Alberta College of Art and Design

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Alberta College of Art and Design
ACAD Logo

Established: 1973
Type: public degree-granting, college of art & design
President: Lance Carlson
Undergraduates: available
Postgraduates: not available
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Campus: Urban
Headcount: 1115 [1] as of fall 2005
Colours: Red      White     
Affiliations: ACCC, CCAA, Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference, Alberta Association of Colleges & Technical Institutes,
Website: acad.ca
The Alberta College of Art and Design
The Alberta College of Art and Design
Statue of Robert the Bruce outside of ACAD
Statue of Robert the Bruce outside of ACAD

The Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) is located in Calgary on the North Hill overlooking the Bow River and the downtown skyline, in a 245,000 square foot (23,000 m²) building designed to house the college in 1973. ACAD's close proximity to downtown and The University of Calgary, via the C-Train (Calgary's light rail transit) provides students with easy access to the city's galleries, museums and cultural events. Current President and CEO of ACAD is Lance Carlson.

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[edit] Programs

The Alberta College of Art & Design is one of only four degree-granting, publicly-funded Art & Design colleges in Canada, the others being the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design in Vancouver, the Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto and the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design in Halifax.

ACAD offers programs in the Fine Arts, Crafts, Graphic Design, and New Media. ACAD is committed to a solid studio-based experience for students - an experience balanced with relevant, complementary liberal studies and practical theory. The result is a rigorous studio program, which produces innovative thinkers, creative problem solvers, and visually talented students. ACAD creates a learning environment rich in character and extensive in quantity, quality and professional capability for its student body of artistic thinkers.

ACAD studios are extremely spacious and classes are small, allowing for regular one-on-one interaction. Faculty and space-per-student ratios are among the best in the country. Within this environment, students receive the techniques, tools, intellectual stimulation and encouragement to discover and develop their own personal voice and passion.

[edit] History

Founded in 1926, ACAD has been a major contributor to Canada's visual culture in the 20th century, with many of its graduates gaining significant national and international reputations as artists and designers. With an annual budget approaching $12 million, and employing over 150 staff, ACAD provides accredited degree-standard education and learning opportunities to more than 1000 students enrolled in full- and part-time studies in a wide range of Art & Design studio disciplines together with academic study in the history of Art & Design, theory and criticism and related subject areas. Additionally, approximately 1500 students are registered each year in Continuing Education courses, including 700 in children's programs.

ACAD has had an important presence in the educational post-secondary sector in Alberta and, in 2001, celebrated its 75th anniversary. Originally part of the Provincial Institute of Technology and Arts (now SAIT), the Alberta College of Art, as it was then known, separated from SAIT in 1985 to become designated by the Alberta Government as an entirely autonomous and free-standing Art & Design college within the public sector. In 1995 the College amended its name to the Alberta College of Art & Design in order to acknowledge the separateness and importance of design education at the College.

In 1995, the ACAD was granted degree accreditation by the Alberta Government's Ministry of Advanced Education and Career Development. Since that time the College has been able to grant Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees to those students who successfully complete the BFA requirements of the College's four-year programs.

In 2000, the College was further granted authority by the Alberta Government's Ministry of Learning to award a Bachelor of Design degree to those students studying Design for their degree. This recent approval signifies an important step by the College in clarifying the distinction between Design as a discipline and those of the Fine Arts, and now provides the College with two degree programs. More recently, in 2004 the college received a new mandate from the province authorizing the offering of graduate degrees; as of January 2007 degree proposals are being prepared. The current President and CEO is Lance Carlson.

[edit] Faculty Highlights

Past and present faculty have included noted artists such as: Chris Cran, Laura Vickerson, Don Mabie (a.k.a. Chuck Stake), Alan Dunning, Mark Dicey, Derek Michael Besant, Don Simmons, Joanne Bristol, Katie Ohe, Kay Burns, Dick Averns, Don Kottmann, Mitch Kern, and Rita McKeough.

  • Liberal Studies: Judy Sterner and Gregory Scorfield
  • Fine Arts: Laurel Johannesson, Norman Faulkner, and Derek Besant
  • Visual Communications Design: Kevin Kurytnik, Xerxes Irani, and Eugene Ouchi
  • Media Arts and Digital Technologies: Mary Scott, Daniel Dugas, Valerie Leblanc, Brett Pawson, and Alan Dunning
  • First Year Studies: Bill Rodgers, Dave Casey, Tim Zuck, Gord Ferguson, Mark Mullin

[edit] Alumni

Several members of the United Congress, a well-known Calgary Artist Collective attended ACAD in the 1980's.[1]

[edit] References

All facts, unless otherwise stated, are from Alberta College of Art and Design's web site:

[edit] External links

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