Getting ready for Grad Show. Photo: Lucia Loiso

The computer labs are packed. The shops are humming at all hours. Visitors from sponsoring companies and organizations are streaming through campus to attend final presentations. And the Student Gallery is full of projects in and out of the coveted space. These telltale sights and sounds can only mean one thing at Art Center: Week 14 has arrived.

The state of the campus is a visual reminder of the frenetic energy generated by Art Center students sprinting toward finals. The end of the term is here; and for 111 students, this week marks their last. Saturday evening, after countless all-nighters, critiques, finals, internships and hopefully some fun, 100 undergraduate and 11 graduate students will be awarded their degrees. As we count down to commencement, we celebrate these creative and talented individuals who are about to take on the world and honor the great teachers who have guided the way. Here’s the lowdown for the week.

Wednesday, August 13: ACN Open House
From 7–9 pm at South Campus (950 Building), Art Center at Night’s Annual Open House returns for prospective and current students, invited guests and the general public. At this once-a-year event, guests can sit in on classes, observe student presentations and critiques, meet instructors, view student work, register for Fall courses, learn about Art Center’s full-time degree programs and enter a raffle to win a free Art Center at Night course.

Grad Show, Summer 2011. Photo: Lucia Loiso

Thursday, August 14: Graduation Show Preview
Industry leaders, employers, corporate partners, donors and alumni get the first look at the Summer term’s graduating artists and designers at the invitation-only Graduation Show Preview.

This is the second dual-campus show, with Fine Art and Graduate Media Design Practices showing at South Campus, from 5–8 p.m. The remainder of the disciplines will be showing at Hillside from 6–9 p.m., with a private reception following.

This event, hosted by Alumni Relations to welcome new graduates into the community, gives our graduating students an opportunity to network with potential employers and fellow alumni. The show features student projects from major fields of study at Art Center, including Advertising, Entertainment Design, Environmental Design, Film, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography and Imaging, Product Design, Transportation Design, Graduate Film, Graduate Industrial Design, Graduate Media Design Practices and Graduate Transportation Design.

Graduation Spring 2014. Photo: John Dlugolecki.

Saturday August 16: Graduation
Join us in the Sculpture Garden at Hillside Campus from 5–7 p.m. for the Graduation Ceremony. Students, families and guests will hear from Graphic Design instructor Brad Barlett, who will be receiving a Great Teacher Award; Hugo Pilate, who will be receiving the Student Leadership Award; and Annie Grigoryan, the Summer 2014 class valedictorian.

Art Center first began formally honoring great teachers in 1986. In 2011, the awards were re-launched and revised where recipients are selected annually through a nomination process open to all enrolled students and a confidential selection committee also comprised of students. During the award’s history, instructors from across all departments have been recognized for their significant and life-changing contributions toward student learning.

Bartlett, who will be receiving the Full-Time Great Teacher Award, is a designer and educator who earned his Masters Degree in Design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He was selected as New Visual Artist by Print Magazine before establishing a small, multidisciplinary design studio in Los Angeles in 1999, the same year he began teaching at Art Center. A multidisciplinary designer whose firm won the 2012 Grand Prize for Excellence in Design from the American Alliance of Museums, Bartlett has explored the relationship between media and culture since the mid-1990s, when his projection-based graduate work from Cranbrook Academy of Art was presented at MIT. He has been instrumental in launching the Graphic Design department’s innovative transmedia curriculum.

Humanities and Sciences faculty member Rocio Carlos will be receiving the Part-Time Great Teacher Award and Kohei Eguchi will be receiving an Honorary Faculty Award.

The Student Leadership Award is given out each term to a student who exemplifies leadership qualities and accomplishments that stand out above their peers. This term’s award will be given to Product Design student Hugo Pilate, who has been a student mentor, an active member of the DIY Club and an elected member of Art Center Student Government.

The crowd will also have an opportunity to hear from valedictorian Annie Grigoryan, who is graduating from the Graphic Design department with the highest cumulative GPA of the Summer 2014 graduating class.

If you can’t attend the ceremony in person, you can view a webcast at artcenter.edu/webcast.

After the ceremony, Graduation Show opens to the public from 7­­–10 p.m., where work by the newest Art Center graduates will be on display.