Category Archives: Public Programs

An early peek at Art Center at Night’s newest offerings for makers, change-makers and career-changers

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Need a career makeover? Ready to explore a new path? Have a dream to fulfill?

Consider your wait over.

Next Wednesday, Art Center at Night (ACN) is holding its annual open house at Art Center’s South Campus from 7–9 p.m. At the event, visitors have a chance to explore the broad range of opportunities available through Art Center’s continuing education program.

At Experience Art Center at Night, visitors can: sit in on classes (see participating courses); observe student presentations and critiques; meet ACN’s instructors; see student work; register for Fall courses; learn about Art Center’s full-time degree programs; enter a raffle to win a free ACN course; and share their ACN experiences in the event’s first ever video confessional booth.

The event is also the perfect opportunity to learn more about and sign up for ACN’s newest courses. This coming Fall term, the program is offering more than a dozen new courses, including:

Digital Painting for Entertainment
Painting can seem complicated. But by understanding the medium and combining foundation skills with more lateral approaches, you can discover the joy of digital painting. This introductory digital painting course is designed specifically for aspiring entertainment design, entertainment arts, and illustration students. Instructor: Justin Pichetrungsi

Dimensions: Exploring Dynamic Objects
Before you can successfully create sculpture or make art, you must expand your definition of objects and object-making past the notion of craftsmanship. This course will challenge you to consider how objects can engage us emotionally and conceptually and offer you the opportunity to work with new tools and materials. Instructor: Mason Cooley

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Student profile: Christina Yang’s Art Center coming of age story

Self portrait by Christina Yang

Drawing of Christina Yang at work by Madeline Ocampo

Christina Yang began attending Art Center when she was 12 years old. But hold off on calling her the Doogie Howser of the design world. She simply followed her passion for visual arts through every phase of the College’s curriculum, from its public programing for underage artists to full-fledged matriculation.

She began her journey with Art Center for Kids courses. She then continued her studies in the College’s Saturday High program while attending Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) before being recently accepted as a full-time student in the degree program. She starts Fall 2013 as an Entertainment Design major.

Dotted Line: Why did you choose Art Center?

Christina Yang: My father went to Art Center, so attending the Kids program felt natural. But I also kept returning chiefly because of the high quality instruction I received. While other children’s programs were rather loose and directionless, Art Center instructors taught me core skills with a great deal of structure balanced with encouragement. My age never mattered. The teachers were never condescending. We had the privilege of being exposed to Art Center’s disciplined, focused, rich learning environment, which helped us begin to take ourselves seriously as artists.

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Rockin’ the foundation: Alumnus Simon Davey on how Art Center at Night influenced his work

Simon Davey's Spiteful Table.

Simon Davey’s Spiteful Table.

Many successful Art Center students get their first taste of the College through Art Center at Night (ACN), the College’s continuing studies program. Take for example recent Product Design alumnus Simon Davey, whose student rebranding project for Dulce Mexico was recently highlighted on Adobe’s packaging form Designer Showcase.

I chatted recently with Simon Davey on how ACN influenced both his career at Art Center and his entire design process. Here are a few excerpts.

On the playful quality of his work:
I’ve heard people describe my work as playful or whimsical, and I don’t really shy away from that. At the heart of my design philosophy is an attempt to truly understand the context in which a problem exists. In other words, I like questioning how and why people are using their stuff. And that means sometimes the work I create borders on the ridiculous, like my Spiteful Table, a side table/rocking chair hybrid.

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Dwight Stuart Youth Fund grant equips creative kids with artist mentors

Saturday High student Kari Davis

Saturday High student Kari Davis

How can a good mentor change the way a young artist sees the world—and herself?  Just ask Kari Davis. The 12th grader and Saturday High student was recently paired with film instructor and Art Center alumnus Chris Gehl as part of Art Center’s Public Programs Mentoring Program, which helps teens hone their personal creative vision and learn about opportunities for college and jobs in the arts.

“Having Chris as a mentor is like having an art-focused sensei master giving you his undivided attention and support,” she says. “Every meeting is a field trip and a lesson. I feel like everyone at Saturday High is cheering me on and cares about my success not only as a filmmaker, but also as a person.”

A recent grant from the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund is helping to bring Art Center’s Saturday High and Art Center for Kids classes to students with creative prowess and financial need. Additionally, the grant is funding mentorship opportunities between Saturday High students and Public Programs faculty. The Fund is providing support for student scholarships and stipends for mentors. It is also the first non-College group to fund such activities as field trips to Art Center’s Hillside Campus and the publication of Voices, Public Programs’ annual collection of original Mentoring Program student work.

According to C.C. Ybarra, outreach program manager for Art Center’s Public Programs, “The Dwight Stuart Youth Fund’s grant will enable Public Programs to better reach an untapped community of kids who are creative and resourceful. These are kids who may already spend their days doing things like fixing broken bicycles in creative ways or using their artwork to barter with friends. But they may not realize that there’s an education system that highly values their talents, or that the art world and design industries value it.”

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Form follows fungus at the Williamson Gallery’s Intimate Science exhibit

Philip Ross’s "Mycotecture" series, part of the Williamson Gallery's "Intimate Science" exhibition.

Philip Ross’s “Mycotecture” series, part of the Williamson Gallery’s “Intimate Science” exhibition.

Bricks. You know, those hard rectangular cubes made of heavy solid stuff like cement, stone, concrete, rock . . . and fungus. Yes, fungus. Clean, lightweight, extremely durable, sustainable, (dead) fungus. There’s a sculpture made of those fungal bricks shaped into a half-arc tunnel – not to mention two fungus-grown chairs –  on display in the Williamson Gallery’s current exhibitionIntimate Science (through August 18).

Known for its curatorial connections to the burgeoning ArtScience movement, the Williamson Gallery’s recent projects have extended this theme to include artists who are productively reckless when considering the boundaries between traditional domains. Stitching together performance, installation art, design, citizen science, and maker-ingenuity into a complex fabric of artistic practice, ArtScience artists are challenging older single-channel paradigms.

Originally organized by curator Andrea Grover for Carnegie Mellon University’s Miller Gallery and now on a national tour, Intimate Science includes a compelling assemblage of crossover objects and intentions. The exhibition’s stop at the hillside campus has brought works by artists from London, Seattle, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Tokyo to join hometown L.A. participant Machine Project in provoking students, faculty, staff and a stream of inquisitive visitors.

Two recent workshops organized by Machine Project transformed a section of the gallery into an interactive learning lab for unconventional artistic palettes. Attendees examined processes that might inform future hybrid projects by harnessing the behavior of sound vibrations and twisting auditory perceptions, and interfacing with the dynamics of electricity and the natural flow of current in the human body.

At the exhibition’s opening reception on May 30, scientists from Caltech and Jet Propulsion Lab mixed with artists, designers, writers, students, faculty, and the generally curious. Carnegie Mellon’s Astria Suparak remarked on bringing the exhibition to Art Center’s gallery: “We were thrilled to open Intimate Science at the Williamson Gallery — to have the opportunity to bring the gallery’s work to Los Angeles, to be seen by a wider audience and have a larger impact.”

 

Public Programs Instructor Inspired by Ashcan School and Looney Tunes

Ronald J. Llanos. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Ronald J. Llanos. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Born in Los Angeles, Art Center alumnus Ronald J. Llanos ILLU ’03 has taught in Art Center’s Public Programs—Art Center for Kids, Saturday High and Art Center at Night—for the past 10 years.

Llanos’ work depicts everyday moments of life in L.A., whether it’s street vendors selling their wares in downtown’s Toy District or an homage to Manet’s Bar at the Folies Bergères via Hot Dog on a Stick. “I was inspired by artists who captured their urban surroundings like George Bellows and John French Sloan,” says Llanos, who’s teaching Illustration for Art Center for Kids’ Summer 2013 term.

And while he cites as influences those two artists and others from the Ashcan School—a group of early 20th-century painters in New York and Philadelphia that depicted the raw vibrancy of city life—Llanos says his urban illustrations also owe a debt to Bugs Bunny. “I was also inspired by the background art from Looney Tunes cartoons from the ‘40s and ’50s, specifically the work of Maurice Noble.”

Sunday, his work featured on the most current Art Center for Kids catalog, is part of Llanos’ ongoing “Brown World” series, which refers both to his choice of paper stock as well as the Latino community he chronicles. “I lived in Huntington Park for the first three years of my life, which I can still vividly recall,” says Llanos. “It all left an impression on me.”

Llanos' "Sunday," 2003. Courtesy: Nick Jeong.

Llanos’ “Sunday,” 2003. Courtesy: Nick Jeong.

Llanos’ has shown at venues like Wax Poetic, Cactus Gallery and Ghettogloss. And last year, Metro unveiled his most ambitious project to date: Ephemeral Views: A Visual Essay. The public work—24 large-scale mosaic panels that depict L.A. street life—is seen daily by thousands of commuters passing through the Expo Line’s Expo/Western station.

Summer 2013 term Art Center for Kids classes begin June 23 and registration begins May 20.

Art Center for Kids motivates students (grades 4–8) to discover their inspiration and express themselves in new ways. Through a variety of unique art and design classes—ranging from Animal Sculpture to Inventors’ Workshop—the program teaches critical thinking, innovation and visual literacy to help children reach their creative potential.

Art Center College of Design’s Public Programs offer a wide range of art and design courses for individuals at every stage of their educational, professional or personal development. By providing non-degree students access to exceptional instruction and facilities, the College’s Public Programs promote critical thinking and problem solving, and teach effective techniques for fostering intellectual, societal and professional development.

For Deezmaker’s Diego Porqueras, the Path to 3D Printing Began With a Film Course

Diego Porqueras, along with Bukobot-printed 3D objects, at his Deezmaker store in Pasadena.

Diego Porqueras, along with Bukobot-printed 3D objects, at his Deezmaker store in Pasadena.

These days 3D printing is everywhere. Creatives are using this emerging technology to make everything from fashion gowns to gummy replicas of themselves. Even the President mentioned it in his most recent State of the Union address.

One man who’s made quite a name for himself in this burgeoning arena is Diego Porqueras, inventor of the BukoBot 3D printer and the president and founder of Deezmaker, a 3D printer store and hackerspace in Pasadena. Surprisingly enough, the path that led Porqueras into this brave new world began with an Art Center at Night (ACN) film course he took 13 years ago.

“I took Basics of Film with Robert Mehnert and that ended up being a big turning point in my career,” says Porqueras, who said he already had some experience making movies prior to the class but that the course provided him with a better grasp of the basics.

But that wasn’t the turning point. That happened when an ACN classmate who was working as a production assistant told the class he was leaving the country for two weeks and asked if anybody would be interested in taking his place on a few productions. “I was the first guy to raise my hand for that,” says Porqueras with a laugh.

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“Uncool: The Anti-Gun Violence Project” Engages Children Through Creative Workshops

Designmatters’ pilot program with Pasadena Public Library offers a fresh approach to promoting dialogue and prevention

Art Center College of Design, through a partnership with the City of Pasadena Public Library, has taken its innovative gun violence education and prevention initiative into local neighborhoods. Uncool: The Anti-Gun Violence Project, supported by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, provides vital new resources for educators and prevention advocates in the form of original illustrated children’s books for six- and seven-year-old readers.

At the Pasadena Public Library, teacher LaShawn Moore reads to children from the book “Mark and the Jellybean Monster” by Art Center alumna Ariel Lee. Photo by Sylvia Sukop.

Throughout the month of April, the Pasadena Public Library has offered a series of free public programs for children and their families — hands-on creative workshops inspired by the “Uncool” children’s books — led by an Art Center faculty member and other educators, including some of the designers and storytellers who created the books. Curated by Helen Cahng for Designmatters at Art Center, the local series is a pilot program with potential for expansion in other communities.

The final workshop in the Pasadena Public Library series takes place Tues., April 30, 3:30–5:30 p.m. at the La Pintoresca Branch Library, 1355 North Raymond Ave. in Pasadena.

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Art Center Faculty and Alum Dive in to The Aquarium of the Pacific Series on Art, Science and Environment

The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif. will feature presentations by Art Center faculty members and an alumnus as part of its upcoming Aquatic Academy. Integrating art and science in order to enhance environmental communication, the Aquatic Academy offers a series of evening classes that foster dialogue on issues related to the ocean and environment.

Professor and Director of Sustainability Initiatives Heidrun Mumper-Drumm will be speaking on Thursday, April 25 from 7 to 9:30 p.m., while Vice President of Designmatters Mariana Amatullo and Alumnus Dan Goods, visual strategist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will speak on Thursday, May 9 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. The series of four evening classes will explore how art, design and science can intersect to create and deliver powerful environmental messages.

Long Beach Aquarium

Art Center faculty will be speaking at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.

Jerry Schubel, president and CEO of The Aquarium of the Pacific, says Goods, Mumper-Drumm and Amatullo bring an ideal combined expertise in the areas of engineering, design, visual communications and sustainability.

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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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