Category Archives: Williamson Gallery

ENERGY Extended Through Jan. 23

Due to popular demand, ENERGY has extended its run. It will remain on display at the Williamson Gallery through Jan. 23.

ENERGY investigates how natural forces shape not only material things, but affect our emotions and intellect.

Don’t miss the closing reception later this week, Thursday, Jan. 13 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Check out an ENERGY installation by artist (and Grad Art alumna) Rebeca Méndez in the video below:

If you haven’t already seen the exhibit, stop by the Williamson Gallery and check it out. The gallery is open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. and Fridays noon to 9 p.m.

Read what others are saying about ENERGY:

Art Center Media Minute

Some recent media coverage featuring Art Center, our faculty, students and alumni:

In Case You Missed It

Bruce Heavin and Lynda Weinman

As you know, there’s always something going on when it comes to Art Center alumni, students and faculty. Some of the latest:

  • Did you know that Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin of Lynda.com met at Art Center?  Socaltech.com
  • Professor Krystina Castella’s yummy new cookbook focuses on cake. Winnipeg Free PressPasadena Star-News visits ENERGY in the Williamson Gallery. Pasadena Star-News
  • Student Tomoko Ogino’s concept for Peet’s Coffee. The Dieline
  • Interview with alum Anders Warming, director of exterior design at BMW.  BMW Blog
  • A review of alum Christopher Russell’s show at Luis de Jesus (runs through November 27). Culture Monster

ENERGY: From Natural Forces to Human Emotion

The L.A. Times Culture Monster blog has a nice story today on the ENERGY exhibit at Williamson Gallery.

From the article: “Although ‘beautiful’ and ‘mesmerizing’ are words not often used to describe energy, this exhibition reveals the beauty within various energy sources while exploring the contentious nexus of science and art.”

ENERGY investigates how natural forces shape not only material things, but affect our emotions and intellect.

As part of the Williamson Gallery’s mission, students in Art Center’s Design for Sustainability 2 class will use a section of the gallery as their studio, studying and displaying their exploration of the question, “Where do energy and design intersect?

If you haven’t already seen the exhibit, stop by the Williamson Gallery and check it out. The gallery is open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. and Fridays noon to 9 p.m.

ENERGY Opening Friday

This Friday, October 8, ENERGY, a new exhibition at the College’s Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, will open as part of the annual ArtNight Pasadena. The exhibit’s opening reception will be from 6 to 10 p.m.

ENERGY investigates how natural forces shape not only material things, but affect our emotions and intellect.

As part of the Williamson Gallery’s mission, students in Art Center’s Design for Sustainability 2 class will use a section of the gallery as their studio, studying and displaying their exploration of the question, “Where do energy and design intersect?”

ArtNight Pasadena kicks off Pasadena ArtWeekend, a three-day, citywide arts festival.

At The Intersection of Design and Science

Williamson Gallery Director Stephen Nowlin discusses the interconnection between art, science, design and technology in a recent Pasadena Star-News article profiling Nowlin and the two current shows in the gallery, The Future of Objects and The Curious World of Patent Models.

From the article: “Nowlin sees the exhibit as a perfect fit for the gallery because Art Center students are learning product design and ‘every object that is made is conceived within the technology of its era.’ The Curious World of Patent Models shows how people were thinking at the time, but to make it more relevant, he looked to David Cawley, director of Rapid Prototyping and Model Shops at the school. The two came up with The Future of Objects, an exhibit focused on 3D printing.”

Read more: Old and new in science and design on display in Pasadena

Traffic Lights and Patent Drawings

Did you know that the traffic signal was invented in 1912 as a two-color, red-and-green light designed by a Detroit policeman? Yeah, neither did we.

Check out this fun and informative article at Design Observer on the history of the device, and check out the signal patent drawing as well—something we’re sure Williamson Gallery Director Stephen Nowlin will appreciate in conjunction with the gallery’s current shows, The Future of Objects and The Curious World of Patent Models.

Read more: Red Light, Green Light : The Invention of the Traffic Signal, and check out photos of the Williamson exhibit on the gallery’s Facebook page.

Exploring the Past and Future of Objects at the Williamson

Art Center’s Williamson Gallery is continuing its series of explorations into the intersecting domains of art, science, technology and design with side-by-side exhibitions exploring the interplay between the technologies used to fabricate objects and the thought-processes used to conceive them. The Curious World of Patent Models and The Future of Objects open Thursday, June 3, will be on display through August 15.

The relationship between technology and its influence over the process of conceptualizing objects, inventions and innovations is referenced overtly in The Curious World of Patent Models, an exhibit of more than 50 scale models representing ideas submitted for United States Patent protection between 1800 and 1880. A concurrent exhibit, The Future of Objects, displays new digital-age fabrication and prototyping techniques in which complex forms are created by 3D printers. As the exhibit reveals, technologies related to those used daily in households and offices to print 2D information on flat pieces of paper are now being used to create freestanding 3D objects using a variety of solid materials.

“As we celebrate Art Center’s 80th anniversary, it’s fitting to showcase advanced computer modeling and 3D printing techniques that will very soon become such a big part of the planet’s visual culture,” says Gallery Director Stephen Nowlin. “Exhibiting 19th-century fabrication alongside 21st-century technology opens an entirely new conversation about what is coming in the future, and where it came from.”

The Curious World of Patent Models and The Future of Objects On Exhibit
Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery
Hillside Campus
June 4—August 15
Opening Reception: June 3, 7- 9 pm

Williamson Gallery Gets Press, Readies for New Show

DeMarinis exhibit at the Williamson in 2001. Photo by Steven A. Heller.

The Williamson Gallery’s 2001 solo exhibition of media-art pioneer Paul DeMarinis— Resonant Messages: Media Installations by Paul DeMarinis—is included in the new book Interactive Art, written by Ryszard W. Kluszczynski and published in Poland. The book features artists and writers who have played a prominent role in the development of media and interactive art from the late 20th century to the present.

In addition to DeMarinis, many of those featured in the book have been included in Williamson Gallery solo or group exhibitions as part of its 15-year series bringing together the domains of art, science and technology. Artists in the book include Natalie Bookchin, Ken Goldberg, Lynn Hershman-Leeson, Erkki Huhtamo, Eduardo Kac, George Legrady, Bernie Lubell, Laurent Mignonneau, Christian Moeller, Simon Penny, Bill Seaman, Christa Sommerer, Victoria Vesna and Stephen Wilson.

In other Williamson news, they are hard at work readying the gallery for the next show, The Curious World of Patent Models and The Future of Objects, opening June 3. The show continues the exploration into the intersecting domains of art, science, technology and design with side-by-side exhibitions that look at the interplay between the technologies used to fabricate objects and the thought-processes used to conceive them. We’ll blog more on the show soon.

DreamWorlds Opens Tonight

Don’t miss tonight’s opening of DreamWorlds in the Williamson Gallery. The exhibit, a behind-the-scenes look at the artistry and imagination of animated filmmaking at DreamWorks Animation, opens tonight with a multimedia presentation, panel discussion and reception. The presentation and panel will be held at Ahmanson Auditorium at 7 pm, followed by a reception in the Williamson Gallery at 8 pm.

Drawing from popular DreamWorks Animation films such as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, Monsters vs. Aliens, Bee Movie, Prince of Egypt and the soon-to-be-released How To Train Your Dragon (scheduled for theatrical release March 26), the more than 300 objects in the exhibition include original and digital designs and paintings, movie posters, character maquettes, miniature sets, an artist’s workstation re-creation and other creative stages of the complex filmmaking process.

Film Department Chair Ross LaManna will moderate tonight’s panel discussion, which will revolve around the connection between art, illustration, story and animation. Panelists include:

  • Gail Currey: PDI/DreamWorks Animation Studio Head
  • Kathy Altieri: Art Center Illustration alumna; DreamWorks Animation production designer for How to Train Your Dragon; first artist hired by DreamWorks
  • Kendal Cronkhite: Art Center Illustration alumna; DreamWorks Animation production designer whose credits include the Madagascar films
  • Sam Michlap: Former guest instructor at Art Center; DreamWorks Animation production designer and visual development artist; co-curator of DreamWorlds

DreamWorlds runs through May 9. The Williamson Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12 noon to 5 p.m. with extended hours on Friday evenings to 9 p.m.

(Image is from the Williamson Gallery’s Facebook page)