Category Archives: News

From muscle machines to dinosaur skulls: Art Center’s March 2014 alumni notes

It’s that time of month again. Time, that is, to catch up on the creative undertakings Art Center’s talented diaspora of alums have been plotting, planning, pitching, prototyping, publishing, publicizing, producing and plying. And that’s just the p’s.

Dive into the following digest of alumni accomplishments and works-in-progress. And for those alums among us, be sure to clue us in on your own news and notes for inclusion in our next dispatch. We don’t want to miss anything. This is Art Center, after all. And we’re nothing if not completists.

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Expand your mind without emptying your wallet

Glitter art on view at Jones Coffee Roasters. Photo: Teri Bond

Glitter art on view at Jones Coffee Roasters. Photo: Teri Bond

It’s the last few weeks of the term, and your top priorities are probably work, sleep and the next cup of coffee. But what about re-charging your creative batteries?

Art Center is nestled within one of the most innovative and entrepreneurial environments in the world. But be honest: When was the last time you pried yourself away from your projects and prototypes to find inspiration among Los Angeles’ vast creative riches?

We ask you this not to taunt or torment you about artistic opportunities missed. Really we’re here to simply offer you some incentive to take a break from your creative toils to remind yourself that great art and design is not created in a vacuum. Or a wind tunnel, post office or hillside haven.  It requires stimulation. Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with the suggestions below.

Try the hidden gem on Fairfax, Family, which is stocked with a unique selection of art books, prints and zines you won’t find at chain retail stores. Be sure to check out the mini art gallery in the back. Just a few yards away is the Supreme store, where you’ll spend less time shopping than hanging out or taking advantage of the indoor skate ramp. You might even run into Tyler, The Creator.

Closer to campus, you can get the best-of your much-needed coffee at Jones Coffee Roasters, where you may run into Art Center chairs or faculty. The open space is a great studying spot, and there is always interesting art on the walls.

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Check out these new student videos from our stellar Myspace occupiers

Roman Vargas, Photography and Imaging – second round from Art Center College of Design on Myspace.

Shortly after the Spring 2014 term passed its halfway point, our participating students (Myspacers?) produced a new set of videos tracking their progress on the path toward creative completion.

Starting a project is never easy. And finishing it is, arguably, even harder. But let’s not underestimate the challenges involved in persisting through the obstacle course of roadblocks artists often face once they’re deep enough into a project that starting over isn’t an option, and the finish line isn’t yet in sight.

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Explore the art of border crossing with Morgan Fisher: scholar, sculptor, filmmaker and conceptual artist

Morgan Fisher's New Alien Pendant Pair Paintings

Morgan Fisher’s New Alien Pendant Pair Paintings

Conceptual artist and filmmaker, Morgan Fisher, will discuss his vast and eclectic body of work at Art Center College of Design on Tuesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Times Media Center.

At first glance, it’s hard to connect the dots comprising the details of Morgan Fisher’s early biography. He was born in Washington, D.C. in 1942. He studied the history of 19th and 20th century art at Harvard University. Then he studied film production in Los Angeles, first at USC and then at UCLA.

His creative path started to coalesce, however, once he landed in L.A. and committed himself to filmmaking. He began making independent films in 1968 while complementing his own avant-garde filmmaking, working as a teacher at Art Center and in various capacities on Hollywood productions, including as Roger Corman’s editor. Fisher’s films have been shown at festivals such as Pesaro, Oberhausen, Rotterdam, Berlin, and New York; and at museums such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, and Centre Pompidou.

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Peering into the future of 3D printing: Q&A with Graduate Industrial Design Chair, Andy Ogden

Printing_with_a_3D_printer_at_Makers_Party_Bangalore_2013_11

The Dotted Line: What can 3D printing technology do?

Andy Ogden: The technology can make a solid 3D ( material)  model (output) of anything one can imagine in a 3D modeling program—from cookies, to doorstops to rocket engine tooling.
These machines churn out working prototypes (not just models) made from solid usable parts. This technology is especially valuable for making models, mockups and prototypes that do not require the time or labor traditionally necessary to achieve a similar result.

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Go ahead and touch the INFINITE, a student sculpture in cold steel and concrete.

Infinite by Nicole Shara

This creative manifesto is part of a series of first-person pieces by Fine Art students reflecting on the ideas informing their work. Each post will feature the artist whose work is currently rotating through the Undergraduate Fine Art Student Gallery, at the Hillside Campus. This week, Nicole Shara explores the intersection of identity and language in her new sculptural work, INFINITE (2014).

We are skewed by ego and commodity, consumed by that which is cryptic: media and language, science and truth. The idea that our role on this planet is perpetual or somehow divine is completely absurd. By taking advantage of the preexisting structure of language, I mock subjects like mortality. I repurpose words by breaking them down into two parts; they become self-cancelling creating a new awareness of the paradoxical whole. Combined with materials that physically relate to the word’s contradictory nature, a new enigma is born.

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Of one minute wonders and sustainable paper planes: February’s Art Center alumni notes

Hiroshi Sugimoto's design for for his museum complex in Odawara, Japan

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s design for for his museum complex in Odawara, Japan

From art installations inspired by NASA’S space oddities to a self-styled museum in Japan: Art Center alums have been busy in February. Read on for more details about last month’s alumni accomplishments, including Designmatters’ new alumni engagement efforts.

News

Dan Goods GRPK 02 was featured in a story on Yahoo News about his work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).  Yahoo

Satyendra Pakhalé PROD 94 discussed his design process and curiosity in a One Minute Wonder video. One Minute Wonder

Hiroshi Sugimoto PHOT 74 has announced plans to design and build a new museum for his work, the Odawara Art Foundation, which will be located in Odawara Japan. Wall Street Journal Blog

Jennie Warren PHOT 05 collaborated with Welsh singer Cate Le Bon and illustrator Erin Althea and on a series of promotional images for Cate’s upcoming tour. Erin Althea’s Blog

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SXSW Interactive 2014 wrap-up: Chelsea Clinton, Neil Young and Toms.com

Chelsea Clinton at SXSW Interactive 2014

Chelsea Clinton at SXSW Interactive 2014

The final day of SXSW Interactive has now taken on a different cast; in light of the tragic car crash that claimed two festival-goers’ lives and injured many more. Our deepest condolences go out to the families of those victims.

Even though the festival was technically winding down; passion, engagement and insight revved high throughout the day’s panels and presentations. The conference had successfully lived up to its interactive title. Many themes in the 2014 program were plucked from a virtual suggestion box, including this year’s focus on tech’s role in social change, culminating with Chelsea Clinton’s galvanizing closing keynote address (more on that later). In fact, all of the events we attended on that final day—from presentations by TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie—were informed, either directly or indirectly, by a socially conscious approach to technological innovation.

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Art, science, wearable tech and viral video: Art Center at SXSW Interactive

There are as many ways to describe a day immersed in South by Southwest Interactive programming as there were LED screens lighting up every available space around the Convention Center in downtown Austin. But, like many of the tech pilgrims who made their way to this digital mecca, our epic first day at the conference was spent soaking in a free-flowing cascade of ideas about how innovation and technology can be leveraged to improve the way we interact with our work, home, communities, passions and the larger world around us. And at the end of an enlightening eight hours’ worth of events, we came away feeling more energized than exhausted—as if we had just taken a multi-vitamin full of more than the daily recommended amount of inspiration.

This is noteworthy because the same cannot be said of the movie or music components of SXSW, or any other festival for that matter. Skeptical? Good. Read on.

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