Tag Archives: Saturday High

Day in the Life: A Saturday High Alum Shoots for Nike

Angela Choi, as photographed by Olivia Crawford for Nike Sportswear.

With most of us walking around with YouTube, Facebook and Twitter on our phones, it’s no wonder why it has become increasingly difficult to be aware of our own surroundings.

But don’t tell that to Saturday High alumna Olivia Crawford. The Pasadena native recently graduated from Polytechnic School and is now studying art and art history at the University of California, Berkeley. Crawford’s passion for capturing the people and events in her life through photography not only made her a standout in her Saturday High courses, but it also landed her a very cool gig during her last winter break.

An ad agency discovered her work on Flickr and asked her if she’d like to be involved with Nike Sportswear’s “Look of Sport” campaign. The job involved shooting photographs of athletic and stylish individuals from Los Angeles, photographed in a style remaining true to her own aesthetic.

Crawford agreed, and the campaign appeared online last month.

“Olivia is a disciplined, focused and intelligent kid,” says Saturday High instructor David Sotelo, who along with co-instructor Evah Hart, taught Crawford twice in Photography 2. Sotelo recalls Crawford being particularly inspired by Nan Goldin and Larry Clark, two artists whose work he and Hart regularly feature in their class. “The work Olivia did for Nike—that aesthetic evolved out of the inspiration she got from those photographers, artists who were using their everyday life as a diary.”

We recently caught up with Crawford to learn more about her experiences in Saturday High and her work with Nike.

Dotted Line: Which Saturday High classes did you take?
Olivia Crawford: I took an oil painting course my sophomore year of high school. We painted from models and that class really helped me with my later photography courses, Photography 1 with David Sotelo and Photography 2 with David and Evah Hart, which I took twice.

Dotted Line: What did you learn in those classes?
Crawford: Both emphasized making your own projects and learning to be sensitive to your environment. We came up with projects based on what we were seeing in our own photography and what we were reacting to in our environment.
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Alumnus Creating New Work for Metro Station


Fine Art alumnus and Art Center at Night/Saturday High faculty member Ronald J. Llanos has been hard at work the past three years creating Ephemeral Views: A Visual Essay, for Metro’s Expo/Western Station constructed at Western Avenue in Los Angeles. He is creating 24 mosaic panels (each 8’ x 3’) that comprise the work under construction.

The Source brings us an update on the progress. From the article: “Ronald’s watercolor paintings have a fresh, spontaneous quality to them. The task of translating his translucent washes of color into a hard, permanent material was a challenge. Artisans at Mosaika Art & Design traced Ronald’s designs onto ceramic tile and added thin layers of glaze to preserve the feel of the artist’s hand in the work. Next the work was fired, cut into small pieces and placed within the panels.”

Read more, and also check out Llanos’ blog for details from the beautiful mosaic.

A Rising (Sixth Magnitude) Star

Open issue 49 of CMYK Magazine (due on newsstands this month) and you’ll find the work of recent John Marshall High School graduate and Saturday High student Richard Kam.

A logo and poster Richard created for the nonprofit The World at Night was selected for inclusion in the magazine by Connie Hwang of San Francisco’s Connie Hwang Design. The logo and poster were part of a rebranding assignment in Zohrab “Z” Gevorkian’s Graphic Design Saturday High course last spring. Gevorkian was so impressed by Richard’s work that he encouraged him to submit his work to CMYK, a magazine that features work by emerging college art students.

The World at Night, poster by Kam

“I felt Richard’s work was at a place that was deserving to be competitive,” explains Gevorkian. “Yes, he was a high school student, but it is a college course. He was hesitant at first, but Richard ended up submitting his work, and he was selected. He really broke the mold.”

We recently caught up with Kam to chat about the honor.

Dotted Line: Tell us a little about the work that CMYK selected.
Richard Kam: They’re printing a logo and a poster I designed for The World a Night (TWAN), an offshoot of Astronomers Without Borders. TWAN is a photography group whose slogan is “One people, one sky,” and its members, who come from all around the world, upload and share beautiful nighttime and space photography. They also organize an annual exhibition. Their basic philosophy is that regardless of which country you’re from, the night sky is for all of us to share.

Dotted Line: Why did you choose TWAN?
Kam: I really like astronomy and space exploration. It’s a whole new frontier and it’s so vast. And I really like what TWAN is doing, so I wanted to bring some new light to them.

Dotted Line: Is TWAN aware of your redesign?
Kam: A few weeks before CMYK contacted me, I gathered together all my files, and I wrote TWAN a really long email. I started with, “If you’re really busy right now, please don’t read this. Open it at a later time. And please forward this to somebody who’s in a position to read this.” The rest of the letter was the creative brief I wrote for the project in class. I ended by asking them to just look at a fan’s work and see what they think.

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Saturday High Fashion Show Tomorrow

Photo © Steven A. Heller / Art Center College of Design

Flashbulbs pop and the audience applauds wildly as models gracefully sashay down the catwalk.

The featured fashions push the boundaries of creativity, ranging from elegant, traditional ensembles to futuristic cocktail gowns.

Are we on the runways of Milan? Actually, we’re at Art Center’s South Campus, and the designers are … high school kids.

The much-loved annual Saturday High Fashion Show will be tomorrow, December 11, at Art Center’s South Campus, featuring the work of Saturday High students. Two shows will be held, at 6 and 8 p.m.

This annual show features more than 40 pieces, designed by more than 25 Saturday High students and worn by dozens of models. A “behind the scenes/making of the show” video montage and celebratory post-party with live music will follow.

“We are thrilled to present the fifth installment of this remarkable fashion show,” says Director of K-12 Programs Paula Goodman.

Photo © Steven A. Heller / Art Center College of Design

“Our fashion show is a wonderful way to showcase our students’ hard work and recently acquired skills.”

All fashions are created in Saturday High classes and along with the show are a sort of “final project” for students.

Saturday High participants, teens in grades 9 through 12, spend their Saturdays learning how to design, conceptualize and ultimately create their final piece, learning theory and some sewing skills along the way.

Many of the students envision a future for themselves in the fashion industry.

Tickets to the fashion show are $10.  For more information, email saturdayhigh@artcenter.edu.

Fifth Annual Saturday High Fashion Show
Saturday, December 11, 6 and 8 p.m.
South Campus
Tickets are $10

Public Programs: The Gift That Lasts a Lifetime

It’s that time of year where many of us agonize over finding those perfect, unique gifts for our loved ones. Don’t fret—we’ve got the perfect idea for you.

Photo © Steven A. Heller / Art Center College of Design

Did you know that you can buy them a gift certificate for Art Center at Night, Saturday High or Art Center for Kids?

Perfect for those interested in exploring a creative passion, learning a new skill, or taking their current practice to the next level, a gift certificate for one of Art Center’s Public Programs courses will teach skills that will last your loved one a lifetime.

  • Art Center at Night is for adults of all levels and experience interested in acquiring new skills, developing portfolios, personal enrichment and more.
  • Saturday High offers a variety of engaging courses that explore art and design as well as career opportunities for teens in grades 9 through 12.
  • Art Center for Kids features unique art and design courses for children in grades 4 through 8 that foster new ways of thinking, seeing and doing.

To purchase a gift certificate, stop by the Art Center’s Public Programs office, located at Art Center’s South Campus, before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, December 21.  Registration for Art Center at Night’s Spring Term is now open. Saturday High registration opens Jan. 4, and Art Center for Kids begins Jan. 24.

Saturday High Participates in Humanitas Arts Festival

Art Center’s Saturday High program is collaborating with the Los Angeles Education Partnership’s Humanitas program in support of a student arts festival this Friday, April 16, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown L.A.

The Humanitas Arts Festival, developed in conjunction with the Los Angeles Opera’s Ring Festival LA, brings 270 students from nine Los Angeles schools into direct collaboration with local artists. The students created work engaging in an interdisciplinary, arts-integrated exploration of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, including contemporary responses to Wagner’s work in mediums ranging from film to fashion to fine art.

Saturday High instructors worked with fashion students at Downtown Magnets High School and photography students at Fremont High School for the event. Fashion students responded to Wagner’s classic opera by designing, and with the help of a seamstress, sewing outfits reflecting themes from the classic opera. Other students documented their lives by taking photographs reflecting personal struggles with friendship, love, betrayal and identity. These creative pieces, well as work from more than 200 other students, will be exhibited April 16. The event is free and open to the public, with a  suggested donation of $5.

Humanitas Arts Festival
Friday, April 16, 6-9 pm
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
213.622.5237

Teen Designers Showcase Their Designs

Art Center’s Saturday High fashion design class was recently featured in two local newspapers.

Pasadena Weekly writes: “Deep in the belly of the Art Center College of Design’s South Campus Building in downtown Pasadena, flashbulbs popped, lights blazed and music thumped. There was even a deejay, complete with fashionably aloof demeanor and single-ear headphones. Models worked their way down the walkway, stomping in insanely high heels and yards of glittering fabric, pausing at the end of the ramp to vamp and peer out fiercely from under large tousled hairdos.

It was hip, it was professional, it was a showcase for … high school kids?”

Read more about this innovative and fun Saturday High class:

High-fashion high school

Teen’s designs showcased

For more information on the Art Center’s Saturday High Program, visit artcenter.edu/sat.