Yearly Archives: 2011

Who Said Creatives Can’t Be Athletes?

While many students were feeling the pressures of final exams and likely recovering from recent all-nighters, a team of Art Center students rallied together to participate in the second Annual Collegiate Field Tournament last Friday night.

Art Center, along with Caltech, PCC, Le Cordon Bleu, Pacific Oaks and Fuller Theological Seminary competed in an array of challenges that included the Lego Car Design Challenge, Capture the Flag, Amazing Russet Race, Monster Croquet, and Frisbee Challenge.  The Art Center team was comprised of 10 students both undergraduate and graduate across majors. Although smaller than the other teams in sheer number, the Art Center team brought a spirit of collaboration and passion to each event. Teams created unique uniforms, and Art Center chose to represent various tools used by artists and designers—such as an X-Acto knife and Sharpie maker.

“Quality is more important than quantity,” said Team Captain, Advertising student Dante Barsotti, who was visibly  unphased by the larger teams Art Center faced. “I love competition and the opportunity to bring some glory to Art Center. Not to mention, to show people that we don’t just sit around behind computers all day.”

Representatives from ACSG, CSE, Marketing and Communications, and alumni came out to PCC’s Robinson Field to support the team.  “It was great to see students off campus, outside in the fresh air, and having fun,” says Hannah Huang, director of International Exchange and Study Away.

A great time was had by all. Check out the slideshow from the event below.

Shattering the Glass Backboard: Alumnus Chronicles Lakers Championship

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein, from Journey to the Ring

Like many of the professional athletes he captures on film, Photography and Imaging alumnus Andrew Bernstein is recognized as an all-star in his respective field. As NBA Senior Official Photographer and NBA Photos Senior Director, Bernstein’s photography has appeared on thousands of magazine covers around the world.

What’s different about Bernstein’s work is the unique personal rapport that he’s developed with the athletes he shoots, allowing him exclusive access to behind-the-scenes moments. His work has been exhibited in solo shows around the country, including a 20-year retrospective of his work in 2004. Bernstein is among just four photographers whose work was selected for permanent exhibit in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was also instrumental in the development and use of the multiple-camera Flash Wizard II system, which revolutionized indoor sports action photography. His most recent book, Journey To The Ring: Behind the Scenes With The 2010 NBA Champion Lakers, written by Lakers coach Phil Jackson, chronicles the team’s season leading up to the championship.

Just in time for the NBA playoffs, we caught up with Bernstein to talk to him about basketball, photography and everything in between.

view slideshow

Dotted Line: Tell us about what you do.
Bernstein: I am the team photographer for the NBA’s two local teams, the Lakers and Clippers. I travel with the teams and cover all the major NBA events—Olympic Games, USA Basketball, WNBA, All-Star Games, Finals. As a senior director, I oversee various team photographers, mostly in the Western Conference. With my boss, the VP of NBA photos, we manage photography throughout the league.

I started working as a freelance photographer for the NBA in 1983. That year’s NBA All-Star Game was my first assignment. I continued freelancing for them and in 1986, helped create the position of official NBA photographer. It was a contract position, and I continued that in that manner until I became an employee of the NBA.

I’ve worked as the team photographer for basically every team and every venue in L.A. since then. I was the Dodgers team photographer from ’84 to ’95. And I’ve become the director of photography for AEG’s two main facilities, the Nokia Theater and Staples Center. I have a crew of five or six people, depending on what’s going on that time of year. We’re responsible for photographing every event in these venues, sporting or otherwise. In addition, I’ve been fortunate to run a successful business, Andrew D. Bernstein and Associates Photography, Inc.

Dotted Line: Which sport do you enjoy photographing the most? Is there one that’s more difficult to capture?
Bernstein: I’ve shot every sport known to man. Baseball was very tedious and challenging because of the boredom factor— sometimes you can go an entire game without really getting a great picture.

When you shoot a hockey or football or a basketball game, though, something’s always happening. It makes it fun to shoot. I love shooting football—I shot UCLA football for five years, and shot the Raiders and Rams when they were in L.A. Hockey is probably the hardest to photograph, because we’re physically limited to where we’re allowed to position ourselves and shoot—we have to shoot through a little hole cut in the boards beside the rink. Not to mention, it’s very fast moving, with players coming toward and away from you at a fast speed. It can get crazy.

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AutoPacific Enhances Transportation Design Education at Art Center

The most successful transportation designers are not simply adept at creating exciting new vehicle concepts, they are able to participate in and understand market research, brand development and user scenarios.

© Steven A. Heller/Art Center College of Design

But how do Art Center’s Transportation Design students gain these skills?

For a decade, AutoPacific has partnered with the College to enhance the educational experience of transportation design students through its annual donation of consumer and market research and forecasting data for the transportation industry. This highly valuable data is the same information used by major automotive manufacturers, suppliers and agencies around the world to understand market and consumer trends and sales projections for a range of vehicles.

Faculty member Robert Blum forged the relationship with AutoPacific in 2001 and the data the company makes available is central to his class, Introduction to Product Planning for Transportation Design. “The students are able to dig into this massive amount of information and learn how to interpret it for the purposes of product planning and development,” he says. “It helps them understand how to make choices about what to develop for whom, and why.”

Adds Stewart Reed, Art Center Transportation Design Chair, “It’s exciting for us to see students learn the broader language of product strategy and business and be able to talk about how their concepts address real market opportunities.”

The licenses that AutoPacific donates provide access to Competitive Battleground data for North America, Asia and Europe with consumer insights for every segment, make and model the company tracks; five-year Sales Forecasting information that is updated quarterly; and the company’s exclusive Research Suite database which is made accessible through PAI survey analysis software. “PAI’s mTABTM software allows for the easy statistical analysis of large amounts of data from AutoPacific’s database,” says Blum.

“Art Center’s partnership with AutoPacific has been incredibly valuable in elevating the educational experience for our students. The data they provide is also used by many of our eighth term students on their thesis projects. It increases the sophistication of our graduates, without a doubt.”

Reflecting Back at 80: A Department is Born

Guest post by Art Center Archivist Robert Dirig

The year was 1931. Nevada legalized gambling. The Empire State building was completed. And Art Center created its Photography (now called Photography and Imaging) Department.

Pictured: Advanced Photography students shooting dancers outside, 1949 (photographer unknown)

Initially led by Will Connell, the department offered coursework in amateur and professional photography.

By 1935, there were 12 faculty members and in addition to the core classes, there were specialized courses in portraiture, color photography, 16mm cinematography, and composition and lighting.

Ansel Adams joined the growing program’s faculty in the early 1940s, joining such faculty members as Fred Archer, Otto Halmer, Edward Kaminski, Albert King and Charlie Potts.

In this photograph from 1949, advanced photography students are shooting dancers outside. Do you recognize anyone in the photo?

What are your memories of our Photography Department? To visit the Archives, or if you recognize anyone in the photo, contact Art Center Archivist Robert Dirig at 626.396.2208 or robert.dirig@artcenter.edu.

Doyald Young Memorial Scholarship Established

Young

Award-winning graphic and logotype designer, alumnus, mentor and revered faculty member Doyald Young, who passed away in February, will be honored by his alma mater with the Doyald Young Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship, which will be available to incoming and current Graphic Design students, was announced at Young Love, a celebration of Young’s life and legacy taking place at the College last weekend. With enough support, the College intends to endow the scholarship to benefit its students in perpetuity.

“Shortly before his passing, Doyald said, ‘If you have the gift of teaching, you must pass it on,’” Art Center President Lorne Buchman says. “In establishing the Doyald Young Memorial Scholarship, it is our hope that we honor the generosity and strength of a gifted artist and powerful teacher—and encourage others in that same spirit of giving to ensure his legacy in the next generation.”

Young taught lettering and logotype design in Art Center’s Graphic Design Department for decades. His freelance work included logotypes for hotels, clubs, universities, financial institutions, arts, entertainment and practically every other industry. He created several corporate and commercial fonts and published three books about his work: Logotypes & Letterforms, Fonts & Logos and Dangerous Curves.

Young was named Inaugural Master of the School by Art Center in 2001, named a Fellow of the Los Angeles chapter of AIGA in 2006, received an AIGA Medal in 2009 and received an honorary doctorate degree of humane letters from Art Center in 2010. His life story and immeasurable talent was also documented by lynda.com as part of their 2010 “Creative Inspirations” series. Young received his formal education at Frank Wiggins Trade School and Art Center.

Individuals interested in making donations to the scholarship can donate online, or contact Senior Development Officer Palencia Turner at 626.396.2366 or palencia.turner@artcenter.edu.

Joe Dante to Speak Thursday

Undergraduate Film Department instructor Allen Daviau will host famed director, producer and editor Joe Dante to campus Thursday for a lecture and Q&A.

Like many directors of his generation, Dante began his career with Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in the ’70s, starting as a trailer editor and soon directing hit films for New World and then the majors.

Known for his vivid, highly inventive visual style, Dante directed such films as Piranha, The Howling, Twilight Zone: The Movie (segment three), Gremlins, Explorers, Innerspace, The ‘Burbs; Gremlins 2:

The New Batch, Small Soldiers, Looney Tunes: Back in Action and the upcoming Monster Love.

This event is open to all Art Center students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Distinguished Filmmakers Series: Joe Dante
Thursday, April 14, 1 p.m.
Ahmanson Auditorium

Syd Mead on Campus Tuesday

We’re excited to have the legendary visual futurist Syd Mead on campus tomorrow as part of the Design Studio Press Spring Lecture Series.

He’ll be discussing informed imagination and his new book, Sentury II. A book signing will follow the lecture.

Mead, a 1959 Transportation Design alumnus, is best known for his work on Tron, Bladerunner and Aliens, as well as for the creation of the V’Ger for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He’s a favorite of ours; we’ve interviewed him here before about Tron and discussed transportation design with him in Outer Circle.

The event is free and open to the public. However, space is limited, so RSVP at facebook.com/designstudiopress.

Design Studio Press
Spring Lecture Series presents:
Syd Mead
Tuesday, April 12, 1 p.m.
Ahmanson Auditorium

In the meantime, check out the video below made by the Tribeca Film Institute:

2019: A Future Imagined from Flat-12 on Vimeo.

Ducha Halo at the 2011 NCIIA Open Minds Conference

The following post is reprinted  from the Designmatters blog.

Bright and brilliant minds gathered at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History on Saturday, March 26, for Open Minds 2011, the student exhibition organized by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) in conjunction with the organization’s 15th Annual Conference, Open: Catalyzing Innovation. The conference was attended by more than 380 faculty and students throughout the country who share NCIIA’s vision and benefit each year from its mission: “to support technology innovation and entrepreneurship in universities and colleges to create experiential learning opportunities for students, and successful, socially beneficial businesses.”

NCIIA was established in 1995 with the support of The Lemelson Foundation, legacy of prolific inventor Jerome Lemelson. NCIIA provides student start-ups with early stage funding, business strategy development training, mentoring, and investment, as well as provides staff and faculty with funding for courses and programs, opportunities for recognition, and entrepreneurship education training and networking.  Since its founding, NCIIA has funded 325 experiential courses and new programs throughout hundreds of universities around the country and has leveraged more than 140 million dollars in additional funding, helping propel projects that have resulted in more than 100 new businesses.

Jessica and Narbeh at the NCIIA Open Minds event.

The Safe Agua “Ducha Halo” team, Jessica Yeh (ENV) and Narbeh Dereghishian (PROD) were selected among the innovator teams of the Open Minds exhibition and were one of 3 teams whose video of their social innovation was chosen as a top finalist by public vote as part of the  2011 Open Minds video competition.

The weekend also served as a valuable opportunity for  students to network and seek out potential investors and collaborators who can help advance their ideas.  “I can’t believe we had the opportunity to meet these wonderful people that are just as passionate about their projects as much as we are about ours. I have never met so many social impact innovators and bright minds in one setting. I learned so much and gained a different perspective about the whole business side of the project. I am still in the process of trying to soak all of it in! It was a really great experience and we did get some business cards and good questions that definitely challenge us to push the Ducha Halo forward,” reflects Yeh.

For the Art Center faculty engaged in 2 distinct NCIIA -funded projects through Designmatters, NCIIA was an important opportunity to be part of panel discussions and paper presentations.  Safe Agua lead faculty Dan Gottlieb, Penny Herschovitch (ENV) and Liliana Becerra (PROD) attended as well Steve Montgomery (GRAD ID), who along with Becerra (PROD) taught the  Creating Social Value through Design TDS in 2010.

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Art Center Vies for the Tourney Cup Tomorrow

Photo Courtesy of Ann Erdman

Who said creatives can’t be athletes, too?

Pasadena City College’s Jackie Robinson Stadium will be a colorful and competitive place tomorrow evening as teams from area colleges compete for the second annual Pasadena Collegiate Field Tournament Cup. Art Center, Caltech, PCC, Fuller Seminary, Le Cordon Bleu and Pacific Oaks College will battle it out for the coveted title. And we need you to cheer Art Center on and witness us crush the competition!

Everyone is invited for a day of fun, games and collegiality. Creative challenges will include Amazing Russet Race, Monster Croquet, Frisbee Touchdown Toss, Lego Car Design Challenge, Tower of Babel and Capture the Flag.

Free parking for the event will be available in Lots 5 and 5A at the corner of Del Mar Boulevard and Bonnie Street. Robinson Stadium is located on the south side of the PCC campus near Del Mar Boulevard between Hill and Bonnie avenues.

The Pasadena Collegiate Field Tournament is sponsored by the city of Pasadena. Art Center’s participation is spearheaded by Art Center Student Government and Center for the Student Experience.

Photo Courtesy of Ann Erdman

Immediately following the tournament, participants and spectators are invited to a tailgate party at Caltech’s Avery House where the Championship Cup will be presented to the winning team.

Avery House is located down the street from Jackie Robinson Stadium on Holliston Avenue at Del Mar.

Can you think of a better way to spend a Friday evening?

Go Art Center!

Pasadena Collegiate Field Tournament
Friday, April 8, 6 p.m. arrivals; 6:30 p.m. opening ceremony
Pasadena City College
Jackie Robinson Stadium

Graphic Intervention Closing Party April 14

Don’t miss the closing party for Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985—2010 on April 14. The exhibit will remain on display at the Williamson Gallery through April 24.

Graphic Intervention is a traveling exhibition of more than 150 international AIDS awareness posters. This collection presents a compelling overview of the artists working within their personal cultural and national perspectives on the subject of AIDS. Starting next week, an Illustration Department/Designmatters student project, The Graying of AIDS Exhibition: Off The Wall, will be on display as a corollary to the exhibition examining the graying of AIDS.

Graphic Intervention Closing Party
 Thursday April 14, 7 to 9 p.m.
Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery
RSVP: natalie.montoya@artcenter.edu