Summer 2013 Orientation Week Welcomes New Students

This week, Art Center officially welcomes the Summer 2013 incoming class with a week of orientation activities organized by the College’s Center for the Student Experience.

Art Center students sketch in Justine Parish’s Costume Design course.

“An effective orientation program for new college students is a critical component of student success,” says Dean of Students Jeffrey Hoffman. “When students feel connected, understand college culture and expectations, and get off to a good start in their classes, they are more likely to get the most out of their learning experience, to graduate, and thus realize their professional goals.”

Here’s the lineup of what’s to come to help new students maximize their education—both in and out of the classroom.

Tuesday, May 7

8:30–9 a.m.: New student orientation check in.

9–9:30 a.m.: Dean of Students Jeffrey Hoffman and Kit Baron, Senior Vice President, Admissions welcome new students.

9:45 a.m.–noon: Tour the campus and have lunch with peer mentors (12–1:30 p.m.).

1:30–3 p.m. or 3:30–5 p.m.: Undergraduate students have the option of taking digital waiver tests.

2–5:30 p.m.: Graduate student orientation and course selections.

Wednesday, May 8

8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: International student orientation. Assistant Director for International Student Advising and Programming Jeonghan Ryu and Coordinator for Intercultural and Diversity Programming Milyn Villareal welcome new international students.

10:15–11:45 a.m.: Financial literacy seminar for domestic students receiving state and federal aid with Financial Aid Associate Director Allison Lee.

12:45–4:35 p.m.: A round of sessions for all students to learn about campus sustainability, health insurance, the library, alumni relations and more.

Thursday, May 9

9:30–10:15 a.m.: Information on campus technology and equipment insurance, followed by tips on managing class schedules and academic progress.

10:15–11 a.m.: A lesson on the infamous Art Center critique, the culture of critique, researching as a resource for inspiration, and interpreting objects and images.

11 a.m.–4:15 p.m.: Students tour the James Lemont Fogg Memorial Library, take care of administrative business (ID cards, parking information, course logins) and partake in special peer mentor activity. Bring new student information form and vehicle registration.

Friday, May 10

8 a.m.–noon: Parents, spouses, partners and other family members are invited to an informal breakfast followed by campus tours and orientation.

11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.: Students lunch with their department chairs, followed by a departmental orientation.

Reminder: Classes officially begin Saturday, May 11.

Welcome to Art Center College of Design, and we wish everyone a happy start to the term!

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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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The Librarians Have Landed! And They’re Coming to Art Center

Pasadena plays host to the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) 41^st annual meeting April 25–29, 2013, with speakers and attendees from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Europe and beyond. The conference takes place at the Pasadena Convention Center, with additional programs and activities scheduled at Art Center College of Design.

Art Center’s Betsy Galloway hosts a meeting of fellow library directors from Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) schools. Archetype Press’s Gloria Kondrup conducts a hands-on workshop in letterpress broadside printing. And Art Center Product and Entertainment Design instructor Justine Limpus Parish leads a tour of the Los Angeles Fashion District.

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Art Center Receives NEH Grant to Preserve Industrial Design History

From computers to sports cars to space capsules, America’s infatuation with invention has fueled industrial design. Now a prestigious grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is invigorating Art Center’s efforts to preserve the College’s rich history of industrial design images and materials.

Students working on an architectural model of a future Art Center campus in a project taught by Kem Weber. Gift of Irene Vermeers (PHOT 1937). Photography by Irene Vermeers.

According to College Archivist Robert Dirig, the grant will support a pilot project to digitize, preserve and make accessible a portion of Art Center’s collection of photographs, film and print materials documenting American industrial design education over an 80-year period.

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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.

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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Dieter Rams Urges Graduates Toward a Responsible Design Ethos

Dieter Rams receives an honorary doctorate of arts from Art Center President Lorne M. Buchman. He concluded his speech by invoking Gandhi’s admonition, “We must be the change we want to see in the world.”

“Tomorrow’s world will be designed by the design students of today — by you — and while this is a great opportunity, this is also a great challenge and a great responsibility,” Dieter Rams told graduating Art Center students during the 2013 Spring Graduation Ceremony on Sat., April 20.

Accepting an honorary doctorate of arts from Art Center, the legendary designer was introduced by Product Design Chair Karen Hofmann and delivered his speech in German, translated live by an English-language interpreter. Rams thoughtfully reflected on his past, sharing lessons gleaned over a long and influential career as a product designer and university professor, while voicing concerns about the future and stressing designers’ changing responsibility in a changing world.

“Today’s main challenges are the protection of the natural environment and overcoming mindless consumption,” he said, urging students toward “a design ethos that goes way beyond complacency and arbitrariness.”

He presented five essential dimensions of design, along with his “formula for sustainable production”: Less but better! Much, much less, and much, much better. He asserted that “Design is primarily an intellectual process. It’s a procedure and an approach to create innovation and new meaning.”

Following are highlights of Rams’ speech:

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Student Shares Product Design Internship Lessons

Sometimes, the lessons learned in the field are the ones that stick the most. Geoff Ledford, a graduating Art Center student in Product Design, recently wrote an article for Fast Company detailing his experiences interning at Soulcake Creative in San Clemente, California.

“As a designer, I draw and work in 3D – communication via pictures and sketches,” said Ledford. “But prior to deciding to become a designer, I was a writer. My thought was that if I shared some of these lessons, they might help someone else.”

Geoff Ledford talks about his design internship experiences in a recent Fast Company article.

His lessons boil down to four points:

Kill your ego. “A tinge of hubris can quickly contaminate an otherwise good relationship,” said Ledford. “And with so many capable design consultancies all ready to do the same job, it’s important to stay humble.”
Bring passion to your presentation. While working at Soulcake, one of the partners at the studio explained, “A good presentation shouldn’t just give me information–it should evoke emotion.” Ledford realized that his work could not solely rely on analytical justification, but rather worked best when it incorporated emotional elements.
Find your own voice. No matter what kind of work, this advice is crucial to anything creative. Ledford makes his case with jazz musician Freddie Hubbard who had to find a voice that was his own instead of being an imitation of Miles Davis. Likewise, when Ledford said he tried creating work he thought his boss would want, “the result was a bunch of concepts that lacked my voice and, consequently, weren’t authentic.”
Work will always be there.Wanting to make a good impression, one day Ledford opted to go in the office early to work rather than surf with one of the owners. Instead of pushing Ledford into the office, the owner responded that he thought Ledford should surf: “There is always work and the waves aren’t always this good.” Like any creative endeavor, exploring opportunities outside of design (like surfing) gives fresh perspective.

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Faculty Research on a World Famous Font

Master Typographer Paul Soady Writes New Book on Eric Gill

William Humble Ward, 2^nd Earl of Dudley, was not a remarkable man. But his name will be remembered forever – at least among type designers and font enthusiasts – because his gravestone was cut by English craftsman and master stone mason Eric Gill (1882-1940), a talented artist and deeply complicated figure. The inscriptional font Gill used for Ward’s headstone became the basis for Monotype’s Perpetua, one of the world’s most widely used book fonts, and is now the subject of a new book.

The book cover is a deeply engraved cardboard replica of the William Humble Ward gravestone.

In the early 1970s, Paul Soady, then a type director at Ogilvy Benson & Mather, bought a “gravestone rough” by Gill in a London book shop. Now an art director, designer and associate adjunct professor at Art Center College of Design, Soady, along with his co-writer Simon Varey, Ph.D., offer a new take with original research devoted mostly to Perpetua. Simon has sadly passed away since they completed the text of the book.

With countless digital fonts available to the current student, Soady feels strongly that a true understanding of the history and significance of artists like Gill is vital to a complete design education. After all, these are people who conceived of and cut by hand some of the most ubiquitous fonts we see today. Through a Samsung Faculty Enrichment Grant, Soady was able to travel to England, pursue his research, and do some gravestone rubbings of his own.

Two Men, One Type Face was a true labor of love for the authors, Soady says, “and from what I can find, the only book written about a single item of Gill’s work.” A limited edition of 250 handmade books is being printed by Traction Press. “Including the halftones,” Soady adds. “Very tricky!”

True to the inspiration for this particular work, the book cover is a deeply engraved cardboard replica of the now-famous William Humble Ward gravestone, so lucky owners may do rubbings all their own. Art Center’s James Lemont Fogg Memorial Library will sponsor a book signing and a copy will be donated to the rare books archive. Collectors can purchase copies from the artist.

The Samsung Faculty Enrichment Fund is an endowed fund that serves as Art Center’s primary faculty enrichment opportunity. Money is made available each year in grants of up to $5,000, awarded according to the merit and relevance of applicant proposals. Application forms are posted on the Faculty Council page on inside.artcenter.edu during the spring term, and proposals are judged by an impartial panel of art, design and humanities professionals who work outside of the Art Center community.

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Spring 2013 Graduation Events

Campus is buzzing as it kicks off its Spring Term 2013 graduation week! Here’s what’s in store as the College prepares to launch the next wave of creative talent in to the professional world.

Thursday, April 18

Industry leaders and professionals, employers, corporate partners, donors and alumni will get the first look at the Spring Term’s graduating artists and designers at this year’s invitation-only Graduation Show Preview. The show will feature student accomplishments from major fields of study at Art Center, including Advertising, Entertainment Design, Environmental Design, Film, Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography and Imaging, Product Design, Transportation Design, Graduate Industrial Design and Graduate Media Design Practices.

Graduation Show Preview at Hillside Campus is held from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. and transitions into a private reception hosted by Alumni Relations immediately following. Simultaneously, from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m., Graduate Media Design Practices hosts the MDP/Lab Thesis Exhibition at South Campus where the world famous Kogi BBQ Truck will be parked to feed attendees.

Saturday, April 20

Join us in the Sculpture Garden at Hillside Campus from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. as we celebrate the newest graduating class during our graduation ceremony. Legendary designer Dieter Rams will receive an honorary doctorate degree and deliver the commencement address. We will also hear from valedictorian and Illustration student Agnes Hyun-Jeong Lee and present the Art Center Student Leadership Award to Product Design student Vladimir Almonnord.

After the ceremony, Graduation Show opens to the public from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. so everyone can enjoy the work of the newest Art Center graduates. In addition to Hillside Campus activities, Graduate Art and Graduate Media Design Practices hosts Graduation Show at South Campus from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m.

The parking lot at Hillside Campus will fill up, so anyone attending Graduation Show on Saturday will be able to take complimentary shuttles to and from the Rose Bowl, Lot K beginning at 6:00 p.m. Self-parking will be available at South Campus throughout the evening.

Congratulations to our Spring Term 2013 graduates!

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With Volunteers’ Help, Late-Night Breakfast Serves 400

For Art Center students, it’s the most anticipated meal of the term

Like holiday crowds at a big box store, students begin lining up well before the doors open. What’s the big attraction? Art Center’s Late-Night Breakfast, a longtime tradition sponsored by the Center for Student Experience (CSE), that treats students to a free breakfast buffet in the feverish final weeks of the school term. The student dining room is currently open 24 hours a day (even when food is not being served) and usually packed at this hour. The hard part, says Cafeteria Manager Ben Herrera, is clearing everyone out to set up for the event.

Provost Fred Fehlau joins fellow volunteers in serving students Late-Night Breakfast on Wed., April 10, 2013. All photos by Sylvia Sukop.

On this Wednesday night, Herrera joins nearly a dozen staff and executive team members—along with one student—volunteering their time in a show of support for students in the throes of finals. Donning black aprons and transparent latex gloves shortly before 10 p.m., the volunteers take their places behind eight stainless steel serving trays and two giant bowls of fruit salad spread out on a long table.

“What are you serving?” asks Betsy Edmunds, Associate Director of CSE’s Student Development Programs, as she walks the line greeting her team. They respond with a brightness usually reserved for daylight hours. Pancakes! Hash browns! Sausage patties! Scrambled eggs with cheese!

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ArtCenter News

ArtCenter College of Design

Summer 2013 Orientation Week Welcomes New Students

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

The Librarians Have Landed! And They’re Coming to Art Center

Art Center Receives NEH Grant to Preserve Industrial Design History

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

Dieter Rams Urges Graduates Toward a Responsible Design Ethos

Student Shares Product Design Internship Lessons

Faculty Research on a World Famous Font

Spring 2013 Graduation Events

With Volunteers’ Help, Late-Night Breakfast Serves 400