Category Archives: General Interest

Creativity 101: Harnessing the power of students’ imaginations

Photographs by Chris Hatcher, PHOT '05

Photographs by Chris Hatcher, PHOT ’05

In 30 minutes, visualize your creative process and recreate it using an 8-and-a-half-by-11 sheet of paper.

This is the first assignment in Creative Strategies, a popular undergraduate Product Design course taught by instructor Fridolin “Frido” Beisert PROD 98, INDU 08, faculty director of Art Center’s Product Design Department.

All 14 students accept the challenge. Walking to the front of the classroom, they each select a single sheet of colored construction paper and take a seat along the row of bare metal tables. As a digital timer, projected onto the wall, starts ticking, the students immediately start cutting, tearing, folding and drawing.

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augh.: Streetwear with a conscience by Art Center students

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting

- e.e. cummings

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Aye Hasegawa models pieces from the Fall/Winter collection, entitled The Wanderer
Photography by Simia Rassouli

It is simple: You are who you are. If you cannot explain yourself to a child, then you do not understand yourself, which means that you have constantly complicated your life and confused yourself because you have listened to what others have told you instead of listening to your own inner self. You know that the right thoughts and the right words are simple: They are raw and elegant. You use common words to say uncommon things. Those words have force. Your presence is forceful. Life is very simple, but it is YOUR choice to live it simply or to complicate it.

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Redefining future of professional photography for the digital age

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The Annenberg Foundation has awarded a grant of $75,000 to Art Center College of Design’s Photography and Imaging Department for an ambitious examination of the current state of the medium, the profession, emerging cultural and technical issues and opportunities for innovation in photography education.

“We are honored that the Annenberg Foundation, a leading advocate for and supporter of the field of photography, has recognized the timeliness of our investigation into the future of photography education,” says Lorne M. Buchman, president of Art Center. “We share a deep commitment to the profession and the art form. We are grateful for the Foundation’s invaluable support.”

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LA Shorts Fest to screen alumni and current student films

Official Selection LA Shorts Fest

Art Center’s graduate Film department will be well represented in the program of this year’s LA Shorts Fest, which runs from September 5-12 at Laemmle Noho 7 theaters. Current student, Ellen Houlihan and recent grad, Carlo Olivares Paganoni, learned this week that each of their MFA thesis projects — “Joan’s Day Out” and “Cardboard Camera” respectively — has been accepted into the prestigious festival, which also serves to qualify all its selections for Oscar and BAFTA contention. In other words, LA Shorts provides a uniquely powerful showcase for exposing up-and-coming filmmakers to industry power players.

Houlihan and Paganoni’s films represent the broad spectrum of work produced by Art Center Film students. “Joan’s Day Out,” which screens Monday, September 9, follows a grandmother (played by Sally Kellerman) who becomes a fugitive from her assisted living facility. While “Cardboard Camera,” which unspools on Sunday, September 8, features a 10-year-old boy who makes his cinematic dreams come true with few resources beyond his imagination and ingenuity. What follows are the filmmakers’ reflections on the ideas and inspiration animating their films and the challenges involved in bringing them to the screen.

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2013 Great Teacher Award-winner, Richard Keyes, delivers graduation address. Student-drawn allegory included.

 

Illustration by Katia Grifols

Illustration by Katia Grifols

Richard Keyes didn’t stay long the first time he took the stage at Art Center’s 2013 Summer commencement ceremony to accept the Great Teacher Award. That’s likely because he knew he’d return shortly in his other capacity, as the event’s keynote speaker. Keyes, who is both an alum (Graphic Design ’87) and beloved faculty member has made a habit of multitasking throughout his career at Art Center, where he straddles five departments — Graduate Industrial Design, Entertainment Design, Photography, Integrated Studies and Art Center at Night. For insight into why he received the highest honor awarded by Art Center students, look no further than the speech itself (posted in its entirety below), which culminates in a moving fable, accompanied by a slideshow of images hand-drawn by student, Katia Grifols, who has been Keyes’ T.A. for three terms.   

You have reason to expect a celebrity sending you off into the world today, but you are getting a teacher. Conversely, when I came to Art Center 30 years ago I occasionally expected teachers and got celebrities, so I hope I can redress the balance somewhat. But not before I state how much I have learned from you, quite probably the most impressive student body in the creative world.

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Highlights from Art Center’s 2013 Grad Show Preview

This has been a summer of record-breaking heat waves and dramatic conclusions to ongoing narratives in the news (Nelson Mandela’s miraculous recovery from a life-threatening illness coinciding with his 95th birthday) and culture (Superman will face off against Batman on the big screen). Last night’s Grad Show Preview played right into this season’s “go big or don’t go at all” ethos, with its spectacularly well-attended (upwards of 500 guests) display of graduating Art Center students’ creative heat.

Each term at Art Center culminates with Graduation Show Preview, an invitation-only event, where students unveil final projects as well as highlights from their time at the College. While the show eventually opens up to the public following Saturday’s graduation ceremony; there is a particular electricity and excitement coursing through Hillside campus on the preceding Thursday night when students debut the feats of ingenuity and imagination they’ve spent the past four years cultivating and refining.

“It’s such a special night with incredible energy and great opportunities for our graduates to share their work with industry and celebrate the completion of a tremendous amount of hard work,” says Alumni Relations executive director, Kristine Bowne. “It’s the only time during the whole year when the work of our graduating students is on display and the only time you can visit and get a sense of the breadth of creativity and innovation of our students and the impact they will have on our world.”

For those of you who weren’t on the list last night, here’s a glimpse at what you missed.

Culmination celebration: Summer 2013 graduation events

Graduation at Art Center

With the all-nighter intensity of finals safely in the rear-view mirror, excitement mounts as Summer Term 2013 graduation week gets underway. Here’s an overview of the campus agenda, which teems with an array of culminating events showcasing the handiwork of the creative talent pool about to flow into the marketplace.

Thursday, August 15

Industry leaders and professionals, employers, corporate partners, donors and alumni will get the first look at the Summer Term’s graduating artists and designers at this year’s invitation-only Graduation Show Preview. The show will feature student projects from major fields of study at Art Center, including Advertising, Entertainment Design, Environmental Design, Film, Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography and Imaging, Product Design, Transportation Design, Graduate Industrial Design and Graduate Media Design Practices.

Graduation Show Preview will be held at Hillside Campus from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m., with a private reception hosted by Alumni Relations immediately following.

From 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., Graduate Media Design Practices will host a lab research discussion followed by an exhibition and reception, from 5 to10 pm, in honor of this term’s cohort of graduates, which includes the program’s first Field Track students. These events take place on South Campus (950 Raymond) and are open to the public.

Saturday, August 17

Join us in the Sculpture Garden at Hillside Campus from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. for our graduation ceremony. Cross-disciplinary faculty member and alum, Richard Keyes — who teaches popular classes in color theory, design principles and narrative structure — will deliver the commencement address. We will also hear from valedictorian and Environmental Design student, Rosa Tsaihua Lee and present the Art Center Student Leadership Award to Photography and Imaging student, Kate Marie Buntsma.

After the ceremony, Graduation Show opens to the public from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., where work by the newest Art Center graduates will be on display. In addition to Hillside Campus activities, Graduate Art and Graduate Media Design Practices will host  a Graduation Show at South Campus from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m.

Free valet parking will be provided at the Hillside Campus from 6 – 10 p.m.  Self-parking will be available at South Campus throughout the evening.

Congratulations to our Summer Term 2013 graduates!

Remembering Art Center Europe director, Uwe Bahnsen

Art Center Europe director, Uwe Bahnsen

Art Center Europe director, Uwe Bahnsen

It is with much sadness that I write to inform you of the passing of Uwe Bahnsen, a beloved director and leader of Art Center Europe from 1986 to 1995.

Recognized as one of the most influential European automotive designers of the 20th Century, Uwe was an inspiration and role model for our students and faculty during those exciting years in Europe. He was a former Vice President of Design for Ford of Europe, as well as the President of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Designers from 1995 to 1997. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, studied at the College of Fine Arts in Hamburg, was an accomplished painter and sculptor, and was truly one of the most revered and admired leaders of the Art Center campus in Vevey, Switzerland.

Geoff Wardle, currently heading our graduate program in Transportation Design and former chair of the Trans department at Art Center Europe, knew Uwe Bahnsen well and wrote movingly about his admiration and respect for this giant of automobile design:

I have always acknowledged Uwe Bahnsen along with Patrick LeQuement, his protégé, as the two automotive designers who most effectively invested their considerable intellect and energy to elevating the importance of design within the car industry and to the outside world. They did this in a way that has helped all of us who followed in their path. Not only that, both men added gravitas to the profession by truly understanding the full scope of design – as opposed to just styling – and how to fully leverage the contribution of the design process and philosophy into manufacturing industry.

Provost Fred Fehlau, remembering Uwe with great fondness, added the following:

I worked with Uwe when I was teaching one summer in the late ‘80s. He liked fast cars, good food and especially enjoyed working with students. He always had a smile on his face, as if he was getting more from them than they were getting from him. But he never let on.

Art Center has been distinguished throughout its history by many fine and impressive attributes, but nothing is more important or celebrated than the great people who have given so much and who have graced our community with their talent and skill. In Uwe, we have lost a great teacher, a true leader, and a wonderful friend.

Our condolences and warm wishes go to his family at this difficult time.

Dr. Lorne M. Buchman is the president of Art Center College of Design.

 

Conscious Commuter mobilizes an e-bike revolution at The Design Accelerator

Gabriel Wartofsky with his electric bike at the Environmental Media Awards

Gabriel Wartofsky with his electric bike at the Environmental Media Awards.

When entrepreneurial inspiration strikes, it’s often described as the convergence of creative and commercial instincts. An innovator perceives a void in the marketplace and conceives a product or experience to fill that space and drive demand for more. But for Gabriel Wartofsky and Bob Vander Woude, that well-worn path into the startup trenches has been less clear-cut.

The partners have spent the past two years developing Conscious Commuter, a company built around an electric bicycle with a sleek design and long-range battery. However the whole enterprise is driven by nothing short of a mission to revolutionize transportation.“We’re solution providers,” declares Vander Woude, an entrepreneur and CEO of a seed-stage investment fund, who was looking to fund an electric bike company when he happened upon a web demo of Wartofsky’s senior thesis project, now the basis for their partnership, which aims to implement e-bike sharing systems in cities around the world. “We’re multi-modal. That’s the secret sauce. Other electric bike companies are not coming from the background of solving a social problem. They’re just motivated to get to a retailer and make money.”

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Transform, Transcend, Transmedia: The Changing Face of Graphic Design

Paul Hoppe’s installation "ECHO: The Fragility of Moments Suspended in Time."

Paul Hoppe’s installation “ECHO: The Fragility of Moments Suspended in Time.”

It’s the final week of the Fall 2012 term and “The Annex”—a nondescript temporary building on the northern end of Art Center’s Hillside Campus—is doing a good job hiding the feats of alchemy occurring within its walls.

Entering classroom A7 on the second floor of this battleship grey structure feels like stepping into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. In one corner, a student waves his hands to stir into motion a field of floating green particles. In another, students walk through a mirrored passageway that reflects their position in time and space from exactly 10 seconds ago. Elsewhere, two ellipses face one another—one on the floor, the other on the ceiling—as they project images of nature, architecture and words like “renewal” and “emergence.”

What is going on here? These upper-term Graphic Design students are tweaking final projects they created for Advanced Graphic Studio, a class that’s part of an ambitious undergraduate curriculum called transmedia within the Graphic Design Department.

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