New Interior Architecture Department Established At Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts
Cornish College of the Arts’ Provost and VP of Academic Affairs Moira Scott Payne announced that Julie Myers has been appointed Chair of the college’s new Interior Architecture Department. “Julie Myers is one of the foremost women in her industry,” said Scott Payne. “Her award-winning work in the aviation and aerospace industry is well known among her peers. She also has served as a leader locally and nationally in her field.”
Since 2007, Myers has developed an interdisciplinary approach to interior architecture within the Design Department that supports project-based learning, experimentation, collaboration, and community engagement. Two of Myers’ students, Alexa Williams in 2015 and Gabriel Dwisatria in 2016, have won the highly competitive Angelo Donghia Foundation scholarship which goes to talented undergraduate students entering their senior year in interior architecture or interior design.
Now approved as the eighth degree program offered by Cornish College of the Arts, Interior Architecture under Myers provides a path for students to think critically and creatively, to develop innovative and environmental approaches, and to contribute to their communities through a socially minded design practice. Students in this BFA program will go on to create the interior of stores, restaurants, houses, cars, airplanes, or even space stations.
“Interior architecture today encompasses everything from décor to designing objects to implementing new standards of building in an ever-changing environment,” said Myers. Although a growing field, less than 60 colleges and universities nationwide offer an interior architecture degree.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be expanding this program at this time,” said Myers about the creation of Cornish’s newest BFA.
As president of JMD Consultants, Inc., since 1990, Myers has worked as a lead concept designer on a variety of complex system projects and programs. Her clients include Pike Place Market, Washington Convention Center, Marriott International, Inc., The Levy Restaurants, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority of Chicago, Quartet Manufacturing Headquarters, and many private-custom residences. For Greenpoint Technologies, Inc. (Zodiac Aerospace Group), she has created custom interiors for the 747-8, 787, and Aerolofts aircraft owned by private individuals or heads of state. Her award-winning interior and product design work have been published on the cover of LUXE magazine, Seattle Times, Business Jet Interiors, Contemporist: Contemporary Modern Architecture, and Gray Magazine, among others
Myers holds an MFA and BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Additional studies include Parsons School of Design, Whitney Museum of American Art, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and Graham Foundation Studies. She is an active member of the American Society of Interior Design (ASID), and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and was a Juror in this year’s INAwards. She is the National Committee Chair of the Annual Awards & Scholarly Activities for the Interior Design Education Council (IDEC). In 2014 Myers was the IDEC Host for the Pacific West Regional IDEC Conference held at Cornish. Her awards include ASID Washington State Chapter Educator of the Year Award 2012, ASID Design Award for Excellence, SAIC Marya Lilien Foundation Award, and the Allsteel Manufacturer Award.
More About Cornish College of the Arts
Cornish College of the Arts awards Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in art, dance, design, film+media, interior architecture, performance production and theater, and a Bachelor of Music.
The mission of Cornish College of the Arts is to provide students aspiring to become practicing artists with an educational program of the highest possible quality, in an environment that nurtures creativity and intellectual curiosity, while preparing them to contribute to society as artists, citizens, and innovators.
Cornish realizes this mission by offering baccalaureate studies in the performing and visual arts and by serving as a focal point in the community for public presentation, artistic criticism, participation and discussion of the arts.
For more information about the Interior Architecture program, please see http://www.cornish.edu/interior_architecture/
