Yearly Archives: 2011

Art Center Ranked Among the Best of the Best by DesignIntelligence’s Annual Survey

An Art Center student hard at work at a recent DesignStorm.

Cited as a “heavyweight player,” Art Center College of Design was once again ranked first for its undergraduate industrial design programs by the Design Futures Council in its annual DesignIntelligence survey of America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools, which recognizes the schools that are best preparing students for success in their professions. This year, the College’s Graduate Industrial Design program ranked second, one spot away from first where it has placed five times out of the last seven years.

The sum total of Art Center’s undergraduate industrial design programs—Entertainment Design, Environmental Design, Product Design and Transportation Design—were most admired for their “resources, reputation and quality of education.”

In their assessment of industrial design skills, in which hiring firms deem the collegiate programs most strongly educating students in specific skill areas, Art Center ranked first place in the categories of “Communication,” “Computer Applications” and “Design.” The College also ranked in the top five in the areas of “Cross-Disciplinary Teamwork” and “Research and Theory,” which makes Art Center one of only two schools to place in all categories.

“These programs are graduating students who are able to tackle complex and difficult work, create and share knowledge, and invent new design solutions in their fields,” the survey said of the institutions which ranked in its annual survey. “Students learn not just technologies and craft but also leadership, judgment, and insight into changing contexts and upcoming challenges. These will be our future leaders.”

The Design Futures Council is an independent and interdisciplinary network of design, product, construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of our industry and environment.

Alumnus Directs White Stripes Video for Deaf Professional Artists Network

Still from the "We're Going To Be Friends" video, directed by alumnus Nicolas Hill for D-PAN.

Check out this beautiful video of The White Stripes “We’re Going To Be Friends” directed by Film alumnus Nicolas Hill for the Deaf Professional Artist’s Network (D-PAN).

In the video–which has been featured on The Today Show, CBS News and has received more then 330,000 hits so far on YouTube–deaf and hard-of-hearing children sign the lyrics to the Stripes’sweet song about finding a new friend at the start of a new school year.

Hill, who graduated in 2001, is a co-founder of Lucky Airlines film production company, a company that specializes in commercials, music videos and industrial videos. D-PAN is an organization dedicated to promoting professional development and access to the entertainment, visual and media arts fields for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Head past the jump to see the video.

Art Center Salutes Our Veterans

Alumnus Horace Bristol's Rescued Airmen Smoking Aboard the PBY" (1944)

Today is Veterans Day, a day our nation sets aside to honor its veterans for their patriotism, their service and the sacrifices they made–and continue to make–to protect our freedoms.

Art Center’s history is rich with students, staff and faculty who served their country through military service. In fact, the College’s student population grew significantly due to the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill, a piece of legislation that honored veterans by helping to pay the costs for them to attend colleges and universities. The growth was dramatic enough to require Art Center to move from its modest 7th Street Campus to its larger 3rd Street Campus in 1947.

Today, as we have throughout the College’s history, we continue to educate women and men who have served at home and abroad. As our veterans continue to return from their tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and other points across the globe, we are grateful for the rich contributions they make to our lives, both on and off campus.

Don’t Miss Artist and Designer Mike Perry

Artist/designer Mike Perry in his studio

Don’t miss a special presentation by artist and designer Mike Perry tonight, Thurs. Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the LA Times Auditorium.

Perry will also host a drawing workshop on Saturday, November 12 from noon to 4 p.m. in the Faculty Dining Room. To RSVP, email danielle.ferrer@artcenter.edu.

About Perry, from his website:

Working in a variety of mediums, including—but not limited to—books, magazines, newspapers, clothing, drawing, painting, and illustration, Perry is compelled by the ways in which the hand-drawn informs and deepens contemporary visual culture.

Perry works regularly for a number of editorial and commercial clients including Apple, The New York Times, Dwell, Target, Urban Outfitters, eMusic and Nike.

Most days, Perry can be found working away in his Brooklyn-based studio, ceaselessly mixing colors, pulling prints, building sculptures and exercising his belief in the transformative power of making things.

Recent Photography Alumni in Upcoming Juenes Talents Shifting Perspectives at Gallery 825

This photo by alumna Christine Hemm will be featured in the Juenes Talents exhibition at Gallery 825.

As you may remember, two recent Photography and Imaging alumni–Christine Hemm and Maeghan Henry–were among eight artists who recently completed the fifth annual Jeunes Talents (Young Talents) photography program, in which they were sent on ten-day trips this past spring to various parts of France to capture contemporary French life.

After premiering in the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York earlier this fall, the Shifting Perspectives: Martinique / Metz / Rouen / Toulouse exhibition will move to Los Angeles’ Gallery 825 from November 18 to December 2, 2011, with an opening reception on November 17. A selection of works by Hemm, Henry and all the other artists can be previewed on the Juenes Talents website.

Juenes Talents is a cultural tourism project that combines tourism and the arts, photography and real-life experience, travel and inspiration, and American and French sensibilities to show life in France today. The project is organized by the French Tourism Development Agency; the Cultural Services of the French Consulate in Los Angeles and FLAX, a Los Angeles foundation dedicated to fostering a better understanding of France through public and cultural art events.

Student’s Algorithm-Based Brand Identity System Wins Adobe Design Achievement Award

Graphic Design student Paul Hope

Congratulations to Graphic Design student Paul Hoppe for winning a prestigious Adobe Design Achievement Award in the Application Development category for “Exploratorium: Generative Identity,” a brand identity generation system he designed for San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum in Brad Bartlett’s Type 4: Transmedia course.

“The [Exploratorium] wanted their identity to reflect the ever-changing nature of the world around us, and simultaneously encourage us to explore our dynamic world,” wrote Bartlett in his project description.”The project allows for infinite variation of the brand mark. No two logo iterations are exactly alike. Supporting elements such as alphabet, texture, and background, can also be generated for use across the design spectrum, including print, web, motion, and interactive design.”

Read more about Hoppe and his project here.

Letterpress Printer and Artist-in-Residence Amos Kennedy, Jr. to Speak at South Campus Tomorrow

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., at his letterpress in Gordo, Ala.

Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., a letterpress printer and bookbuilder based in Gordo, Ala. and the subject of the recent documentary Proceed and Be Bold, will be in Pasadena today and tomorrow (November 4–5) for a two-day residency at Art Center College of Design in conjunction with Archetype Press, the 120 Group, and the Southern California Chapter of the American Printing History Association.

While at Art Center, Kennedy will conduct a series of letterpress workshops for Art Center students and APHA members, and give a free talk on Saturday, November 5 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at South Campus’ Public Programs Gallery, which is open to the public.

About Amos Kennedy, Jr.: At 40 years of age, unsatisfied with his comfortable, middle-class life, Kennedy abandoned the traditional American Dream to follow his own. He traded in his computer for a printing press and his white collar for a pair of overalls. Kennedy is now a self-proclaimed “humble negro printer” whose letterpress work raises emotionally charged questions about race and individuality.

See the trailer for Proceed and Be Bold after the jump.

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Don’t Miss Machine Project’s Mark Allen Tonight

Artist Corey Fogel, part of Machine Project's 2008 "Field Guide" to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Tonight, Art Center’s Office of Career Development and Fine Art Department are presenting students with a unique opportunity to meet Mark Allen, the founder and executive director of Machine Project, from 7-9 p.m. in the Boardroom at Hillside Campus.

A non-profit performance and installation space that investigates art, technology, science and more, the Echo Park-based Machine Project also operates as a loose confederacy of artists producing shows at locations ranging from beaches to museums.

Tonight, Allen will discuss Machine Project’s history, fantastical events and mysterious collaborators. Topics covered will include indoor shipwrecks, dog operas (opera for and by dogs),fire starting with sticks, houseplant vacations, and teaching children how to steal cars.

No RSVP is required.

Celebrate El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) and More as Part of International Education Week

"Day of the Dead" poster by Graphic Design student Tracy Hung.

If you’ve been to the Cafe, seen the flags along the Bridge, or heard thunderous taiko drumming on campus this week, then you’ve probably guessed that this is International Education Week.

International Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.

As part of the festivities, the Center for the Student Experience (CSE) has organized several special free events for the Art Center community to enjoy, including a celebration of the Mexican holiday El Día de los Muertos on Wednesday, Nov. 2.

Students can stop by the Cafe, the Bridge and CSE (Suite 200B) on Wednesday to learn more about the holiday in which death becomes something not to be feared, but to be embraced.

The Library also has a Day of the Dead exhibition currently on display—showcasing its Día de los Muertos collection as well as sugar, paper mache and ceramic skulls—and is holding a reception with light refreshments on Wednesday from 1:00–2:00 p.m.

Head past the jump for a list of remaining International Education Week events.

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Tricks and Treats by Alumnus Mark Ryden

"Girl Eaten by a Tree" (2006) by Mark Ryden

A day filled with ghoulish treats seems as good a time as any to delve into the surrealistic work of Art Center alumnus Mark Ryden ILLU ’87.

Ryden recently debuted a new painting, The Meat Shop, at the Frieze Art Fair in London, and beginning November 4 he’ll have a new drawing, Sacred Heart, on display at La Luz de Jesus Gallery’s 25th anniversary group exhibition La Luz de Jesus 25.

Head past the jump for a few more paintings by Ryden.

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