Author Archives: Jered Gold

And the Winner for Best Film About Design Is…

Can great design films educate as they entertain? Writer Alissa Walker highlights five films from the last year that she thinks told the best design story in 2009.

Walker writes: “The last few years have seen the issues of winning documentaries tie directly into the issues of the day: When An Inconvenient Truth won in 2006 or The Fog of War won in 2003, it almost seemed like the Academy was voting against climate change or yet another Middle Eastern military engagement. This year, it seems that our gastronomical zeitgeist is behind Food, Inc., which is nominated for best documentary. It’s a pretty compelling and well-executed film that I think should probably win. But it makes me think about what an issues-oriented design film would look like—how could a documentary help convey the value and meaning of great design (designing!) to a wider audience?”

Read more, and see clips, at GOOD.

In Case You Missed It…

As you know, there’s always something going on when it comes to Art Center alumni, students and faculty. Some of the latest:

  • Photography alum Lara Rossignol talks about her time at Art Center. Steve Huff Photo
  • Check out Product Design student Jaewoo Kim’s handmade case for the Samsung P3. Anything But Ipod
  • Will alum Henrik Fisker’s new automotive designs be a success? Delaware Online
  • Bronze sculptor and Advertising alum Malcolm Alexander talks about his life’s journey. Arizona Daily Star
  • Former faculty member Buzz Spector recently joined the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts as dean of the College and Graduate School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis. Washington University in St. Louis Newroom
  • Who would Advertising alum David Arnold invite to a dinner party? Del Mar Times
  • Illustration alumnus Mike Shinoda to be honored by Asian American group East West Players at their April gala. BroadwayWorld.com

(Photo by Lara Rossignol)

INSEAD Week at Art Center

For the past six years Art Center and INSEAD, a top-tier business school with campuses in Singapore and Fontainebleau, France, have participated in an annual study abroad program. Each year, a group of Art Center Product Design students travel to one of INSEAD’s two campuses to collaborate on a creative project with MBA candidates. They also attend graduate-level business courses in finance, marketing, entrepreneurship and various other business subjects.

Every March, INSEAD students and leadership visit Pasadena as part of INSEAD Week at Art Center. To help the visitors better understand the role of design and the design process, they are taken on a five-day tour of Southern California that includes workshops, presentations and visits to corporate studios. The latest batch of participants arrived in Pasadena Thursday, and will be here through Tuesday. They will tour Belkin, Stuart Karten Design, Idea!Lab, RTT and Disney Consumer Products, among many more fun activities. Be sure to welcome them to campus!

3×3*: Starting and Running a Graphic Design Business

Each term, Art Center’s Graphic Design Department brings together three LA-based design professionals to discuss a particular topic. This term’s panel will be alum designers Yolanda Santosa (FerroConcrete), Chris Dooley (National Television) and Tatiana Redin Wyden (Creable).

Find out their thoughts on running a design business, maintain a personal-work life balance, and what they look for when hiring designers at this free public event.

3×3*: Starting and Running a Graphic Design Business
Wednesday, March 10, 7:30-9 pm
LA Times Media Center, Hillside Campus

Big Picture Lecture Series: Jenny Price

Don’t miss Monday’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring Jenny Price.

Price is a writer, Los Angeles Urban Ranger and research scholar at the UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Author of Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in L.A. and Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America, Price has written for GOOD, Sunset, Audubon, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

Big Picture Lecture Series:
Jenny Price
Monday, March 8, 1 pm
Ahmanson Auditorium

DreamWorlds Opens Tonight

Don’t miss tonight’s opening of DreamWorlds in the Williamson Gallery. The exhibit, a behind-the-scenes look at the artistry and imagination of animated filmmaking at DreamWorks Animation, opens tonight with a multimedia presentation, panel discussion and reception. The presentation and panel will be held at Ahmanson Auditorium at 7 pm, followed by a reception in the Williamson Gallery at 8 pm.

Drawing from popular DreamWorks Animation films such as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, Monsters vs. Aliens, Bee Movie, Prince of Egypt and the soon-to-be-released How To Train Your Dragon (scheduled for theatrical release March 26), the more than 300 objects in the exhibition include original and digital designs and paintings, movie posters, character maquettes, miniature sets, an artist’s workstation re-creation and other creative stages of the complex filmmaking process.

Film Department Chair Ross LaManna will moderate tonight’s panel discussion, which will revolve around the connection between art, illustration, story and animation. Panelists include:

  • Gail Currey: PDI/DreamWorks Animation Studio Head
  • Kathy Altieri: Art Center Illustration alumna; DreamWorks Animation production designer for How to Train Your Dragon; first artist hired by DreamWorks
  • Kendal Cronkhite: Art Center Illustration alumna; DreamWorks Animation production designer whose credits include the Madagascar films
  • Sam Michlap: Former guest instructor at Art Center; DreamWorks Animation production designer and visual development artist; co-curator of DreamWorlds

DreamWorlds runs through May 9. The Williamson Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12 noon to 5 p.m. with extended hours on Friday evenings to 9 p.m.

(Image is from the Williamson Gallery’s Facebook page)

South Campus Gallery Salon Saturday

Need some new art? Looking for something fun to do Saturday night? You’re in luck. Saturday night is the South Campus Gallery Salon, featuring the work of photography alum Orly Olivier. A portion of all sales will be donated to the Art Center student scholarship fund. The salon will be hosted by Archetype Press and Art Center professors Leah Toby Hoffmitz and Gloria Kondrup. Don’t miss it!

South Campus Gallery Salon: “Please Don’t Feed the Models”
Saturday, March 6, 6-9 pm
South Campus Gallery

Citroëns Invade Hillside Campus

Did you happen to notice a caravan of Citroëns making their way through Pasadena to Hillside Campus last Saturday? It was the SoCal Citroën Club, who enjoyed a campus tour led by Transportation Design Chair Stewart Reed.

From Clunkbucket: “There were more Citroëns than drivers on a Saturday morning. The task at hand was a good one. Settle into the plush appointments behind the steering wheel of a 1969 and-one-half Citroën iD21F Safari Wagon and drive.”

Read more about the outing and see great photos of the event at Clunkbucket.