Category Archives: Photography and Imaging

2013 Great Teacher Award-winner, Richard Keyes, delivers graduation address. Student-drawn allegory included.

 

Illustration by Katia Grifols

Illustration by Katia Grifols

Richard Keyes didn’t stay long the first time he took the stage at Art Center’s 2013 Summer commencement ceremony to accept the Great Teacher Award. That’s likely because he knew he’d return shortly in his other capacity, as the event’s keynote speaker. Keyes, who is both an alum (Graphic Design ’87) and beloved faculty member has made a habit of multitasking throughout his career at Art Center, where he straddles five departments — Graduate Industrial Design, Entertainment Design, Photography, Integrated Studies and Art Center at Night. For insight into why he received the highest honor awarded by Art Center students, look no further than the speech itself (posted in its entirety below), which culminates in a moving fable, accompanied by a slideshow of images hand-drawn by student, Katia Grifols, who has been Keyes’ T.A. for three terms.   

You have reason to expect a celebrity sending you off into the world today, but you are getting a teacher. Conversely, when I came to Art Center 30 years ago I occasionally expected teachers and got celebrities, so I hope I can redress the balance somewhat. But not before I state how much I have learned from you, quite probably the most impressive student body in the creative world.

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Trayvon Martin protest: Photography student Kit Sinclair embeds himself on the front lines of the battle for justice

We first glimpsed the images above by chance, as Photography instructor Tony Di Zinno and student Kit Sinclair were reviewing the project in the cafeteria at South Campus. We were immediately struck by the bold and viscerally affecting quality of the shots Sinclair captured while attending a protest the night the Trayvon Martin verdict was rendered. Sinclair had been working closely with Di Zinno, a renowned sports photographer, in a class entitled, Project Photo: Sport, which focuses on navigating the intersection of sports, politics and art. “The culture of sport relates to conflict in many ways,” explains Di Zinno. “The Olympics are a thing of beauty – but also form of surrogate warfare. In this class we reflect on how examples of how sport acts as a mirror in reflecting ourselves as societies. We examine seminal figures like Mohammed Ali whose iconic LIFE magazine image by civil rights photographer Flip Schulke is featured on the profile of our Art Center-Sports class facebook page. Kit’s protest coverage was squarely in the tradition of the concerned photographer. We see in his images moments reminiscent of Sixties symbols of protest – which led in turn to class discussions of  visual literacy and image as art reference in terms of a so-called ‘black power’ salute by Tommy Smith and John Carlos on the 200m medal stand in the ’68 Olympic games.” 

“The larger point to me as an educator is to support these emerging artists,” continues Di Zinno, who co-teaches the class with Andy Bernstein, who shoots for the NBA and NHL. We are reminded by Kit’s work not to be too isolated in our silos of higher learning. But to realize that we are all indeed citizens and participants… and to learn to apply critical thinking. To dare and go see for ourselves. To take time to consider and deliberate in how to apply what we learned. Perhaps,most importantly – to share what we did learn with others.”

In the above gallery and blog post below, Sinclair incorporates each of these strands into a series of arresting photographs, that simultaneously call out for our attention and compassion.

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Transgender Portraits Celebrate Courage and Community

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From the series Transformational Project by Jen Rosenstein.

Jen Rosenstein will never forget the first time she met a transgender person. A lesbian and, at the time, a student at Art Center College of Design, Rosenstein was curious. But her curiosity backfired. “I had so many questions for him, and he took it wrong,” says the 2008 Photography and Imaging graduate. “He misunderstood my intention.”

Still, Rosenstein and her new friend Mir kept talking and later he invited her to visit his home in West Hollywood. There she set up an impromptu studio to photograph Mir and some of his friends — the first portraits in what would become the series Transformational Project. “I went back to his house every weekend for several months,” she recalls, “and people were literally lining up to have their portraits taken.”

Five years on, Rosenstein has made nearly 70 portraits of trans men and women in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. The ever-expanding series, “a platform for the trans community to express themselves any way they want,” has been featured by ABC News and presented in a gallery show at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. On Saturday, June 22, her roving portrait studio returns to LAGLC’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood, and she has put out an open call to the trans community to come and be photographed there.

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Visual Storytelling Examined Through the Work of Jerry Uelsmann and Maggie Taylor

He experiments in a darkroom. She composes on a computer screen. Together, husband-and-wife artists Jerry Uelsmann and Maggie Taylor create haunting, layered dreamscapes that push the boundaries of photography’s possibilities.

Jerry Uelsmann's "Untitled" and Maggie Taylor's "Magnolia Charmer"

Jerry Uelsmann’s Untitled and Maggie Taylor’s Magnolia Charmer showcase their unique approaches to visual storytelling. A new documentary from lynda.com explores the artists’ work and creative relationship.

Art Center hosts a special screening and panel discussion Wednesday, June 12 of the documentary “Jerry & Maggie: This is Not Photography,” new from lynda.com, which takes viewers inside the artists’ quiet Florida compound for a peek at their complementary work, contrasting processes and inspiration-seeking expeditions through an alligator-dwelling swamp. The documentary explores both the technical and emotional aspects of the couple’s unique form of visual storytelling, from the composition to the criticism, with insight from other preeminent voices in photography.

“Whether it’s graphic design, branding, environments, illustration, photography or film, the art of visual storytelling is a powerful method to convey messages in an elegant, entertaining and informative way,” said Graphic Design professor Petrula Vrontikis, who helped spearhead the event and will moderate the panel discussion.

Jerry Uelsmann's "Journey Into Night" and Maggie Taylor's "The Collector," side by side. “Jerry & Maggie: This is Not Photography,” new from lynda.com, shows the artists and their complementary yet contrasting work and processes.

Uelsmann’s Journey Into Night and Taylor’s The Collector.

On hand to discuss the film and the larger subject of visual storytelling will be the documentary’s executive producer Bruce Heavin ILLU 93, director Scott Erickson and cinematographers Aron Ives and Mia Shimabuku.

Celebrated for its pioneering spirit in the realm of online education, lynda.com was co-founded by Art Center alumnus Heavin and former faculty member Lynda Weinman. Art Center continues to benefit from their creative vision and often partners with lynda.com to offer special events for its students, faculty, alumni and members of the general public.

The screening and discussion are free and open to the public, no reservations needed. Join us Wed., June 12, 7 p.m., in Ahmanson Auditorium at Art Center College of Design’s Hillside Campus, 1700 Lida Street, Pasadena, CA 91103. For more information call (626) 396-2251 or email promotion@artcenter.edu.

 

Related:

Sold-out conference features Art Center faculty, highlights vitality of photographic education 

 

 

Alum Nicholas Alan Cope’s book launch March 28 in New York highlights seven-year project documenting Los Angeles architecture

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From ‘Whitewash’ by Nicholas Alan Cope, published by powerHouse Books.

Nicholas Alan Cope sees Los Angeles as a city of contrasts, with “dueling public narratives of glamour and cynicism” legible in its stark, modern architecture. In his new book of black and white photographs, Whitewash, he dramatizes that contrast by making elegant use of the extremes of light and shadow produced by the intensity of the Southern California sun.

Published by New York’s powerHouse Books, with a foreword by California-born, Paris-based fashion designer Rick Owens, and distributed by Random House, the book’s April release will be celebrated with a launch party at Mondo Cane in Tribeca on Thurs., March 28, on the opening night of a gallery exhibition of Cope’s large-format photographs from the book. The exhibition continues through April 13.

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Alum Bruce Osborn photographs tsunami survivors for National Geographic Japan

Bruce OsbornThe March 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine’s Japan edition features Art Center alum Bruce Osborn’s photographs of parents and children in Tohoku, two years after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region, resulting in a nuclear disaster and the deaths and displacement of thousands of residents. The vivid, colorful portraits, taken against the backdrop of affected areas, capture the resilient spirit of those who live there.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Osborn has lived in Japan since 1980. After studying Photography at Art Center College of Design, he worked as the photographer for Phonograph Record Magazine before moving to Japan where he continues to work as a photographer and filmmaker. His Oyako project, which takes its name from the Japanese word for “parent and child,” grew out of a series of photographs he began in 1982 and continues as a popular annual tradition throughout Japan on the fourth Sunday of July.

Sold-out conference features Art Center faculty, highlights vitality of photographic education

Dennis Keeley

Photography and Imaging Chair Dennis Keeley to lead Industry and Education Forum at SPE conference

Teachers, critics, curators, gallery directors, image-makers, collectors and students convene in Chicago this week for the 50th National Conference of the Society for Photographic Education (SPE). With 1,600 registered attendees, the conference is completely sold out for the second year in a row.

Invited participants in the March 7–10, 2013 conference include Dennis Keeley, chair of Photography and Imaging at Art Center and board member of SPE, who will lead the Industry and Education Forum on Sat. March 9 at 9 a.m.; and featured speaker Mona Kuhn, Art Center faculty member, presenting her work on Friday, March 8 at 10 a.m.

This year’s conference theme, “Conferring Significance: Celebrating Photography’s Continuum,” examines how concentration on a subject has allowed image, concept, criticism, teaching and learning to shape the past, present and future of photography. Continue reading →

For Art Center at Night director Dana L.Walker, “Diversity is really about all of us.”

Dana L. Walker, Photography and Imaging alumna and Art Center at Night director. Photo: Ken Merfeld.

Many students who end up studying at Art Center are first introduced to the College through Art Center at Night (ACN)—Art Center’s continuing studies program headquartered at South Campus. And chances are that at some point many of those students also came into contact with Photography and Imaging alumna Dana L. Walker (PHOT 1995). Walker serves as both the director of ACN and the managing director of Public Programs, Art Center’s suite of programs that also includes Art Center for Kids (grades 4–8), Saturday High (grades 9–12) and Summer Institute for Teachers (for K–12 educators).

In addition to her Public Programs duties, Walker is also co-chair of Art Center’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion, which the College created in 2011 as part of its Create Change Strategic Plan. She’s also a board member of the 120 Group, an ethnically diverse, alumni-based organization that promotes educational and career opportunities in art and design for underrepresented minority populations.

We sat down recently with Dana to talk about diversity, her work as an artist and what it’s like to be a student in her own program.

Dotted Line: You’re on the College’s diversity council. How do you define diversity?

Dana Walker: I don’t define it. In fact, one of the things we’ve done on the Council is purposely not define it. Because once you define it, it becomes a quantity rather than a quality. Diversity is not just about race, ethnicity or religion. It’s also economics, geography, gender and more. In fact, diversity includes so much that it’s really about all of us. And that’s what makes it challenging. To become a better artist or designer, you need to understand the world that you live in and the people who live in it. Whether it’s learning about another culture or learning how to work with different people, you can’t design for the world if you don’t understand large parts of it.

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Sustainable solutions: by bike, on a plane or by hand

Pop quiz:

What do the following design concepts have in common: a streamlined re-design of in-flight meal preparation and service that reduces air-travel waste; a bicycle for tourists that collects environmental data as cyclists explore the city; and a human-powered washing machine and spin dryer for families living on $4 to $10 per day?

a. They were all designed by Art Center students.
b. They reflect the growing awareness of sustainability within art and design.
c. They are the winning concepts of the 2012 Denhart Family Sustainability Scholarship Prize.
d. All of the above

Too easy? The answer (d) shouldn’t surprise anyone who is familiar with the cutting-edge role Art Center students are playing in environmentally and socially responsible art and design. This year’s Denhart Prize winners, chosen from a highly competitive pool of undergraduates from Fine Art, Film, Photography, Illustration, and Industrial and Environmental Design, represent some of the year’s top design ideas in sustainability at Art Center.

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Photographer Mona Kuhn reveals her body of work

Brazilian-born photographer Mona Kuhn’s disarming nude portraits aim to redefine ways of looking at the body.

“It’s the idea of totally disrobing your status symbols, where by being naked you’re just like the other person,” she recently told New York Magazine. “You don’t have a watch to compare, you don’t have the latest trendy jeans, and you don’t have the latest shoes.”

Kuhn will discuss her past and current work during a lecture Friday at 7 p.m. at Hillside’s L.A. Times Auditorium. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a book signing.

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