part about it was just being able to have that behind-the-scenes connection to Chuck.”

The experience launched him into work at the Cleveland Metroparks as an educational media assistant and, later, an interpretive experiences designer. Now Maxwell and his husband, Brendan Trewella, own Small Organization Solutions, a business management and design company that specializes in nonprofit organizations. Maxwell and Herndon still collaborate, too.

“I will bring him art supplies in early spring, and he will show me the newest boulder that he found on the beach,” he

Josh Maxwell ‘13 used his President’s Traveling Scholarship to study under Charles Herndon ’71 on Kelleys Island, Ohio. Submitted photo.

says. “And then we will go to town and create some work.”

Maxwell was recently awarded a Creative Impact Fund grant from Assembly for the Arts to establish an installation in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood. It will include a Herndon sculpture, garden and mural, and is expected to open in late spring.

The benefits of the traveling scholarship on Maxwell’s career have been profound and long-lasting, he says.

“I always had the desire to do more, to see more, to be a part of more,” he says. “This opportunity led me to far-reaching corners of myself and my art practice that I did not know existed or could exist.”

Amber N. Ford ’16 | New Orleans

In 2017, Amber Ford’s friend and fellow photographer Teresa Martinez ’14 visited Cleveland. Then together they made the thousand-mile drive to New Orleans.

The city, 300 years old and vibrating with culture and history, was also still struggling to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. When Ford applied for

a President’s Traveling Scholarship, she set NOLA as her destination with hopes of learning more about the place and its people and capturing it through her photography. A National Geographic workshop with photojournalist Tyron Turner was part of the draw as well.

“The focus of my work in New Orleans is on portraiture, the landscape in transition, and bringing these images together in a narrative series to uncover the resilience of these people and the land in recovery,” Ford wrote. “This work is a look at ‘home’ and ‘place’ in a region that has suffered enormous loss and yet strives patiently to revive itself, to rebound and thrive again as a cultural Southern Mecca.”

Her path to Mecca began with CIA’s alternative spring break, an annual trip that lets students experience New Orleans while they volunteer on rebuilding projects. She also had connected with Martinez, who lived there and spent time as a volunteer coordinator for a nonprofit that worked in disaster recovery.

During her trip, Ford made digital and film portraits, landscapes and documentary photos.

“The project was one of my first after graduating school,” she says. “I attended the National Geographic workshop, experienced a Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday Parade and documented a local volunteer group’s efforts to clean and rehab an old schoolhouse that had been out of commission since Hurricane Katrina.”

Among the highlights was attending the Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday Parade.

“Seeing a tradition remain extremely active, hearing how the suits are handmade, and watching all the beautiful Black folks, old and young, parade the streets with confidence and pride was in itself very powerful,” Ford says. “I saw and experienced an array of emotions and somehow the experience felt sort of spiritual.”

After she returned to Cleveland, Ford exhibited images from the trip online and at Zygote Press and HEDGE Gallery.

Ford now works as a gallery artist and freelance photographer. Her work has been published in The Atlantic, the New York Times and the Washington Post. She

Amber N. Ford ’16 made portraits of participants in the Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday Parade, a tradition that involves multiple Black communities from the New Orleans inner city. Submitted photo.

Josh Maxwell ‘13 gets to work at the Charles Herndon Gardens & Galleries on Kelleys Island. Submitted photo.

received the 2017 Ohio Arts Council’s Individual Excellence Award.

Andres Almy ’20 | Colombia

Andres Almy believes in the power of images and the power of the skateboard.

In his application for the President’s Traveling Scholarship, the Photography major described the skateboard as a mode of transportation, play, discovery, social interaction, problem-solving and learning perseverance.

The skateboard is fun, Almy wrote, and “it can change someone’s life.”

With that in mind, Almy invested his scholarship funds in a trip to Bogotá, Colombia, where he was born and had lived as a child before difficult family

circumstances caused him to be moved to an orphanage. He was eventually adopted by an American couple in Ohio, but he held to a goal of returning to Colombia, reconnecting with family there, and giving back to a community challenged by poverty and drug crime.

Almy’s project, “Push Forward,” aimed to use sports equipment and art to offer children ways to divert their attention from the challenges within their communities. He traveled by motorcycle and off-road vehicles and made connections within communities.

“By frequenting places where they gather, engaging in skateboarding and fostering a positive atmosphere, I drew individuals into the initiative,” he says.

He got equipment into the kids’ hands and documented the project through photographs and a film. One of his most memorable and unexpected experiences started with an invitation to join locals in a dinner in the desert of Neiva.

“The setting was unique, with an open block that once housed buildings now replaced by a charming shack featuring a kitchen and a bread oven,” he says. “As we sat down to a wooden table, Blondy, our host, served us an incredible homecooked Colombian meal. Little did we know that Blondy was one of the most respected figures in the city’s history as a drug queen. Despite her background, Blondy’s hospitality, generosity and contributions to the community stood out. The evening concluded with heartfelt hugs, leaving us with a sense of family and a shared commitment to looking out for one another.”

Almy is now a freelance photographer and videographer whose specialties include automotive and lifestyle work and drone videography.

“The Traveling Scholarship has been immensely valuable to my art practice,” Almy says. “It offered a transformative experience that enriched my creative perspective and allowed me to explore new dimensions in my work. It provided not only financial support, but also the

In Aguas Claras, Colombia, Andres Almy ’20 joins the first group of children to receive skateboards. Submitted photo.

Chi (Irena) Wong ’20 visited Thaihot Plaza in Fuzhou, China during her scholarship trip. Among travel scenes she sketched were an ice cream truck near Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong and a streetscape in Fouzhou. Submitted photos.

opportunity to immerse myself in diverse cultures, inspiring my artistic journey.”

Chi (Irena) Wong ’20 | Hong Kong

The magic of travel often grows in the gap between expectations and experience. This proved true for Chi (Irena) Wong, who used her scholarship for a trip with her family to Hong Kong and Fuzhou, China to explore where they had lived before immigrating to the United States. Wong had never traveled abroad.

Wong’s father had lived in Hong Kong before coming to the U.S. in the 1990s. During their visit, they stayed in the town of Sai Ying Pun, near where he and his family had lived.

“Even though the street and town have changed a lot, they were still able to remember the roads they walked and the businesses that had occupied those locations. I was able to eat the local foods and the cheap 7-Eleven meals that my dad and aunt ate in order to save money,” Wong says.

“Hong Kong unexpectedly became more precious, and made me feel more connected, than I had expected.”

By contrast, Fuzhou was “more fully Eastern,” and in some ways more distant, she adds. They visited a village where her grandparents and older relatives had lived, but there were fewer memories to mine.

Wong plans to use her travel sketches, photographs and memories to inform new drawings and paintings with a focus on architecture.

“Hong Kong has some insane architecture, especially since the island has extreme hills,” she says. “The way how the city was built on these hills really amazes me. I will be drawing inspiration from its hilly terrain, and also draw more food!”

Alison Alsup ’23 | Around Ohio

As Alison Alsup prepared for what would become a 3,500-mile journey on foot, bicycle and rollerblade through beautiful terrain in and around Ohio, she had a list of animals she hoped to see. Among them was the elusive bobcat, an unlikely prospect. But on an early morning while biking along the Ohio River, a bobcat and her kit appeared on the road 15 or 20 feet from her.

“I slammed on my brakes, and the mother bobcat and I just stared at each other for the longest time while her kitten hesitantly ran back and forth between mom and the woods they had just come from,” Alsup says. “The encounter probably lasted 10 seconds before a truck drove up and scared them off, but I was so excited I got to see that.”

The encounter was just one of many transportive experiences during Alsup’s scholarship-funded trip to explore and

make art about the natural beauty and culture of the Ohio region. Journeying for five months, traveling solo for virtually all that time, she biked the length of the Ohio River; hiked 1,100 miles of the Buckeye Trail and biked the remaining 344 miles; cycled the perimeter of Lake Erie and half of the Ohio to Erie Trail and wrapped up the last 140 miles on rollerblades with a friend.

At a campground in Canal Fulton, Ohio, a woman traveling with her mother, aunt and son extended fireside hospitality. “We exchanged stories about outdoor adventures and talked about how wonderful it is to be a woman and be outside,” she says. “It was just a really beautiful conversation to have with those three ladies.”

Alsup recalls a questionnaire she answered in one of her classes during sophomore year at CIA.

“One of the questions was what we want to do as an artist once we graduate, and I remember writing something along the lines of wanting to travel through adventure sports and make art about how curious and beautiful the world is,” she says. “The traveling scholarship from CIA fully launched me into my dream immediately after graduation. I’m just incredibly lucky and beyond grateful for it.”

Left: Alison Alsup ’23 traveled 140 miles on rollerblades during her five-month journey. Right: Paintings and drawings inspired by Alsup’s President’s Traveling Scholarship adventure. Submitted photos.

Fields reflects on CIA, SIE

By Michael C. Butz

Painter Bianca Fields ’19 has been on the move. In recent years, her career has taken her from the PLOP Residency in London to stateside exhibitions in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and overseas shows in Spain, France and Belgium. Up next is the Pratt>Forward residency in New York. And, she relocated to Boston from Kansas City last year with her partner, Jay Myers ’17.

But for the Northeast Ohio native, 2024 so far has been all about Cleveland. In January, she completed a monthlong residency at Vessel City Studio & Gallery in the city’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, and in February, she returned to the Cleveland Institute of Art to serve as a juror for the 2024 Student Independent Exhibition.

In between her juror duties and studio visits with CIA students, Fields paused outside of Reinberger Gallery to share some updates.

How does it feel to be an SIE juror?

I’m super excited. I’m very honored to be

able to feel involved again. I feel like when I was here as a student, I was trying my best to be involved, and it feels nice to reopen that threshold, being able to communicate and have some sort of impact on the nature of how these students are understanding themselves as artists.

How does it feel now being on the other side of SIE?

We haven’t fully gotten into the process yet but it seems like there’s a lot to cover and I’m really excited. It just makes me realize how much work goes into the process of making SIE happen. Also, simultaneously, the studio visits—those really matter. Going into the spaces and talking to the artists about how excited they are or some of the things they’re interested in doing. (And) whether or not it’s necessarily a positive thing, the level of productivity is just insane. There’s so much to work with.

How did CIA help prepare you for what you’ve experienced so far?

I feel like being at CIA, I never had experienced anything like it—having peers and people giving you immediate feedback. I didn’t really understand what

art even was. ... I didn’t realize it was possible to make art and to be true and to seek a career out of it. I think it functioned for me in a space that just seemed so real, and that discipline and feedback really encouraged me to see art as a more positive thing.

What advice or guidance from a faculty member helped prepare you for your career today?

Honestly, I think getting this really sensitive form of feedback about my paintings made me feel cared about and considered. I like to feel like I’m thought about or like someone has a plan for me, and that’s what I think about when I choose or think about the gallery relationships I have. … Being here at CIA, just having someone come within my studio space and really taking the time to think about the surface and the texture of work—it’s such a silly thing to do, and taking it so seriously made me feel really special. It’s good to feel special as an individual outside of being an artist!

Read more

To read our full interview with Bianca Fields, visit cia.edu/news

Bianca Fields ’19 conducts a studio visit with Theadis Reagins ’26 in advance of serving as a juror for the 2024 Student Independent Exhibition.

Alum’s generosity opens doors

By Lydia Mandell

Along his journey from modest beginnings growing up in Cuba to becoming a successful and accomplished designer, Jose Longoria has personified seizing opportunities. At age 12, he and his family relocated to Miami, and years later, his path took a defining turn when he enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Longoria graduated from CIA in 1981 with a BFA in Industrial Design, and today, he’s president of Longoria Design in Miami. However, having not heard of Industrial Design before attending CIA, Longoria’s trajectory wasn’t always clear. That changed when a high school teacher intervened and paved the way for his enrollment in art school.

“Mrs. Mitchell asked me, ‘What are you gonna do with yourself?’ And I didn’t have grand plans, coming from a humble background. But she saw potential and pushed me toward art school,” Longoria says. “She opened doors that I didn’t know existed.” With his teacher’s guidance, Longoria took commercial art classes at a vocational school. Mrs. Mitchell promised that no matter what projects he made, she’d help him arrange them into a presentable portfolio. Doing just that, Longoria was admitted into every art college to which he applied.

CIA’s competitive financial aid brought him to Cleveland, the farthest north he had ever been. Once there, Longoria found a vibrant community dedicated to artistic pursuit. “The intensity and dedication at CIA were unparalleled. It was like a monastic life, where everyone took art seriously,” he says.

Since his time at CIA and the inception of Longoria Design in 1987, Longoria has been designing, innovating and inventing products. From new designs of the Super Soaker water gun to creating the Quick Braid hair-styling device sold by Conair, Longoria has hundreds of patents, largely in the toy sector.

After decades of hard work and innovation, Longoria feels it is a full-circle moment to now give to the College.

Longoria’s commitment to giving back stems from a deep sense of gratitude for the opportunities afforded to him. “My parents couldn’t afford to send me to college. It was through scholarships and support that I was able to have this career,” he says. “Now, I have the opportunity to pay it forward and help make it happen for somebody else.”

Reflecting on his journey, Longoria offers advice to fellow alumni considering giving back to CIA: “It’s fulfilling. It’s something you’re connected to. I encourage generosity toward the Institute,” he says, emphasizing that a culture of generosity is what helped him attend school.

For Longoria, the act of generosity isn’t just about financial contributions, it’s about nurturing a culture of support and empowerment within the community. Through his giving and gratitude, Longoria ensures that future generations of artists and designers have the same opportunities that once changed his life.

Jose Longoria ’81 keeps many of the items he’s designed—including toys for Fisher-Price, Conair Quick Braiders and the HD Studio iMarker—around his home office in Miami. Submitted photo.

NOTES

Compiled by Jessica Moses

Viktor Schreckengost ’29* was the subject of a cleveland.com article that discussed the installation of his “Time and Space” sculpture at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Carol LaChiusa ’52 exhibited a selection of her watercolor work at the Grosse Pointe Congregational Church in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.

Gary Bukovnik ’71 has a solo show, Forever Spring, on view through March 24 at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica, California.

Gary Spinosa ’72 is the subject of an award-winning documentary, Divine Instinct, directed by James Gossard.

Constance Pierce ’73 was featured in a cover article for the January 2024 issue of Oxford Living magazine. The article

covers her long career in art and art education.

Leslye Discont Arian ’76 had work in Women’s Work: Reshaping the Abstract Narrative at Mansfield Art Center’s Elizabeth T. Black Gallery in Mansfield, Ohio.

Allen Hutton ’76 won the Best of Show Award in the Richmond Art Museum’s 125th Annual Exhibition. The painting was also purchased for the Richmond, Indiana-based museum’s permanent collection.

Babs Reingold ’78 had a solo show, Under My Skin, at SPAACES Art Gallery in Sarasota, Florida.

Caroline Burton ’80 had two exhibitions in 2023: Creative Destruction at the Garage Gallery in Beacon, New York

*deceased

and Way Finding, which closes in March at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton.

Andrea Serafi no ’80, Daniel Whitely ’83 and Eddie Mitchell ’87 had work in Orange Art Center’s Faculty Show 2023 in Pepper Pike, Ohio.

Rebecca Swanson ’81 had eight pieces from her Prismatica Collection purchased by Healing Arts of Montefiore, a women’s health radiology department in the Bronx, New York.

Andy Yoder ’83 had a traveling exhibition, Overboard, on view at Tysons Corner Center in Vienna, Virginia.

Kim Kulow-Jones ’84 has a sculpture in Celebration of the Book at Santa Fe Community College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

William Moore ’84 had work in the 3rd Annual Awards 2023 and Colorful Symphony with Biafarin in Toronto. He was recently included in Volume VI of Important World Artists from World Wide Art Books.

Joan Neubecker ’85, Robert Muller ’87, Todd Hoak ’91, Laura D’Alessandro ’93 and Sean Mabin ’93 had work in Art of the Trade: Artists Collecting Artists at Doubting Thomas Gallery in Cleveland.

Jeff Benedetto ’79, Karen Beckwith ’87, Dawn Tekler ’94 and Timothy Callaghan ’99 had work in The Cleveland Show at YARDS Projects in Cleveland.

John Carter ’87 was featured in Essex News Daily

David Buttram ’89 has work featured on the cover of the winter 2023 issue of CAN Journal

Kevin Geiger ’89 recently gave a talk entitled “Raising Resilient Children: Preparing Gen A for an Uncertain Future” at TEDxNTUE in Taipei, Taiwan.

Babs Reingold ’78

Bob Bruch ’94 received the Jeremy McGarvey Purchase Award from the 2023 Strictly Functional Pottery National at the Lancaster Museum of Art in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the James and Ana Ward Purchase Award from the 47th MidStates Craft Exhibition at the Evansville Museum of Art in Evansville, Indiana.

Sandra Williams ’94 was featured in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Nebraska Today, where her community outreach work and artistic journey as a teacher and creator were highlighted.

Bruno Casiano ’96 had a solo show, Traces of Color, at the Trudy Wiesenberger Gallery at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.

Adam Glaser ’98 was featured in The Middlebury Campus

Dana Schutz ’00 had a solo show, Jupiter’s Lottery, at David Zwirner in New York.

Jenniffer Omaitz ’02 curated Tangents: Abstract & Geometric Art in Northeast Ohio at Artists Archives of the Western Reserve in Cleveland. The show features work from Susan Squires ’83, Mark Howard ’86 and Natalie Lanese ’05

Thaddeus Wolfe ’02 was featured in an article by Stir Pad

Ryosuke Matsumoto ’03 opened Matsumoto & Kane Design, a design studio in New York City.

Rit Premnath ’03 spoke in a panel discussion, “Thriving on the Margins: A conversation between Radhika Subramaniam, Sreshta Rit Premnath, and Marisa Prefer,” at the Asia Art Archive in America in Brooklyn, New York. He also had work in Nothing but Blue: Michal Martychowiec and Sreshta Rit Premnath at Rodríguez Gallery in Poznań, Poland.

Michael Schmidt ’04 showed two animated short films in the Short Shorts Festival at Youngstown State University’s McDonough Museum of Art in Youngstown, Ohio.

Scott Colosimo ’04 was recently interviewed on the podcast All Things Green, where he discussed green

transportation and the work his Cleveland-based company LAND is doing in this arena.

Jessica Langley ’05 displayed light installations inspired by her paintings at Junk Drawer in Denver. She has also launched Versicolor Studios to showcase her work in various media.

Mark Reigelman ’06 discussed his installation work, “Threshold,” with South Coast Today.

Nate Cotterman ’07 and Molly Fitzpatrick ’05 had work in Functional Geometries, a group show in Context at 78th Street Studios in Cleveland.

Ashley Gerst ’07 was recently tenured and promoted to associate professor of Animation and Game Design at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, and has since been promoted to chair of its Department of Art.

Kate Kisicki ’07 won the first-place prize in New Masters 3: Women Artists of Northeast Ohio, which is on view at Ursuline College’s Florence O’Donnell Wasmer Gallery in Pepper Pike, Ohio. The show included work by Bonnie Dolin ’73, Leslye Discont Arian ’76, Susan Squires ’83, Judy Takács ’86, Karen Beckwith ’87, Hadley Conner ’88 (honorable mention), Jenniffer Omaitz ’02 (second-place prize winner), Natalie Lanese ’05 (honorable mention), Leigh Brooklyn ’11 (third-place prize winner) and Sydney Kay ’21

Leah Tacha ’07 had work in Fresh Teaser at Taylor University’s Metcalf Gallery in Upland, Indiana.

Nicholas Moenich ’08 released a 2024 calendar, “Joyride.”

Bryce Campbell ’09 was promoted to design director at Richardson Design in Cleveland.

Lauren Chaikin ’09 has work included in the DayGlo Show 2024 at Waterloo Arts in Cleveland.

Omari Souza ’09 gave a lecture, “Inclusivity Matters: Elevating Voices in the Anthology of Blackness,” with Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design

Collaborative at Third Space Action Lab in Cleveland.

Barbarita Polster ’10 wrote a review of an exhibition by the Viennese art collective Gelitin, which was featured in Artforum. Her solo show, Shooting the Breeze, was on view at The Ohio State University’s Farmer Family Gallery in Lima, Ohio. Polster was also awarded a Departmental Fellowship by the Comparative Literary Studies department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She will be attending Harvard’s Institute for World Literature program this summer, hosted by the University of Cyprus in Nicosia.

Crystal Gray ’11 recently received an award from the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts during the 3rd Annual Architects as Artists exhibition at Downtown Art Center in Honolulu. Her underwater photography was shot off the coast of O‘ahu, where she lives.

Josh Maxwell ’13 is a member of the 2024 class of the Foundations for Philanthropy program at the Cleveland Foundation.

Sequoia Bostick ’14 was interviewed by Cleveland Scene about Genghis Con Cleveland, the annual small press and indie comic con.

Kimberly Chapman ’17 was interviewed by Bold Journey.

Continued on page 15

ALUMNI

Riley Rist ’21

NOTES

Compiled by Michael C. Butz

Colby Chamberlain (Liberal Arts) was invited by Washington Project for the Arts in Washington, D.C. to discuss Fluxus scores and other forms of instruction art with artist Misha Ilin. His essay, “On Collaboration,” is forthcoming in the journal October.

Dan Cuffaro ’91 (Industrial Design) had two patents issued in 2023, bringing his total to 18. He also earned a 2023 Pro Tool Innovation Award for a product he designed, and he recently completed a multimedia model of CIA’s Interactive Media Lab that will serve to increase awareness of the project.

Maggie Denk-Leigh (Printmaking) will serve as a regional juror for the 2024 AXA Art Prize. She has work in The Forest is Calling, and I Must Create through April 21 at the West Woods Nature Center in Russell Township, Ohio. She had two works included in the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center’s Winter Exhibition in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. As CIA’s Joseph Motto Chair this year, she will take seven Printmaking students to the SGC International conference in April in Providence, Rhode Island, where she will also serve as a student mentor and participate in the “Printmaking as Community” panel discussion.

Gretchen Goss (Craft + Design) had work placed in multiple U.S. museums— including the Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock; and Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California—by the Enamel Art Foundation.

Scott Goss ’06 (Foundation) has a project, “Wind Farm,” scheduled to be installed this spring in Peekskill, New York. “Wind Farm” features five 64-inch-diameter pinwheels that will act as mini-turbines, collecting energy to self-illuminate. Another project, “Aboard,” consisting of three benches that collectively take the form of a schooner boat, is scheduled to be installed

this spring in Vermilion, Ohio. A third project, “NEST,” a playscape (sculptural playground) for the Lorraine Whitlock Elementary School in Washington, D.C., is scheduled for completion this summer.

Allison Hall (Foundation) will have a solo exhibition, Alchemy Dreams: Paintings by Allison Bogard Hall, from June 7 to July 6 at BAYarts in Bay Village, Ohio.

Benjamin Johnson (Craft + Design) had work included in OH+5—an allmedia juried exhibition of contemporary artwork that featured artists living in Ohio and its five bordering states—at the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio.

Natalie Lanese ’05 (Painting) is participating in The Limits and Outerlimits of Line, a group exhibition on view from April 21 to May 26 at Casa Regis – Center for Culture and Contemporary Art in Mosso Santa Maria, Italy. The exhibition includes Italian and international artists from Iran, Holland, Finland, China and the United States.

Amber Kempthorn (Drawing) had a solo exhibition, Sweet Monotony, at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio.

Jimmy Kuehnle (Sculpture + Expanded Media) discussed artificial intelligence and creativity during a virtual fireside

Allison Hall

chat hosted by the Entrepreneurship Education Consortium. The talk explored the varied impacts of AI on creative processes, practical applications of AI in fostering artistic innovation, limitations and boundaries of AI in creativity, and strategies for integrating AI into artistic education.

Nancy Lick (Illustration) recently exhibited three pieces in the juried show Go Figure at Article Gallery in Cleveland.

Steven Mastroianni ’88 (Information Technology) will have work in the Cleveland Eclipse Show from April 5 through May 3 at Pinwheel Gallery in Cleveland and in the Emerging Artist Exhibition from June 14 through July 5 at Roy G Biv Gallery in Columbus, Ohio.

Mike Meier ’10 (Painting) had work in Vivid Arrangements, a three-person show featuring work by regional artists working in vibrant color and bold imagery, at KINK Contemporary in Cleveland.

Katie Melnick (Graphic Design) and her company, Fizz Creative, will receive three American Advertising Federation design awards for work done on campaigns for Hola Island, Nut Dust and Tony Pino’s.

Jill Milenski (Student Affairs) has a solo exhibition, Colors of Europe: Oil Pastels by Jill Milenski, opening April 5 at Article Gallery in Cleveland.

Continued from page 13

Michael Laudi ’17 was part of a team that designed the Night Owl Stroller, which won a 2023 Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association Award.

Davon Brantley ’18 had a solo exhibition, Divided Together, at KINK Contemporary in Cleveland.

Alicia Lusetti ’18 was promoted to intermediate interior designer at Richardson Design in Cleveland.

Cass Penegor ’20 had work included in the BLUE issue of Polemical Zine, out in March. They were also interviewed for Voyage’s Bold Journey series.

Malou Monago (Institutional Advancement), through her role as Honorary Consul for Sweden to the State of Ohio, served as a panelist during the Collaborative Chambers Alliance’s International Women’s Professional Day event in Independence, Ohio.

Seth Nagelberg (Craft + Design) has work in the Annual Ceramic Invitational through March 30 at River Gallery in Rocky River, Ohio. The show also includes work by Faculty Emeritus William Brouillard, Craft + Design faculty member Andrea LeBlond ’95 and Studio Manager Alberto Veronica Lopez

Alyssa Perry (Liberal Arts) published a poem in River Styx.

Pat Sandy (Illustration) published Block Party: a Next Door Neighbors collection, the second volume of his comic strip Next Door Neighbors. Both volumes of his comic strip collections are available via Amazon, and Next Door Neighbors appears seven times a week at GoComics.com.

Zach Savich (Liberal Arts) presented his work at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri; the Cleveland Poetry Festival; and the New Orleans Poetry Festival. His new book of poetry, Momently, was published by Black Ocean Press.

FACULTY + STAFF ALUMNI

Rebecca Santo ’20 recently illustrated Merry and Hark: A Christmas Story, a children’s book by Genevieve Tucholke. It was featured in the Albuquerque Journal

Riley Rist ’21 had work in the Artlink 4th Annual Cup Exhibition at Artlink Contemporary Gallery in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He received the Student Award for best student work in the Annual Cup Show 2023 at the Krikorian Gallery in Worcester, Massachusetts. His work also appeared in By Hand – An International Fine Craft Competition at the Blue Line Arts Gallery in Roseville, California.

Samantha Schneider ’21 had a solo show, Root Beer Float: The Simple Pleasures of Childhood, at the Mansfield Art Center in Mansfield, Ohio.

Zachary Smoker ’11 (Fabrication Studios) has a solo exhibition, Inured, on view through April 13 at The Sculpture Center in Cleveland.

Valerie Temple (Continuing Education + Community Outreach) published an art book/zine called Horse Girls through Stone Church Press, which is available in locations across the country, including MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts.

Barry Underwood (Photography) had work included in the book A Place of Creation by Fariba Bogzaran.

Amani Williams ’21 (Reinberger Gallery) was interviewed by News 5 Cleveland regarding the Black Scholars and Artists exhibition Is It Because I’m Me BLACK!!? Also, she had work in Discover the Promise: Impact, Legacy & Perspective—a group exhibition of African American artists who live or have lived in Cleveland—co-curated by Artists Archives of the Western Reserve and on view at Cleveland City Hall. The show also included work by Charles Sallee ’38*, Miller Horns ’86*, David Buttram ’89, Dexter Davis ’90, Davon Brantley ’18 and Crystal Miller ’23.

Brent Kee Young (Emeritus) will deliver a presentation on his glass work May 10 at Seven Bridges Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Alyssa Lizzini ’22 created a mural in Cleveland’s Public Square through LAND Studio. She was also on the cover of the winter 2023 issue of Canvas, which included profiles of her, Nolan Meyer ’20 and Crystal Miller ’23.

Ethan Vodrey ’22 recently launched Considered Craft, a business for creating and selling his metal work in Cleveland.

Frank Hadzima ’23 had work in the 52nd Annual Juried Art Exhibition at Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The show also featured work from Judy Takács ’86, Kimberly Chapman ’17, Violet Maimbourg ’21, Madeline Davis ’22 and Tamsyn Kuehnert ’23

When you make a gift to the Cleveland Institute of Art, you are never giving alone. You belong to a community of like-minded alumni who understand the importance of supporting an institution where creativity is honored and individuality is celebrated.

Forest of Memories, an exhibition that represented a collaboration between Sculpture + Expanded Media and Reinberger Gallery, was a resounding success. During the opening reception in November 2023, the student artists who imagined, created and installed Forest of Memories gathered to celebrate. From left: CIA President + CEO Kathryn J. Heidemann, Sam Taylor ’26, Tumnus Rex ’24, Cora Terrion ’25, Casey Wehrman ’25, Ainsley Kasper ’25, SEM chair Jimmy Kuehnle, Soleil White ’24, Owen Britt ’26, Zion Monice Jones ’24, Lex Manieri ’26, Reinberger Gallery Director Nikki Woods ’12 and Kaylee Ryan ’25. Photo by Leah Trznadel ’19.

The Cleveland Institute of Art gratefully acknowledges the citizens of Cuyahoga County for their support through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

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