Beverly Fishman studied at Yale University, New Haven and at the Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, and is today heading the Painting Department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Fishman works on abstract paintings ranging from miniatures to large, multi-part formats. She finds her foundations and point of departure in the graphic appearances of elements from the natural sciences, genetics and the pharmaceutical industry, for instance molecular structures, elliptic pills or electrocardiograms. Fishman’s paintings show multiply-‘interlocked’ colored surfaces which from a distance appear to be seamless entities but on closer inspection reveal a complexity which captures the eye. The contrast of industrial materials versus painterly, craftsman-like treatment creates a differentiated picture of the paradoxical dependencies of human and mechanical processes. Fishman’s paintings entice the viewer into reflecting on the analogies between biological developments and the artistic picture generation processes in the 21st century.

During his studies in the USA and in Italy, Steve Bowden concentrated first and foremost on graphic design which he has been studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Art since 2003. His aim is to build a bridge between graphic design and life by combining design, typography, materiality, history and a sense of humor. He endeavors to create works which also incorporate moments of physical, bodily experience. Heavy Light is a heavyweight candelabra made of cement and steel, which could be meant for daily use while at the same time being entirely out of the ordinary on account of the choice of material. Designed to be affordable and easily assembled – these are the customer-friendly criteria. Other models like sconces and chandeliers are planned. The floor sculpture shows letters chiseled out of cinderblocks, the rough finishing giving them the appearance of being uncompleted and provisional. The word made up of these letters - block – tautologically ‘mirrors’ the linguistic and sculptural meaning (block letters and stone blocks, respectively).

Peter Evonuk has been studying metalsmithing at the Cranbrook Academy of Art since 2003 after completing his studies in metalsmithing and goldsmithery at the University of Oregon. He is concerned with inventing and designing “para-functional objects” and to present these in a new way. Many of his appliances feature a newly invented mechanism which is to ensure functionality while at the same time giving the object a new form. It is only the modification of everyday objects’ basic properties and characteristics that reveals to what a significant extent they are part of everyday life and yet strange to us, having mutated, without our knowing, into uncanny, destructive perfection. A mousetrap (mousetrap #3) can take the shape of a microscope and become a piece of hybrid machinery which is out of all proportion to its simple function. Or we see a teapot with unaccustomed, asymmetric shapes, which performs its new function despite of – or precisely because of – this.

A resident of Denver, Jacob Feige (Painting Department) received his artistic education at the Carnegie Mellon University and the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Since 1998, he has been participating in numerous exhibitions, among others at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Baltimore, MD and Pittsburgh, PA. In Berlin, Feige is represented with a 2005 panting on canvas, And And And Pines Grow High Above Bulbous, and five small-format works on paper dating from 2004. In the creation of his pictures, the artist thinks tangentially of pine trees, river deltas, pours of paint and the constellation of the stars. Geological, biological, botanical and architectural forms and elements find their way into Feige’s paintings as subjects of the desire to relate all things yet reveal them as irreconcilable. The paintings, made up of geometric and organic patterns and motives, are characterized by colorfulness while merging parts of the natural world.

Influenced by numerous activities as a landscaper and interior designer, Aaron James Hillman has been studying sculpture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art since 2003. At the academy, he has created works which at first glance appear to be items of furniture but then turn out to be objects or sculptures without a function. The works on display seem to lure the viewer toward settling down and relaxing on them. However, these associations are thwarted by the fact that the objects were built at a scale where using them is uncomfortable and frustrating. It is exactly at this point that Hillman makes out the ironic aspect of his objects. With a slight departure from the usual scale, an unpractical or non-functional piece of furniture is being created, which is thus incapable of fulfilling its original purpose. Hillman’s approach to design is that of a deliberate break with the tradition of observing ergonomic rules. His objects appear to be practical without functioning in the accustomed manner.

Brett Kallusky (Photography Department) studied at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and completed his studies with a degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts and a degree of Master of Fine Arts in photography. He received various distinctions, among them the Photography Studio Award of the University of Wisconsin (1995-96), the Jerome Fellowship, Minneapolis, MN (2002) and the Fulbright Travel Grant, Italy (2005). With his photographic oeuvre, he was represented in several exhibitions, for instance in Minneapolis, MN, San Francisco, CA and Bloomfield Hills, MI. As a photographer and artist, Kallusky is specifically interested in the dialectic relationship between the photographic representation of the land and the actual physical condition of the landscape. The large-format digital prints Spettro I – III tell us about a specific place visualized not as documented truth, but as visual poetry.

Ginger DM Krieg (Architecture Department) studied at several universities, among them Auburn, AL, Boulder, CO and Bloomfield Hills, MI. In 2000, she concluded her studies with a degree of Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Auburn) and in 2005 with a degree of Master of Architecture (Bloomfield). Krieg received numerous distinctions: the 2002 Exhibit Design Masters Award, the 2004 Cranbrook Academy of Art Merit Scholarship and the 2005 R and L Redstone Scholarship. Since 1996, she has been participating in several exhibitions, among them Huntsville, AL, Detroit, MI and New York, NY. Embracing the dimensions of poetry, science and architecture, Krieg attempts to approximate the methods of an entropic existence that is comparable to the evolutionary forms of natural processes. The work Transient Mediation from 2005, composed of black-and-white photographs, has to be understood as a photographic record of an installation realized at Cranbrook. This record documents the time-span between each individual installation and the interaction of the (viewing/construction) location.

Roland C. Lusk (Print Media Department) received his artistic education at the University of Virginia and the Cranbrook Academy of Art; he completed his studies with a degree of Bachelor of Arts and a degree of Master of Fine Arts. He participated in several exhibitions to date: in Charlottesville, VA, in Laramie, WY and in Bloomfield Hills, MI. In 2004 he was awarded the Stewart and Stewart Scholarship. Lusk compares his pictures with the works of Romantic poets, feeling a strong connection with the aesthetic of the imagery and ideas that their poetry evokes. Like a Romanticist, he endeavors to use a simple language which addresses the broadest possible audience, with nature being used as an enlightening theme. His picture Scenes from the Disenchanted Forest from 2004 revolves around the issue of an alienated nature which no longer forms a matter-of-course part of the human awareness of the self and the world.

Abigail Anne Newbold studied Sculpture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and the Massachusetts College of Art. In her work, she deals with familiar objects of domesticity as well as with all aspects involved in making them. An important role for her is played by the context in which one encounters the objects, since this context is essential for their meaning and perception. With Anywhere At Home she uses the structure as a frame to display the process of making and using an object. In this case the frame is a house, a composition of fragmented rooms. In terms of materials, the artist starts out from the re-discovery of the quilts from the late 19th century and their renaissance in contemporary art. Newbold strives for mobility, seeking to create living space that enables her to carry around with her everything she needs for living. Using pictorial means, she designs living units which permit a self-sufficient life in any one place.

After completing her art studies at Alfred University, N.Y., Joanmarie Turbek began studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2003, placing the emphasis on ceramics. In her opinion, there is truth and honesty in the relationship human beings have to all the things they can touch and handle. To hold something is to understand it. In the process of creating and manufacturing ceramic objects, in particular, the relationship between hand and object is fundamental but is being lost as soon as the object leaves the studio and must from then on no longer be touched on account of it being a “work of art”. Turbek is concerned with creating interactive sculptures and seeing the viewer as part of these so that he or she is capable of fully experiencing and understanding the sculptures. Turbek endeavors to discourage the widely adopted attitude that objects of art may only be viewed from a respectful distance.