Founded in 1882, the Cleveland Institute of Art is an independent college of art and design committed to leadership and vision in all forms of visual arts education. CIA makes enduring contributions to art and education and connects to the community through gallery exhibitions, lectures, a continuing education program and the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. Fall 2020 News for Alumni and Friends of the Cleveland Institute of Art Forward Motion Julia Maddalina assembled her 100 portraits of medical Meet alums who grabbed this crazy front-line workers (top) into a composite poster print. Below, faculty member Lincoln Adams in his home studio. year and made the most of it By Karen Sandstrom Within months, she had a new body of work. She also in students’ thesis reviews. “The shift in format had renewed her sense of purpose and improved meant that we didn’t have to rely on people who When COVID descended in the spring of 2020, Julia her painting. had the time and means to travel,” he says. “A Maddalina watched most of her work evaporate. A challenging time presented a unique opportunity.” painter, portrait artist and illustrator, Maddalina normally “I’m 100 portraits better than when I started,” earns her living through a combination of sources, Maddalina says. “I found a new process for working. And Dawn Petrill ’95 was selected as one of four including commissions and contract work demonstrating I really like the style. Not only did I grow as an artists to create public art decals in Dublin, Ohio. art materials at conventions for the General Pencil Co. artist, but showing myself that I was able to make Petrill’s artwork helps people stay the “three 100 portraits is pretty powerful.” paintings” (6 feet) away from others when they’re Suddenly conventions were being canceled. Two weeks in public spaces. into a job as a substitute art teacher in the Ann Arbor Her series is on view at portraitsofthefrontline.com. Public Schools, that opportunity dried up because A poster with all 100 portraits is being sold through Becoming the education went online. Worldbuilders Market, a site that raises money for go-to guy for worldwide charities. storyboards Maddalina ’18 still had her skills, but she didn’t feel For Lincoln especially useful. Separately, Maddalina’s still life of a roll of toilet paper— Adams ’98, the famously in short supply during the first months of pandemic creat- So she improvised. She took to Twitter to announce she COVID—was included in the Emergency Art Museum, ed a boost in his would make portraits of medical workers free of charge a pop-up art space in Los Gatos, California. career making as a way to honor pandemic front liners. A trickle of storyboards for takers became an avalanche. She challenged herself to Maddalina is just one example of CIA artists who film and TV. paint 100 oil portraits of those who were doing some of are finding opportunities amid COVID challenges. the most important work of the moment. They find large and small ways to succeed, and they Adams, assistant professor in CIA’s Animation demonstrate the benefits of seizing the moment. Department, already had a robust freelance career and had been getting assignments from Sara McClelland Phillips ’06 was furloughed from her Los Angeles-based studios, including Nickelode- job but earned money by sewing and selling masks. on and Illumination. Those companies employ She says she is “thankful for the skills I learned at union artists, however, which limited the scope of CIA—art and perseverance.” what Adams could do as a freelancer. Designer Dan Cuffaro ’91, chair of Industrial Design at Before the pandemic, Adams had arranged to CIA, took advantage of the all-virtual landscape to re- join the union. Thanks to that move, the studios cruit experts from across the United States to take part were free to use him even more when COVID hit. Continued on page 4 CIA restocks its leadership cabinet Four people have new leadership roles at CIA, Grant’s primary role is to oversee the non- joining President + CEO Grafton J. Nunes in academic side of the student experience. driving the future of the 138-year-old college of art and design. On July 1, Julie Melvin was promoted to Vice President of Business Affairs + Chief Financial Charise L. Reid was hired January 21 as Vice Officer. Melvin, who has worked in Business President of Human Resources + Inclusion. Reid Affairs at CIA since 2014, succeeds Almut Zvosec, previously served as Human Resources Director who retired in June. Melvin had previously served Reid Grant at ideastream, Northeast Ohio’s public media in senior level financial roles at Western Reserve organization. She replaced Raymond Scragg, Academy, Magnificat High School, and Hausser + who retired in 2019. Among Reid’s roles is leader- Taylor CPAs. ship of the College’s newly formed IDEA Council, a group of faculty, staff and students focused David Sigman joined CIA August 24 as Vice on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. President of Enrollment Management + Marketing. Sigman is responsible for attracting and retaining Jesse L. Grant joined the College July 1 as new students and designing the College’s mar- Dean of Students, succeeding Nancy Neville keting and advertising strategy. He most recently upon her retirement. Grant had been Associate served as Director of Admissions at Milwaukee Sigman Melvin Vice President for Student Life and Success at Institute of Art and Design. Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota. Here’s What Going On! Lunch on Fridays Cinematheque CIA’s popular weekly lecture series Have you been streaming the great collection Lunch on Fridays takes place by of rare, independent, classic and foreign films Zoom this year. Find upcoming talks curated by the Cinematheque? You help and their links at cia.edu/lof. support the Cinematheque when you do. cia.edu/virtual. Alumni Dialogues Reinberger Gallery Check in with CIA alums as they chat Don’t forget that you can make an appoint- with art and design leaders on of-the- ment to see Reinberger Gallery exhibitions. moment topics. See the events and find Contact Nikki Woods, gallery director, at the Zoom links at cia.edu/events. [email protected] or 216.421.7933. The CIA community recently published its The Faculty Exhibition is on view through new strategic plan. To download, visit January 29. Visit cia.edu/exhibitions. cia.edu/strategicplan. The Art of Disruption Remaking learning in the time of COVID-19 Last spring, our incredible students, faculty and Here we are, and we are OK. staff all persevered to operate in a completely unfamiliar and counterintuitive direction. We took So where will we go next, post-COVID? We know operations fully remote in less than a week. Before that the future of higher education will certainly the ink was dry on diplomas for the class of 2020, evolve quickly into a new paradigm of teaching our COVID task force and academic planning com- and learning—well beyond what has become the mittee shifted gears to focus on fall planning. now-familiar shuffle between asynchronous and synchronous learning. We also know that creativi- In the spirit of continuous improvement, we knew ty is essential to the future of work. that the first step of the process was to debrief on our successes and shortcomings of the previous And we know that CIA’s core strengths are central semester. After all, smart failure only happens to advancing this work. As an institution of art when you take a moment to reflect on your chal- and design, we embody creativity, risk-taking, lenges. out-of-the-box problem solving, and resilience in who we are and how we operate. For instance, we saw how remote learning could add layers of difficulties for students who might Creation > Action > Impact. Rinse and repeat. be already struggling. At the same time, we awak- ened to new opportunities to bring geographically It is said that hindsight is 20/20, yet if you don’t farflung artists and industry experts into our stop to refocus on what you’ve seen, you won’t newly virtual classrooms. have a chance to use what you’ve learned as By Kathryn Heidemann you move forward. Like the artistic process itself, As part of building a solid framework, we also disruption is unpredictable. It shifts our point of There is no doubt that teaching and learning in the established the 6 C’s values: Care, Curricular view when we turn it upside down, allowing us time of COVID has been a struggle for all of us, but Continuity, Community, Creativity, Compliance to discover harmony in the chaos and find a new as an educational institution we have the responsi- and Communication. These informed our work state of flow. We got this. bility to instill learning in everything that we do. and helped focus our planning efforts. It is said that we should never let a good crisis Within weeks, we categorized our entire fall cur- Heidemann is Vice President for Academic Affairs go to waste, and with this in mind, the Cleveland riculum into four modes of delivery: online, mostly + Dean of Faculty and Chief Academic Officer. Institute of Art jumped in head first to understand online, hybrid and face-to-face. We completely enduring lessons that are coming out of this outfitted our campus with new health and safety time. After all, “disruption” is the new innovation, measures, amended policies and procedures, empowering us to acknowledge the obstacles empowered our faculty with pedagogical training and hard truths in our path. What has resulted is to be more successful in their teaching, devel- a game-changing redirection of process and an oped a student COVID testing program, and expanded sense of agency for change.