Who: Dana C. Crawford, PhD
What: MIX at CMA
Where: 11150 East Blvd, Cleveland, OH 44106
Many of us in the Institute for Computational Biology have primary appointments in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The Department is large and diverse, and lucky for us, pretty friendly. Case in point are the regular happy hours organized by junior faculty such as Dr. Farren Briggs.
Farren moved to Cleveland to begin his appointment at CWRU in early 2014 after completing his training in epidemiology at the University of California Berkeley. Despite being a relatively recent transplant, Farren is quite familiar with all that Cleveland has to offer. So, when Farren said the next happy hour was Friday, we just asked “when and where” without worrying about the “what.”
The “what’ for this happy hour turned out to be MIX at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). The CMA is obviously known for its fine art (a future blog post when I clear my backlog), but it is also known for its social events open to the community. The CMA underwent an extensive renovation in 2002 that resulted in part in the addition of a 39,000 square foot glass-enclosed atrium, reportedly the largest indoor public space in Cleveland. With this addition, hosting fun community events is a no-brainer. MIX at CMA is one of those regular community events, held on the first Friday of the month. Each MIX event is different and aims to bring a “mix” of music, art, and mingling.
The MIX we attended last May was “Design on Friday” featuring the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Cleveland Akron’s “Product Runway” event. That’s right—a fashion show! What a better place for scientists to spend the night socializing than at an event packed with beautiful people (Figure 1)?
Figure 1. Left to right: Dr. Farren Briggs and a Product Runway model. Farren can hold his own with the pretty people!
I have to admit, we had a fun and fascinating time (Figure 2). This wasn’t just any fashion show. This was like Project Runway with couture gowns made of building materials. We stared in awe as each model did his or her best angry stomp to show off the zero landfill materials transformed into a couture dress (Figure 3) or deconstructed office furniture re-purposed as a suit of armor.
Figure 2. Some old fashioned fun at MIX.
Figure 3. I can’t believe this one didn’t win best in show! Or, is that only for dog shows? From http://blog.interface.com/category/culture-play: “Interior design students from Kent State University repurposed product samples for a “Diamond in Raw Form” couture dress for the IIDA Cleveland Akron Product Runway event.”
Even better—the one of the guest judges was Mariel Hemingway (Figures 4 and 5)!
Figure 4. I was super excited to see Mariel Hemingway!
Form more than met function that night. I can’t wait to see what events Farren has in store for future Departmental happy hours!
Figure 5. Manhattan meets Cleveland. Academy Award nominated Mariel Hemingway graciously shared her space with EPBI and ICB. I was concentrating too much on standing up straight to give my proper “blue steel” look.
