OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN MAGAZINE
SPRING 2014
ISSUE 15
in this issue:
04 - ALUMNI AND FACULTY INSPIRED BY L.A. 06 - KEEPING IT SIMPLE AND FRESH: MEG CRANSTON 18 - OTIS REPORT ON THE CREATIVE ECONOMY: 1 IN 10 JOBS IN CA
I remember L.A. as blackety-black shadows cast from brutalist blocks that take the history of architecture and reduce and contain it silently, like lunary tombs or Aztec temples morphed into Fome-Cor® cartoons. This kind of light makes decisions easier, more black and white. Good-vs-bad, pure-vsimpure, aspiration-vs-collapse, determined grim optimism-vs-self-indulgent despair. The suggestion of an old Hollywood monolithic black-and-white movie set encourages self-invention and self-consciousness as you make your way down an imaginary long white staircase. There’s not another living soul on the set and the spotlight is on you, wiping out any flaw or imperfection, hallucinating yourself into who you wanna be … exactly how I remember it … forward Fashion designer Rick Owens (’81) moved from L.A. to Paris in 2003.
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1. George Maitland Stanley (’24)
2. Kent Twitchell (’77 MFA)
3. Judithe Hernández (’74 MFA)
4. Insung Kim (’97)
5. Robert Irwin (’50)
6. Hillary Jaye (’90)
Muses Fountain, Hollywood Bowl
Harbor Freeway Overture mural,
New Spring, mural for the Expo Line
for Hunt Design Associates
The Central Garden, The Getty
for Sussman/Prezja & Co.
1938
1993
Terminus Station in Santa Monica,
Identity and wayfinding program
Center, 1997
Wayfinding and bus graphics
Photo courtesy: Hollywood Bowl
opening in 2016
for downtown L.A.
Photo courtesy: The J. Paul Getty
Van Nuys FlyAway for Los Angeles
Museum and Music Center Archives
Commissioned by the LACMTA
Museum
World Airports
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LACMA Director Michael Govan explains the allure of Los Angeles in this simple statement: “Where the modern world was imagined and continues to be reinvented.�
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Since 1918, Otis alumni, faculty members, and students have imagined the city’s future, created positive change, and made connections across the globe. As artists and designers, they are committed to incorporate human values, social responsibility, and ethics in their thinking and action. For this issue on Otis in Los Angeles, we designed an interactive map with projects by alumni and faculty members, including public art, monuments, and retail stores. Visit www.otisinla.com and plan your trip to see them all. Share photos of your visits with the world via social networks using #otisinla.
Keep your eye out for this symbol throughout the issue for more location information
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A Fond And Forward-Looking Farewell Otis has a uniquely powerful educational approach and social vision, as well as a long tradition of partnering with diverse sectors to elevate the role of artists and designers in Los Angeles and beyond. Today, an Otis education takes full advantage of the fact that L.A. and the College are both fertile grounds where cultural practices, social engagement, and the creative economy converge, resulting in new ideas and approaches that address the emerging needs of our time and lead to a better future. As I look back on my fourteen years as president of this great institution, I feel extremely honored to have helped shape Otis in partnership with the gifted and dedicated boards, faculty and staff. Above all, I feel privileged to have participated in the transformative education of our students, who blossom into achieving alumni and whose creative practices reward their lives and benefit the world. It is gratifying that my final OMAG introduction is for an issue that demonstrates Otis’ imprint in the L.A. region and
across the globe with the success stories of our alumni, students, and their faculty mentors. When I depart at the end of this academic year, I will do so with an optimistic outlook on Otis’ future. The College’s educational and social mission has never been more clearly articulated and manifested. The reimagined curriculum strengthens student learning and success. Exciting plans are in place to expand campus facilities and transform Otis into a residential college. There is incredible momentum that will take the College to new heights. I cannot imagine a better interim president than Provost Dr. Kerry Walk to lead the great Otis team into its next phase of service and success. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have served the College since 2000. As I bid farewell, I know that I will be continually inspired from a distance by the extraordinary talent and spirit of the Otis community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and board members. Otis will always be in my heart.
President Hoi and Provost Dr. Kerry Walk
Samuel Hoi, President
Editor: Margi Reeve, Communications Director
Photography: Lane Barden, Deborah Bird, Chris Bliss,
Back Cover: John Mason (’57)
Coeditor: Laura Daroca (’03 MFA Fine Arts), Director of
Joe Bruns, Kristina Campbell, Benny Chan Fotoworks,
“Folded Cross, Yellow-Gold,” 2002
Alumni Relations
Kai He/The LA Fashion Magazine, Katie Hotchkiss
ceramic
Alumni Relations Coordinator: Shefali Mistry
Contributors: freelance writers George Wolfe and Mimi Zeiger; copy editor Michelle Ghaffari
39 x 31.5 x 24"
Creative/Design: Mark Caneso (’04)
from Crosses, Figures, Spears, Torques David Kordansky Gallery, LA.
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45 SPRING 2014
OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN MAGAZINE
FEATURE:
VOL. 15 CONTENTS
Otis In L.A.
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Faculty architecture projects; Annetta Kapon video; JT Steiny drawings; Meg Cranston interview; Lalo Alcaraz profile; Literary L.A.; Broad-Minded; City as Classroom
College News
Alumni Around the World
Class Notes
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Transformational Leadership Scholarship Benefit and Fashion Show Creative Economy Report Teaching Awards Buzz Commencement Annual Exhibition Class of 2013
Bangladesh Mumbai
Alumni Anniversaries Generations Connect in S.F. Otis Supporters: Sharma Family
Otis prepares diverse students of art and design to enrich our world Otis College of Art and Design
through their creativity, their skill, and their vision.
Established in 1918, Otis College of Art and Design is a national leader in art and design
Otis enrolls approximately 1,100 full-time students, and offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees
Publication of material does not necessarily
education. The College mission is to prepare diverse students of art and design to enrich
in Architecture/Landscape/Interiors, Digital Media (Game and Entertainment Design, Animation,
indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint
our world through their creativity, skill, and vision. Alumni and faculty are Fulbright, MacArthur,
and Motion Design), Fashion Design, Communication Arts (Graphic Design, Illustration, and
by Otis College of Art and Design
and Guggenheim grant recipients, Oscar awardees, legendary costume designers, leaders
Advertising Design), Fine Arts (Painting, Photography, and Sculpture/New Genres), Product
of contemporary art movements, and design stars at Apple, Abercrombie & Fitch, Pixar,
Design, and Toy Design. Otis also awards the Master of Fine Arts degree in Fine Arts, Graphic
DreamWorks, Mattel, Nike, and Disney.
Design, Public Practice, and Writing.
© Otis College of Art and Design
Otis Faculty in L.A.
Otis faculty members draw inspiration from L.A., and reflect its vibrant communities in their work.
Architecture/Landscape/Interiors Faculty Projects
01. Chava Danielson Principal, DSH Para Los Ninos 849 East 6th St., L.A. 90013 02. David Reddy Principal, R&D Architects Breeze House 23 Breeze Ave., Venice 90291 (artwork by Nancy Monk) 03. Linda Pollari Principal, P XS “off-use" (office-house) 950 S. Highland Ave, L.A. 90036
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04. Matias Creimer Bower Reidence (renovation) 16417 Otsego St., L.A. 91436 05. Richard Lundquist ChoSun Galbee 3330 W. Olympic Blvd. L.A. 90019
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Spring 2014
ANNETTA KAPON
JT STEINY
Professor and Assistant Chair, Graduate Fine Arts
Senior Lecturer, Communication Arts: Illustration
The Line Between L.A. and Beverly Hills
Drawing While Driving
JT Steiny (’86) contributes illustrations to the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Smart Money, Sony Records, Rhino Records, and LA Weekly. Everywhere he goes, he draws. An entire series he titles “Drawing While Driving.” In this series, he captures the challenges of dog walking in a car-oriented city.
Kapon (‘85) created this video to be shown on L.A. Metro buses as part of Freewaves’ “Out the WIndow” project, April 2013. She walked the line between Beverly Hills’ freshly paved streets and Los Angeles pavement’s holes and cracks, capturing both the visual and the auditory contrasts.
SARA DALEIDEN Lecturer, Graduate Public Practice
Urban Rangers As a Senior Ranger with the The Los Angeles Urban Rangers, Sara develops guided hikes, campfire talks, field kits, and other interpretive tools to spark creative explorations of everyday habitats in L.A. Founded in 2004, the Rangers are dedicated to asking questions about the abundant and often unseen complexities of the places in our lives, whether a freeway, an office park or a living room. l to r: Therese Kelly, Nicholas Bauch, Sara Daleiden, Ron Milam and Jenny Price.
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Otis Faculty in L.A.
Cranston reveals her favorite
MEG CRANSTON
museums, the book she would take to a desert island, her thoughts on art
Fine Arts Chair
and media, the pinata, and more at www.otis.edu/omagcranston
Keeping It Simple and Fresh Why is teaching important to you? In Los Angeles, teaching is a normal part of an artist’s career. That isn’t true everywhere but it is definitely true here. Initially, I taught for the same reason most artists teach—to support my work. What I found out was that teaching not only provided financial support but it also informed and energized my work. Teaching forces you to constantly reevaluate your own ideas and as a result, your work stays fresh. You have to stay relevant to the students, and that helps you stay relevant to a wider audience. L.A. is a great place for an artist to teach because you are in such good company. The list of artists who teach or have taught here is a who’s who of the art world. Otis plays a crucial part in that with an amazing number of world-famous artists who have taught/continue to teach including Paul McCarthy, Carole Caroompas, Alex Slade, Mike Kelley, Steve Prina, Chris Williams, Frances Stark, Liz Glynn, Laura Owens, Jack Goldstein, Alexis Smith, Monique Prieto, and Jorge Pardo. We take risks by hiring young artists whose work we believe in, and it pays off both for the artists and for the students. L.A. art colleges have produced an enormous number of artists and trained the teachers who have gone on to develop international programs. What we might call collectively “the L.A. method” has been imitated in colleges and universities around the world. Otis has a central role in making L.A. the most important city in the world for art education today. What do you find unique about Otis students? Artists love teaching at Otis because the students are so cool. Our students are more independent and empathetic than students at other schools where I’ve taught. I think L.A. has a lot to do with that. We are a metropolitan art school so our students live and work in the city. That gives Otis students a more informed perspective on life, and makes them more cosmopolitan. They deal with a broad range of people, and negotiate life in one of the greatest cities in the world. Describe your collaborations with John Baldessari Over the years, we have collaborated on a variety of projects with a shared objective of mixing thing up— always wanting to try something new. We work together mostly because it’s fun to see what you generate when you work with another artist. We have curated a few shows together, including one for the Santa Monica Museum on the work of Norm Laich, an L.A.-based artist and sign painter who has worked with many important artists. Curating is a thankless job for artists. You definitely don’t make any friends, but John and I do it because we feel it is important for artists to show the world the exhibitions that artists want to see.
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Last year we finished a book that took seven years to complete. More Than You Wanted to Know About John
ladies in gypsy costumes. In ’68 it was impossible to paint those things. By 2013 things had changed.
Baldessari is an anthology of John’s complete writing, from his days at Otis in 1957 to the present. I coedited it
How does your anthropology background influence
with Hans-Ulrich Obrist, a curator and codirector at
your work?
Serpentine Gallery in London.
My anthropology major at Kenyon College provided a
Last year we did two sets of paintings using texts
good foundation for art making because anthropologists
from John’s early writing. The colors came from Pantone’s
see meaning as relative, conditioned by cultural context.
forecast for the top women’s fashion colors for 2013.
In art it’s very similar. You have to understand the context
We wanted to juxtapose older texts with the latest
you are working in. In art you wouldn’t say red necessarily
fashion colors. For one set I selected a short text that is
means love. You’d say, in a certain context, shown in a
my favorite bit of advice:
certain composition, presented in a certain way, red might
“Whatever you decide to do, remember to keep it
connote love. Artists need to be very sensitive to the time
simple, keep it fresh, and have some idea what you are
and place in which they are working to be understood.
going to do.”
Like anthropologists, they have to understand everything
We showed one set of these at Galerie Michael
about a culture—religion politics, economics, etc. Cultural
Janssen in Singapore. That went well, so we made
conditions manifest belief, and belief gets manifested
another set based on texts from 1968 for Michael’s gallery
materially in art and design. Art and design are 100%
in Berlin. These related to subjects that John said he
about belief. They both reflect it and generate it.
could not paint: sad doggies, squint-eyed tigers, and
Spring 2014
by George Wolfe
LALO ALCARAZ Lecturer, Communication Arts: Illustration
Redrawing Borders
A Most Imperfect Union: A Contrarian History of the U.S. will be released by Basic Books in June with illustrations by Alcaraz and text by Ilan Stevans
For editorial cartoonist and faculty member Lalo Alcaraz, having one foot inside and the other outside the circle has been an ongoing metaphor for his life. Born in the San Diego area, he notes that he was not quite Mexican enough for some relatives across the border and yet not American enough for those in the States. His academic degrees include the fields of environmental design and architecture, yet he's best known for creating the first nationally syndicated, populist, politically-themed Latino
My work urges people to think, maybe in the way I present it in my work, and maybe not. I’m not telling people how to think, just, you know . . . use your noggin.
daily comic strip, La Cucaracha, which appears in the Los Angeles Times. He also hosts a radio show and runs a satirical website. Now, once again, he finds himself exploring new territory as a writer on an upcoming Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) project: an animated show for Fox featuring a largely Latino cast of characters, due to premiere in fall 2014. Luckily for Alcaraz, what once raised eyebrows and
Alcaraz has taught editorial illustration at Otis for
This humble stance isn’t false modesty. He’s
nearly three years but will be taking a break to make
genuinely fond of his simple-yet-proud roots and current
ample space for his new full-time gig. It's a bittersweet
middle-class lifestyle, and content to trade his once-
caused judgment is now an increasingly accepted part of
time. "At Otis, I was reminded of how cool and fun college
angry 20-something years for the challenges and
the times. On the federal level, it’s business as usual with
can be. Some of our best classes were when we threw
pleasures of life at home in Whittier with his wife and
an African American president; in a city like Los Angeles,
everything out and just sat there and talked—I had young
three kids. At the base of all he does, however, are the
you can’t throw a rock without hitting a hybrid car or a
students from here and international students from all
demands of his nagging muse, calling him to grind out his
food truck touting a fresh confluence of ethnic cuisines;
over the world, and it always gave me great hope that
daily work, to fulfill his creative duty.
and at a college like Otis, interdisciplinary cross-training
these kids remind me of how I was way back then.
is fast becoming not only an advantage in the art
And we’re all the better for it [this merging of cultures].
artists. I’m not the most organized person, but I’ve
and design professions but is practically a necessity for
I hope they’ll be able to carry on with what I’ve tried to
managed to piece together a career and show that by just
getting ahead of the status quo. And in this type of
teach them. But the truth is that I’ve really learned so
doing your art, steadily over time, it can be done. However
twister-like environment, artists like Alcaraz, who can
much from them."
dire the environment is out there, every career is
keep their balance while straddling these various circles,
Despite using his craft to speak out on substantive
"I’m okay with simply being a role model for working
fragmented, and we all have to figure out ways to make it
are faring well.
issues like Proposition 187 (immigration) and federal
work. My work urges people to think, maybe in the way I
Whether working on an editorial cartoon or creating
elections (voting), and making both real and symbolic
present it in my work, and maybe not. I’m not telling
content for his website (pocho.com), he attributes
inroads professionally in ways that offer a model of
people how to think, just, you know . . . use your noggin.
his original interest in biting social commentary to
achievement for Latinos and Chicanos, Alcaraz doesn’t
There’s a great saying in Spanish that uses the word
Mad magazine: “I used to tell parents to be careful:
see himself as any kind of spokesperson or cultural hero.
maceta—which is slang for flowerpot—something like
that publication can make a critical thinker out of a kid.
“Most of all,” he notes, “what I can offer is my work, to
use what the good Lord gave you between your ears.
For me, Spanish was my first language, then I learned
support causes I care about. “
So in short, use your flowerpot. There’s stuff in there!"
English in school and, finally, I learned satire . . . so it was like a third language for me.”
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Otis Faculty in L.A.
Literary L.A. PAUL VANGELISTI
Founding Chair, Graduate Writing
Memory and Daily Life in the Invisible City I must begin by mentioning the debt
“splendid isolation.” Memory in so willfully
of gratitude I owe the Parisian poet
forgetful a place is critical, defining an
Mohammed Dib, who consistently
almost palpable dimension of daily life,
made me aware that L.A. was indeed
which is all the more vivid in contrast
the Invisible City, borrowing from me, as
to the perpetual elsewhere that best
it were, the title for my literary magazine,
describes one’s writing practice there.
Invisible City, which I edited with John
in the daily and often dull ineptitude of
in L.A., Dib would often smile capriciously
a grammar that might describe such as
and ask, as the afternoon began to
fictive utility as L.A. Time, for instance,
cool, if it weren’t time to set off in
may function as a property of light, a per-
my Datsun sedan and visit our invisible
petual present or “timelessness” in close
city, so that we might add to our
relationship to the peculiarly isolate and
“petites histoires.”
meditative light that is the single most
Poetry, for me, then, issues from the
distinguishing characteristic of our city.
invisible city, the big nowhere that is L.A.
“Lots and lots of light–and no shadows,”
Ours is a city of “theatrical imperma-
notes artist Robert Irwin, “Really peculiar,
nence,” as Christopher Isherwood called
almost dreamlike.”
it, the home of tautological architecture
I am suggesting that a preoccupation
where hot dog and hamburger and donut
with our daily bread is a poet’s attempt
stands take on the shape of hot dogs
to ground his or her work if not exactly in
and hamburgers and donuts, where at any
some form of realism, at least in a realis-
given time only a little more than one-
tic attitude or position within this wacky
third of the population has lived there for
environment. Lacking the public occasion
more than five years. L.A. is blessed, in
and certainly the public form for serious
Tennessee Williams’ words, with “wonder-
literature—museums and other educa-
ful rocking horse weather, and a curious
tional and public institutions in our city
light so mesmerizing that, as Orson
are hardly more than specimen boxes in
Welles once noted, ‘You sit down, you’re
today’s cultural marketplace—some poets
twenty-five, and when you get up, you’re
instinctively employ the daily to create a
sixty-two.‘” It functions, according to the
context for their work, social, dramatic
poet Thomas McGrath, as the “Asia Minor
or otherwise. In a city where the image is
of the intellect,” a place where, in the im-
considered truthful, and entrepreneurs
mortal words of the legendary producer
the likes of (fill in the name of whatever
This piece is excerpted from a longer essay that first appeared in
Irving Thalberg (namesake for the Acad-
current pop culture boss) are discussed
Seeing Los Angeles: A Different Look at a Different City, edited by
emy’s Oscar for “life-time achievement”),
in university and college classrooms as
Guy Bennett and Beatrice Mousli; Otis Books/Seismicity Editions, 2007
the writer is no less than “a necessary
creative geniuses, a poet may look to his
evil.” L.A. is also a place that has afforded
or her own isolated daily life to fashion a
Graduate Writing faculty member Martha Ronk’s poems
writers and artists, to borrow a phrase
background against which language may
also appeared in this publication.
from long-time resident Igor Stravinsky,
be given room for serious play.
Sumi-e drawing by Les Biller
Time and place operate curiously in the daily and often dull ineptitude of a grammar that might describe such as fictive utility as L.A.
Editor’s Note:
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Time and place operate curiously
McBride from 1971–82. During his stay
Spring 2014
PETER GADOL Professor, Graduate Writing
Silver Lake And then it was autumn again, and Saturdays they would
Editor’s note:
wake early when the first clean light came up over the oak and fir at the top of the ridge and eased its way
Gadol was recently
down across their glass house and overgrown slope,
awarded an NEA Creative
down to the pitched yards and shingled cottages along
Writing Fellowship
the street below their street, down across timber and brush and fallen limbs, across the boulevard all the way to the patient lake, where it would linger on the water, and ancient and forgiving light by noon. These were cold mornings suddenly and so they dressed quickly in fraying clothes. One made coffee, the other swiped jam across toast. They traded sections of the paper. One started in on the crossword, the other scanned the financial pages. Then they headed out to the garage and pulled on work gloves and selected rakes and clippers, and there was little conversation except to agree the movie they had watched the night before was not sitting well with them. A simple story snapped when stretched into an epic. Actually one man fell asleep before the film ended, and the other man had to wake him only to guide him to the bedroom and back to sleep again. Rain all week had left the air crisp but also made the ground behind their house muddy and not entirely suitable for the chore at hand, yet each man took a flank of hill as if it were his side of the bed and began pulling out the dead sage and trimming back the excess tea bush and clearing out the persistent sumac. There was nothing to be done about the thicket of rosemary, they’d long since given up. There was enough of a drop-down to the backyard of the property below theirs so that even at the edge of their land, they enjoyed an unobstructed view of the Silver Lake Reservoir. excerpted from Silver Lake, a novel
MARTHA RONK Senior Lecturer, Graduate Writing from "State of Mind"
Driving
The Moon over L.A.
Pico Boulevard
The film breaks into dialogue after long stretches
The moon moreover spills over onto
From behind the glass they are unmitigatedly still
Of the sort of silence associated with wet roads
The paving stone once under foot.
or passed over. Pico is another.
And the sounds of tires hissing in the trees as
Plants it there one in front.
Driving is to driving as from one end to the other
The wind’s an artificial product of moving
She is no more than any other except her shoulders
over bridge and vale. Their eyes unnervingly swerved.
forever.
Celan says over wine and lostness, over
As enclosure’s only a category of mind.
Pull over and give us a kiss.
The running out of both.
And then the final exchanges about the weather first
When it hands over the interchange
I don’t find you behind any eyes you open.
And tentative efforts to snare the other’s litany
She and she and she. A monument to going nowhere,
After the earthquake it was closed to traffic.
A piece of work unmade by man. O moon,
I look at the eyes, the sex, the eyes.
The very act of driving was designed to eliminate
Rise up and give us ourselves awash and weary—
We lap at it fearful of running out,
We’ve seen it all and don’t mind
Gulps of red wine. He says
toward the horizon
of complaints any sense of.
What can the translator mean by over?
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Otis Faculty in L.A.
LEWIS MACADAMS Senior Lecturer, Graduate Writing
From Confrontation to Cooperation
Editor’s Note: Skid Row as a "40-year artwork to bring the river back to life." I donned a white suit and painted myself green as if i were the ghost of William
A longer version of this
Mulholland.
Op Ed piece appeared in
In the mid-1980s, a lawsuit by Heal the Bay forced L.A. to build a water reclamation plant that would ultimately send millions of gallons a year of reclaimed water through the Glendale Narrows. For the first time since the last Ice Age, the river was year-round. Willows and sycamore trees began to reappear. In preparation for a predicted El Niño, the County and the Army
In the late 1930s, in response to a pair of deadly floods, the L.A. County
Corps decided to bulldoze everything growing in the river's natural
Board of Supervisors called in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to con-
bottom. Standing in front of the machines, I nearly got myself killed. But
trol the unruly L.A. River. The mission was to get the water to the ocean
the action got FoLAR its first meeting with the head of the L.A. County
as fast as possible. The idea that it might make sense, in a city that gets
Department of Public Works. Every time he said the words "flood control
less than 15 inches of rain a year on average, to conserve some of
channel," I interrupted him and said "river." I had planted the linguistic
those hundreds of millions of gallons of freshwater seems to have never
seeds. Today nearly everybody calls it a river.
occurred to the Army Corps. It took many years, thousands of workers, and some 3 million barrels of concrete to bring the river to heel. By some measures, the
Cleanup, has grown from 10 people to several thousand. Two former
project was a triumph: floodwaters have not topped the river levees
railroad yards are now state parks, half a dozen riverfront pocket parks
since. But it was also an ecological holocaust.
were created, and a bike path continues to grow.
Within a very few years, important native species were largely gone.
Every one of these victories was the result of patience, willpower,
Yellow-billed cuckoos and least bell's vireo no longer sang in the wa-
and perseverance. Yet none of them opened up the channel itself. In
tershed. Red-legged frogs, which hibernated by burrowing into the river
2010 it was still a crime to stick your toe in the river. Then, this fall, after
bottom’s mud, couldn‘t penetrate the concrete.
seven years of work and almost $10 million, the Army Corps released a
For half a century after the work was finished, the river was little more than a concrete scar, separated from the city by chain-link fences
study with a range of alternatives for the river's future. It was a stunning development. FoLAR could now work hand in
topped with razor wire and signs warning visitors to keep out or face
hand with the Army Corps to restore miles of habitat, eliminate miles of
fines and/or jail.
concrete, restore wetlands, and reconnect the main stem of the river to
In 1986, Roger Wong, Pat Patterson and I borrowed some wire cutters, snipped the fence that separated the river from the city, and
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In recent years, more and more Angelenos have discovered the river. FoLAR's annual Gran Limpieza, the Great Los Angeles River
the mountains. As I look back on a lifetime of poetry and politics, on 27 years of
declared the river open. We asked the river if we could speak for it in the
working on the river, I see a journey from confrontation to cooperation.
human realm. We didn't hear it say no, and Friends of the L.A. River was
It has created a wider and deeper community not just of humans but of
born. FoLAR began life as a performance piece in a basement theater on
flying, swimming, and four-legged creatures as well.
the Los Angeles Times, October 27, 2013.
City as Laboratory
City as Laboratory Students thrive in L.A., using the city as a laboratory for exploration and creation. From innovative architecture to leading contemporary museums and galleries, opportunities abound. With dynamic community partners and cultural institutions, students work on complex art and design issues to find solutions that that lead to social, economic, and cultural change.
Museum Visit
LACMA
“If there’s one thing I didn’t expect to be doing the week before Halloween and Día de los Muertos, it was following a trail of
Getty Exhibition Design
dismembered body parts. Don’t fret, they’re made from plaster and wire by Otis students for an interactive, walk-in altarpiece in the Getty Center’s auditorium lobby. The project grows out of the Getty Museum’s long-standing collaboration with Otis, which seeks to engage students with the Museum’s exhibitions and events.”
“I was primarily excited about the visit to
“I grew up in a small town, and its only
the Natural History Museum because it
museum was about the town’s history.
seemed to have nothing to do with
The L.A. museum visits and special tours
—Sarah Waldorf, "Student-Built Día de
design. Dinosaur bones? Insect samples?
by the curators helped me see art in a
los Muertos Altar Pays Tribute to L.A.’s
Taxidermies in elaborate dioramas? In
new light. It gave me a new understanding
Saints," Iris, Getty blog, October 30, 2013
fact, museum visits became a great eye
and a critical eye on how to read a
opener, a change of perspective that
museum’s rooms.” - Jamal Polk (‘13)
changed my thinking and methodologies.” - Emi Tamaru (‘12)
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City as Laboratory
Exterior of The Broad from 2nd St. and Grand Ave; image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Broad Minded By Mimi Zeiger
Last year, students in Architecture/Landscape/Interiors (A/L/I) watched L.A.’s
architect, and the future lobby already framed, they garnered a greater understand-
newest art museum, The Broad, take life as they participated in hard hat construc-
ing of the shear amount of thought, coordination, and labor that goes into the
tion tours. Designed by the New York-based firm Diller Scofidio + Renfo (DS+R)
construction process. They were exposed to how complex computational forms
and commissioned by Eli and Edythe Broad, the 120,000 square foot building on
made in digital modeling software such as Rhino are built in the field. “To see how
downtown’s Grand Avenue (adjacent to Disney Hall) will feature large gallery spaces
highly nonorthogonal models made with the most contemporary of tools are
and an archive shrouded in an innovative, exoskeleton structure when it opens in
translated into architectural space by such a rudimentary and hand-labor intensive
2014. Behind the complex façade, which doubles as a shading system, works by
process was eye-opening,” says Ragle. But however complicated the construction
Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Cindy Sherman, and Jean-Michel Basquiat will be on
process, student Diana Gonong remained undaunted by the experience: “We all
view to the public.
arrived on site curious, and we all left amazed and inspired.”
For architecture and design students, who often spend long hours in design studio, the act of building can seem a bit foreign. Although skilled at rendering, drawing, and making models, young designers lack real-life experience, but DS+R’s design for The Broad offers an object lesson taking an idea from concept to construction. “Site visits are a critical part of any design education,” says faculty member Greg Kochanowski. “They provide the students an opportunity to engage the world and broaden their horizons and level of understanding beyond what is taught within the confines of the studio environment.” When he and his students visited The Broad, they toured the main gallery on the upper level, and learned how the museum’s large span steel structure was engineered and constructed. “It is at these moments when a more full-bodied level of understanding occurs— some of them hear the ‘click,’” he explains. “Students experience the synthesis of organizational, spatial, material, and technological systems that make up buildings and our built environment.” For student Izzy Savage, that click came when she saw the “large pillows”
Creative Action Throughout their studies, students participate in Creative Action: Integrated Learning projects with community partners. They learn that identifying problems and developing strategies for solutions result from examining and understanding multiple perspectives, dealing with ambiguity, and collaboratively developing flexible, adaptable approaches.
that were weighing down the roof in order to simulate the weight of the skylights that would be installed later, noting, “This ingenious technique demonstrated the creativity in both design and in building.” When faculty member Ben Ragle’s class visited the site, interior framing was underway and students got to see hundreds of custom-curved metal studs that will be skinned with thin veneers of plaster to form the interior walls. As they toured the racks and racks of organized pieces, plaster samples waiting for sign-off from the
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Some recent partners and projects include:
Spring 2014
Annual Kite Festival Every year in early April, students and alumni design and fly kites with families from the L.A. area. World-renowned kite maker Tom Van Sant (‘57) and other artists provide tips, and all enjoy caricature drawing, sand castle building, and face painting.
Museum Visit
L.A. Sports Museum Faculty member Bob Dob (’01) and his illustration students worked with Trustee Gary Cypres to create work based on Cypres’ extensive collection of sports memorabilia. Cypres is owner of the Los Angeles Sports Museum, a 30,000 sq. ft. private museum with 30 galleries dedicated to some of the most prominent sports figures and teams, including players Babe Ruth, Joe Dimaggio, and Lou Gehrig; and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Rams. The students were particularly inspired by cartoons by Willard Mullin, who popularized the stubble-faced Brooklyn bum of “Dem Bums.”
826LA
Culver City Senior
Film Aid International
H.E.L.P.E.R v2k
KXLU—Radi-O
Surfrider Foundation
Collaborate with
Center
View and analyze
Foundation
Produce original radio
Develop “Ban the Bottle,
underserved children
Transcribe life histories
films with socially
Work with Homeboy
content and broadcast it
Abolish the Bag”
to create a cultural
and stories
or environmentally
Industries ex-gang
on a public station
campaign focused on
relevant messages
members to discover the
exchange booklet Downtown Women’s
eliminating single-use
roots and causes of gang
Museum of Social
plastics
Center For the Study of
Center & Venice
BreatheLA
violence, and learn about
Justice
Political Graphics
Family Clinic
Increase awareness of
identity, creativity, and
Develop a plan to exhibit
Westside Awareness
Examine the historical
Propose ways to alleviate
respiratory illnesses in
community
and archive issues of
Magnet School
and cultural context of
difficulties of the
underserved communi-
social justice and cultural
Produce workshops for
political art and media
healthcare system
ties through branding
Holy Nativity Episcopal
memory related to La
students’ needs
and design
Church Community
Plaza Methodist Church
Garden
on Olvera Street
Junior Blind
Coolhaus
City of El Segundo Fire
Research the political
Department
The Getty
Design a community
context of mobile,
Design projects that
Examine the role of
garden and propose ways
Museum of Tolerance
addresses the senses of
guerilla-style community
respond to a large-scale
spirituality in cultural
in which food can be a
Craft a comic book
sound and touch
organizing
disaster
identity, and design
platform for social
narrative and design that
exhibitions that honor
change
builds empathy and
Create art and design that
spiritual and cultural
understanding among
expression
visitors
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College News
14 Years of Transformatio Sammy Hoi has been a transformational leader for Otis. His passionate commitment to art and design education has been vital to the College’s growth and prosperity during his fourteen-year presidency. A champion of creativity as an engine for economic growth and community development, Sammy has also been widely influential across the Los Angeles region and the state, working to build a coalition of public and private leaders to advocate for the arts. Sammy’s legacy at Otis is palpable—in new facilities, such as the Bronya and Andy Galef Center for Fine Arts; in the dramatic increases in the number of students and faculty during his tenure; in the tripling of the endowment and the high level of alumni giving; and, finally, in such new academic programs as Creative Action and Public Practice, which give Otis students the chance to leverage the power of art and design to make a positive difference in local communities. But Sammy’s legacy will be defined as much by his intangible accomplishments as by those we can readily see. Sammy has infused our college with a deep community feeling, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a sense of purpose in our shared work of preparing students to be leading creative professionals who enrich our world. The Otis family—the family Sammy has so thoughtfully nurtured—will certainly miss him. Thanks to Sammy’s vision, Otis is on a pathway to continued success as we approach the College Centennial in 2018.
2000
2005
Samuel Hoi appointed President
Product Design major launched
Graduate Writing Program launched
2006
2001
Creative Action: An Integrated Learning Program launched
Bronya and Andy Galef Center for Fine Arts opens
Scholarship Benefit and Fashion Show tops $1 million
2003 First strategic plan and branding study
2007
$1.8 million grant from U.S. Dept. of Education for new majors
Graduate Public Practice Program launched
2004
First Otis Report on the Creative Economy of the L.A. Region
John S. Gordon appointed first Provost
New Media Consortium Award for excellence in teaching and learning
Dr. Kerry Walk, Provost
2001
2006
2009
Bronya and Andy Galef Center for Fine Arts
Cirque de Soleil performance, Scholarship
Mattel design for an original Otis Barbie
Benefit and Fashion Show
” Sammy has been a fantastic spokesman for the creative sector in California, and an extraordinaray partner for the Getty Foundation. Whether working together on Pacific Standard Time or Otis Creative Economy Reports, we always knew Sammy would provide fresh insights and concrete results. He is a rare leader—an innovator who really makes things happen. We will miss him in Los Angeles, but are delighted to see him bring his tremendous skills to another fine arts institution.” Deborah Marrow, Director, and Joan Weinstein Deputy Director, The Getty Foundation
14
“ What I appreciate most about Sammy Hoi is his ability to exercise great leadership and vision with such energy, enthusiasm, and joy. This is part of the ‘secret sauce’ that has built Otis into a formidable institution, and encouraged Los Angeles, for the first time, to think of itself as a truly creative economy.”
Cora Mirikitani, President and CEO Center for Cultural Innovation
“ For many of us, Sammy is why we came to Otis. And what we found, once there, is that his leadership—marked by a deep respect for people and a generosity of spirit—has created a truly community-based organization, with a strong focus on engagement, sustainability, and community service.”
Suzanne Lacy, Chair Otis MFA Public Practice
Spring 2014
onal Leadership 2008
2011
2013
Graduate Graphic Design Program launched
Dr. Kerry Walk appointed Provost
Graduate Studios open in Culver City
Nike and Hurley endow $1 million scholarship
Students Design Freedom Memorial in Palau
Sustainability Alliance inaugurated with apparel partners
Sustainability minor launched Student enrollment = 1200 2012
90th birthday celebration
Doin’ It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman’s Building, featured in The Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980
2009 $1.8 million grant from Mattel
First Kite Festival, Santa Monica Pier
2010
Princeton Review selection: “2014 Best Colleges: Region by Region/Best in the West” New Digital Media areas of emphasis: Animation, Game & Entertainment Design, and Motion Design Otis Report on the Creative Economy expands statewide
Students design sustainable toys in China
North Building studios open
2014 President Hoi steps down; Dr. Kerry Walk appointed Interim President
2011
2012
2013
Students and faculty members in Palau
“ Sammy is a visionary leader who has guided Otis through an extraordinary period of growth and innovation. The values he so well embodies—mission focus, excellence, teamwork, optimism, and community care— are an enduring legacy that will propel the College into a bright future.”
Thomas R. Miller, Chair, Otis Board of Trustees Executive Vice President of Marketing and Product Strategies, City National Bank
” Sammy Hoi has been a wonderful trustee and particularly valuable to the arts program because of his deep understanding of our field. His capacity for listening, learning, and giving gracious advice and support has been an extraordinary gift to us and has strengthened our work in California.“
Josephine Ramirez, Arts Program Director The James Irvine Foundation
“ To see the impact of Sammy Hoi’s passion for educating the next generation of creative leaders, one needs only to visit any retail toy aisle in the world. Mattel is proud to be one of the largest employers of Otis graduates because the program nurtures students’ talent; helping them to unleash their creative spirit in ways they will benefit from for a lifetime. Sammy’s passion for arts education globally serves as a wonderful example to our community.” Bryan Stockton, Chairman and CEO Mattel, Inc.
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College News
Scholarship Benefit and Fashion Show
16
Spring 2014
The 31st annual Scholarship Benefit and Fashion Show raised more than $1 million for scholarships, highlighting faux fur apparel, sustainable sportswear, and the new The Otis Sustainability Alliance with inaugural partners—Eddie Bauer, Disney, Nike, Patagonia, Quiksilver, and Todd Oldham. Kirk Nix of KNA Designs was honored with the Creative Vision Award for his iconic work around the globe, and the inaugural Style Icon Award went to Sally Perrin, Creative Director of Perrin Paris 1893, who combines a feminine eye with French tradition.
Opposite Page Top: Bob Mackie Bottom row from left Above: Christopher Wicks Below: Marisol Gerona (’93) for Disney Cynthia Vincent (’88) Above: Billabong Below: Western Costume with Betsy Heimann Claire Pettibone (’89) This Page Top: Venus Williams for EleVen Bottom row from left Above: Heather Brown (’04) for Urban Outfitters Below: Mary Jo Bruno Halston with the Humane Society
17
College News
2013 Otis Report on the Creative Economy: 1 in 10 Jobs in California
Since 2007, Otis has commissioned the
Professions and Economic Development
L.A. County Economic Development Cor-
Committee); Otis President Samuel Hoi;
poration (LAEDC) to produce an annual
Director, Western Region of the Actors
Report on the Creative Economy of the
Fund Keith McNutt; CAC Director Craig
Los Angeles Region. This report has been
Watson, and Executive Director of Arts
an invaluable tool to assess the tremen-
for L.A. Danielle Brazell. An addendum
dous impact and influence of the area's
to this year's report is "L.A. Creates," a
creative sector on the region’s economy.
special report by McNutt, detailing the
In 2013, the California Arts Council
way in which deliberate, collaborative, and
(CAC) awarded Otis funds to expand the
regional efforts can support and develop
report to show how the state's economy
the region's creative industries.
is affected by jobs in the arts, design,
726,300
10.4% 10.4% of the L.A. Region’s total economic output
Jobs in Los Angeles & Orange Counties (direct, indirect, induced) 1 in 7 in the L.A. region
1.4
FAST FACTS MILLION
44%
about the creative economy
Jobs in California (direct, indirect, induced) 1 in 10 in the state
At the conclusion of the event,
education, entertainment, nonprofits,
President Hoi announced the new
and independent creative professions.
Creative Economy Catalyst Grants
Their commitment underscores the belief
program, a strategic initiative that
that creativity is essential to California's
supports L.A.’s creative entrepreneurs,
successful workforce investment and
and promotes innovative practices to
economic development strategies.
advance the city’s creative economy.
On February 6, 2014 at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Robert Klein-
This program will be administered by the Center for Creative Innovation.
henz, LAEDC’s Chief Economist at the
One week later in Sacramento,
Kyser Center for Economic Research,
Senator Lieu convened an informational
presented the 2013 Otis Report findings
hearing, and President Hoi presented
to a crowd of more than 400 audience
the report data. Lieu proposed a bill
members from multiple sectors. Other
to stimulate the creative economy by
speakers included California State Sena-
increasing state tax fund contributions
tor Ted Lieu (Chair of the Joint Commit-
to the CAC funding from $1 million to
tee of the Arts, and Chair of the Business,
$25 million.
of the state’s creative economy workers are in the L.A. region
“ The California story (Apple, Google, Mattel) is based on great ideas that are born in garages.” California State Senator Ted Lieu
President Hoi with State Senator Ted Lieu at the Broad Stage, Santa Monica
18
California hosts more nonprofit arts and cultural organizations than do most countries in the world.
10% of California’s jobs are in the creative economy
Ann Markusen, “California’s Arts and Cultural Ecology”
Robert Kleinhenz, LAEDC Chief Economist at the Kyser Center For Economic Research
Spring 2014
Those Who Can, Teach 2013 Awards Every year, Otis honors three outstanding faculty members with teaching awards. They are awarded based on their commitment to Otis, clear and effective teaching, and exceptional ability to respond to a diverse student body. Comments from student, faculty, and alumni nominations are excerpted below.
Harry Mott
Renée Petropoulos
Bill Kelley, Jr.
Distinguished Educator
Teaching Excellence, Full-Time Faculty Member
Teaching Excellence, Part-Time Faculty Member
Harry is unconditionally supportive of his students.
Renée is so generous with her knowledge and
Bill Kelley helps graduate students learn to write well,
He creates a unique, creative hub for thriving
time. She encourages her students to dig deeply
brings in international public speakers, connects
young artists.
into their interests, and she goes there with them.
students to the world of professionals through recom-
She gives so much of her time to visit studios of
mendations and internships, and is a very committed
Harry is loved and respected by all because he is
current students and alumni. Plus she has a fabulous
and congenial colleague. Although he is a part-time
completely honest and fair. Students know they will
sense of style!
faculty member, his generosity is unmatched.
Renée is an exciting and engaged teacher—she
Bill put heart and soul into his classes and changed
not only loves her position as an educator but is
my life! His dedication, time, and enthusiasm for art
Whether he suggests an old movie or gives advice
also an active contemporary member of the L.A.
history, teaching, and assistance with the thesis writing
about how to present work to professionals, Harry
art and music scene!
process cannot be surpassed.
benefit from his tough love, and faculty members value his support.
is always ready to help. Renée is a brilliant teacher who is constantly updat-
Bill understands each student’s different history. He
Harry is an altruist, in the best sense of the word,
ing her information and methods. She keeps herself
meets students outside of class to provide helpful
to his staff, fellow teachers and students.
enthusiastic and invested in her students. Her visiting
guidance and deep, nuanced feedback. He introduces,
artist lecture series is phenomenal. She is approach-
recommends, and advocates for students within a
able and yet challenging.
larger art-world context.
Harry has guided hundreds of students to success in the entertainment field. He is patient, understanding, caring, thorough, and intelligent in all his work, and he
Bill challenges his students to reflect on their work, to
reassured me and helped out in every way he could.
understand how each choice fits within a larger con-
He is truly a great educator.
text. He encourages his students to honestly confront their work and its many possible readings.
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Otis B College News
Ben Maltz Gallery Highlights
Art Critic Roberta Smith Roberta Smith, Visiting Critic in Fine
The Ben Maltz Gallery collaborated with Loyola Marymount’s
Arts, spoke to a standing–room-only
Laband Gallery on Tapping the Third Realm, an exhibition of
crowd about her career as an art critic,
work by 34 artists who explore spirituality through conjuring,
from early freelancing to her current
communication, collaboration, and chance (at left).
position as Senior Art Critic for the
Following this two-venue show, the Gallery presented Binding
New York Times, where she has been
Desire: Unfolding Artists Books, an exhibition of more than 120
since 1986. She spoke of the
artists books from Otis’ Millard Sheets Library’s 2,100 artists
challenges and rewards of art
books collection, one of the largest in Southern California.
criticism, stating her view that the advent of blogging keeps the conversation alive.
Collaborating on Sustainability At the fourth annual PALS (Partnership for Academic Leadership on Sustainability) Summit, hosted by Otis and Art Center in October, representatives from 18 art and design colleges and universities continued to develop a vision for the future of sustainability in art and design education. As part of their collaborative culture, members used the summit to share the their institutions’ progress around academic and institutional change, reflecting on the challenges and opportunities
Renovating Barbie's Malibu Dreamhouse
they face as PALS moves beyond their initial five-year commit-
With partner Mattel, students participated in a unique
ment. The keynote address by professor Ezio Manzini from Milan
creative collaboration to celebrate Barbie's dreamhouse
Polytechnic, a leading expert on sustainable design, focused
in Malibu. Their work was on display at Santa Monica
on scenario-building toward solutions encompassing both environ-
Place for two weeks, and included swimsuits, interior
mental and social quality. PALS fellow Otis Assistant Professor
accents, paintings, a guest house, and short videos. As
Michele Jaquis and others from Art Center, Pratt, MICA, RISD, Emily
first-year Liberal Arts and Sciences student Natasha
Carr, and CCA presented their research and academic initiatives.
Carovska says, “Barbie has had every single career under her pink belt as if to say, ‘Hey, yeah. I'm a girl. I can do anything…and in heels, too!’”
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Buzz Spring 2014
El Capitan Display Yo Homeboy
Fashion Design students, working with Disney Consumer Products, designed original costumes for three characters
With participants in downtown’s successful Homeboy Industries
in the Disney/Pixar Monsters University
program, Otis students created hand painted sneakers, donated by
animated film. Their work, displayed at
Converse. This Creative Action: Integrated Learning project
the El Capitan Theater on Hollywood
focused on identity and the way in which it is expressed. The $100
Blvd. last summer, incorporates
price (contact mtecle@otis.edu) benefits Homeboy Industries.
recycled materials such as household mops, sponges, and repurposed fabrics.
International Artists Symposium MFA Graphic Design's summer 2013 Design Week included international visiting artists Pinar + Viola, Amsterdam; Morag Myerscough + Luke Morgan, London; Jean Francois Porchez, Paris; Eric de Haas, Eindhoven; Team Thursday, Rotterdam; Alejandra Quinto, Mexico City, and Raw Color, Eindhoven. Chair Kali Nikitas invited visitors who conducted seven different workshops that addressed the students’ diverse interests. In Myerscough and Morgan’s workshop, students designed and built the social environment for crits, meals, happenings, and parties. Otis MFA candidates were joined by students from partner institutions Sint Lucas-Gent, Sint Lucas-Antwerp, Amsterdam’s Sandberg Institute, CalArts, and UCLA. Design week concluded with “work + play,” a symposium open to the design community. See photos at http:// otismfagraphicdesign.tumblr.com
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College News
The Lucky Ones Honorary degree recipient Lucy Lippard began her Commencement remarks by saying “You have no idea yet how lucky you are to have gone to Otis.” Other excerpts from the speech by this leading voice in contemporary art and ethical activism follow:
In our world,
VISION IS DEFINITELY NEEDED,
and envisioning is the artist’s business. Artists can't change the world alone but with good allies and hard work they can collaborate with life itself. You can provide models for new approaches and ask questions without knowing the answers. Otis has served you very well in this regard with programs in interdisciplinary community engagement and creative action.
I CAN’T WAIT to see what you
PRODUCE President Hoi, Lucy Lippard, and Trustee Bronya Galef
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Spring 2014
Each of you will be
RESPONSIBLE in your own way
for the ways society
PERCEIVES & DISCOVERS
its visual surroundings.
With this responsibility comes the necessity to think critically as well as affirmatively; to see brutality as well as beauty; to celebrate birth and still decry the fact that so many children [There are] all the new forms hovering out
in this world grow up in poverty;
there, buried in social energies that haven’t
to celebrate death as the natural end
yet been imagined. In my opinion, the most
of a meaningful life and still deplore
exciting art today enters the fray—it is
the fact that so much of our resources
pandisciplinary and can creep in through
go to prisons, executions, and the
all the cracks. According to the Kabbalah,
military; and to bailing out banks
if you wish to get hold of the invisible, you must
rather than helping people.
penetrate as deeply as possible into the visible.
23
College News
Annual Exhibition
24
Spring 2014
Opposite Page Top: Architecture/Landscape/ Interiors Bottom: Communication Arts, Toy Design This Page Top: Product Design Bottom: Fine Arts, Digital Media
25
Class of 2013
Best of the Best Meet the Class of 2013 Academic Excellence Award Winners and Valedictorian
These awards are bestowed upon students in each major who have attained the highest level of achievement. Selections are made by department leaders and faculty; criteria include a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher (for undergraduates), quality of work, personal character, and contributions to Otis and the larger community.Â
Christopher Cherrie , Communication Arts: Advertising Design
Silvia Juliana Mantilla Ortiz MFA Public Practice
Lori Choi Architecture/Landscape/Interiors
Renee Rasmussen Communication Arts: Graphic Design
Alec Egan MFA Fine Arts
David Roy Fine Arts: Photography
Caroline Fullerton Product Design
Wendy Silva Fine Arts: Painting
Lilit GarIbian Fashion Design
Brandon Waybright MFA Graphic Design
Miles Gracey Fine Arts: Sculpture/New Genres
Dustee Womack Toy Design
Kirby Israelson Communication Arts: Illustration
Rachel Kaminer MFA Writing
Carolyn Moskowitz Digital Media
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Spring 2014
CAROLYN MOSKOWITZ DIGITAL MEDIA
The Class Valedictorian is selected from the pool of undergraduate Academic Excellence Award recipients by a special committee consisting of the Provost, Vice Provost, and several faculty members who hold appointments in two or more departments.
Carolyn Moskowitz, Valedictorian, was chosen for her consistently stellar academic performance and the exceptional quality of her work, which has focused on concept art in both digital and traditional formats. In the words of Digital Media Chair Harry Mott, Carolyn is a tremendously gifted and hardworking artist and designer who is generous with her time and always ready to help others. An amazing talent, she creates the most surprising and gorgeous solutions to story and design challenges. She is a force to be reckoned with, and she would be honestly surprised to hear that said of her; she is so modest. She truly embodies the aspirations of the College.
Hometown? Agoura Hills, California Your thesis project? I reinterpreted Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” and designed characters, creatures, and environments. Interesting things you did outside of school? I was quite busy during college so I did not participate in extracurricular activities. However, I celebrated my graduation with a family trip to Hawaii, which I enjoyed very much! Most influential class? I really enjoyed the “Drawing the Fantastic.” I have a passion for drawing characters and creatures. Most influential faculty member? I’ve had many great teachers but Bill Eckert and Gary Geraths were most supportive to my growth as an artist. Favorite place in L.A.? Disneyland, California! I am most fortunate to have an annual pass and take frequent trips to “The Happiest Place on Earth!” For me, it is a place of inspiration and beauty. Impact on your work/life? I interned under faculty member Cecil Kim at Section Studios in 2012, where I worked on art for video games and mobile games. What’s next? I am currently a freelance artist.
WHY OTIS? I wanted to pursue a career in the arts, with a focus in concept art and illustration. Otis has a wonderful reputation, and I was happy to be accepted.
Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I am an avid collector of pressed pennies. You can find them almost anywhere, and I really enjoy building my collection. Information/tips to share with future students? Work hard, listen to your teachers, and remain confident in yourself— and if all else fails, go to the cafeteria and get yourself a delicious hot chocolate for 50 cents. When you’ve been up for 48 hours straight, it will pick you right up!
27
Class of 2013
LORI CHOI ARCHITECTURE/LANDSCAPE/INTERIORS
IMPACT ON YOUR WORK/LIFE? Otis is where I organized my dreams. Now that I’ve graduated, my dreams are slowly becoming plans.
Hometown? This question seems irrelevant in today’s world. My family currently lives in Houston, Texas. Why Otis? Otis’ attraction was its location— the city of Los Angeles. Your thesis project? In Studio VI, we focused on buildings in relation to the surrounding landscape. We traveled to Seattle to get a good sense of the context, researched and observed the coastal conditions, and predicted the rise of sea level in increments of ten years. My final project, “INFILTRATION—Pacific Rim Disaster Research and Education Center,” focused on the exchange of overflowing seawater, urban runoff, and visitors in a single location. Some of the design challenges were to provide a safe environment for the community during a flood, to incorporate constructed wetlands,
28
and to consider marine life and filtration of urban runoff. Interesting things you did outside of school? A/L/I offers charrettes (practice competitions) every semester in which I participated. I moved to city-wide charrettes where my usual partner, Rodrigo Zayas (A/L/I, '13), and I competed against architecture students from other Southern California schools. We were successful in many ways—prizes, connections, and exposure to the professional working environment. Chair Linda Pollari informed us of all L.A. student competitions, which were the highlights of my education. Most influential class? Studio courses are top priority and most thought-provoking. Most influential faculty member? I'm grateful for all of my studio instructors, who were very helpful
and inspiring in different ways: Linda Pollari, Chava Danielson, Richard Lundquist, Matthew Gillis, Matias Creimer, Greg Kochanowski, and Jean-Michel Crettaz. Favorite place in L.A.? My apartment. It's where I sleep. And sleep is so important. What’s next? I'm very busy applying to grad schools to start a Master of Architecture program in fall 2014. Something unusual/idiosyncratic? Time management was always my forte until I started architecture school. Being punctual is very important to me. Information/tips for future Otis students? Get ready to eat, sleep, breathe, and basically live architecture. It's fun!
Spring 2014
KIRBY ISRAELSON COMMUNICATION ARTS: ILLUSTRATION
WHAT’S NEXT? I’m sending out my manuscript and trying to sell my character design, so I’ve become somewhat of an entrepreneur, oddly enough. I’ve started a face painting business (with classmates!), a window painting business, and a design consulting business. I’m doing a lot of things, but it’s fun. Exciting.
Hometown? I was raised in Beaumont, California, but I've been in L.A. for the past fifteen years. Why Otis? I believe one of my high school art teachers recommended it to me. When I took a summer course here and visited the campus, I knew it was the right choice. Your thesis project? As an overachiever, I decided to write and illustrate a book, “Lucky Charms: Book One,” the first installment in my interactive novel series in which the reader can live the life of a serial killer. Haven't you always been curious? Interesting things that you did outside of school? I typically didn't do much outside of school aside from sleep (if I ever had the free time). But I did become a window painter through connections I made in one of my classes. Most influential class? All of my classes left an impact. My Creative Action “Festivals” class with Andy Davis was the most influential because it gave me networking opportunities that are still helping me. I don't think I would be as confident at this moment without it.
Most influential faculty member? I loved all of my teachers! I know it sounds like a cliché, but I really did. If I had to choose one, JT Steiny (’86) is the one I could really hold an argument with. Favorite place in L.A.? Any bookstore. I adore books. I'm addicted to them. Impact on your work/life? Everything. Otis forced me to get everything I've wanted to do on paper (so to speak), and introduced me to all of the right people so that I could do it. It made me push myself harder than I've ever had to, and I am extremely pleased with the results. I turned out pretty awesome, if I say so myself. Something unusual/idiosyncratic? To tell you the truth, it's hard to find something that isn't unusual about me. . . . Ask anyone who's met me. Information/tips to share with future students? Put your all into it. Your life is going to be hard, you're going to be frustrated, and you will never sleep, but it's worth it. You will only get out of Otis what you put into it, so don't regret that you didn't do your best while you were here.
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Class of 2013
BRANDON WAYBRIGHT MFA GRAPHIC DESIGN
allow me to blend my ideas, writing, and image-making, I came across Otis' website and video interviews with some of the professors. I visited a seminar class and came away excited by the students and their conceptual approaches. Meeting Kali Nikitas and other professors sealed the deal. I was certain that the students and faculty would push, prod, criticize, and support me.
Hometown? Chicago Why Otis? I was hunting for a school in L.A., as the city fascinated me. I was working as a web designer, sensing that I wanted to do more meaningful work but unsure of what form that work might take. In searching for a strong MFA program that would
Your thesis project? “Chasing After Kandinsky” revolved around synesthesia. Conceptually I wanted to uncover ways to condition my mind to experience life through another person's sensory perceptions. This project also explored how design might be expanded to use conditioning while incorporating more sensory signals—particularly those of taste, sound, and scent. The final work was a combination of a website, a publication, and an installation called ”Blue Communion,” where
viewers could engage in a ritual focused on Kandinsky’s experience of the color blue. Interesting things you did outside of school? Inspired by Situationist International, I spent one semester meandering the streets of L.A. This led to all kinds of surprising discoveries. At one point I photographed every step I took on the Sunset Strip. Ultimately these meanderings and explorations were combined into a publication called “Los Angeles Mythology,” which was a fairly strong turning point in my work. During my last summer [at Otis], I secretly began learning Parkour, even though I am not particularly fit, flexible, or capable of gymnastics. It was the best, most foolish thing I've done, and involved me falling from stairwells, tripping over my own feet, and discovering the PKLA community, which is just about the most eccentric group of people I know.
Most influential class? In my first spring semester, the faculty really held my feet to the fire, and forced me to move past cliché and toward purposeful, exploratory work. Most influential faculty member? Tucker Neel is the man . . . in the good way. He spoke my language, challenged me, called me on my BS, celebrated my better work. He's amazing. Favorite place(s) in L.A.? Any and all public transit, Tommy Lama's Boot Emporium, the Museum of Jurassic Technology, and Skid Row Impact on your work/life? Revolutionary. I am not at all the maker I was when I came into the program, and it is all for the better. I love what I am doing, I have a group of peers that I think the world of, and faculty who continue to challenge me, even though I am no longer in school. It was a turn in the road for me, and a great one. What’s next? I am teaching graphic design at a tiny liberal arts college [Trinity International University], and launching a design studio called CAPE design. I plan to use this studio to continue my explorations, invite collaborators, and see how I can do a small part to make the world a bit more wonderful. Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I live for bad Sci-Fi, think the world of Katy Perry's delightfully terrible pop music, and given the choice between a dusty motel and a high class hotel, I’d go for the motel every time. Information/tips for future students? Embrace obstacles and challenges. If you don’t have any in your path, then make a few. Become a person who habitually throws a wrench into your own system, because you’ll learn a lot about yourself and your limits when you attempt to overcome challenges.
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Spring 2014
CHRIS CHERRIE COMMUNICATION ARTS: ADVERTISING DESIGN
SOMETHING UNUSUAL/IDIOSYNCRATIC? Using graphic design as an educational tool allows me to focus on the social equality and responsibility of our future global community.
Hometown? Toronto, Ontario, Canada Why Otis? I was attracted by the idea that I didn’t have to specify a major until junior year within the Communication Arts department. I felt that I could be in charge of my own education. Your thesis project? Developed as a solution to the problems articulated in my capstone thesis paper, “Fraternize” is a community of guys who like guys. They connect, learn, and explore manhood. This project encompasses a geosocial smartphone application and website to provide homosexual healthcare and lifestyle information.
I am developing this project in partnership with VeryNice Design; we plan to have the first live site up soon. gofraternize.tumblr.com Interesting things you did outside of school? I had the joy of exploring L.A., and taking advantage of diverse cultural experiences. I can identify three events that were amazing— Coachella Music and Arts Festival, camping and hiking at Point Mugu State Park, and the Creative Arts Emmys 2012. Most influential class? Capstone, as I continue to put my research to good use.
Most influential faculty member? Erin Hauber was right; the lessons didn’t hit me until a year later. I hated learning them but through her lessons, I’ve become a confident producer and designer of content. Ana Llorente clarified what it means to be a great designer; it’s putting things in simple terms, something others can absorb. That’s the difficult part. Favorite place in L.A.? Home Impact on your work/life? For four years, Otis was my life. I think it would be impossible for anyone to attend Otis and do anything else because artists, designers, and writers are studying their passion.
What’s next? Currently I am the Entrepreneur in Residence at VeryNice Design, where I am developing a socially innovative sexual health and lifestyle program for young guys who like guys. I work as a graphic designer and curatorial assistant at the Museum of Public Fiction. I plan to continue my multidisciplinary design practice in Toronto and Los Angeles. Information/tips to share with future students? Be open; you don’t know anything, so always ask questions.
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Class of 2013
MILES GRACEY FINE ARTS: SCULPTURE/NEW GENRES
MOST INFLUENTIAL FACULTY MEMBER? You cannot run around Otis with scissors in your hands without accidentally bumping into a teacher that will change your life. They are abundant.
Hometown? Cambria, California Why Otis? It’s really serendipitous. I originally attended Otis for its Graphic Design program.I had a few really influential teachers who led me to seek out something a bit more challenging; the rest is history. Your thesis project? I built a wall. Interesting things that you did outside of school? Outside of school? Most influential class? Any class that made me question everything I had already learned up to that point. Otis was a pattern of education followed by de-education, the exact antithesis of what came before. It’s an important value to have throughout life, learning to listen while simultaneously ignoring everything. Favorite place in L.A.? I seek out the places in which L.A. shows its seams: places where you get a sense that it is all just make-up on a desert: the back of the Hollywood sign, infamous sites where celebrities have died, the river. These are truly beautiful places.
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Impact on your work/life? I have realized that I am not me but rather a consequence of my last meal (which happened to be a Big Mac and fries). I go through life consuming the world around me. At some point I must have ingested someone with dark brown hair, possibly tall, but not too. So exactly who was I before I ate myself? Was I horny? And moreover, how piquant would he or she have been fricasseed? What’s next? Anything and everything. I think that is the real beauty of an art education, because you are never acutely trained to do one thing. There will never be precisely one thing to do. It is never a good career move to go to art school, but it can allow you to never really have a career. I hope never to work a single day as an artist. I think that is where the true cultural significance of the artist emanates from. Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I eat people. I am a cannibal. Information/tips for future students? Don’t worry, about a thing, ’cause every little thing, is going to be all right...
Spring 2014
SILVIA JULIANA MANTILLA ORTIZ MFA PUBLIC PRACTICE
Hometown? Bogotá, Colombia, and Edison, N.J. Why Otis? I was looking for a program that would support my interests in both art and activism, and Otis was the right choice. Your thesis project? My thesis project, “Talk Is Cheap: Unincorporated Language Laboratories,” focuses on issues of migration, assimilation, and miscommunication. While it has many components, one of its "laboratories" is a customized Bike-B-Q that I use to cook arepas (Colombian corn patties), which I exchange for stories of miscommunication. For two months I took the bike out in the West Adams neighborhood and exchanged stories with my neighbors. Then I took it on a weeklong tour from L.A. to Portland, Oregon. Interesting things that you did outside of school? During my first year I did a lot of Capoeira. I love the way that it reconnects me with my body. Most influential class? I took an amazing performance class with Allison O'Daniel that helped me develop what would be the core of my thesis. Plus it was so much fun!
INFORMATION/TIPS FOR FUTURE STUDENTS? Take care of each other. Being an artist is a hard road. The only way to succeed with sanity and joy is to support one other and avoid jealousy.
Most influential faculty member? Bill Kelley, Jr. for theory and conceptual frameworks, and Sandra de la Loza for methodology. Favorite place in L.A.? Slanguage Studios. There are always people making amazing art there, and after working and hanging out, we'll go out and eat, hang out some more, and laugh way too loud.
Impact on your work/life? Otis introduced me to new contexts, methodologies, and frameworks. I met fantastic people and was challenged to develop my ideas and my politics. What’s next? I am living in Queens, New York, doing a year-long fellowship with the Queens Museum of Art Public
Events. I am also transcribing all the oral histories I collected for my thesis. Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I sneeze very many small sneezes in a row. My record is 18. Sometimes people think I’m beat-boxing!
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Class of 2013
WENDY SILVA FINE ARTS: PAINTING
Hometown? Los Angeles Why Otis? It always seemed to be the school I was headed towards. I was accepted into the Ryman Arts Program in high school. My art teacher encouraged me to go to art school, and said that Otis was one of the top local schools. I also won a Gold and Silver Key from the Scholastic Art and
Your thesis project? We completed both a thesis project and a paper. Writing my thesis paper helped me understand my work better. I examined culture, tradition, and the idea of becoming a figure for future generations to look up to, as my grandmother was for me. Interesting things that you did outside of school? I worked on side projects, creating small handmade objects. Most influential class? Christine Fredrichs’ “Extended Painting Techniques” sparked my infatuation with different mediums and techniques. Most influential faculty member? Chris Wilder was a great mentor who made me question my ideas and use different perspectives, and try new things. Favorite place in L.A.? Culver City born and raised, but currently living in Torrance. Impact on your work/life? At times it was overwhelming. The workload was fair, but I tend to be very detail-oriented and meticulous. It was inspiring to share a studio space with two other artists. I was usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.
INFORMATION/TIPS TO SHARE WITH FUTURE STUDENTS? Do it all! There is so much to learn and explore. Take advantage of every course you take. I regret not taking more classes but I ended up taking 18 units almost every semester. It is ok to be different, because that is what sets you apart as an artist.
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Writing Awards, and the Award Ceremony was held at Otis. After high school, I helped my parents out with rent by working and going to school part-time at Santa Monica College, where I took my first painting course with (Otis faculty member) Nathan Ota, who is an amazing teacher and mentor. I also had the privilege of meeting Bob Dob, and found out that he studied with Nathan at Otis.
What’s next? Getting a studio space, where I have the freedom to experiment. I’m currently an artist assistant and I’m really enjoying the creative atmosphere. Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I can work on paintings for hours, and feel like I spent ten minutes. And I will never walk away from a work that I feel is unfinished.
Spring 2014
RENEE RASMUSSEN COMMUNICATION ARTS: GRAPHIC DESIGN
INTERESTING THINGS YOU DID OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL? Road trips and surfing.
Hometown? Independence, Iowa Why Otis? Right time at the right place. I have wanted to attend art school since I was young but was always told it wasn’t an option. When I moved out to L.A. and had some real life/work experience, I knew that art school (Otis) was the best option for my career path and for me as an artist.
Your thesis project? I became very interested in the old theaters on Broadway [in downtown L.A.]. My thesis evolved into more of a fine art installation piece, with sound and image through analog and digital technologies. Favorite place in L.A.? Downtown
Impact on your work/life? The opportunities are endless now that I have finished my degree. I’m much more confident that I am headed in the right direction and doing what I love. What’s next? My search for the next best thing! Information/tips for future students? There will be many, many sleepless nights but hang in there! Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
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Class of 2013
RACHEL KAMINER MFA WRITING
Hometown? I was born in San Luis Obispo [California] and grew up in the mountains around Asheville, N.C. Why Otis? I decided to pursue an MFA in L.A., and Paul Vangelisti conveyed to me that Graduate Writing is about reading and writing and making and translating, in what we might call the “Un-American Tradition.” I knew I wanted to be in the company of writers and artists who conducted themselves as colleagues, who brought diverse life experience to their practices. I remember reading the book list Jen Hofer posted online for one of her courses with such excitement. That’s when I knew I would apply. And the web page had such lovely design. I guessed that meant Otis was a good fit for students who pay attention both to form and content. Your thesis project? A book-length work of poetry—this means the poetry is talking to itself across the breadth of the whole work. The book is about listening. Or, put another way, it’s the joy and responsibility that we have in language; that we make meaning; that it’s musical. Then again, it recently became apparent to me that I may complete an entire book of poetry with these philosophical ideas as an influence—and then it will turn out to be about heartbreak. The joke is on me for being the last one to get it. Interesting things that you did outside of school? I’ve done all sorts of interesting things through WriteGirl, a nonprofit based in my neighborhood. My favorite has been facilitating writing workshops for incarcerated young women.
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Most influential faculty member? Impossible to say. I worked with and for Sarah Shun-lien Bynum and Dr. Carol Branch, and they are supremely influential role models, personally and professionally. I have to point out how influential my poet-colleagues have been, along with Jackie Young, the mastermind of two graduate departments and my supervisor, in shaping my time here.
Favorite place in L.A.? Walking in my neighborhood is pretty great: the 6th Street Bridge, the channelized L.A. River, La Reyna taco stand at 7th and Mateo, and my neighbors at Factory Place, who have become hearth and home. What’s next? Writing, teaching, editing, choosing additional rent-paying professions. Publishing. Going to the desert when the Perseids fall.
SOMETHING UNUSUAL/IDIOSYNCRATIC? I lived in a wilderness setting for about two years facilitating experiential education and therapy. I can carve a bow-drill set and bust a coal.
Information/tips for future students? The poetry alums have an ongoing conversation in poetry and in life, and that’s the best reason to attend. Choose your community of colleagues. And explore every neighborhood you can.
Spring 2014
DUSTEE WOMACK TOY DESIGN
Hometown? Visalia, California Why Otis? I had a degree in business from SDSU [San Diego State University] and worked various jobs in marketing and sales. It was great experience but I was not creatively satisfied. While my husband was in Iraq with the Army, I took art classes at night at OCC [Orange Coast College] and focused on painting and ceramics. Much of my work looked “toylike,” and my painting teacher noticed this. He mentioned Otis’ program, and I immediately got excited! The moment I saw the toy design online that night, I was determined to go. My husband reenlisted in the National Guard in order to transfer his GI Bill to me so we could afford it. Interesting things you did outside of school? Making earrings; camping and hiking; bicycling; scavenging around
swap meets to find cheap, weird, little treasures; and having all these adventures with my husband and my little puggle, Odashi. Most influential class? Preschool with Joyce Mesch, sponsored by Spin Master. Our class had a unique bond together and with our instructor. We worked as if we were at a toy company. We shared ideas, provided feedback, collaborated and improved our concepts each week, and shared them with the Spin Master team. It was challenging, intimidating, and fun all wrapped into one. This class was the foundation of my confidence in my design ability. Most influential faculty member? Mike Andrews’ model-making knowledge opened my eyes to the idea that if you can think of it, there is more than likely a way to make it. I have always made little sculptures and dioramas but many times hit a wall when I didn’t know how to make
them work. He also showed us the value of making a quick model to test out an idea. Jeannie Hardie, my games theory instructor, taught my most challenging class, and I worked myself to the bone. She told it like it is, was honest, and let us know where to improve. Learning game theory helped bring out the logical thinking I tucked away in my brain, and has helped me in all aspects of design. If you can explain how to play a good game well, you can explain almost anything. Favorite place in L.A.? The Barcade on Western has old arcade games for 25 cents, affordable drinks, and good music. . . . It’s a good “end of your day” treat! Impact on your work/life? I had been working for the last ten years and completed a business degree. At Otis, I learned how to make the work enjoyable.
What’s next? I landed an amazing job as a designer for Disney Planes at Mattel. It is much more rewarding, challenging, and fun than anything I have ever done. Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I eat popcorn almost every night, make earrings out of almost anything, I am drawn (like a bug) to anything that glows, and I have a special voice that my dog understands. Information/tips for future students? Extend yourself past what’s offered in your major. Seek out the class that can help you improve. I knew I needed help with Photoshop and drawing, so I took special classes. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and pinpoint where you need to improve.
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Class of 2013
DAVID ROY FINE ARTS: PHOTOGRAPHY
Hometown? Los Angeles Why Otis? Of all the schools I visited, Otis was the most welcoming. I really liked the campus, and I was offered a very good financial aid package. Your thesis project? My thesis project examined transdisciplinary art and the ongoing relationship between art, technology, and industry. I also participated in a collaborative project with my classmates. Most influential class? It’s a tie between Sohrab Mohebbi’s Critic in Residence course on art and labor, and Dani Tull’s class on unconventional aesthetics.
INTERESTING THINGS YOU DID OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL? I mostly did a lot of bike riding. I did some epic rides on a special bike that I built for exploring the local fire roads and mountain trails. I did some longer rides including many centuries, and one from L.A. to San Diego. My favorite thing was organizing parties and art shows with Centaur, my art collective.
Favorite place in L.A.? Wherever I am on my bike. I am quite fond of a decommissioned Nike missile base in the Santa Monica Mountains. Impact on your work/life? I learned to think deeply, critically, and creatively in all aspects of my life. Studying here taught me to push myself to do more than I thought was possible.
What’s next? I am building my portfolio to apply to graduate school next year. My new body of work uses my pinhole cameras and some experimental printing techniques that I developed at Otis. I organize shows, and I recently started restoring a ceramics studio in Little Tokyo.
Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I have a ham radio license, which gives me an excuse to use the NATO phonetic alphabet on a regular basis. My call sign is Kilo-Juliet-SixZulu-Foxtrot-Victor! Information/tips for future students? Work hard because you’ll only get out what you put in. It’s a great privilege to go to art school; don’t take it for granted.
See David’s experiments with his pinhole cameras at www.youtube.com/user/OtisCollege
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Spring 2014
CAROLINE FULLERTON PRODUCT DESIGN
IMPACT ON YOUR WORK/LIFE? My four years have undoubtedly given me all the skills and tools I need to realize my dream as a product designer; but even more so, Otis has shaped who I am (as friend, sister, daughter) in unimaginable ways.
Hometown? I was born in Hørsholm, Denmark, and moved to Beaverton, Oregon, with my family. I consider both my hometowns. Why Otis? I was drawn to Otis’ energy, location, and people. Your thesis project? I believe that when people feel comfortable, they feel selfconfident. With an empathetic, user-centric approach, I provide comfort to the consumer. Comfort can be functional, physical or psychological. Understanding and identifying the specific areas of users’ discomfort determines
if the design is a tangible or intangible solution. Interesting things you did outside of school? I regularly danced around my apartment with my roommates to take small breaks while doing homework. Favorite place in L.A.? The beach and viewpoints from hikes like Griffith Observatory.
Something unusual/idiosyncratic? When I was a little girl, I would sit on the floor and cut out paper hearts using just my toes. Information/tips to share with future students? Enjoy it while it lasts! Four years sounds like a long time, but it flies by. Be an amazing student but explore and try to do, see, and eat as many new, unusual, and exciting things as possible.
What’s next? I just finished a product design internship with a company called LOOPTWORKS, based in Portland, and am now working as a material designer at Nike.
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Class of 2013
ALEC EGAN MFA FINE ARTS
Hometown? Los Angeles Why Otis? Otis was always on my mind because Phillip Guston, my favorite painter, attended Otis. I had been out on the road and alone for a long time, all over the country, thinking that something was going to happen with my painting career. After a few pitfalls, I decided I didn’t know as much as I thought I did, and decided to go to grad school. I saw being back in L.A. and going to Otis as having a grounding effect on me, allowing me
to produce work in a place with some modicum of familiarity and, therefore, safety (which I needed). Your thesis project? It was more or less about “the personal”; my inability to create a fantasy to deal with my fear of the “unknown.” In many ways, it was a kind of existential quest about a fantasy that falls apart. Interesting things you did outside of school? I tried a food challenge in Burlington, Vermont three times one year, and ate five pounds of barbecue in an hour. I failed all three times.
WHAT’S NEXT? I had a show in Amsterdam, which was a really amazing experience, and have several shows coming up in L.A.
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Most influential class? Critique was both the most influential and traumatizing. Favorite place in L.A.? My bedroom Impact on your work/life? Otis changed my work and my life a lot. It was the most intense experience I’ve ever had. In the best way, it showed me how to go forward with my work rather than being simply happy to do it. Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I don’t like transitions but I am addicted to them. Information/tips to share with future students? Keep your head down. Just because you’re an inmate doesn’t mean you have to act like one. Don’t trust the guards, and make as much work in your cell as possible. Good luck!
Spring 2014
LILIT GARIBIAN FASHION DESIGN
Hometown? Glendale, California Your thesis project? In my senior year I worked with two mentors—Cynthia Vincent (’86) and Betsy Heimann of Western Costume. The process includes developing material boards, illustrations, sketch selection, pattern drafting, draping and sewing, and several fittings. We create all the garments from scratch.
WHY OTIS? Seeing the display of student work convinced me. Also, I was really excited about working on mentor projects!
Interesting things you did outside of school? Last summer I interned in New York. I knew I’d love the city, and it was everything I thought it would be. Most influential class? Design/portfolio, especially the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) project. We had to complete the project in a very intense and short few weeks, and for the first time we were working on our own concepts and ideas. I learned a lot about myself as a designer, as I was allowed almost total creative freedom. Most influential faculty member? I had the pleasure of working with many great instructors, but I have to say that Jill Higashi had a huge impact on me. Her work ethic and the discipline she instills are a big part of the success of Otis fashion
design! She continually inspired me, believed in me, and molded me into a much better designer! Favorite place in L.A.? I’ve been going to the Getty since I was a kid. Other than the beautiful art, I love the architecture and the tram. My favorite part is the garden. Also, the view of L.A. is wonderful! Impact on your work/life? My three years were a life-changing experience. Many difficult times seemed impossible to overcome, but I always came through; every time I accomplished something, I proved to myself that I could do it. After surviving Otis, there is no task that I cannot handle. Bring it on! Also, I made some of the best friends I’ve ever had. We were like crazy family members who loved and sometimes hated each other. We couldn’t have done it without each other’s support. What’s next? I am living in Seattle and working as an associate designer for women’s knits at Eddie Bauer. I was a bit hesitant at first about moving to Seattle, but I really love it here. It’s perfect for me! Something unusual/idiosyncratic? I usually have extreme feelings about things/people. Information/tips for future students? Go to Otis only if you are very serious about becoming a professional artist/designer. Take it as the greatest challenge of your life, and set your mind to believing that you will get through it no matter what and see it to the end. I focused 98 percent of my life on school. It was extremely challenging, but in the end it was so worth it. If you are really passionate, then it shouldn’t feel too much like work.
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Alumni Around the World
BANGLAD MUMBAI A Startup in Mumbai, India Murad Currawalla | (’07 Digital Media) After that it’s been one project
introduce our services, I mention the
intern at a small boutique studio in
my own, and decided it would be ideal to
after another. CG Lab Pvt Ltd.
Otis alumni who work in their studio,
Mumbai. While studying digital media,
do this while I was still young and living
(www.thecglab.com) has completed
establishing an immediate connection
I interned in the summers and learned a
at home, not having to pay rent. I was
more than 350 projects in four years
and comfort level.
lot about the entertainment industry in
lucky to meet an investor who wanted to
for clients from the U.S. Canada, U.K.,
the U.S. After graduating, I did freelance
start a partnership. We got office space,
France, Peru, and India. We have never
motion graphic work in Los Angeles for
and everything looked like it was going
advertised our service but depended
a year.
to go through. He set up the infrastruc-
on word of mouth. Our work focuses on
ture while I contacted people I knew in
postproduction and 3-D modeling.
I started working at the age of 18 as an
Moving back to India was a difficult transition. The working conditions are quite different. When a film is close to
I always wanted to venture out on
the industry, both in the U.S. and India. Although this partnership didn’t work
Looking back, I realize that I built very strong foundation skills while I was
delivery, I never go to work and return
out, what really paid off was talking to
at Otis, which were invaluable when I
home on the same day. Facilities have
my contacts and spreading the word. I
joined the profession. For me, another
showers and rooms for sleeping, and
got my first break through fellow alumnus
big advantage of Otis is the contacts I
everyone works and lives in the office
Ben Go (‘00) of Brand New School.
made. When I approach new clients to
during these crunch times.
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Spring 2014
Bangladeshi Women Making it Count Peter Zokosky | (’81 Fine Arts)
ADESH O. What were the challenges?
disadvantages, and they intend to return and improve
Z. Since the students come from so many different
conditions at home. Their sense of social responsibility
countries, there had to be a common language. English
was impressive. Their artistic growth was significant,
proficiency is incredibly advantageous, so all classes
and they saw the value in creative thinking for artists
are taught in English but the various accents were a real
and in other spheres of life.
challenge at first. I learned that there are not any art supply stores in Chittagong, so I contacted some
O. Has Bangladesh influenced your painting?
American manufactures, California retailers, individu-
Z. I’m still processing it; that part takes time for me.
als, and colleges for donations. They very generously
One project that we’re involved in is a documentary
gave lots of supplies, which we brought with us. In
film about the experience. So many people were very
Bangladesh, the per capita income is $923 a year, so
interested in what we were doing, and many donated
there’s a lot of poverty. The infrastructure isn’t what
money, books, and supplies. It’s a fascinating part of
Otis. You introduced the first art class to a new
westerners are used to. There are daily blackouts and
the world, and there’s lots of interest in the condition
university in Bangladesh. How did this come about?
frequent hartals, which are widespread general strikes
of women in the Islamic world. In our film we want to
Zokosky. My wife and I learned about the Asian
used as a political tool. The weather is a challenge too;
examine the experiences of of U.S. and Bangladeshi
University for Women from a friend who teaches there.
we were there for the monsoon season and it was quite
students. In hours of interviews and documentation
She raved about the university, and mentioned the
hot and humid. Bangladesh is about 95 percent Muslim
of daily life, we collected remarkable content.
desire to introduce art into the curriculum. It’s privately
and the university population is largely Islamic. O. Will you be editing the film yourself?
funded, independent, and provides a free or subsidized liberal arts education to deserving women from the
O. Was that an issue?
Z. I’m applying for grants so that we can hire a talented
region. It’s located in the port city of Chittagong,
Z. Not really, the students dress fairly conservatively by
editor. We’re looking for someone who is interested in
Bangladesh. The students come from 12 countries
Western standards and they were really eager to learn
this sort of issue.
including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal,
to draw. I was worried, being a male teacher, that I
Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam . . . it’s a broad cross
could unintentionally violate some social norms.
O. Did you get involved in other projects there?
section of the South Asian developing world. The more
The students quickly put me at ease about that; they
Z. I met local artists and lectured at an art gallery in
we looked into it, the more convinced we were that we
were as adventurous and open-minded as students
Chittagong about the art scene in America and my own
wanted to go there and teach. The university opened in
here. For life drawing, I had the models wear modest
work. I mounted a show of student drawings. Karole
2008 and they had not yet offered art classes. I teach
bathing suits.
adapted and produced the Greek classic “Medea,” and I got involved in theater sets and designed the poster.
drawing and painting, and my wife, Karole Foreman, is an actress and an acting teacher. We put together a
O. What are the students like?
I also illustrated a book, which was just translated into
proposal, and the university invited us to come teach
Z. It’s an all-female university, but there is profound
Bengali, about how to raise healthy babies. I’m glad I
summer courses. Karole taught introduction to acting,
geographic, social, and economic diversity. The
have a broad art education and technical skills, because
and I did a Foundation drawing class.
students are all very smart, dedicated, and curious.
you never know what you might be called upon to do.
Their attitude toward education is inspiring. They O. What were your impressions of Bangladesh?
recognize the life-changing value of an education and
Z. It’s an amazing country with remarkable people,
they want to make it count. I interviewed dozens, and
huge challenges, lots of poverty, and an enormous
none mentioned money as a goal. Some of them come
population. It’s visually stunning and a little surreal.
from small rural villages where women face great
43
Class Notes
ALUMNAE ALUMNUS ALUMNI ALUMNA
Michael Lin ‘90 Fine Arts Sharawadgi installation, 2013 California Pacific Triennial, Orange County Museum of Art
This special annual issue of OMAG includes highlights of alumni achievements over the past year. To see a more complete listing and share your new accomplishments, visit the Alumni News blog. Also, keep in touch with one another and Otis through alumni social media. Go to otis.edu/alumni for links or contact us at alumniupdate@otis.edu.
SOLOISTS Gary Lloyd ’70 MFA Fine Arts They: An Answer Driving the Problem Revisited Cal St Channel Islands Ron Ownbey ’65 MFA Fine Arts From Mind thru Hand: A 60 Year
Laura Daroca ’03 MFA Fine Arts Director of Alumni Relations
Retrospective Mt. San Antonio College Art Gallery Kim Gordon ’77 Fine Arts Design Office with Kim Gordon—Since 1980 White Columns, N.Y.
44
Mari Andrews
Liz Craft
’82 MFA Fine Arts
’94 Fine Arts
Over, Under, and Inside Out
The Temple of Folly
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
West Hollywood Park
Darren Waterston
Marco Rios
’88 Communication Arts
’97 Fine Arts
Ravens and Ruins
Anatomy of an Absent Artist
Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Santa Monica Museum of Art
Michael Lin
Juan Capistran
’90 Fine Arts
’99 Fine Arts
Place Libre
What We Want, What We Believe:
Tang Contemporary Art Center, Beijing
Towards A Higher Fidelity Visual Arts Center, Univ of Texas, Austin
Spring 2014
Tim Biskup ‘88 Fine Arts A Subtle Advertisement for Mind-Numbing Pain Martha Otero, L.A.
Mario Ybarra Jr.
Rashell George
’99 Fine Arts
’05 Fine Arts
Books of Drawings, Beyond Our Dreams,
Downpour
Blame Our Dads, Brains on Drugs, Better
Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica
off Dead The Fabric Workshop and Museum,
Michael Brunswick
Philadelphia
’07 MFA Fine Arts 79th Organ
Molly Corey
Gusford Gallery, L.A.
‘01 MFA Fine Arts A Little Joy of a Bungalow
Sojung Kwon
MAK Center for Art and Architecture,
’07 MFA Fine Arts
West Hollywood
Ramen Blues Commonwealth and Council, L.A.
Wendy Given ’02 MFA Fine Arts
Flora Kao
Claw, Shine, Gloam and Vesper
’08 Fine Arts
Whitespace Gallery, Atlanta
Flora Kao: Homestead Pasadena Museum of California Art
Tofer Chin ’02 Fine Arts
Melise Mestayer
Ar
’10 MFA Fine Arts
Lu Magnus, N.Y.
Reef Cycle
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
IN THE MEDIA
Bruce Yonemoto (’79 MFA)
Tom Van Sant
Home Away
’57 MFA Fine Arts
Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena
Honored at the 50th anniversary of the Inglewood Public Library for his sculpted
Mark Dean Veca (’85 Fine Arts)
concrete mural, The Written Word
2013 California-Pacific Triennial Orange County Museum of Art,
John Baldessari
Newport Beach
’58 Fine Arts More Than You Wanted to Know About
Gajin Fujita (’97 Fine Arts) and
John Baldessari: Volume 1 and 2
Edith Beaucage (’10 MFA Fine Arts)
Edited by Fine Arts Chair Meg Cranston
L.A. Heat: Taste Changing Condiments
and Hans-Ulrich Obrist
Chinese American Museum, L.A.
Stamberg, Susan. “For John Baldessari, Conceptual Art Means Serious Mischief,”
Jacob Melchi (’03 MFA), Matt Lifson
National Public Radio, March 11, 2013
(’12 MFA) and Alec Egan (’13 MFA) Five New Artists—On the Map
Susan Moss
California Heritage Museum,
’71 Fine Arts
Santa Monica
Published the novel, The Accident Stager
Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro Jacob Melchi ’03 MFA Fine Arts
Brian Ricci
nothing is plural: paintings
’12 MFA Fine Arts
George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco
Terra Incognita Launch Gallery, L.A.
Sabine Dehnel ’03 Fine Arts
Alexandra Cantle
MONA
’13 MFA Public Practice
Museum Wiesbaden, Germany
Porch Gallery, Ojai
Eduardo Sarabia ’99 Fine Arts Moctezuma’s Revenge Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe
Christopher Badger ’05 Fine Arts Lunar Mirror Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco
45
Class Notes
John Sweeney ’11 Digital Media “Remembering” for the new video game The Last of Us featured in the E3 conference exhibition, Into the Pixel
46
Spring 2014
Carlos Mollura
In the Media Continued
‘91 Fine Arts
Steven Learner ’86 Environmental Design
Installation view
Ulysses Jenkins
Lasky, Julie. “In a Creative Season,
The Luckman Gallery, Cal St L.A.
’79 MFA Fine Arts
a New Design Fair,” New York Times,
Cake Walk, Mass of Images, and
May 1, 2013
Without Your Interpretation videos acquired by the Film, Video,
Alan Nakagawa
and New Media department of the
’86 Fine Arts
Whitney Museum, N.Y.
Jao, Carren. “Hearing with the Whole Body: Alan Nakagawa’s Reverberating
Rick Owens
Composition,” KCET Artbound,
’81 Fine Arts
May 13, 2013
Yaeger, Lynn. “American Gothic,” The Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2013
Sandow Birk (’89 Fine Arts) and Annie Buckley (’03 MFA Fine Arts)
Greg (Nikolai) Galle
Featured in “Inside the Artists’ Studio,”
’85 Communication Arts
The Huffington Post, September 17, 2013
Co-founder of Future Partners “Jumping the Ingenuity Gap,”
Claire Pettibone
TEDxGrandRapids May 9, 2013
’89 Fashion Design Hallett, Stephanie. “Claire Pettibone, Bridal Designer, Mentors Otis Students,” The Huffington Post, May 10, 2013
47
Class Notes
John Mason (‘57) installation view Crosses, Figures, Spears, Torques David Kordansky Gallery, L.A. Mason’s work is included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial through May 25.
In the Media Continued Joe Sola
Tucker Neel (’07 MFA Fine Arts)
’99 MFA Fine Arts
profiled alumnus Lorenzo Hurtado
Williams, Maxwell. “Joe Sola Shows
Segovia (’07 MFA Fine Arts)
Microscopic Paintings in Dealer’s Ear,”
Artillery Magazine, April 24, 2013
Art in America, October 2, 2013 Claire Oring Rob Spruijt
’11 Digital Media
’01 Fine Arts
Frederickson, Lori. “Dreams Realized:
Contributed an essay to Aesthetics
Art and Commerce Meet in Claire
in Present Future: The Art and the
Oring’s Fairy-Tale Visions,”
Technological Horizon, 2013
American Photo, December 12, 2013
Jessica Silverman
Gianni Washington
’05 Fine Arts
’13 MFA Writing
Hodge, Brooke. “By Design: A Place
“Be Grateful” included in
Where Art and Design Collide,”
Brief Grislys, an anthology of
T Magazine (New York Times),
horror stories, 2013
June 24, 2013 Michelle Andrade
COOL DESIGNERS
’07 MFA Fine Arts Included in Between the Lines, a coloring
China Young
book for children in U.S. hospitals
’93 Fashion Design Acquired the original Dubbel Duffel
J.A.W. Cooper
brand and relaunched the product on its
’09 Communication Arts
35th anniversary
Shapeshifter from Laid Bare La Luz de Jesus, L.A.
48
Spring 2014
Tula Pink Small write up here
Anniversaries A monograph celebrating 20 years of work by Mark Dean Veca (’85 Fine Arts) was accompanied by an exhibition at Western Project, Culver City, co-owned by alumna Erin Kermanikian (’00 MFA). Veca was also recently commissioned by Nike to create a painting commemorating Kobe Bryant’s all-star MVP in 2011
Generations Connect in S.F.
using colors from the reissued “Kobe 6” shoe.
Alumni Relations hosted a gathering in
Ingred Sidie’s (’89 Communication Arts) Design
October for Bay Area alumni at the Walt
Ranch, a nationally recognized design agency in Kansas
Disney Family Museum in San Francisco’s
City, Missouri, celebrates 15 years, and was featured in
Presidio, which featured concurrent
HOW magazine as a design firm to watch.
exhibitions by alumni Tyrus Wong (’32) and Camille Rose Garcia (‘92 Fine Arts). Wong is best known for the background art he created for Disney’s Bambi, and Garcia exhibited work created for a recent edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Harper Design, 2009). Alumni enjoyed a special curator-led tour, and toasted Wong for his 103rd birthday. Garcia posted on Facebook “Oh, have you heard of the movie Bambi? This amazing man painted all of the backgrounds, and that was only four years of his amazing life. Tyrus Wong and I held hands for like five whole minutes. Raddest moment ever.”
Museum Exhibitions in D.C. Fashion lines started by Cynthia Vincent (’88 Fashion Design) and Red Carter (’92 Fashion Design) celebrate a decade of success. Carter’s work was featured in the swimwear issue of Sports Illustrated, 2014.
Kerry James Marshall (’78 Fine Arts), who was
Carlos Almaraz (’74 MFA), Alumni Council Chair
recently appointed to President’s Committee on the
Judithe Hernández (’74 MFA), and Patssi Valdez
Arts and Humanities, is celebrated with major shows in
(’85 Fine Arts) were included in Our America:
the U.S. and overseas. One exhibition, In the Tower, was
The Latino Presence in American Art at the Smithsonian
at the National Gallery in D.C., and another exhibition,
American Art Museum, which will tour the U.S.
KJ Marshall: Paintings and Other Stuff, is traveling to
until 2016.
three international museums.
49
Class Notes
Jillian Pasztor ’13 Product Design Solo exhibition Industry Gallery Pacific Design Center, L.A.
Janice Tieken ’74 Fine Arts Blue Tango from Janice Tieken: Orchid Requiem Lancaster Museum of Art and History, CA
Tula Pink (Jenny McLean) ’02 Communication Arts “Modernitional,” American Patchwork and Quilting, October 2013
Daniel Nolan
Travis Swingler
Amy Fortunato
’02 Environmental Design
’07 Communication Arts
’11 Communication Arts
Selected by Sunset magazine as one
Art directed TBWA\Chiat\Day’s
With Lorraine Wild, designed the
of five designers for “Reimagining the
Nissan Global campaign, “The World’s
catalog James Welling: Monograph
Sunset Home,” May 16, 2013
Fastest Man”
for an exhibition at the Hammer Museum, UCLA
Suzan Kim ’05 Digital Media
Heather Goldberg
and Sara Cembalisty ’02 Fine Arts
’09 Fashion Design
Joshua Brian Smith
Modeler and look development artist,
Debuted clothing line, Haber
’12 Digital Media
respectively, on the Oscar-winning
L.A. boutique TENOVERSIX
Concept artist for Riot Games’
Disney 3-D animated feature film Frozen
League of Legends Devin Week
Ashkahn Shahparnia
’10 Product Design
’06 Fine Arts
Interviewed for Civil Clothing’s
Packaging for Garrett Leight
“Celebrate the Difference” feature on his
and Thierry Lasry eyewear
furniture company, Onebooktree
design collaboration
50
AWARD WINNERS Tracy Cheney Williams ’85 Communication Arts California Art Educators’ Outstanding Elementary Visual Art Teacher 2013 Paul Wee ’87 Communication Arts Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation (Character Animation), “Treehouse of Terror XXIII,” The Simpsons, Fox, 2013
Spring 2014
Lorenzo Hurtado Segovia ’07 MFA Fine Arts installation view Ni tanto que queme al santo, ni tanto que no lo alumbre CB1 Gallery, L.A.
Ruben Ochoa
Greg Wilken
Joong Han Lee
’97 Fine Arts
’04 Fine Arts
’09 Product Design
2013 California Community Foundation
Creative Arts Fulbright Grant for a study
3-D human printing machine project
Fellowship for Visual Arts
of land use in the Republic of Kiribati,
featured at the 2013 IEEE World Haptics
Central Pacific Ocean
Conference
Flora Kao (’08 Fine Arts)
Matt Nava
Elena Rosa
Awarded two of eleven Artists’
’08 Digital Media
’12 MFA Fine Arts
Resources for Completion Grants from
Included in Forbes magazine’s
Awarded the 2014 Feitelson/Lundeberg
the Center for Cultural Innovation
“30 Under 30: The Brightest Young Stars
Fellowship
Shana Mabari (’98 Fine Arts) and
IN MEMORIUM John Richard Martin ’76 MFA Fine Arts Passed away February 2014
in Video Games,” December 17, 2012 Mark Caneso
Christina Sanchez
’04 Communication Arts
‘12 MFA Public Practice
Multiple projects featured in
One of three inaugural grants from SPArt
Communication Arts typography annual
in support of work aimed at creating
and Print Regional Design annual
social change in the L.A. region
51
Class Notes / Giving
SHYAM, MAUREEN, AND SARAH SHARMA Shyam and Maureen Sharma have been generous supporters of Otis scholarships, helping students like their daughter Sarah become successful creative professionals. “I am currently working for Jupi Corporation, a production company with a series of different lines. I am junior designer for the Kardashian Kollection! We are filming an episode of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” and I may appear on an upcoming episode working together with them on their collection, which is so exciting! The line is for Sears mass market. I learned so much at Otis, and feel that I am more than qualified for my duties. Going to Otis was the best choice I ever made. I have never been so happy doing everything I ever dreamed of!” —Sarah Sharma (’13 Fashion Design) Sarah Sharma with her parents Shyam and Maureen at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the Annual Scholarship Benefit and Fashion Show
MAKE A GIFT TO O-FUND
PARTICIPATE IN PLANNED GIVING
JOIN THE PATRONS CIRCLE
Annual gifts to the O-Fund directly assist
Legacy Society Membership
Patrons Circle members play a leader-
students in the form of scholarships,
Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs)
ship role in supporting priority needs
campus improvements, and specific
and Bequest Intents are great ways to
at Otis. Your annual gift of $1,000 or
program support. Each gift, each year,
support Otis. Donors establishing one
more provides critical funding to sustain
makes a significant difference for
of these or any other planned gift will be
academic excellence, and creates greater
our students. You may double or even
recognized as part of our Legacy Society.
access for all students. Members also
triple your gift if your employer has
One of the great benefits of membership
enjoy several exclusive art experiences
a matching gift program. Contact your
is the opportunity to meet with students
each year, such as private art tours
Human Resources Department for
and see firsthand how your gift impacts
to Marfa, Texas, and Ojai, as well as
more information about your company’s
the lives and careers of young artists
hands-on art experiences on campus.
matching gift programs.
and designers. Above: Patrons Circle member Ellen Castleman on San Diego Art and Design Tour
The greatest satisfaction will come from knowing that your gift will continue the work of Otis College of Art and Design. For information about these exciting giving opportunities, please contact Kristi Kraemer, Director of Development, at (310) 665-6859, kkraemer@otis.edu, make your gift today using the envelope in this magazine, or online at www.otis.edu/givenow.
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Spring 2014
Kour Pour All The King’s Horses And All The King’s Men, 2013 Acrylic on canvas over panel 96” x 72” from his solo exhibition at Untitled, N.Y.
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