Category Archives: General Interest

Documentary Highlights High School Musical Theater

Most Valuable Players is a documentary that follows three high school theater troupes and their creative journeys to the “Freddy Awards”—the Tony Awards of high school musical theater.

Matthew Kallis is director and co-producer and Christopher Lockhart is writer and co-producer of this documentary, which aims to demonstrate the importance of the arts education in our high schools.

It runs next week at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood–click on the image to the right to see the dates and visit the website for more information.

Reflecting Back at 80: Looking at Our Campuses

It’s a special year for us here at Art Center—2010 marks our 80^th anniversary.

It was in 1930 that the Art Center School opened its doors at Seventh Street, in the Westlake Park area of Los Angeles. In the decades since, we have moved two additional times (to Third Street and then to our present Pasadena campus), maintained a European campus for a decade, and opened a second Pasadena campus.

In the latest issue of Outer Circle, we look back at the past 80 years of Art Center through the memories of our alums.

Travel back in time with us for this fun feature: In Their Words: 80 Years of Art Center

Acclaimed Cinematographer to Speak Thursday

Art Center is honored to welcome to campus world-renowned Australian cinematographer Peter James this afternoon to discuss his craft and more. Film Department instructor Allen Daviau will host the discussion with the highly acclaimed cinematographer and director of photography.

James’ credits include Driving Miss Daisy, Black Robe, Alive, This Thing Called Love, Silent Fall, Diabolique, Paradise Road, The Newton Boys, Double Jeopardy, Meet the Parents, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, 27 Dresses and many more.

The event starts at 2 pm at the Ahmanson Auditorium and is open to all Art Center students, faculty, alumni and staff.

Peter James
Thursday, August 5, 2 pm
Hillside Campus, Ahmanson Auditorium

Tad Beck Weighs in on Current Work

It’s always interesting to hear about an installation directly from the artist. As we recently reported, contemporary artist and Art Center alum Tad Beck’s current exhibition, Palimpsest, is part of LACMA’s Manly Pursuits: The Sporting Images of Thomas Eakins. His work is a response to Eakins’ Grafly Album, also on view in the exhibition.

Beck weighs in on his installation in a guest post on LACMA’s blog, Unframed:

“During the installation of my exhibition Palimpsest, I was able to have my own private exploration of Manly Pursuits. I had never seen many of these works in person, though Eakins has been one of my primary influences since parallels emerged with my own practice. … Both Eakins’s and my own work focus on nude models. The locations look very much the same, and both Eakins and I are treading water. There was even similar passion for creating axis. While none of these parallels were intentional in Roll, they became definitive and almost seemed beyond coincidence.”

Roll from CellPhoneStories @LACMA on Vimeo.

Meet Steve Gavenas

Steve Gavenas had already earned numerous degrees, and enjoyed a successful career, before coming to Art Center to pursue his master’s in Graduate Art.

“I was looking for a world-class fine art graduate program that would challenge me and help me grow in my technical capability as well as the theoretical underpinning of my work, expand my artistic vision, and allow me to join the vibrant Los Angeles art scene,” explains Gavenas. “I also wanted a school that takes education seriously, with intensive faculty involvement and great classes—not just a residency program like some schools.”

Read more about Steve and his Art Center experience at in this great interview.

Take a Video Tour of Campus

Check out this lovely tour of Art Center as seen through the lens of Film alum Jonas Mayabb. We think he captures the essence of the place perfectly. View it on our video page, or watch below:

Looking Back at the Old Wind Tunnel

We all know that Art Center’s South Campus was originally a supersonic wind tunnel. But did you know that the tunnel was made of thick, reinforced steel, and could operate from below atmospheric pressure to four times that pressure?

From a 1945 Pasadena Star-News article: “Jet propulsion has raised new problems. This tunnel built for high speed pressurized research has been completed none too quickly as what we thought were problems of the future are with us now.”

Read more in today’s Pasadena Star-News: Southern California Cooperative Wind Tunnel and check out some interesting photos and floor plans of the old Wind Tunnel at the gardenLAb experiment.

Blik and Illustration Create Alternatives to Print

Guest post by Heather Koopman of Blik

Last spring, Blik participated in the Art Center’s Advanced Illustration Studio class. Fourteen students at the Pasadena campus enrolled in the course, which is part of the Illustration Department curriculum that focuses on design beyond the printed page. Led by the chair of the illustration department, Ann Field, the upper-term class taught applications for illustration including wall graphics, fabric, ceramic plates and interior design.

According to Field, part of the magic was how quickly the project with Blik was pulled together. Each student created one design and submitted it to Blik to be turned into a printed wall graphic. During the process, Blik tutored the students in how to create and set up their illustrations as files for print production. The final designs were presented and installed in the classroom.

“One of the great things about this class is the opportunity to work with companies, like Blik, who have a high-design aesthetic and impeccable attention to detail,” says Field. “These qualities combined with Blik’s contemporary products and history of working with established artists makes for a good working partnership.”

Blik also worked with one of Art Center’s star graduating students and Spring 2010 valedictorian, Patrick Hruby, to manufacture his final project, Imagine Something Beautiful. Each year, the Art Center faculty gives a wall in the main school entrance way to one student to display their final project. Patrick’s project was selected for the space and he approached Blik to help execute his vision.

Blik is proud of the students’ work and looks forward to continuing our relationship with Art Center again in the future.

For more on Blik: Blik’s Blog, Blik Custom: Art Center, Blik Custom: Patrick Hruby

Ansel Adams Negatives: The Real Deal?

Could it be? A Fresno man thinks that a stash of antique negatives bought at a garage sale are the early work of famed photographer and Art Center faculty member Ansel Adams.

Check out this very interesting L.A. Times article about the negatives and the debate surrounding them—some think they are legit; Adams’ family says otherwise.

One theory is that scorch marks on the negatives are proof that they survived a 1937 fire in Adams’ studio. Adams reportedly tossed stacks of negatives into a bathtub to save them from the flames.

Reporter Mike Boehm writes: “Alt theorized that Adams brought the Norsigian negatives to Southern California in the early 1940s as examples for his students at what’s now the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. ‘It would not be unreasonable for him to show the fire-damaged plates and regale his students with what was surely a great story,’ Alt wrote. He added, ‘In almost all of the photographs, the compositions are virtually flawless,’ indicating ‘a photographer of singular vision and talent’.”

What do you think? Are these the real deal, or just wishful thinking?

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ArtCenter College of Design