— via the Cranbrook Academy of Art —

The works of 79 Master of Fine Arts candidates will be featured Sunday during the 2012 Graduate Degree Exhibition of Cranbrook Academy of Art from 2- 5 p.m. Sunday, April 22.

The event coincides with Open(Studios), a community day that includes studio visits, a student art sale and family-friendly events.

The new concept allows the public to go behind the scenes with visits through the private artists studios and workshops of Cranbrook Academy of Art. Admission to community day includes free admission all day to Cranbrook Art Museum and Cranbrook Institute of Science, as well as a student art sale, demonstrations and family activities. For information and tickets, please visit www.cranbrook.edu.

"Each year our second-year graduate students extend themselves to produce and present extraordinary work at the cutting edge of contemporary practices in the fine arts, design and architecture,” says Reed Kroloff, Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum. “This year's Degree Exhibition promises to be bold, ingenious, thought-provoking and tinged with humor.”

OPEN (STUDIOS) will help introduce the work of the Academy and its students to the community of southeast Michigan by inviting the public to tour the normally private artists studios. This is a rare opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes and meet Academy students and the faculty artists-in-residence. On Sunday afternoon, April 22 from 2-5pm ticket-holders will be able to wander through the Academy’s 10 departments on the landmark historic campus, talking to architects, artists and designers and seeing their work in progress.

First- and second-year graduate students of the Academy will also be offering work for sale as part of the program and there will be family events and demonstrations as well as food for sale in the registration tent to be located in the Art Museum parking lot. Visitors will be provided with a way-finding map of the Academy campus to guide them through the Academy’s departments of architecture, 2D and 3D design, ceramics, fiber, metalsmithing, painting, photography, print media, and sculpture. Tickets to this event are: $12.00 in advance; and $15.00 at the door; (children under 16 are free, but must be accompanied at all times by an adult); and includes free admission to Cranbrook Art Museum and Institute of Science.

The “2012 Graduate Degree Exhibition of Cranbrook Academy of Art,” runs for three weeks only at Cranbrook Art Museum, from Sunday, April 22-Sunday, May 13. Cranbrook Art Museum is open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, 10am- 5pm and Thursdays and Fridays, 10am-8pm. Admission to Cranbrook Art Museum is free for ArtMembers@Cranbrook, $8 general; $6 seniors and students; and free for children 12 year old and under. For more information, please visit http://www.cranbrookart.edu/museum/CAMvu1.html