Antoinette Adams is the first to admit she’s not your typical art student. Just before her 50^th birthday, she made a life-changing decision to go back to school as soon as her youngest child was old enough to drive. The bold choice to enroll at ArtCenter seemed an impossible dream after a long career as an attorney.

With trepidation based on the 20-year plus age gap between her and fellow Fine Art majors, she persevered and happily established lasting bonds with a close-knit family of artists.

Forever moved by the thrill of stepping onto campus and the encouraging, yet brutally honest, community of artists she’s now firmly a part of, Adams is giving back to the college that changed her life forever. She recently donated $50,000 to fund scholarships and Study Away travel expenses for an annual art sojourn to Berlin, Germany.

“We’re grateful to Antoinette for this generous gift to help our talented current students cover their educational expenses as well as provide vital support to recent alumni with the launch of their careers as working artists,” said Tom Knechtel, chair of the undergraduate Fine Art department at ArtCenter College of Design.

The gift from Adams, who graduated with her degree in Fine Art in 2015, is set to fund two new programs that will benefit enrolled students and recent alumni of the Fine Art department. Adams is a resident of downtown Los Angeles and also has a home in Berlin.

Kicking off this fall (2017), the Antoinette Adams Alumni Award will provide a recipient with studio space in ArtCenter’s 35,000 square foot building at 870 South Raymond Avenue, a thriving collaborative nucleus for the visual arts. The alumnus, to be selected by faculty, will receive a $2,000 stipend for two 14-week terms. Additionally, the chosen individual, who will have been out of college for at least two years and no longer than 10, will curate an exhibition of student work, help seniors prepare solo shows and present a talk about their own work.

“We anticipate that when alumni with life experience come to work in our studios alongside current students, they’ll engage in useful conversations about life after ArtCenter,” said Knechtel.

The gift is also set to provide travel stipends to make a Berlin trip possible for several students and alumni through the College’s robust Study Away program. During the excursion, students and alumni will have the opportunity to experience the depth and excitement of the museums, galleries and cultural life of Berlin. Covering expenses such as airfare and museum passes will be a tremendous relief for ten artists in the Fine Arts community. Adams plans to host both “welcome” and “farewell” dinners for the group at her home in Berlin.

The Spring 2017 issue of Dot magazine is now available. You can find copies at various locations around campus including the Library, CSE, the DCO, the Faculty Lounge, the President’s office and the Provost’s office. Magazines are also available at the security desk of each building. Dot magazine is published by ArtCenter’s Department of Marketing and Communications. Stories are published online throughout the year, and a print edition comes out twice a year. 

ArtCenter is a community of bold imagination and innovative spirit, and the creative contributions of our alumni faculty and students inspire pride and energize our growth. As the College’s flagship publication, Dot magazine explores and celebrates their far-reaching influence within professional disciplines and on culture and society as a whole. The magazine’s wide readership includes alumni and donors; corporate and foundation supporters; industry, educational and cultural partner; and local officials.

What follows is President Lorne Buchman’s introduction to this issue.

“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” That bit of dialogue from Casablanca, spoken by Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine to Claude Rains’ Captain Renault, is perhaps the most famous final line in cinematic history.

As you peruse this issue, you’ll encounter similarly recognizable works by ArtCenter alumni that have become part of our national, if not international, cultural fabric—from the silhouetted surfers of John Van Hamersveld’s Endless Summer poster, to the brightly hued world Kendal Cronkhite created for last year’s animated Trolls, to Ignacio Gomez’s striking poster for Zoot Suit, featuring El Pachuco looming large over Los Angeles.

Looking through this issue you’ll also discover work by several alums that have recently reached out to us. For example, the mesmerizing photomontage featured on the cover was sent to us by Wing Chan via Untold Stories, our website where all our alumni friends can share, in their own words, their stories and latest projects.

Additionally, much of the work highlighted in the 4 x 4 gallery—from Ranee Henderson’s highly textured painted portraits to Nora Shields’ mind-bending, site-specific sculptures—first appeared on our website’s Alumni Now page, a digital destination featuring timely updates from our graduates.

We couldn’t be happier with all the stories you’ve been sending our way, and it’s truly an honor to share them with both our community and to a wider audience.

Another collaborative project we’re proud to share with you in this issue is Create Change 2.0, ArtCenter’s strategic plan for the next five years. The plan was unanimously and enthusiastically approved by the Board of Trustees this past October and officially adopted earlier this year.

A natural extension of Create Change 1.0, the new plan focuses on how the College creates value for its students while realizing its mission. The plan was a major undertaking—assembling thoughtful input from multiple voices across ArtCenter over a period of 18 months—but the results are compelling and promise to have positive ramifications well into the future.

So sit back, enjoy this issue, and keep those submissions coming! Because, as Rick Blaine might put it, without your stories this crazy world wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans.