Author Archives: Jered Gold

Connecting With Art Center Alumni In Israel

Front, from left: Tally Kelner-Gazit, Cecilia Vitas-Kasher, Lorne Buchman, Leon Botner. Back, from left: Dan Porges, Dori Regev, Micha Reshef, Zev Harari

Guest Post by Advertising Alumnus Zev Harari

When I learned that Art Center President Lorne Buchman was coming to Haifa, Israel, I was excited. It’s a great and rare opportunity to arrange a meeting with Israel-based Art Center alumni—many of whom I was not even acquainted with. I only knew of one or two fellow alums here, and set out to find more our tiny country.

A 1976 Advertising graduate myself, I contacted Leon Botner PHOT ’74, who I first met when I was majoring in Advertising at Art Center’s Third Street campus (I graduated two years later at Hillside Campus). Back then, in the mid- ’70s, there were two other Israeli students at Art Center, but as far as I know they settled in the U.S. after graduation. Leon helped me to locate two of his photography colleagues: Dan Porges PHOT ’72 and Micha Shelef PHOT ’69. I contacted an alumna I hadn’t met: Avital “Tally” Kelner-Gazit, GRPH ’85, and she directed me to two more alums: Avidor “Dori” Regev TRANS ’87 and Cecilia Vitas, ENVL’98.

So now there were seven of us, and we were excited to meet Art Center’s president and each other.

We met at the Dan Carmel Hotel, located atop Mt. Carmel overlooking the beautiful port of Haifa. After getting acquainted, we decided to go to a restaurant in town for our informal meeting. While walking to our destination, we found that we were speaking with each other and Lorne like old friends—the immediate connection and camaraderie we felt was amazing! It felt so much like our past at Art Center—while much time has passed and things are much different in our lives today, Art Center was connecting us, and naturally we shared memories and mutual experiences.

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80 for 80 Initiative A Success!

Art Center is proud to announces the successful completion of its “80 for 80” scholarship initiative, raising more than $3 million to support students in the College’s undergraduate, graduate and Public Programs. At the conclusion of the 18-month initiative, the College raised a total of $3,121,730 for annual and endowed scholarships, exceeding its $2 million goal by 56 percent.

As part of the College’s 80th anniversary in 2010, the College launched the “80 for 80” fundraising initiative to secure the equivalent of 80 $25,000 scholarships. By its completion, the initiative had raised the equivalent of 124 $25,000 scholarships. The College’s commitment to ensure access to students through scholarships and other forms of financial aid continues to be a priority and is outlined in Art Center’s strategic plan, Create Change.

“I am delighted with the level of support generated by the ‘80 for 80’ initiative,” says Art Center President Lorne Buchman. “We launched 80 for 80 in direct response to the pressing financial needs of our students and we are grateful to the broader Art Center community for helping us exceed our goals. It’s an important step as we strive to make Art Center accessible and affordable to talented artists and designers regardless of their background.”

An important part of Art Center’s “80 for 80” fundraising efforts was an anniversary gala, Art Center at 80: Celebrating the Creative Spirit, the proceeds of which supported scholarships for undergraduate, graduate and public program students.

All money raised for scholarships between January 2010 and June 2011 was counted toward the final total. For more information about ways to donate to Art Center, visit artcenter.edu/giving or call 626.396.4216.

Mystery Photo: Can You Help?

Guest post by Art Center Archivist Robert Dirig

This photograph of Art Center Photography and Imaging students comes to us from the collection of Lorraine Streeter, who served as director of the department from 1956 to 1993. During her tenure, she collected images of students, photo shoots and student work. Streeter passed away in 2004, and her wonderful collection of 81 photographs was generously donated to Art Center’s Archives in 2006.

We know that this mystery photo shows a group of Photography and Imaging students, but that is about all we know about this image. We don’t know the names of any of the students, the photographer or the year it was taken. Do you recognize anyone? If you know any information about this photo, please let us know!

In addition to archiving Art Center’s collections, the Archives also accepts donations of papers, photos, video, publications, and objects related to the College. Do you have any Art Center materials that you would like to donate to us? If so, please contact Archivist Robert Dirig at 626.396.2208 or robert.dirig@artcenter.edu.

To visit the Archives or to donate materials, contact Art Center Archivist Robert Dirig at 626.396.2208 or robert.dirig@artcenter.edu.

It’s Here: Week 14

Photo by Lara Warren

Art Center, we’ve made it to the final week of the term—Week 14—and you know what that means: tons of events culminating in Graduation on Saturday.

Rest up and prepare for:

  • Wednesday, Aug. 17, 7-9 p.m.: Art Center at Night Open House (South Campus)
  • Thursday, Aug 18 5 pm: Teen Art Park Unveiling (Hillside Campus. Free and open to all.)
  • Thursday, Aug. 18, 6 pm: Graduation Show Preview and Alumni Reception (invitation only)
  • Saturday, Aug. 20, 3:30 pm: Faculty Reception (faculty, special guests and College leadership)
  • Saturday, Aug. 20, 5 pm: Summer 2011 Graduation (Hillside Campus, and webcast live)
  • Saturday, Aug. 20, 7 pm: Graduation Show (Hillside Campus)

Let the fun begin!

Monterey Tour Kicks Off Sunday

Organized by the California Mille, the Art Center Monterey Tour is a delightful two-day, back roads tour from Pasadena to Monterey, Calif.

After an overnight stay in Paso Robles, the tour concludes in Monterey to coincide with the beginning of a weeklong festival of classic car events.

The tour leaves from Art Center’s Hillside Campus Sunday and ends the following day. Honk and wave if you see participants!

Great Teacher Award Recipients Announced

Earlier this year, the Art Center Student Government, together with Student Affairs and the Provost’s Office, together reinstated an annual Great Teacher Award.

The relaunched and revised awards will be presented annually at Summer Term graduation to one full-time, one part-time and one new faculty member, beginning at next week’s ceremony. The recipients are determined through a nomination process open to all enrolled students and a confidential selection committee of students.

The awards are sponsored by the Provost’s Office and Art Center Student Government, and coordinated by Student Affairs. We’re pleased to announce the Great Teacher Award recipients for 2011:

New Teacher:
AFFONSO BEATO
Undergraduate Film Department

Part-Time Faculty:
ERROL GERSON
Humanities and Design Sciences Department

Full-Time Faculty:
HEIDRUN MUMPER-DRUMM
Graphic Design Department
Product Design Department
Humanities & Design Sciences Department

Student Government has requested that Heidrun Mumper-Drumm deliver the Summer 2011 Graduating Class Commencement Address on August 20. The ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. and will be immediately followed by Graduation Show.

Congratulations Affonso, Errol and Heidrun!

Art Center is also taking nominations for the 2011 Art Center Alumni Awards, presented annually at Fall Term Graduation. The Alumni Awards provide Art Center an opportunity to publicly recognize the talent, service and design influence of our alumni.

Nomination categories are: Lifetime Achievement, Outstanding Service and Young Alumni Innovator. Please send all nominations to the Alumni Relations office, alumni@artcenter.edu by Oct. 15.

A New Face for Hillside Campus

The following is a guest post by Art Center Student Government President Erik Molano.

Photo by Katy Rose Malone

Over the past week, you may have noticed that there’s now a new, refined Art Center marquee marking the entrance to Hillside Campus. This beautiful new marquee fulfills a small dream I’ve had since starting at Art Center in 2009.

The marquee debuted when the Hillside Campus opened in 1976, along with the construction of the building by Craig Ellwood Associates. It’s been repainted a few times over the years, but the counters, or “negative spaces,” in the Helvetica Medium letterforms have shifted over time, creating a visual nuisance to Art Center’s community of designers.

I remember speaking with the late Doyald Young about the marquee, and I can still hear the frustration in his voice. He referred to it as “Art Center’s business card” and wished it refined as soon as possible.

Thanks to Senior Vice President, Real Estate and Operations George Falardeau, Jess Rivas and the Facilities crew, the marquee has been completely resurfaced! Last week they were hard at work sanding, priming, painting—and refining the letterforms, a task I was honored to oversee.

Take a quick glance when you drive onto campus, and I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with the new look. Check out the process in the photos below:

Product Design Student Named NCIIA Student Ambassador

We are thrilled to announce that seventh term Product Design/Designmatters concentration student Mariana Prieto has been named a NCIIA student ambassador for 2011-12.

Prieto

NCIIA, the National Collegiate of Inventors and Innovators Alliance, is an organization whose grants, competitions, networks and ventures actively promote innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education. Art Center has been an active member of the organization in the past three years through Designmatters.

Prieto is one of 12 students selected by NCIIA for their outstanding leadership skills and commitment to practicing and promoting the entrepreneurship and social innovation mandate of NCIIA.

In her role as ambassador, Mariana receive ambassador training on the East Coast, and then work with our community to promote the programs, student grants and conferences that NCIIA offers to institutes of higher learning across the U.S.

Prieto is excited about her new role.

“Significant changes in the world come about by making small improvements within developing communities,” she says.

“The combination of NCIIA’s entrepreneurial spirit, Designmatters’ passion for social change and Art Center’s high quality standards catalyze the application of design thinking to identify such small improvements, consequently helping make the world a better place. I am deeply honored to be a part of this team and look forward to working with them during this next year.”

Congratulations, Mariana! She’ll be keeping us updated on her time as ambassador. In the meantime, check out this interview we conducted with her back when she was a second term student.

Pagani Huayra Unveiled at Art Center

Photo from Automotive Magazine

The amazing Pagani Huayra made its North American debut yesterday at Art Center. Horacio Pagani himself was on hand to introduce the $1.2 million supercar to the Art Center community and journalists.

From Automobile Magazine:

What really gets me about the Pagani Huayra are the leaf-like side mirrors, glancing away from the bodywork like errant shots on goal. These flourishes are within the European artistic tradition, bringing to mind Picasso’s crazy faces or Modigliani’s stretched women. When everybody else is trying to make mirrors disappear for aerodynamic purposes, replacing them with rear-facing video cameras, Horacio Pagani, a short guy with a great head of silver hair and a penchant for quoting Leonardo da Vinci, comes along and sticks out mirrors so they can cleanse California hillsides of skateboarders.

We’ll be bringing you more on the vehicle and an interview with Pagani soon; in the meantime check out the following links:

And check out the video below featuring Pagani and Transportation Design Chair Stewart Reed:

    A Sustainable Vision of the Future

    Product Design faculty member Liliana Becerra shares her experiences participating in the National Collegiate of Inventors and Innovators Alliance’s (NCIIA) first Sustainable Vision Teaching Lab held at Colorado State University for the Designmatters blog.

    Becerra with Paul Polak of D-Rev

    About a month ago, I was offered the opportunity to attend and participate in the first Sustainable Vision Teaching Lab hosted and organized by NCIIA (National Collegiate of Inventors and Innovators Alliance) at Colorado State University. I attended with my colleague Nathan Allen—we’re both Art Center faculty, I’m in Product Design and Nathan is Grad ID.

    NCIIA is an alliance of faculty and students working to advance the teaching of invention and innovation in American higher education. This practice is highly and mostly rooted in focused innovations seeking to benefit under-resourced populations through scalable solutions. NCIIA has awarded several grants to Art Center in recent years supporting the creation and incubation of academic projects on design for social impact hosted by Designmatters, the social impact department of the College.

    I had had the opportunity to meet some of the people from NCIIA when I attended “Open Minds,” the NCIIA annual conference in Washington, D.C., last March. I participated in a panel examining lessons learned from two of my recent classes, Creating Social Value Through Design held in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala and Safe Agua in Santiago, Chile. From my first interactions with NCIIA members, I quickly realized that most had an engineering background, and design professionals were rather underrepresented.

    When I first arrived to the Sustainable Vision Teaching Lab in June, it was slightly intimidating and humbling to suddenly realize that I was part of a group who by profession call themselves inventors and innovators–after all, the word “innovation” has been overused and misinterpreted during the last decade, losing a lot of validity and excitement.

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