Chris Whittey
Recently named the Maxine and Stuart Frankel interim director of Cranbrook Academy of Art, Chris Whittey has returned to his Michigan roots. “I am really looking forward to it,” he said about the new position. “Cranbrook is my sixth institution. I started my career on a really high note and I will likely be ending it on a really high note. Circling back and going home is pretty moving to me.”
His background provided a solid foundation. “I grew up in Armada, a tiny farm town in the thumb. When I graduated in 1976, I left ASAP and went to downtown Detroit and then the East Coast. Fourteen states later…I moved a lot for work and education. Growing up in a very small town on a five-acre piece of land, I was always outside and constantly creative. I had that liberty to explore. I grew up in simplicity with so much love and support from my parents and that Midwest work ethic.”
For the past 28 years, that creativity and work ethic have served Whittey well, including his most recent position at Oklahoma State University as Vaughn Vennerberg II Chair of Art, Professor of Art, and Head of the Department of Art, Graphic Design, and Art History. Whittey also served as the Alan F. Rothschild Distinguished Chair of Art at Columbus State University, Senior Vice President of Faculty Affairs and Chief Academic Officer at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean at Maine College of Art, and Dean of Academic Services at Maryland Institute College of Art.
After attending the Center for Creative Studies and receiving his BFA from Wayne State University, Whittey worked as a master carpenter building stage sets and props in New York for venues like the Metropolitan Opera, Saturday Night Live and the Conan O'Brien Show. He then received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. The following year, Whittey was selected to attend the prestigious Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.
When he was building props for the Metropolitan Opera, Whittey was asked to teach a class in the Whitney Program, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
“I tried really hard to get a teaching job and then I went to the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) where they hired me full time,” he said.
Today, many small private institutions dedicated to education and art face challenges. “The whole model is changing. First and second degree artists have a lot of market forces that make students rethink their possibilities and options,” said Whittey. “Some bigger challenges are to build enrollment with not just the right number of students, but the right students. I always realized that I’m in the business of changing other people’s lives. We do nothing less than that.”
His students seem to confirm that perspective, like the one he taught at MICA who called him 15 years later because he and another former student wanted Whittey to officiate their wedding.
As an artist, his sculptural, installation and 2D studio projects have been showcased in numerous locations.
“When I was a full-time artist, I went to the studio seven days a week,” said Whittey. Now, as a faculty member, he helps to create the next generation of artists and designers.
That creative background makes him more relatable. “As an administrator, you have to cut back on making your own work. The institution has to take priority on a really big level,” he said. “I have a well-equipped studio where I do less work, but I’m still an artist and I think that’s important for students to know that the director also is an artist.
“We still have a lot in common that way.”
Story: Jeanine Matlow
Photo: Laurie Tennent
