Campus News |
ART CENTER NEWSWIRE - July 31, 2000
PASADENA, CA, USA | To keep abreast of the exciting and innovative ideas, people and projects at Art Center College of Design, the media and general public can subscribe to Art Center's news digest by sending a blank email to: newswire-on@lists.artcenter.edu. We highlight some of the newsmakers in our Art Center community on the first and third Monday every month. To report news or obtain more information, contact Jan Kingaard, tel. (626) 396-2394, fax (626) 683-9233.
BREAKING NEWS
Los Angeles Times
The trustees of Art Center College of Design on Friday rejected an offer to relocate their school to downtown Los Angeles and instead will expand their operations in Pasadena. Art Center's decision is a setback for Los Angeles civic leaders who have wooed the school for nearly a year as part of an effort to revive the city's downtown. Los Angeles' final offer included three Bunker Hill sites owned by the Community Redevelopment Agency. "Art Center is what you'd call one of your Tiffany-type of institutions," said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. "It's very unique and has an outstanding reputation in the design community. This is a feather in Pasadena's cap."
Pasadena Star NewsArt Center College of Design officials ended months of speculation Friday when trustees voted unanimously to stay in Pasadena and expand its hilltop site overlooking the Rose Bowl and build a satellite campus in the city's downtown. "Both Los Angeles and Pasadena made enticing offers and have exciting futures in which Art Center could play a major role," Knapp said after the board's two-day meeting. Art Center President Richard Koshalek, a Pasadena resident, said the decision to stay in town reflected the importance college officials place on the relationship between the design school and CalTech, Occidental College, Pasadena City College and local museums, galleries and innovative businesses. The new campus buildings will be designed by world-renowned architect Frank O. Gehry.
GREAT MINDS
The DigitalDesigners@Work hosted Abbe Don, president of Abbe Don Interactive, Inc. She is an interface designer and interactive multimedia artist, specializing in digital storytelling, information architecture, and virtual community projects. Abbe's talk was on "Stories About Interactive Storytelling: From Handmade Books to HTML and Beyond."
Instructor Michael Heim is the scheduled keynote speaker for the Scandinavian FDIVE conference (Future Developments in Virtual Environments), November 16 & 17, 2000. His talk will present plans for a new building in Copenhagen that combines virtual and physical in a single structure. The plan results from a collaboration between Michael and architect Christoph Cornubert of PUSH LA. Their design is among the seven finalists in the international architectural competition for the art center to be built for the Hotel Pro Forma theater group in Denmark.
Illustrator Mark Ryden gave a presentation of his work for The United Artists Network.
The animation work of student Victor Robert was integrated into a reel by SGI and was shown at SIGGRAPH 2000 in New Orleans. Victor Robert, Rodney Hom and Art Center were prominently credited for the piece.
The great teacher honorees for the summer 2000 term, voted on by the 151st graduating class, are: Shou Zhi Wang (Academics), Roland Young (Advertising), John Chambers (Digital Media), Patricia Belton Oliver (Environmental), Brad Saunders (Film), Jeff Atherton (Foundation), Pauline Stella Sanchez (Fine Art), Hal Frazier (Graphic Design), Gary Meyer (Illustration), Cliff Watts (Photography), David Lee (Product Design) and Ian Cartabiano (Transportation). Special recognition was given to Bryan Fitzpatrick.
ADVERTISING
Adweek
Art director Eric Pfleeger found more than work when he recently went to Milan, Italy to shoot a 15-second spot for cleanser Bioré©. He found romance, too. Pfleeger, who had never been to Italy before, fell in love with one of the 90 extras. "It's almost unbelievable," says an obviously smitten Pfleeger.
COMMUNICATION/NEW MEDIA
Artbyte
According to instructor Peter Lunenfeld, recommended reading this summer includes Ken Goldberg's "The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet," which "... has the ability to effect action at a distanceand its corollary, being able to fool people into thinking that they have done soand brought about a revolution in the ways we know what we think we know. Telepresence technologies demand that we craft a telepistemology which Goldberg succinctly defines as the study of knowledge acquired at a distance. Another "must read," according to Lunenfeld, is Vuk Cosic's "Contemporary ASCII." One of the wittiest of net.artists, Cosic uses this catalogue of Web-based projects and installations to perform an archaeology of low-fi images. ASCII, which has been around since 1963, was a medium used by the earliest computer artists, many of them amateurs. There has always been something inherently fascinatingand now something delightfully retroabout representations of images created out of the very same alphanumeric symbols that encode them in digital environments.
New ScientistIn Peter Lunenfeld's book "Snap to Grid," he examines digital art, an ever-changing medium, and its impact on the art world. Complexity, compatibility, computer crashesall these factors often stymie the artists ability to present a cohesive work that can be appreciated and/or marketed. His clear, concise presentation "charms with his sharp technical observation, his healthy impatience with science-fictionalized media theory and his refreshing nods to historical process." It is being lauded as the "artists' bible", their "Stones of Venice," their "Ways of Seeing." Digital artists have waited a long time for this.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Wallpaper
The work of Denise Assad was included in "Future Perfect," a peek at the next generation of furniture designers. Her concepts for outdoor furniture were particularly impressive. Says Assad: "There's a gap in the market for outdoor furniture. You have a choice of cheap cast resin pieces form B&Q or expensive stuff in cast iron." Especially eye-catching is her "Serpentin" lounger, made from polyurethane. "High tech materials are a huge growth area. And they are long-lasting and recyclable," she asserts. She currently has a studio in Pasadena, having graduated from Art Center last December.
FILM
Hollywood Daily Variety
Garin Armenian was one of nine finalists in the alternative category for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Student Academy Awards. The student awards were established in 1972.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
The Friday Flyer
Alta Loma High School senior Lee Rupp has his eye on an Art Center education to enhance his blossoming talent as a graphic designer. His recent work, "Blue waves in front of an erupting volcano," won a Longboard Magazine contest and was later airbrushed, along with Lee's name, onto a nine-foot surfboard.
Orinoco (website)Rafael Esquer, creative and art director for this website, created a trilingual site (English, Spanish and Portuguese) to help visitors navigate the collection of artifacts from twelve indigenous groups living in Southern Venezuela. The site also features a searchable database of over 350 objects, a downloadable screensaver, and digital postcards with audio options.
Capitol WeeklySteve Brooks brings his artistic talent and education to his job as an audiovisual specialist for the Department of Transportation. His duties resemble those of a graphic designer: Creating a wide variety of materials that can be used both by the private and public sectors, such as report covers, brochures and posters. Following his graduation from California State University, Sacramento, he Studied at Art Center to learn about the commercial application of art and graphics.
ILLUSTRATION
Publish
Contributing illustrator and former Art Center instructor Bill Rieser combines two lovesMad Magazine and his favorite artist, Picassoin a well-rounded design career. His clients range from American Express to PepsiCo and he has also designed items for music events like the Grammy Awards, the Playboy Jazz Festival and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His work graces the cover of the July issue.
Whittier Daily NewsPasadena's Mendenhall Gallery has announced its closure on July 20. Following the death of one of its artists, former Art Center instructor Richard Bunkall in 1999, owner Ted Mendenhall said, "When he passed away, it kind of changed the gallery for me. It took away a lot of my interest in the gallery. If I'm not inspired, I'll move on to something else." He and wife Kathy plan to refocus their attention on the booming Internet-based electronic commerce industry.
Pasadena Star NewsJavier Harriman was one of several artists who participated in Absolut Chalk 2000. The event gives artists the opportunity to create chalk drawings on the sidewalks of Pasadena's Centennial Square. Javier has been part of the annual event for the past four years and finds the relationship between spectators and artists appealing. "There is a lot of interaction there, which is different from doing a painting in a studio and hanging it in a gallery. The people are a part of the process, watching you as you work, and most everybody is really friendly and will talk to you as you work." The street festival, which included an open air market offering fresh fruit, flowers, vegetables and a variety of concession stands, had approximately 500 participating artists and was started eight years ago by the Light-Bringer Project, a non-profit arts organization that is active in the Pasadena and Los Angeles areas.
Southwest ArtTim Carey is the featured artists at Graphics Gallery. He is an up-and-coming young painter and recent Art Center graduate. Carey frequently uses a tonal palette to depict subjects ranging from moody personal narratives of his family engaged in a game of bridge to a portrait of a golf ball in motion.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Price Pfister's "Faucet of the Future" Competition
Nine of the 11 finalists in the competition are Art Center students. Judging for the final three will take place at the end of July. The Art Center finalists are: Shane Koo, Agnete Enga, Yoon Jeun Kim, Tim Doyle, Matt Noble, Silas Beebe, Jan Raken, Riae Yoo, and Alvin Yuen. Their varied concepts are influenced by a myriad of factors, the most prominent being nature (flowers, waterfall, even vegetables).
TRANSPORTATION
Newsweek
The message was clear to Art Center students by superstar car designer and alum J Mays: "If you're not absolutely nuts and obsessed with this business, then get out now." His instruction was part of an on-campus lecture. His viewpoint is shared by other top designers in the automotive field as they discuss their entrance into the industry and surviving during the design-depressed 80's, when oil shocks and recessions of the 70's led to Detroit's disastrous effort to "downsize its barge-mobiles, creating ugly econoboxes." Though Mays, and fellow alum Freeman Thomas (1982), Tom Peters (1980), Chris Bangle (1982) and David Robb (1979) are enjoying bulging wallets now, according to Thomas, "It's great to have known these guys when they were living on mattresses, driving second-hand cars and paying off student loans."
AutomobilArt Center's transportation design program has a global impact as the multi-national student body graduates and takes what they've learned at the premier institution back to their native homeland.
Dow Jones News ServiceDesigners Patrick Pelata and Shiro Nakamura face a daunting task: overhauling the fallen transportation image of Nissan Motor Co. Alum Nakamura has strong ideas on how to do this. "I want to take a sledgehammer to the conservatism among Nissan stylists who allowed engineers to dominate them for the past decade." Though he wouldn't seriously do that, his viewpoint is shared by those who matter within the company. To combat the bland image, Nissan is introducing a completely new Primera with sweeping arcs that are similar to the Passat and Audi TT. In addition, 22 new models will be introduced over the next three years. Things to look forward to include a revamped Altima and the return of the Z Car.
Popular MechanicsThe STX concept truck designed by Peter Tenn, which debuted at the L.A. Auto show in January, is featured on the cover of the August issue.