Thursday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Wendell W. Anderson Jr. Auditorium

Ed Ruscha, Photo by Kate Simon

The College for Creative Studies’ Woodward Lecture Series concludes its 10th Anniversary Season with one of the most consistently inventive artists of the contemporary period Ed Ruscha on Thursday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Ruscha has been a pioneer in the use of language and imagery drawn from the popular media. A painter, printmaker, and filmmaker, the Los Angeles-based Ruscha studied at the Chouinard Art Institute from 1956 through 1960. By the early sixties he was well known for his paintings, collages, and printmaking, and for his association with the Ferus Gallery group, which also included artists Robert Irwin, Edward Moses, Ken Price, and Edward Kienholz. He later achieved recognition for his now iconic textual paintings and photographic books, all influenced by the deadpan irreverence of Pop Art, and combining the cityscape of his adopted hometown with vernacular language to communicate a particular urban experience.  Ruscha has been the subject of numerous museum retrospectives that have traveled internationally, with a major retrospective of his work opening at the Hayward Gallery in London later this year.

All lectures are held in the Wendell W. Anderson Jr. Auditorium in the Walter B. Ford II Building on the CCS campus. Seating and Parking are both handled on a first come, first serve basis with parking available in the CCS parking structure as well as on surface streets.

The Woodward Lecture Series, a dynamic forum for bringing renowned artists to the College for public lectures and learning sessions, was established through a generous endowment by an anonymous donor in 1998. The anniversary season of the lecture series has included painter, Eric Fischl; photographer, Andres Serrano; art critic, Roberta Smith; poet, Anne Waldman and sculptor, John Chamberlain.

Located in midtown Detroit’s Cultural Center, the College for Creative Studies is a world leader in art and design education and prepares students to enter the new, global economy where creativity shapes better communities and societies. A private, fully accredited college, CCS enrolls over 1,300 students pursuing Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Advertising Design, Art Education, Crafts, Entertainment Arts, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Design, Photography, Product Design and Transportation Design. Beginning in fall 2009, the College will award the Master of Fine Arts Degree in Design and in Transportation Design. The College also offers non-credit courses in the visual arts through its Continuing Education programs and opportunities for youth through its Community Arts Partnerships programs. For more information visit www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu.

For information contact Beth Marmarelli at 313-664-7667  or bmarmarelli@collegeforcreativestudies.edu.