OMAG 11

OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN MAGAZINE

Otis College of Art and Design 9045 Lincoln Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90045

in this issue:

310.665.6800 / OTIS.EDU

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Los Angeles, CA Permit No. 427

Fall 2011

ISSUE 11

How Does the Mind See?

pg.04

Freedom Memorial in Palau

pg.16

Creative Legend Bob Mackie

VOL.11

pg.18 310.665.6800 / OTIS.EDU

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16

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The Art of Liberal Arts and Sciences The Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) program at Otis College of Art and Design is spotlighted in this issue of OMAG. It is an important but not well-known fact that the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree dedicates one-third of its curriculum to studies in the humanities and sciences.

At Otis, the faculty pursues purposefully and imaginatively the underpinning ideal of training the hands, eyes, and mind in a holistic manner.

LAS is a vertical core program that weaves through all four years of an Otis education.

The faculty has carefully developed ways to address the needs and interests of an art and design student population. Creativity, social responsibility and identity—along with other themes that are important to contemporary art and design—are curricular bridges that help students connect their LAS course work and studio practice.

LAS also extends the classroom to the rich resources in the city of Los Angeles. Currently, the groundbreaking regional initiative of Pacific Standard Time (PST) showcases the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and its significant movements. Museum and other site visits are built into LAS courses this year, and various classes study today’s urban development in the

context of ideas shaped by the historic decades covered by PST, examining how the visual culture in Los Angeles affects and reflects cultural perspectives.

When I went to college, I took a class called Physics for Poets. The idea behind the class acknowledged that science studies could benefit from a delivery that is attuned to its arts and humanities students. If thoughtfully tailored, such courses can lead to discoveries and epiphanies; if conducted as throwaway education, they can patronize and alienate students. Happily, my Physics for Poets class was taught with infectious passion by a top Physics professor who was mindful of his audience, and I developed a lifelong interest in quantum physics. The Otis LAS program, committed to this productive path, guides and challenges students to learn to relate to others, be curious about unfamiliar cultures and ideas, and, very importantly, learn what they need to accomplish their work and life goals.

At Otis, LAS aims to help students develop a 21st-century mind frame and skill set so that they are equipped to evolve, thrive, and contribute in an environment of constant and complex change.

VOL.11 IN THIS ISSUE:

Otis prepares diverse students of art and design to enrich our world through their creativity, their skill, and their vision.

President Hoi at the annual Scholarship Benefit and Fashion Show with Honorees Art Coppola of Santa Monica Place, and designer Bob Mackie

Founded in 1918, Otis is L.A.’s first independent professional school of visual arts. Otis’ 1200 students pursue BFA degrees in advertising design, architecture/landscape/interiors, digital media, fashion design, graphic design, illustration, interactive product design, painting, photography, sculpture/new genres, and toy design.

MFA degrees are offered in fine arts, graphic design, public practice, and writing. Otis has trained generations of artists who have been in the vanguard of the cultural and entrepreneurial life of the city. Nurtured by Los Angeles’ forward-thinking spirit, these artists and designers explore the landscape of popular culture and the significant impact of identity, politics, and social policy at the intersection of art and society.

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Rising to the Challenge

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Liberal Arts and Sciences

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New Provost Team

Making + Thinking Go Hand in Hand How Does the Mind See? Rob Spruijt Converging Galaxies: Heather Joseph-Witham Battle for Equality: Boo Jarchow (’08)

College News 11 for 2011 Commencement Class of 2011 exhibition Freedom Memorial, Palau New Spins for Preschool Toys Bob Mackie, Creative Legend Doin’ it in Public at the Ben Maltz Gallery Power of Three: Teaching Awards

FALL 2011 24

Alumna + Donor Profiles

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Alumni Around the World

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Class Notes

Blood, Sweat and Ten Years Later; Amanda Thomas (’10) Into the Light: Local Artist Supports Scholarships

Benson (’03 MFA) and Koblick (’04) in London/Brussels Vayghan (’06) in Tehran/L.A.

Pacific Standard Time Wall of Inspiration Visual Artist Fellowships

Samuel Hoi, President

Editor: Margi Reeve, Communications Director Co-editor: Sarah Russin, Assistant VP, Institutional Advancement

FPO

Director of Alumni Relations: Laura Daroca (’00 MFA Fine Arts) Alumni Relations Coordinator: Shefali Mistry Photography: Jesse Benson, Kristy Campbell, Anthony Cuñha, Jessica Dawson, Joseph Escamilla, Miho Hagino, Siri Kaur, Lee Salem Creative/Design: Mark Caneso (’04)

Contributors: Kerry Walk, Provost; Randy Lavender, Vice Provost; Debra Ballard, Chair, Liberal Arts and Sciences; faculty members Carol Branch, Erin Hauber, Jill Higashi-Zeleznik, Heather Joseph-Witham, Joan Ogawa, and Rob Spruijt; alumni Jesse Benson, Becky Koblick, Amanda Thomas, and Marjan Vayghan; Class of 2011 grads Holly Buskirk, Rocío Carlos, Caitlin Knox, Hazel Mandujano, Cole W. Moss, Terry Norton-Wright, David Russell, Lindsay Schulz, Sang Youb Shin, Harmony Hines Slattery, and Sam Tanis; George Wolfe, freelance writer, and Alexandra Pollyea

Back cover: The Waitresses, “Easy Three-Step Guide

© Otis College of Art and Design

to Food Protection in the Event of Nuclear Attack,” 1982-83

Publication of material does not necessarily

Performance as part of Target L.A. Fallout Fashion Show.

indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint

Photograph by Joyce Dallal. © The Waitresses: Jerri Allyn

by Otis College of Art and Design

and Anne Gauldin

Otis College of Art and Design

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Otis College of Art and Design Alumni Magazine

section:

Feature

“ And what do you teach at Otis?” “I teach English.”

Rising to the Challenge New Provost and Vice Provost Take the Helm

After two years of interim academic leadership, a new Provost and Vice Provost were appointed last Spring—Otis newcomer Dr. Kerry Walk and long-time Foundation Associate Chair Randall Lavender, respectively. President Samuel Hoi calls them “a dream team as the College positions its educational services and impact for the 21st century.”

Walk and Lavender bring complementary strengths to the Provost’s Office, which is responsible for the quality of the College’s undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs, and also oversees academic support services and public programming.

After earning a Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, Walk spent close to two decades as a faculty member and academic administrator at premier liberal arts institutions, including Harvard and Princeton.

She served most recently as Associate Dean of Faculty at Pitzer College, in Claremont, where she focused on strategic planning, educational assessment, and institutional accreditation.

A distinguished teacher and leader of

interdisciplinary programs, Walk brings a unique combination of academic and administrative expertise to Otis.

Lavender joined the Otis faculty in 1983, with an M.F.A. from Claremont Graduate University, and served as Assistant Chair, then Associate Chair, of the Foundation program for thirteen years. He is a nationally and internationally exhibited artist, has worked in and taught a variety of art and design media, and has published numerous essays on art and design in higher education in leading academic journals. Most recently, Lavender completed with two co-authors Otis’ first original research on student success. The study chronicles an important cognitive/affective aspect of first-year students’ experiences and identifies responsive teaching methods.

Walk calls the unique collaboration with Lavender “a happy synergy of experiences, styles, ideas, and goals.” United in their focus on students and their deep knowledge of “best practices” in teaching, Walk and Lavender have begun to develop an educational approach to best prepare Otis students for the future.

“Our primary goal is for Otis graduates to become leading next-generation creative professionals,” says Walk. “We can achieve this goal by supporting Otis’ greatest resource—our talented faculty—and by building on high-impact academic initiatives such as internationalizing students’ experiences, teaching sustainable art and design practices, and blending more diverse education delivery modes into our exemplary curricula.” Walk and Lavender also regard the consolidation of Otis’ prestigious graduate programs into a single facility as a high priority.

Maintaining academic excellence as educational costs rise is just one of the challenges that will motivate the new team in years to come.

They believe that emerging communication technologies offer an exciting way forward and plan to build on the success of online learning that is already underway. Lavender notes that “innovative approaches to studio education delivery can be created using a carefully crafted blend of online and classroom teaching and learning modes. One of our hopes is to work with academic leaders to create exemplary ‘blended learning’ offerings that can help us meet students’ needs for flexible scheduling and the College’s need for maximum efficiency.”

Through their shared focus on student-centered education and systems enhancement, Walk and Lavender hope to catalyze new possibilities for art and design education, and leverage them into leading, influential models of excellence that other institutions both admire and imitate. “Otis can lead the way in art and design education for the 21st century,” says Walk. “Randy and I look forward to working with the entire Otis community as we step together into the future.”

“ I didn’t think they had English at an art college.

How wonderful!”

MAKING + THINKING GO HAND IN HAND What the Liberal Arts Covers & Uncovers

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Fall 2011

This is a conversation I had (to the best of my dimming recollection) with a city council person who was giving me an outstanding teaching award.

Given the relentless pace of complex change in the 21st century, artists and designers, now more than ever, need to be broadly educated, independent thinkers who can approach issues both skeptically and empathetically. In a world where information is increasingly conveyed visually, the ubiquitous work of our alums shapes culture. Graduates need to be strong and clear communicators who are also intellectually resilient, interculturally competent, prepared to deal with dislocating change in a world characterized by the need for innovation and global savvy where many of the jobs they will have don’t even exist today.

Disciplinary frontiers are fluidly expanding and shifting in our knowledge-based culture. Students can never master any area; memorization of facts will not prepare them. In engaging new challenges and questions, they will need to be intentional, reflective learners who are able to find, evaluate, and apply many emerging resources in a critically informed way.

Spanning all four years, the 45 units of Otis’ Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) curriculum include writing, art history, literature, speech, creative writing, integrated learning, cultural studies, natural sciences, social sciences, and the often anxiety-provoking math requirement.

However, in order for our students to succeed, the curriculum must be so much more than an accumulation of units.

Our student population is wonderfully diverse, and the curriculum reflects that diversity with high-impact practices. The First Year Initiative component helps them transition into the Otis community; writingintensive classes focus on writing as a way of thinking and discovering; an honors component provides additional challenges; a sophomore Integrated Learning requirement prepares them for collaborative work in the community; and minors in Art History, Creative Writing, and Cultural Studies broaden their choices and exposure. The themes of diversity,

“

LAS courses have expanded my lexicon of art and design lingo so that I am more confident in speaking with other professional designers and artists. I know how to see the world in the context of visual language, culture, propaganda, and symbols.

I firmly believe that without constant questioning of artists, art, and the social structure responsible for shaping them, society, artists, and art will all lose their accountability and relevance.

” creativity, sustainability, social responsibility, and identity are woven throughout the curriculum and reflected in work posted in the students’ electronic learning portfolios, all culminating in the capstone class. In the first year, they take foundational core requirements; after that, they pursue classes directly relevant to their major, and electives that allow them to play and think “outside the box.” These elective offerings are as diverse as Global Cinema; the Aesthetics of Politics; Shakespeare; Text and Image; Imagination and the Brain; Fashion Culture; Representations of War; Shamanism: Art and Sacred Spaces; the Classical World; and Gods and Artists.

In a single-purpose college like Otis, it might be tempting to speculate that every unit and every hour should be devoted to the major, however, no major or discipline by its very essential and necessary nature can address all that a student needs to creatively adapt to the real-world demands of work, citizenship, and life in a world of disruptive uncertainty. Along with the excellent studio programs, LAS covers and uncovers the incredibly diverse record of human creativity, where making and thinking go hand in hand.

—Debra Ballard, Chair, Liberal Arts and Sciences

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Feature

Otis College of Art and Design Alumni Magazine

Fall 2011

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ROBERT SPRUIJT

HOW DOES THE MIND SEE?

“ I enjoy a good book, but I retain a lot more information whenever I see something, touch it, and interact with its context.”

(’01 Fine Arts) Associate Professor, LAS Dept.

I began to teach at Otis in 2000, during my junior year as a student here. I came to Otis with a previous degree and career in psychology, and a teaching position for psychology of perception had suddenly opened up. I am still thankful to Debra Ballard, the chair of LAS, for even considering me as a teacher for my fellow students, and to those fellow students, for even listening to their peer.

Since then, my career has developed on two tracks, frequently crossing and influencing each other. I have a career as an artist, showing my still-life paintings nationally and internationally. I am currently working hard for a fall show (“Tulipomania” at Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica, Oct 28-Dec 3). I love to paint, and to explore and apply the techniques of representing. At the same time, I am also endlessly fascinated by the neurology of the visual mind of the artist making marks and by the mind of the viewer making sense of those marks. Teaching drawing and composition at Otis as well as academic classes in perception and imagination are both natural extensions of my praxis as an artist.

Perception is not just about absorbing images passively.

Recognition of a friend after years of separation, or recognition of a landscape in marks on a page requires us to make sense of what we see, not just to record what is in front of us. Following the data from the eye to the brain, it becomes more and more clear that 'seeing' is actually the brain making visual sense of the limited and distorted data from the eye. The image we 'see' is in the mind, not in the eye.

From that realization it is but a short distance to thinking about visual imagination: the mental images we can experience without input from the eyes. Much of what artists do critically depends on visual imagination. Drawing, painting, etc. is the way in which we make our imagination visible and the way we share it with others. The longer I teach drawing in Foundation, the more I suspect that even observational drawing is as much about mental imagery as it is about looking and measuring. Developing eye-hand coordination in a drawing class trains the imagination as much as the muscles. A lousy drawing of a horse is more a lack of imagination than a technical problem.

There are few useful books on the neuropsychology of mental internal images. Thus, I found myself eager to teach a class on the neurology of imagination, while lacking a good textbook. After some trepidation, I eventually decided to write my own text. The chapters grow in number and in quality guided by my experience using them in the classroom and feedback from students ('did I see a yawn there in row three?'). I use my evening hours to put my thoughts together, and I hope to publish the first book on the neuropsychology of imagination written for artists.

In the meantime, the daylight hours are for painting.

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Feature

CONVERGING GALAXIES Heather Joseph-Witham Folklorist Associate Professor, LAS Dept.

I landed at Otis quite by accident. I was teaching at UCLA in 1997 when a friend had me substitute for her LAS class. I fell love with the students and their open-minded perspectives during the first hour. I next taught Myth, Fairy Tales and Folklore. It was a revelation for me that students not only wanted to collect and tell tales, but wanted to illustrate and create them in a variety of art forms. After that, I was hooked and never left.

I found that my doctorate in Folklore and Mythology gave me valuable training in teaching Otis students. Folklore sounds oldtimey, but it isn’t. It’s about the customary behaviors that we have and why we do what we do. It’s about people connecting and creating community through their actions.

The expressive manifestations of human beings that we study can be stories, material culture, verbal lore, etc. It is a field grounded

Otis College of Art and Design Alumni Magazine

in ethnography – the first-hand collection of material. This has helped me create the firstyear Cultural Studies programming. Students perform fieldwork and observe, interview and analyze people regarding their customary behaviors. They attend a field trip to understand the diverse spaces in which we live and work.

Otis students learn that their stories, beliefs and customs matter. They are a part of who they are and therefore become a part of their actions and creations. Understanding behaviors leads to becoming better artists, designers, thinkers, and citizens of a global world.

Popular culture has certainly caught on to the value of traditional behaviors. I published a book on Star Trek fans and costume art, and am working on a manuscript about the popular customs we use try to contact those in the Afterlife. I sometimes get calls to speak about folklore for the media, which really is pure fun. I’ve presented on everything from vampires to Atlantis, doppelgangers to ghosts, beliefs about angels and UFO’s to urban legends and Christmas lore on various shows and documentaries, from Mythbusters to the Food Network Challenge. Certainly, folklore is currently entrenched in popular culture, and it inspires our students. My job is to “Otisize” these topics by making sure students can access and study them firsthand, and then analyze or create based on it.

I tend to use my own interests in the ‘Popular’ to create courses that I believe are relevant for our students. For example, I teach Vampire Literature and Lore. On the surface, you might think: really?! However, students learn about the role of the outsider in our culture and the importance of such a figure, which is relevant to their own perspectives. I teach Modern Mysticism and the Afterlife in which students create an altar for the annual Día de los Muertos Festival at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. This art/altar is seen by thousands of people, and we experience a diverse and valuable cultural custom.

The Otis classroom is a protected space. I know that as long as the students and I agree to be open-minded, sensitive and participatory, within the classroom we can discuss politics with liberals and conservatives, religion with Mormons and Wiccans, ethnic stereotypes with Jews and Korean-Americans. This is a space reserved for thinking, connecting and enlightening. It is a place for galaxies to converge. Where better to teach?

Heather Joseph-Witham (third from left) with students at the Día de los Muertos Festival, Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Fall 2011

THE BATTLE FOR EQUALITY Boo Jarchow (’08 Product Design, Cultural Studies Minor)

To be an artist is to be an observer. One of the important things I learned while minoring in Cultural Studies was the difference between observing and understanding. The ability to understand and convey that understanding both artistically and linguistically is a powerful tool.

As a student, I was able to seamlessly apply what I was studying in LAS to every project I did for Product Design, and vice versa. I didn’t know that, once I finished school, those parallels would continue to exist so intensely in my life and work.

I don’t work as a product designer in the way I was taught at Otis, but I still design products every day—just a different kind.

Working in online media means I do a lot of photography, constantly use Photoshop, create videos and, most importantly, write about what is going on in the world of SheWired.com readers.

Boo Jarchow (center) in action

“ I tend to use my own interests in the ‘Popular’ to create courses that I believe are relevant for our students.”

A few months after I graduated, California’s Proposition 8 passed, and I found myself diving headfirst into the hardcore LGBT activist community. I organized rallies and protests, and soon found myself helping to spearhead the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. Providing coverage of these events for SheWired, a brand under Here Media, the biggest LGBT media company, qualified as both work and pleasure. While the initial impact of Proposition 8 has calmed slightly, the inequality created remains. I would never have been able to evaluate the actions i planned or measure their impact on people outside the LGBT community.

I hear details of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture constantly—far more than the average member of our community.

Keeping the battle for equality on the minds of people who have all the rights that others are denied is dificult. It requires campaigning and newsmaking and fundraising.

It requires creativity.

In June I participated in the AIDS/LifeCycle.

I rode my bike 550 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles, along with 2,500 other cyclists and 600 roadies, to raise money and awareness for AIDS programs at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center and San Francisco AIDS Foundation. As we rode through towns where the populations are one-tenth the size of the ALC group, residents

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greeted us with signs and noisemakers, cheering us on in our journey. Most, if not all of the riders know someone living with or have lost someone to HIV or AIDS, and understand how crucial it is that the epidemic ends. By riding and covering the event as a writer, I transmit the importance of finding a cure to the people cheering—those who saw us at a stoplight and Googled “bike riders all dressed in red,” and anyone else who may not be aware.

I wouldn’t be able to do my job without observing and understanding both the needs and beliefs of my own community and those of the communities around me. Comprehending the thinking of those who voted against us, motivating younger people to call and Tweet their senators or raising funds even during a recession are all skills I acquired in the Cultural Studies program.

“ I didn’t know that, once I finished school, those parallels would continue to exist so intensely in my life and work.”

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Otis College of Art and Design Alumni Magazine

College News

11 2011

9 OMAG

Fall 2011

Sam Tanis

Sang Youb Shin

for

01. ALI / Sam Tanis

02. Communication Arts / Cole W. Moss

Meet eleven members of the class of 2011, one from each major. They answer questions about their backgrounds, projects, favorite places in L.A., and what’s next for each.

01 of 11 BFA

I collect tie clips. I’ve also eaten more macaroni and cheese than anyone west of the Colorado River.

Cool things you did outside of school?

I am working on a novel right now. I also have my own blog, thelasercutter.blogspot.com

I’ve lived in Long Beach since I was one.

Final Senior Project? Our collective Senior Project

03. Digital Media / Sang Youb Shin

this year was “Big Bang Barcode.” My own final studio project was a children’s museum on the Chicago River Walk.

Other intriguing projects? The Donghia Master

04. Fashion Design / Holly Buskirk, Caitlin Knox

06. Toy Design / Harmony Hines Slattery

07. Product Design / Ryan Robertson

classes with LTL Architects, and Sharon Johnston and Nader Tehrani. I was awarded a scholarship for my portfolio submission each year, and also received the Donghia Senior Scholarship.

Most fun/influential LAS class? Critical Analysis & Semiotics and Composition & Critical Thought —both taught by Jean-Marie Venturini—and the Creative Writing Workshop with Melissa Clark. I’ve found that narrative is a skill that comes in handy when presenting architecture projects.

Favorite place in L.A.? Downtown L.A., with the fashion and bank districts and Bunker Hill. Also Santa Monica. And it’s pretty fun to see a movie at Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

How did Otis affect your work/life? The Integrated

Learning class “NeighborGapBridge” was a major turning point in the way I view my studio work and the way I understand the profound interaction between the world in which we live and the individual.

08. Graduate Graphic Design / Hazel Mandujano

Next? I’m going to graduate school for architecture

at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I am pleased to say I received a tuition waiver and Teaching Assistantship so I’m going for free.

09. Graduate Fine Arts / Terry Norton-Wright

10. Graduate Writing / Rocío Carlos

11. Graduate Public Practice / David Russell

Digital Media

Something unusual/idiosyncratic?

Hometown? I was born in Carson City, Nevada, but

05. Fine Arts / Lindsay Schulz

03 of 11 BFA

Architecture/ Landscape/Interiors

Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I’m 28 and I’ve never had a driver’s license. For four years I took public transportation between Long Beach and Otis.

Cole W. Moss

02 of 11 BFA

Final Senior Project?

Communication Arts

Hometown? Joplin, Missouri.

Final Senior Project? “Untie a Knot”, the first in

a series focusing on important issues in America.

And a book, paintings, and videos focused on Mr. Unicorn (“Unicorn Being a Jerk”) will be published by a subsidiary of HarperCollins in November 2011.

Website: misterunicorn.com.

Other intriguing projects? Classmate Tiimo Schul-

ze’s SpaceMovies • Classmate Nicole Emanuel’s ‘The “What if” of 1988’ • Hazel Mandujano (‘01 MFA) and faculty member Lorenzo Hurtado (‘07 MFA) “Good Exchange.”

Cool things outside of school? Participating in the design program M/M Summit for nine days in Holland forever changed every bit of my work.

Most fun/influential LAS class? The chance to explore and expound upon ideas from all of the classes I took during the last four years was one of the best things that happened to me. I will never forget the daunting, treacherous, and beautiful experience of writing a paper with faculty member Marlena Donahue about the changing face of monogamy in America.

Favorite place in L.A.? The Cheese Store in Beverly Hills has my stomach, the Natural History Museum has my eyes, and my other parts are undeclared.

How did Otis affect your work/life? I can now, for

the most part, articulate why I feel the way I feel. I am still surprised to see how valuable words have become to me in what I do every day.

Next? I’ll try to make mistakes so that I can learn

from them now, rather than later.

“Go Green or Else,” a PSA motion graphics piece about global warming, was featured in Computer Arts Magazine 190.

Hometown? South Korea. My family immigrated, most recently residing in Orange County.

Other intriguing projects? Motion Graphics with Bill Sneed, a very well-known figure in the industry.

Cool things outside of school? Rock climbing.

Most fun/influential LAS class? “Concept and Creativity” with Jennifer Egger. She helped me create works with humor, gave compliments, and reminded the class that humor stays in people’s heads for a long time.

Favorite place in LA? I love Koreatown. After a

late night at school, I’d go with a friend at 6 a.m. to enjoy breakfast.

How did Otis affect your work/life? I was able

to endure all the hardships, like staying up all night, without drinking any energy drinks. Everything seems easy since graduation.

Next? I have been freelancing as a motion graphic animator and designer. I’m planning to go on a vacation to Japan.

Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I’m obsessed with sodas!!

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Otis College of Art and Design Alumni Magazine

College News

Fall 2011

Cool things you did outside of school?

Holly Buskirk and Caitlin Knox

04 of 11 BFA

Fashion Design

C: Can you please define the term “outside of school”? I’m not familiar with the concept.

Other intriguing projects? CK: Holly and I had

the same mentor for all but one project, and would laugh after independently designing identical garments. Each of us pushed the other to take the craziest or most bizarre idea as far as possible.

Most fun/influential LAS class? HB: In “Time

Travel Literature” taught by Jean-Marie Venturini, we explored different ways to perceive time and studied quantum physics and Einstein. It changed how I see the universe.

Hometown? HB: Yucaipa, California, a small town

nestled into the hills of Big Bear Mountain.

CK: I’m from all over the West Coast. I’m a ranchfamily brat.

Final Senior Project? HB: We worked with mentor

Bob Mackie to create eveningwear inspired by African tribal garments. Caity and I chose the Ndebele tribe and created a patterned chain mail. We also made a dress entirely out of tree bark inspired by the Surma and Mursi tribes who adorn themselves with mud and plant life.

How did Otis affect your work/life? CK: Harder.

Better. Faster. Stronger. Work is never over. After Otis, the rest of my life looks vastly more achievable. Otis forced me to fight a war against the limits of my mind and my body. Creativity doesn’t sleep, though often it eats whole boxes of Cheez-Its without realizing it.

Hometown? Santa Rosa, California. However, in the

Lindsay Schulz

05 of 11 BFA

Favorite place in L.A.? HB: Rose Bowl flea market in Pasadena: everything you could want or need (or absolutely don’t need but buy anyway) can be found there.

first eight years of my life, I spent every weekend in our RV at motocross races for my father and brother.

Final Senior Project? I produced four different

Fine Arts

Next?

I am currently interning for artist Kerry Tribe, who is amazing! I have two paintings in an exhibition at the Charles M. Schulz Museum called “Pop’d from the Panel.” I’m doing my best to create new works with any free time I have!

Next? HB: I am interning at 12th Street by Cynthia Vincent (‘88) CK: I’m designing women’s wear at James Perse – a complete dream come true.

Something unusual/idiosyncratic?HB: Caity and I both love Harry Potter. We knew we would be friends when each of us noticed that the other had casually snuck Harry Potter elements into our work.

CK: Our wizardry runs REAL deep. There is no part of our lives, friendship or creativity that is not influenced by Harry Potter.

Next?

I am working on my own projects and looking for a company that makes objects that create positive change in the world.

Most fun/influential LAS class? Creative writing.

Definitely. I’ve been writing stories since I was six, and unfortunately drifted away from it for a few years until I took that class.

Ryan Robertson

06 of 11 BFA

Product Design

Hometown? Scottsdale, Arizona

Hometown? Simi Valley, California

Final Senior Project? I developed a new business

Final Senior Project? “Butterfly Magic” for young girls, made of translucent “buggie bodies” that housed LEDs and glowed when picked up. The kit came with ways to decorate the butterflies, which could also be worn as jewelry.

model for government bureaucracies to use scarce resources in an eco-sensible way. Specifically, I designed a line of furniture made from an old-growth salvaged tree which otherwise would have been tossed in the wood chipper. The idea came to me when I read about eleven acres of 200-300 year-old oak trees in Southern California that were removed and shredded.

Favorite place in LA? First, the LAX lookout. My

How did Otis affect your work/life? Otis’ work

Most fun/influential LAS class? David Bremer’s

Other intriguing projects? For Alex Slade’s “Land-

ethic affected me the most. If I’m not working on at least eight projects at one time I begin to think I’m slacking. I spend about 90% of my time doing research and writing for projects now. What I’ve noticed the most is how rad artists are! Our vision, creations, humor, lifestyle...nothing could be more ideal.

“Capstone” class helped me put all of my true design interests into a concise paper.

scape” class, I silkscreened on burlap materials in three horizontal lines: the top line was cows’ blood, the middle was bleach, and the bottom was [used] motor oil.

Cool things outside of school? Some of my favorite

memories were being on Olive Rhyme. We created that title for road trips I took with classmates Cole Moss and Nicole Emanuel. Olive Rhyme 1 took us to San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Byron, Yosemite, and back to LA. In Olive Rhyme 2, we went to Santa Rosa, Muir Woods, Portland, Seattle, Montana, Yellowstone, Salt Lake City, Zion, and back to LA. We are heading out on Olive Rhyme 3 in a week!

Something unusual/idiosyncratic? Most of my

behavior results from protecting myself against my older brother. For example, when I look in a pantry, I keep one foot outside the door because when I was younger, my brother would push me in, hold the door shut, and turn off the light (which was always conveniently located on the outside).

Toy Design

A “secret” beach in Ventura County

pieces. In “the white out series,” I made five 44” x 34” ink jet prints, painted white out over the photographs (many hours and about 200 bottles of Liquid Paper), and hand-inked text from a typeface created based on the Peanuts text. The images in this series are photographs that my father took with his Kodak Brownie of his childhood home. My grandfather, Charles Schulz (creator of Peanuts) became a structure for the series.

father is a private pilot and I’ve always been around planes. It is meditative to sit and watch the planes take off – I often visit during the middle of the night and at dawn. Second, a ranch in Agoura Hills where I board my horse. It is absolutely wonderful to get out of the city, and spend time in such a tranquil environment.

07 of 11 BFA Favorite place in LA?

How did Otis affect your work/life?

HB: Otis is a boot camp for artists. The faculty members push you to, and beyond, your limits relentlessly until you have almost no limits. Your mind stops fighting you, and you can work endlessly at peace.

Harmony Hines Slattery

Other intriguing projects? Developing a prosthetic

leg out of recyclable materials, and participating in the Palauan Freedom Memorial Project that honors U.S. military veterans from all wars—and visiting Palau!

Cool things outside of school? Skydiving with my

friends and scuba diving in Palau.

Favorite place in L.A.? 26th Street in Manhattan Beach. Since I began surfing, I think I’ve spent over 100 hours there.

How did Otis affect your work/life? I’ve known for a

long time that I wanted to do something that involved drawing and building things. Otis was one of the big stepping-stones to get me where I want to go.

Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I’m obsessed

with living close to the ocean.

Other intriguing projects? I participated in the

Palauan Memorial Freedom Project class. Traveling to Palau was incredible. I also did a group project sponsored by Disney/Pixar.

Cool things outside of school? Surfing, camping,

going to the beach, and snowboarding.

Most fun/influential LAS class? A children’s litera-

ture class was pretty cool.

How did Otis affect your work/life? It set me on my

career path.

Next? I’m now working as a designer at JAKKS Pacific, a toy company where I had an internship while I was a student.

Something unusual/idiosyncratic? Whenever my friends travel, I ask them to bring me back a rock or shell, and I keep them in a big glass bowl.

TURN TO NEXT PAGE TO READ ABOUT THE MFA CLASS OF 2011

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Hazel Mandujano

09 of 11 MFA

11

Most fun/influential class?

How did Otis affect your work/life?

Critique, thesis writing, and a class secretly called “Advanced Beef.”

The mentorship I received was invaluable. I now have a much sharper lens for my own work.

Terry NortonWright

08 of 11 MFA

Cool things you did outside of school?

Graduate Fine Arts

Hometown? Landisville, New Jersey

I recently spent three months in Amsterdam working with great designers and thinkers.

Hometown? Wilmington, California

Thesis project? “En Wonder,” an installation calling into

Thesis Project? Reverb (For Girls) is an educational

question one’s relationship with one’s own body and the relationship between form, nature, and mortality.

program for inner city teenage girls interested in becoming artists, writers, musicians, designers, and entrepreneurs.

Other intriguing projects? Late nights at the grad studios. Meeting other artists and learning from them. Some of the conversations I had between 12 midnight and 3 a.m. I will never forget. Also, artist studio visits.

Cool things outside of school? Attending faculty

members’ openings. I even flew to N.Y. with some classmates to see one of our professor’s solo exhibitions. That was really cool.

Favorite place in LA? The airport. I also love driving

the Pacific Coast Highway.

How did Otis affect your work/life? If you really trust

and commit to the experience of grad school, and are willing to feel like you are walking around inside out, and are open to being taught and able to stand up to your fears, you will discover the source of your creativity.

Next? I am making work! I have also started a

business called The Culture Production Company. I produce art objects, collaborations, performances, shows, and special projects, and provide consulting and individual artist services.

Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I am obsessed

with organizing.

Other intriguing projects? Working with faculty

members Meg Cranston, Larry Johnson, and Kali Nikitas. They changed everything for me.

Most fun/influential LAS class? “Theory As

Practice” Favorite place in L.A.? Tidepools and the Sunken

City in San Pedro.

How did Otis affect your work/life? Going to Otis

made me realize how poor and rich I was at the same time.

Next? I am developing a practice that involves art,

design, education, and administration.

Something unusual/idiosyncratic? Most of my possessions are books.

Rocío Carlos

10 of 11 MFA

Graduate Public Practice

Something unusual/idiosyncratic?

I wake up every morning at first light to surf.

“ What makes Otis great is a diverse collection of individuals”

Graduate Writing

Hometown? South/East Los Angeles.

Thesis Project? A manuscript of poetry.

Other intriguing projects? I was assistant editor of

our literary tabloid OR. As part of Jen Hofer’s poetry seminar, we wrote and created a book using Otis’ Lab Press to bind the books for a “real” look.

Cool things you did outside of Otis? Going to

shows and art events.

Most fun/influential class? The poetry workshop

with Dennis Phillips.

Favorite place in L.A.? Rattle Snake Park adjacent

to the L.A. River.

Next? I am writing my poetry manuscript, freelance

editing, and looking forward to teaching at Otis.

Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I am a baker

to be reckoned with.

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2011 Commencement

David Russell Graduate Graphic Design

Fall 2011

Hometown? Born in L.A., but hometown is

Denver.

Thesis project? My thesis, “Mobile Mural Lab,”

(MML), was a collaboration with Public Practice alumnus Roberto Del Hoyo (‘10 MFA). This mobile art space promotes and supports the visual voice of citizens in the public realm. We outfitted a former City of L.A. search-and-rescue van, and paint the exterior approximately twice a month. The interior serves both as an exhibition space and as a multi-media information resource.

The Power of Your Imagination

Other intriguing project? Assisting artist and

Commencement Speaker and Honorary Doctorate recipient Sheila Levrant de Bretteville—also the founding Chair of Otis’ Communication Arts Department— told students: “The best attribute in changing times is to be open to the unexpected, dextrous in ability, and focused on the continued development of your own unique work, even as you accommodate what has been unexpected. Wherever you go, whatever you choose

faculty member Andrea Bowers at “Project Row House” in Houston, and participating as a fellow in the Anyang Public Art Project in Korea, where I spent a week with Korean architecture students analyzing the current state of gentrification in and around Seoul.

to do, I wish you the power of your imagination.”

President Hoi noted: “At Otis, the students feel connected to each other and the work has heart. Please stay connected to others while staying true and honest to your feelings and beliefs as you make choices and generate action, and you will keep inspiring others.

Cool things outside of school? Reality.

Through your inspired responses to reality, you will

Favorite place in L.A.? East L.A.

mobilize our world to transition to a better and more

How did Otis affect your work/life? Otis provid-

sustainable future, and you will enjoy success and sat-

ed me with insight into community engagement and the contemporary art world. I also learned about the history of L.A., and how modernization and globalization affect society today.

isfaction in a lifelong cycle of inspiration and action.”

Next? Roberto Del Hoyo and I currently operate

the Mobile Mural Lab full time as well as paint and restore murals in and around L.A.

Valedictorian Paula Suzanne Little (Communication Arts) spent ten years as a fashion designer and President Hoi with honorary doctorate recipient Sheila Levrant de Bretteville

investment banker to earn money to enroll at Otis. The New Zealand native had these words for her classmates, “As they would say back home: ‘Kia kaha,’ which means ‘forever strong.’”

Watch the ceremony at http://bit.ly/j6fgtR

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Class of 2011

Graduating students display their projects at the year-end exhibition, showing their professional work to future employers, museum curators and gallery owners, alumni, parents, friends, and family.

“I have seen other student shows and have taught at other schools. I must say what I see and feel here is special. A lot of times elsewhere, ambitious and talented students want to succeed, and the schools give them a formula for success. At Otis, the students feel connected to each other and the work has heart. I see the ability to explore and to use emotional truth to connect with and serve the larger public. It is inspiring.”

“ I’ll pay Otis and students the highest compliment. The student shows have nothing ‘student’ about them. They are professional in every way, from the presentation to the immensely creative content.”

Fall 2011

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Fall 2011

“ I knew from the first day of class it was going to be a great experience.”

Freedom Memorial Project One team’s design proposal incorporates Palauan carved wooden

In June, a group of Integrated Learning students spent almost two weeks in the Republic

boards that tell the story of creation

of Palau as the first phase of a three-year initiative to design and build a memorial to

and other myths.

Palauans who lost their lives serving in the U.S. military from World War II to the present.

Visiting faculty members and public artists Jeffrey Vallance (’81 MFA) and May Sun (’79), and cultural anthropologist Cindi Alvitre worked with the students to transform creative ideas into built reality in cooperation and consultation with the people of Palau.

The Palauns suggested that the students could incorporate their symbols: a turtle shell (women) and an axe (men).

In addition to meeting with the civic leaders and relatives of those military members who lost their lives, the students explored the island’s wonders: Jellyfish Lake,

New Spins for Preschool Toys

Day 7

Day 10

Treated to one of the most amazing sun-

Our visit was profiled on the front page of

The Bilung gave us a personal tour of the

sets leaving Guam on the way to Palau; it

the Island Times newspaper. We presented

Cultural Center, including the Bai, a meet-

looked like the sky was on fire.

our proposals to the United Artists of

ing place, covered in traditional painted

Palau, other Government officials, and

storyboards that is latticed together and

invited guests.

tied down by coconut husks. We were treated to a demonstration of traditional

Palau is made up of sixteen states. Our team lodged in Koror, in the dorms of a

Day 8

dance and a sumptuous meal. We then

community college. Met Helen Reed-

Two team members presented their health

presented to both the Council of Chiefs

Rowe, the American Ambassador and

campaign projects to the Minister of

and the Bilung’s Council of Ladies.

Patrick Tellei, President of the community

Health. He was so impressed that he invit-

college.

ed them each to do a month’s residency in

Day 12

Palau next summer! Otis women attended

Visited the island of Peleliu, the site of a

Day 5

the first childbirth ceremony for a relative

bloody, three-month-long WWII battle

In the evening, presented the project

of the Bilung (the Queen of Palau).

between the Americans/Palauans and

proposals to President Toribiong and

“When we got our first glimpses of the

the Japanese. Signs of the past were

several other heads of state, who were so

new mother, a hush fell over the group;

everywhere: abandoned tanks, markers of

impressed that they were speechless.

she was simply stunning; the contrast of

mines that continue to be discovered, as

the bright yellow skin [she is painted in a

well as the remains of fallen soldiers.

mixture of turmeric and ginger] against the blue and red skirt was amazing.”

Christine Shu-Hotta, Spin Master’s Director of Global Talent Acquisition, explains the addition of a summer intern contest that was added to the internship program: “We partnered marketing and design interns to work together to develop a concept toy review. Grouped in three teams, they were asked to present to an executive judging panel, but we also had our most senior directors and designers attend the final presentations. The Naomi Kwiatkowski, Sweet Surprise Tea Party

For the first time in Otis’ history, sophomores in Joyce

Day 1 and 2

boys, girls, wheels, or preschool.

Nick Hayes, Sprouts

stingers; tropical waterfalls; sandy beaches; amazing diving, and tropical flora and fauna.

Students posted daily to the blog, chronicling their adventures in the South Pacific

at the company this summer in one of four toy categories:

by George Wolfe

a 12,000 year-old marine lake that is the only one in the world where jellyfish have no

Day 3

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At the end of the semester, the students presented

presentation was not only to ‘sell’ the storyboard, but also to create a marketing plan. The general consensus from our panel and the audience was that all teams did an

Mesch’s design class teamed up with Spin Master Ltd.,

their designs. With excitement in the air, Spin Master

exceptional job. There was a first, second and third place

one of the leading toy manufacturers in the world, to

surprised the students with awards of $1,000 for first

awarded to each of the teams in a very festive ceremony.

create and design preschool products. Spin Master’s

place, $700 for second place, and $500 for third place; all

I think the students really felt part of the whole team here,

sponsored project was coordinated by Toy Design Chair

participating students received a $100 payment for their

and a couple of them are continuing with part-time work

Deborah Ryan alongside Spin Master’s Senior Designer,

efforts. Between the culmination of a lot of hard work and

at Spin Master. We intend to further our relationship

James F. Elliott. Jim worked side by side with the Otis stu-

the surprise award money, there wasn’t a dry eye in the

with Otis, and continue our summer internship program

dents as they generated ideas, honed their concepts and

house, as the students expressed their gratitude for the

for the years to come.”

prepared for their final presentation. Along the way they

opportunity to work with Spin Master.

learned valuable lessons in “real world” design challenges.

Naomi Kwiatkowski, the first-place winner, noted:

“The Spin Master-sponsored project was a great way for us to transition from a school dynamic into a

“The group that I was able to work with made this experi-

professional environment for the summer internships,”

be a great experience,” said Mesch, “and that this was an

ence incredible. My peers and mentor were so helpful

said intern Rafael Bencosme. “It provided a taste of how

exceptional group of students. Even though they were

and supportive along the way, providing constructive

toy designers get to work in a world-class company.

working on individual concepts, they functioned like a

criticism and inventive ideas to further our concepts into

The school projects tend to give a lot of flexibility to the

true design team. They had a great rapport, were always

something concrete. We all had the privilege to perform

students, fostering uniqueness in the designs. We had

willing to share ideas and resources, and they trusted and

as professionals, and the process was challenging but

the opportunity to concentrate on specific brands for

reacted to the feedback they were given by their mentors.

exciting. In the end, I feel that it was hard work and the

specific users. What really made it a unique experience

That kind of collaborative effort made everyone’s projects

group effort that led me to this achievement.”

was the opportunity to receive feedback and trade ideas

“I knew from the first day of class it was going to

stronger and it showed in the outcome. The results were inspiring and exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

In addition to the collaboration on the sponsored design project, six students completed design internships

with highly talented people.”

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A Creative Legend Bob Mackie honored at the 2011 Scholarship Benefit and Fashion Show

Fall 2011

Editor’s Note: Costume designer Bob Mackie, who has dressed such luminaries as Cher, Bette Midler, Pink, Tina Turner and Carol Burnett, has volunteered his time over the last fifteen years to act as a mentor to Fashion Design students. This year, along with the display of the African-inspired work his students designed, Mackie received

“ ”

the Creative Legend Award at the annual Scholarship Benefit and Fashion Show.

“ ”

“ ”

Also honored at this event was the renovated LEED-certified Santa Monica Place. Art Coppola, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Macerich, accepted the Creative Vision Award. To see a video about Bob’s work at Otis, visit otis.edu/mackie.

When I came to Otis with an

(At Otis) the students almost do it for

I get so much out of these sessions with

assignment, it was always something

real before they hit the market, and

the students. They know things that I don’t

that I wished I could do. And I thought,

they’re feeling their way but this school

know and I can give them some knowledge.

well, I’ll just have them do it, and it

is really, really good.

It’s amazing to see students who are so well

will be terrific and inspiring. Teaching

educated turning out product that looks

them is like a gift.

so beautiful.

2011 Mentors Bleu/Rod Beattie (’86) Bob Mackie

“ To see them run with it, and do such beautiful work is very impressive...”

Cynthia Rowley Diesel Forever 21 Hurley and Nike Juicy Couture

Dawn Nguyen (’99),

Brogan Terrell (’08)

and Emily Bowers (’03)

Kaufman Franco MAX AZRIA Max Studio

Amé Austin Max (’95)

Old Navy Sean John

Steve McSween (’94) top: student design, mentor Sean Jean (Steve McSween ’94) middle: Award-winning seniors Esther Kim, Sung Hee Shin, Bara Kwon, Mona (Seung) Jung, and Yi Seul Choi bottom: Mentor Amé Austin Max (’95) of Max Studio with award-winning student Yi Seul Choi

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Fall 2011

Bia Lowe

DOUBLE U • OH • EM • AY • EN

“Someone put me in the wrong nest. When I got involved

Leslie Labowitz-Starus (‘72 MFA) on the hoisting of

with other ducks, it was great!” Everyone gravitated to-

Kate Millet’s sculpture of a woman on top of the WB:

ward each other. We were young and were going to change

It must have been a slow news day because we got front-

the world. The WB exuded a magnetic confidence, energy,

page coverage in the L.A. Times with a headline “New

cohesion, and sharing.

Image of Women.”

I applied for a Fulbright to go to Dusseldorf and study

Paula Lumbard

with Joseph Beuys. Going to Europe was the best thing

At the WB, the personal became political.

I ever did for my political awareness as an activist, artist

In “Bedtime Stories: Women Speak out About Incest,” the

and feminist.

work became a vehicle for healing.

Sheila Levrant de Bretteville

Joyce Kozloff

The WB symbolized the freedom of beginnings; women

I never had a woman studio art teacher, and I never

looking for ways to be more visible. The spirit of the time,

thought about it. It all changed that year I spent in L.A.

all over the world, was liberating. We were figuring out

(1970-71) I felt very lucky to have participated in that mo-

what to do, what questions to ask. Before there was such

ment. My generation became woman-identified, and the

a thing as women’s studies programs anywhere, WB con-

optimism, energy and enthusiasm were infectious.

tinuing education presented lectures on women’s studies.

Rachel Rosenthal The WB was organic: members attracted others as they

Cindy Marsh My boyfriend Buzzy walked me to the WB, where we saw all these women (with spiky shaved heads, wearing t-shirts,

display at Otis’ Ben Maltz Gallery through Jan. 28, 2012, as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than 60 Southern California cultural institutions that tells the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene. Please check otis.edu/calendar for many public events scheduled to complement the exhibition. These excerpts are mainly from video interviews created

by Otis’ Teaching and Learning Center, posted at otis.edu/public_programs/ ben_maltz_gallery/wb_videos.html and on Otis’s YouTube Channel youtube.com/ user/OtisCollege During fall semester, Liberal Arts and Sciences is offering many electives connected with the WB and the PST exhibitions. Students will learn about aspects of feminist art, the development of contemporary art in L.A., urban development and

He said “It’s your decision,” and left. So I took a leap

mance art, and other related topics.

movement in art and communication that they introduced to the world.

Anne Gauldin According to Arlene Raven, one of the WB founders, the goals of feminist art were to invite dialogue, raise consciousness and transform culture.

From 1973-1991, the Woman’s Building (WB) in downtown L.A. offered opportunities for women in creative writing, graphic design, printing, performance art, video, and visual arts. The WB housed the Feminist Studio Workshop, galleries, a feminist bookstore and travel agency, and the L.A. office of NOW. It was named after the Woman’s Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which was designed by architect Sophia Hayden.

As WB member Terry Wolverton wrote, Language splinters under the complexity, the immensity, the tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of women whose imaginations and emotions and lives touched and were touched by the Woman’s Building. All their stories, their dreams. And it was the art that was made within its walls, yes, but also the art that was made by some woman in some little town, work that came into being because she’d heard that the Woman’s Building dared to exist.* One such woman was artist Betty Gordon, a Seattle housewife: “In 1978, I read The Feminine Mystique, and thought Betty Friedan was telling my story. The spirit moved me to get out of the house. I heard about Judy Chicago and FSW (Feminist Studio Workshop), and I moved from Seattle to L.A. I was 30 years older than the others. I began to tell my story of being at home all those years. The young women were independent and bright, and inspired my work as an artist. The culture gave me the courage to talk about anything, because I was supported, and I learned how to advocate for myself. I found the tools to express the meaning I wanted to communicate.”

so many. It was a place where you earned your ribbons!

Otis College of Art and Design, © Feminist Art Workers

and Art at the Woman’s Building” is on

popular culture, collaborative and perfor-

different world. The WB artists’ legacy is the humanist

Woman’s Building Image Archive, Otis College of Art and Design

Pictured: Cheri Gaulke, Woman’s Building Image Archive,

lived their lives. It created so much change in the lives of

Editor’s Note: “Doin it in Public: Feminism

with armpit hair) hanging all over each other at the gates. of faith, walked in, and knew I had became part of a

Anne Gauldin, Photo collage for the Woman’s Building Newsletter, undated,

“ Heaven or Hell?,” Feminist Art Workers, 1978, performance,

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Michelle Kort

The Woman’s Building offered up a spark, and this was the message in its glow: that you, a woman, could be an artist too, and that your woman’s life—whatever its particulars— could kindle your art, and that in turn, the act of making art would ignite that life, and finally, that a community of women, engaged in the twin acts of making art and making a new life, would transform the mirrors of culture into windows through which you all would fly, like sparks, into the night.*

Why is there a woman’s building?

Because all the other buildings in town are mens’ buildings!

Graduate Public Practice Chair Suzanne

Michelle Kort

huge, tall, hooded women at City Hall was

al, but part had to do with life and society, from a woman’s viewpoint. We were always documenting; we had a sense of history even as we were doing it. Now enough time has passed that it is part of history—and can be honored.

Cheryl Swannack Our goal was to put feminism IN the world. It was about DOING IT rather than dreaming of it.

The WB started like wildfire, like a magnetic force. It could only have happened in L.A. where there was no highstakes art world. There was a museum and a few galleries

Jerri Allyn The WB felt like a beehive.

but not fierce competition for careers. The supportive

We envisioned the crit as a supportive tool, and this be-

environment encouraged us to try many different things.

came a lasting benefit for teaching.

Deena Metzger The future seemed possible. Social change could come through the arts but you had to live it. * Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman’s

Eloise Klein Healy

Building, Terry Wolverton, City Lights, 2002

WB was a life-changing experience; it was a liminal

created “In Mourning and In Loss” as a media event by women protesting violence against women. The arresting image of a response to the hillside strangler.

I can date everything back to the WB—part of it was person-

Terry Wolverton

Lacy and Leslie Labowitz-Starus (’72 MFA)

space—the air was charged. I was a Catholic girl running around with witches on broomsticks—it was crazy.

Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz-Starus (’72 MFA), In Mourning and In Rage, performance at L.A. City Hall, 1977 © Suzanne Lacy

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The Power of Three Otis’ Annual Teaching Excellence Awards

Jill HigashiZeleznik

Erin Hauber

Recognized as a long-term faculty member who consistently motivates students, inspires colleagues, and creates a lasting impression of an extraordinary educator.

For me, the passion that exists in teaching is about the process, the journey, which results in a body of work that the student is proud of. Seeing and recognizing the value of what hard work and drive can accomplish is indeed uplifting.

The most valuable attribute of a great teacher is the ability to pull the best work out of each student, regardless of ability.

For some it comes easily, for others it is more of a challenge.

But in either case it is equally rewarding.

If you want something done, just ask Jill! Not only will it be done quickly and efficiently but also with the highest quality and a taste level that all respect and admire. As an invaluable member of the Fashion Design team, she is a leader who puts in the extra time to help students in any way that she can. Her skills earn her the title “Designer’s Designer” among her peers. Jill is serious about her work, straightforEditors note: Three annual teaching excel-

ward and honest but always fair in assessing a situation.

lence awards are given to faculty members

Her incredible organizational and time management skills

for their commitment to Otis, clear and

establish the bar of excellence for all who work with her. All

effective teaching, and exceptional ability

of these qualities are mixed with humor and an infectious

to respond to a diverse student body.

laugh that lightens the fast pace of the department.

Students, faculty and alumni nominate

– Rose Brantley, Chair, Fashion Design

Educator Award and two Teaching Excellence Awards (one full-time and one part-time) are presented at the annual Commencement Ceremony. (On the following pages, comments from students and alumni follow the Chairs’.)

Carol Branch

(’87 Fashion Design)

DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR AWARD

these faculty members. One Distinguished

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Fall 2011

She gives out her heart when helping out with design. She does not only apply what she knows, but also understands and studies each individual student, and works with them to find what is best for their designs. She pushes and pushes until you see your real talent.

I graduated four years ago, but her spirit still awakens me when I am lost.

FULL-TIME TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD

PART-TIME TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD

Recognized for communicating a thorough knowledge of and enthusiasm for the subject and transforming or enhancing teaching methodology and practice.

Being a teacher is fun! Every day students challenge me to be a more enthusiastic maker, supportive mentor and effective communicator. I enjoy seeing students develop their voice, come to realize there is thinking in making, and expand their understanding of themselves and their work.

The teachers I admire—and find the most effective— combine a passion for their subject with an open-source philosophy about sharing knowledge, and an intense curiosity about the world-at-large. A great teacher models the collaborative, hard-working and courageous behavior we ask of our students.

Erin Hauber was an exceptionally generous and committed member of the faculty whose teaching impacted the lives of many students, balancing high expectations with compassion and patience. She joined the department during a time of change, and helped to usher in a new curriculum, several faculty colleagues, and a number of initiatives. Erin took her job seriously but never lost site of the humor needed to get through a semester or a given day. She communicated her passion for teaching to all her students, shared her knowledge freely, and communicated her belief in them wherever their careers might lead them.

– Kali Nikitas, Chair, Communication Arts Note: Erin is now continuing her education to earn an MFA.

Even though I haven’t had Erin since my first semester junior year, she sticks out in my mind as a teacher who encompasses the following admirable qualities: She always had a way to communicate constructive criticism, and a pat on the back when deserved; she was always strict but fair, and made you a strong designer and a thoughtful and responsible person; while she was serious, she had a great sense of humor and made the classroom a fun environment to be in, especially as the relationship evolved over time through multiple critiques, conversations and projects.

Recognized for communicating a thorough knowledge of and enthusiasm for the subject and transforming or enhancing teaching methodology and practice.

There is no one thing that I value most about teaching; rather, there are related moments. I appreciate the moment when I give students new information or a new perspective, opening their eyes to something other than themselves. I get really excited when the students take that knowledge and apply it to their lived lives, whether making art, starting a petition for a “just” cause, or having a “friendly discussion” with a person they just met.

The most valuable characteristic of a great teacher, to me, is the ability to bring joy into the classroom. Sometimes we ( faculty members) get caught up in titles, schools, knowledge, etc. However, in the end it’s about reaching the student. Education should be fun. If you are having a good time in your course, you can be sure the students are.

Since 2001, Dr. Carol has been teaching in Liberal Arts and Sciences, creating classes as far-ranging as “Examining the Civil Rights Movement” to “Harry Potter.” She received her PhD from UCLA in Folklore and Mythology, specializing in African American performance. Among her many accom-

Carol’s talent in teaching is her ability to take very complex and challenging material and present it in an engaging and relevant way.

plishments, perhaps one of which she might justifiably be most proud, is founding Otis’ longest-running student group, Under the Baobab Tree, dedicated to the retention of African- and Latin-descended students. Students regularly characterize her teaching as “excellent,” “best teacher I’ve

I’ve heard great things about her as a teacher. Her enthusiasm seems to put my friends in the greatest moods.

ever had,” “awesome,” and the ultimate student accolade that transcends generations and cultures: “cool.”

Carol’s teaching is generous and accessible, caring yet demanding, both “deeply human and humanizing.” Her teaching practice exemplifies her belief in our students’ ability to achieve and succeed, and creates a classroom atmosphere that has a genuine sense of community; one that always models the very ideas she teaches.

– Debra Ballard, Chair, Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Carol enriches the life of every student she encounters, and her teaching style and subject matter actually help students learn. It is a blessing to know a teacher who so passionately supports students in their quest for an education.

OMAG 24

section:

Alumna Profile

Otis College of Art and Design Alumni Magazine

25 OMAG

Donor Profile

Into the Light . . .

With an extremely creative dad and a business-savvy mom, Amanda Thomas feels that the lion’s share of her drive and self-discipline is in her blood, but she points to Otis’ “Entrepreneur 101” class as being critical (and humbling) in terms of focusing her thoughts and efforts regarding her business.

Local Artist Supports Scholarships

“Learning how to write a business plan, researching your market and demographic, coming up with PR tactics, producing accounting spreadsheets of potential expenses are all things I probably wouldn’t have done on my own. But I’m so happy I was able to have those few

1

by George Wolfe

months before graduation to get it done, and have clarity and knowledge to move forward. You think you know everything . . . until you have to create a business plan.

story went live, I woke up to 300 emails, and my line had

Janet Tucker, who resided in

So although it’s cumbersome, it’s completely necessary.”

been picked up by Nordstroms, Shop Bop, and 40 other

the Westchester community,

boutiques. The L.A. Times wanted to do a feature, and I

may have lived in the shadow of

daunting. “A lot of my colleagues talked about seriously

remember crying for two days straight. I was so happy

Otis for many years, but her

starting their own companies. But it’s hard to commit,

but so overwhelmed that it was really happening. My

posthumous gift to the college is

because when you’re fresh out of school, you have bills to

dream came true but it was happening so fast that I

now shining a light upon her

pay and student loans that make it extra tough to get a

didn’t have a minute to digest it. So I had my mom, dad,

generous spirit. Tucker came into

new business off the ground right away.”

brother, sister, neighbors — you name it — in my studio

But starting a business right out of school is

packing boxes, filling orders, and helping me get it all

design had a positive impact on the bottom line of her

done. Unfortunately, at that time I didn’t have a

decided to make a difference in the lives of art students by

business. “My education in graphic design has helped

manufacturer, so I made every piece by hand. That

writing into her will a significant gift for Otis scholarships.

immensely with Luv Aj. I cannot even tell you how

summer I single-handedly wire-wrapped over 1,000

Tucker had no children, but had been interested in the

invaluable it is to know how to code my website, design

pieces of jewelry. I worked morning noon and night . . .

arts since high school, and saw the potential to nurture

my lookbook, shoot my product shots, etc. These are

blood, sweat, and tears. Now I have a full-time

generations of young artists.

skills I learned at Otis, and most people have to pay top

manufacturer, three interns, and an amazing team, and I

Thomas believes that her surprise interest in graphic

1

2

dollar for them. So not only do I save a lot of money that I

can fully appreciate all that work — I was paying my

can use for other business expenses, but I am able to

dues. It took a long time to find the right people to work

together on home and garden tours, and attended

control every aspect of my brand visually. The skill set I

with, but I’m so happy that I had the journey to the place

arts-related events in town. Tucker had studied art history

learned at Otis is definitely a factor in the sudden success

I am now. Having your own line and running your own

in college, and painted portraits and figure studies,

of Luv Aj.”

business is a 24/7 responsibility that is so incredibly

primarily using pastels, acrylics and watercolors. She also

rewarding but also such a challenge. There are no breaks.

submitted her work to art shows. In fact, both she and her

in-person and online networking: “Networking is

Ever. But being my own boss is the greatest thing in the

brother Jerry loved the arts; he had taken art classes in

everything. My motto is ‘be nice to everyone,’ because

world.”

Sedona, and the two would attend the symphony and visit

you just never know. Sometimes I think networking is gross and forced, because it can be, so I just try to be

Blood, Sweat and Ten Years Later

by George Wolfe

Anne Baber met Tucker in 1980, and they both worked for a realtor in Marina del Rey. Over the years, they went

She also underscores the importance of constant

While most high schoolers were content with simply surviving the daily vicissitudes of adolescence, Amanda Thomas (’10) was making her own jewelry, interning with a store designer, and hitting the streets of L.A. in search of boutiques to carry her jewelry. But on a day when she wasn’t looking, she got her first break. Wearing one of her necklaces at the Fred Segal boutique, she got a compliment from a jewelry buyer, and replied that she had made it. Fred Segal met with her, and picked up her line while she was still in high school. It wasn’t until she graduated from Otis, however, that she pursued her business, Luv Aj, full time.

an inheritance after her brother’s death and, later, while she herself was coping with cancer,

And a full year after graduation, she has launched a collaboration with Urban Outfitters called LUV ROCKS,

museums in the San Francisco area, where he lived.

After Tucker’s passing, Baber discovered that she

myself and hope that my personality and the product

which is a less expensive diffusion line based on her

was to be executor of Tucker’s estate, and learned

speaks for themselves.”

current collection. “I still pinch myself when I see the

more about her friend’s intent from handling the estate.

samples. It makes me hopeful that there’s so much more

“The gift to Otis just showed what kind of a person she

to come in the future.”

really was,” says Baber. “I know she’d be happy with

In summer 2010, she produced her first real collection, shot the lookbook and, less two weeks later, Who What Wear did a story on Luv Aj. “The morning the

this arrangement.”

Tucker was also a friend of Pam Banks, an Otis instructor who taught draping to fashion design students, and now teaches sewing and draping through Otis’

2

Continuing Education program. Banks fondly remembers their “girls’ night out” jaunts, especially going on the tours of area homes, then discussing anything and everything related to aesthetics, décor, design and the arts.

“To select Otis out of all the excellent schools out there is a real honor,” says Banks. “She couldn’t have selected a better institution.”

OMAG 26

section:

Alumni Around the World

Otis College of Art and Design Alumni Magazine

section:

Alumni Around the World

Fall 2011

27 OMAG

IRAN After graduating from Otis, I packed four suitcases, two

of globalization, Westernization, sanctions, fundamental-

Building Bridges:

carry-ons and a computer bag full of art, and traveled to

ism, HIV, prostitution, and the trafficking of young girls

MOCA Tehran in 2007 to curate “Manifestation of

as Iran’s biggest export could be found in Masami’s

Contemporary Arts in Iran.” The exhibition featured works

controversially bold paintings. Masami’s work embraced

from 67 Iranian and American artists, including Chair of

and visualized the aesthetics of the green movement in

Graduate Public Practice Suzanne Lacy, Masami Teraoka

a complex subversive plateau just beneath the governing

(’68 MFA), Co-founding Director of Artsts, Community and

factions of the Islamic Republic’s radar of genocide

Tehran – Los Angeles

Teaching program Jerri Allyn, and honorary degree

and oppression. The paintings were done in the 1970s

recipient Bill Viola. Former Prime Minister and reformist

with traditional Japanese brushstrokes but they were

politician Mir Hossein Mosavi’s name appeared in the

perfect for the “Jumong”-obsessed Tehran of 2009.

exhibition catalogue.

The 2009 uprising was inspired more by “Jumong” (an

Marjan Vayghan | (’06 Fine Arts)

During the Green Revolution, I returned to Iran to

LONDON - BRUSSELS

curate a solo exhibition of Masami Teraoka’s watercolors.

On August 5, 2009, my partner and I took a cab towards the gallery. Police presence mushroomed on Vanak Square as

Americans Abroad

forces on foot, motorcycles, and vans lined the street.

support my many art and activism obsessions.

Rooftop Projections and Exhibits throughout Iran.

I attended my first childhood friend’s funeral, where his

Updates from family members and friends include:

mother grabbed my inner knee, pleading for her son.

“Grandma was hit by a motorcyclist. Grandpa is losing this summer. Strangers are coming by the gallery and

assaulted by two men on a motorcycle. My cries were

asking for you.” I continue shifting my consciousness

quickly silenced, as I was informed that it is unladylike to

towards collecting subversive literature and art for our

cry in public. My only remaining impulse was a need to

Rooftop Exhibits.

Moving to a radically different city with different sensibilities and philosophies for production was admittedly confusing at first.

where Government grants provide much support. In the former, object-based production

a three-day practicum in which we give presentations, invite guests and carry out

is ultimately privileged, while the latter privileges “alternative” production like

lengthy discussions. The rest of our time is dedicated entirely to individual research and

time-based work. Pop taste differences are also apparent, e.g., theater affects London

exhibition projects.

artists more than it affects L.A. artists.

As for the architecture, we are particular fans of the building that houses

I am assistant director of MOTInternational, a gallery in the East End. I have been very fortunate to travel to several European cities, and since September, I have been the associate director of our new gallery space in Brussels.

London’s Natural History Museum. The odd and amazing design by Alfred Waterhouse reflects a Victorian Gothic Revival period that borrowed from German Romanesque and Gothic styles.

JB: Moving to a radically different city with different sensibilities and philosophies for production was admittedly confusing at first. I knew my practice was being fed by the

P.S.

experience, but I couldn’t get enough perspective to grasp it. I’ve made some break-

JB: At Johnny Rocket, I was asked to design a Swarovski crystal tiara proposed for Kate

throughs recently, including Future Sculptures, a series of odd and intricate one-off

Middleton as part of a magazine promotion. Becky and I decided to brave the spectacle a

sculptures in sterling silver. I began making them after being exposed to wax-carving

bit without getting up at 5:00 am or camping out (true Londoners don’t do stuff like

techniques under the employment of boutique U.K. jewelry designers Johnny Rocket

that!) We wandered through the incredibly empty half of the city with a bottle of

(not the burger place).

champagne in hand. In the incredibly full half of the city were street parties and tourists.

After maneuvering close enough to catch a glimpse of the royal entourage, we eventually

BK/JB: During our time at Otis, faculty members like John Knight and Juli Carson provided an outstanding example of how important it is for artists to spend time in Europe. We have since encountered the difference between the American art world

abandoned the scene in favor of a posh lunch at Fortnum and Mason.

Marjan and her mother at a protest at

Performance at “Debating through the Arts: Performance Art 3,”

Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, southern

18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, June-August 2011

Tehran, on top of open graves and in honor of the 40th day anniversary of Neda Agha-Soltan’s murder

his sight and memories. You shouldn’t come back to Iran

leave my aunt’s home again until August 18, when I was

exhibition. Everything I had to say about the taboo topics

system, largely dependent on the support of private patrons, and the U.K./Euro one,

10:00 pm - 5:00 am is spent curating and organizing

interrogated into the early hours of August 6. On August 7,

On August 29, I opened Masami Teraoka’s solo

We study in a workshop setting, collectively set our themes, and once a month gather for

10:00 am - 5:00 pm bears a plethora of emails, and an

from the mouth lunged his upper body into the moving

Speechless, I disconnected from all I knew. I didn’t

BK: There are seventeen women in my class who represent thirteen different countries!

These days I find myself working on the two time zones of Tehran and Los Angeles. endless search for regular curating and writing gigs to

articulate creatively.

Jesse and Becky met at the Graduate Studios where undergrad Becky saw an installation of Jesse’s. Jesse says that he was trying to impress her because she co-owned an art gallery. After Otis they moved to London, where Becky is finishing her MFA in Curating at Goldsmiths, University of London. As of this fall, they are living in Brussels.

Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Suddenly I was pulled out of our cab while a man foaming taxi. Arrested, blindfolded and hooded, we were

Jesse Benson (’03 MFA Fine Arts) | Becky Koblick (’04 Fine Arts)

extremely popular South Korean soap opera) than by

Join our Building Bridges Rooftop Reflections by sending us your art and support. www.marjanvayghan.com

OMAG 28

section:

Class Notes

Otis College of Art and Design Alumni Magazine

section:

Class Notes

Fall 2011

ALUMNAE ALUMNUS ALUMNI ALUMNA Laura Daroca (’03 MFA Fine Arts) Director of Alumni Relations

I am thrilled to be the new Director of Alumni Relations! As an alumna and the former Director of Career Services, I look forward to hearing from fellow alumni and interacting with you in a new way. The exciting and inspiring accomplishments of Otis alumni never cease to amaze me.

Reach out to me at ldaroca@otis.edu or (310) 665-6895.

The listings below are a small sampling of recent alumni achievements and announcements. The Otis Times blog showcases a more extensive listing of what’s happening with alumni around the world, allows you to share news and opportunities, post images and video and connect with fellow alumni. Also, keep in touch with us and each other by joining the Otis Alumni Facebook page. Go to otis.edu/alumni for links to both sites or contact us at alumniupdate@otis.edu.

Valerie Tymoczko (’04 MFA Fine Arts) Latched onto Stephen Colbert (as Richard Branson) for a photo shoot for PROJECT, Branson’s iPad-only magazine

Steven Bankhead (’01 MFA Fine Arts) Eighteenth Brumaire, Rooftop installation at Steve Turner Contemporary, L.A.

David Gallup

Nate Hess

Steven Learner

’90 Fine Arts

’06 Fine Arts

’86 Environmental Design

“California’s Channel Islands”

“Modified Body”

Volunteered with Globe Aware to build

Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art,

STATION at USC Roski School of

a greenhouse for a children’s school in

Malibu

Fine Arts

Cuzco, Peru

Dana Montlack

Marjan Vayghan

Heather Verran

’94 MFA Fine Arts

’06 Fine Arts

‘86 Fine Arts

“Sea Creatures”

“falling up, with the cage”

Created new brands of Activewear:

Joseph Bellows Gallery, La Jolla

Gallery 825, L.A.

MBody for Madonna and Eleven for

Marco Rios

Mary Younakof

’97 Fine Arts

’06 MFA Fine Arts

Raymond Zibach

“Despair Beyond Despair”

“343 Dresses: Chromatic Convergence

’90 Communication Arts

LA><ART, L.A.

Project”

Production Designer, Kung Fu Panda 2

Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood

DreamWorks Animation

’01 MFA Fine Arts

John Weston

Zoe Hong

Eighteenth Brumaire rooftop installation

’07 MFA Fine Arts

’02 Fashion Design

Steve Turner Contemporary, L.A.

“Pleasure Paintings”

Co-produced a fashion show at Cotton

Sabina Lee Gallery, L.A.

Mill Studios, Oakland

Venus Williams

Steven Bankhead

Kenneth Ober ’01 Fine Arts

Amanda Keller Konya

“Shortest Distance BTN2PTS”

’09 MFA Fine Arts

K. Saari Gallery, Steamboat Springs, CO

“Specimens from North America’s Most Polluted River”

Three Legged Legs (Greg Gunn, Casey Hunt, and Reza Rasoli , ‘06 Digital Media) “We’re All in this Together” spot for Method Cleaners shown on Virgin America

SOLOISTS Althea Edwards (two-person exhibition) ’84 Communication Arts “Launching a Dream: Reviving Tongva Maritime Traditions” UCLA Fowler Museum, L.A. James David Thomas ’84 Fine Arts “Nocturne” Terry Martin Gallery, Santa Monica Lucas Reiner ’85 Fine Arts “I see men as trees, walking” 333 Montezuma Annex, Santa Fe

Elisabeth Condon

Yuichiro Ando

’86 Fine Arts

’87 Fine Arts

“Climb the Black Mountain”

“Left to Rod”

Lesley Heller Workspace, N.Y.

New Puppy Gallery, L.A.

Lawrence Gipe

Anne M. Bray

’86 MFA Fine Arts

’87 Fashion Design

“Approved Images”

“Small Pleasures: Sketches Drawn from

Tucson Museum of Art

Everyday Life” TAG Gallery, Santa Monica

Cindy Kolodziejski ’86 Fine Arts

Darren Waterston

“Portraits of Sorts and Curiosities”

’88 Communication Arts

Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica

“Forest Eater” The Contemporary Museum & Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii

Fay Ray

Centennial Museum, University of Texas,

’02 Fine Arts

El Paso

Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica JJ Stevens Annie Buckley

’10 MFA Fine Arts

’03 MFA Fine Arts

“Department of Archeological Oversight”

“Love and Fortune”

Dark Matter Gallery (with D-Block

Jancar Gallery, Chinatown, L.A.

Projects), Long Beach

Nate Frizzell

COOL DESIGNERS

’06 Communication Arts “To Become Myself”

Douglas Kinsey

LeBasse Projects, Chinatown, L.A.

’85 Fine Arts Wine label for Florencio L. Navarro ‘s newest wine from Portugal, Semaphore 7 Cindy Kolodziejski (’86 Fine Arts) Bubble Eyes, 2011 earthenware, glass eyes, and silver wood frame

29 OMAG

OMAG 30

section:

Class Notes

Greg Gunn, Casey Hunt, and Reza Rasoli (Three Legged Legs) ’06 Digital Media Selected by The Los Angeles Business Journal for its “20 in Their Twenties” feature on young entrepreneurs, April 2011. Recently signed by Blind, multidisciplinary Santa Monica-based studio.

ENTREPRENEURS Ingrid Sidie ’89 Communication Arts Principal and Partner, Design Ranch, Kansas City, MO Fay Ray (’02 Fine Arts) Neither, 2011, c-print

Jade Lai ’02 Fashion Design Owner, Creatures of Comfort boutique featured in “Up Close: The Roundabout Route to NoLIta” New York Times, April 21, 2011 Robert Apodaca ’03 Architecture/Landscape/Interiors “Tastemaker,” Los Angeles Magazine, May 1, 2011

IN PRINT John Zelenik ’87 Communication Arts Illustrated cover of “Armageddon Unlimited (A Sourcebook for the Heroes Unlimited RPG),” Palladium Books Jo Lauria ’90 MFA Fine Arts Wrote feature on Charles Hollis Jones Burbank residence for Entra, a new digital architecture magazine Aaron Philip Clark ’08 MFA Writing “The Science of Paul: A Novel of Crime,” New Pulp Press

Otis College of Art and Design Alumni Magazine

IN THE NEWS

AWARD WINNERS

John Baldessari (’58 Fine Arts),

Mark Dean Veca

Kerry James Marshall (’78 Fine Arts),

’85 Fine Arts

and Alison Saar (’81 MFA Fine Arts)

2011 City of L.A. Individual Artist

“Human Nature: Contemporary Art from

Fellowship (COLA)

Class Notes

Otis and Southern California Art

Khoi VInh

Wall of Inspiration

2011 Fellowship for Visual Artists Andrew Lewicki

Otis’ Wall of Inspiration was created

Awarded a 2011 Fellowship for Visual Artists

as a unique way to thank leadership-

from the California Community Foundation.

level donors for their generosity.

Past Fine Arts alumni recipients include:

Paul Wee

‘93 Communication Arts

’87 Communication Arts

Named one of 50 most influential

“Simpsons’ animator draws from his

American designers by Fast Company,

heart,” The Burbank Leader, July 29, 2011

October issue

community members to recognize,

Naomi Tashiro Schoenherr (’89 Fine

Irina Contreras

ones. The customized stainless steel

Arts) and Scott Schoenherr (’90 Fine

’04 Fine Arts

Arts) Selected by the Laguna Beach Arts

Grant for Scenes Unseen National Queer

Commission to design a sculpture garden

Arts Festival

in Heisler Park

San Francisco

Design clay students to the Wall of

Mario Ybarra Jr.

Greg Wilken

a small tile. For one year, I contributed

’99 Fine Arts

’04 Fine Arts

“Possible Worlds: Mario Ybarra Jr., Karla

Artists’ Resource for Completion Grant,

Diaz, and Slanguage Studio Select from

Center for Cultural Innovation

Otis and have a tile with their name

Michelle Chong

scholarships. I tell the students that

many alumni, parents, and Otis honor, and memorialize their loved tiles complement the adjacent Bronya and Andy Galef Center for Fine Arts.

“Last spring, I took my Product

that some day they will give back to on it in support of future student when my parents were the same age as they are, my mom was in America’s

NextGen Arts Grant, Creative Capacity

’01 Fine Arts

Fund

Internment Camps while my dad was

Ryan Riddle

ten years to practice architecture. I

drafted into the Army, and waited

“Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial”

benefited from their ability to keep the

’08 MFA Writing Two Greater Bay Area Journalism awards

’03 MFA Fine Arts

for his work with The Daily Post

Artist-in-Residence The Artist Studio, Pasadena

dream of a creative life. I am fortunate to have lived at the right time in the right country where social change is

IN MEMORIAM

possible, where Americans give Work by many alumni is featured in two new books

Marissa Magdalena

Jacquelyn Sage

’08 Fine Arts

’45 Fine Arts

“Rebels in Paradise: the Los Angeles Art Scene and the

“Mercado’s work a year in the making,”

Painter and illustrator, passed away

1960s” by former faculty member Hunter Drohojowska

Eye Gallery

August 28, 2011

Philip and “L.A. Rising: So Cal Artists before 1980” by

Bakersfield.com, June 16, 2011 Bruce Kalberg (Bruce Caen)

about the emergence of contemporary art in L.A.:

Artist, graphic designer, publisher/editor;

Jan. 2012) will shine a new light on this seminal period.

(’97)

Hazel Mandujano (’03, ’10 MFA)

Maggie White Lomelli

curated by Alex Donis (’94) at the 18th St Art Center in

Restauranteur and founder (with wife

Starus (‘72 MFA)

’71 Communication Arts

Marco Rios

Southern CA Artists & The Artist Space Movement,” Santa Monica. which includes work by Leslie Labowitz-

Kenneth Figueredo

Oreo Manhole Cover, 2010, cast iron

- Faculty member Joan Takayama-Ogawa

Among the exhibitions is “Collaboration Labs:

’68 MFA, BFA Fine Arts

Santa Maria; passed away June 1, 2011

Andrew Lewicki (’07 Fine Arts)

hand out.’”

60 exhibitions in the area that comprise the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 (Oct. 2011 –

Susan), McKeon-Phillips Winery,

scholarships as a ‘hand up and not as a

Lyn Kienholz. These books, along with the more than

’78 Fine Arts passed away September 17, 2011

(’06)

Alumni are also included in “Civic Virtue: The Impact of the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery and the Watts

This collaboration of artist,

Towers Art Center” at Barnsdall Park.

designer, and printer

Check www.pacificstandardtime.org for information

resulted in a limited

and dates

edition lithograph for an

Passed away October 1, 2010 Alan Riggle

exhibition at LA><ART. Read entire essay at otis.edu/PST

’71 MFA Fine Arts

akhachtourians@otis.edu or call

invites OFund contributions in his honor

Designer, Fashion Design Assistant Chair (1998-2001) and faculty member; passed away August 16, 2011. Donations to the Huntington can be sent to: Kimberly Valentine, The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108

Poster for short film Despair Beyond Despair

(310) 665-6869

(otis.edu/ofund)

’86 Fashion Design

If you have questions or would like to purchase a tile, please contact

Passed away August 2011. His family

Laurie Viapiano

Patssi Valdez, ’85 Steve Roden, ’86 Sandow Birk, ’89 Alex Donis, ’94 MFA Sandeep Mukherjee, ’96 Ruben Ochoa, ’97 Marco Rios, ’97 Juan Capistran, ’99 Adrian Meraz, ’00 Desmond McVay, ’01

a little per paycheck, and my hope is

Jacob Rhodes

Matt MacFarland

Roberto Gil de Montes, ’74 MFA Eloy Torrez, ’77 MFA May Sun, ’79 Bruce Yonemoto, ’79 MFA Coleen Sterritt, ’79 MFA Mineko Grimmer, ’81 MFA Diane Gamboa, ’84 Liz Young, ’84 Annetta Kapon, ’85 Cindy Koloziejski, ’86

Inspiration, where I have my name on

’06 MFA Fine Arts

Bronx Museum, N.Y.

(’07 Fine Arts)

Additionally, this tiled Wall allows

the Permanent Collections” LACMA

31 OMAG

Fall 2011

the Collection” LACMA

Ardison Phillips

Elisabeth Condon (’86 Fine Arts) Hello, Yellow, 2010, acrylic on linen

section:

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE Please make a 100% tax-deductible gift that is meaningful to you by visiting our secure giving site at otis.edu/givenow. If you have any questions or would like more information on other giving options, please contact Andre Khachtourians, Director of Annual Giving, at (310) 665-6869 or akhachtourians@otis.edu.

02

01 310.

665.

6869

03 otis.edu/ givenow

Bryan Hunt ’71 Fine Arts Ten cast bronze sculptures on Park Avenue installed as part of a project through The Sculpture Committee of The Fund for Park Avenue and the Public Art Program of the City of N.Y.’s Department of Parks & Recreation, September–mid November clockwise, from upper left: Charioteer, Big Twist, Flume I, Crossing, Flume I and II, Hoodoo opposite: Flume II