Link Winter 2023: It's All Relative

CIA Winter 2023

WELCOME People of Color (BIPOC), firstgeneration, mixed-raced, LGBTQ2SIA+ and other underrepresented students transitioning to CIA.

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hen I joined CIA in January 2020 as Vice President of Human Resources + Inclusion, I was challenged with forming a taskforce to address Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI). In the wake of the racial reckoning that summer, our initial concept was re-envisioned as the Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Awareness (IDEA) Council, which was formed with faculty, staff and students.

Bringing IDEA together was no easy task. We had to first understand how certain groups are marginalized in higher education and the arts. We wanted to be intentional about our DEI initiatives considering that we as an institution were embarking on new territory and needed to bring our community on board.

Using feedback from students, we made our first goal ensuring that CIA is welcoming to all. But how? I thought about my time in undergrad as a firstgeneration student. What helped me the most was a pre-orientation program that allowed me to arrive three days prior to freshman move-in.

With that in mind, Dean of Students Jesse Grant and I worked with IDEA to launch MOSAIC (Multicultural Orientation Series for Artists In College), which supports Black, Indigenous,

MOSAIC creates a foundation of community and resources before the start of the year while expanding students’ identity-based knowledge.

Incoming students are paired with upperclass student mentors who show them the ropes and check in throughout the academic year. From GPAs to retention, the benefits to students have been clear. And thanks to CIA’s Institutional Advancement team, we recently received a grant that will expand MOSAIC efforts in 2024.

In addition, IDEA partnered with CIA’s new Jane B. Nord Center for Teaching + Learning to launch TRI (transparency, responsibility and inclusion) Conversations. TRI Conversations include facilitated dialogue around poignant and provocative questions.

Past topics have included “How to Prevent, Identify and Address Microaggressions” and “The Harm of Silence: How Can We Learn to Acknowledge Issues of Inequity in Ways that are Both Powerful and Respectful?”

Looking ahead, IDEA will be partnering with a local Native American activist to refine CIA’s Land Acknowledgment and working with Academic Affairs to diversify faculty by exploring the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design fellowship program.

Are you interested in contributing to DEI efforts at CIA? The IDEA Council welcomes alumni input. Please contact Alex Burrage, Director of Alumni Relations + Scholarships, to discuss partnering on this important work.

Reach her at alumni@cia.edu.

Charise Reid is Vice President of Human Resources and Support Services + Chief Inclusion and Equity Officer.

On the cover: Industrial Design faculty member Jason Tilk ’97 chats with his stepson, Felix Mathoslah ’26, in Felix’s Illustration studio. Read about their and other CIA families on Page 8.

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Link Winter 2023 Vol. 27, Issue 2

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

Copyright © 2023 Cleveland Institute of Art

Kathryn J. Heidemann President + CEO Malou Monago Vice President of Institutional Advancement + External Relations Michael C. Butz Director of College Communications + External Relations Alexandra Burrage Director of Alumni Relations + Scholarships Brittney Esther Graphic Design + Communications Specialist Submit ideas and updates for Link: Mail Cleveland Institute of Art 11610 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44106 Email link@cia.edu Phone 216.421.7412

@cleinstituteart

Student Holiday Sale, 100 Show + Sale return Compiled by Michael C. Butz ’Tis the season for holiday shopping at CIA. The 2023 Student Holiday Sale and annual 100 Show + Sale will both take place from 5 to 9pm Friday, December 1 and from 10am to 6pm Saturday, December 2.

At the Student Holiday Sale, visitors can shop from nearly 80 creative CIA students selling glass art, necklaces, earrings, ornaments, ceramic cups, bowls and more. At the 100 Show + Sale, works of art by CIA faculty, students and alumni will be sold for $100 each (or in denominations of $100) in this studentorganized show and sale.

A shopper delights in her find during the 2022 Student Holiday Sale. Photo by Leah Trznadel ’19.

Sandstrom ’12 named Alumni Council president

Top row, from left: Kyla Epstein Schneider, Heather Holmes Dillard, Christopher S. Howse.

Bottom row, from left: Angela McDonald-Fisher, John Mueller.

CIA welcomes new Board members for 2023–24 At the Annual Meeting held in September, CIA officially welcomed the following leaders to its Board of Directors.

• Kyla Epstein Schneider is a senior leadership development consultantand executive coach for Ratliff & Taylor Leadership Development.

• Heather Holmes Dillard is a marketing, public relations, community engagement and event production professional who is Principal at The Raben Group and administrator for the Young Presidents’ Organization’s Black YPO Network.

• Christopher S. Howse is a technology specialist and entrepreneur who is president of Howse Solutions, Inc.,a fullservice IT consulting firm.

• Angela McDonald-Fisher is an experienced executive and enterprise strategy advisor who’s vice president and chief counsel of Global Contracts and Government Compliance at Eaton Corporation.

Karen Sandstrom ’12 was selected as the new president of the CIA Alumni Council.

Sandstrom, who earned her BFA in Illustration, began her term on November 1, replacing Deborah Pinter ’88. She will serve until September 2025, and in her role, she’ll preside over council meetings and serve as the liaison between the council and CIA staff. Sandstrom is a freelance artist focusing on hand-lettered and linework editorial illustrations, and whimsical maps and murals.

Mark you calendars for these CIA exhibitions In the coming months, there will be several noteworthy shows on view at CIA. Please join us! On view now in Reinberger Gallery is Forest of Memories, an immersive multimedia installation created by Sculpture + Expanded Media students and inspired by the wonders of the natural world. Using more than 40,000 LED lights, projection mapping and interactive sound, the exhibition imagines an extraordinary new world.

The 2024 Scholastic Art & Writing Exhibition will be on view from January 27 to February 9, and the 2024 Student Independent Exhibition will be up from February 23 to April 7.

Both will be in Reinberger Gallery. CIA’s Black Scholars and Artists student club will present its second annual Black History Month exhibition, Is It Because I’m Me BLACK!!?, February 2–29 in the Ann and Norman Roulet Student + Alumni Gallery and the Mary Ann and Jack Katzenmeyer Student Lounge.

In Memoriam Stanley Denek ’62 died September 25 and was an Industrial Design major. Bonnie Dumlao ’63 passed away September 1 and majored in Ceramics. Dawn Van Hall ’74 died October 5 and was a Photography major. Mary Lou Ferbert ’68 passed away August 10 and was a Painting major. Milan Kecman ’69 recently passed away. He was a Graphic Design major.

• John Mueller is retired managing partner of Partners Private Equity, LLC, which focused on acquisitions of established lower middle market businesses in manufacturing, value-added distribution and business services.

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CIA’s Latinx Club celebrates its successful Cafecito y Chisme event. Standing, from left: advisor Mei Peraza, Giovanna Mclean, Ana Ribeiro Duraes, Sid Rogers, president Julissa Bruno, Jax Juarez, vice president Luca Diaz, Claudia Bordelois, Marcella Telles, advisor Inali Pichardo. Kneeling, from left: Ian Smith, Abigail Quintana.

¡Hola! Latinx Club increases presence, activities at CIA

By Michael C. Butz

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usic that made you want to dance emanated from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Atrium.

Laughter and conversation echoed throughout, too, while students played cards and other tabletop games. The smell of warm coffee enticed dozens of students to stop by for a cup and to sample sweet baked goods, and a celebratory sense of togetherness was palpable.

This might describe any number of lunchtime events at the Cleveland Institute of Art, but this particular event was the first of its kind—and a big hit with the CIA community.

It was Cafecito y Chisme, the first event of the academic year for CIA’s 4

re-energized Latinx Heritage and Appreciation Club. Students, faculty and staff were invited to sip on Café Bustelo and sample guava pastries from Guaterriqueña Bakery in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood.

Luca Diaz, vice president of Latinx Club, thought the event “went really well” and said fellow members were “really happy to see people come and show support.”

“The Latinx Club events didn’t have great attendance last year, so I think we were all holding our breath a little bit to see how it’d go. But, we had a lot of people come by, a lot of people asking questions, and people looking to join the club and get involved,” says Diaz, an Interior Architecture senior. “I think it exceeded the expectations we had.”

Finding community Held in late September during National Hispanic Heritage Month, Cafecito y Chisme served as a coming out party of sorts for the Latinx Club. It was founded in February 2021, and following a year-and-a-half of modest beginnings, it now enjoys a core membership of eight to 10 students. When events like Cafecito y Chisme take place, member participation doubles. Growing that community is part of the club’s mission.

CIA’s student body has grown increasingly diverse in recent years. In fall 2023, 10.4 percent reported being Hispanic/Latinx. Ten years earlier, in fall 2013, it was 4.6 percent. But, as those figures suggest, the majority of CIA’s student body is white. So, finding community is critical for Latinx Club @cleinstituteart

members whose families have ties to Cuba, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Columbia and Venezuela, says Inali Pichardo, Latinx Club co-advisor.

“Being able to find other people of color or other people who share a Latin or Hispanic background is really important.

It’s like a security blanket. If you can’t find something, they might be able to help you find that something,” says Pichardo, who’s also the Office Manager + Events Coordinator for CIA Admissions.

“I believe the club was started for that reason. In the sea of otherness, or of white faces, you have people who look like you or speak the same language as you. Even if you’re not from the same country or ethnicity, you can still share similarities in your cultures.”

Latinx Club co-advisor Mei Peraza, who’s also CIA’s Residence Life Coordinator, says she wanted to help lead the club because she has worked with students in search of community or in need of cultural connection.

“Having been born in a Puerto Rican family, going to a Puerto Rican church, basically being surrounded by Puerto Ricans my entire life—socially, culturally—I thought it would be a great experience to be able to provide that opportunity to students who really didn’t have that chance to connect with their culture,” Peraza says.

to “coffee and gossip,” is culturally significant, explains Pichardo, whose family hails from the Dominican Republic.

“Having a coffee hour in a Hispanic or Latin household is very important. It’s literally an hour of relaxation and talking, sharing time with your parents or family members.”

Another part of Latinx Club’s mission is to share Latinx and Hispanic culture with the broader CIA community. Cafecito y Chisme was an example of that. So was Lotería, a game night held in early November revolving around a bingo-like game by the same name.

“It’s an opportunity to bond with family.

They get rowdy, they get loud. Culturally speaking, it’s a Mexican game,” says Peraza, noting that events like Lotería are open to the entire CIA community.

“For a lot of the Latinx students who attend the meetings, they want to have a visible presence on campus,” Peraza says. “They want to show people outside of CIA the diversity at CIA as well as share their culture with other students who haven’t really had an interest in Latin American or Hispanic culture.

“I think it was really exciting to see how many people participated in Cafecito and to see that the community

Calling all Latinx alumni If you’re a Latinx CIA alum and interested in sharing your experience as an artist or designer with Latinx Club members, you’re encouraged to contact club co-advisor Mei Peraza at miperaza@cia.edu to discuss in-person or virtual opportunities.

desires that connection and is willing to try new things,” she added.

Looking to the future, Peraza and Pichardo hope to eventually take students on field trips to Cleveland’s Hispanic and Latinx neighborhoods, collaborate with other Latinx clubs and organizations in Northeast Ohio, and to bring in Latinx CIA alumni for artist talks. They also hope interest in the club continues to grow within CIA’s walls—as does Diaz.

“I’d love to see it reach CAB level, like these big clubs,” he says, referring to CIA’s student-led Campus Activities Board. “I’d love to see it flourish. I’d love to see constant interest in the club.”

Members of CIA’s Latinx Club serve sweets and coffee to fellow students during Cafecito y Chisme.

Diaz, whose family was the first nonwhite family in their Rochester, New York neighborhood, finds value in the community provided by the Latinx Club.

“I’m half-Cuban, half-Puerto Rican. My hometown is very white. Outside of my household at home, I didn’t grow up around other Latinx people. We didn’t have any sort of ethnic clubs at my high school or anything like that,” Diaz says. “And then coming here, it’s not a super-diverse school, and so [I joined Latinx Club] partially because I wanted to connect with more alike people, but also, I wanted to help create a space for incoming students who are looking for that sense of community.”

Sharing culture Cafecito y Chisme, which translates 5

Above: Melissa Harvey ’23 shares her post-op vaginoplasty anatomy illustration. Next page: Harvey’s post-op metoidioplasty anatomy illustration. Both illustrations, as well as a post-op phalloplasty anatomy illustration, earned her the Association of Medical Illustrators’ 2023 Social Impact Award. Submitted photo.

Harvey pioneers illustrations of transgender post-op bodies

By Carlo Wolff

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Life Sciences Illustration degree was the ticket to a unique job for Melissa Harvey ’23. Her groundbreaking work as a medical illustrator for the MetroHealth System blends science and art and furthers her mission: to provide fresh knowledge to health care professionals sorely in need of information about transgender people.

affirming surgery, which is where Harvey’s illustrations come in. “I’m drawing post-operative bodies,” she says. “They’ve been through surgeries to change their genitalia, but there are still remaining anatomical features from their biological sex.”

Harvey works closely with Dr. Kirtishri Mithra, a reconstructive urologist affiliated with MetroHealth and University Hospitals, and Dr. Shubam Gupta, a reconstructive urologist at UH.

Harvey is one of the pioneers in illustrating vaginoplasty, a complex procedure to construct a vagina. Although she is not the first medical illustrator to focus on the transgender population, Harvey says she is the first to illustrate vaginoplasty’s post-operative anatomy. “The science I’m translating is definitely new,” she says.

One of her CIA professors notes Harvey’s academic acumen.

“She would always seek out instructors and mentors for advice and questions and apply that input in her work,” says Thomas Nowacki, chair of Life Sciences Illustration.

Gender dysphoria refers to psychological distress that results from a disconnect between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. This unease can lead people to consider gender-

Harvey’s meticulousness and forward thinking are winning acclaim. Her work on transgender anatomy won the 2023 Social

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Rare honor

@cleinstituteart

Impact Award for her submission at the Association of Medical Illustrators annual meeting in July. The ribbon signaling her achievement is on display at CIA, and she’s cited on the AMI’s website. The recognition makes her and her instructors proud.

“During the past two years, the AMI has added the Social Impact award to emphasize the need for diversity and inclusion in our work,” Nowacki says. “On average, 30 to 60 students enter pieces into the Student Salon, and often the other students are enrolled at graduate programs in medical illustration. So, it is no small feat for our students to win any of the awards.

“When it came to her senior work, she wanted to work on something that could have an impact,” Nowacki says. “Our work is made to educate an audience, so choosing a project on transgender anatomy was a topic that is not as fully covered for patients and medical professionals in this current day.”

“When we’re doing our thesis for senior year, we try to find a visual problem that hasn’t been solved yet, and what drives me personally is helping other people,” says Harvey, who considers her transgender illustrations a form of advocacy.

“If you Google any disease and scroll through the images, you don’t see anyone of a different color represented. It’s a huge issue,” she says. As a white person, “the best I could do is listen to other people, to minorities, and try my best to advocate for them. In my drawings, I try to rotate to get an equal amount of every race.”

She says that in her first meeting with MetroHealth, officials told her they wanted “a clear distinction of a couple of different races so we can hand out patient care information that’s appropriate for everyone.” In her illustrations, “our goal is to have a skin tone that you can see as a couple of different minorities.” Nowacki and Beth Halasz ’89, her CIA professors, share her goals and convictions. So do her associates at MetroHealth.

“Melissa Harvey has a stunning talent in illustration of human anatomy,” says Ginger Marshall, administrative coordinator of the Pride Network, an internal system at MetroHealth dedicated to LGBTQI+ individuals. “She has provided detailed drawings of standard bodies and excellent illustrations of surgical procedures and post-operative anatomic outcomes. Dr. Mishra, our urology surgeon who performs vaginoplasty, worked with her to show exactly what he wanted for use with patients.

Her work, and ability to turn what he described into art, was amazing.”

“I want everyone to feel comfortable getting medical help and patient care information and I want everyone to be treated the same,” Harvey says. “I think more people need to hire and illustrate different minorities.”

Benign ambition Harvey grew up in suburban Baltimore and has been drawing all her life. “I’ve never been able to communicate better than drawing, and technically, I’ve always excelled at it,” she says.

Helping that along: Harvey’s mother has been an art teacher for years, so “I got free lessons all my life.”

The work Harvey does on contract with MetroHealth occupies her days. She also freelances. “I sketch, I do ceramics. I paint. I work on this other contract for graphic design,” she says.

While art drives her, she’s also interested in science—she was accepted to an undergraduate biochemistry program at the University of Maryland—so CIA’s program, in addition to the scholarship money the College offered her, made Cleveland a natural landing.

“I had to find something I could afford,” she says, “and CIA ended up giving me a pretty good deal for illustration.”

Soon after Harvey arrived, she found out about CIA’s Life Sciences Illustration program, “so I ended up applying to that major and getting in and going from there. I think I have a little bit of impostor syndrome,” she says, laughing.

That may be, but one thing is for sure: not only does Harvey have options to ponder, she’s at the beginning of a career that is far more than promising. All she has to do is choose her direction, be that medical illustration, art therapy, or her “third dream career choice, to be a curator.”

Harvey is studying for her certificate of Medical Illustration and looking into working for a master’s degree in biomedical art, focused on 3D modeling, at the University of Toronto. She’s also considering working toward a master’s in art therapy, perhaps at Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore.

And, there are doctorate programs in museum studies at the Art Institute of Chicago.

“We’ll just see where the wind blows me at this point,” Harvey says. “I love helping people so much.”

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It's All Relative In some families, the CIA tradition runs deep

By Karen Sandstrom ’12

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h en people talk about how Cleveland Institute of Art students become part of an extended family, it isn’t just brochure copy. Between its small size and the students’ shared passion for art and design, many establish relationships at CIA that will become deep and long lasting.

But CIA also has a way of attracting actual families, too. Its alumni roster is rich with examples of parents, children, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters following each other through the doors and sharing the College’s traditions.

The Birchfields As home-schooled kids who made lots of field trips to the Cleveland Museum of Art, siblings Christi Birchfield ’06, Jerry Birchfield ’09 and Wendy Puerto ’11 knew early on that Cleveland was home to a college of art and design.

“Our mom grew up in Parma, and I think always thought that having an art college in town was quite exciting,” says Christi, a Printmaking grad who works with fiber and paper. “We always talked about the fact that CIA was there. I think that planted a seed early on in my head that that could possibly be an option.”

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when I would’ve started attending, and it was just like, whoa! This is it.”

An opportunity to play volleyball on scholarship first drew Wendy to Hiram College, but when it came time to decide on a career path, she wanted clarity.

Christi ’06, Jerry ’09 and Wendy (Birchfield) Puerto ’11. Submitted photo.

All three siblings enrolled in postsecondary classes at Cuyahoga Community College during their high school years, which was where Jerry’s interest in photography was piqued.

When it was time to pursue his bachelor’s degree, CIA was the only art school he considered.

Jerry, who now teaches at Case Western Reserve University and runs a photo business called Field Studio, also had taken CIA Young Artist classes on Saturday mornings and had visited during some of the few college critiques. “I remember being at a photo BFA prior to

“Through visiting Christi and Jerry at CIA, I became aware of the Industrial Design major from seeing the work in the hallways,” Wendy says. “I thought it was so cool that people designed objects for use in everyday life, and that I could impact someone’s daily life. So I transferred to CIA my sophomore year and went directly into the ID program.”

These days, Wendy does contract work for Kichler Lighting. She married ID classmate Gabe Puerto ’11. They have two children.

Like Wendy, Jerry married a CIA alum: Jessica Jurca Birchfield ’09. And the Birchfields’ father, Jerry Birchfield Sr., for many years helped run the CIA fabrication studios.

The Birchfields say their time at the College gave them rigorous training and a rock-solid approach to making work.

“We were taught how to problem solve,” Wendy says. “For every single project, @cleinstituteart

we went through a process of research, ideation or concept development, and refinement. I still use that process, whether for design or if I’m doing some sort of house project.”

Jerry appreciates having been in an environment in which taking artmaking seriously was the norm. “We were making pictures and making objects, and we were all focusing really hard on that,” he says.

Such support came from peers as well as faculty, adds Christi. “I was completely enamored by the people who were attending CIA. There were so many students who were just super invested in the work they were making. That raised the bar. I felt like, ‘Oh, you’re doing that? I want to do that, too.’”

advice on how to become a car designer and received a letter in return that recommended CIA. He still has it today.

John also had an advocate for CIA within his own family.

“My cousin Roger Anliker graduated from CIA in 1949,” John says. “He was a colleague of Andy Warhol at Carnegie Mellon. Roger was a Fulbright Scholar and spent most of his time as a professor of art at Temple University. His painting style is superb with delicate detailing.

Roger’s paintings involved multiple layers of meaning through each of his pieces.”

John, in turn, inspired son Bill ’01 and daughter Rachel ’06 to attend CIA. Both graduated with BFAs in Industrial Design.

Bill had an early interest in drawing and sculpting. He attended classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art along with CIA Young Artist classes on Saturdays. In ninth grade, he attended a car design class taught by CIA student Dan Cuffaro ’91—now chair of Industrial Design.

“I will never forget attending the ID Spring Show in high school and seeing the amazing work of the design majors,” Bill says.

John ’72 and Bill Nottingham ’01. Submitted photo.

The Nottinghams The Nottingham name is well known within CIA and the design world at large.

After graduating from CIA in 1972, John Nottingham and John Spirk created their product and innovation firm, Nottingham Spirk. To date, the company has built a team of 80 associates (including many CIA alumni) and developed 1,400 patents related to well-known household products and medical devices.

John Nottingham had always loved drawing. While growing up in Sharon, Pennsylvania, he was drawn to automotive design and was curious about how products were made. “I remember discovering industrial design in the seventh grade and I knew immediately what I wanted to do.”

He wrote to General Motors asking for

After graduation, Bill was hired by General Motors, where he developed interior and exterior designs for Cadillac. He also worked at a Chicago design consultancy before returning to Cleveland to join the family business. He spent about 20 years at Nottingham Spirk.

Bill started at Nottingham Spirk as a designer, eventually led client projects, and forged new business opportunities, including building a network with Fortune 500 companies. John credits Bill for motivating Nottingham Spirk to focus on integrating technology into product design and developing consumer electronics.

John and Bill value the ongoing connections to former CIA classmates, many of whom are notable leaders in design. They also stress the importance of how CIA connected students to professional mentors in everyday instruction, through sponsored projects from automotive companies, toy manufacturers and others.

The Vaiksnorases To say the creative force was strong in the Vaiksnoras family is an understatement.

All four daughters of Anthony ’42 and Laurie Vaiksnoras grew up in a household that encouraged artmaking, and when it came time to go to college, all four chose CIA. Both parents were artists, and their father was a huge influence.

“We had this desire to make art because we watched him do it,” says Andrea Vaiksnoras Uravitch ’72. “He was a really good dad. He was really available for us.”

Andrea, who earned her degree in Fiber + Material Studies, focused on an art career from the start.

“I wanted to be a person who exhibited artwork,” she says. “Then the old classic thing happened: I met a guy, we got married, he took care of me, we had children.” But the artmaking almost literally never stopped. “I was crocheting while I was in labor,” Andrea says.

Sister Debbie Vaiksnoras Stenger ’74 followed Andrea to CIA and sought a Graphic Design degree with the idea that it would be reliable.

“I did it for several years, but I was not happy doing it because I enjoyed doing my own artwork,” Debbie says. “But I have used all the skills that I got from CIA Andrea ’72, Debbie ’74, Lisa ’90 and Kristina Vaiksnoras.

Submitted photo.

Today, Bill is the founder and CEO of InnovateNOW LLC, which invests in, advises and partners with high-growth companies. He also is a partner with his dad and Alison Liscoe Nottingham in Nottingham Unlimited Ventures, which has a portfolio of investments in more than 31 innovative companies.

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throughout my life, the graphic skills and everything else. Now I’m doing my photo collage and loving it.”

“I had an Industrial Design major and a Painting minor,” Larry says. “The last time I used oil paints was in school, and then I got into acrylics, and that was fun. But then I picked up watercolors, and I love it. I join these shows, and they have deadlines.

That’s the only way I can get anything accomplished—having a deadline.”

Sister No. 3, Kristina Vaiksnoras Parker, spent two and a half years at CIA, where she learned printmaking and loved it.

Then a beloved professor who taught her how to print on fabric left the College, and silk screening on fabric went by the wayside. Kristine transferred to the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she graduated in 1977.

By the time Lisa was old enough to be thinking about college, the family dynamics had changed. Their father died when she was just 6, but encouragement was all around her.

“My art teacher in high school pretty much said, ‘You should apply to CIA.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, come on, my whole family has done it. Are you serious?’”

She earned her BFA in Fiber + Material Studies in 1990.

Lisa says she has used her CIA experience in every job she’s ever had, including her current role as a lead in the specialty cheese department (“Great job!”) at Heinen’s grocery store.

All four women have valued their schooling as well as their father’s legacy.

“Our father used to say, whatever you’re doing, make sure it’s good,” Kris says.

“Whether it’s a small job or a big job, if you’re doing something creative, then this is who you are. We’re all very driven.

Whatever we’re doing or whatever we’re involved in, it looks fabulous.”

Jason Tilk and Felix Mathoslah When Jason Tilk ’97 talks about his time as a CIA student, he paints a picture of someone dashing from the Glass studios, where he was a major, to Industrial Design, Ceramics and Metals, breathing in everything about every discipline he could explore.

“I ran all over this school when I was here. I think the nature of the possibility of doing interdisciplinary work is a massive part of the benefit of CIA,” he says. “And I like that Felix is getting a good taste of that.”

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Jason Tilk ’97 and Felix Mathoslah ’26.

Felix, Jason’s stepson, is a sophomore Illustration major. He came into the College with thoughts of making comics, and now finds his appetites are broadening.

“Foundation year was a huge thing,” Felix says. “I had this 3D design course. I made this piece that was supposed to be talking about line, using soft sculpture. That really broadened my horizons. Something about using textiles and fabrics and felting, and just feeling something in your hands and making it, is fulfilling in a way I didn’t know it was.”

Felix has watched Jason thrive in a wide-ranging, multidisciplinary career that involves being an industrial design consultant, a CIA professor of practice in Industrial Design, and, with his wife Danielle (Felix’s mom), creator of the vaudeville theater act Pinch and Squeal.

That variety is inspiring.

“I’m interested in doing anything and everything, just acquiring as many skills as possible, so that 30 years from now, I’ll have a weird string of different jobs that all match together somehow,” Felix says.

“I think that’s the goal.”

While Larry’s career-building years are behind him, son Ryan ’03 is in the thick of things. Right out of CIA, he was hired

by Chrysler, and he has been with the company ever since. In summer of 2023, he was promoted to Head of Design, Interior Design Vice President for all the North American brands at Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler).

The most important lesson Ryan took from his years at CIA is an understanding that there’s no such thing as resting on laurels.

“You have to keep working your butt off no matter what,” he says. “Even if things seem set in stone or laid out for you as best as possible, you really never know what’s going to happen.”

And then, he adds, designers do well to approach work like a team sport. It’s easy for students to think only in terms of making themselves a star performer.

And while they do need chops, they’ll need more than that to make themselves valuable to an employer.

“When you’re at a job, it’s expected that you’ll be at a certain talent level,” he says. “You got in the door, and you’re at that talent level. It’s how you work with everyone else that enables you to make the next leap.”

Ryan ’03 and Larry Nagode ’74. Submitted photo.

The Nagodes The auto industry was in a downswing in 1974, when Larry Nagode graduated from CIA with a BFA in Industrial Design. So he took a job at the Ideal Toy Co. and found that the toy industry was—surprise!—fun.

He worked at Ideal for three years before signing on with Fisher-Price in East Aurora, New York. He spent 37 years there before retiring, picking up a brush and diving back into watercolors.

@cleinstituteart

Brittany Lyn Batchelder ’19 and two cards from her forthcoming publication, The Avian Tarot. Images of cards courtesy of Batchelder and Chronicle Books.

Giving supports arts journey

By Lydia Mandell

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rittany Lyn Batchelder ’19 earned her BFA in Illustration and today is a practicing artist in Hooksett, New Hampshire.

Not only that, but she’s about to become a published author. Along her creative journey, fostering community and bringing it into her artistic practice have been essential.

Batchelder’s forthcoming publication, The Avian Tarot, started as her BFA and is now set to be published by Chronicle Books in December. It includes 78 tarot cards and a 220-page guidebook, but significantly, The Avian Tarot brought together her illustrative skills and her love for research. Each bird’s documented history—which concerns esoteric, theological and even scientific writing— was taken into consideration when aligning them with the original arcana.

Getting to the point of publication is no simple task, and Batchelder recognizes the necessity for financial and emotional support as a professional artist. So, she decided to make her first donation to CIA.

“My second publication is currently in the process of finding a home to get published, so I know how difficult it can be after the college experience. It is very competitive, especially in the arts, and just trying to keep moving forward and hone your craft while balancing other responsibilities can be very, very difficult,” she says. “So, I felt [motivated to] financially give back to the College to support students not only with their tuition but also to support them on their creative journey even after they graduate.”

Having a creative network is something Batchelder finds of the utmost importance for artists. To build that support, she established the Granite State Creatives, a small, casual group for art lovers, artists and people interested in creative awareness in New Hampshire.

The necessity to have such a group arose from her time at CIA and in Greater Cleveland’s arts community.

much. So, I’m basically providing my local community with the knowledge that I gained from living in Cleveland [and] being exposed to different kinds of creatives,” she says. “And with the experience that I have from there, [I am] able to provide opportunities to people here who otherwise didn’t have that same opportunity [for an artistic learning community] that I had when I was their age. I act as a tutor and a mentor.”

What advice does Batchelder have for fellow alumni who might consider joining her in supporting young creatives at CIA? “If there’s anything I’ve learned from being in the workforce for four years now, it’s that when you give back, you’re helping others—and in turn, you can receive something in return. Not exactly toward your specific endeavors, per se. It’s just being connected, being with people and having that support system that makes all the difference in the world.”

“The reason why I loved Cleveland is that the art scene was a lot more present.

Whereas in New Hampshire, not so 11

NOTES

*deceased

Compiled by Alexandra Burrage

Abel Warshawsky 1905*, Clara Deike 1912*, Viktor Schreckengost ’29*, Joseph O’Sickey ’40*, Julian Stanczak ’54*, Gary Bukovnik ’71 and Susan Squires ’83, were included in Cleveland-based Bonfoey Gallery’s 130th Anniversary Exhibition.

Harold Zisla ’50* is the subject of “The Children of Late Artist Harold Zisla Dedicated to Finding Homes for His Art” in Bloom Magazine.

Ron Testa ’65 had work in Nude Geographies, In-Between Moments and The Found Object at Praxis Photo Arts Center in Minneapolis.

Maida Barron ’66 served as a juror for the Cain Park Arts Festival in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Margaret Fischer ’69 was featured in Case Western Reserve University’s Joe Stavec ’80

community-wide email, “The Daily,” which celebrated her retirement after 50 years as an art instructor.

Kim Zarney ’71, Bonnie Dolin ’73, Julianne Edberg ’76, Jeff Benedetto ’79, Alan Mintz ’80, Karen Beckwith ’87, Andrea LeBlond ’95, Lynne Lofton ’97, Brian Sarama ’10, Kelly Pontoni ’19 and Violet Maimbourg ’21 had work in NewNow, an exhibition from Artists Archives of the Western Reserve held at Tri-C Gallery East in Highland Hills, Ohio.

John Parker ’75 had work in the 6th Annual Mount Clemens Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in Mount Clemens, Michigan; the 18th Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio; the 6th Annual Moross Greenway Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in the Detroit/Grosse Pointe area, Michigan; Salmagundi XXVII at the Maria V. Howard Art Center in Rocky Mount, North Carolina;

the 3rd Annual Apex Sculpture Walk in Apex, North Carolina; and the 2023–24 National Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Scott Johnson ’77 launched two projects in 2023 with design work for Snow Abu Dhabi, an enchanted forest of story-driven snow play, sledding, rides and a restaurant, and the bluesky design for Sea World Abu Dhabi’s Hypersphere 360 dome. Johnson also designed VERNE, an undersea exploration rover that roams and interacts with dome guests.

Jill Edwards ’78 had work, “Watermelon, banana and grape necklace,” included in Food and Fashion at the Museum at FIT in New York City.

Joe Stavec ’80 won the Best of Show award at the 47th Annual Fairmount Art Exhibition at Fairmount Center for the Arts in Russell Township, Ohio. First- and sixth-place awards were received in the surrealism category, and a firstplace award was received in the fashion category at the 2023 World Art Awards.

Work was also featured in the BIG @SS @RT SHOW at the Gallery at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio.

John Hrehov ’81 had work at the Gallery Victor in Chicago. Hrehov’s painting, “Found Glove,” was awarded the Elouise “Blondie” Memorial Award at the 80th Annual Salon Show at South Shore Arts in Munster, Indiana.

George Kozmon ’82, Leigh Brooklyn ’11, Davon Brantley ’18, Alyssa Lizzini ’22 and Painting faculty member Tony Ingrisano had work in ON LINE: Drawing our Reality at YARDS Project in Cleveland.

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

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@cleinstituteart

William Moore ’84 had work in Abstract 2023 with Los Laguna Art Gallery in Laguna Beach, California and My Utopia: Confessions of an Ancestor with Biafarin and Exhibizone in Canada.

Mark Howard ’86 had a solo show, In Color, at HEDGE Gallery in Cleveland.

Eric Tuck-Macalla ’86 had work in ON LINE: Drawing our Reality at YARDS Project in Cleveland; Trauma in Place, the Chautauqua National Juried Exhibition at EKU Giles Gallery in Richmond, Kentucky; and the HWD Juried Sculpture Exhibition at Rosewood Arts Center Gallery in Kettering, Ohio.

Judy Takács ’86 received the firstplace award in the 2023 Art of the Heartland National Competition with Southwest Artists and Mena Gallery in Mena, Arkansas. Takács was also awarded first-place at the 21st Annual Kaleidoscope Juried Exhibition at Summit Artspace in Akron, Ohio. She had work in the Second Annual Paul and Norma Tikkanen Painting Prize at Ashtabula Arts Center in Ashtabula, Ohio and the 14th Annual Figurative Drawing and Painting Competition with Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

Linda Zolten Wood ’87 was commissioned by Lakeside Chautauqua to create paintings to celebrate the area’s 150th anniversary.

Earl James ’88 was featured by Ideastream Public Media for his designs of the Cleveland Foundation’s AnisfieldWolf Book Awards. A solo show, Lingering Impressions, was on view at Sixty Bowls Gallery in Cleveland.

Christine Bonner ’89, Laura D’Alessandro ’93 and Connor Goodwin ’20 had work in Stranger Things at YARDS Projects in Cleveland.

David Buttram ’89 had a solo show at Framed Gallery in Cleveland.

Kevin Geiger ’89 co-created and produced an animated series, ORION DSSR: Deep Space Salvage & Recovery, which was selected as a Project to Screen by the Taiwan Creative Content Fest. A new children’s book, Grandpa Groundhog, was also recently published.

Ewuresi Archer ’22

Kristen Cliffel ’90 had a solo show, Domestic Endeavors; Feats and Service at the Burton D. Morgan Gallery with Akron Soul Train in Akron, Ohio.

Thomas Frontini ’90 has a solo show at William Busta Projects in Cleveland. The opening also served as a book release and signing for Frontini’s Painter in the Woods.

Yuko Kimura ’94 had work in Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper at Dayton Art Institute in Dayton, Ohio.

Danielle Doré ’97 and her business, The Mud Room Pottery Studio, were featured in an article by The Land.

Timothy Callaghan ’99 had work in Scenes and Scapes at Lorain Community College’s Stocker Arts Center in Elyria, Ohio.

Jenniffer Omaitz ’02 had work in A Precarious Situation at Gallery West at Cuyahoga Community College’s

Western Campus in Parma. Work also appeared in Shapes of Abstraction: Nine Women Artists, a group also featuring Rebecca Kaler ’64, at Context Fine Art in Cleveland.

Susan Špiranović ’03, Adam Holtzinger ’04 and their company, KEEP, were honored at the UrbanGlass Gala in Brooklyn, New York.

Chris Jungjohann ’05 and his agency, Recess Creative, led the recent redesign of the City of Cleveland’s website.

Sarah Lohman ’05 wrote a second book, Endangered Eating, which was published

by W.W. Norton & Company.

Valerie Mayen ’05 recently opened a new permanent location for Yellowcake Shop, a boutique she founded, in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood.

Nicholas Moenich ’08 was named a 2023 Pollock Krasner Foundation Grantee.

Continued on page 15

13

NOTES Compiled by Michael C. Butz

Brittney Esther (Institutional Advancement) has an oil painting, “Hushed,” in the 52nd Annual Juried Art Exhibition at Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls, Ohio through December 13.

Rachel Ferber (Foundation) had her video piece, “An Inadequate Anthology of Smudges (Part One)” included in Wake… Sleep… Dream, a group exhibition on view through November 17 in Beeler Gallery at Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio.

Amani Williams ’21

Jennifer Grimes (Graphic Design) will present “DIY Data Visualization: Tips, Tricks, and Tools to Tell Your Story” at the Learning Guild’s Learning & HR Tech conference in April 2024 in Orlando. This is her second time presenting at this conference. She spoke last April about how to improve learning outcomes of eLearning courses by implementing select UI best practices along with evidence-based principles of multimedia learning.

Steven Gutierrez (Foundation) was commissioned to create a solar art sculpture for the Firefly Trail in Athens, Georgia. He will create two firefly sculptures that will serve as art and also as a sun canopy due to the high temperatures of Georgia.

David C. Hart (Liberal Arts) and collector Kerry Davis had a conversation organized by the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, “Finding Their Way: Abstract Art by Black Artists,” on November 15 via Zoom. This program accompanied the exhibition Tangents: Abstract & Geometric Art in Northeast Ohio, on view through December 16 at AAWR in Cleveland.

Tony Ingrisano (Painting) had work in a group show, ON LINE: Drawing Our Reality, at Yards Project in Cleveland.

Benjamin Johnson (Craft + Design) had his work, “True Color Light Path,” included in the 47th Mid-States Craft Exhibition, a juried show on view from November 24 through March 17 at the Evansville Museum in Evansville, Indiana.

Amber Kempthorn (Drawing) was invited by the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio to serve as its 2023–24 Kershaw Lecturer. Her lecture will take place in March and will be accompanied by a solo exhibition in Mount Union’s Sally Otto Art Gallery.

Scott Lax (Liberal Arts) saw his play, 1970, enjoy a successful world premiere and six-performance run at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The play is based on his novel, The Year That Trembled. He subsequently reached an agreement with CVLT to stream the theater’s professionally produced video of 1970 on its YouTube channel, making it free to everyone.

Obtain the link at 1970theplay.com.

Nancy Lick (Illustration) had two pieces exhibited in the Skull & Skeleton Show at The Gallery at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio.

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@cleinstituteart

FACULTY + STAFF

Sarah Paul (Sculpture + Expanded Media) recently received a Satellite Fund Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Regional Regranting Program, which is administered locally

by Cleveland-based SPACES. She will use the grant to produce a solo exhibition, Fiber Chambers, in which she’ll use media installation and multimedia objects to explore the state of simultaneously being in and out of body in the interest of fostering a space to heal from trauma.

Charise Reid (Human Resources) was a table champion at an event hosted

by Your Partner in HR in October. She presented on DEI in Recruitment and Talent Management.

Zach Savich (Liberal Arts) published the essay “On Arrangement,” about selection and sequence in collections of poetry, in the journal On the Seawall. He also appeared

on a panel about environmental writing and was a featured performer at Literary Cleveland’s Inkubator Writing Conference.

Anthony Scalmato ’07 (Animation) had illustrations created in 2023 published in the Jacquie Lawson Colouring App for holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day, Father’s Day, Fourth of July and Halloween. Also, his 10 years at the helm of Animation was marked by a student film showcase on October 18 that celebrated the program, screened award-winning CIA student films and brought together alumni from the classes of 2013 through 2023.

Anthony Schepis ’55 (Faculty Emeritus) had his 1975 oil painting, “Closures Three,” acquired by the Akron Art Museum for its Permanent Collection.

Barbara Stanczak ’90 (Faculty Emeritus) has a solo exhibition, Spirit & Matter, at

the Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio. It runs through February 4, 2024.

Barry Underwood (Photography) has worked on an e-newsletter, Environmental Illuminations, for his website. Subscribe at barryunderwood.substack.com.

Meghan Wagner (Liberal Arts) had short stories published in Nashville Review, Cutleaf, Ohio State University’s The Journal, Boudin and the Cleveland Review of Books in recent months.

Amani Williams ’21 (Reinberger Gallery) was awarded the Eterovich Award from the Cleveland Art Association (carta). The award is presented to emerging artists within carta’s collection and serves to support those artists in Cleveland. Carta acquired her piece “Do You Really See Me?” this summer. It can be seen next year in carta’s annual membership auction.

Continued from page 13 Omari Souza ’09 released a new book, An Anthology of Blackness, The State of Black Design, by MIT Press.

National Park Program and has work and writing published in the Polemical Zine’s 19th issue, Blue, in Fall 2023.

Lauren Yeager ’09 participated in a panel discussion, “Canal to Cuyahoga: Everlasting Plastics in Context,” at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The talk was hosted with the museum, Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Art History and Art and SPACES.

Destyni Green ’21 recently graduated with a Masters in Art Administration from the University of Kentucky in Lexington and presented research on equitable leadership at the university’s Social Theory, Politics & the Arts Conference. Green co-organized and spoke at the Women’s Perspectives in Art Administration Symposium in September. Green is also the coordinator for Orange Art Center in Pepper Pike, Ohio and program director for One Set, a new educational nonprofit in Maple Heights, Ohio.

Crystal Gray ’11 was named creative services director for architecture firm AHL. Emily Hromi ’14 was interviewed by BoldJourney.

Amber N. Ford ’16 had a solo show, UNTITLED (I Really Just Made This Work So I Could Heal), at Akhsotha Gallery at ATNSC in Cleveland. Work was also on view in 100% Kanekalon at George Fox University’s Roger and Mildred Minthorne Gallery in Newberg, Oregon.

Ariella Har-Even ’19, Alicia Telzerow ’20, Eli Betchik ’21 and Amanda Greiner ’22 had work in New & Now: Emerging Artists of Ohio 2023 at the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus, Ohio.

Cass Penegor ’20 wrote a poem for Kent State University’s Cuyahoga Valley

Sydney Kay ’21 has a mural at Cleveland Public Library’s Harvard-Lee branch.

Riley Rist ’21 will graduate this fall with a Master’s of Science in Anthropology from Minnesota State University in Mankato.

Work also appeared in The Clay Cup VI: Vessel, Icon, Canvas at the University of Missouri’s George Caleb Bingham Gallery in Columbia, Missouri and the Annual Cup Show 2023 at the Krikorian Gallery in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Samantha Schneider ’21 had a solo show, Betwixt, at River House Arts in Toledo, Ohio.

Ewuresi Archer ’22 had a solo show, You Are Invited; Your Hands and Mouth Are Not, at the Burton D. Morgan Gallery with Akron Soul Train in Akron, Ohio.

Alyssa Lizzini ’22 had a solo show, Field Drawings With Alyssa Lizzini, at SPACES in Cleveland.

Emberlynn Miao ’23 is a winner of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) 2023 Student Merit Award.

Crystal Miller ’23 had a solo show, DRMWRLD, at Maria Neil Art Project. Her work also appeared on the cover of CAN Journal’s fall 2023 issue.

Emily Zhang ’23 designed the poster for Genghis Con Cleveland 2023, a small press and independent comic convention.

Satellite Fund Awards from SPACES and the Andy Warhol Foundation were awarded to Erykah Townsend ’20, Ewuresi Archer ’22 and Sculpture + Expanded Media faculty member Sarah Paul.

Assembly for the Arts grants for arts in redlined communities were awarded to Linda Zolten Wood ’87, Georgio Sabino III ’09 and Josh Maxwell ’13.

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CIA faculty and staff members, from left, Alyssa Perry, Sarah Paul, Mike Meier ’10, Erin Duhigg ’11, Zak Smoker ’11 and Tony Ingrisano celebrate the opening of the 2023 Faculty Exhibition back in August. Photo by Leah Trznadel ’19.

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