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About

Outer Circle is Art Center’s alumni publication and features alumni-driven content and stories. Produced by Art Center’s Office of Alumni Relations and the Marketing and Communications Department.  If you have story ideas for inclusion in future Outer Circle publications, please contact the Alumni Relations office at 626.396.2305 or email alumni@artcenter.edu.

Credits

Editorial Director:
Vanessa Silberman

Contributor: Kristine Bowne

Writers: Lara Warren, Mike Winder

Design: Paul Gillis

Web site production:
Chuck Spangler

Alumni Notes and Events Coordinator: Matt O’Brien

Special Thanks:
Robert Dirig, College Archivist

Cover Illustration:
Andrew Holder ILLU ‘07

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80 Years in Pictures

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The entrance to Art Center Europe in Vevey, Switzerland.
“The Art Center Europe campus was mind-blowing. It was situated at Lac Léman, and to get there you had to drive up this tiny windy road, and somewhere along the way there was a tiny sign saying ‘Art Center.’ It was not like we had GPS back then, just little signs in French, pointing toward La Tour-de-Peilz. So you kept driving up the tiny road, and, sure enough, you came up to what I later found out was the barn.”
–Frido Beisert PROD ’98

7th Street Campus

3rd Street Campus

Hillside Campus

1986 – 1996
Vevey Campus

The idea of an overseas Art Center campus first came about in the early 1980s, when European automotive companies encouraged the College to open an overseas campus. The trailblazing experiment in design education combined Europe’s cultural and intellectual traditions with America’s pragmatic, enterprising spirit, exposing students on both continents to a global perspective on design.

A campus was built in Vevey, Switzerland, in a renovated 19th century chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva, the largest natural freshwater lake in western Europe (also known as Lac Léman), in the French-speaking region of the mountain confederation area known as the Swiss Riviera. Art Center Europe opened in 1986 with 39 students from 13 countries. During the 10 years of its operation, more than 500 students graduated from the European campus.

In 1996, Art Center Europe closed and was absorbed into the Pasadena campus.

Most of the European students came to Hillside Campus to complete their studies. It brought a new period of creative vitality and cultural exchange to the campus, benefitting the entire campus. It remains a much-loved period in Art Center history by faculty and students alike.

South Campus