Hi all! Here on the CCA admissions blog, summertime is our special opportunity to introduce you to a few recent CCA graduates and to share stories of awesome summer internships.

Let's start with the graduates: Kevin Krueger and Kristin Olson, who each graduated in 2011 from the Individualized Major Program, moved to San Francisco to attend CCA after meeting (and getting married!) in Santa Cruz.

Drawn to CCA by the word-of-mouth reputation of its faculty, Kevin and Kristin worked closely with illustrator Barron Storey, writer Matt Silady and installation artist Christina La Sala. “All the professors we’ve worked with have been so genuine,” Kristin says. “They’ve really helped us develop our approach.”

Their works—spanning illustration, writing, printmaking, installation, and video—are pretty solid examples of the multidisciplinary approach CCA students are encouraged to investigate. “I like the idea of finding different ways to explore the same world,” Kristin shares. “Working like this gives the story more weight.”

The two alums have developed distinct approaches to the creative process: Kristin spends lots of time planning before making, while Kevin plans as he makes. Kevin notes that Kristin’s steady structure complements his more spontaneous process.

“We decided to have our senior shows together because there’s an interesting conversation between my work and Kristin’s work,” explains Kevin. “We were also luckily both stressed out at the same time." (He laughs.)

This summer Kevin is in Poland contributing to a performance art piece, and Kristin’s busy writing the last installment in a book trilogy. She's also looking for a way to make fruit taxidermy, but that’s a story for another time.

Browse the slideshow and visit Kevin Krueger and Kristin Olson's websites for more. See you next time!