Category Archives: General Interest

A Visit With Pae White

The L.A. Times recently visited Graduate Art alum Pae White in her studio. Best known for large-scale commissions, such as a piece in the 2009 Venice Biennale, White says she’d now like to work on a much smaller scale.

“Though she makes self-deprecating jokes about the anxiety that often accompanies her creative endeavors – ‘I always say to myself, why do I get into this situation where I have no idea how to do this?’ — it is also clear that she thrives on the risk associated with testing unproven fabrication techniques on the large-scale, high-visibility, site-specific projects that have dominated her agenda of the last few years.”

Read more: Pae White, an artist ‘in the world’

Graduation Ceremony Webcast Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Spring Term 2010 Graduation! Join us as we welcome the newest graduates into the Art Center family, and hear our honorary degree recipient Katherine Hayles issue the graduation address. Can’t join us at Hillside Campus tomorrow? Watch our live online webcast.

Spring Term 2010 Graduation
Saturday, April 24, 4 pm PST
Hillside Campus

Stefan Bucher Remembers Norm Schureman

Advertising alum Stefan Bucher talks to Sean Adams of Felt & Wire about his time at Art Center, specifically studying with Norm Schureman and the impact he had on Bucher’s work.

Bucher says: “[Schureman] taught me how to enjoy having ideas. Which opened a whole new world for me. I remember drawing the first of my hybrid animals in his class and thinking, “This is FUN! … I must be doing it wrong.” It took Norm a while to set me straight, but he did it. He also took one look at the Wart-Hen, whipped out his pen, and added that wart-covered egg.”

Read more: Sean Adams: 3 questions for Stefan Bucher

What a Week!

Happy Monday, Art Center! It’s going to be a busy week, hope you’re rested and ready for:

  • Wednesday, April 21, 6 pm: 4 Hours Solid (South Campus)
  • Thursday, April 22, 5 pm: Graduation Show Preview (invitation only)
  • Thursday, April 22, 8 pm: Inauguration of Art Center President Lorne Buchman (Hillside Campus)
  • Thursday, April 22, 9 pm: Alumni Welcome Reception (invitation only)
  • Saturday, April 24, 2:30 pm: Faculty Reception (faculty, special guests and College leadership)
  • Saturday, April 24, 4 pm: Spring Term Graduation (webcast details announced soon)
  • Saturday, April 24, 4 pm: 2010 MFA Open Studios (South Campus)
  • Saturday, April 24, 6 pm: Graduation Show

It’s going to be a jam-packed week. Don’t worry—there’s still time to sneak in a nap before the fun begins!

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:

  • Catch the final days of Illustration alum Edwin Ushiro’s solo show, At Night, Lights Fell and Loved Ones returned Home, at Sloan Fine Art in New York. Arrested Motion
  • The Armory Center for the Arts presents Stitches, a group exhibition exploring contemporary art approaches to the techniques of sewing, knitting and weaving. Participating artists include Art Center Admissions staff member Nicola Vruwink. Armory Center for the Arts
  • Illustration alum Nathan Ota discusses painting, graffiti and spray paint. Graphics.com
  • Schools are working to develop creative MBAs. The Independent
  • Alum Mack King TRANS ’67 received honorable mention for a mixed media illustration at the Fine Arts Show featuring Cumberland County Artists at the Plateau Creative Arts Center in Fairfield Glade, Tenn. The catch? Mack says it was a homework assignment that he created at Art Center years ago! The Art Guild at Fairfield Glade

(Image: The Secret Life of a Rustling Brush by Edwin Ushiro)

Film Students Bring Home College Television Emmy

Film student Francis Pollara, along with fellow students Saman Keshavarz, Y-C Tom Lee and Romson Niega, recently won a College Television Emmy Award for a commercial they produced. “Trigger Happy” is a spot about friends playing freeze tag with cameras, filmed at Hillside Campus.

Pollara also won best music video award at South by Southwest last month for his work producing the band Cinnamon Chaser’s “Luv Deluxe” music video. The video wasn’t even submitted for South by Southwest; instead festival organizers asked for it to be submitted after seeing it online.

Read more about Pollara in the La Cañada Valley Sun: Prodigal son takes home two awards, and watch the commercial below. Congrats on a job well done!

Saturday High Participates in Humanitas Arts Festival

Art Center’s Saturday High program is collaborating with the Los Angeles Education Partnership’s Humanitas program in support of a student arts festival this Friday, April 16, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown L.A.

The Humanitas Arts Festival, developed in conjunction with the Los Angeles Opera’s Ring Festival LA, brings 270 students from nine Los Angeles schools into direct collaboration with local artists. The students created work engaging in an interdisciplinary, arts-integrated exploration of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, including contemporary responses to Wagner’s work in mediums ranging from film to fashion to fine art.

Saturday High instructors worked with fashion students at Downtown Magnets High School and photography students at Fremont High School for the event. Fashion students responded to Wagner’s classic opera by designing, and with the help of a seamstress, sewing outfits reflecting themes from the classic opera. Other students documented their lives by taking photographs reflecting personal struggles with friendship, love, betrayal and identity. These creative pieces, well as work from more than 200 other students, will be exhibited April 16. The event is free and open to the public, with a  suggested donation of $5.

Humanitas Arts Festival
Friday, April 16, 6-9 pm
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
213.622.5237