Feature

Yves Béhar is a Swiss designer and winner of the Distinguished Midcareer Bruce Heavin is co-founder of lynda.com and winner of the Outstanding Service Award. Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Tokyo-born artist and winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mariana Prieto is the founder of Design for Wildlife and winner of the Young Innovator Award.

Pasadena’s ArtCenter College honors 4 pioneers

By Luke Netzley Pasadena Weekly Deputy Editor

The ArtCenter College of Design has named four new recipients for their 15th annual Alumni Awards: Hiroshi Sugimoto for the Lifetime Achievement Award, Yves Béhar for the Distinguished Midcareer Award, Bruce Heavin for the Outstanding Service Award, and Mariana Prieto for the Young Innovator Award.

“Hiroshi, Yves, Bruce and Mariana exemplify dedicated alumni who throughout their lives continue to give back to the college on many levels,” said Lorne M. Buchman, president of the ArtCenter College of Design. “They are significant figures in shaping culture, and they inspire future generations of ArtCenter students to influence change.”

The ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 and has become a global leader in art and design education. The college offers 11 undergraduate and 10 graduate degrees in a wide variety of industrial design disciplines as well as visual and applied arts and has hosted iconic visionaries such as legendary photographer Ansel Adams, modern artist Keith Haring, and science fiction author Bruce Sterling, who was the school’s first “Visionary in Residence.”

ArtCenter was also the first design school to receive the United Nations’ Non-Governmental Organization status in recognition of its commitment to social impact design through their educational platform Designmatters. Throughout the college’s history, ArtCenter alumni have had a profound impact on popular culture and societal issues, and this year’s winners are no different.

Sugimoto, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, was born in Tokyo in 1948 and moved to the United States in 1970 to study photography, though has also works in sculpture, installation and architecture.

In 2009, he established the Odawara Art Foundation, a charitable nonprofit organization to promote traditional Japanese performing arts and culture. Sugimoto’s own works have been exhibited around the world in numerous public collections, including the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery in London; and the National Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. His art seeks to bridge Eastern and Western ideologies while examining the nature of time, perception, and the origins of consciousness.

Béhar, winner of the Distinguished Midcareer Award, is a Swiss designer and entrepreneur who believes that integrated product, brand, and experience design are the cornerstones of any business. Béhar has pioneered design as a force for positive social and environmental change and received the INDEX Award for his humanitarian work with the One Laptop Per Child and See Better to Learn Better projects, the latter distributed 6 million free corrective eyeglasses to schoolchildren in Mexico over the last 10 years. He is the only designer to have received the award twice.

In 1999, Béhar founded Fuseproject, an industry-leading design and innovation firm that focuses on using design to change people’s lives for better. He has also been at the forefront of entrepreneurial venture design, co-founding FORME Life, August, and Canopy, as well as partnering with numerous start-ups such as the Happiest Baby Snoo, Uber, Cobalt, Desktop Metal and Sweetgreen.

Heavin, winner of the Outstanding Service Award, is an American artist, strategist, and entrepreneur who co-founded online software training website lynda.com with his wife Lynda Weinman. As the chief creative officer, Heavin was integral to the company’s success as a pioneering leader in online training. He created the company’s logo, designed many of the distinctive illustrations on the website and course DVD covers, and authored some of the site’s first video tutorials in Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and ImageReady.

As an illustrator with an extensive background in photography and motion graphics, Heavin has created works for national publications as well as clients like Adobe, MSNBC, and E! Entertainment Television. As a distinguished and committed alumnus, he has been an active and generous donor as well as a proponent of philanthropy in the ArtCenter community. Heaven was elected to the ArtCenter Board of Trustees in June 2014 and served as a founding board member of FullCircle, the school’s giving society.

Mariana Prieto, winner of the Young Innovator Award, is the founder of Design for Wildlife, a collective that works with wildlife conservation organizations to achieve large scale, economically sustainable solutions for wildlife-related challenges. She was named TED Resident in 2018 and 2019 for her work in wildlife conservation and won the Emerging Scholar Award by Common Ground in 2020.

Prior to her career in wildlife conservation, Prieto worked as Innovation Lead for the International Rescue Committee and as a Global Design Fellow for IDEO.org, where she worked on numerous projects across East Africa and Asia before becoming an adjunct professor at ArtCenter.

The Alumni Awards will take place in 2022.

Garfield Heights home tour goes digital for 2021

By Laura Latzko Pasadena Weekly Contributing Writer

Garfield Heights’ biannual home tour is going digital but keeping its longtime mission of highlighting the ingredients that make up its “secret sauce.”

From Sunday, Dec. 5, to Sunday, Dec. 12, the Garfield Heights Neighborhood

Association will host its 13th annual event. The 2020 tour was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the 400 homes — bounded by Marengo Avenue, Washington Boulevard,

Los Robles Avenue and Mountain Avenue — were constructed between the 1880s and 1920s. During this year’s tour, five houses built between 1891 and 1914 will be highlighted through videos.

Many of the houses were constructed by prominent architects and builders from

Pasadena. One of the houses on this year’s tour, for example, was designed by Frederick Louis Roehrig.

Tour co-chairs Steven A. Preston and Sandra Clark-Davis serve as hosts for the videos, which share the interiors of a colonial revival Victorian mansion, an airplane bungalow, an American foursquare, an arts and crafts home and a craftsman cottage.

Amenities include gardens, bocce ball courts, colorful kitchens and bathrooms, fireplaces with decorative mantlepieces, art pieces such as Roseville Pottery, a river rock fireplace, a staircase with a tiny room under it, hallway sinks, servants’ call buttons, transom window operators, built-in bookcases and antique furniture and home décor such as a Stickley chair.

“One of the things that sets Pasadena apart is the wonderful canopy of trees in its old neighborhoods that remind people of someplace in the Midwest or East,” Preston said.

“We try to pick scenes that allow people to get a sense of what that historic character is.”

Viewers will learn about the homes’ owners as well. Preston called Garfield Heights an ethnically diverse neighborhood with residents who have a wide range of talents and interests.

One of the owners of this year’s homes, for example, is a chef who cooks with bounty from his gardens. Another neighbor cures his own olives.

“That connection between growing things, food and camaraderie is another one of those themes that we try to play out throughout the videos,” Preston said.

Preston said one of the videos’ benefits is viewers can pause and rewind to focus on features. Generally, the homeowners are not present in their homes during the tours.

This year, they are featured in the videos, opening their doors to welcome guests.

“The front doors are all different and beautiful,” Preston said.

“We wanted those doors to be a sign of the welcoming nature of the neighborhood.

So, the homeowners naturally would open them and greet you as you enter their house.”

Many of the homeowners didn’t feel comfortable speaking on camera but shared stories and histories about their homes, which were incorporated into the videos.

Preparing the videos took six months, with Garfield Heights residents taking on different roles.

“It requires talent sets that we never had to look for before in our neighborhood,”

Preston said.

“We were worried that we might not be able to find that talent, but we did. We found a director, a cinematographer, a sound person, a graphic designer.”

Michael E. Stern acted as director, and Carmen Delaney took on cinematography duties. Watercolor artist Una Martin created portraits of the homes, which will be featured in the videos and will be given to the homeowners. Photos by Michael E. Stern, buildabetterphotograph.com Preston’s wife researched the homes using historical surveys, building permit records and information from Pasadena’s public library and history museum. It led to the discovery of antique Pasadena neighborhood maps, which will be featured in the videos. The soundtrack will feature Harry Warren’s “Home in Pasadena,” performed by the Red Fez Orchestra from Great Britain. Preston described Garfield Heights as a close-knit neighborhood where homeowners come together to help each other and to celebrate special occasions. Preston and his wife have lived in Garfield Heights since 2004 and their home has been featured on tours. He said Garfield Heights is different from any other neighborhood he has ever lived. “We have the history because it’s a historic neighborhood,” he said.

The historic Gilmore House features exquisite paneling and fine architectural detailing throughout.

Restored arts and crafts detailing is accentuated by bright color in the dining room of this Garfield Heights residence.

“It’s a landmark district. We have the architecture, but what we also have is this unusual level of camaraderie. The neighborhood does everything on a volunteer basis. There are no required dues. People just step up to the plate. It’s that type of neighborhood. If somebody has a baby, and they need to bring food over to the house to keep the family fed, the neighborhood turns out to do it. We do our own disaster prep and safety programs. We do book sales. We have a summer party where the whole neighborhood turns out.

“I lived in an old neighborhood as a kid growing up. I never lived in a neighborhood like this, where you knew people three blocks away. I don’t know everybody in our neighborhood, by any means, but we know a lot of the people here because everybody works together and gets along well.”

The home tour is the year’s primary fundraiser for the neighborhood association, which also holds an annual book sale and a cookie exchange.

Proceeds from the tour go back into projects for the neighborhood. In the past, the funds have gone to improve signage, provide disaster preparedness training and kits, help fund education programs and host a tour for residents focused on the contributions of African Americans in Pasadena.

Garfield Heights Neighborhood Association Home Tour WHEN: Sunday, Dec. 5, to Sunday, Dec. 12 WHERE: Digital COST: $25 INFO: garfieldheights.org, eventbrite.com

The 2020 Showcase House of Design’s “Breakfast Morning Room.” Showcase House of Design returns to South Pasadena

By Luke Netzley Pasadena Weekly Deputy Editor

Following a year-long hiatus due to the global pandemic, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts announced the return of one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most successful home and garden tours.

“Everything you know and love about the Pasadena Showcase House of Design is back,” said Marti Farley, 2021-22 president for Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.

“After four decades, it’s time we return to the charming ‘City of Trees’ with a Showcase House that will highlight all that South Pasadena has to offer.”

The 57th Showcase House will reimagine South Pasadena’s Oaklawn Manor, a 1905 English Tudor mansion within a historic Greene & Greene-planned neighborhood of century-old homes. The mansion was built for Harry Hawgood, an English civil engineer whose career designing railways and waterways spanned multiple continents, and features baronial-sized rooms with rich wood interiors, ornate beamed ceilings, and floor-to-ceiling travertine fireplaces. Sunken gardens wrap around the home with scenic paths leading down to the hidden edges of the property.

“When you walk through, it’s almost overwhelming to see the beautiful stained glass windows past the entry. It also has a large ground, so we have plenty of room for our shops and restaurant as well as having outdoor garden space.”

Following four months of renovation, over 25,000 guests will tour through the numerous interior and landscape design spaces highlighting cutting-edge trends in high style living. This year’s event will also showcase local musicians, speakers and boutique and craft merchants to celebrate South Pasadena.

“It’s really core to our mission, that we’re more than just a pretty house. We’re also all about music and music education, so having these performances I think will speak to that.”

Pasadena Showcase has given more than $23 million to nonprofit organizations in support of music education and music therapy while continuing to support the LA Philharmonic and its learning programs for which the organization was founded. Though a 2021 Showcase House was not possible due to the pandemic, the organization was able to host “June Bloom,” an outdoor garden party that raised more than $250,000 in one day.

“We had over 2,000 people in one day go through three properties. We were able to open up the gardens and have garden tours along with our shops and a food truck, and that was super successful. We were thinking of ways that we could continue to stay connected with the community until we could get back to having a showcase.”

Now that the Showcase House of Design has returned, golden tickets are available on the Pasadena Showcase website, pasadenashowcase.org/tickets, ahead of the public tours that will run from April 24 to May 22.

2022 Pasadena Showcase House of Design

WHEN: Sunday, April 24, to Sunday, May 22 Public tours will be: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday WHERE: Oaklawn Manor, a 1905 English Tudor mansion in South Pasadena. COST: Golden Ticket: $65 Insider Package No. 1 Golden Ticket + Empty House Party: $200 Insider Package No. 2 Golden Ticket + Empty House Party + Premiere Night: $400 INFO: pasadenashowcase.org

Staff pushes clients in nontraditional exercise form

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Pasadena Weekly Executive Editor

Melinda Hughes suffered from scoliosis as well as knee pain, until she discovered SuperSlow strength training 13 years ago.

After experiencing more energy during the day and a more restful sleep each night, the then-27-year-old noticed her knee pain disappeared and her back was stronger. Her scoliosis wasn’t as pronounced because she safely corrected muscular imbalances.

“I thought it was too good to be true,” she said. “Something about the science that made sense to me. I went out on a limb and tried the workout with her. Right away, I would tell the difference. In only a few months, my knee pain was completely gone. It was just a matter of strengthening the muscles.”

In 2011, wanting to share SuperSlow, she stepped out on her own and opened The Strength Shoppe in 2011 to bring the benefits of high-intensity strength training to Pasadena. The move has proven to be successful. Six years later, she expanded to DTLA/Echo Park.

Hughes said the technique is quite different, calling it “slow motion, high-intensity strength training.

“You’re lifting the weight slowly and lowering it slowly,” she added.

“You’re not using momentum to lift the weight. You work very intensely. We never lock out our joints, and we never set the weight down. From the beginning to the end of the exercise, muscles are working to a point of muscle failure. If you’re lifting to the point of muscle failure, you’re not allowing the muscle to rest.”

Hughes said at one point, the weight can’t be lifted. At that point, Hughes or her staff encourages the person to try to move the weight for 10 seconds.

“The key element to this is because you’re working the muscles that intensely it’s a more effective workout.”

The body must be pushed a little bit more to get it to respond, she said. This form of exercise was developed for osteoporosis patients in their 80s and is safe enough for 90-year-old osteoporotic women.

“Weight training has long been known to be the only nonmedication way of halting progress of osteoporosis and reversing it,” she said.

Her studio members with osteoporosis were using traditional strength training, which made them susceptible to bone fractures. SuperSlow produces results quicker and more significantly, too, she explained. It just takes 20 minutes once a week.

Her clients range in age from 12 to 91. The younger ones are children of members who want their kids to understand how to take care of their body and feel good about it, she explained.

“I had a client come in walking with a cane,” said Hughes, who added that SuperSlow is based on scientific research. “She said her doctor wanted her to try strength training before knee replacement surgery.

“The healing after the knee replacement surgery goes better if you’re stronger. The aftercare is easier. After only about two to three months, she had no pain and was walking without the cane. She still hasn’t had knee replacements.”

Hughes said that without allowing the body to recover, those who use traditional exercise are more susceptible to cold, flu, sickness and injury.

Still, according to the Mayo Clinic, research hasn’t shown SuperSlow strength training to be superior to other forms of strength training.

According to two separate studies conducted by fitness researcher Dr. Westcott, “slower repetition speed may effectively increase intensity throughout the lifting phase while decreasing momentum.”

Westcott and his team of researchers concluded “in both studies, Super-Slow training resulted in about a 50% greater increase in strength for both men and women than regular speed training.”

Furthermore, due to the safety of slow movements, “SuperSlow training is an effective method for middle-aged and older adults to increase strength.”

Hughes said SuperSlow is perfect for those who want to exercise and get the maximum benefit in a minimal amount of time. Armed with a Master of Science in holistic nutrition, Hughes sees many clients who are busy parents or those who work long days.

The exercise form works, she said, because SuperSlow causes little tears to the muscle fiber. The muscle, which is attached to bone, tugs at the bone, causing trauma to the bone tissue.

“Growth hormones are released, osteoblasts are released, and the body recovers from the workout.

The Strength Shoppe brings the benefits of high-intensity strength training for all ages to Pasadena.

“It’s like your skin,” she explained. “If you scrape your knee, your skin is going to repair itself pretty quickly. In a day or two it’s done. If you cut your skin to the bone, it’s going to require more days for the body to repair the skin tissue and heal that wound.”

The Studio City resident says working out at The Strength Shoppe is appropriate in this pandemic-riddled world.

“This is still a raging virus,” Hughes said. “It’s nice to be able to come in and have your trainer wear a mask. You’re the only one in there. You don’t have to worry about bigger gyms with a bunch of people.

“COVID-19 hit the fitness industry really hard. However, people are not looking for big classes with lots of people. That’s not what the people are looking for right now. They’re looking for something that makes them healthier and keeps them strong. We have an air purifier system, and we clean the machines after workouts. All it takes is 20 minutes each week.”