Category Archives: General Interest

In Case You Missed It

As you know, there’s always something going on when it comes to Art Center alumni, students and faculty. Some of the latest:

Jorge Pardo, "Bulgogi"

  • A new mixed media installation by Fine Art alum Jorge Pardo, Bulgogi, at Gagosian Gallery. artdaily.org
  • Top-seller at Vroman’s Bookstore features cover illustrations by Art Center students. Pasadena Star-News
  • Catching up with top hot-rod designer and Art Center Transportation Design alum Chip Foose. Los Angeles Times
  • Photography and Imaging alum Dan Chavkin discovers mid-century inspiration in Palm Springs. MyDesert.com

Big Picture Lecture Series: Paul Vangelisti

Don’t miss today’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring Paul Vangelisti.

Vangelisti is a poet and broadcaster who has written more than 20 books of poetry. A noted Italian translator, he helped create the graduate writing program at Otis.

Have there been any lectures that you missed? You’re in luck—podcasts of the lectures are up at Art Center’s iTunes U site.

Big Picture Lecture Series: Paul Vangelisti
Monday, July 26, 1 pm
Los Angeles Time Media Center

But Where are the Flying Cars?

What will the Los Angeles skyline look like in 2030?

Newsweek asked three well-known architecture firms—Michael Maltzan Architecture, cityLAB UCLA and Gensler—to envision the future for this fun interactive feature. There aren’t flying cars from The Jetsons like we expected, but some pretty neat features nonetheless.

“A future Los Angeles … will alter today’s predominant subdivision, tract-home, and automobile monoculture into a more multicultural, multimodal, interconnected, and sustainable modern city,” wrote the Maltzan team.

Read more at Culture Monster: Architects imagine Los Angeles in 2030

Big Picture Lecture Series: Jean-Pierre Hebert

Don’t miss Monday’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring Jean-Pierre Hebert, who will present the lecture, Art and Science.

Artist-in-residence at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Hebert’s 40-year interest in mathematics, physics, music and computer science has resulted in the production of a large body of work at the intersection of art and science.

Big Picture Lecture Series: Jean-Pierre Hebert
Art and Science
Monday, July 19, 1 pm
Los Angeles Time Media Center

Doyald Young to Speak at TypeCon2010

Doyald Young (Photo by Louise Sandhaus and courtesy AIGA)

Type makes a big splash when TypeCon2010 takes over the City of Angels next month.

Advertising alumnus and longtime College instructor Doyald Young will be one of the speakers at the annual letterfest, presented by the Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA). Registration for the event is now open.

TypeCon2010: Babel
August 17-22
Century Plaza Hyatt Regency, Los Angeles

Art Center Visioning Update from President Buchman

Dear Art Center Community:

I am writing to update you on Art Center’s planning process and to outline the next steps to completion. As many of you know, we designed the entire process to consist of two major phases of work: the visioning phase and the strategic planning phase. The midpoint and fulcrum of the process took form by way of a retreat of the Board of Trustees (on June 23 and 24) in which the Trustees heard the work completed by the visioning task force committees to date, focused their priorities and set the course for the final strategic phase to be concluded by the end of the calendar year.

Art Center students, alumni, faculty and staff convened for visioning brainstorming sessions in January.

The Board, I believe, was energized by what they heard and were compelled by the fact that hundreds of participants representing a cross-section of the community were involved at various points in the deliberations. They were engaged during the retreat in a thoughtful and rewarding dialogue that included the chairs of the visioning task force committees as well as representatives from the Chairs’ Council, Faculty Council, Art Center Student Government (ACSG) and senior staff. The effort was inclusive and courageous.

The work of the retreat coalesced the findings of the task force committees into a cogent statement of educational purpose, a statement serving at once as a tribute to the heritage of the College as well as to a dynamic vision for the future.

Continue reading →

Ego, Destruction and Facebook

Untitled (Wrestler), by Salomón Huerta

Illustration alum Salomón Huerta is known for revealing identity by obscuring it. He has painted collections of finely detailed portraits of the backs of heads, florid but unemotional masked lucha libre wrestlers, and unassuming suburban homes stripped of individuality.

He’ll be giving a free lecture tonight at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), presented by Zócalo Public Square.

Huerta has exhibited at the Whitney Biennial, the Gagosian Gallery and LACMA. He will discuss his creative methodology and his notions of art, ego and creativity.

Salomón Huerta:
Ego, Destruction and Facebook
Wednesday, July 14, 7:30 pm
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
250 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA

Castriota Named Saab Design Director

Transportation Design alum Jason Castriota has been named director of design for Saab.

From Inside Line: “Saab Chairman Victor Muller said the acquisition of Castriota means the automaker ‘will be making landmark cars for the foreseeable future.’ Castriota will report to Saab Automobile CEO Jan Ake Jonsson and will lead Saab’s push to expand its product lineup.”

Read more:
Saab Names New Design Chief (Inside Line)
Saab’s Future Can Be Found in Saab’s Past, Says Its New Designer (NYT)

Big Picture Lecture Series: Penny Florence

Don’t miss Monday’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring Penny Florence, who will present the lecture, “Art is Intensely Political: Why You Should Be Interested in Digital Poetry and the Sexed Subject.”

Florence is Chair of Humanities and Design Sciences at Art Center and professor emeritus at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.  She holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of York, U.K., and has lectured at universities across Europe and the U.S., including Art Center’s Graduate Art program. She has written or edited six interdisciplinary books traversing visual art and theory, film, poetry, painting and feminism, and  contributed to 17 others.

Please note:  Originally scheduled for July 12, Sandra Ball-Rokeach’s Big Picture lecture on The Seeds of Civic Engagement in Contemporary Urban Communities has been rescheduled for fall.

Big Picture Lecture Series: Penny Florence
Art is Intensely Political: Why You Should Be Interested in Digital Poetry and the Sexed Subject
Monday, July 12, 1 pm
Los Angeles Time Media Center, Hillside Campus

Summer Institute for Teachers Kicks Off July 28

Ah, summer. Swimming pools, barbecues, ice cream trucks. But summer is not all play. It’s when Art Center teaches teachers—and the results make the first day of the next school year an eagerly anticipated event.

Using a methodology called Design-Based Learning, Art Center has found a proven way to empower educators to excite students about learning, improve their test scores and boost their overall performance—in any subject. The College has made this approach the cornerstone of its award-winning Summer Institute for Teachers, an intensive five-day program for K-12 teachers in all subject areas and grade levels.

“At the Summer Institute for Teachers, brand new and deeply experienced teachers alike will pack their tool kits with practical techniques they can use to inspire, involve and energize their students and help them develop reasoning and problem-solving skills, no matter the subject, the curriculum, or the grade level,” says Managing Director of Public Programs Dana L. Walker.

Learn more about our Summer Institute for Teachers: Art Center College of Design Offers Award-Winning Summer Institute for Teachers