Category Archives: News

‘Little Miss Sunshine’ directors talk filmmaking from script to screen

From left: Instructor Lee Rosenbaum, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton. Photo: Chuck Spangler

“Little Miss Sunshine” directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris spent Wednesday afternoon with Art Center College of Design students recounting their 30-year career, which spans directing the first round of music videos in the early 1980s to the 2012 feature film “Ruby Sparks.”

The husband-and-wife directing duo kicked off the conversation on the Hillside campus with advice for students getting their foot in the door.

“Right now you guys are really cheap to hire and that’s a great entry into the business,” said Dayton, wearing jeans, jacket and his signature fedora.

“Lie, cheat, steal, do whatever you can to get your movies made,” Faris added, quoting her former UCLA professor, renowned filmmaker Shirley Clarke.

The pair made their directorial debut with the R.E.M. music video “Wolves Lower” in 1982 when MTV was first launching.

“There was this new form of filmmaking, and there were no experts and no money,” said Faris, donning a blue button up paired with yellow sneakers.

The couple went on to direct videos for ’90s grunge darlings Jane’s Addiction, Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins.

Dayton and Faris shared cinematic secrets behind the 1996 Smashing Pumpkins video for “1979,” including putting cameras in unusual places: inside a Ziploc bag and tossed into a pool and strapped inside a rolling tractor tire.

Continue reading →

Driverless car gets green light in California

Google's self-driving car and the technology to power it.

Commuters could soon be sharing the road with self-driving cars: Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Tuesday that would allow the vehicles to be tested and operated on California roads.

“We are looking at science fiction becoming reality in a self-driving car,” Brown said during a ceremony at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

Caltech, Google and other companies have been developing the cars, which use radar, video cameras and lasers to navigate freeways sans human input. (The legislation, S. 1298, requires a licensed driver to be at the wheel in case something goes wrong.)

Fine arts photographer Pedro Guerrero dies at 95

Self portrait, Manhattan studio, 1950. (c) Pedro E. Guerrero

Pedro E. Guerrero, a former Art Center student who photographed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, died Thursday at his home in Florence, Ariz. He was 95.

Guerrero had battled cancer for several years.

Upon hearing the news of his passing, Dennis Keeley, Chair of Art Center’s Photography department, said, “He was a remarkably kind and generous man who represented the highest qualities of professional excellence that we hope for all our students.”

Guerrero photographed Wright and his buildings from 1939 until Wright’s death in 1950. Guerrero’s 1994 book, “Picturing Wright: An Album from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Photographer,” features 150 photographs captured during the artist’s 20-year relationship with the famed architect.

Guerrero also turned his lens on other artists, including sculptors Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson; architects Marcel Breuer, Eero Saarinen and  Edward Durrell Stone; and shot interiors for Vogue, House & Garden and Harper’s Bazaar.

Continue reading →

Formula-E Race Goes Global After Scholarly Exchange

Beijing Team “Ghost” Top Winner in 7th Annual Design Competition

For the first year ever, the Formula-E Race has gone global. Known as the race where the rubber meets the road, Formula-E is the annual contest of rubber band-powered miniature cars designed by teams from Art Center and Pasadena Community College.  But 2012 will be remembered as the year the Department of Industrial Design at Beijing University of Technology joined the competition – and when the dust settled, the international visitors smoked the locals.

Devoted race fans endured sweltering heat at the August 9th event on Art Center’s Hillside campus to witness Beijing’s team “Ghost” take first place in two races plus Best in Show.  Art Center’s team “Ahn and Ahn” took first in The Sinclair Hill Climb track and the team from Pasadena Community College won The Eckles Design, Build, and Approach Award.

A highlight of Art Center’s Graduate Industrial Design (GradID) program, the race is judged by a panel of distinguished industry leaders. This year, the panel included designers from Honda R&D, Disney, BMW Group Designworks USA, LEGO Concept Lab, Tesla Motors, Fisker Automotive, Mattel Hot Wheels, Calty, and Nissan. Judging was based on a variety of criteria including quality, craftsmanship, materials, style, engineering, branding, innovation, and, of course, performance.

Sweating it out as MC for the event was the humorous Matt Gallant, host of ABC’s American Inventory and Animal Planet’s The Planet’s Funniest Animals.

The purpose of the class project is to teach lessons in strategy, product development, science, engineering, design, fabrication, branding, communications, and event planning through a fun and real world product-development experience. In the process, students learn about competition, teamwork, setting goals, and creating design plans that are then executed to varying degrees of success. Continue reading →

Art Center featured in The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Top 25 Film Schools ranking

Hollywood Reporter’s Top 25 Film Schools

The Hollywood Reporter has included Art Center’s stellar film program in its new list of the top 25 film schools in the world.

The second annual list of outstanding film educational institutions was decided on by the editors at the entertainment trade publication and an unidentified list of industry insiders.

The Art Center entry mentions alumni Michael Bay, Tarsem Singh Dhandwar (Mirror, Mirror) and visionary director Zack Snyder who’s highly anticipated Superman reboot Man of Steel is set for a June release.  In the story, alumnus Snyder recalls how his mentor, Mike Ahnemann, influenced his career.

Visionary Director Zack Snyder stops by Art Center

Watch the Man of Steel trailer here.

Art Center Promotes Wellness – Committed to Creatives’ Success

BEING WELL: Introducing Darshana Lele, Ph.D., Art Center’s New Director of Counseling and Wellness

Art Center's new Director of Counseling and Wellness Services, Darshana Lele, Ph.D. photo by Chuck Spangler

Art Center's new Director of Counseling and Wellness Services, Darshana Lele, Ph.D.

You may be a brilliant artist or designer, but if your health and emotional well-being are not optimum, your short and long-term success is at risk.

That’s why the campus community recently welcomed Darshana Lele, Ph.D., as Art Center’s first Director of Counseling and Wellness.  The move reflects the College’s increased commitment to help students succeed, as part of the Create Change initiative.

“Our students are famously known for working hard to be at the top of their game, sometimes at the unacceptable cost of their own well-being,” said Jeffrey Hoffman, M.S., Dean of Students.  With Dr. Lele’s leadership, experience and dedication to improving the balance between the intense challenge and the vital level of support necessary for our students to be successful, we look forward to more on-campus and off-campus opportunities to stay well – physically, emotionally, and spiritually.”

Continue reading →

Faculty Member Sean Adams Donates Proceeds of MOO.COM Collaboration to Art Center Scholarship Fund

Art Center faculty member Sean Adams.

Sean Adams

Art Center faculty member Sean Adams, partner and co-founder of the branding and strategic design firm AdamsMorioka, recently collaborated with MOO.COM to create their newest collection of high-end business cards for The Luxe Project.

When deciding which charity would receive 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of the business cards, Sean selected the Art Center Scholarship Fund and the purchase of any cards in Adams’ three collections—totaling 42 different designs—between now and the end of August will benefit Art Center students.

You can purchase any of Adams’ designs — Pattern and Colour, Sad Places or Ships Ahoy! — from MOO.COM.

Commenting on his choice to support the Art Center Scholarship Fund, Adams said, “As a teacher I’ve seen too many remarkable people leave school because they couldn’t afford to continue. When I see a student who is brilliant, passionate and who works like a dog, lose the resources to finish school, it is a loss not just to his or her own experience. It’s a loss of an incredible resource and voice to the world.

“None of us would have become successful without the help of the generation ahead of us. I myself wouldn’t have finished school without scholarship help,” he continued. “It feels great to know that I can give back and be a small part in making Art Center students the most incredible and successful designers graduating in the world today.”

As part of MOO’s efforts to make quality products and top-level design available for anyone to create their own unique identity, Luxe Business Cards are high-quality, super-thick, customizable cards that feature limited edition designs.

Adams said, “I was thrilled to have the opportunity to design cards for anyone to use and that MOO has given me the ability to support our future designers in this way. So thrilled that I couldn’t stop with just one collection, so I designed three.”

Images and more information about the designs follow. Continue reading →

Emmy Fever: Alum Talents Featured on Top Nominee “Mad Men”

Congratulations to all the talented professionals who worked on Emmy-nominated shows including Alumna Ellen Freund for her work on “Mad Men”

Art Center Alumna Ellen Freund FILM 79 is prop master on the hit AMC show “Mad Men.”  The show tied with “American Horror Story” for the most Emmy nominations with 17 each.  Among the many accolades, the steamy period drama series about Madison Avenue was honored for outstanding art direction.

Freund’s credits include “Twilight,” “Night at the Museum” and “Vanilla Sky.” To learn more about her career, check out this profile that recently ran on Huffington Post.

In the story, she says “Mad Men” is definitely the biggest challenge of her career. “It is my first time on a television series and the combination of a compressed time frame, limited budget and relentless schedules are very demanding. ‘Mad Men’ requires massive amounts of research to attain the level of accuracy that creator Matthew Weiner seeks and the entire crew strives for every day. The period is fascinating and visually stimulating, making it a real pleasure to work on.”

Art Center Students Rack Up Core77 Design Awards

Core77 Award RibbonFollowing a week of rolling announcements, Art Center is happy to congratulate the teams behind six noteworthy projects selected as Student Winners in the 2012 Core77 Design Awards, which celebrate the richness of the design profession and the brilliance of its practitioners. Among the award winners, our Product Design students’ solutions for medical devices and uniforms are valued in the Equipment and Soft Goods categories, Designmatters’ Safe Agua projects were recognized for their Social Impact, and a collaboration between Grad ID and the Drucker School is noted in the area of Strategy & Research.

CATEGORY: Equipment
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Andrew Kim
PROJECT: Pal IV Pump System
JURY COMMENTS: Not only does this design pay attention to people’s physical need, but also their psychological needs in their most painful period.

CATEGORY: Equipment
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: James Cha
PROJECT: Syncro – Post-surgical knee rehabilitation device
JURY COMMENTS: Unlike many professional medical devices with a cold, mechanical form, this design is very user friendly with its organic form and inviting user interface, which encourage patients to use it with joy.

Syncro

Core77 award winner "Syncro," a post-surgical knee rehabilitation device, was designed by Art Center student James Cha.

CATEGORY: Social Impact
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Kimberly Chow and Carlos Vides
PROJECT: Safe Agua: Balde a Balde
CLIENT: Innovation Center, Un Techo Para Mi Pais
JURY COMMENTS: This product shows that even relatively humble designs can make a big difference to people’s lives.

CATEGORY: Social Impact
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Alex Cabunoc and Ji A You
PROJECT: Safe Agua: GiraDora
CLIENT: Innovation Center, Un Techo Para Mi Pais
JURY COMMENTS: So much going for it – a great concept that works on all the required levels to be a success.

CATEGORY: Soft Goods
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Leonardo Ochoa
PROJECT: Allayant – A shirt with built-in back support for paramedics
JURY COMMENTS: We really loved how [far] the Allayant reached. This was a big undertaking. It is rare to see such an innovative solution that is so well aesthetically resolved in a student project.

CATEGORY: Strategy & Research
DESIGNER/TEAM NAME: Art Center College of Design Grad ID and the Drucker Graduate School of Management
PROJECT: KPCC+
CLIENT: Southern California Public Radio
JURY COMMENTS: The KPCC+ strategy is notable because of the breadth of analysis that was done to increase listenership. They did a good job of targeting, understanding and designing for a complex and changing market and technology. Excellent process and project!

In addition to winning an award for KPCC+, the video testimonial submitted to Core77 as part of the entry process was showcased on the award site for being particularly informative.

The winners of each category will receive the C77DA trophy, and all honorees will be published in the Awards Gallery, on Core77 and in the awards publication. The recognition will culminate with a special event in New York City this fall.

Launched in 1995, Core77 publishes articles, discussion forums, resources, book reviews and event calendars in service to a global audience of design professionals, corporations, students, enthusiasts and fans. They host hundreds of thousands of online portfolios, provide job listings through a distinguished network of leading design site partners and maintain a database of thousands of design firms, schools, vendors and services. And offline, Core77 produces myriad design competitions, lecture series, parties, portfolio reviews and exhibitions.

Art Center College of Design’s “Designmatters” Vice President Honored with Dell Social Innovation Education Award

Mariana Amatullo

Designmatters' Mariana Amatullo

Mariana Amatullo, vice president at Art Center College of Design and co-founder of Designmatters, the College’s social impact initiative, has won the inaugural Dell Social Innovation Education Award.  The honor recognizes outstanding leadership in teaching and supporting student social innovators.

Designmatters engages students, faculty and alumni from across disciplines in an ongoing exploration of the role of art and design in effecting large-scale sustainable change through innovative partnerships locally and around the world.  It is through the impressive outcomes generated by Designmatters that the College became the first design school to receive the United Nations’ Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) status.

“Art Center aspires to redefine and expand the role of the artist and designer into one who is a catalyst for social change and innovation, ” said Lorne M. Buchman, president, Art Center College of Design.  “Designmatters allows us to harness the power of creative imagination to effect that change.

“I’m very proud of what Mariana has created over the last decade and we congratulate her, “ Buchman continued. “We consider this award an endorsement as renewed encouragement to continue our commitment to contribute to, and learn from, our engagement in the social innovation space.”

“I am deeply honored to be selected as the inaugural recipient of this award,” said Amatullo. It has been my personal privilege and joy to be in a position of mobilizing the collective energy and creative talent of the Art Center community with an educational agenda for social impact through Designmatters.

“This award serves as a wonderful tribute to the body of work by our students, faculty, and staff during the last decade, and more broadly speaks of the growing recognition of the value of art and design in effecting consequential societal change,” she explained.

“We had many outstanding nominees for the Social Innovation Education Award,” said Dell  Challenge Executive Director Suzi Sosa, “however, Mariana stood out because of her ability to inspire institutional support for applying design solutions to social problems.”

Amatullo was chosen for her exemplary leadership and holistic approach in building new modes of engagement for art and design education with social impact, promoting broad collaboration through cross-sector partnerships with non-profit organizations, development agencies and industry. The award-winning and social innovation outcomes of Designmatters during the past decade are providing a key foundation for the framework of Media Design Matters, a new course of study in the Graduate Media Design Program at Art Center. Amatullo is co-leading Media Design Matters, which focuses on communication design at the intersection of new technology and social engagement.

She will be honored during the global awards ceremony on June 12th in Austin, Texas.

As part of the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, several Art Center student projects from the award-winning Safe Agua initiative, a Designmatters partnership with the Innovation Center of Un Techo Para Mi Pais, were named semi-finalists.  The projects focused on innovative design products and systems to overcome water poverty with families of slum-dwellers in Lima, Peru.

About Art Center College of Design

Founded in 1930 and located in Pasadena, California, Art Center College of Design is a global leader in art and design education. Art Center offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in a wide variety of art and design disciplines, as well as public programs for all ages and levels of experience. Renowned for its ties to industry and professional rigor, Art Center is recognized as a United Nations’ Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), providing students with opportunities to create design-based solutions for humanitarian and nonprofit agencies around the world. During the College’s 80-year history, Art Center’s alumni have had a profound impact on popular culture, the way we live, and important issues in our society.

To learn more

facebook.com/dellsocialinnovation

twitter.com/dellsocialinnov

artcenter.edu/designmatters