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Think you can’t change the world with a Fine Art degree?

Art Center artists show how their majors—and the scholarships that support them—can be powerful investments in creating community.

Control Room

Graduating from Art Center, Fine Art alumni Evelena Ruether FINE 09 and William Kaminski FINE 09 didn’t want to lose track of the many remarkable artists they had met here.

“So often, once you leave school everyone disperses to pursue their individual careers,” Ruether explains. “We wanted to stay in touch with the community we’d created at Art Center. At the same time, we felt that many of our peers were doing work that was as good, or better, than what we were seeing in commercial galleries, and we wanted to create a place for them to exhibit their work.”

In this way was born Control Room, an artist-run gallery occupying part of their live-work space on Seventh Street in downtown Los Angeles near the L.A. River. In its first years, the gallery offered a sense of community and networking opportunities for Fine Art graduates during the important early post-college years.

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Special Forces: Sisters memorialize father’s legacy with Public Programs scholarship

The scholarship allows Art Center at Night to provide financial support to adult students.

When Nancy Player Legler suggested to her three sisters that they join forces to endow a scholarship at Art Center, her idea was met with immediate enthusiasm. “We all agreed that this was a way to make a real difference in people’s lives and honor the memory of our parents,” she says.

Established in 2012, the Ross Dimond Player and Madelyn Maberly Player Endowed Memorial Scholarship provides financial support for adult students enrolled in the College’s Public Programs, with a preference for veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.

According to Dana L. Walker, Managing Director, Public Programs, and Director, Art Center at Night, “Thanks to the Player family’s generosity, Art Center at Night will be better able to assist recent vets who want to take our continuing studies classes–especially those who are seeking to build their portfolios for admissions to Art Center’s full-time degree programs.”

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Architectural Digest features artist, alum Pae White

Architectural Digest recently featured mixed-media artist and alum Pae White, whose well-known works include large-scale, site-specific projects.

At the 2010 Whitney Biennial, for example, she debuted a mesmerizing 40-foot-long tapestry with swirling swaths of smoke against a black backdrop. The year prior, her piece “Weaving, Unsung” at the Venice Biennale transformed a 13th-century Isolotto building into a giant birdcage with seed-encrusted chandeliers and a ceiling of colorful string.

“I kind of want to do it all,” White told Architectural Digest of her varied creative endeavors. “It’s a combination of wishing to try everything and being unable to say no.”

Born and raised in Pasadena, she attended Scripps College and later earned an MFA from Art Center.

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Oscars 2013: Film Department Chair Ross LaManna picks best in show

It’s official: The Oscar nominees are in. Film Department Chair Ross LaManna weighs on who was best in show among the 85th Annual Academy Awards top 10 categories. (Hint: It’s not “Lincoln.”)

1. Best Picture: “Argo.” Choosing strictly on broad entertainment value, it’s a close call between “Argo” and “Django Unchained,” with “Argo” squeaking out a win. It’s a solid, suspenseful thriller and good old-fashioned moviemaking.

2. Best Actor: Hugh Jackman, “Les Misérables.” Hugh Jackman’s performance reminds me of what someone said of Ginger Rogers – she did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in heels. Jackman gave a terrific leading man performance, portraying a profound character arc over a long period of time… and he sang the whole damn thing.

3. Best Actress: Naomi Watts, “The Impossible.” An amazing, no-holds performance in an excellent movie, on what was clearly a grueling shoot.

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Art Center alums create NY Times opinion art of note

Each year, more than 1,500 illustrations dot The New York Times opinion section, which has paired original art with stirring perspectives since its inception in 1970.

The Times selected 60 visual highlights from the section to recap 2012, with nine Art Center alums on the list.

“We are proud of our record with the New York Times,” said Illustration Department Chair Ann Field. “Our OP ED Illustration class tackles real assignments from this great publication,” which are critiqued by a New York Times editor.

Here are images by our alums that capture provocative topics — from a dangerous love affair with Bambi to redefining autism.

Kelsey Dake: Why Bambi Must Go

Spring 2013 orientation week welcomes new students

This week, Art Center officially welcomes the Spring 2013 incoming class with a week of orientation activities organized by the College’s Center for the Student Experience.

“New student orientation sets the stage for the success of our students during their time at Art Center,” said Dean of Students Jeffrey Hoffman. “Helping students feel connected to each other and the College is critical.”

Here’s the lineup of what’s to come so new students get the most out of their education — in and out of the classroom.

Tuesday, Jan. 8

8–9 a.m.: New student orientation check in.

9:30 a.m.: Art Center President Lorne M. Buchman, Dean of Students Jeffrey Hoffman and Admissions Vice President Kit Baron welcome new students.

9:45 a.m.–noon: Campus tours, followed by a lunch with peer mentors (12–1:30 p.m.).

1:30–3 p.m. or 3:30–5 p.m.: Undergraduate students have the option of taking digital waiver tests.

2–5:30 p.m.: Graduate student orientation and course selections.

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Exhibit reveals secrets of Hollywood monster maker

Film fans have one more chance to meet one of Hollywood’s greatest monster makers.

Art Center alum Neville Page — who created on-screen beasts for Cloverfield, Piranha 3D, Super 8 and Prometheus — is the mind behind “The Beauty in the Beast: Crafting Creatures.”

The exhibition at the Oceanside Museum of Art, which closes Saturday, features Page’s design progression creating mythical anatomies from early sketches to full 3D models.

In addition to a last look at Page’s process, attendees will be entered to win signed prints of his work. Admission to the exhibition and closing reception (5 to 7 p.m.) is free for OMA members and for Art Center students and alum; $10 for non-members. Page will give a private tour of the exhibition from 2 to 4 p.m., which costs $20 and includes admission.

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CCS, Art Center mourn the loss of a visionary leader

Imre Molnar, who shaped designers as an administrator at Art Center and the College for Creative Studies, died on Dec. 28. Molnar had a heart attack while bike riding in California. He was 61.

Molnar joined Detroit’s College for Creative Studies in 2001 as dean and rose to the post of provost, overseeing the college’s faculty, curriculum and academic resources. He helped create an MFA degree and was instrumental in lifting the school’s transportation programs to world leadership levels, according to a statement from the school.

Born in Hungary and raised in Australia, Molnar earned a bachelor’s degree from the National Art School in Sydney, Australia, and a master’s degree from Art Center College of Design. He later returned to the college as a faculty member and director of education at Art Center’s one-time European campus in Vevey, Switzerland.

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Williamson Gallery, LitFest host page-turner

In an era of e-readers and smart phones, Art Center’s Williamson Gallery and LitFest Pasadena have teamed up to celebrate the simple power of the printed page.

On Sunday as part of the gallery’s “Pages” exhibit, eight prominent Los Angeles writers will each read one page from a favorite author.

“Art, science, literature, these disciplines define Pasadena — increasingly so,” said Larry Wilson, LitFest artistic director and public editor of the Pasadena Star-News. “That’s why the ‘Pages’ show in the Williamson Gallery is the perfect place for LitFest Pasadena, which is growing way beyond an annual book fair, to have a reading by these celebrated writers.”

Readers include Los Angeles Review of Books Editor Tom Lutz; Altadena novelist Jervey Tervalon; young writer Andrew Ramirez; mystery writer Gary Phillips; Slake magazine Editor Laurie Ochoa; poet and young adult novelist Ron Koertge; painter and author J. Michael Walker; and poet Lisa Teasley.

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Happy Holidays from Art Center College of Design

Learn to create. Influence change. This is the mission of Art Center College of Design. For more than 80 years, we’ve achieved an international reputation for our rigorous, transdisciplinary curriculum, faculty of professionals, strong ties to industry and a commitment to socially responsible design. At Art Center, we prepare artists and designers to make a positive impact in their chosen fields—and in the world at large.

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