- Cornish College of the Arts
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Cornish College of the Arts Established 1914 Type Private, non-profit Location Seattle, Washington, United States
47°37′04″N 122°20′10″W / 47.617868°N 122.336171°WCoordinates: 47°37′04″N 122°20′10″W / 47.617868°N 122.336171°WWebsite cornish.edu Like Kerry Hall, Cornish's main Denny Triangle building is also on the National Register of Historic PlacesCornish College of the Arts is a fully accredited institution in the Denny Triangle and Capitol Hill neighborhoods of Seattle, Washington, USA that offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance, Theater, Performance Production, Design, and Fine Art, as well as the Bachelor of Music degree. Cornish is considered one of the top art schools in the country[citation needed]. Cornish College of the Arts is the oldest music conservatory on the west coast. Today it is nationally recognized as a premier college for the visual and performing arts, and one of only three fully accredited private colleges in the entire nation dedicated to educating both performing and visual artists.
Cornish was founded in 1914, as the Cornish School, by pianist and voice teacher Nellie Cornish (1876–1956), who was influenced by the pedagogical ideas of Maria Montessori, as well as Calvin Brainerd Cady's ideas on music pedagogy,[citation needed] and who served as the school's director for its first 25 years. Within three years it had enrolled over 600 students, and was the country's largest music school west of Chicago.[1][2]
The Cornish School began its operations in rented space in the Boothe (or Booth[3]) Building on Broadway and Pine Street. Initially, the school taught only children, but it soon expanded to functioning also as a normal school (roughly what would now be called a teachers' college). While music was at the heart of the curriculum, Cornish recruited opportunistically where she saw talent, and the school soon offered classes as diverse as eurhythmics, French language, painting, dance (folk and ballet), and theater.[4][5] In 1916, Cornish became one of the first West Coast schools of any type to offer a summer session.[6] The school had the first marionette department in the United States.[7] By 1919, the school was offering classes and lessons from early childhood to the undergraduate level.[8] The school gathered a board of trustees from among Seattle's elite, who funded her school through the hard economic times during and after World War I, and raised money for a purpose-built school building.[5] By 1923, opera and modern dance had been added to the curriculum as well.[9]
The Cornish Trio of the 1920s—Peter Meremblum,[citation needed] Berthe Poncy (later Berthe Poncy Jacobson[10]), and Kola Levienne—may have been the first chamber music group resident at an American school.[11] In 1935, Cornish established the first (but ultimately short-lived) college-level school of radio broadcasting in the U.S.[12]
Through the 1920s, the school was often on the edge of financial failure,[13] but was of a caliber that prompted Anna Pavlova to call it "the kind of school other schools should follow."[14] Although the mortgage was paid off and the building donated to the school in 1929,[15] financial difficulties inevitably grew during the Great Depression.[16] Ultimately, convinced that finances would not allow the school to do more than "tread water," Nellie Cornish resigned her position as head of the school in 1939.[17]
Miss Aunt Nellie: The Autobiography of Nellie C. Cornish, was published by the University of Washington Press in 1964, with the assistance of funds from the Cornish School Alumnae Association.
Contents
Campus
Cornish's 1921 building, now known as Kerry Hall, is on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as "Cornish School";[18] its Denny Triangle building is also listed on the NRHP, as the "William Volker Building".[19] The Raisbeck Performance Hall is a Seattle City Landmark under the name "Old Norway Hall".[20]
Cornish SchoolLocation: 710 E. Roy St., Seattle, Washington Coordinates: 47°37′32″N 122°19′19″W / 47.62556°N 122.32194°WCoordinates: 47°37′32″N 122°19′19″W / 47.62556°N 122.32194°W Area: less than one acre Built: 1921 Architectural style: Other, Spanish Colonial Revival Governing body: Private NRHP Reference#: 77001337[21] Added to NRHP: August 29, 1977 Volker, William, BuildingLocation: 1000 Lenora St., Seattle, Washington Coordinates: 47°37′6″N 122°20′30″W / 47.61833°N 122.34167°WCoordinates: 47°37′6″N 122°20′30″W / 47.61833°N 122.34167°W Area: less than one acre Built: 1928 Architectural style: Art Deco Governing body: Private NRHP Reference#: 83004236[21] Added to NRHP: October 13, 1983 Library
The library at Cornish College specializes in art, dance, design, music, performance production, and theatre. As of 2011 it holds 4700 CDs, 40,000 books, has 2,200 videos, and subscribes to 154 periodicals. Its special collections include an image collection and 35mm slides.[22]
Presidents
- Nancy Uscher (2011)
- Sergei P. Tschernisch (1994–2011)
- Nellie Cornish (1914–1939)
Notable faculty
Music
- Bun-Ching Lam
- Jay Clayton
- Gary Peacock
- Adam Stern (conductor)
- Guy Anderson
- Bern Herbolsheimer
- Eric Banks
- John Cage
- Randy Halberstadt
- Christopher DeLaurenti
- Janice Giteck
- Stephen Stubbs
- Ingrid Matthews
- Julian Priester
- Jovino Santos-Neto
- Chuck Deardorf
- Wayne Horvitz
- Paul Taub
- Tom Varner
- Linda Waterfall
- Art Lande
- Vicki Boeckman
- Seattle Chamber Players (artist-in-residence)
- Corigliano Quartet (artist-in-residence)
- Bill Frisell (artist-in-residence)
- Lou Harrison (artist-in-residence)
- Myra Melford (artist-in-residence)
- Jody Diamond (artist-in-residence)
- Matt Wilson (musician) (artist-in-residence)
- Meredith Monk (artist-in-residence)
- Butch Morris (artist-in-residence)
- Rudresh Mahanthappa (artist-in-residence)
- Frank J. Oteri (artist-in-residence)
- Robert Dick (flautist) (artist-in-residence)
- Hossein Omoumi (artist-in-residence)
- Melia Watras (artist-in-residence)
Dance
- Martha Graham
- Merce Cunningham
- Ralph Lemon (artist-in-residence)
- Mark Morris (artist-in-residence)
- Syvilla Fort (artist-in-residence)
- Donald McKayle (artist-in-residence)
- Bill Evans (dancer) (artist-in-residence)
- Seán Curran (artist-in-residence)
- David Dorfman (choreographer) (artist-in-residence)
- Bebe Miller (artist-in-residence)
- Ralph Lemon (artist-in-residence)
- Liz Lerman (artist-in-residence)
- Alonzo King (artist-in-residence)
- Twyla Tharp (artist-in-residence)
- Elizabeth Streb (artist-in-residence)
- David Gordon (choreographer) (artist-in-residence)
- Steve Paxton (artist-in-residence)
- Jennifer Tipton(artist-in-residence)
Theater
- Robert Sandberg
- Amy Thone[citation needed]
- Rinde Eckert (artist in residence)
- Ping Chong (artist in residence)
Performance Production
- Karen Gjelsteen
- Ron Erickson
- Greg Carter
- Dave Tosti-Lane
Fine Art
- William Cumming
- Morris Graves
- Gary Hill
- Charles Stokes
- Mark Tobey
- Ron Wigginton
- Ellen Forney
- John Butler (artist)
- Thomas J. Duffy
- Windsor Utley
- Imogen Cunningham (artist in residence)
Notable alumni
Dance
Music
- Nick Rolfe
- Reggie Watts
- Steve White[23] of The Blue Man Group
- Michael Wilton[citation needed]
- Betty X[citation needed]
- Wendell Yuponce
Theater
- Jane Adams (actress)
- Chet Huntley
- Brendan Fraser
- C.S. Lee[citation needed]
- Wolfe Bowart
- David Gasman
- Lady Rizo
Fine Art
- Clayton Lewis,[citation needed] painter and sculptor
- James McMullan
- Felicia Oh[citation needed]
- SuttonBeresCuller[24]
- Mark Velasquez
- Nancy Wilson (rock musician)[25]
Film
- Colleen Atwood, costume designer, three-time Academy Award winner [26]
Notes
- ^ Berner 1991, pp. 92–93
- ^ Nate Lippens, short item on Cornish as part of "People Who Shaped Seattle", Seattle Metropolitan, May 2006, p. 59. Brenden Fraser went to Cornish and graduated with honors.
- ^ Mildred Andrews, Cornish School, HistoryLink Essay 596, December 26, 1998, updated on June 28, 2006. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ Cornish 1964, pp. 89–113
- ^ a b Berner 1991, pp. 93–94
- ^ Cornish 1964, p. 97
- ^ Cornish 1964, p. 109
- ^ Cornish 1964, pp. 112–113
- ^ Cornish 1964, pp. 133–134
- ^ Cornish 1964, pp. 170–171
- ^ Cornish 1964, pp. 160–161
- ^ Cornish 1964, pp. 245–249
- ^ Cornish 1964, pp. 154, 161–162
- ^ Cornish 1964, p. 163
- ^ Cornish 1964, pp. 204–205
- ^ Cornish 1964, p. passim.
- ^ Cornish 1964, pp. passim, esp. p. 252–261. The reference to "treading water" is on p. 255.
- ^ WASHINGTON - King County (page 2), National Register of Historic Places. Accessed online 31 January 2008.
- ^ WASHINGTON - King County (page 5), National Register of Historic Places. Accessed online 31 January 2008.
- ^ Landmarks Alphabetical Listing for O, Individual Landmarks, City of Seattle. Accessed 28 December 2007.
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-07-09. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ American Library Directory. 2 (64th ed.). Information Today, Inc. 2011-2012. pp. 2568-2576. ISBN 978-1-57387-411-3.
- ^ Chansanchai, Athima. "Looking for a Blue Man Isn't All Black and White - Seattlepi.com." Seattle News, Sports, Events, Entertainment | Seattlepi.com - Seattlepi.com. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. <http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/article/Looking-for-a-Blue-Man-isn-t-all-black-and-white-1191787.php>.
- ^ http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=23584
- ^ http://heartmonger.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
- ^ "Who dresses Johnny Depp? Costumer Colleen Atwood, a Northwest native". The Seattle Times. December 11, 2010. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2013630076_atwood12.html?syndication=rss.
References
- Mildred Andrews, Cornish School, HistoryLink Essay 596, December 26, 1998, updated on June 28, 2006.
- Berner, Richard C. (1991), Seattle 1900-1920: From Boomtown, Urban Turbulence, to Restoration, Charles Press, ISBN 0962988901
- Cornish, Nellie C. (1964), Browne, Ellen Van Volkenburg; Beck, Edward Nordhoff, eds., Miss Aunt Nellie. The autobiography of Nellie C. Cornish, foreword by Nancy Wilson Ross, Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press
External links
- Official website
- Seattle Weekly article on Cornish
- Acquisition of Raisbeck Performance Hall
- The Philosopher Kings Official Site
Categories:- Cornish College of the Arts
- Universities and colleges in Seattle, Washington
- Art schools in Washington (state)
- National Register of Historic Places in Seattle, Washington
- Educational institutions established in 1914
- Design schools
- Universities and colleges accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
- Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state)
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