Some images from first year final critiques

Derya Hanife Altan presenting her work.

Ema Ishii with part of her installation.

Rosemary Dardick with her work on the window.

Emily Nachison with her sculpture / installation.


Casey Droege with her prints.


Ashley Allen Short's work.

Rose Pink's critique of her sound piece.


Tricia Stackle with her work.

Third Semester Reviews

December 8-12 brought us Third Semester Reviews which are the old fourth semester reviews moved from February to December. I think I wrote about these last year, but just in case, the reviews are meetings between each student and five Artists in Residence (AIRs). Each student meets with their assigned AIRs throughout the day. They meet and share discussions about the work the students have been doing and how they might move forward. It is a very exciting time because all of the work that has been done by the second year students is on view so the whole community gets to see what is going on and because the students are interested in hearing feedback from the AIRs from other departments. Fiber and Sculpture presented on Thursday and all six of the second year students did very well. I think they also gathered new insights and questions that will propel their work in interesting directions for their degree show and future beyond Cranbrook.


above from Amy DiPlacido's review.



from JaYoung Yoon's review.

Emily's new work

Emily Nachison is one of the first year students and these are images of one of her sculptures and a drawing from a recent critique.

Collaboration at Cranbrook

The intimate size and nature of the Academy and campus helps foster a sense of community and active dialogue between departments within the Academy and projects that connect us to the other parts of the educational community(as evident in the two prior posts). On occasion students discover similar concerns and goals with students from other departments and set about to make work together. Last month Tricia Stackle (Fiber) and Andrew Kline (Architecture) began such a venture that resulted in a large scale project being installed temporarily on the campus. Below are a couple of photos of their nest made of red hand made felt.


To see more images you can check out Andrew's website:

http://web.me.com/andrewkline/Andrew_Kline.com/Work/Pages/Nest.html

Insert Color Here

On November 20 the Fiber Department opened a show of work at the Kingswood Gallery on the Cranbrook campus. The show, "Insert Color Here," is part of the exchange between the Academy Fiber Department and the Weaving Studio at Kingswood mentioned in the earlier post about workshops the Academy students are teaching.
Here are some photos from the opening.

Workshops at Kingswood

One of the exciting elements of working at Cranbrook is the history of textile work evident in the surroundings. At the girl's high school on campus - Kingswood- there is a weaving studio with approximately 65 looms and a full time artist in residence- Lynn Bennett-Carpenter- teaching weaving as well as other fiber processes. Lynn proposed that the students in the Academy Fiber Department have a show of their work in Kingswood's gallery in exchange the Academy students would provide workshops to the Kingswood students. Earlier this semester my students made proposals to Lynn for workshops and Lynn chose several technical workshops and individual lecturers to present to the Kingswood students. The first workshop happened at the end of October and was presented by Casey Droege and Amy DiPlacido. It introduced the students to silk screen printing and sewing as tools to transform the common t-shirt. Here are some photos from Amy and Casey's workshop.




Rosemary Dardick presented a workshop on embroidery and Mary Smull lectured earlier this month. Next semester Megan Heeres has a sewing workshop scheduled and Rose Pink, Emily Nachison, and Tricia Stackle are slated to co-teach a felting workshop.

A Visit From Amy Honchell

We were lucky to have Amy Honchell pay the Fiber Department a visit for a few days in October. Amy is an artist and teacher based in Chicago at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She creates site-specific installations using stretch fabric, found objects and sound and has exhibited in many venues around the country. She spent two full days in the department giving individual critiques and candid advice about being an installation artist out in the "real world". She was extremely honest and approachable with a great sense of humor about life, art and herself. She provided us with thoughtful insight into our work, materials and processes. Amy also gave an artist talk in the Media Center at Cranbrook to the Fiber Department, as well as students from Sculpture, Architecture, and Print Media. We then hosted a dinner for her and her husband in the department. It was a casual evening in which we shared stories and experiences about a life in the arts. Amy wrapped up her visit with a question and answer session in which she encouraged us to continually pursue opportunities for showing and teaching. Having graduated with an MFA relatively recently, she offered very useful, pertinent advice. Amy was generous with all of her insight into and knowledge of her own practice, as well as our own individual artistic practices. 

Almost everyone before Fanfare

As the headline says, here is a photo of most of the department just before Fanfare. Fanfare is an annual fundraising event at the Academy. Patrons visit each of the normally private studios at the Academy, speak with the students, and eat dinner with the Artist in residence and second year students from the department.

They are seated front: JaYoung Yoon. Standing first row left to right: Derya Hanife Altan, Mary Smull, Amy Diplacido. And the back row: Tricia Stackle, Ema Ishii, Souk Jin Park, Rose Pink, Megan Heeres, Rosemary Dardick, Corrie Baldauf, and Casey Droege. Missing are Emily Nachison and Ashley Allen Short.

Berlin in October

As I mentioned in my last post, many things have been happening in and out of the studio. One of the most exciting developments of October was the opportunity for me to travel to Berlin for the opening reception of Forwards 08, and exhibition at Daimler Contemporary. Daimler Contemporary is the gallery run by Daimler Financial, one of Cranbrook's major benefactors, and the sponsors of the annual Emerging Artist Award. In May Annica Cuppetelli was chosen as the winner of the Emerging Artist Award. Annica was a student in the Fiber Department starting with Jane Lackey and then working with me last year.

On October 10 I was in Berlin to introduce Annica at the opening and represent Cranbrook at the ceremony. The show which looked fantastic, included several of Annica's work. She will be in Berlin for a couple of months with the support of Daimler, researching fashion in the city. You can see more about the show, Annica, and Daimler Contemporary at:

http://www.sammlung.daimlerchrysler.com/contemporary/08_09_forwards08/forwards08_index_emergingartist_e.htm

Catching Up

As befits the beginning of the semester a great deal has been going on in and outside of the studios. The last post, provided by T.A. and second year student, Meg Heeres, includes images from the first round of critiques in the Fiber Department. These critiques happened after two weeks of school and in them we addressed the works in progress each student had developed in that brief time. We moved through the students in 30 minute intervals, discussing the artist's intentions, results, and possible directions of growth for the work.

I required that the works be in process in order to get people working, and because I feel strongly that everyone needs to have strong research and development skills for their work. Sharing that process allows each member of the group to understand how their colleagues think through their work and hopefully develop strong lines of communication in the department. As you can see from the informal photos in the previous post the work is in a broad range of states and approaches diverse concepts.

Some of the other activities keeping us busy include seminar discussions in response to readings about the responsibility of the artist in society. These readings were also linked to discussions that have been taking place Academy wide due to the new format for our annual Artist in Residence (AIRs) talks. In those talks, three or four AIRs presented short talks - 20 minutes- about the thinking behind their work. Reed Kroloff then moderated a discussion between the AIRs and students. These discussions focused primarily on the relationship between artists, designers and the larger society. These lively and contentious discussions led to even further discussions in our department and led to a day of conversation in seminar.

Now we are into our second round of critiques, each approximately an hour long. In this round one student writes and presents a review of the work being presented by another student. In another entry we will share reviews and photos of the work with you.

Our First In-Process Critiques

Ema Ishi

Emily Nachison

Mary Smull

Jayoung Yoon

Derya Hanife Altan

Casey Droege

Tricia Stackle

Ashley Allen Short

Souk Jin Park

Glenn Adamson

The first week of school started with studio selection, individual meetings with me, and ended with a lecture and seminar discussion with Glenn Adamson, curator, writer, and Director of Research from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He presented a lecture entitled "Modern Craft: What Next?" on Sunday the 14th. Following the lecture the Ceramics, Fiber, and Metals Departments hosted a potluck dinner in Glenn's honor.

On Monday the 15th Glenn met with each of the Departments for question and answer sessions about his lecture as well as his book Thinking Through Craft, and his research. The discussion in fiber was lively and thoughtful. Glenn certainly raised many questions for the students and was a lively and challenging person to start the semester with.

The rest of the week was full of Academy events including our introduction to all of the staff, faculty and department philosophies, called Academy Day. This event is part welcome, part pull back the curtain and see who we all are, and is followed by a lunch outside the museum by the reflecting pools.

The other events that followed that are the Artist-in-Residence lectures. Last year these were 45 minute lectures by each of the 10 AIRs. This year they have become 3 or 4 shorter lectures followed by a discussion session moderated by Reed. Thus far these have been very engaging and provocative sessions that have us all talking for days after.

Coming up this week, in process critiques.

Welcome Back

Today is the first day of school here at Cranbrook, and the studio that looked like the above image for the last few months is now filling up as the second year students return and move in. Tomorrow the department will meet and start the work of the semester with introductions, discussion of studio activities and policies, our first department potluck, and selection of first year studio spaces.

This also means the Cranbrook Fiber blog will awaken and follow the activities of the students. In addition to my posts, students will also make posts, and we will include some of the work being done here in the studio and academically. So keep watching the site.

Graduation and other celebrations

Last week was the final week of school, culminating with Academy Awards Night on Thursday evening and Commencement on Friday afternoon.

Academy Awards Night is a new tradition that is starting this year. It takes something that was called scholarship night and expands upon it. The evening included speeches by Reed Kroloff, the Director of the Academy and several graduating students including Fiber's very own Rachel Hunt. Several prominent scholarships were awarded to members of the graduating class including the Daimler Financial Emerging Artist Award. This award is given to one graduating student based on his or her piece in the Degree Exhibition, interview with a committee of prominent art professionals, and a review of the students' portfolios. This year the award was given to Annica Cuppetelli, a Fiber student. It was the first time a Fiber student had received the award. Annica will accompany her work to Germany in the fall where it will be included in an exhibition of emerging artists from Cranbrook, Japan, South Africa, and Germany.

Friday's commencement activities started with a brunch for the graduates and their families. The actual ceremony started at 2 PM on a beautiful sunny day, which was important because it was held outside in Cranbrook's Greek Theater. Ceremonies started as most do with words from the Director. But he was interrupted by the noise of a small airplane flying overhead. Reed and all of the graduates and guests looked to the sky to find a banner congratulating one of the grads from photo flying behind the small plane. Reed then continued to speak about transitions and firsts. He was followed by a terrific speech by ID magazine editor Julie Lasky, and Aaron Peterman a graduate who welcomed his colleagues to their status as "Masters" of Fine Art and Architecture. One of the recent graduation traditions is closing the ceremony with a musical tribute to the students, faculty, and staff by musician Robert Jones. He penned the "Cranbrook Blues" a country blues tune including many references to the students work in the degree show. It was hysterical and fitting. While this would usually be the closing of the ceremony, we still had one last activity. Two of the graduates from Architecture shared their marriage vows with the assembled group, providing us with one more first and another significant moment to celebrate. It was a very special day.

Amy's work

Here are images of work by Amy DiPlacido.

Above are four set of her paint chip series:(L-R) Only the Lonely, Snug as a Rug, Monday Monday, and The Primacy.

Below is Eternity. All are dye and silkscreen on cotton.

Photographs from critiques with Jane Lackey

Jane Lackey (on left) shares her insights about Rachel Hunt's work in the thesis exhibition. Ja Young Yoon looks on at right.


Jane talks to the group about Wei-Hui Hsu's work.

Jane discusses Haewon Yoo's video in the thesis show.

Pictures from the opening of the thesis show

Annica Cuppetelli's work is on the right side of the image.

Rod Klingelhofer's work towers over guests at the opening.

Guests examine Carrie Dickason's piece.

Wei-Hui Hsu's photographs are in the background.

Thesis show reviews with Jane Lackey

The thesis show did indeed open on Friday April 18 with great fanfare and celebration. Seven students from the Fiber Department have their work included in the show. They are: Annica Cuppetelli, Carrie Dickason, Rachel Hunt, Wei-Hui Hsu, Roderick Klingelhofer, Haewon Yoo, and Jasmine Valandani. In their pieces we have work that addresses the relationship of fashion and art, representations of the natural world and what defines that world, interventions in the body, the cultural other or alien, the growth and decay of the city as a system, violence and forgiveness, and experiential presence. They all worked very hard and made tremendous developments in their work. More importantly they have provided a foundation of questioning and thinking that will continue in their work outside of the Academy.

The opening on the 18th was very well attended by current students, alumni, their families, and local supporters of the Academy. It was a beautiful evening that allowed people to see the pieces in the museum and those works on the grounds of the Academy.

On the following Monday we were fortunate to have Jane Lackey join us to review the work in the thesis exhibition. She had worked with these students in their first year, so this provided a reconnection for each of them. Jane spent time over the weekend with each of the pieces, thinking about the work each student had done during her time with them, the connections the work has to the work of other artists, and evaluating the formal and material usage in each piece. The entire department was present as Jane shared these insights about each of the pieces made by the seven Fiber students. That evening we celebrated Jane's visit with a dinner at a local alum's home which gave us a great time to chat with Jane informally.

On Tuesday we followed a similar program in the department as Jane shared thoughts about the work of the six first year students. Each day was thought provoking and exciting and we thank Jane for her generosity.

No calm before the storm

So what could be left to do after fourth and second semester reviews and a visiting artist? Only the thesis show. The second year students are all completing and installing their pieces for the show. Installation started last Thursday, April 10, in the Cranbrook Art Museum. People are working day and night and work is growing all about the department and campus. Most of the work will be inside the museum, but several pieces are on the grounds of the campus. I will put some pictures on the blog after the show opens. The thesis show will open on Friday April 18.

And the first years are not just sitting on their laurels and watching the hectic activities of the second year students. All of the students in the department will have critiques with our final guest, Jane Lackey, next Monday and Tuesday. So they are working on final projects as well as research presentations and papers that are due as the semester winds down.

Mary working in the studio and...

Mary, a first year student, working in the studio and



her T.V. needlepoint pillow from her most recent critique.

Second Semester Reviews

Wednesday was the start of second semester reviews. The six first year students in Fiber installed their work in various places throughout the new studios building. Each one of the students worked very hard to complete new pieces and on selecting and installing their work for the reviews. On Thursday each of them met individually with four artists in residence for 30 - 45 minutes. The discussions give the students a chance to see how people outside of fiber relate to their work and the artists in residence evaluate the development of the first year class throughout the campus. This evaluation can lead to a student being asked to leave Cranbrook, if it is determined that they are not performing at a high enough level.
One of the wonderful traditions of the Fiber department is that after the reviews the second year students make dinner for the first years to celebrate the end of the review process. (After fourth semester reviews, which I wrote about earlier, the first years make dinner for the second years.)

More images from the studio

Images from Corrie Baldauf's installation.

Images from the studio

A view inside the studio of Jayoung Yoon.



And some pieces by Jayoung in the critique space.