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Trustee’s ‘Red Tails’ nominated for NAACP Image awards

The action-adventure World War II film “Red Tails” was nominated for two NAACP Image Awards for outstanding motion picture and outstanding writing in a motion picture.

The high-flying feature, produced by George Lucas and Art Center Trustee Charles Floyd Johnson, was inspired by the heroics of Tuskeegee Airmen, America’s first all African-American aerial unit.

The film spent 23 years in development before premiering on the silver screen, and went on to earn $58 million at the box office.

“It’s a story that has resonance with a lot of people,” Johnson recently told Dotted Line. “These young men were not encouraged to fly for their country … but they triumphed over adversity” at home and abroad.

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‘To the Batmobile!’ The iconic car makes a victory lap

The Batmobile has undergone several on-screen incarnations — from the finned Lincoln Futura designed in 1966 in three weeks to 2012′s tank-like Tumblers that were five months (and reportedly millions of dollars) in the making.

All seven of the Caped Crusader’s rides — including the Batmobile designed by Art Center’s Tim Flattery — are on display through Dec. 14 as part of a free exhibit at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.

More of Gotham’s finest are also showcased, including costumes and props from the Batman film franchise, as well as art from a traveling DC Comic exhibit featuring work by Jim Lee.

Flattery’s stealth-looking Batmobile, featured in 1995′s “Batman Forever” with Val Kilmer at the wheel, was powered by a 25-gallon propane tank that could shoot a 25-foot flame from the rear exhaust.

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Students craft art from fallen trees to raise funds

Art Center students have turned fallen trees into art as part of the “Forces of Nature” project on display through Sunday at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.

The exhibit features woodworks from 130 artists that will be sold during a silent auction to raise funds for the Arboretum and replant trees. Each piece was crafted from a piece of fallen wood from last December’s windstorm that toppled 235 trees at the Arboretum.

Sixteen students in Fridolin Beisert’s Creative Strategies class were given a 6-inch slice of wood and two weeks to craft a piece.

“The challenge was to create something in a short amount of time that would sell for the highest amount,” said Beisert, a professor in the Product Design department.

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Students design cars around engine, win scholarships

From left: "Top Gear" host Tanner Foust, Bruno Gallardo, JJ Hwang discuss Gallardo’s design for a full-size pickup at LA Auto Show.

Art Center students’ car concepts won top honors Wednesday at EcoMotors Future Design Challenge, from a paired-down pick-up to a “Brosome” dad wagon.

The Michigan-based company challenged more than 20 students from Detroit’s College for Creative Studies and Art Center to design a concept around its unusual engine. The OPOC (opposed piston, opposed cylinder) delivers 12- to-15-percent better efficiency than conventional piston engines but looks like nothing else under the hood.

Students were challenged to create a vehicle around the engine’s wider and shorter shape, and winners in three categories — mid-size sedan, full-size pickup and emerging-market vehicle — were announced at the L.A. Auto Show. Here are Art Center students’ winning designs.

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Alums’ airport installation takes shape from flight

‘Tis the season for travel — and those who find themselves in Atlanta’s International Airport can find an artsy take on flight.

AirFIELD — designed by alums Dan Goods and Jamie Barlow, and graphic design chair Nik Hafermaas — mimics the flight paths of one of the world’s busiest hubs.

The liquid-crystal sculpture suspended from the ceiling is synced to real-time flight data and quietly ripples with each passing plane — up to 2,500 a day.

The installation’s 1,500 discs are connected to 81 circuit boards and a server, and switch from opaque to transparent with an electric charge. Planes traveling short distances create small movements while longer flights cause greater activity in the sculpture.

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Art Center announces Alumni Award winners

Art Center is proud to announce the Alumni Award winners in the categories of lifetime achievement, outstanding service and young innovator. The annual honors allow Art Center to publicly recognize the talent, service and design influence of our alumni. Awards will be presented at the Fall Graduation ceremony Dec. 15 at 4 p.m.

Bruce Burdick ENVL 61: Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award

Bruce Burdick at Art Center in 1961

Bruce Burdick’s credits include designs for Charles and Ray Eames, John Follis and Herb Rosenthal. The flexible office furniture Burdick designed for Herman Miller was named Time magazine’s the Best of 1981 for Industrial Design.

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VIDEO: Car Classic – 90 years of design in 90 seconds.



Art Center recently celebrated 90 years of design — from the 1924 Rolls Royce to the 2012 Fisker Karma — at Car Classic 2012.

The annual event, held Oct. 21, drew a crowd of 1,500 and featured colorful all-American classics, French Citroens, and a progression of cars built for speed, from a Corvette Stingray (designed by alums Pete Brock and Larry Shindoa) to the 2011 McLaren (designed by alum Frank Stephenson).

A section of the event — a ‘61 Cadillac Coupe, ‘88 Fiero, ‘64 Corvair Monza Coupe and a ‘58 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Coupe — was dedicated to designs by Ron Hill, an Art Center alum and former chair of transportation design. Hill also received the Lifetime Achievement award for his 30-year career that spanned Corvettes, Camaros and Cadillacs.

The College also gave out 25 awards in three categories, including audience and designers’ picks. Click here to see who was best in show.

Tesla snags top Motor Trend, Popular Science honors

Tesla Motors’ Model S sedan might be the best thing on four wheels.

Designed by Art Center alum Franz von Holzhausen, the battery-powered sedan this week was named Motor Trend magazine’s 2013 car of the year and topped the Popular Science “Best of What’s New” list.

The family-size sedan beat out some high-power competition — BMW’s new 3-Series, Honda’s revamped Accord and Toyota’s 2013 Lexus GS — to become the first electric car to earn the Motor Trend honor.

“It is a testament not only to the luxury sedan and electric car segment, but to American engineering overall,” said Edward Loh, editor-in-chief of Motor Trend. “To be the first car in the 64-year history of the award to be powered by something other than gasoline must mean it is very special.”

Popular Science gave the Model S the grand prize ahead of on- and off-wheel innovations in the auto category – from Ferrari’s fastest car, the 730-horsepower F12 Berlinetta, to MyLink, which integrates a smartphone into the dashboard.

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Survey: Art Center ranks No. 1 for industrial design

Art Center’s industrial design graduate and undergraduate programs have ranked No. 1 by the Design Futures Council in its DesignIntelligence survey of America’s best architecture and design schools.

Additionally, DesignIntelligence named Integrated Studies instructor Randall Wilson among the 30 Most Admired Educators for 2013.

Art Center’s undergraduate industrial design programs — which include Product Design, Environmental Design, Transportation Design and Entertainment Design — were praised for teaching students communication, computer applications and design.

Deans and department heads surveyed said they most admired Art Center’s Graduate Industrial Design program, “For its forward-looking focus on the role of design in business and research.”

Art Center’s industrial design undergraduate program has ranked No. 1 in the survey since 2006, while the graduate program has ranked in the top three during the same time.

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Veterans Day 2012: Three patriotic, artistic things to do

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

Veterans Day marks a three-day weekend (the school is closed Monday) and time to salute our veterans. Here, we round up a few suggestions of film, music and video games that also honor service members.

Game on: Metal of Honor Warfighter

As part of a six-city, 8-bit salute, Operation Supply Drop will host a single-elimination Medal of Honor: Warfighter tournament in the game lab of the Los Angeles Film School. Gamers will shoot for a chance to win prizes and to play side-by-side with celebrity battle buddies Michael Broderick (voice of Tick from Medal of Honor: Warfighter), Tyler Grey (military technical advisor for EA Games) and Derrick Dockery of the Dallas Cowboys.

Los Angeles Film School, 6363 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. For more information, email tonymoney@iamshifted.com

G.I. Film Festival

The first annual festival dedicated to telling service members’ stories kicks off Friday at 7 p.m. with Disney-turned-Broadway star Christy Carlson Romano being honored for entertaining troops and the premiere of “The Red Machine,” a spy-thriller set in pre-war Washington, D.C. A series of screenings are set for Saturday from 12:20 to 8 p.m., including “The Lost Airmen of Buchenwald,” “8:46″ and “From Philadelphia to Fallujah,” which will be capped off with a dinner and auction featuring actor and former marine Dale Dye.

Admission starts at $12 per person; service members and veterans receive a discount.

Los Angeles Film School, 6363 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood; www.gifilmfestival.com

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