Cornish 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 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, 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 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, and dance. 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.[3] Cornish is considered one of the top art schools in the country.[citation needed]
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.
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Campus
Cornish's 1921 building, now known as Kerry Hall, is on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as "Cornish School";[4] its Denny Triangle building is also listed on the NRHP, as the "William Volker Building".[5] The Raisbeck Performance Hall is a Seattle City Landmark under the name "Old Norway Hall".[6]
Notable staff
- Collin Breit
- S. Alan Hunter
- Chris Maguire
- Craig Mueller
- Ryan Patterson
- Brian L. Downey
Notable faculty
- Adam Stern (conductor)
- Guy Anderson
- John Cage
- Wayne Horvitz
- Ping Chong (artist in residence)
- William Cumming
- Imogen Cunningham (artist-in-residence)
- David Dorfman (dancer) (artist-in-residence)
- Rinde Eckert (artist-in-residence)
- Ellen Forney
- Syvilla Fort (artist-in-residence)
- Bill Frisell (artist-in-residence)
- Martha Graham
- Morris Graves
- Lou Harrison (artist-in-residence)
- Gary Hill
- Alexander Koriansky
- Ralph Lemon (artist-in-residence)
- Raymond Maxwell
- Peter Meremblum
- Meredith Monk (artist-in-residence)
- Mark Morris (artist-in-residence)
- Julian Priester
- Charles Stokes
- Jovino Santos-Neto
- Mark Tobey
- Richard E.T. White
- Paul Taub
- Ron Wigginton
Notable alumni
- Colleen Atwood
- Maurice and Ellen Van Volkenburg Browne
- Merce Cunningham
- Brendan Fraser
- David Gasman
- Wolfe Bowart
- Chet Huntley
- Eyvind Kang
- Briggan Krauss
- Jesper Myrfors
- Rosie Thomas
- Steve White of The Blue Man Group
- Diem Chau
- SuttonBeresCuller
- Andi Rusu
- Nancy Wilson of Heart
- Fernando Mastrangelo
- Reggie Watts
- David Herbert
- C.S. Lee
- Ria Brodell
- Betty X
Notes
- ^ Berner 1991, p. 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.
- ^ Berner 1991, p. 93–94
- ^ 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.
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
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cornish College |
- Cornish College of the Arts (official site)
- Seattle Weekly article on Cornish
- Acquition of Raisbeck Performance Hall
Coordinates: 47°37′04″N 122°20′10″W / 47.617868°N 122.336171°W
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