Warhol used Campbell’s soup cans, now students at The Art Institute of Atlanta are using pizza boxes. Modern art knows no limits.
California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) invited Art Institute students from the Big Peach to Seattle to create wall art using pizza boxes. A host of celebrity media judges, including Oz’s own Editor Extraordinaire, examined the boxes de’ art to choose a winner. Other judges in attendance were “Kelly” and “Alpha” from B98.5’s morning show and Marc Bailey and Janette Smith from FOX 5’s morning show. Melissa Libby and Associates handled PR and organized the event.
Five first place winners will enjoy a weekend for two in Beverly Hills, the home of the first CPK. The top three will be framed, labeled, and displayed in select CPKs in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Houston, and Los Angeles. In honor of National Pizza Month, CPK wanted to honor and recognize student artists. VP Public Relations of the Art Institute, Jeff Durosko, said the school joined the contest to encourage “students to showcase their work in a retail environment.”
The Institute has received kudos itself, from Forbes Magazine. For the second consecutive year, its parent company, Education Management Corporation (EDMC) was selected as one of the 200 Best Small Companies in America. EDMC, a provider of proprietary post-secondary education, ranked 60th on this year’s list. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the company employs over 3,400 nationwide.
Each year, the Institute recognizes one of its own with the Outstanding Faculty of the Year award. Members of the college community select nominees and a panel of students, faculty, staff, and administrators choose the recipient. President Janet S. Day said, “Good teachers like Ann Critchfield are at the heart of quality education. Ann epitomizes teaching excellence and her good work here strengthens our college’s educational programs.”
Critchfield joined the faculty in 1985. In her 15 year run, she has served in a variety of roles including Instructor, Academic Department Director, and Dean. Extracurricularly, she has served on the boards of the Contemporary Art Society of the High Museum of Art, the Roswell Fine Arts Alliance, the Planning Board for the City of Roswell for the 1996 Olympic related events, and the American Cancer Society Sandy Springs/North Fulton unit. She has also served as a member of the Fulton County Arts Council Library Art Committee, Roswell Visual Arts Center Building Committee, the National Arts Educators Association, the Georgia Arts Educators Association, and the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Foundations in Art Theory and Education (FATE).
Currently, Critchfield is enjoying a one quarter sabbatical which includes a trip to Paris and an artist in residency at Deep Design, a design studio affiliated with Austin Kelley Advertising. Her topic of study, “Art and Commerce: The Sacred and the Profane,” was inspired by the writings of Renzo Piano, the architect of the new Woodruff Arts Center.