Jon Jon Augustavo (MFA 13 Grad Film)
This short is not only something I’m proud of—the tone, the look and the story are all representative of my voice as a filmmaker and it is probably the last time I was able to create something that’s not weighed down by expectation or inundated by other voices. This is something that is truly me. More recently I’m waking up and developing a few independent feature films. Films go much slower than commercials and music videos and the projects start out seeming so far away, like a pipe dream. But in the blink of an eye everything starts to happen and it’s all on top of you.
We have created a virtual sharing space, Untold Stories: Q&As with ArtCenter Alumni, for alumni to talk about their past, present and future projects as well as the ideas and challenges that shape their careers, lives and work.
ArtCenter alumni are some of the most accomplished art and design professionals in the world. We hail their prominent successes in our various digital and print publications, including Dotted Line, Dot magazine, the Viewbook and social media channels.
We are proud to share these triumphant moments. But fame—or even outsize accomplishment—is not the only evidence of success. We believe that inspiration, innovation and authenticity are the true hallmarks of a creative and fulfilling life. So, as we celebrate our 85th anniversary we are embarking on an effort to understand meaningful achievement in all its variations and to share the many untold stories of ArtCenter alumni.
In many ways the site is an anthology of alumni work and will be used as a source for content on all of our communications channels where we will continue to share the ArtCenter story with the world. Alumni have been invited to explore and engage with Untold Stories by answering questions and submitting images to this highly visual and highly personal space. This is the place where designers and artists share their thoughts as well as their work. Here is a small sample of posts already inhabiting the space. We invite you to visit Untold Stories to peruse the rest and keep checking back for new entries.
Matt Strelecki (BS 86 Graphic Design)
Matt Strelecki (BS 86 Graphic Design)
Three years ago I started using my iPhone for taking a ton of images and then got the crazy idea to turn my images into fake CD covers. 80+ covers later I turned 45 of them into a book as a personal project complete with fake reviews of the fake bands, all written by me. Evidently I have more time on my hands than I realized but now I can honestly claim that I’ve published a book.
Bruce Burdick (MS 61 Environmental)
Bruce Burdick (MS 61 Environmental) founder and director of the Environmental Design Department at ArtCenter in the 1970s.
How do you see the role of the designer today?
A designer works in an interstice, the space in-between what is known and what will become, and this is the ideal place in which to operate. In this space, you are working ahead of the known information. And what you have to do is to feel very comfortable operating in this fringe area in order to push something out.
Esther Pearl Watson (BFA Fine Art)
Esther Pearl Watson (BFA Fine Art)
Though they look very different, my comics and my narrative paintings both have the theme of the outsider trying to fit in.
Dan Santat (BFA 01 Illustration)
Dan Santat (BFA 01 Illustration)
When I said ‘no’ to Google I gave myself one condition, which was something my instructor Rob Clayton had advised us to do at Art Center. I told myself I needed to work on my brand harder than I’ve ever worked for any company.
