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ART CENTER NEWSWIRE - 7 January 2002

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 email to requests@lists.artcenter.edu and in the body of the mail type "subscribe newswire" (without quotes). We highlight some of the newsmakers in our Art Center community monthly.

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(626) 396-2394; fax (626) 683-9233.


PRESIDENT'S OFFICE

Newsweek (Japanese International edition)President Richard Koshalek offered insights on how Art Center is preparing designers to be managers and how designers create user-friendly interface products.

Oakland TribuneVarious curators are holding their tongue when asked their opinion of the art infusion at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, however Art Center President Richard Koshalek recently reflected on the dichotomy of possibly having poker and Pollock under one roof. "Given the unusual context of Las Vegas, and the fact that the museums are connected to a casino it is raising anxiety among museum professionals and artists. Are we turning art into a commodity, an entertainment experience?" President Koshalek asked. "I think this is an experiment. I hope their motives are to present the works with respect and admiration and with an educational purpose behind it. If that's the case, it's a bold move, the results of which will be watched with great care by a large number of people in the world of museums."

Los Angeles TimesArt Center President Richard Koshalek is spearheading "L.A. Now," a collaborative effort designed to bring architects and students from four prominent schoolsArt Center, UCLA, Southern California Institute of Architecture (Sci-Arc) and California Institute of Arts-together to create a two-volume book, exhibition and film series about Los Angeles. The book, described as a snapshot of the region today, will combine facts, graphic charts and other imagery drawn from a variety of sources and will be published by Art Center.

The New York TimesLos Angeles' well-respected Southwest Museum has run out of room. Their vast storerooms of artifacts testify to a time and people that have long disappeared from the western landscape, but unless changes are made most people will never see these treasures. Administrators at the Southwest are exploring the option of partnering with another, larger facility that can best display these works. The two primary contenders are the Gene Autry Museum and the Pechanga Band of the Luiseņo Indians. Though joining with either museum offers benefits and drawbacks, Art Center President Richard Koshalek, himself the former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, offers his insight on the Southwest's dilemma. "They should not be enticed by the world of entertainment, and they should not be enticed just by money. In my humble opinion, they need to explore other options," he said. "There is no room for error."

Los Angeles TimesPresident Richard Koshalek was recommended by business tycoon Eli Broad to serve as co-chair of the selection panel for the design of the new L.A. headquarters for Caltrans. Project officials want a design that is innovative and environmentally sensitive. Says Koshalek, "I believe that it shouldn't be just major corporations and cultural institutions that provide a quality environment for their employees. It should also be the state of California."


AWARDS

Innovation Yearbook of Industrial Design ExcellenceThe life-enhancing work of many Art Center alumni is featured. For example, Freeman J. Thomas for his work on the Jeep Willy; Bryan Nesbitt for DaimlerChrysler's PT Cruiser; and Kit Hinrichs for the AIGA Risk/Reward promotional pieces, conference materials and environmental graphics.

Ozzie AwardsFine Art alumnus Bob Ott won a silver medal for "Best Design, New Magazine in 2001" for Stormwater Magazine at the Folio Show.

Creativity 30Instructor David Mocarski received an Award of Distinction for the design and production of the Art Center Environmental Design Catalog.

American Corporate Identity SeventeenInstructor David Mocarski received an Award of Excellence for the Galerkin Design Identity System.

Innovation Yearbook of Industrial Design ExcellenceStudent Aaron Rincover's Bubble Light was highlighted. Rincover used silicon and LEDs to create a squishy bulb that doesn't get hot and can be recharged for up to ten years.

Digital Cultures ProjectInstructor Michael Heim was recently awarded the Digital Cultures Research Fellowship. The Project is a University of California Multi-Campus research group directed by Dr. William Warner, UC Santa Barbara.

After Effects Film FestivalThe work of film students Brady E. Poulsen, James Huang, and Milka Broukhim was recently recognized as the "most amazing work that has been created in this phenomenal product in 2000-2001."


COMMUNITY

Museum of Contemporary ArtAssistant Director of Admissions Sandy Rodriguez was one of five L.A. art critics and design professionals asked to curate "aftershock," an exhibit of works by individuals participating simultaneously in MOCA's exhibit "What's Shakin': New Architecture in L.A." The show included works that ran against, alongside or beyond more conventional architectural projects. The exhibit included painting, photography, sculpture, furniture, fashion, and other media.

L.A. Now Vol. 1Architectural historian Dana Hutt announced the completion of L.A. Now Vol. 1. The volume is a collaborative design initiative conceived by President Richard Koshalek to focus creativity on downtown Los Angeles and provide the foundation for its future development as the city prepares for an influx of an estimated two million people by 2005. L.A. Now brings together the work of UCLA architecture students under the direction of studio leader Thom Mayne of Morphosis, CalArts graphic design students and Art Center film and photography students. The second volume, Shaping a New Vision for Downtown Los Angeles, features the results of the design initiative-seven architectural proposals to meet the future needs of downtown Los Angeles-as well as a record of the critical process. Included are a full set of computer renderings and project descriptions for each of the proposals.

Highlander18-year-old Michael Sullivan has already achieved one of his life's dreams: Being accepted into Art Center College of Design. He plans on majoring in illustration and anticipates a broad array of opportunities to be available to him. "I think once I'm in college I'll be open to many, many job offers," he said. "(Art Center) is an extremely hard school to get into and I like that competitiveness. It seemed like a great school to go to, basically because the job placement is almost a 96 percent rate, so you're almost guaranteed a job."

Pasadena Star-NewsArt Center College of Design showcased student work of space exploration done with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Paseo Colorado's grand opening.


CAMPUS

Los Angeles TimesArt Center has selected the former Glenarm Power Plant in Pasadena and the former Douglas Aircraft building on Raymond for its satellite campus. The south campus will provide much needed studio space and classrooms as well as a museum, a printing press and facilities for public education including the Art Center for Kids program. It is hoped that student housing will also be built. The decision is significant for the city, which lobbied vigorously to keep Art Center in Pasadena. Seeking a campus with what college officials describe as "international impact," possible locations investigated included Orange County and the former Terminal Annex postal facility in downtown Los Angeles. President Richard Koshalek expressed his pleasure with the decision. "Art Center acquired a great centrality within the community," he said, "while the public get greater contact with issues of creativity." It is estimated that renovations to the buildings will not be completed until 2005.

Graduation ShowArt Center College of Design held its Fall 2002 on Friday, December 14. The show highlighted the work of graduating students of all disciplines. In addition to the festivities at the south end of the campus, celebrants also were found in the new student lounge, the Sinclaire Pavilion.

National Science FoundationAn Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program was launched with the recognition of the winners of the NSF grants in the EFP competition. Over 75 students from Art Center and Caltech applied with nine students selected. The winning teams and their proposed projects include Frederick Romberg of Caltech and Daniel Schenck from Art Center for their Bubble Imaging Technologies which is the development of a novel digital display technology for information display; Matthew Carroll from Art Center and Robert Sneddon from Caltech for KnowNet, an Internet communication system for forming "trust networks" for the rapidly growing knowledge management industry; Eagle Jones from Caltech and Joey Jones from Art Center for Synthesized Animation on the development of real-time motion synthesis software to enable easier and faster creation of computer animation and games for the entertainment and Internet industries. This is the first time that Art Center has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant and it is the first time that Caltech has partnered with an art and design school.


ENVIRONMENTAL

Los Angeles TimesAlum Glenn Lawson and Grant Fenning have opened Rm. 107, a shop showcasing lesser-known and unknown furniture from the '40s through the '70s. Says Lawson, "Our customers are looking for something no one else has. There's more cachet." They have two stores, one in Pasadena and one in Los Angeles.


FILM

ShootAlum Tony Garcia was signed by Los Angeles-based Palomar Pictures' Latin division. Garcia was awarded a 2001 Gold student Clio for his commercial for Nike and his spot for Consumer Reports was short listed in Clio competition. He was honored in the student commercial category of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show.

ShootAlum Jonnie Ross' spec commercial for Levi's caught the attention of editor/director Larry Bridges, founder of editorial house Red Car. The ad shows a young guy in an underground garage wearing blue jeansor are the jeans wearing him? As the spot progresses, the guy is propelled all over the garage, bouncing through the air in uncontrolled spasms. Finally, he collapses on the ground, the Levi logo gently floating down, eventually resting on him. Bridges said of his mentoring role, "(Ross) is a tremendous young talent. Mentoring is a way of giving back to the community and I simply want to help him."

The Virginian-PilotFormer Chesapeake YES (Youth Entertainment Studios) summer camper Adam McFaddin Ballard took what he learned at the camp and went west to California, landing at Art Center College of Design's film program. One of 30 people profiled in Dan Rather's The American Dream, Ballard is now directing a Nike sneaker commercial. Ballard returns to Chesapeake every summer to work with a new group of youths to give back a little of what he got. "YES gave me a chance to do work," he says. "That was my first time shooting with film. They took a chance on me, and it turned out good."


FINE ARTS

Los Angeles TimesThe Pomona College Museum of Art is presenting the work of Art Center alumnus Edgar Arceneaux. The exhibit is a drawing installation entitled The Trivium that loosely links language and logic to improvisational jazz, freestyle hip-hop, and Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. Styled after Arceneaux's interpretation of postmodernism, the exhibit "blurs the boundaries of popular culture-pop culture vs. high culture intellectual pursuits," according to curator Rebecca McGrew. The exhibit continues through October 21.


SATURDAY HIGH

Watts Star ReviewThe partnering of Art Center's Saturday High summer students and the California African American Museum ended with an exhibit of student work at the museum. This was the first year that the college made available classes to high school students unable to attend the Pasadena campus. The decision to work with the California African American Museum was inspired by a need to strengthen Art Center's commitment to build a more diverse student population for the Saturday High program, said Crystal Jones, assistant director for Special Programs. "Art Center continues to explore ways to reach young students in outlying communities and expose them to design education and career opportunities," she said.


TRANSPORTATION

San Jose Mercury-NewsPT Cruiser designer Bryan Nesbitt left DaimlerChrysler to head up the Chevrolet Brand Character Studio for General Motors. Though he says he has no problems with Chrysler, Nesbitt left because "I'm a car guy...I mean this is a much bigger boat with a lot more opportunities." According to Wes Brown, Nextrend analyst, "It's going to take a radical philosophical change at GM to allow him to have the freedom he once had at Chrysler. Should that occur, it could only mean good things for General Motors."

International Herald TribuneThe much-anticipated new Thunderbird was unveiled at the summer Detroit auto show. Ford design director J Mays made the introduction sitting in the driver's seat with music great Ray Charles sitting in the passenger. The retro design is in-line with another hit of his, the redesigned VW Beetle. Recapturing the days of yesterday, Mays said at a recent lecture at MIT, is part of the emotional tie that binds the driver to the car. In his opinion, Detroit is just now getting back to what the auto industry once intuitively understood, that successful car design in the United States is "rooted in emotional attributes." This philosophy is the foundation for Ford's "Living Legends" series, cars that will be updated and reintroduced to consumers. With the launch of the T-Bird behind him, he will be turning his attention to the next car in the series-the Forty-Nine, still in concept phase.

The Vancouver SunThe creators of Canada's Design Forum have announced the World Automotive Design Competition, a contest that attracts schools and students to design "the ideal shared mobility vehicle." Art Center is one of five internationally renowned design schools that have so far committed entries from up to 10 of their automotive design students. Winners will be announced in conjunction with the second annual Design Forum, scheduled for February 2002.

The News & ObserverThe future of environmentally friendly cars is still uncertain, and according to Ron Hill, Art Center's former transportation Design Chair, styling is a key component in what consumers will buy and the concepts designers will pursue. He says students aren't interested in what the middle-aged men of his generation-an alarmingly apt description of the leaders of Detroit's Big Three-would consider a good-looking car. "They're interested in more quirky and individualistic cars, almost deconstructed or fragmented," he said. "It's not a slick, smooth, sculptural look-it's more fragmented, more hostile and aggressive." Not exactly a fitting description of today's electric models. And, not surprising, emotions run high when discussion is held regarding the relinquishing of older model autos. As one anonymous caller to a San Diego newspaper said, "If they start seizing our old cars, it amounts to tyranny. I, for one, am not going to hand over the keys. They are going to have to pry them out of my dead hands." That'll make valet parking difficult.