Category Archives: Events

Wayne White Stops By

Illustrator and artist Wayne White was on campus yesterday to speak to Art Center students in the Ahmanson Theater. He spoke about his journey from Pee Wee’s Playhouse (where his set and puppet designs won three Emmy Awards) to art direction for music videos (Big Time and Tonight, Tonight) to a seminal painting career of works witty, wordy and various. A book signing followed the talk.

There’s an interesting writeup of White’s recent exhibit at Houston’s Rice University Gallery at glasstire.com.

(Pictured: Pretend You’re Someplace Else, Wayne White, 2008)

Design Revolution Road Show Rolls Onto Campus Monday

Monday promises to be quite an exciting day at Hillside Campus, thanks to the Design Revolution Road Show. The traveling exhibition, book tour, lecture and workshop series is bringing “product design that empowers” to more than 30 design universities and high schools across the nation. A Project H Design initiative, the road show features a biodiesel-powered truck and Airstream trailer filled with tangible examples of humanitarian industrial design solutions (also showcased in the book Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People).

The all-day exhibition, presented at Art Center in collaboration with Designmatters, Alumni Relations and GOOD, will feature a lecture by Emily Pilloton, founder and executive director of Project H Design. The airstream trailer will be parked in front of the main entrance at Hillside Campus, open for viewing from noon until 10 pm. An evening reception will be held starting at 6 pm. You don’t want to miss this!

Design Revolution Road Show
Monday, February 8
Art Center’s Hillside Campus

Open exhibition times: Noon-10 pm
Evening reception: 6-10 pm

Thinking Outside the Dot

The brainstorming group in the SDR.When he first arrived on campus in October 2009, Dr. Lorne M. Buchman said one of his first tasks as Art Center’s new president and chief executive officer would be to listen to students, faculty and staff to hear their thoughts on a future direction for the College.

“We must first come together as a community to envision our opportunities, to imagine new possibilities, and to enter into a bold, habit-breaking conversation about our educational future,” wrote Buchman in December when he announced a comprehensive planning process for the College.

To get the conversation rolling, Buchman invited the entire community to attend two back-to-back events: an evening kick-off panel discussion in the Ahmanson Auditorium featuring provocative national thought leaders (for a recap, see yesterday’s post); and a brainstorming session the following day to tackle key issues derived from Art Center’s mission statement.

On January 14, approximately 300 members of the Art Center community—faculty, staff, students and alumni—gathered in the Student Dining Room for the daylong brainstorm. “I want to encourage you all to imagine without limit,” urged Buchman to the larger-than-expected group. “Imagine without limit what Art Center has always been, or what an art and design college ‘ought to be’.”

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Rethinking Art Center’s Future: Guest Panelists Weigh In

This past January not only marked the start of a new year and decade, but the beginning of a new visioning process for the College as well. Two back-to-back events—an evening panel discussion featuring national thought leaders, and a daylong brainstorming session tackling key issues relating to Art Center’s mission statement—were open to the Art Center community.

On January 13, faculty, staff, students, alumni, trustees and friends packed the Ahmanson Auditorium for the visioning kickoff. The evening session—Twittered and webcast live—featured a distinguished panel of speakers: Andrew Blauvelt, design director and curator at the Walker Art Center; Katherine Hayles, professor and director of graduate studies in literature at Duke University; Steven Oliver, board member of the grant-making organization United States Artists; and David Rice, chairman and founder of The Organization of Black Designers.

Before introducing the panelists, Art Center President Lorne Buchman stressed the imperative of higher education to value driven learning and thinking. “The capacity of our students and graduates to affect change is enormous,” he said. “We need to be educating responsible citizens—the question is how to do that.”

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Leading Change for Social Impact Forum Tomorrow

Don’t miss tomorrow night’s forum: Leading Change for Social Impact: Perspectives from Prominent Innovators. Moderated by USC professor Adlai Wertman, the event will feature Mariana Amatullo, vice president and director of Designmatters; Jonathan Greenblatt, social entrepreneur and founder of All for Good and Ethos Water; and Rhys Newman, head of design strategic projects at Nokia Design and former Art Center faculty member.

The forum will be held tomorrow night, Jan. 28, from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Ahmanson Auditorium.

Visioning Process Webcast Tonight

Tonight we are kicking off Art Center’s visioning process spearheaded by President Lorne Buchman. We encourage all members of the Art Center community to join the dialogue.

The discussion begins tonight, Jan. 13, in the Ahmanson Auditorium from 7:30 to 9:30 pm (PST). We have invited a panel of distinguished guests to help us gain a new perspective on art and design education:

  • Andrew Blauvelt – Design director and curator, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis
  • Katherine Hayles – Director of graduate studies in literature at Duke University
  • Steven Oliver – Member of the board of directors for United States Artists and former chairman of the board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
  • David Rice – President of DesignCom, Inc. and chairman and founder of The Organization of Black Designers

Continue reading →

Graduation Ceremony Webcast Tomorrow

Join us tomorrow for our Fall Term Graduation Ceremony to welcome our newest graduates into the Art Center family and to hear our honorary degree recipient issue the graduation address. Can’t join us in-person at Hillside Campus tomorrow? Luckily you can watch the ceremony at home in your pjs!
Just log on to our live webstream tomorrow at 10 am. Bookmark the link and come back tomorrow when it’s live: http://stream.artcenter.edu/fall2009.sdp

Almost Time for Grad Show!

We caught Illustration student Brian Wade Scott preparing for Friday’s Graduation Show. He’s not the only one—the halls are bustling with activity as graduating students from all disciplines prepare to show their work at Art Center’s Fall Term Graduation Show, this Friday from 7 to 10 pm.

Art Center’s Graduation Show is a wonderful opportunity to visit the College and be inspired by the talent and passion of our students. This free event is open to the public, and includes free parking at the Rose Bowl. Park at the Rose Bowl, Lot K. Free shuttle service from the Rose Bowl to Hillside Campus begins at 6:45 pm.

Won’t you join us? For more information, call 626.396.2356.

 

Haring Tribute Tonight

Don’t miss tonight’s Keith Haring tribute reception at 6 pm at Art Center’s James Lemont Fogg Memorial Library at Hillside Campus.

In 1989, prolific artist and social activist Keith Haring visited Art Center to paint an interior mural which still hangs at Hillside Campus. Painted over the course of two days, the mural was intended to be a “permanent memorial to members of the art community who have died of AIDS, and also serve as a symbol of hope and compassion.” Haring passed away two months later from AIDS-related complications.

In recognition of Haring’s lasting contribution to the College, and in celebration of World AIDS Day, faculty member Ramone Muñoz asked students to take visual themes from the mural and use them in creating educational about safe sex and the tragic loss of life due to this disease. The posters will be exhibited on campus beginning the week of Nov. 30 with a reception honoring Haring and celebrating World AIDS Day.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, read the press release or call 626.396.2338.

Ad Legend Visits Campus

Last week Art Center welcomed advertising superstar Lee Clow, chairman and global director of TBWA\Worldwide, to speak about his work and ideology. Student Chris Gilbert was there and provides this first-person account:

“Whereas old-school advertising had the tendency to err towards the condescension of ‘talking down to’ or ‘talking at’ their consumers, Lee spoke of the need to instead engage and stimulate the minds of the consumers, and the need for ads to be clever and he emphatically reiterated the fact that ‘creativity [in advertising] is now an imperative.’”

Read more and check out Chris’ great blog at chrisgilbertdeisgn.com.