Category Archives: General Interest

For Deezmaker’s Diego Porqueras, the Path to 3D Printing Began With a Film Course

Diego Porqueras, along with Bukobot-printed 3D objects, at his Deezmaker store in Pasadena.

Diego Porqueras, along with Bukobot-printed 3D objects, at his Deezmaker store in Pasadena.

These days 3D printing is everywhere. Creatives are using this emerging technology to make everything from fashion gowns to gummy replicas of themselves. Even the President mentioned it in his most recent State of the Union address.

One man who’s made quite a name for himself in this burgeoning arena is Diego Porqueras, inventor of the BukoBot 3D printer and the president and founder of Deezmaker, a 3D printer store and hackerspace in Pasadena. Surprisingly enough, the path that led Porqueras into this brave new world began with an Art Center at Night (ACN) film course he took 13 years ago.

“I took Basics of Film with Robert Mehnert and that ended up being a big turning point in my career,” says Porqueras, who said he already had some experience making movies prior to the class but that the course provided him with a better grasp of the basics.

But that wasn’t the turning point. That happened when an ACN classmate who was working as a production assistant told the class he was leaving the country for two weeks and asked if anybody would be interested in taking his place on a few productions. “I was the first guy to raise my hand for that,” says Porqueras with a laugh.

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Art Center Trustee Charles Floyd Johnson Honored for Creative Vision by Liberty Hill Foundation

Producer, filmmaker and Art Center Trustee Charles Floyd Johnson, who has produced television shows such as NCIS; JAG and Magnum, P.I., was honored with Liberty Hill’s 2013 Creative Vision Award at the Upton Sinclair Dinner and Awards Celebration on April 23, 2013 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

Charles F. Johnson with Liberty Hill Executive Director Shane Goldsmith and board member Professor Ange-Marie Hancock, a Liberty Hill Board member.

Trustee Charles Floyd Johnson with Liberty Hill Executive Director Shane Goldsmith (left) and Professor Ange-Marie Hancock, a Liberty Hill Board member.

Throughout his career, Johnson has strived to create equal and balanced opportunities for minorities in the entertainment industry. While studying law at Howard University in the late 1960s, he was active in marches and protests during the Civil Rights Movement. In 1971, he attended the Professional Theater Workshop in Hollywood, then found work in the mail room at Universal Studios before being promoted to the Business Affairs Department.

While growing up he was fascinated by stories his father told him about the Tuskegee Airmen. Johnson worked for more than 20 years to bring the story of African-American fighter pilots to the big screen. Alongside executive producer George Lucas, he produced the 2012 movie Red Tails, which won the NAACP Image Award for Best Picture.

“These young men were not encouraged to fly for their country,” said Johnson. “But they triumphed over adversity. These were men who fought racism…they did it successfully and they were heroes, not victims.”

Liberty Hill is dedicated to advancing social change through grants, campaigns and leadership training by investing in community organizers who help bring equality and opportunity to Los Angeles.

Related:

The Librarians Have Landed! And They’re Coming to Art Center

ARLIS-logo

Pasadena plays host to the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) 41st annual meeting April 25–29, 2013, with speakers and attendees from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Europe and beyond. The conference takes place at the Pasadena Convention Center, with additional programs and activities scheduled at Art Center College of Design.

Art Center’s Betsy Galloway hosts a meeting of fellow library directors from Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) schools. Archetype Press’s Gloria Kondrup conducts a hands-on workshop in letterpress broadside printing. And Art Center Product and Entertainment Design instructor Justine Limpus Parish leads a tour of the Los Angeles Fashion District.

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Art Center Receives NEH Grant to Preserve Industrial Design History

From computers to sports cars to space capsules, America’s infatuation with invention has fueled industrial design. Now a prestigious grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is invigorating Art Center’s efforts to preserve the College’s rich history of industrial design images and materials.

Art Center students in 1937

Students working on an architectural model of a future Art Center campus in a project taught by Kem Weber. Gift of Irene Vermeers (PHOT 1937). Photography by Irene Vermeers.

According to College Archivist Robert Dirig, the grant will support a pilot project to digitize, preserve and make accessible a portion of Art Center’s collection of photographs, film and print materials documenting American industrial design education over an 80-year period.

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Art Center Faculty and Alum Dive in to The Aquarium of the Pacific Series on Art, Science and Environment

The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif. will feature presentations by Art Center faculty members and an alumnus as part of its upcoming Aquatic Academy. Integrating art and science in order to enhance environmental communication, the Aquatic Academy offers a series of evening classes that foster dialogue on issues related to the ocean and environment.

Professor and Director of Sustainability Initiatives Heidrun Mumper-Drumm will be speaking on Thursday, April 25 from 7 to 9:30 p.m., while Vice President of Designmatters Mariana Amatullo and Alumnus Dan Goods, visual strategist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will speak on Thursday, May 9 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. The series of four evening classes will explore how art, design and science can intersect to create and deliver powerful environmental messages.

Long Beach Aquarium

Art Center faculty will be speaking at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.

Jerry Schubel, president and CEO of The Aquarium of the Pacific, says Goods, Mumper-Drumm and Amatullo bring an ideal combined expertise in the areas of engineering, design, visual communications and sustainability.

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Dieter Rams Urges Graduates Toward a Responsible Design Ethos

Dieter Rams at Art Center

Dieter Rams receives an honorary doctorate of arts from Art Center President Lorne M. Buchman. He concluded his speech by invoking Gandhi’s admonition, “We must be the change we want to see in the world.”

“Tomorrow’s world will be designed by the design students of today — by you — and while this is a great opportunity, this is also a great challenge and a great responsibility,” Dieter Rams told graduating Art Center students during the 2013 Spring Graduation Ceremony on Sat., April 20.

Accepting an honorary doctorate of arts from Art Center, the legendary designer was introduced by Product Design Chair Karen Hofmann and delivered his speech in German, translated live by an English-language interpreter. Rams thoughtfully reflected on his past, sharing lessons gleaned over a long and influential career as a product designer and university professor, while voicing concerns about the future and stressing designers’ changing responsibility in a changing world.

“Today’s main challenges are the protection of the natural environment and overcoming mindless consumption,” he said, urging students toward “a design ethos that goes way beyond complacency and arbitrariness.”

He presented five essential dimensions of design, along with his “formula for sustainable production”: Less but better! Much, much less, and much, much better. He asserted that “Design is primarily an intellectual process. It’s a procedure and an approach to create innovation and new meaning.”

Following are highlights of Rams’ speech:

 

 

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Student Shares Product Design Internship Lessons

Sometimes, the lessons learned in the field are the ones that stick the most. Geoff Ledford, a graduating Art Center student in Product Design, recently wrote an article for Fast Company detailing his experiences interning at Soulcake Creative in San Clemente, California.

“As a designer, I draw and work in 3D – communication via pictures and sketches,” said Ledford. “But prior to deciding to become a designer, I was a writer. My thought was that if I shared some of these lessons, they might help someone else.”

Product Design graduate Geoff Ledford.

Geoff Ledford talks about his design internship experiences in a recent Fast Company article.

His lessons boil down to four points:

  • Kill your ego. “A tinge of hubris can quickly contaminate an otherwise good relationship,” said Ledford. “And with so many capable design consultancies all ready to do the same job, it’s important to stay humble.”
  • Bring passion to your presentation. While working at Soulcake, one of the partners at the studio explained, “A good presentation shouldn’t just give me information–it should evoke emotion.” Ledford realized that his work could not solely rely on analytical justification, but rather worked best when it incorporated emotional elements.
  • Find your own voice. No matter what kind of work, this advice is crucial to anything creative. Ledford makes his case with jazz musician Freddie Hubbard who had to find a voice that was his own instead of being an imitation of Miles Davis. Likewise, when Ledford said he tried creating work he thought his boss would want, “the result was a bunch of concepts that lacked my voice and, consequently, weren’t authentic.”
  • Work will always be there.Wanting to make a good impression, one day Ledford opted to go in the office early to work rather than surf with one of the owners. Instead of pushing Ledford into the office, the owner responded that he thought Ledford should surf: “There is always work and the waves aren’t always this good.” Like any creative endeavor, exploring opportunities outside of design (like surfing) gives fresh perspective.

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Spring 2013 Graduation Events

Campus is buzzing as it kicks off its Spring Term 2013 graduation week! Here’s what’s in store as the College prepares to launch the next wave of creative talent in to the professional world.

Graduation at Art Center

Thursday, April 18

Industry leaders and professionals, employers, corporate partners, donors and alumni will get the first look at the Spring Term’s graduating artists and designers at this year’s invitation-only Graduation Show Preview. The show will feature student accomplishments 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 at Hillside Campus is held from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. and transitions into a private reception hosted by Alumni Relations immediately following. Simultaneously, from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m., Graduate Media Design Practices hosts the MDP/Lab Thesis Exhibition at South Campus where the world famous Kogi BBQ Truck will be parked to feed attendees.

Saturday, April 20

Join us in the Sculpture Garden at Hillside Campus from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. as we celebrate the newest graduating class during our graduation ceremony. Legendary designer Dieter Rams will receive an honorary doctorate degree and deliver the commencement address. We will also hear from valedictorian and Illustration student Agnes Hyun-Jeong Lee and present the Art Center Student Leadership Award to Product Design student Vladimir Almonnord.

After the ceremony, Graduation Show opens to the public from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. so everyone can enjoy the work of the newest Art Center graduates. In addition to Hillside Campus activities, Graduate Art and Graduate Media Design Practices hosts Graduation Show at South Campus from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m.

The parking lot at Hillside Campus will fill up, so anyone attending Graduation Show on Saturday will be able to take complimentary shuttles to and from the Rose Bowl, Lot K beginning at 6:00 p.m. Self-parking will be available at South Campus throughout the evening.

Congratulations to our Spring Term 2013 graduates!

With Volunteers’ Help, Late-Night Breakfast Serves 400

For Art Center students, it’s the most anticipated meal of the term

Like holiday crowds at a big box store, students begin lining up well before the doors open. What’s the big attraction? Art Center’s Late-Night Breakfast, a longtime tradition sponsored by the Center for Student Experience (CSE), that treats students to a free breakfast buffet in the feverish final weeks of the school term. The student dining room is currently open 24 hours a day (even when food is not being served) and usually packed at this hour. The hard part, says Cafeteria Manager Ben Herrera, is clearing everyone out to set up for the event.

Fred Fehlau at Late Night Breakfast

Provost Fred Fehlau joins fellow volunteers in serving students Late-Night Breakfast on Wed., April 10, 2013. All photos by Sylvia Sukop.

On this Wednesday night, Herrera joins nearly a dozen staff and executive team members—along with one student—volunteering their time in a show of support for students in the throes of finals. Donning black aprons and transparent latex gloves shortly before 10 p.m., the volunteers take their places behind eight stainless steel serving trays and two giant bowls of fruit salad spread out on a long table.

“What are you serving?” asks Betsy Edmunds, Associate Director of CSE’s Student Development Programs, as she walks the line greeting her team. They respond with a brightness usually reserved for daylight hours. Pancakes! Hash browns! Sausage patties! Scrambled eggs with cheese!

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Art Center Graduates Earning Up to $25,000 More

Coroflot.com Survey Respondents Show Art Center Grads Making More Compared to Other Art Schools

Coroflot.com infographic of median graduate earnings

Coroflot.com’s recent 2013 Creative Employment Snapshot survey shows that of the 10 most represented U.S. colleges and universities that survey respondents attended, graduates from Art Center College of Design earn salaries that range on average from $66,000 to $124,000, or $25,000 more on average than graduates from competing colleges and universities. This goes for both recent grads and industry veterans.

Art Center graduate earnings were compared against similar schools, including Rhode Island School of Design, Rochester Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, College for Creative Studies, Academy of Art University, School of Visual Arts, Parsons New School, University of Cincinnati and Savannah College of Art and Design.

In addition to earnings, the survey included infographics that show which U.S. cities have the highest concentration of working creative professionals, the job titles with the highest salary ranges and freelance rates, company benefits, how graduates are landing their jobs, and how advanced degrees pay off. Since 2001, Coroflot has collected and reported salary information from thousands of design and creative professionals worldwide.

Launched in 1997 by the team behind Core77, Coroflot is a career and community site made for creative professionals by creative professionals. Coroflot.com connects fellow designers with career opportunities by creating better professional experiences, in areas like industrial design, 3D modeling, architecture, fashion, illustration, graphic design, user experience and more.

Learn more about the survey results at Coroflot.com.