Susan R. Ewing Named Interim Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH., August 9, 2018 — Dominic DiMarco, President of Cranbrook Educational Community, announced today that Susan R. Ewing has been named Interim Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art. An internationally recognized metalsmith, professor, and administrator, she brings decades of experience to Cranbrook.

“Susan is a perfect fit for Cranbrook Academy of Art at this time,” said Dominic DiMarco, President of Cranbrook Educational Community. “She has a strong background as an accomplished studio artist and educator, and I am confident that she will collaborate with and guide the Artists-in-Residence and mentor the Academy staff as we look toward the future. Susan has a strong track record as a strategic thinker and we look forward to the fresh insight she will bring to the Academy’s programs.” Ewing’s first day at the Academy will be August 20, 2018.

In April, Director Christopher Scoates announced that he would be leaving the Academy to accept the position of the Nanette L. Laitman Director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Scoates served as Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art from August of 2014 to June of 2018.

Ewing comes to Cranbrook after serving as a professor and administrator for more than three decades at Miami University of Ohio. An accomplished metalsmith, Ewing joined the Miami University of Ohio faculty in 1981 and served as University Distinguished Professor for more than 10 years, and Senior Associate Dean/Associate Dean of the College of Creative Arts from 2008 until January of 2016. She was named a Distinguished Scholar of the Graduate Faculty (awarded 2005). In 1996, Ewing was awarded Miami University’s highest honor, the Benjamin Harrison Medallion.

Over the course of her career, Ewing has collected a number of notable artistic awards. She received the Ohio Craft Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 and was twice honored at The White House (1993, 1994) by President and Mrs. Clinton as one of 80 artists included in the first White House Collection of American Craft. The collection was exhibited at the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and numerous other major venues.

Ewing has also taught internationally. From 1997 to 1999 she was appointed a J.W. Fulbright Senior Lecturing Scholar at the Academy of Art, Architecture, and Design in Prague; in 1999 she taught as a Masterclass Guest Professor in Silversmithing at the Royal College of Art in London.

Ewing’s artworks range from the miniature to the monumental and are included in numerous collections, from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to the Alessi Museum in Crusinallo, Italy. She collaborated with the late Czech sculptor Vratislav Karel Novák on two major commissioned public art projects, Konvergence and the Crystalline Tower for Cincinnati, Ohio, and Table-Stůl, for the Middle of the Table exhibition in Solingen, Germany.

“As a maker, educator, and administrator, I am truly honored to serve Cranbrook Academy of Art at this time,” said Ewing. “The rich and unique legacy of this esteemed place and its creative thinkers is an important catalyst in considering our future in the 21st century and our continuing transformative impact on society.”

The Academy will launch a search for a permanent Director at a later date.

Media Contact:
Julie Fracker
Director of Communications
Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum
248.645.3329
jfracker@cranbrook.edu