Monthly Archives: August 2010

Reflecting Back at 80: Looking at Our Campuses

It’s a special year for us here at Art Center—2010 marks our 80th anniversary.

It was in 1930 that the Art Center School opened its doors at Seventh Street, in the Westlake Park area of Los Angeles. In the decades since, we have moved two additional times (to Third Street and then to our present Pasadena campus), maintained a European campus for a decade, and opened a second Pasadena campus.

In the latest issue of Outer Circle, we look back at the past 80 years of Art Center through the memories of our alums.

Travel back in time with us for this fun feature: In Their Words: 80 Years of Art Center

Acclaimed Cinematographer to Speak Thursday

Art Center is honored to welcome to campus world-renowned Australian cinematographer Peter James this afternoon to discuss his craft and more. Film Department instructor Allen Daviau will host the discussion with the highly acclaimed cinematographer and director of photography.

James’ credits include Driving Miss Daisy, Black Robe, Alive, This Thing Called Love, Silent Fall, Diabolique, Paradise Road, The Newton Boys, Double Jeopardy, Meet the Parents, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, 27 Dresses and many more.

The event starts at 2 pm at the Ahmanson Auditorium and is open to all Art Center students, faculty, alumni and staff.

Peter James
Thursday, August 5, 2 pm
Hillside Campus, Ahmanson Auditorium

Tad Beck Weighs in on Current Work

It’s always interesting to hear about an installation directly from the artist. As we recently reported, contemporary artist and Art Center alum Tad Beck’s current exhibition, Palimpsest, is part of LACMA’s Manly Pursuits: The Sporting Images of Thomas Eakins. His work is a response to Eakins’ Grafly Album, also on view in the exhibition.

Beck weighs in on his installation in a guest post on LACMA’s blog, Unframed:

“During the installation of my exhibition Palimpsest, I was able to have my own private exploration of Manly Pursuits. I had never seen many of these works in person, though Eakins has been one of my primary influences since parallels emerged with my own practice. … Both Eakins’s and my own work focus on nude models. The locations look very much the same, and both Eakins and I are treading water. There was even similar passion for creating axis. While none of these parallels were intentional in Roll, they became definitive and almost seemed beyond coincidence.”

Read more: Tad Beck on his Installation, Palimpsest

Roll from CellPhoneStories @LACMA on Vimeo.

Meet Steve Gavenas

Steve Gavenas had already earned numerous degrees, and enjoyed a successful career, before coming to Art Center to pursue his master’s in Graduate Art.

“I was looking for a world-class fine art graduate program that would challenge me and help me grow in my technical capability as well as the theoretical underpinning of my work, expand my artistic vision, and allow me to join the vibrant Los Angeles art scene,” explains Gavenas. “I also wanted a school that takes education seriously, with intensive faculty involvement and great classes—not just a residency program like some schools.”

Read more about Steve and his Art Center experience at in this great interview.

Looking Back at the Old Wind Tunnel

We all know that Art Center’s South Campus was originally a supersonic wind tunnel. But did you know that the tunnel was made of thick, reinforced steel, and could operate from below atmospheric pressure to four times that pressure?

From a 1945 Pasadena Star-News article: “Jet propulsion has raised new problems. This tunnel built for high speed pressurized research has been completed none too quickly as what we thought were problems of the future are with us now.”

Read more in today’s Pasadena Star-News: Southern California Cooperative Wind Tunnel and check out some interesting photos and floor plans of the old Wind Tunnel at the gardenLAb experiment.