“I desire to be an artist of excellence, and Art Center has a history of producing them. That’s why I’m here,” says student Christopher Marion Thomas.
The Illustration student shares with us his thoughts on Art Center, where he finds inspiration and his work in this great interview. Check it out!
Adjunct professor Tony Luna writes on the Designmatters blog about the Agua Pura project, which tackled the problem of finding clean water in Guatemala.
The project arose from a joint class, Product Design for the Developing World, participated in by students from Art Center, Caltech and Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala. The goal was to create useful products for populations that make less than two dollars a day.
Luna explains: “What transpired over approximately the next ten months was truly amazing as our four students, together with their Landivar University counterparts, took the most basic low-tech concepts, built prototypes, did field studies and tests, and refined the products. Most importantly, they learned from each other.”
Read more about this exciting project on the Designmatters blog.
Balance = happy = creative = productive. Or so says creative director Joe Duffy (and we must admit that we agree!)
Duffy writes: “We need inspiration to continue to stretch and truly reach our creative potential. I don’t believe that inspiration is sufficiently served up in even the most compelling office environments, nor among the most creative cultures. So we need to get out of the office. Design how you’re going to work. Dial it into the rest of your life and vice versa. Be purposeful about what you do, where you are, where you really need to be in order to be happy and productive.”
Check out his great posting today at Fast Company: A Plea to All Creatives: Stop Going to Work
Don’t miss Monday’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring Marc Barasch, founder of the Green World Campaign.
Barasch is an activist, thinker and meditator whose bestselling books speak eloquently about wholeness, including The Compassionate Life, Healing Dreams, Remarkable Recovery, and the award-winning classic, The Healing Path. Barasch has also worked in television and radio, writing and producing the Emmy-winning One Child, One Voice for TBS and serving as an original producer of NPR’s E-Town.
Big Picture Lecture Series:
Marc Barasch
Monday, October 26, 1 pm
Ahmanson Auditorium
Edmunds.com editor Kelly Toepke recently visited campus, bringing along the new 2009 BMW 750i for Transportation Design students and faculty to examine.
Toepke writes: “Of all the cars in the Inside Line fleet, the 2009 BMW 750i seemed the most logical, given that the last two BMW design chiefs were Art Center graduates: Chris Bangle (’81) and current head of design Adrian van Hooydonk (’92). (Maybe this was why there was a reserved, curbside parking spot for me when I arrived?)”
Read more about Toepke’s visit, and see photos of the BMW 750i: 2009 BMW 750i: Returning to its Spiritual Home
The Art Center community is invited to attend tonight’s opening reception for TOOLS at the Williamson Gallery. The reception will take place tonight, Oct. 22, in the Williamson Gallery from 7 to 9 pm.For millennia, tools have transcended biological limits, playing a role in human physical and cultural evolution. TOOLS explores this theme by mixing art with artifacts from natural history and science. TOOLS is a part of ORIGINS: Art & Ideas 2009, the fifth in a series of theme-based collaborations among Pasadena arts and sciences organizations.
(Pictured: Untitled Self Portrait, 2007 by Tom LaDuke)
We’re super excited to welcome acclaimed photographer, director and alumnus Matthew Rolston to campus on Oct. 29 for a conversation with celebrity journalist Merle Ginsberg.Widely recognized as one of the leading photographers and directors of his generation, Rolston’s imagery has helped define today’s aesthetics of celebrity and beauty photography. In 1998, he endowed the Matthew Rolston Scholarship for Photography and Film, and in 2008 he renewed his support for the scholarship, adding the very special privilege of serving as a mentor to recipients.
Join us for a lively evening of conversation, imager and a unique viewing of his latest book, beautyLIGHT.
Seating is extremely limited for this event, and reservations are required to attend. RSVP by Oct. 27 to rsvpaccd@artcenter.edu or 626.396.4327.
The late photographer Priya Ramrakha was a Kenyan photojournalist for Time and Life magazines. In 1960, he came to the United States to study photography at Art Center. While here, Ramrakha photographed the civil rights movement, which inspired him to return to Kenya and document the fight for independence in Africa. He was killed in 1968 while covering the Nigerian Civil War for Time-Life.
Read more about Ramrakha, his lost photographs, and the documentary being made about him in The New York Times: Showcase: Finding Priya Ramrakha
The Graphic Design student shares with us her thoughts on Art Center, the creative process and being Latina in this great interview.“I have learned about the power that designers can have,” Priscilla says of her time here. “We can change the world with the click of a mouse or a tap of a Wacom pen—it’s rather extraordinary and quite beautiful.”
Read more of Priscilla’s interview here.
Don’t miss Naomi Lamoreaux speak on campus Monday as part of the Big Picture Lecture Series.
Lamoreaux is professor of economics, history and law at UCLA; a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research; and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her current research interests include patenting and the market for technology in the late 19th and 20th century U.S., business organizational forms and contractual freedom in Europe and the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries, the public/private distinction in U.S. history, and the origins of the rust belt.
Big Picture Lecture Series: Naomi Lamoreaux
Monday, October 19, 1 pm
Ahmanson Auditorium