By Alana Aamodt ’18
Monday, March 6, marks the start of CC’s first Design Week, organized by the extended format art class Graphics Research Lab, taught by Kate Leonard, professor of art. “The idea behind the week is to generate an awareness of design and its role in our community,” explains Mikala Sterling ’17. Sterling and Naomi Van der Lande ’17 are the two students spearheading the week of events.
“The week will give students who are interested in this topic the chance to learn about resources on campus that work to create opportunities for students to get involved with these departments,” says Van der Lande. While CC does not have an explicit design program, this week helps demonstrate that there is no lack of involvement in design fields during and after a student’s time at CC.
Multiple open houses, showcasing the creative resources at CC, will occur throughout the week at places such as the arts and crafts studios, the Office of Communications, the costume shop in Cornerstone Arts Center, the CC Press, and Innovation at CC in the Morreale Carriage House. The Integrative Design Group, which is a club at CC, will also be involved throughout the week, and will run a trial of the Packard Projection Project on at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, in which student design work is projected onto the north wall of Packard Hall.
“The week is also meant to highlight successful CC graduates who have incorporated design into their careers, and to provide workshops and talks to encourage new conversations about how we think about design in our everyday lives,” Sterling says, referring to activities like the talk “Designing with Reclaimed Materials” with Susan Hoff ’06, and a typography workshop in the Visual Resource Center in Packard Hall.
The organizers share that they are especially excited for the Alumni Panel on Tuesday, March 7, at 4:30 p.m. in Cornerstone Screening Room, where past students will be able to share their experiences and successes in the design world since graduating from CC.
View the events schedule for CC Design Week, an event Sterling and Van der Lande hope will continue in years to come, bringing awareness and consciousness to design in the CC community.
