Art Center College of Design

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Art Center College of Design
Established: 1930
Type: Private
President: Richard Koshalek
Provost: Resigned - Nate Young (Chief Academic Officer)
Faculty: Fine Art Department: Laurence Dreiband (Chair), Mitchell Kane (Director), John Millei, Mason Cooley, Dave Hullfish Bailey, Laura Cooper, Soo Kim, Anthony Zepeda, Tom Knechtel, Tom LaDuke, Jean Rasenberger with notable Los Angeles visiting artists.
Location: Pasadena, CA, USA
Campus: Suburban
Website: www.artcenter.edu
Photo of Art Center during the night.
Photo of Art Center during the night.

Art Center College of Design (commonly referred to as Art Center) is a private college located in Pasadena, California. It is one of the leading graphic and industrial design colleges in the world. The school logo is an orange circle, also known as the Art Center "Dot", which has been a part of the school identity since its beginning. Art Center is particularly known for its Transportation (Automobile) Design and Product Design programs. It also has notable photography, graphic design, advertising design, illustration, fine art and film programs, and a successful Entertainment Design track for Industrial Design and Illustration students. The school maintains two campuses in Pasadena; both are considered architecturally notable.

Art Center built its reputation as a vocational school, essentially, preparing returning GIs for work in the commercial arts fields. It has traditionally maintained a strong "real world" focus, emphasizing craftsmanship, technique, and professionalism while somewhat de-emphasizing theory. Instructors are working professionals, for the most part, and projects are intended to map to real-life assignments.

The challenge for schools like Art Center is maintaining a balance between talent and revenues. Tuition in 2007 was over $14,000 per term (with three terms per year in a trimester system), with no offering of room and board, plus the considerable costs of books, supplies, and other learning incidentals. There are currently plans to build on-campus housing.

While undergraduates can obtain a four-year Bachelor degree in about 2 years and 8 months (8 terms total), most students take a term off for independent study, part-time "lite" terms, or to complete industry internships, lengthening their stay to 3+ years. The accelerated learning environment stems from the college's trade school roots. Administrators and faculty want to mimic "real world" work scenarios as much as possible, in which there are no summer vacations.

Art Center is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges [1] and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design [2] and is affiliated with the United Nations, being the first design instition designated by the UN as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).

Contents

[edit] History

Art Center was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. During and after World War II, the Art Center ran a technical illustration program in conjunction with the California Institute of Technology. In 1947, the post-war boom in students caused the school to expand to a larger location in building of the former Cumnock School for Girls in the Hancock Park neighborhood, while still maintaining a presence at its original downtown location. The school began granting Bachelor's and Master's degrees in arts in 1949, and was fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in 1955. In 1965, the school changed its name to the Art Center College of Design. The school expanded is programs, including a film program in 1973. The school moved to its trademark Hillside Campus in Pasadena in 1976. The school operated the Art Center Europe in Vevey, Switzerland for ten years starting in 1986. In 2003, the Art Center was granted Non-Governmental Organization status by the UN Department of Public Information. After mulling locations in Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles, Art Center opened the South Campus in Pasadena in 2004.

[edit] Facilities

The Art Center College of Design maintains two campuses in Pasadena: Hillside Campus and South Campus.

[edit] Hillside Campus

Designed by noted modernist architect Craig Ellwood, the Hillside Campus broke ground in November 1974. The trademark "bridge building" dramatically spanned an arroyo and roadway on 175 wooded acres in the hills above Pasadena. Opening in 1976, the building was expanded with the south wing, designed by former Ellwood associate James Tyler, which was constructed between 1989-91. The Hillside Campus houses classrooms and studio space, multiple computer labs, a model shop with traditional tools as well as rapid prototyping technologies (2 and 5-axis CNC, laser-cutting, FDM, and plaster printing) and painting facilities, a Color, Material, and Trends Exploration Lab (CMTEL), an (Auto) Interior Simulation Lab, photo and film stages and printing/editing facilities, as well as a student gallery and an external exhibit gallery, both open to the public. The Hillside Campus has been designated as a historic monument by the City of Pasadena.

[edit] South Campus

The South Campus opened in 2004 in a former aircraft-testing facility built during World War II. Renovated by the Santa Monica-based firm Daly Genik Architects, it houses the graduate art program and studios, a print shop, a letterpress studio, and a full range of public programs (Art Center at Night, Art Center for Kids, Design-Based Learning Lab), as well as a unique 16,000-square-foot exhibition space known as the Wind Tunnel. The award-winning building received the first LEED rating in the city of Pasadena and its sustainable features include a "green" roof and sculptural skylights made of Texlon ETFE. The Wind Tunnel has hosted major events including the biannual Art Center Design Conference, like 2006's "Stories From The Source: Radical Craft"; large exhibitions such as "Supersonic: 1 Wind Tunnel, 8 Schools, 120 Artists," "Gardenlab," and "Open House: Architecture and Technology for Intelligent Living" (with Vitra Design Museum); and various community meetings and events. Although some within the Art Center community questioned the use of financial resources for the building, the creation of the South Campus has raised the college's public profile within the region and assisted Art Center's educational mission in providing much-needed space for its growing public programs and future expansion of the graduate programs. Student housing on an adjacent site is now in the planning stages.

[edit] Notable alumni

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[edit] Notable teachers past and present (if not listed above)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Biography from www.haraldbelker.com
  2. ^ Bio of Géza Lóczi
  3. ^ "Strother MacMinn, Design Instructor, 79", The New York Times, January 24, 1998. Retrieved on 2008-05-15. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design

United States: Art Academy of Cincinnati • Art Center College of Design • The Art Institute of Boston • CCA • CalArts • CIA • CCSCAD • CCAD • Cooper Union • Corcoran College of Art and Design • Cornish College of the Arts • KCAI • LCAD • Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts • MECA • MICA • MassArt • MCA • Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design • MCAD • Montserrat College of Art • Moore College of Art and Design • Oregon College of Art & Craft • Otis College of Art and Design • Pacific Northwest College of Art • Parsons • Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts • Pratt Institute • RISD • RCAD • SFAI • School of the Art Institute of Chicago • SMFA • SVA • UArts

International: Alberta College of Art and Design • Burren College of Art • Emily Carr University of Art and Design • NSCAD University • OCAD • Osaka University of Arts • VCA