COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO NAMES DEBRA RILEY PARR AS CHAIR OF FASHION STUDIES DEPARTMENT
School of Fine and Performing Arts Veteran to Lead Newly Consolidated Program
Columbia College Chicago has named Debra Riley Parr as the chair of its Fashion Studies Department in the School of Fine and Performing Arts. She will assume her duties effective August 16.
The new Department of Fashion Studies joins the Fashion Design and Fashion Business programs into a single department, formalizing the creative collaboration that has long existed between the two programs. This fall is the first semester of student instruction in the consolidated department.
Parr previously served as associate dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts. Prior to that position, she was associate chair in the Art + Design Department as well as associate professor of art and design history. As associate dean, Debra helped shape administrative processes and systems governing the delivery of curriculum and the school’s strategic plan. Her current research concerns the impact of design practices in youth cultures.
“Debra is a brilliant academic administrator, teacher and scholar whose design background, deep and broad leadership experience, research interests and passion for teaching make her a perfect fit for our new Fashion Studies department,” said Eliza Nichols, dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Columbia College. “Working closely with the faculty, Debra will create a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment where the study of Fashion Design and Fashion Business combine to teach students design skills as well as business savvy.”
In addition to teaching at Columbia since 1998, Parr has been a visiting professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and has lectured at Boston University, Cranbrook Academy, University of New Mexico, California Institute of the Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art, Webster University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts College of Art, and the School of the Art Institute among others. She has served as a panelist, presenter, juror, and critic at conferences, competitions, and institutions of higher learning both nationally and internationally. Debra has been published extensively in books and journals such as Fiberarts, Merge: Sound, Thought, Image, Ten by Ten: Space for Visual Culture, Art and Auction, New Art Examiner, and Artnews. She currently serves on the publications review board of Design Inquiry. Parr received her master’s and doctoral degrees from Boston University.
Parr has served Columbia College Chicago as vice president of the College Council’s Executive Committee, on the All-College Tenure Committee, Faculty Development Committee, and major search committees, as well as in development of curriculum across the Art + Design Department. She is also the first recipient, of the School of Fine and Performing Arts Academic Leadership Award.
Columbia College Chicago is an urban institution that offers innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 12,000 students in over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs. An arts and media college committed to a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, Columbia is dedicated to opportunity and excellence in higher education. For further information, visit www.colum.edu.
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Media Contacts:
Steve Kauffman, 312.369.7383, skauffman@colum.edu
Erin Purdy, 312.369.8695, epurdy@colum.edu
WOOD TYPE, EVOLVED: EXPERIMENTAL LETTERPRESS & RELIEF PRINTING IN THE 21ST CENTURY AT CENTER FOR BOOK AND PAPER ARTS
September 8 – December 10, 2011
Dafi Kuhne
WHAT:
Wood Type, Evolved: Experimental Letterpress & Relief Printing in the 21st Century
Curated by April Sheridan and Nick Sherman
Held in association with Chicago Artists’ Month
Wood Type, Evolved defines a global, burgeoning mode of activity in which contemporary artists are producing artwork through the development of new experimental printing techniques based on traditional letterpress materials—particularly wood type.
Why wood type, why now? While the widespread industrial production of wood type dates from 1827 into the late 1970s, a recent resurgence in letterpress printing combined with the increasing availability of commercially “obsolete” production equipment has created room for dialogue and opportunity. This has fueled experimentation in artist studios, presses and print shops around the world.
Through the display of artwork and examples of printing surfaces, Wood Type, Evolved will also reveal how laser cut, hand engraved, acrylic and otherwise manipulated types are becoming ways to engage a traditional style exemplified by wood type through contemporary fabrication techniques.
Wood Type, Evolved marks the United States debut of Swiss fast emerging designer and artist Dafi Kühne. Kühne is known for his experimental approach to design and extensive research on innovative uses of wood type and letterpress using not only laser cutters and other digital tools but “diy” strategies such as cardboard.
Also on display will be a large collection of prints and films by artists who are using already existing wood type in experimental and playful ways.
Artists include: David Wolske, Bethany Heck, Brad Vetter, Alex Cooper, Rose Gridneff, and David Shields.
Films by Judith Poirier and Barbara Tettenbaum.
WHEN:
Sept. 8–Dec. 10
Opening reception: 5–8 p.m., Sept. 8
Held in association with Columbia College campus wide ArtCrawl
WHERE:
Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book & Paper Arts
1104 S. Wabash Avenue, Second Floor
Gallery hours: 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Monday–Saturday
RELATED PROGRAMMING:
•Curator Tour and Open Studio event
6 p.m., Oct. 6
Held in association with Chicago Artists Month
1104 S. Wabash, Second Floor; Free
•Visiting Artist Talk: Dafi Kühne, Sward Visiting Artist
6 p.m., Oct. 27
1104 S. Wabash, Second Floor.; Free
INFO:
312.369.6630 or www.colum.edu/bookandpaper
ADMISSION:
All events are free and open to the public
Columbia College Chicago is an urban institution that offers innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 12,000 students in over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs. An arts and media college committed to a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, Columbia is dedicated to opportunity and excellence in higher education. For further information, visit www.colum.edu.
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Media Contacts:
Steve Kauffman, 312.369.7383, skauffman@colum.edu
Lauren Brzuszkiewicz, 312.369.7507, mediarelationsasst@colum.edu
COLLABORATIVE ART EXHIBITION ALLOWS ATTENDEES TO BECOME INTERACTIVE WITH ART AT COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO
(Media Advisory: High-res photos are available upon request)
WHAT:
Columbia College Chicago presents CoLaboratory, an exhibition that visually examines the nature of collaborative art. Using dramatic video projections and mobile structural interventions, Chicago artists’ collaborative ED JR and (f)utility projects will exhibit works created independently within each group, but integrated in the Glass Curtain Gallery with reference to both the space and the interactions experienced in the development of the exhibition.
CoLaboratory will address the inherent frictions and challenges of collaboration, as well as its fruitful outcomes. Visitors are invited to adjust the structure on which video projections are shown, amending and re-forming the evolving images as they move. Four gallery events will allow those attending a chance to participate in ED JR’s large-format painting practice. The videos created from these interactions will then be screened as a part of the exhibition itself.
CoLaboratory is curated by Annie Morese with ED JR and (f)utility. This exhibition is in conjunction with ArtCrawl, Columbia College’s annual fall artwalk.
WHEN:
Sept. 6–Nov. 2
Opening Reception: 5–8 p.m., Sept. 8
Closing Reception: 5–7 p.m., Nov. 2
Gallery Hours: 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday–Wednesday, Friday, 9 a.m.–7 p.m., Thursday and 9 a.m–5 p.m., Saturday
WHERE:
Columbia College’s Glass Curtain Gallery
1104 S. Wabash Ave., First Floor
RELATED PROGRAMMING:
•Artist Lecture: The Uncommon Nature of Artists as Collaborator with ED JR and (f)utility projects collective members Paola Cabal and Edra Soto: 6 p.m. on Sept. 26 at Columbia College’s Conaway Center, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., First Floor
ADMISSION:
This exhibition is free and open to the public
INFO:
Mark Porter, 312.369.6643, mporter@colum.edu
www.colum.edu/DEPS
Columbia College Chicago is an urban institution that offers innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 12,000 students in over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs. An arts and media college committed to a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, Columbia is dedicated to opportunity and excellence in higher education. For further information, visit www.colum.edu.
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Media Contacts:
Steve Kauffman, 312.369.7383, skauffman@colum.edu
Lauren Brzuszkiewicz, 312.369.7507, mediarelationsasst@colum.edu
ARTISTS EXPLORE DUAL-CONCEPTIONS OF DWELLING IN UPCOMING EXHIBITION AT COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO
(Media Advisory: High-res photos are available upon request)
WHAT:
When we dwell, we seek refuge in the comforts allowed by shelter. Likewise, we may also dwell in the comforts of a protected recollection. We struggle to fabricate and penetrate these dwellings. Columbia College Chicago presents Dwelling, an exhibition featuring the works of thirteen artists who explore the dual-conceptions of what it means to “dwell.”
The exhibition includes works which engage themes, imagery and processes often associated with the dwelling such as interior/exterior, access/entrance, shelter/escape, construction/reconstruction, etc., alongside works that use many of the same themes to address memory such as the fleeting and inaccessible nature of personal recollections or the reconstruction of past events and narratives. This pairing occurs against the backdrop of the dwelling-place as it is often the stage for our most coveted and intimate memories. A variety of media is used to convey Dwelling including video, photography, sculpture and installation.
Participating artists include Heather Boaz, Olga Chernysheva, Stephanie Del Monte, Emily Hunt, Ginny Huo, Erica Leohner, Nina Mayer, Inga Moren, Anna Katherine Peters, Carrie Schneider, Jutta Strohmaier, Austin P. Swearengin, and Brandy Watts.
Curated by art history senior Pat Elifritz, this exhibition is in conjunction with ArtCrawl, Columbia College’s annual fall artwalk.
WHEN:
Sept. 6–Oct. 19
Opening Reception: 5–8 p.m., Sept. 8
Gallery Hours: 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday–Wednesday, Friday, 9 a.m.–7 p.m., Thursday and Saturday by appointment
WHERE:
Columbia College C33 Gallery
33 E. Congress Parkway
ADMISSION:
This exhibition is free and open to the public
INFO:
Jennifer Kiekeben, 312.369.6856, jkiekeben@colum.edu, www.colum.edu/deps
Columbia College Chicago is an urban institution that offers innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 12,000 students in over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs. An arts and media college committed to a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, Columbia is dedicated to opportunity and excellence in higher education. For further information, visit www.colum.edu.
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Media Contacts:
Steve Kauffman, 312.369.7383, skauffman@colum.edu
Lauren Brzuszkiewicz, 312.369.7507, mediarelationsasst@colum.edu
PRINTERS’ BALL: PRINT <3 DIGITAL REDUX
Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book and Paper Arts and Poetry
Announce Release of Artbook
WHAT:
As a part of the Printers’ Ball celebration, Columbia College’s Center for Book and Paper Arts and Poetry magazine announce the release of a collaborative artbook created from Printers’ Ball 2010. The artbook features poems and art by lit figures such as Audrey Niffenegger and Kathleen Judge. On July 29, Printers Ball 2011: It’s Alive! will kickoff at the college’s Ludington Building featuring over 200 publications for the taking in addition to art and musical performances.
About the Artbook: In the late spring of 2010, 20 members of the Chicago Printers’ Guild and 20 members of Chicago’s writing community were invited by Poetry magazine and the Center for Book and Paper Arts to participate in an “artbook” project to commemorate Printers’ Ball: PRINT <3 DIGITAL—a portfolio of broadsides to showcase the strong visual and literary cultures of the city.
At a Center sponsored mixer, Jason Teegarden-Downs, owner of the Delicious Design League, brilliantly suggested that along with their poetry or prose piece to be illuminated, the writers should bring an object that best represented their work. This led to a few interesting items. A snuff box. A jar of rubber cement. A darning egg. A vintage bracelet. An expanding sponge shaped like a truck. The printers chose an object that appealed to them and that’s how the collaboration began.
After a month’s worth of studio time, the artists emerged with some amazing prints that were hung up at the center during the night of Printers’ Ball. To keep them together, the Center designed a simple portfolio, which employs and exposes some of the traditional materials of bookbinding. And now, a year and several students and volunteers later, the result is a lovely stack of words and pictures, humbly presented for the world.
WHEN:
6–11p.m., Friday, July 29
WHERE:
Columbia College Chicago Ludington Building
1104 S. Wabash Ave., Second Floor
WHO:
Printers’ Ball is organized by: Chicago Underground Library, Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts and Special Events Student Affairs, MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine and Poetry. This year’s special guests include: Drag City Records, Judgeworks, New Directions, Pocket Guide to Hell Tours, and Uncle Fun.
ADMISSION:
All events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted
INFO:
312.369.6630, http://www.colum.edu/Academics/Interarts/book-and-paper/printers-ball/printers-ball-2010.php, http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.186840041338057.39892.113776545311074, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/programs/event/615.
Columbia College Chicago is an urban institution that offers innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 12,000 students in over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs. An arts and media college committed to a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, Columbia is dedicated to opportunity and excellence in higher education. For further information, visit www.colum.edu.
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Media Contacts:
Steve Kauffman, 312.369.7383, skauffman@colum.edu
Lauren Brzuszkiewicz, 312.369.7507, mediarelationsasst@colum.edu
