Hayek

With registration for the Fall Term of Art Center at Night (ACN) beginning Monday, August 15, you may find yourself wondering who exactly enrolls in Art Center’s continuing studies program.

ACN offers hundreds of courses that attract everybody from art and design professionals looking to enhance their skills, to mid-career professionals looking for a creative challenge, to individuals preparing a portfolio for admission to one of Art Center’s full-time degree programs.

Over the years, many students have made the leap from taking an ACN course to being a full-time Art Center student.

We recently spoke to Art Center alumnus Sami Hayek, whose new Espacio Sami Hayek line debuted last May at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. Hayek credits ACN for helping him assemble a portfolio that lead to his admission into Art Center’s Environmental Design program.

Here’s what he had to say:

“I was studying business administration when, one day, I realized that I was going to have a boring life ahead of me if I continued this pursuit. At first I was leaning more towards architecture, but after researching the field I realized I wanted something more diverse, which led me to environmental design.

“I knew Art Center had the best Environmental Design program out there, but I didn’t know how tough it was going to be for someone like me—coming from business with practically no design skills—to get admitted into the program. When I visited Patricia Oliver, chair of the department at the time, she asked if I had a portfolio. When I said no, she suggested I attend Art Center at Night (ACN) in order to build one.”

“I was lucky to have Chris Aykanian as my first ACN instructor. Chris encouraged us to go beyond and to do whatever needed to complete our educations. I took his great advice very seriously. I reached out to Art Center students, instructors and chairs from across the college, and worked hard to build my portfolio.

“I really wanted to be accepted into Art Center’s degree program because I had told my father, who lived in rural Mexico and wanted me to either enroll in a serious program or come back home, that I was already enrolled at Art Center. Since environmental design sounded like something regarding ecology, it sounded “serious” enough to my father. So he believed I was going to college to save the environment, but in reality I was going to ACN and crying like a baby from working so hard.

“After taking three ACN courses in a single term, I went back to Patricia and showed her my portfolio. She told me flat-out that my design skills still needed a lot of improvement. However, she found my thought processes interesting—which she said was something much harder to teach. I was accepted into the program, but on the condition that the second she saw me slow down, I would be kicked out.

“She asked me, ‘Do we have a deal?’ ‘Yes we do,’ I answered. And the rest is history.”

Want to see ACN for yourself? Next Wednesday, August 17 from 7 to 9 p.m., ACN opens its South Campus doors to the public for its annual Open House. At Open House, any interested member of the public can visit ACN classes, sit in on critiques and student presentations, view student work and talk to an ACN advisors or faculty members about their specific field of interest.

Remember, registration begins August 15 and courses begin September 12.