#cranbrookacademyofart

[hellogmanme]

“If you want happiness for an hour—take a nap. If you want happiness for a day—go fishing. If you want happiness for a year—inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime—help someone else.” —Chinese Proverb . #cranbrookgardens #cranbrookacademyofart #sculpture #art #cranbrookhouse (at Cranbrook House and Gardens) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEmXe9MD3E-/?igshid=1mjdr9mf1bshj

[hscarcello]

A velvety 2012 summer night at the Peristyle. Magical! . . . . @cranbrook_art @cranbrookartmuseum #orpheusfountain #carlmilles #elielsaarinen #cranbrookacademyofart #cranbrookartmuseum #cranbrooklibrary #puremichigan #bloomfieldhillsmichigan #historicarchitecture #sculpture @cranbrookedu #oaklandcountymichigan #crescentmoon #saarinen #architecturephotography #michigan (at Cranbrook Academy of Art) https://www.instagram.com/p/CChcIUVjM8T/?igshid=wful5mu7lyrn

[lsandhaus]

Next Friday!! Gere Kavanaugh is being honored at Cranbrook Academy of Art! As part of the ceremony we will be holding a conversation and Q&A with at Cranbrook Art Museum's deSalle Auditorium on Friday, November 15 at 6pm. Admission is free. #gerekavanaugh #Alifeofcolor #colorfulgere #LAdesign #californiadesign #californiacraft #cranbrook #cranbrookacademyofart #cranbrookacademyofartalumni @cranbrook_art @cranbrookartmuseum @cranbrookdesign https://www.instagram.com/p/B4p2Sn2BWDv/?igshid=16bkb6ne64jyy

[marklbrock]

MAUREEN McCABE (born 1947) Danger Earth, 2015 Mixed media 8 x 8 x 1 1/2 inches Signed, titled and inscribed verso . . #maureenmccabe #painter #sculptor #risd #cranbrookacademyofart #nea #renwickgallery #mellon #yaddo #macdowellcolony #connecticutcollege #collage #earth #boxconstruction #josephcornell #poetic #dream #narrative #available #forsale #brockandco #concord #massachusetts . . www.brockandco.com (at BROCK & CO.) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxj2ysZFoV4/?igshid=1lxze0gnobuj

[lsplichal]

LABOR, ENDURANCE, CONSUMPTION. . . . If you’re in the D this weekend come through the Degree show OPENING @cranbrookartmuseum this Saturday April 13th, 6-9pm !!!!! #TAKEAWAY included 🖤 . . . #LindsaySplichal #CranbrookAcademyofArt #PrintMedia #Installation #Sculpture #TakeAway #Labor (at Cranbrook Academy of Art) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwKbn0oltST/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1olzclsizp1v6

[nimaabili]

#Unit6Armchair by @AniaJaworska #AniaJaworska is an #architect and educator. She currently is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the #UniversityofIllinois at #Chicago, School of Architecture. She holds a master's degree in #architecture from the Cracow University of Technology in #Poland as well as the #CranbrookAcademyofArt in #Michigan. Her practice focuses on exploring the connection between #art and #architecture and her work explores bold simple forms, humor, commentary and conceptual, historic, and cultural references. wvvolumes.com (at VOLUME GALLERY)

[artcollectionio]

“Untitled stacked (a+c)” by @bev_fishman at @gavlakgallery. #contemporaryart #beverlyfishman #cranbrookacademyofart #art #sculpture #availableart #artcollector #artistsoninstagram #artist #buyart #iloveart (at Gavlak Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsQgmkcl0rg/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=wj1wlqmqs9is

[jlaltruda]

One of my favorite places as a child was @cranbrookartmuseum - I loved the @cranbrooksculpture all around the grounds by #carlmilles and #marshallfredericks - Today I returned after nearly a 30-year lapse in time. The fountains were still drained for the winter and, though it was sunny, the lack of water created an eerie aura about the place - a lifelessness as if all the statues had been frozen by a spell of Medusa. I love this place. It's hauntingly beautiful. #sculpture #carlmilles #orpheusfountain #stpaulonahorse #cranbrooklibrary #tritonpool #europandthebull

[ashleyshaul]

#flashbackfriday because this was taken 5 years ago today and I can't handle it. Graduate school was weird and we're still waiting for that pie. #cranbrookprintmedia #cranbrookacademyofart #gradschool #throwback #farbackfriday #printmakers #printmakersareabunchofawesomeweirdos (at Cranbrook Academy of Art)

[jmontaujoie]

Harry Bertoia for Knoll, ''The sculpture chair by Harry Bertoia.'' A original 1st period chromed ''Diamond chair'' produced by Knoll U.S in 1961. American metric stainless steel wire, copperred and chromed. Produced with the first method of assembly and struck welding. Still owns original ''Allen brand'' screws and nuts. Amazing vintage condition. Contact: info@6clic.be #harrybertoia #knollinternational #knoll #bertoiadiamondchair #diamondchair #americanmodernism #bertoiasculpture #cranbrookacademyofart #cranbrookmetalsmithing #americandesign #americandesigner #americandesigners #italoamerican #designer #design #iconicdesign #workofart #sculpturedesign #jeanmichelwilmotte #wilmotteandassociéssa #wilmottearchitecture

[sliceannarbor]

Susan Goethel Campbell

Multi-Disciplinary Artist Artist-in-Residence/Interim Head, Print Media Department Cranbrook Academy of Art Huntington Woods, Michigan susangoethelcampbell.com

Photo by Tim Thayer

Susan Goethel Campbell is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work focuses on the intersection of nature, culture, and the engineered environment. For the past year, Susan has served as artist-in-residence and interim head of the print media department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she will continue for the 2017-18 academic year. She also earned an MFA in printmaking at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Susan’s work has been exhibited internationally in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Slovenia, and nationally at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Queens Art Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, The Drawing Center New York, and International Print Center New York. In 2009, she was one of 18 artists selected for the inaugural Kresge Artist Fellowship. Susan has also been awarded residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Flemish Center for Graphic Arts, Jentel Foundation, Beisinghoff Print Residency, and Print Research Institute of North Texas. She taught studio art for 15 years at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, and has been a visiting artist in numerous institutions in the United States and abroad. Susan is represented by the David Klein Gallery, Detroit; Aspinwall Editions, New York; and Galerie Tom Blaess, Bern, Switzerland. When she’s not working, you can find her traveling in the United States and abroad enjoying both urban and rural environments. Susan’s studio is located in Ferndale, Michigan, and she resides nearby in Huntington Woods.

FAVORITES

Book: Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Destination: Bern, Switzerland in August to work on a print project with Tom Blaess that will be exhibited at his gallery next April.

Motto: Ars longa, vita brevis (art is long, life is short). Don’t wait, do it now.

Sanctuary:  My studio

THE QUERY 

Where were you born?

Grand Rapids, Michigan

What were some of the passions and pastimes of your earlier years?

Doing anything outside - biking, horseback riding, skiing, ice skating, and participating in and experiencing nature.

What is your first memory of art as an experience?

My mother exposed me to art at a very early age. When I was five she attended classes in the basement of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, and on several occasions I would come along. I specifically remember the ceramics studio and the contrast in smells of the clay, from dry to dusty to damp. Watching adults intently transform a material on a wheel or by hand was impactful. The intensity of their concentration seemed to merge mind and matter into form. I thought this must be what art is.

How did you begin to realize your intrigue with the visual arts?

The visceral experience of working with materials in my childhood was the starting point for me, and my intrigue expanded from there. Also, my father, a paper salesman who sold paper to printers, would bring sample books with Japanese papers home for me to play with. I remember him talking about troubleshooting with commercial printers about how ink sat on paper. It is no surprise to me that my primary medium is printmaking.

Why does this form of artistic expression suit you?

I love working with process and materials. Traditional printmaking is steeped in process. A print can be anything from singular and painterly to photographic and time based to sculptural and repetitious. The flexibility of the medium suits me; allowing me to adapt the concept of recording information from one material to another in new ways.

How and when did you get your start in the art world?

There is not one event that gave me a start in the art world; rather it has been an evolutionary process. Being an artist takes hard work and perseverance. I would not be where I am today without the support and encouragement of my mother in my formative years, and my late husband. I also had many supportive teachers along the way. My start came from getting my work out of the studio and into juried exhibitions. Eventually this led to other  opportunities. 

What formats do you typically utilize in your practice?

The formats I use in my practice are broad. I select a format that is best suited for the ideas I am considering. My work has become more installation-based over the past several years because it allows me to engage a physical space. Other formats I use fall into the realm of social practice and a non-gallery platform. These projects are intended to engage a broad audience with local and global environments.

What led to the conceptualization of Aerials, a series of woodblock prints focused on aerial views of cities and atmospheric phenomena?

I started working on the Aerial series while engaged in a year-long project of recording the weather over the city of Detroit with a web cam. The camera took still images of the city throughout the day and night. I loved the transformation of the city at night into tiny patterns of light under different atmospheric conditions. Also, I travel a lot and started documenting other cities at night while flying. I used the original photographs as inspiration for the woodblock prints. After inking a block and transferring the ink to paper, imperfections in the wood and unique grain pattern allow me to create the nuance of atmosphere. 

How would you describe your creative process?

My creative process almost always starts with a question and playful experimentation of a material or an idea. Somewhere along the line my hope is that these things merge and the work takes on a life of its own. There are many failures along the way, but when I find new terrain I will explore it for years.

What materials do you prefer to work with?

I continue to work with a variety of materials but will always return to ink and paper in some form. For the past four years, I have been using grass and earth in a project called Grounds. I make my own vacuum-formed molds and grow grass in the trays until the roots conform to the contour of the tray. Once the grass is root-bound, I remove the trays and flip the grass root side up and exhibit the low relief forms on the floor in repeating patterns.

What was the greatest delight, and challenge, in creating Detroit Weather: 365 Days?

The delight of this project was in seeing a year’s worth of weather in a three-hour video, however, I wound up splitting the video into two channels at the summer and winter solstice to reduce the length. The greatest challenge of this project was in managing the huge amount of data to be archived. The web camera was programmed to take a single, still image every minute, 24 hours a day for one year. The stills were then compressed into the video format and run at 22 fps. I had to pull images off the server about every three or four days or it would crash.

What three tools of the trade can’t you live without?

A Japanese drill punch, large rubber roller, and etching press.

Is there a period/project along the way that has presented an important learning curve?

In the late 90s, I decided to branch out from primarily making works on paper to creating interactive objects that had narrative content. I made a series of magnetic, brick-shaped books inspired by the decline of rustbelt cities like Detroit, along with suburban sprawl. This was a pivotal project because I started working with objects, new formats, and materials. The learning curve of working with non-traditional materials and new formats was huge but immensely rewarding.

What themes/topics dominate your work?

My work is focused on landscape, impermanence, and the anthropocentric environment; basically questioning nature made by humans.  

How has your aesthetic evolved over the years?

In my late 20s and early 30s, I worked with a collage aesthetic which literally and physically allowed me to work with disparate elements. My work has evolved to a more minimal aesthetic over the years and has become more conceptually based.

Who are some of your artistic influences?

Very early influences were Romare Bearden, Kurt Schwitters, and Paul Klee. I was especially inspired by Klee’s writings and Schwitter’s idea of Merz, which means to create connections, preferably between everything in this world. Other influences include the Hudson River painters, Robert Ryman, Agnes Martin, Eva Hesse, the video work of Bill Viola, and the installations of Doris Salcedo. The choreography of Pina Bausch, Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, and Tywla Tharp has also been an influence.

Do you have a favorite artistic resource that you turn to?

I like the work of minimalist composers and often play this type of music in my studio. Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians is a piece I always listen to when I need to get centered and focused.

From where do you draw inspiration?

Being present.  

What three things can’t you live without?

Light, space, and plants.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Stay focused and true to yourself.

Is there a book or film that has changed you?

There are several books and films that have impacted me. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one, as are the poems in The Voice of Things by Francis Ponge. Both authors write from a lucid and unexpected place that feels both ordinary and profound. As far as film, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now had a huge impact on me. It was dark, poetic, and culturally significant.

What drives you these days? 

Opportunity, several deadlines, and continued curiosity.

[hscarcello]

‘Post’ at Wasserman Projects in Detroit: Work by four members of the Cranbrook Academy of Art Class of 2020. . . . . @wassermanprojects @cranbrook_art #wassermanprojects #cranbrookacademyofart #detroit #detroitart #mixmedia #motorcity #inthed #313detroit #puredetroit #comtemporaryart (at Wasserman Projects) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQFKQ6jFbS6/?utm_medium=tumblr

[marklbrock]

MAUREEN McCABE (born 1947) The World, 2015 Mixed media 9 x 9 x 1 1/2 inches Signed, titled and inscribed verso . . #maureenmccabe #painter #sculptor #risd #cranbrookacademyofart #nea #renwickgallery #mellon #yaddo #macdowellcolony #connecticutcollege #collage #boxconstruction #josephcornell #poetic #dream #narrative #available #forsale #brockandco #concord #massachusetts . . www.brockandco.com (at BROCK & CO.) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxhdrK1F0y1/?igshid=f2vbofl85h2c

[zimmerglimerealestate]

Check this out! Three wonderful Michigan locales made Curbed's guide to architectural tourism across the U.S. This article is filled with tours, parks, and buildings for architecturally-minded travelers to add to their itinerary! https://www.curbed.com/maps/summer-trip-must-see-best-sites-buildings-historic-homes-architecture @curbed #architecture #michigan #bloomfieldhills #detroit #midland #fisherbuilding #aldenbdowhomeandstudio #cranbrookacademyofart #albertkahn #artdeco #michiganmodern #midcenturydesign #saarinen @cranbrook_art @fisherbldgdet @aldenbdow #exploremichigan #architecturelovers #tourism #design #historic

[nimaabili]

#7MChair by @Ara_Levon_Thorose The 7M #chair is a three dimensional line drawing created in 7 movements. #Abstraction meets #function. #AraLevonThorose is an #artist and #designer based in #Detroit. He received an MFA in #3DDesign from #CranbrookAcademyOfArt in 2015. His practice is focussed on the investigation of post #industrial form and #material innovations for the #creation of objects at the intersection of #art and #design. aralevonthorose.com

[sliceannarbor]

Andrew Blauvelt

Director Cranbrook Art Museum Bloomfield Hills, Michigan cranbrookart.edu/museum

Photo by Sam Sefton

Andrew Blauvelt serves as director of the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a position he assumed in September 2015. In this role, Andrew oversees the Museum’s collection, exhibition, and education programs. Prior to this, he served as senior curator of architecture and design at the Walker Art Center, a contemporary arts museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota. During his tenure there, he also served as chief executive overseeing the design, marketing, public relations, education, and new media departments. A graphic designer for more than 25 years, Andrew has received over 100 design awards, including the 2009 National Design Award for Corporate Achievement for his work at the Walker, the first non-profit to win the award joining the ranks of Nike, Apple, and Target. While at the Walker, Andrew curated numerous exhibitions, including Strangely Familiar: Design and Everyday Life (2003) and Some Assembly Required: Contemporary Prefabricated Houses (2005), and with Ellen Lupton at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Graphic Design: Now in Production (2011). His latest exhibition Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia (2015) opened to critical and popular acclaim at the Walker this fall and will travel to the Cranbrook Art Museum in June. Andrew received a MFA in design from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and a BFA in visual communication from the Herron School of Art at Indiana University. With his husband Scott Winter, development director at Cranbrook Academy of Art, he built an award-winning home in Minneapolis designed by Snow/Kreilich Architects, which was featured in Dwell and other publications. This contemporary, concrete and glass structure houses his collection of books and modern furniture, and is heavily populated with, not surprisingly, pieces by numerous Cranbrook alum. When Andrew is not working, you can find him walking the grounds at Cranbrook or searching for a place to kayak. He currently resides in Bloomfield Hills.

FAVORITES

Book: On the nightstand are Yamasaki in Detroit and Return of the Repressed: Destroy All Monsters, 1973-1977; a book from design friends Statement and Counter-Statement: Notes on Experimental Jetset; and some design inspiration with Mario Bellini’s Album: Eating as Design.

Destination: Hope Springs in Desert Hot Springs.

Motto: Under promise, over deliver.

Film: So far this year, Carol.

THE QUERY

Where were you born?

I was born in New York state, in the Hudson River Valley.

What were some of the passions and pastimes of your earlier years?

I used to haunt used bookstores and antique and thrift stores looking for furniture and ceramics and other collectibles. The Web pretty much curtailed that activity.

When did you begin to realize your intrigue/fascination with the arts?

When I was growing up as a kid. I studied art all through school, although I was supposed to become a lawyer. I transferred to art school instead.

How did you get your start as a curator?

When I started working at the Walker Art Center as their design director I told them I would take the job if I could also curate exhibitions. It was a bit brazen, but I was going to give up a job as a tenured professor. I wanted to keep some academic activity.

What themes and/or topics have interested you most in creating exhibitions?

I have pretty broad tastes in art and design actually. I prefer “third rail” topics, like shows about suburbia or prefabricated architecture or hippies. Topics most museums or curators like to avoid.

What led to your decision to come on board at the Cranbrook Art Museum?

I had been at the Walker for 18 years. When you tell younger people that, it sounds like a jail sentence! It was a great and evolving experience, however, but it felt like I should try something new. An opportunity arrived at Cranbrook, which I was familiar with, so I thought why not?

What has delighted you most since assuming your new role as director?

The energy and excitement of people around town about the arts scene in the Detroit area. It’s not just downtown, although that is vital and important, it’s also at Cranbrook and Ann Arbor and Dearborn—all over really.    

How would you describe your creative process or approach?

I’m a designer by training, so I imagine without constraints but I try to realize that vision within them. I like to envision many different options and allow myself to go down numerous tangents, but I trust that in the end the product will be good because experience tells me that (knock on wood).

What three things typically come together in the best of exhibitions?

The artist’s work looks great. The presentation delivers a memorable experience. Visitors leave inspired—you should leave wanting to make something yourself.

Tell us about the significance of your upcoming exhibition Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia?

It’s really a new art historical thesis. The 1960s are well known as an era in terms of social history. In art history this has been reduced to well-known movements like Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism. But many other things were made in the 1960s beyond these movements: street performance, experimental graphics, protest posters, light shows, video technology, and radical architectural experiments. Crazy stuff. Wild stuff. This was the 1960s. All of these ideas did not die but haunt us today, whether environmental degradation or civil rights.

Do you have a personal favorite in this exhibition?

It’s like children—there are no favorites. I really do like it all. If forced, the show really began with an interest in radical architecture and anti-design that surfaced in Italy in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Is there a contemporary/emerging artist on your radar that you’d like to bring to Cranbrook?

Oh my, there are so many. Let’s just say that we are trying to figure that out right now. We are very excited to be presenting the Truth Booth, a project by Cause Collective, later this summer. It will also be an exhibition at Cranbrook this November. It’s an inflatable structure in the shape of a giant speech bubble. People can enter it and make a video testimonial that answers the question, “The truth is…” It will be traveling around Detroit and the metro area. It has traveled the world, to places like Afghanistan and South Africa.

What did you enjoy most about your earlier career in graphic design?

I really enjoyed making books—I treated it like sculpture, a book as a three-dimensional object. I enjoyed working with other designers too.

Which artists working today do you admire most?

Again so many. I really enjoyed working with Petra Blaisse of Inside/Outside in Amsterdam. We worked together on a new landscape design for the Walker Art Center which should be complete in 2017. I admire the spaces between architecture and people that she chooses to operate in.

What painting or sculpture from any period means the most to you?

Perhaps, not surprisingly, I have an affinity for postwar art—modern art. I’m drawn toward works like the sliced canvases of Lucio Fontana or places like Marfa, Texas, where artist Donald Judd realized a grand vision, not unlike Cranbrook, which encompass the environment as a total work of art. I’m also a sucker for a Romantic landscape by Caspar David Friedrich or a Dutch still life painting.

Looking ahead, what is your vision for the Cranbrook Art Museum?

It should be the destination for contemporary art and design. Like the Academy is a hotbed of artistic experimentation, the Museum needs to reflect the same spirit. Because of where it is located, it also needs to pay homage to the history of Cranbrook, but since the place is very much alive it can’t be just about the past.

From where do you draw inspiration?

It seems like anywhere or everywhere. I’m most inspired by people who were inspired to do great things.  

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Learn to do anything you can, any skill, because it will come in handy. And it has.

What three things can’t you live without?

Good food. Sunlight. Art.

Is there a book or film that has changed you?

Books are a constant resource for me. I make them. I collect them. I think through them. That said, film tends to be the most visceral of experiences. For instance, I’m still haunted by Steve McQueen’s films—the artist and director.

What drives you these days?

The same thing that was instilled in me at Cranbrook so many years ago: always move forward and no repeats.