Author Archives: Jered Gold

Sketch Garden to Honor Norm Schureman

To celebrate the life and honor the legacy of late Product Design alumnus and faculty member Norm Schureman, the College will create the Norm Schureman Sketch Garden at Hillside Campus. This will be a space for sketching, contemplation, gardening and enjoying nature.

© Steven A. Heller/Art Center College of Design

Schureman inspired countless students through his passionate teaching and love of drawing. He often invited students into his own home garden to continue the class critiques.

We’re inviting current students and recent graduates to join us on Saturday, March 26, to help us design the new sketch garden. Teams of two or three will compete to design the garden. All majors are welcome, and multi-disciplinary teams are encouraged. Bring sketching, drawing and model-making hand tools—but no computers are allowed!

Every team will be given a presentation board on which to mount their entire presentation. Winning entrants will be selected to become part of the design team that will see project through design development, construction and fabrication phase.

A detailed agenda and rules will be provided at the beginning of the charrette. The event starts promptly at 8:30 a.m.—no late entries permitted—and RSVPs are required as this is a closed event. RSVP to meraz@artcenter.edu.

We’re also happy to report that the Norman Schureman Memorial Scholarship has raised more than $80,000 to date. Help us reach our goal of $100,000! Individuals interested in making donations to the scholarship can donate online or contact Senior Development Officer Palencia Turner at 626.396.2366.

Design Charrette: Norm Schureman Sketch Garden
March 26, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Hillside Campus, Room 202
RSVP: meraz@artcenter.edu

Statement on Japan by Art Center President Buchman

On behalf of the Art Center College of Design community, I would like to express our deep concern for the impact the devastating earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan has had on all those affected by these tragic events.

Art Center has maintained close ties with Japan since the 1950s when the first design students sponsored by JETRO came to study at the College. In recent years, students from Tama Art University and Art Center have collaborated on several projects, including a study on earthquake safety, in an effort to design more effective approaches to education, preparedness and recovery. As we hear the news of this catastrophe, we are reminded of the common ties that bind those of us along the Pacific Rim.

Our shared vulnerability compels us to offer comfort; our long history provides a pathway to deliver it. Please know that we are reaching out to our many alumni, corporate and academic partners in Japan so that we can lend support where it is most needed. At the same time, we have dedicated resources to assist those students, faculty and staff on campus who are coping with losses from these events.

As the effects of Friday’s earthquake continue to unfold, our friends in Japan are foremost in our thoughts.  We mourn those who were lost and send our heartfelt wishes for a rapid recovery to all who survived.

Sincerely,

Lorne Buchman
President
Art Center College of Design

Image by designer Nick Nawroth. Prints are available for purchase, with half of the proceeds donated to the American Red Cross relief efforts in Japan.

* Editor’s note 3/16: Nawroth has contacted us to let us know that 100% of proceeds will be going to Japan relief efforts.

Postmodern Suicide: The intersection of Peter Saville Factory Records and Joy Division

Don’t miss a special guest lecture and discussion on graphic design history focusing on the influence of designer Peter Saville and Factory Records on postmodern design, along with an examination of the music and ideas that made this design phenomenon possible. The talk will lurch from Situationism in France in the late 1960s, to protopunk and punk rock in the ’70s , to the post-punk and new wave era of Joy Division, The Durutti Column, Cabaret Voltaire and New Order.

Guest lecturer Eric Mathias is a California-based graphic designer and Graphic Design alumnus. Born in San Francisco, Mathias is a creative consultant, art director and designer who operates his own design firm (National People’s Gang) and has served as frequent guest lecturer on Apple and Adobe products. In addition, he is a published news writer, editor and award-winning designer. His clients include AT&T, PBS and Disney.

The event is free and open to the public.

Postmodern Suicide: The intersection of Peter Saville Factory Records and Joy Division
With Eric Mathias
Thursday, March 24, 7 p.m.
L.A. Times Media Center


On Display: 25 Years of AIDS Awareness

When the AIDS epidemic first struck, the need to educate the world about this devastating disease became critical. Despite the existence of more advanced communication technologies, the poster played a critical role in humanity’s battle against the spread of AIDS.

Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985—2010, now on display at the Williamson Gallery, is a traveling exhibition of more than 150 international AIDS awareness posters. This collection presents a compelling overview of the artists working within their personal cultural and national perspectives on the subject of AIDS.

The exhibition is on display at the Williamson through April 24, with a closing reception April 14. In April, an Illustration Department/Designmatters student project will be on display as a corollary to the exhibition examining the graying of AIDS.

More coverage:

Art Matters: Julie Deamer Speaks Tuesday

Julie Deamer will be on campus Tuesday to discuss how artists meaningfully contribute to communities and cultures in a global context as well as how they create civic artwork as sites for public discourse and expression. She’ll also share her thoughts on the role of art in response to social and environmental urgency.

Deamer has a history of creating and guiding successful art venues supporting contemporary artists. In 1995, she founded an exhibition space in San Francisco called Four Walls. Serving as director for five years, she presented enterprising projects by many successful artists exhibiting today. In 2004, Julie founded Outpost for Contemporary Art, a nonprofit residency and exchange program in Los Angeles that promotes cross-cultural exchange by developing international artistic projects that stimulate social interaction between people. She is also executive director of Harpo Foundation, established in 2006 to support under-recognized artists.

The event is free and open to the public.

Art Center’s Office of Career Development and Fine Art Department present:
ART MATTERS: Reconsidering Art’s Purpose, Spaces and Practices
Julie Deamer
Tuesday, March 15, 7-9 p.m.
Hillside Campus Boardroom

Learn to Create. Influence Change.

Art Center President Lorne Buchman unveiled Art Center’s new strategic plan last night to the College community. (Read our live tweets for the event on Twitter.)

The five-year strategic plan represents the culmination of more than a year of deep conversations, brainstorms and working group sessions with the entire Art Center community—students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees and friends—that explored the intrinsic qualities of the great art and design college of the future. A website has been created as well that will explain the plan and track progress.

Also revealed was the College’s new mission statement: Learn to create. Influence change.

The strategic planning process coincided with the first full year of Buchman’s tenure, as well as the College’s 80th anniversary and related celebrations. The timing of this process gave the community opportunities to consider the College’s distinguished past while embracing the future.

Art Center’s five-year strategic plan offers a roadmap for getting there. The plan is organized into three broad pillars that align with Art Center’s mission: “The Conservatory Spirit,” “Convening Diverse Communities & Disciplines” and “New Spaces for Learning.”

The Conservatory Spirit
The first pillar, “The Conservatory Spirit,” reflects Art Center’s longstanding commitment to serve as the foremost college of higher learning for ambitious artists and designers to master their craft and learn from experts in their respective fields. To ensure Art Center’s programs remain on the leading edge and that students are prepared for leadership in a pluralistic society, the strategic plan calls for the expansion of transdisciplinary learning among students from different disciplines, as well as the creation of new undergraduate, graduate and public programs that will address emerging fields and provide students with additional opportunities for growth.

Convening Diverse Communities & Disciplines
The second pillar, “Convening Diverse Communities & Disciplines,” centers on the need to nurture a diverse and robust College com-munity of students, faculty and staff (in terms of culture, identity and socio-economic status.) Increasing the number of student scholarships is but one vital aspect of creating a more diverse community on campus. In addition, Art Center plans to offer a broader range of disciplines and partnership opportunities with industry and nonprofits that will aid in students’ creative development.

New Spaces for Learning
Equally important, students must have access to the types of learning environments—both physical and online—that will foster collaborations among the various art and design disciplines. The plan’s third pillar, “New Spaces for Learning,” calls for the improvement and development of Art Center’s South Campus in downtown Pasadena as well as a thorough renovation of the College’s Ellwood Building at Hillside Campus to replace outmoded and inefficient systems and materials. The plan also calls for the creation of online education programs and tools to expand and support curriculum and encourage new modes of learning.

Through these various initiatives and resolutions, the strategic plan will position Art Center to shape and define culture, to encourage relevance and social responsibility in art and design, to prepare graduates for leadership roles in society, and to advance learning, research and making. Our collective efforts, together with support from our partners and advocates, will make Art Center the leading college of art and design for the 21st century.

The full text of Art Center’s 2011–16 strategic plan is available online at artcenter.edu/createchange. Also, check out our live tweets from the event.

Tonight: Art Center’s Strategic Plan Unveiled

Join us this evening for a presentation and celebration of the College’s new five-year strategic plan, hosted by Art Center President Lorne Buchman. Can’t attend in person? You’re in luck—the event will be webcast live. You can also follow along on Twitter, via our live Tweets and with #createchange.

Also, the Pasadena Star-News has an article today about the plan: Art Center to unveil new five-year plan, major boost to downtown campus

Create Change: Art Center’s Strategic Plan
Tuesday, March 8, 7:30 p.m.
Hillside Campus
Ahmanson Auditorium
artcenter.edu/webcast

Hollywood Greats Stopping By Campus

It’s shaping up to be an incredible week in the Film Department, as they welcome some amazing guests to campus this week as part of their Distinguished Filmmakers Series.

Tomorrow, March 8, Film Department instructor David Kellogg will host a Q&A with writer/director John Lee Hancock at 1:30 p.m. in the L.A. Times Media Center. Hancock’s credits include The Blind Side, The Alamo and The Rookie. He also wrote the screenplays for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and A Perfect World.

On Wednesday, March 9, Film Department instructor Lee Rosenbaum will host a Q&A with Oscar-nominated producer Lawrence Turman, whose credits include The Graduate, American History X, Pretty Poison, The Great White Hope, The Thing, Mass Appeal, Short Circuit, The River Wild and many others. Turman is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors, and is a member of the Producers Guild Hall of Fame. The talk will be held at 12:30 p.m. at the L.A. Times Media Center.

And on Thursday, March 10, Film Department instructor Allen Daviau will hosting five-time Oscar nominated cinematographer Owen Roizman, whose credits include The French Connection, The Exorcist, The Stepford Wives, Three Dys of the Condor, Network, Absence of Malice, Tootsie, Grand Canyon, Wyatt Earp and many others. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Govenors, Roizman has directed and photographed hundreds of television commercials. In 1997, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers. The talk will be at 1 p.m. at Ahmanson Auditorium.

All three events are open to all Art Center students, alumni, faculty and staff.

OutNetwork Presents Mapping at Brewery Annex

OutNetwork, Art Center’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, Intersex and Allies (GLBTQIA) student club, will exhibit the work of a dozen artists and designers the L.A. Artcore Brewery Annex in downtown Los Angeles throughout March. The exhibit, Mapping, examines the GLBTQIA community and their location geographically, politically, internationally and locally.

Mapping is an extension of the mission of OutNetwork, which not only supports and embraces a variety of individuals from every socio-economic background, but also provides opportunities for networking and advancement for its members.

An opening reception will be this Sunday, March 6, from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Brewery. Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Art Center students exhibiting in the show include:

  • Lauren Coffin (Advertising)
  • Adam Cottingham (Environmental Design)
  • Natalie Embrey (Photography and Imaging)
  • Richard Funsten (Graphic Design)
  • Braden Graeber (Environmental Design)
  • Jaime Lopez (Graphic Design)
  • Jessamyn Prince (Photography and Imaging)
  • Rene Rodriguez (Photography and Imaging)
  • Bryce Shawcross (Graphic Design)

Alumni exhibiting:

  • Takayuki Shimada (Fine Art)
  • Jason Shorr (Illustration)
  • Jennifer Whitney (Illustration)

The exhibition will be on display through March 31 at L.A. Artcore Brewery Annex. Regular gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Distinguished Filmmaker Series: Janusz Kamińiski

Film Department instructor Allen Daviau will host a Q&A today with famed cinematographer Janusz Kamińiski.

Kamińiski

Among Kamińiski’s many credits are the films Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Munich, War of the Worlds, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Amistad, Artificial Intelligence: A.I., Jerry Maguire, How Do You Know, Funny People, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and the upcoming film War Horse directed by Steven Spielberg.

Kamińiski has won Academy Awards for his cinematography work for both Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan.

The event will be held today at 1 p.m. at Ahmanson Auditorium. It’s open to all Art Center students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Art Center Film Department Distinguished Filmmaker Series Presents:
Janusz Kamińiski
Thursday, March 3, 1 p.m.
Ahmanson Auditorium