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ART CENTER NEWSWIRE - September 11, 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 twice a month. To report news or obtain more information, contact Jan Kingaard, tel. (626) 396-2394, fax (626) 683-9233.


CAMPUS

Los Angeles TimesThe Art Center College of Design board of trustees rejected an offer to relocate the 34-year-old campus from its current Pasadena site to downtown Los Angeles. Instead, they voted unanimously to expand the existing facilities. "The decision to stay inPasadena best reflects where our future lies with our ever-evolving educational strategies," said Art Center President Richard Koshalek. "Pasadena truly embraces the region's unique convergence of innovation, diversity and industry."

Pasadena Star NewsThe campus held an unexpected concert by the Summer Youth Chamber Orchestra when their scheduled venue was unable to accommodate them. Columnist Charles Cherniss comments that the campus setting was ideal for a summer concert under the stars.

Pasadena Star NewsThe City of Pasadena got a "double boost" by the decision to keep Art Center in Pasadena and the awarding of the Mars Explorer 2003 project to neighbor JPL. Both decisions are being heralded as being good both for the city and for the public at large. "Whether it is future designs of cars, advertising messages or spacecraft to Mars, getting it done in Pasadena means jobs, dollars and human capital stay here," says the Pasadena Star News editorial.


GREAT MINDS

Artist and author Ryan McGinness presented excerpts from his projects flatnessisgod and installationview for the Toyota Lecture Series. His work is strongly conceptual and comments on iconography, language and historical and contemporary symbolism, using visual codes and signifiers to subvert the very systems in which he operates.

Press TelegramFaculty member Rosetta Brooks was the juror for abd15, a show hosted by the Arts & Services for Disabled, Inc. at the Design Gallery on the Cal State University Long Beach campus.

Pasadena Star NewsArt Center Public Relations Coordinator Robin Goldsworthy is part of the committee that will bring the History Channel's Great Car Race to Pasadena next June. The committee is comprised of Pasadena Forward! members, an organization dedicated to raising the visibility of Pasadena.


ADVERTISING

AdweekGoodby, Silverstein & Partners has launched a $50 million dollar campaign for TiVo, the futuristic technology that allows viewers to program their own television network. Alum Peter Nicholson is the campaign's art director. One of the on-air commercials follows two t-shirted thugs as they make their way through the offices of network programmers, finally ending up in the office of "Mr. Big." Once there, they unceremoniously pick him up and toss him out the window. The spot is noted as being "dark and harsh" but brimming with wonderful details. Considering that CBS' Big Brother is the work of network programmers, the nastiness seems justified.

Adweek"Best Spots" are selected from commercials breaking on broadcast and cable television. Those selected include the work of alum Michael Prieve for his work on ESPN Sportscenter's Fan Mail; Gary Goldsmith, chief creative for Heineken's "Street/Fridge" keg can and Purina ONE's No Worries; art director Michael Kadin for People Support White on White; and Mike McCommon, art director and copywriter for Discovery.com's Meteors.

AdweekThe New York ad agency Dweck! has been ambushing people standing in line for a table at trendy restaurants and giving them unusual gifts. Copies of the epic War and Peace and yo-yos imprinted with the message, "Here's something to do while you wait. Next time, try foodline.com." Alum Wayne Best, Dweck!'s partner and creative director for the foodline.com campaign, says, "Guerrilla marketing helps make noise and generates interest."

Advertising AgeA print campaign for Lexus was the "Image of the Week." Copywriter David Uible and art director Betsy Nathane, both alum, worked on the spot which shows two marionettes in an elegant ballet position. The print campaign is featured in the New Yorker, New York Observer, Stagebill and the Wall Street Journal.


PRODUCT

In StyleAlum Matt Murphy's leather duffel was one of several pieces showcased on the cover of In Style, "When your look needs a shot in the armoire."

I.D. MagazineRob Nathan's "Frostbite Iceboat," a remote-controlled iceboat, fascinated jurors in the I.D. Annual Design Review 2000. Its elegant profile and capabilities makes the fact that it's not the "real thing" a little disappointing. Said juror Peter Hall, "I think you can grant its merit on visual verve alone." Gretchen Wustrack, another Art Center student, received kudos for her Reebok Adventure Racing Shoe. The shoe, which makes the feeling of jumping higher and running faster a reality, "has a great sort of cyborg appeal that extreme sports people would like," commented Hall.

I.D. MagazineSix talented and ambitious students from around the country took part in RKS Design's first annual "Life in the Fast Lane" workshop. Alum Nassahn Sheppard was co-project leader for the workshop which began with an idea and ended 72 hours later with a prototype for an Internet music player. Among the six students were Willy Loor and Joshua Keller of Art Center.


ENVIRONMENTAL

House BeautifulThe work of ten Art Center students competed for the attention of buyers and manufacturers at the recent furniture show in Milan. The show, which attracts such international names as Philippe Starck and Ron Arad, can make the careers and fortunes of designers. "The first day the kids were in awe," said Patricia Belton-Oliver. "But by the end of the show they were working the crowd like professionals."

Los Angeles Times Magazine"I built bigger and bigger sculpturesuntil you could finally live in them," says conceptual artist and Art Center instructor Michael Jantzen of the steel-and-cement house he built. The structure is a follow up to a Malibu beach house conceived three years ago that included a facade of television screens projecting images and sounds of the ocean. The new creation-the "M-house"- is composed of a grid of interconnected rectangular cube frames made from square steel tubing on which concrete composite panels can be hung horizontally or vertically. Commenting on introducing interactive features into his environments, Jantzen says "I don' want technology to just turn our lights on and off. I want it to bring us closer to our environment, to raise our consciousness. I'd like it to be part of the fun of living."


INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

The Plain DealerCombining fine arts and science is the key in becoming a successful designer in today's booming economy, says Giuseppe Delena, chief designer for DTD Global Implementation for Ford Motor Company. "As an industrial designer, you must apply your knowledge of visual communication to problem solving and are basically designing for other people, so you must anticipate their needs and tastes." Art Center was one school he noted as having an "exceptional (industrial and product design) program."


WILLIAMSON GALLERY

San Gabriel Valley Daily TribuneWhen husband and wife design team Charles and Ray Eames came to California in 1941, it was with the intention of designing affordable furniture for the masses. Nearly sixty years later, examples of their work are being showcased in the Williamson Gallery on the Art Center campus. "Mathematica" includes early interaction exhibition pieces, which reflects the spirit of fun and wonder that they tried to instill in everything they did, according to gallery director Stephen Nowlin.

Los Angeles TimesListed as one of the week's "Best Bets," "Mathematica...A World of Numbers and Beyond" celebrates the convergence of design and science. Within the interactive exhibit are learning tools on celestial mechanics, the laws of probability, the Moebus band, topology, minimal surfaces, projective geometry and multiplication.

Pasadena Star NewsThe Williamson Gallery was one of five Pasadena venues that hosted "Pasadena Art Night." Shuttle buses provided free transportation to each of the five sites and visitors were able to see a wide variety in exhibits. In addition to Art Center's "Mathematica," guests saw the works of Picasso at the Norton Simon; "Beastiaries" at the Armory Center for the Arts; Asian American art work at the Pacific Asia Museum and "Shifting Perceptions: Contemporary L.A. Visions" at the Pacific Asia satellite sites.


ILLUSTRATION

San Marino Tribune & San Marino NewsAlum Richard Humphrey is one of several artists whose work appears in the Tirage Gallery exhibit entitled "Joining ForcesThe Artist Activist." The show presents works that depict endangered features of California's natural and architectural heritage.


PHOTOGRAPHY

San Gabriel Valley JournalA special photo exhibit by Art Center students depicting children and adults with physical and developmental disabilities was part of a 10th anniversary celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The "Walk of Progress" exhibition was sponsored by the ELA Foundation and featured photos and displays showing the progress and challenges of people with disabilities.