CORNISH. ART & Design
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BFA Show Installation (detail), 2011 Photo: Winifred Westergard
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EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Cornish College of the Arts does not discriminate in education or employ足ment on the basis of: gender, race, national origin, religion, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability or veteran status. This policy is consistent with relevant federal regulations and statutes, including those pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Questions regarding the application of this policy and information on services for disabled persons may be referred to the Dean of Student Affairs or the Director of Human Resources.
ART & DESIGN AT CORNISH
During your high school years it is likely that you explored a broad range of visual art forms— painting, illustration, sculpture, graphic design and more. Yet the tools, working environments and opportunities for artists and designers can be quite different. College is where you start making choices so you can sharpen your skills and discover your path.
Cornish provides you the opportunity to understand what inspires you and appeals to the future you see for yourself—fine art or design? We will help you align your talents and ambitions to the department and concentrations that will help you succeed in the future. At Cornish, you have a range of opportunity and choice in the visual arts, with two equally strong departments: Fine Art and Design. Both share the strengths that make Cornish a special place to study all of the arts. Your faculty are working artists and teachers. They know the importance of developing your own artistic voice and understand the real world you’ll enter after college.
BFA Show, 2012 Photo: Winifred Westergard
You know you want to study art, but do you know all of your options?
Show & Tell Show, 2011 Photo: Winifred Westergard
ART & DESIGN AT CORNISH
In each department, you start with a strong foundation year that gives you tools and skills upon which you’ll build. These classes and instructors will guide you toward the concentration (or concentrations) that will lead you to becoming the artist you are meant to be. In both Fine Art and Design, you’ll meet visiting artists that open up new perspectives and be supported as you start to develop your career. Through assistantships and internships, you’ll have the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned in a real-world setting.
You will experience all of this in Seattle, a global center of creativity. Providing you a wealth of museums, galleries, award-winning design firms and some of the most innovative companies in the world—combined with a lively arts community in both the performing and visual arts—you will be inspired in and out of the classroom.
“I was drawn to [their approach to teaching] art and design — fostering not only a community of artists to collaborate with and be inspired by but also an education that helped me to develop my own sense of who I am as a designer.” — Ashley Widman, DE ’08, Designer/NBBJ
Art Department BFA Exhibition 2012, Photo: Winifred Westergard
ART & DESIGN AT CORNISH
At Cornish, you have the opportunity to explore how your artistic choices can be enhanced by all of the arts. You will find elective courses to bridge Fine Art and Design. You also work with students from other disciplines (Art, Music, Dance, Theater, and Performance Production) via elective coursework and independent study. This potential for crossover represents an exceptional, and highly unusual, array of opportunities for Art and Design students.
Imagine: working on a motion piece with original music scored and performed by fellow students; collaborating with theater students whose voices bring your animation to life; partnering with lighting design students to illuminate a special installation; designing a poster to promote colleagues’ performances and exhibitions.
“Cornish is where I really started working on my work. I walked away with a sense of what it really takes to be a professional visual artist.” — Karen Guzak, AR ’76, artist and Mayor, Snohomish, WA
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Cassidy Depew, Art Department BFA Exhibition 2012; Atuanya Priester, Art Department BFA Exhibition 2012; Chris Condra, Art Department BFA Exhibition 2012.
Photos: Winifred Westergard CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Andrea Jocom, Art Department BFA Exhibition 2012; bottom right: Casssidy Depew, Art Department BFA Exhibition 2012; Taylor Pinton, Art Department BFA Exhibition 2012. background: Jessie Maughan, Installation, Art Department BFA Exhibition 2012.
Sculpture Alumni Exhibition, 2007 Photo: Frank Huster
FINE ART AT CORNISH
The Art Department is committed to developing the unique artistic potential of each student. We seek out students with natural talent and capabilities and offer a challenging approach to your creative and educational development —one that immerses you in the visual arts from your first day on campus.
In the Art Department you are engaged in both a curriculum and an atmosphere designed for visual thinkers. The program encourages personal aesthetic, inspires critical sensibility and develops technical skills—building the whole artist and providing an education that offers many career paths after graduation.
“The communal spirit at Cornish helped fuel my creativity and created an environment that catered to free expression and experimentation.” — Liz Tran, AR ‘02
We attract student artists from around the world who desire to work within and across the boundaries of contemporary art practice, establishing technical proficiency as well as new forms of thought and expression. Blending traditional processes with emerging technologies, our rigorous program is part practical skill building, part conceptual development, and part personal exploration.
All Art majors work towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). The core curriculum fosters the study of both traditional and contemporary ideas and processes. We encourage all students to explore a cross-disciplinary approach. The BFA in Art is built around five areas of concentration: Paint & Hybrid media, Photography (Film & Digital), Print Art & works on paper, Sculpture & Related Genre, and Video/Digital Media. Core Studio Concepts, Drawing and Art History are integrated throughout the curriculum in all areas of concentration.
Lauren Colton, Art Department BFA Exhibition 2012, Photo: Winnie Westergard
FINE ART YOUR FOUR YEARS AT A GLANCE
As a freshman in the Art Department, you take introductory studios in all six media areas. The focus is on skill building, and as you broaden your experience you’ll begin to stretch your awareness and develop experiential knowledge of which media are best suited to your ideas and interests. As a sophomore, you explore several mediums more deeply in preparation for your Second Year Review and the selection of two areas of concentration for your junior year. In the spring semester, at the mid-point of your four years, you engage in an all-faculty review of your artistic and academic progress.
Your junior year is built around advanced studio intensives in the media area(s) of your choice. You explore how your areas of interest inform and influence each other. Each Spring, freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are eligible to compete in the Art Department Merit Scholarship Exhibition and the Roll Call Exhibition. Both provide an opportunity for exceptional students to exhibit their work. Faculty selects the recipients for scholarship funding.
Your senior year provides the experience of intense focus and creative exploration in your own Senior Studio. You work in a personal studio space, learning to prioritize your time around making work. You are developing a practice of making art without assignments, outside of the classroom structure.
You also meet with a committee of selected faculty on a weekly basis to discuss your development of a cohesive body of work. In Professional Art Practices and BFA Seminar you learn to write grants, negotiate a gallery contract, document your work, create a website, and learn industry standards for exhibiton lighting and installation. Your education culminates in the BFA Exhibition, one of Seattle’s most-anticipated art events.
Art Department BFA Exhibition, 2012. Photo: Winnie Westergard
FINE ART AT CORNISH
The Art Department faculty includes 32 practicing artists, art critics and art historians with diverse and renowned careers. All Cornish faculty consider teaching to be a critical component of a dynamic dialogue within the context of their practice and discipline.
Half of our faculty is core—meaning they continue to teach year after year—and the other half is rotating adjunct faculty. Over the past five years we have also hosted more than 70 visiting artists, curators, gallery owners, museum directors and arts professionals. They have lectured, participated in senior studio tours, offered personal critiques and worked on site with students as visiting artists-in-residence. Seattle is home to a wide-ranging, energetic, vital art scene and the Art Department is uniquely connected to this community.
“As a longtime gallery owner and director, I view hundreds of visual art portfolios, online presentations and art exhibitions a year. The Cornish BFA exhibition is always a “not to miss” art event.” — John Braseth, Director, Woodside/Braseth Gallery, eSt. 1961
There are few arts and cultural organizations in the region that don’t intersect with Cornish students, faculty, or alums. Alumni work in many of Seattle’s arts and cultural mainstays. Some curate, others open and run galleries and alternative exhibition spaces, many exhibit their own work, and others work in the public and private sectors of our thriving local art market.
Our alumni live and work in Seattle and beyond—in New York, LA, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, and nearly every other city with a vibrant arts pulse—providing you with a lifelong network of professional artists.
Art Department BFA Exhibition, 2011. Photo: Winnie Westergard
FINE ART AT CORNISH
We begin to help you launch a career while you are still a student at Cornish. The Art Department Internship Program, community partnerships and preparation of a professional PR package—including a resume, digital portfolio, a website, sharp presentation skills and grant writing capabilities—all help to extend your possibilities in your pursuit of a career in the arts.
Many Seattle businesses as well as arts and cultural organizations seek Cornish Art Department students for exciting internship opportunities, giving our students the chance to work with other professionals in the field of visual art. Many of these internships lead to full time, paid positions once students graduate, such as Videographers at Fred Hutchinson Research Center, Visual Research Associates at 4Culture and lead studio assistants for several world renowned artists. A range of community partnerships with Pilchuck Glass School and others offers additional opportunities to develop as an artist and polish your professional skills.
“I learned the most out of the one-on-one interactions with faculty.” — Justin R. Lytle, AR ‘09
Most of our students who apply are accepted into the first graduate school of their choice – New York Academy, VCU, RISD, Rutgers, UC Davis, CCA, SFAI. Art Department graduates work in an array of exciting careers, in the arts and beyond. From galleries and arts organizations to large corporations and universities, our graduates are professors of studio arts, curators, photographers, videographers, web designers, administrators and more in a broad range of professional settings.
Art Department BFA Exhibition, 2012. Photo: Winnie Westergard
FINE ART AT CORNISH
If you are a visually-oriented problem solver and are motivated to convey your perceptions, thoughts and sensibilities through any form of visual language you will thrive in our environment. Come to Seattle and visit us. Take a summer workshop. Make an appointment for a portfolio review. Let us know how we can help shape your future in the visual arts.
— Bonnie Biggs, Art Department Chair
DESIGN AT CORNISH
Nicole Johnston, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012.
You know that a solid Design education is an exceptional long-term investment, and you know that you want to be a designer, but you may not be sure exactly what kind. So you will be happy know that Cornish is an ideal place to figure this out.
From the first day of our rock solid Foundation year and your decision regarding area/s of focus in your Sophomore year, to the mentored independence and exceptional internship opportunities of your Junior year and the culminating capstone project of your Senior year, you will be surrounded by students with the same passion for design as yourself. And you will work with an exceptional faculty who are deeply committed to your growth, development and, most importantly, your future success.
Our goal is to graduate broadly and deeply educated designers with specific skills sets, who are able to respond creatively, positively and productively to the shifting realities of a rapidly advancing field. We foster curiosity and a generative connection with experience, with context and with community. We are profoundly invested in the generations of citizen-designers to come.
“I feel that Cornish faculty instilled in me a desire to always push my skills further, take chances, experiment, and be confident about my expertise in graphic design.” — Jeffrey Underwood, DE ‘08
Ross McCampbell, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012. Photo: Winifred Westergard
DESIGN AT CORNISH
The Cornish Design program is comprised of three broad areas of concentration: Visual Communication (Graphic Design and Illustration), Motion Design (Motion Graphics, 2D Animation, 3D Animation, and Interactive Design) and Interior Design. These three concentrations are structured to broaden your options. For example, you may select from a range of curricular combinations such as Graphic Design + Motion Graphics, Graphic Design + Illustration, Illustration + Animation and so on.
Within the Design program itself, opportunities abound for students from all three concentrations to team up on projects, nicely anticipating the primary configuration of an actual professional environment.
BFA Show Critique, 2011 Photo: Winifred Westergard
DESIGN AT CORNISH
Critique is a fundamental aspect of our departmental culture. We strongly believe that you must feel both safe and challenged to be fully present in critique. Presenting work to a group of peers, offering and receiving comment, and most importantly, learning and growing from this exchange, is at the heart of what we do. As a department, it is our goal to positively and productively balance rigor with nurture within the classroom.
We have a truly outstanding faculty. All maintain active professional lives. Many are prominent in their fields regionally. Some have international reputations. Our Visiting Designer series annually draws from an international Who’s Who of design practitioners.
Seattle is a very cool city and it is a great place for designers. We consistently rank “number one” as the most educated city in the United States and we are one of the most tech-invested regions in the world (second only to Palo Alto, but substantially more varied), making us one of the top cities in the country in which to recruit talent, particularly design talent. Cornish is at the center of this activity.
“Cornish prepares you to be at the top of your game in any city, if you are willing to do the work.” — Julia Camp, DE ’10, Rich Media Designer at IMDb.com
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Margaret Murray, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012; Benjamin Fuglevand, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012; Misha Zaitsevsky, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012.
Photos: Winifred Westergard CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Caitlin Larson, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012; Tori King, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012; Leslie Wisocki, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012. BACKGROUND: Ashley Schaffer, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012;
Chelsea Reyes, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012. Photo: Winifred Westergard
DESIGN AT CORNISH
One of the best reasons to study Design at Cornish may well be our Design Internship Program. Our internships provide students with actual professional design experience at the top studios in the region.
Our program integrates professional engagement and community involvement with our curriculum. Throughout the year, Cornish Design students have access to a variety of events and activities, including guest designers, public lectures, extracurricular group projects, inter-departmental events, student interest groups and very active student chapters with links to professional associations such as AIGA, IIDA, and ASID.
Other graduates have gone on to first rate graduate schools (among them RISD, Yale, CCA) before entering practice and/or careers in teaching.
Abby Dougherty, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012. Photo: Winifred Westergard
When you graduate from Cornish, you will be noticed. Our graduates find placement in top design studios or go into private practice. Many of our students go on to full-time employment in institutions with whom they interned, such as Digital Kitchen, Superfad, Hornall Anderson, Turnstyle, Modern Dog, Amazon, Starbucks, Callison Architects, Interior Architects, NBBJ Architects, and Microsoft.
Erika Rimmer, Design BFA Exhibition, 2012. Photo: Winifred Westergard
“I would like to personally extend an invitation to you to explore Cornish further. Visit our website, then feel entirely free to contact any of us. We would be delighted to address any of your questions and provide you with information.”
— Grant Donesky, Design Department Chair
Humanities & Sciences Liberal Studies Learning and the BFA Degree
An essential component of your BFA degree includes the courses you will take outside of your major in the Humanities and Sciences Department. As the general education division of the College, we provide a liberal studies curriculum that engages Cornish students in an exploration of the social, environmental and cultural contexts in which artistic production takes place, while developing critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills. The curriculum helps you consider multiple perspectives when looking at complex problems and issues, drawing on a variety of ways to understand the world and our human experience. Our curriculum is constantly changing and inquiry based. It is intended to engage you in active analysis and problem-solving in relation to thematic issues that may have a long-
standing history, but that continue to challenge contemporary societies and individuals, both locally and globally. Classes are limited in size and conducted “seminar style.� Students at Cornish are not passive learners; they contribute to and help shape the experience in their classes. Many classes go into the community, exploring the urban and natural environment, doing field observations and visiting local organizations and the people involved in them. Both in and out of the classroom, instructors in Humanities and Sciences help you acquire the kind of confidence and competence that will serve you well both during and after college, in your personal and professional lives. In the end, our aim in Humanities and Sciences is to inspire the curiosity and habits necessary for life-long learning and development.