Art and Design Education That Matters Founded in 1918, Otis Is L.A.’S First Independent Professional School of Visual Arts

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

Art and Design Education that Matters Founded in 1918, Otis is L.A.’s first independent professional school of visual arts. Otis’ 1170 students pursue BFA degrees in advertising design, architecture/landscape/interiors, digital media, Through art and design education, Otis pre- Over its 90-year history, Otis has devel- fashion design, graphic design, illustration, interactive product design, painting, photography, pares talented students to enrich our future. oped this pedagogical approach as an organic sculpture/new genres, and toy design. MFA degrees are offered in fine arts, graphic design, public Communication Arts, highlighted in this issue, response to its context – the unique phenom- practice, and writing. Otis has trained generations of artists who have been in the vanguard of exemplifies this mission. Kali Nikitas, Depart- enon that is Los Angeles, the most futuristic of the cultural and entrepreneurial life of the city. Nurtured by Los Angeles’ forward-thinking spirit, ment Chair, sums it up well in describing the all American cities. The characteristics described these artists and designers explore the landscape of popular culture and the significant impact new MFA Graphic Design Program: “Otis is an above, innate to Otis, are gaining widespread of identity, politics, and social policy at the intersection of art and society. institution that prides itself on reaching out to recognition in both higher education and the community and advancing culture through employment sectors as essential factors for art and design. (The curricula) speak directly success in any field. Otis is proud to be a leader to educating conscientious individuals who in defining an art and design curriculum for the believe that design has the power to contribute 21st Century. 2008 Vol.4 In This Issue: to and shape our world.” (see p. 4) The more we understand the past, the An Otis education combines the vision, further we can advance. As Otis contemplates values, and skill sets that enable our graduates its future, the College and its faculty unabash- 02 Communication Arts 19 College News to excel and make a difference in the 21st edly embrace new technologies and emerging Ave Pildas Paul Vangelisti and Antonio Riccardi century. First and foremost, Otis students disciplines. At the same time, historical know- Kali Nikitas on Communication Arts Alex Coles on DesignArt President Samuel Hoi with designers Isabel and Ruben Toledo become artists and designers with a personal ledge and time-honored practices continue to at Otis’ “Inside the Designer’s Studio,” March ‘08 John White on Advertising Nancy Chunn’s Media Madness voice. Essential to their artistic preparation are anchor teaching and learning. On campus, I am JT Steiny on Illustration Rich Shelton on Collecting Plastic elements of a well-rounded and contributing always heartened to see students being equally Alumni in the Professional World “Transforma: New Orleans” life. These include delighted by and adept at bookbinding and Students Re-invent the Book Scholarship Funding Expands • a commitment to community well- computer graphics. being on a local and global scale At Otis, art and design matters, and innova- • a conviction that art and design matters tion springs from tradition. Otis Monitor Alumni Around the World socially, culturally, and economically 14 24 • a fundamental appreciation of and Robert Irwin at San Diego’s MOCA Sabine Dehnel in Berlin ability to navigate fluidly and resource- –Samuel Hoi, President Alison Saar’s Harriet Tubman Sculpture Alex Donis in Sri Lanka fully in a complex and diverse world Meg Cranston on the Venice Biennale Berton Hasebe in The Hague • the capacity to communicate Nothing Moments and collaborate Editor: Margi Reeve, • a hunger for experimentation and Communications Director 28 Class Notes innovation Co-editor: Sarah Russin, Alumni Director Photography: Kelly Akashi (‘06), Brooklyn Brown (‘07), Meg Cranston, Mara Thompson, Ave Pildas

Staff Writer: George Wolfe © Otis College of Art and Design Creative: Intersection Studio Publication of material does not necessarily Cover: Ave Pildas Design Direction: Greg Lindy indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint Deep Space 2002 Design: Brooklyn Brown (‘07) by Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design Feature Feature

(That's “Dave” without the “D”) Ave Pildas has taught at Otis for 26 years, and served as Chair of the Ave Communication Arts Department from 2001 to 2007. In July, he will become a Professor Emeritus. Alumni Relations Director Sarah Russin and Com- munications Director Margi Reeve asked him some questions about his time at Otis, and the ensuing discussion included comments on topics ranging from baseball to Dizzie Gillespie, and Mt. Washington stories to “The Wire.”

What got you started in the art and design field? photo and type skills to represent aphorisms After high school, I enrolled in architecture at like “the early bird catches the worm.” The University of Cincinnati. The program was very conservative and not very creative, so What are some of your favorite places in the I switched to design. Design seemed to me world? like a team sport. I felt comfortable with that; I like to go on “camera safaris” and have visited Pildas I had started playing baseball when I was six, China, Argentina and Peru recently. I would like and had always believed in the importance of to return to China to explore the Silk Road, and team sports. Understanding the importance of to take my camera to India, Brazil (Brasilia, in the team developed my ability to direct people particular), and the underground churches of and projects. central Turkey. Nearer home, I love Death Valley, Stinson Would you tell us about a current project? Beach, Nipomo Dunes, the last-century tourist The solar house I built in Santa Monica will attractions near Barstow and other little towns be ten years old next year; I’d like to build on Route 66. another house using current sustainable materials and methods. This one will be a duplex Everyone in L.A. is writing a screenplay. What’s with newer technology—solar energy and a on your plate? grey water system. I own some property in Mt. Washington and have had very colorful tenants over the years. I saw you with your camera last week in the I’ve saved correspondence and notes about midst of Chris Burden’s “Urban Light,” an them, and would like to write a sitcom installation of 202 street lamps at LACMA’s new screenplay about these experiences. I like BCAM. Tell us about some of the photography interwoven stories, like the current television work you have been doing. series “The Wire.” Last summer, I shot a series of photographs at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (at left) of Do you keep in touch with former students? people on the escalators in the new addition. Constantly. They are colleagues and friends. I am particularly interested in serial imagery Recently I went to the House of Blues with that combines people with ladders and stairs, Ray Sanchez, Turner Johnson, and Henry Escoto and I am continuing this investigation utilizing (all ‘99) to see G.Love, a blues/rap/reggae group. local sites. I loved the new Chris Burden piece I am a gym rat, so I see alumni at the gym. as soon as I saw it, and have done a number of Or at galleries. shoots there. My Hollywood Blvd. star series and Century City series are other examples of What advice do you give to young designers sequential imagery that I did some years ago. and artists? As a stringer for Downbeat magazine in the I believe that a design education doesn’t have 1960s, I did a series of portraits of jazz musi- to result in only making design. Design is a cians, including Dizzie Gillespie (at far left), Joe process of collecting, organizing, and dissemi- Williams and Gerry Mulligan. Michael Solway of nating information, and this process can trans- Solway Jones Gallery is producing a portfolio of late into other fields. The links between design ten of these in an edition of 40. This portfolio will and commerce are unlimited for someone be exhibited at the Gallery later this year. I con- with an entrepreneurial spirit. Sitting behind tinue my “California Christmas” series, which a computer all day may not pay enough to may become a book or another publication. get your kids into college.

In your long career as a teacher, what was your Editors’ Note: During the 90th homecoming favorite class? weekend Oct. 10-12, join alumni in celebrating That would be PhotoGraphics, Photography and Ave’s many years of teaching. ● Typography, in which students combined their

OMAG 02 3 OMAG 3 majors: OMAG 04 Select Internships&Professional Affiliations Several students areinterningoutsidetheU.S. students forinternships.Some ofthemhavehiredourstudents. work.Inturn,theyfrequentlyhost tique andreviewstudents’ Local professionalsareinvited regularlytolecture,teach, cri- Professional Experience through technology, andbeproficientinproductionskills. go butstudentsmustbeconfidentintheirabilitytonavigate “Teaching students toteach themselves.” Programs comeand Workshops onsoftware, theroleoftechnology. understanding Learning Labfor Technologies Bookbinding, letterpress, sketchbooks, andsilkscreen Forms ofProduction Seniors: Innovation andtheory plusspecialized interest Juniors: Majorspecializationandprofessionalpreparation Sophomores: Coreskills/craft community-building opportunities simultaneously, offering collaboration,team-teaching, and thatareofferedCourses withmultiplesectionsaretaught Curriculum Fea Germany Design Jung + Pfeffer, Hello ture Graphic Design Schematic Twin Art Grieman/ Made in Picture Space April Mill Illustration Morioka Adams Room Still Kali Nikitas in August2006. became ChairoftheCommunicationArtsDepartment Ogilvy & Mather 72 and Sunny (added 4 years ago) (added 4years undergrad viewbook(below) and Ana Llorente-Thurik,designedthe‘07-‘08 Otis Two Jessica newfacultymembers, Fleischmann Product Designtocreateeventposters. Architecture/Landscape/Interiors, andInteractive Several havecollaboratedwithFine Arts, 19 newfacultymembers Faculty Advertising Group Garza

2 1 Special Initiatives their current professionalpractice. studio environment forcandidatesinterestedinenhancing program provides arigorousandchallenging academicand mentored off-campus independentstudy, this21/2year summer sessionsinresidenceandtwospringof Graphic Design.Runningeight-week forthreeconsecutive anewMFABeginning insummer2008, willbeoffered in Launch ofMFA inGraphic Design recognized typedesigner, ErikSpiekermann. celebrating thelastfifteen ofFontShop years andatalkbyinternationally holm, Germany, and The Netherlands. Also hosted “Fifteen,” anexhibition such asCranbrook,Princeton, UCLAandEuropeanacademiesinStock - affiliated with General oftheNetherlands.Speakers American schools theeventwastecture/Landscape/Interiors, sponsoredbytheConsulate ProductMatters?” IncollaborationwithInteractive Designand Archi - Hosted InternationalStudentCompetitionandDesignSymposium, “What International collaboration andoutreach believe thatdesignhasthepowertocontributeandshapeourworld. MFA who programspeakdirectlytoeducatingconscientiousindividuals and advancingculturethroughart anddesign. The threetracks ofthis Otis isaninstitutionthatpridesitselfonreaching outtothecommunity criticism; andathesisproject. projects; liberalarts focusingonhistory,individual courses theory, and and art practices. The curriculum includesproject-specificassignments; artists whoarerecognized internationallyandnationallyintheirdesign Summer sessionsaretaughtbycorefaculty, andvisiting visitinglecturers, ist insociety, andadvancingthedisciplinethroughtheoryinnovation. elect tostudy:typography andtypedesign,socialresponsibilityoftheart- themesortracksThis programhasthreeindividual fromwhich students 3 Visiting designers Graphic Design Sean Adams, LA Caryn Aono, LA Philippe Apeloig, Paris Brad Berling, LA Anne Burdick, LA, What Matters David Clayton, LA Sean Donahue, LA Volker Durre, LA Elliott Earls, Bloomfield Hills, MI Adam Euwens, LA Agustin Garza, LA April Greiman, LA David Grey, New Mexico Erin Hauber, LA Geoff Kaplan, San Francisco Harmen Liemburg, Amsterdam Harmine Louwe, Amsterdam Henri Lucas, LA Laurie Haycock Makela, Stockholm Florian Pfeffer, Amsterdam Erik Spiekermann, Berlin, Fontshop John Sueda, LA Rick Vermeulen, Rotterdam Davey Whitcraft, LA

Illustration

Yuko Shimizu, NYC 5 4 Kathy Bleck, Texas Mark Murphy, San Diego cover attheBenMaltzGallery. exhibition ontheart anddesignofthealbum faculty memberRich Shelton willcuratean Editor's Note: In2010, Kali andpartner Otis series atMOCA.● foundry Underware willparticipate inthislecture of DesignandCulture.” Insummer‘08,Dutch type “180 degrees:U-turnsfromtheIntersection London andMinneapolis. museums andgalleries. Two upcomingtripsinclude and top designstudios,adagencies,illustrators, In San Francisco andNew York City, studentsvisited Student Travel Excursions Joe Leadbetter, With AIGA/LA Community Collaborations (SILA Student group), LA James Jean, LA

Advertising John Boiler, LA John Stein, LA

Savoy Hallinan, LA Tony Luna, LA Greg Lindy Poster by faculty member Fea ture 05 OMAG

Feature Feature

Plugging Away:

Evolution of the Advertising Major Travis Swingler (‘07) advertising student project “Let’s Go Bowling” Instructor(s): Elena Salij & Jim Wojtowicz

By George Wolfe

John White, head of the relatively new Advertising Design department— a virtual Kindergartner in years in existence—has transitioned from the hard-core business world to soft-sell academia.

After running his own ad company for 17 years in the rough-and- “I ask for their opinions on our classes, too,” he says. “I sort of I had to quickly turn my students into ad people, but now I’ve my schooling’ etc. It’s more like ‘I work 15-30 hours per week, tumble world of advertising (Paperplane, his studio, consisted have an outside board of directors [from these companies] who changed my mind. With my business, it was always better if an drive an hour to and from school, and then there’s my regular of more than 30 employees, and did $20 million/year), he now advise me and with whom I keep up close relations. It works out employee had a graphic design background because they had a workload. I’d say 60-70% of the students are like that—I don’t spearheads a department that prepares students—over a more well for them, too—they become familiar with what our students more complete skill set.” remember it being that way when I was in school. They’re a little luxurious four- year time period—to enter the business world can do, and they’re positioned to get talented interns or to hire a With the Foundation and design years as a base, in their humbler, there’s less ego. I’d know ‘cause I remember when it that’s so familiar to him. graduating student to fill their needs when the time comes.” junior year students hit the ground, learning about more tradi- came to hiring, I’d run into the attitude: ‘I’m so hot you can’t touch For White, Southern California is home. He attended the Having a mandatory intern program provides invaluable ties tional advertising—but White says that the giant companies still me!’ “At Otis, White sees a proper measure of humility combined Art Center In Pasadena (though he claims to have been a poor to the outside, and having developed such close working relation- work that way, so it’s vital. Come senior year, they work more in with the drive to work very hard. In the end though, he says that student) prior to working in advertising for nearly a decade, after ships with his students, he’s in regular touch with them when teams, pitching ideas to an agency and exploring other types of in the advertising world, agencies hire based on the portfolio which he continued his “self-directed life path” and founded his they graduate. Some have already placed with top ad agencies. In advertising. For instance, a company like Quiksilver doesn’t spend and what it demonstrates about the designer’s ability to deliver business. He says that about ten years ago he sometimes taught general, he says that there’s been a large increase in number and any money on advertising, so White sets up a scenario to grow creative solutions in the business world. but was “so whacked with the job during the day that I couldn’t quality of placements. “Internships are really trial periods at low the company’s customer base by other nontraditional means. Regarding the future of the department, White is clear on focus. You tend to be a bit relentless when you have a business.” pay, but my students take it seriously. It really is good just to get Students deal with: What’s the message? The concept? How to wanting there to be “a waiting line for the students. I want them Now, able to really think about teaching as a main priority, in where you want to go, and work hard. Now I’m beginning to pitch? Then they might work with interactive product designers all to have jobs ready and waiting for them when they get out— he has taken his lead from Kali Nikitas, the Communication Arts bring back some of my students to tell their stories.” and address various challenges: Who’s the audience? What will and at the top agencies. I don’t want to have to cull through my Department Chair, who has overhauled the curriculum. In only his With its emphasis on real-world relationships, a proactive the package include? How else to sell the brand and its products? books and figure out how a particular company can give one of second year of running the program, White has already achieved internship program and strong leadership, the department is White covers online advertising, too, but notes that it’s a growing my students a shot. I want the companies [willingly, hungrily] many of the original goals and is in the process of creating bold on course to develop much like the Fashion Department grew but still relatively small piece of the pie. coming to us, seeing all the things that Otis has to offer, and new ones. by leaps and bounds over its 20-year history, with perennial, White is impressed with the hard-working, down-to-earth snatching them up.”● Advertising Design is in a stage of rapid evolution as White strategic guidance from the top. quality he finds in many Otis students. And, working also as an uses his real-world clout and muscle to build alliances with pro- In terms of course structure, the program offers a unique ap- advisor, and discussing students with other faculty, he sees a fessionals in the field, gently hooking them into various roles that proach that weds advertising and design: Essentially, two years of diverse group that doesn’t sit and rest upon privilege. “There’s include guest teaching, portfolio review and mentorships. design are followed by two years of advertising. “At first I thought not a lot of ‘Yeah, I’m on my second degree’ or ‘My dad pays for

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Tricking Them into Learning Drawing Inspiration from Illustrator J.T. Steiny

By George Wolfe

"Shut up, lighten up, and work hard."

That’s the bare-bones message—paradoxical and tongue-in- cheek as it may be—of professional illustrator, Otis alum (’84) and teacher J.T. Steiny. Far from being harsh though, J.T. is an amiable, approachable artist who was once named “Alumnus of the Year” and now preaches his own brand of creative methodology to students who enter his classroom.

Every morning, with newspaper and tea beside him at the kitchen no ‘bad.’ But it’s hard to communicate that you have to make a “there’s shyness or an unwillingness to open up. But I really try of illustrators cross over into other areas and become savvy work- table, he dutifully goes through a first tier of self-imposed studies lot of crap and discard it. Students tend to think that it comes out to nudge them outside themselves, out of their shells or social ing in various mediums. So there’s less separation now between in his craft (though sometimes it feels more self-inflicted). “I draw nice and tidy and polished.” All this becomes the creative fodder cliques, and get them to realize: ‘Hey, it’s not so bad, even to see illustrators and other practitioners of visual arts (apart from fine lines, literally, and cross-hatchings, patterns, whatever,” he says for later brilliance, paying off with handsome rewards in the form something fail and feel humiliated.’ In every part of my classes, I arts, which tends to be more exclusive). There used to be a lot of as he demonstrates, “mixing words with whatever images come of final projects. Throughout the semester, however, J.T. reviews try to make it feel like it’s not a chore. My ultimate goal is to trick newspaper work, but now a lot of it is filled in-house or through to mind. I work on the steadiness of my hand. It’s one page of each student’s book on a weekly basis. them into learning by virtue of it being a fun pastime.” clip art. In short, budding illustrators must be resourceful and practice. I keep all these sheets bound together, and I often refer J.T. is a strong advocate for a customized approach to teach- Self-promotion is another area where artists often feel discom- flexible, becoming conscious of their own style and voice—their back to them for later cleaning-up and refinement. These are like ing, leaving the more traditional approach, in general, to other fort. But marketing oneself becomes more of an issue as students personal brand—in order to entice prospective employers to take conversations with myself. My students don’t always believe classes. “A lot of schools start by teaching from the outside in, approach graduation. “At some point they’ll have to talk about advantage of their skills. Another change is that now, more than me—at least at first—but creating the things that I do, e.g., an i.e., these are the materials … blue is cool, red is warm, etc. I like themselves,” he says, “which doesn’t always come naturally, ever, things come and go much quicker. Ad campaigns, movies, illustration for the L.A. Weekly, is a practiced thing. I have to keep to start on the inside, and work out from there. Even so, each but it’s important. With clients, it’ll become essential. In our final and publications come into being, then vanish just as quickly, so up this process up to stay sharp. It’s like priming a pump to keep group of students is unique, and you have to custom-tailor your projects, they make all aspects of an actual book which becomes students must learn to be responsive and act quickly. the water coming.” methods to meet their particular needs. Essentially, I don’t believe part of their portfolios. It’s not just about making the book—we Cutting through all of Steiny’s teaching work is the above-and- Likewise, J.T. gives out blank “junk books” to all his students there should be any one set standard to teach to all students and venture into marketing and merchandizing those books, too, and beyond-the-call-of-duty notion that he’s trying to develop, in a to carry around, 24/7, and doodle in. To him, it mitigates the pres- classes.” I get them to prepare postcard mailers adorned with postage gestalt-like way, in each student, “a sense of contentment within sure of producing perfectly finished work. “We all have our peo- Apart from being taught about mining their own psychologi- stamps with their own work on them, via services like Zazzle. At themselves.” If only we all had someone nurturing us in that way, ple who are staring at us or hanging over our shoulder, keeping cal caverns, the students are given collective illustration as- the same time, I have the students build their own website. These we’d be truly richer indeed. ● us from doing more original work.” Freed of that nagging pres- signments, in which they must solve real-world projects—say, a days, sure, you need to know how to draw to be an illustrator, but ence, students become privy to and conscious of valuable core magazine headline with an article—and must conceptualize and that’s only 50% of it. Like it or not, marketing is key.” ideas and imagery that they’d otherwise forget (e.g., the thoughts execute a visual to go with it. Crits reveal the work and foster dis- The marketplace has certainly changed in the 20-odd years that arise as you’re waking up from sleep). “I stress that there’s cussions about each student’s choices. “Sometimes,” says Steiny, since Steiny was a student. He perceives the trend whereby a lot Above: J.T. Steiny (‘84) Grammy Poster

OMAG 08 09 OMAG Chris Diaz (‘05), Kustom Sandals John McDonald (‘91), Decor Craft package design Elftherios Kardamakis (‘94), Ed Engle (‘88), Budweiser Billboard Lucky Magazine Robbie Buzus (‘02), Autry Museum CommArts Alumni in Sergio Leone Identity

Blaine Fontana (‘02), DirtBike Kio Griffith (‘86) Spiritual Garden cd packaging

Hillary Jaye (‘90), Flyaway Bus

In Sung Kim (‘97), Chinatown Wayfinding Amber Howard (‘03), “Seed And Sprout” web site the Professional World

Heather Van Haaften (‘88), Butthole Surfers Album Silas Hickey (‘91), United Nations Lighting Project, Tokyo

Robert Fisher (‘89), Beck Album Robert Fishe (‘89), Nirvana Album

Brian Jones (‘04) You Can’t Milk a Dancing Cow illustrations

Graduates design web sites, billboards, environmental graphics, catalogues, posters, album covers, wayfinding graphics, magazines, packaging, and products.

Megan Morgan (‘04), MOCA Products Mark Leroy (‘93), Eminem Album Mark Caneso (‘05), Geffen Playhouse

OMAG 10 11 OMAG 1 Students Redefine the Art of the Book

Book: " writing-tablet, leaf, or sheet," meaning " tree with eatable fruit;" thought to be etymlogically connected with the name of the beech-tree, suggesting that inscriptions were first made on beech tablets, or cut in the bark of beech trees.

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5 With funding from the Fletcher Jones Foundation, which sup- ported faculty development through Otis’ Teaching and Learning Center (TLC), Communication Arts faculty members Rebecca Chamlee (‘85) Associate Chair Barbara Maloutas (‘02 MFA), and Lab Press Manager Linda Dare attended the “Action/Inter- action: Book/Arts” conference last June in Chicago at Columbia College’s Center for Book and Paper Arts. Read Chamlee’s report at http://tlc.otis.edu/Faculty%20Development/chamlee.html

1 Dark by Erin Fleiner (‘09) 2 Aesop by Matthew Müller (‘07) 3 Andrew Lewicki by Brooklyn Brown (‘07) 4 Forming by Mike Pargas (‘09) 5 Luck by Erica Gibson (‘09)

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Dissolving Space with Light Aiming High, Swinging Low in Harlem Robert Irwin at San Diego's Museum of Contemporary Art Alison Saar's Tubman Sculpture

By Scarlet Cheng, Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty Member By George Wolfe Manhattan’s public art honors dogs more (reconfigured subway grating) and coming on “Since I’m not exactly a representational California’s Light and Space Movement, like aesthetic, making line paintings and dot paint- about 16 feet above the corresponding pieces. frequently than it does women (and even then full steam. The ruffle of her petticoat acts as a artist, I worried about how to present Tubman. many of the region’s creative exports, changed ings more in keeping with Minimalism. In par- The title derives from an Edward Albee mostly fictional women). How could artist Alison cattle guard, pushing all resistance aside. The There are only a few known images of her from the course of art in the 20th century. These artists ticular, his series of large tonal paintings seem play, which in turn is taken from that familiar Saar (‘81, MFA) resist the call for a project about torn roots behind her skirt symbolize both the when she was in her ‘70s or ‘80s. At one point, devoted themselves to exploring visual percep- a natural bridge to his Light and Space work. In chant “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” in the Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad? pulling up of roots by the slaves who had to someone on the arts committee encouraged me tion and phenomena. By minimizing the object these paintings, he was already creating fields of children’s nursery story. Davies points out that Having been through the public art wringer leave everything behind and Tubman’s uprooting to ‘do what you need to do; don’t compromise and maximizing its experiential qualities, they light, wonderfully meditative works that one can in the mid-1960s, Barnett Newman gave himself on previous jobs, Saar was hesitant to jump of the slavery system itself. From the surface of on your image.’ That was nice: A lot of times sometimes dissolved space altogether. Robert lose oneself in while still being boundaried by the challenge of using the primary colors, and back into that realm. Nevertheless, last fall, her full skirt, small mask-like faces press through it’s the other way around. In the end, [Tubman] Irwin (‘50), one of the leaders of this seminal the confines of the canvas. Indeed, as Irwin says “Irwin is trying to acknowledge a similar con- some four years since the call went out for the folds of the fabric, representing the more was a mixture of how I envisioned her (within movement, studied at Otis in the 1950s, when in a recent interview (with the author, November cern.” The artist has placed “three planes of color sculptors to tackle the subject matter and pitch than 300 people she led to freedom. The skirt is my own style) and how she might’ve actually the school was in downtown Los Angeles. 2007), “One day I looked around and I realized above the line of sight and three below the line proposals, Saar found herself putting the finish- also embellished with worn shoe soles, roots, looked.” Recently the Museum of Contemporary that there are no frames in the world. You are in of sight,” creating what the curator thinks of as ing touches on her Tubman sculpture in Harlem cowry shells and other items carried by the Given all the difficulties Saar faced, would Art in San Diego (MCASD) honored Irwin with this wonderful changing envelope.” “pure Platonic spaces.” These polished surfaces (or “SoHa”/South Harlem, as they say), in what slaves to the North. she take on more public art projects? “If there a five-decade retrospective, “Robert Irwin: So he worked to get rid of the frames, and reflect the surroundings, so that as natural light is now referred to as Harriet Tubman Square The sculpture sits upon a granite ‘outcrop- was a call that was particularly interesting, Primaries and Secondaries”—or what Museum has focused on sculptural and installation works pours into this cavernous room throughout the (though, technically, it’s in a traffic triangle). ping’ trimmed with bronze tiles that alternate maybe, but I don’t really see a public art project director and exhibition curator Hugh Davies ever since. Among these early “unframed” day, the installation changes its appearance. Hard as it is to believe, Saar’s work represents between geometric and biographical infor- for me in the near future.” But in some ways likes to refer to as “a career survey.” Irwin has works is Untitled, 1969, a three-dimensional disc On the expansive north wall of the building, the first public monument in New York City dedi- mation. The geometric tiles depict traditional she understands it’s like childbirth: After enough lived in San Diego since 1990, and this is his of semi-transparent acrylic mounted onto the Light and Space (2007) is an especially stagger- cated to an African-American woman. patterns of the Freedom Quilts, believed by time passes, you forget all the pain, and the next first show there. “We have been building a wall at eye-level. A horizontal silver band runs ing piece, made up of two- and four-foot-long “What attracted me was her phenomenal some to have been used as signals along the thing you know you’re at it again. “In hindsight,” very significant collection of Irwin’s work over across the middle of this disc, which seems to fluorescent tubes. They are hung singly and in spirit,” says Saar. “We all know her as a person Underground Railroad. The biographical tiles are Saar says, sighing and smiling, “I was pleased the last 30 years,” says Davies. “We feel he’s be glowing from within. pairs at right angles to one another, and the wall who freed slaves, but she was also a nurse and done in an appliqué style, illustrating events in with how it ended up. The difficulties are all THE founder of the California Light and Space Once Irwin had abandoned the frame, he glows with the blinding intensity of their collec- a spy, and she took responsibility for the people Tubman’s life. Children and others visit the site relatively petty and silly when compared to what movement.” Davies maintains that Irwin’s early began to experiment with dissolving space tive lumens. Viewers feel like moths to a flame she freed, creating a school for children and and make keepsake rubbings from the tiles. someone like Tubman endured.” ● now-famous discs—pieces mounted on the wall altogether in large-scale, site-specific instal- before this monumental radiance. creating retirement homes for ex-slaves. At first, Landscape designer Mark Bunnell trans- from which light emanated or upon which light lations. Across the street in MCASD’s Jacobs the budget sounded great—but you just don’t formed the mundane traffic median into a was projected—“were already Light and Space Building, a renovated Santa Fe Depot, are five Editor’s note: Irwin’s seminal influence as an figure it’ll take so many years of your life!” handsome and tranquil refuge, utilizing richly pieces.”(interview with the author, November monumental installations. Four were created for artist is undisputed. As an educator, his gradu- Between 2003 and 2007, there were a diz- toned pavers and roughly hewn granite to cre- 2007) these dramatic spaces, and one, Who’s Afraid of ate students at University of California, Irvine zying number of issues to contend with from ate a natural setting. Plantings of species native The show is a wonderful opportunity to Red, Yellow & Blue3, is an expanded version of a included Ed Ruscha, Larry Bell, Vija Celmins, and various agencies, community members and to both New York and Tubman’s home state see some of Irwin’s early work. He started as a piece shown in 2006 at Pace Wildenstein Gallery, Alexis Smith. As he explains, ”I helped them regional officials. Would the bronze roots com- of Maryland represent the terrain traveled by painter, and upstairs in one of MCASD’s build- N.Y. Here Irwin borrows honeycomb aluminum, figure out what they wanted to do. The misas- ing off the lower portion of Tubman pose an Tubman and her passengers. The plaza is framed ings are a dozen works from the late 1950s and an industrial material fabricated to be rigid and sumption is that we are going to educate them impalement or strangulation threat to neighbor- with granite seating and curbing that bears the early 1960s. Several of these paintings reflect the light, like cardboard. The work is made up of as to what has been art, in the end we need hood kids? How to design the sculpture so that famous freedom spiritual words: We need not artist’s second-generation Abstract Expressionist giant enameled panels – three large squares them to learn to be their own teachers, their thieves wouldn’t be able to cut off and steal thin always weep and mourn, O let my people go; roots; paint is laid on thickly and energetically. in red, yellow, and blue that lie on the cement own taskmasters.” ● portions of the bronze? What are the implica- And wear these silvery chains forlorn, O let my Soon he began moving toward a more reductive floor, paired with squares of the same, hung tions of Tubman facing the South (which is what people go. the triangular location suggested) or the North (where there happened to be a jail)? Saar claims that for certain intense periods during the process, she’d have anxiety dreams: a coral snake getting loose and chasing her; later, a python slowly wrapping itself around her; and still later, a tiger running amok—all manifesta- tions of the Tubman project-related entities she grappled with. But neither having artworld parents (former faculty member Betye Saar, and painter/art conservator Richard Saar) nor going to art school could fully prepare her for all the issues she would encounter along the public art path. “Only a handful of people do public art,” says Saar, “because it takes so much out of you. Once you do one project, though still daunting, you know the ropes and it’s easier—until then, it’s very difficult to get into that world.” Saar cast Tubman in bronze, as the Underground Railroad train itself, an unstop- pable locomotive chugging hard and steady all her 93 years. The cast sculpture, more than 13-feet tall and 12-feet long, shows Tubman Photography by Philipp Scholz Rittermann, courtesy of San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. emerging from woods (oak trees) beside a river

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Right: Felix Gonzales-Torres installation Art Together Now: at the American Pavilion Left: Meg Cranston at the American Pavilion Why the Venice Biennale Matters

By Meg Cranston, Professor of Fine Arts

I was sitting at the rooftop restaurant of Venice’s Gonzalez-Torres’ deceptively simple work disorientating. There was so much bad news that Hotel Danieli—the nerve center for art world gave the United States Pavilion—and, meta- it had the disturbing effect of making some of luminaries who had come to the Biennale as phorically, the nation it represents—a quality the somber works seem like parodies. A case in the first stop on the grand tour of last summer’s of frank plainness long associated with the point was a video of a young boy playing soccer mega exhibitions, including Documenta, the American character but sorely missing from its with a human skull. The jaded opening crowd Munster Sculpture project, and the Basel Art current politics. With Gonzalez-Torres’ iconic imagined a mash-up with Damien Hirst—a boy Fair. One after the other, art dealers (with an string of lights slung unceremoniously across playing soccer with a diamond-crusted skull. occasional millionaire artist) wandered onto the the entrance and, on the day I was there, a slight Political work in the Biennale is there terrace to eat and complain. On the day after the drizzle in the air, the pavilion seemed slumped because curators see the event as an opportu- opening, the verdicts were in: The show’s main in resignation. Adding to that general quality of nity to expose the greatest number of people exhibitions in the Giardini pavilions were ho- exhaustion were stacks of Gonzalez-Torres’ give- to urgent issues. The logic sounds good but hum, the group show in the Italian pavilion was away posters with the simple imprinted texts, it doesn’t work. Political work is extremely too conservative (read too much painting or too “Memorial Day Sale” and “Veterans Day Sale.” sensitive to location and to its surroundings. much like Chelsea), and the Arsenale exhibition Tourists in flip-flops grabbed the freebies The more the cacophony grows, the easier it was dull (read full of political art). All in all, these from stacks that were continually replenished by is to dismiss the message. Political art, like all self-anointed judges declared the 2007 Biennale dutiful gallery workers. Seeing the posters later art, depends to some degree on the element of a disaster, and many were tickled to add that stuffed in trashcans along the leafy lanes of the surprise, but in the Arsenale, as work after work they’d heard Documenta was “even worse.” Giardini did little to allay the somber message hit the same note of alarm, viewers (like me) Dreary as that sounds, I took certain comfort of the exhibition. Framed by current politics and became quickly immune to the message. in knowing that the connoisseurs were as vigi- the fact that the artist was one of the hundreds One suspects that few left the exhibition with lant, cranky and hard to please as ever. If they of thousands of Americans to die of AIDS, visi- their minds changed on any topic. However, voted the show a unanimous winner, I’d be ner- tors got the rather heartbreaking feeling that that may not have been the goal. The works in vous. By being choosy, difficult and more than America is a nation worn out by illness, greed the Arsenale were, in a sense, endorsements a little mean, they were doing their important structured context—to view art with the often and constant war. (I, and other Americans I for a way of working—a trend in contemporary time-honored job of being snobs. Their presence tired, hungry and impatient crowd. spoke to, got that feeling.) art practice that Storr supports. What will likely (however unseen) assured the ordinary art-lov- Each exhibition in the Biennale should, then, The American Pavilion was effective not happen now is that the artists he selected for the ing crowds—teeming into the vaporetti to pay be considered in terms of how it addresses that because it hosted a great Felix Gonzalez-Torres show will be given other opportunities by other 20 euros for Biennale entry—that they had come audience—how it functions as part of the greater show but because the show was particularly curators. As a result of their participation in the to the right place. I, too, was invigorated by their spectacle, the greater social (albeit temporary) suited to its context. Its political message was Biennale, these artists will have the chance to discontent. The gods were in their heaven and system which in turn models its effectiveness in staged effectively (if inadvertently). The two make their point elsewhere in smaller, more disappointment was in the air! the “outside world.” The most effective artworks group exhibitions curated by Biennale direc- focused exhibitions. That would be a successful Part of the success of the Venice Biennale in shows like the Venice Biennale, Munster or tor Robert Storr in the Italian Pavilion and the outcome for what appeared to be an unsuccess- comes from this displeasure. It succeeds in Documenta are not necessarily those that pro- Arsenale, though full of interesting works, ful exhibition. drawing large numbers of visitors despite the vide the most profound artistic experience but were less impressive because of their failure Big international shows like the Venice often rather lackluster showing by individual art- instead those that seem most sensitive to their to achieve the proportions suited to the mass Biennale usually fall short of expectations. ists, and it is generally a reliable predictor of an surrounding, those works that self-consciously event. The work of hundreds of artists strewn across artist’s standing and/or future success. Overall, use the context to model the current potential Storr’s hanging of the Italian pavilion was a several acres doesn’t have the same impact as what the show lacks in masterpieces it gains in for art. mishmash. There was a lot of painting by very a more narrowly conceived exhibition outside indicating something of the general atmosphere Using those criteria, I formed a very unpopu- prominent painters and various other seem- the biennale context. Art doesn’t do particularly of art and its current place in the larger social lar opinion that the best pavilion in the Biennale ingly “important” things tossed in willy-nilly. I well in a festival atmosphere. If asked, most context. was the American, exhibiting the work of Felix went through the show with artist friends. We all artists would rather not compete for the audi- The works themselves should not be judged Gonzalez-Torres. Some critics condemned the sensed a familiar problem—a curator afraid to ence’s attention with the snack shop, especially as they would be in museums or galleries. In selection of Gonzalez-Torres because they felt be himself. Robert Storr is a painter, and clearly if it serves beer. Art is never shown to its best “Nearly every work in the show those contexts, we typically view the work as that the pavilion should display work by one of painting is his great love. I wished he had more advantage in that context, but the international relatively independent of its context (we don’t many deserving living artists. (Gonzalez-Torres courage to be what he seems to want to be—a festival style shows are important. Although referenced political and social usually judge a museum show based on what is died in 1996.) Others objected to the curators’ painter/curator with a great love of painters they fail to do anything as specific as giving a being served in the cafeteria), but in Venice the distortedly meek version of Gonzalez-Torres’ of a certain time and place. Why bother hav- satisfying aesthetic experience, they succeed in injustice somewhere in the world.” surrounding has a profound effect on how we work, asserting that the exhibition did a disser- ing curators if they can’t be one-sided? Equal reminding viewers that having such an experi- understand the work. How we understand the vice to an artist associated with activism opportunity curation is always a bore. I vote for ence is truly important. All the people, all the art at Venice and, to an even greater degree at and outrage. partisan curating 100%. If Storr wanted to stage hassle, and all the complaints are necessary to outdoor exhibitions like the Munster Sculpture Both criticisms have merit and are connected a battle of the painting titans (Richter, Polke, etc.) make that point. We make the journey and put Project, is profoundly affected by how we to what made the American pavilion impressive. he should have delivered on that and accepted up with it all because it is a way to ritualistically experience the city, the season and the crowd. Its relative modesty—a small number of works the consequences. confirm that art matters. When 300,000 people The big international exhibitions (especially on in a fairly small building (a kitsch mini-version Perhaps paradoxically, Storr is also a visit a show over three months, as happens in the opening days) are total events where the of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello) made it sig- passionately political man, which led to his Venice, the audience consecrates the site of art. ● experience in one area colors one’s critique of nificant in the context of a Biennale full of works selection for the Arsenale exhibition that some the next. They are not places for an isolated satirizing the hubris of the United States. In described simply as bad news. Nearly every contemplative artistic experience, but the chance cosmopolitan Europe, many view the USA as an work in the show referenced political and social to have a collective experience in a highly outsized monster set on destroying the world. injustice somewhere in the world. The effect was

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Nothing Moments: Holding onto a Whale business for Arnoldo Mondadori, where you PV: Defining or redefining a classic is a big cul- have been for more than sixteen years. How tural responsibility. Can you hazard a definition Celebrating writing, art, and design equally deliberate was this choice? of a ”classic”? Renewing AR: Like many other lovers of literature before AR: It’s not simple, because a classic has basically me, I wanted to be intimately involved in the mak- to do with a canon that is not so much determined By Annie Buckley (‘03 MFA) ing and selling of books. So I had the opportunity by a critic or publisher. The definition of a canon the Canon to start with Mondadori, and I have been there is tied intrinsically to the sensibility of an age, ever since. I think my various duties with different and it seems to me that the publisher’s job is to Sometimes, in the middle of a very long stretch finally, designers create an original book design way, with attendant frustrations and imperfec- Graduate Writing Chair aspects of book publishing—for instance, direct- give editorial substance to this sensibility. Each of writing, the process feels like trying to hold from these elements. I was intrigued and offered tions; both participants and organizers gave up ing the paperback great classics called the Oscar generation reads literature in a different way, and onto a whale—elusive and too big to handle, but to help read the mounting pile of manuscripts a certain amount of control over the outcome. Paul Vangelisti interviews series—have kept me close to my original passion it can’t be denied that an age’s sensibility modi- filled with a curiosity and wonder that keeps me submitted to the project. But the push-and-pull of working with so many Antonio Riccardi in October for writing. Sometimes publishers forget that the fies the definition of the canon, demanding that going. Working with artists Steven Hull and Tami Over the next few months, I collaborated people on one project created a multi-handed primary reason they were compelled to take up the publisher make available books of particular Demaree (MFA, ’03) and designer Jon Sueda with Tami, Steven, and Jon on reading manu- organism—or perhaps a metaphorical whale— 2007, as part of the Grad- such a complex profession in the first place was significance for his or her own time. on the art/literature/design hybrid, “Nothing scripts, communicating with participants, for readers and viewers to determine how and their personal love for literature. Moments,” was a similar experience. checking proofs, and found myself composing in what context to hold. uate Writing Program's PV: How important, in this respect, is What fascinates me most about this project my own emails to writers—filled with dates Visiting Writers Series PV: You have gone from editorial assistant to translation? is its potentially impossible insistence on plac- and deadlines, if decidedly less flair. Slowly but Editor’s Note: “Nothing Moments” consists editor in chief of one of the most prestigious, AR: Very much, extremely so. Mondadori’s Oscar ing literature, art, and design on a level playing surely, the project came together. of 24 limited-edition books and more than 400 1 and certainly largest, Italian publishing houses series, for instance, from its debut in 1965 with field. Rather than position design in the service What was originally conceived of as a few original drawings by 101 artists, designers Antonio Riccardi was born in Parma in 1962. He while working at the poet’s craft the entire time. Hemingway’s Addio alle armi (A Farewell to Arms), of text, or art in the service of story, this series books, inspired by the relay-like process of and writers. In October 2007, the project was graduated in philosophy from the University of What’s the difference between then and now? has always paid close attention to translation. of books and art seeks to celebrate writing, art, Steven’s previous projects, eventually grew into shown at Steve Turner Contemporary in L.A. Pavia and went to work for Arnoldo Mondadori AR: As a poet, there is not a lot of difference. We rediscover or replace translations when they and design equally within one whole; both a series of 24 books that included the contribu- and launched at MOCA at the Pacific Design Publishing in Milan, where today he is editor in Writing poetry was for me in the early 1990s are obsolete: Editing translations is one of the process and result are dependent on the abil- tions of 101 writers, artists, and designers. Center. It has been shown in San Francisco chief of Mondadori Libri, the company’s book about as impossibly difficult an undertaking as most critical and time-consuming aspects of our ity to see beyond established boundaries and The size of the group added to the project’s and Dallas, and will travel to Chicago. Other division. He is the author of two collections of it is now. As an editor, I have come to realize publishing. I think that one of the main duties hierarchies. steadfast resistance to categorization by style, Otis participants in the “Nothing Moments” poetry, Il profitto domestico (1996) and Gli impi- that publishing, on the scale of a company like of a large and important publishing house like In the summer of 2006, I received an email discipline, or venue. You can find the project project are Graduate Fine Arts faculty members anti del dovere e della guerra (2004), and is also Mondadori, is also a very difficult job, principally Mondadori is to take particular care of its catalog, from fellow Otis grad, Tami Demaree. It read on the ever-accessible Amazon as well as in a Renee Petropoulos and Benjamin Weissman; the editor of classic editions of Giordano Bruno’s because of the dynamic demands of literature and to offer new and older generations of readers the something along the lines of “send me your gallery, and no one person or vision dictated the Communication Arts faculty members Yasmin Candelaio and Cena delle Ceneri. Most recently, with business—which aren’t always easily reconcilable. most important books. Precisely because sensibili- stories, now!!!” with the kind of enthusiasm type of fiction, art, or design to include. Rather, Khan and Penny Pehl; LAS faculty member Maurizio Cucchi, Riccardi edited the anthology Publishing is, after all, a business, and one would ties change and translations are of vital impor- generally reserved for coveted concert tickets, the series is defined by the contributions of Marsha Hopkins (‘97, ‘04 MFA), and alumni of young Italian poets, Nuovissima poesia italiana be irresponsible to ignore that. One, however, tance, it’s only fitting that a publishing house is not unpublished fiction. I attached my manu- all the participants, producing an amalgam of Jesse Benson: (’03 MFA), Tami Demaree (’03 (2004), for Mondadori. remains optimistic of being able to influence and constantly in the process of renewing itself. ● script, pressed send, and hoped for the best. options that would not likely be found within MFA), Jacob Melchi (’03 MFA),and Colin Roberts ultimately steer business decisions in the direction Later that summer, Tami replied that she a traditional editorial format. (’01) Rheana Rafferty now Wilson (’05 MFA PV: Directly after finishing a degree in phi- of what is significant and lasting in literature, not and Steven wanted to publish my stories and The results challenge widely accepted Writing), and Mary Younakof (’06 MFA). ● losophy, you went to work in the publishing just what is immediately marketable or novel. explained the gist of the “Nothing Moments” notions predicating a singular style or position project. First, writers write fiction, then artists in favor of the more unwieldy and multifarious make drawings inspired by the stories, and chorus of voices. If it sounds utopic, it is in a

1 Antonio Riccardi and Paul Vangelisti 2 Alex Coles DesignArt 2 Alumna Annie Buckley interviews Fine Arts Chair 1 Alex Coles 2 Annie Buckley: You arrived in Los Angeles fairly recently. What draws you to the city? Alex Coles: I’ve visited LA numerous times in the past. I think it was on my first visit in 1998 that I saw the work of Jorge Pardo. From there I became interested in LA artists and visited a number of times in the intervening years in order to interview artists. In 2005, I wrote a book called DesignArt (Tate Publishing, 2005) that focused on the work of many of these Los Angeles artists. So it was principally the artists, and the energy the artists created in the city, that brought me here. I had been looking to move here for a while and this [Fine Arts Chair] seemed like the appropriate job for me.

AB: So what attracts you to Otis in particular? AC: Though it started as a fine arts school and added design disciplines later, I was interested in today’s reality, in the fact that this is a college primarily led by the design majors. With my interest

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in artists who engage with design, I hoped that AB: I read that you want to increase the number Fine Arts could strike up a relationship, which it of Fine Arts majors. Are you hoping to create had lacked in the past, with these other programs more parity between the programs, or what in the college such as architecture and graphic motivates that goal? Nancy Chunn's design. That was a big attraction. AC: It would be nice if the numbers increased in Fine Arts, to a certain degree, because this would AB: How do you see your interest in ‘designart’ enable us to offer a greater diversity of electives Media Madness influencing your decisions about curriculum and for the students, and also to bring in fresh faculty. faculty as chair of Fine Art? The department would benefit in that Fine Arts Editors’s note: 3 AC: There are a number of things. The first was would play an even more crucial role both within Nancy Chunn, fall 2007 Jennifer Howard that we introduced a new elective for Spring ’08 the college and in the outward perception of Coleman Distinguished Artist in Residence, spent that has to do with the relationship of fine art to the college and its role in contemporary visual six weeks at Otis teaching a master painting class, design, principally 3D design. This will be the first culture. conducting one-on-one student critiques with stu- time at Otis that Fine Arts students will get to use dents, and installing and speaking about her exhi- materials, processes, and technologies that have AB: A lot of what we’ve been talking about is bition, “Media Madness.” Chunn, a self-described previously been the province of design majors. It how art students benefit from interfacing with “political junkie,” creates work about geopolitics will investigate the overlap between disciplines design and other programs. Do you have any and the power of the media. As she describes her thematically and theoretically, but practically as plans to see that collaboration go in the other recent series Chicken Little and the Culture of Fear, well. We’ll do a series of workshops and lectures, direction as well, for other students to benefit “I’m telling a story and I’m using silliness and I’m and I hope to establish this course as part of the from Fine Arts? using absurdity because I think that the world is new curriculum. Photography, among other fine AC: At present, it’s focused more on the Fine Arts now so absurd that the only way I can deal with it arts, will actively pursue this engagement with department because that’s what I am able to do in is through humor. And I hope that a lot of people other disciplines, and I think those things will my position. But sure, it would be great to think can get some enjoyment out of my work and constitute a shift in the department. that the same spirit of collaboration would be giggle and laugh and look at some of the issues I reciprocated. am discussing.” These issues include global warm- AB: Tell me more about what you mean by ‘des- ing, contaminated food streams, terrorist threats, ignart’? Is it a fusion of art and design, a branch AB: In this day and age, what’s the ideal art species extinction, death and disease. of art history, or how do you see it? student like? AC: It’s been a number of things. What some AC: Um… I can’t really answer that — I’m not A catalogue of the exhibition with an essay by people have attempted to do is to make it a fusion. sure. Let’s just say good skinny jeans and a moppy Meg Linton, curator and Ben Maltz Gallery For me, it’s something that practitioners from dif- haircut. [laughter] Director, will be available in summer 2008. ferent disciplines can do together, gathering in a think tank-type situation to pool their ideas, skills, AB: What advice would you give to a young and resources, and from that to generate a new artist just graduating school now? How do you form of practice. The result would emerge from envision integrating professional practice and Fine Arts student responses: the various disciplines, but would not belong to the curriculum? any one discipline in particular. About ten years AC: I think this is crucial, especially within today’s She helped me realize things that ago, designers interfaced with art as a fashion for marketplace. Fine art is big business. The role were right in front of my face but a while, and designers have just now created a played by the auction houses and the fairs over blocked by mounds of books and new fashion for arty-looking design. My hope is the last few years has accelerated. What’s good for that we won’t just repeat either of those things, the art student in relation to that is that there are theory. but generate something new. more possibilities than there were before to be a successful commercial practitioner, and for the art She offered fresh ideas on a wide AB: As art overlaps with other disciplines— student to diversify and think of their practice in 3 in particular those that rely on a marketable an expanded way. By that I mean they might make range of media, not limited to product—there is a danger of losing the essence site-specific work, or work as a curator, or in an painting. of art, its independence and/or potential for education department, in a museum, or in a gal- rebellion. For example, designers work for lery. In other words, the professional roles avail- clients whereas artists do not. How might you able for someone who has graduated from Fine While there were concerns about help students navigate this tricky terrain? Arts are widely expanded now. We’re offering a doing a group show without pre- AC: I think there’s a naïve supposition that artists new course in the spring for the seniors, which is work freely and independently, whereas design- called Professional Practices. cedence, Nancy fully endorsed our ers work for clients. But I think if you go back plan to do it in a totally uncon- to the Renaissance, that was not true, and it’s no AB: I’ve lived and worked in Los Angeles most of ventional way. longer true today. For instance, an artist’s dealer my life, so I’m always curious to hear newcom- and collectors and curators are, in a way, the art- ers’ responses to the city. What is the thing you ist’s clients. It’s a more expansive definition of love most about it so far? Anything driving you Nancy brought a practical point of what a “client” can mean. This connects with the nuts or making you homesick? view as an artist working in N.Y. way that art is made too; the processes by which AC: What fascinates me most is people’s plastic She was very accessible and sup- much art is made are similar to design processes, surgery. There is a fine art to people’s plastic sur- where things are designed on a computer and gery in this city that fascinates me. These doctors portive about my future plans. She sent off to a factory to be fabricated in an edition have made the designing of people’s faces and exposed us to opportunities that 3 Nancy Chunn, Chicken Little and the — much the way design is produced. They are bodies into a fine art. Culture of Fear, 2004-07. Acrylic on canvas. different ultimately, but there are lots of paral- are available after school. She has lels between the two disciplines and the way they AB: [laughter] Well, let’s close with that. ● great energy and it was a pleasure operate. What I’m interested in is exploring those to have her on campus. ● relationships.

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Editor’s note: Many faculty members have created political and cultural landscape, life-long New mentor younger students through Otis’ outreach podcasts that are posted on the Otis web site, on Orleans resident Laverne Dunn gave us a tour of programs, and vow to become exemplary leaders Otis’ YouTube channel and at iTunesU. These the city. We spent time in the Wards, the French in art, design and community activism. Collecting have been funded by a grant from the Fletcher Transforma: Quarter, the Warehouse District, and the Mid- Scholarship • The Annenberg Foundation awarded Jones Foundation, which supports faculty projects City area. The territory we traveled through was $125,000 in scholarship support for exceptionally that incorporate new technology for teaching. economically and physically diverse, yet the dam- artistic and academically outstanding students. Pieces of Among the most viewed Otis podcasts and videos New Orleans age left behind by Hurricane Katrina was visible Funding • The The Price Galinson Collaborative Fund 4 are those on information literacy and identify- everywhere. 6 awarded scholarship funding of $100,000 to sup- Plastic ing sources, an interview with celebrity fashion Jules Rochielle My experience became more profound as I Expands port incoming freshmen. designer and longtime mentor Bob Mackie, a Graduate student in Public Practice traveled through the 9th Ward. One of the most • The Surdna Foundation awarded $150 K to cross-contour drawing video, and demos of sew- 5 haunting images was an abandoned home with support Summer of Art scholarships to teenagers By Richard M. Shelton ing an invisible zipper and creating a life drawing the words “We’ll be back” spray-painted on it. In Why do scholarships matter? Scholarships of limited financial means, to increase outreach Otis faculty member I had never been to New Orleans until this visit. from the model. I was living in Canada when Hurricane Katrina some areas rubble and debris replaced what used recognize academic excellence, give low-income to underserved communities, and to enhance the Below is an excerpt from a blog called hit the region, so most of my awareness came to be a neighborhood. Witnessing these emotion- students an opportunity, and help colleges to Program’s quality and benefits. For the past 34 years, I have been an avid collector “Imagination Station” that responds to some of through the media and research. Now, through ally charged images became a form of acknowl- attract and retain talent. But scholarships offer • Nike and Hurley announced a joint five-year of all genres of records. In addition to building these educational podcasts. Otis’ Public Practice MFA Program, I participated edging the silent resistance, giving a presence to something bigger, something deeper and more endowment gift of $1 million for fashion design my personal collection, I have studied and taught in a case study and site visit for a potential public people displaced through geographical, economi- meaningful. As Otis expands its partnerships scholarships. The gift provides scholarship sup- music history. When I arrived at Otis, I was I’ve finally discovered podcasts, thanks to… art project called the Transforma Project. cal and racial marginalization. and projects to national and international levels, port to the outstanding student talent who, upon amazed to find an amazing collection of art well, no one actually introduced it to me, The Transforma Project is a multi-year initia- When you are invited to visit what was once students are exposed to issues beyond their text- graduating, will have extraordinary opportuni- recordings in the Millard Sheets Library, includ- I was just trying to momentarily distract tive that will bring artists together with com- someone’s home and listen to how they have books and studios. They gain an understanding of ties to work with industry leaders such as Nike, ● ing the likes of Henry Moore, John Giorno, myself from the exhausting ordeals of mara- munity members to address critical issues, from survived and continue to struggle to find a way to how their creativity, skill and vision can impact Hurley and other international companies. Joseph Beuys, Laurie Anderson, John Cage, thon paper-checking when I figured out how it housing to education. This will provide an ongo- return home, you begin to question if justice truly issues such as poverty, healthcare, and the envi- and Otis faculty members Carol Caroompas and worked. Thanks to the wonderfully free wire- ing vehicle for critical discourse that will nurture exists. ronment. Scholarships are an investment in the Joyce Lightbody. less internet access at the university, I’ve been cultural rebuilding efforts throughout the city. During this trip, I thought about the impor- next generation of problem-solvers and visionar- Such recordings illustrate concepts; act as able to download and listen to podcasts from As an aspect of this case study, one of the tance of the artist’s role as a witness. A witness ies, in role models and risk-takers who will use forms of self-expression or self-reflection; docu- BBC Radio and NPR, as well as lectures from projects we explored was the design of a public is someone who gains firsthand knowledge of a their talents and success to enrich the world. ment ideas and evidence performance. These MIT, UC Berkeley, and Stanford. I’m currently artwork that pays tribute to Homer Plessy, of the dramatic event through his or her senses (hearing, • Five new, incoming students in fall 2007 sound-bearing pieces of plastic have honestly “enrolled” in a Social Psychology podclass landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy v. touching, smelling, seeing). In my role as a wit- have been selected to receive full-tuition assis- and directly chronicled the history of art through from UC Berkeley, one on Information Literacy Ferguson (1896), which upheld the constitution- ness, I can offer the space for other individuals to tance from funds from the National Endowment 4 Album cover for Professor of Fine Arts Carole Carompaas’ “Target Practice.” freedom of authorship. from Otis College of Art and Design, and a ality of racial segregation even in public accom- express and communicate their social realities by for the Arts John Renna Art Scholarships, created series on communications and media from providing an opportunity or venue for storytell- at the behest of the late John Anthony Renna. 5 Graduate Pubic Practice Chair Suzanne It has been a privilege to select and digitize modations (particularly railroads), under the Lacy (center) with students in downtown Stanford. I listen to at least one of them every ing. The information collected through this field some of these significant and obscure recordings. doctrine of “separate but equal.” This public work Renna established this fund for talented visual New Orleans. day, usually during my workout sessions or methodology can then be fed back into a public arts students who do not have the financial At times I may question my life-long commitment will celebrate and honor his activism and courage Graduate Public Practice student Ofunne to record collecting, but while cataloging Otis’ while I’m doing my household cleaning. It through memory. During discussions about this discourse and design process. Becoming familiar resources to attend college, and Otis was one of Obiamiwe’s photograph of New Orleans neighborhood. record library, I was reminded that music, music only makes sense, doesn’t it? Exercise the public work, we met and worked with architects, with the cultural and social terrain of a place and seven schools selected. The students come from 6 Three of five NEA Renna Scholarship history, poetry, and performance art have had a mind while you exercise the body, and all that. artists, and public art experts Rick Lowe, Mel listening to community stories can connect the Charlotte, North Carolina; Miami; Lafayette, I love it. It’s glorious brain food. community to a public work of art because they winners: Catarina Jacinta Gates, Vickie significant and powerful influence throughout my Chin, Jessica Cusack, and Sam Durant. Indiana; Bakersfield, and Philadelphia. As NEA Thomas, and Forrest Michael Smith ● personal and professional life. To increase our awareness of how the design have been engaged in its design process. John Renna Scholarship winners, they will (all 2011). —“Podclasses or, How I Learned to Stop of this piece of public art could tie into the Link to Shelton’s podcast and interview with Playing with Brain Food and Actually Eat It” ● Fine Arts Professor Carole Caroompas: Jan 21, ’08 6:22 AM http://tlc.otis.edu/Faculty%20Development/ shelton.html 5 5

OMAG 22 23 OMAG Alumni around the world Alumni around the world BERLIN SRI LANKA

Lacquer Paint & Hill Country Tea Alex Donis ('94 MFA) After the longest flight in the entire universe, my sister Lucy and I stepped off the plane at Colombo International Airport. We finally arrived in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), the island at the southern tip of India-of tsunami, Ramayana, and The Bridge on the River Kwai fame.

Although my sister and I hadn’t traveled together since 1996, commodations weren’t exactly five-star, the early morning cold- Role-Playing & Reconstruction when we trekked through Nepal and India, we had heard great bucket showers were warmed by Kala’s sweet smile, milk tea and things about Sri Lanka, and had always wanted to travel to this delicious curries. primarily Buddhist country. Ever since the 2004 tsunami devas- My first day of teaching was a bit of a shocker. To my sur- Sabine Dehnel (’01 MFA) tated much of this country’s coastal region, we knew we wanted prise, the students all stood when I entered the class and did to help out through some kind of volunteer work. This led us not sit until I told them that they were allowed to do so. I’d like to contact the long-standing organization Volunteers for Peace to try this on a particular group of Westside 9th-graders (ha!). At 2007 was a very fast and full art year. When I think back, my inner eye zaps through many (www.vfp.org), that helped organize and place us with a local Crossroads School, where I teach in Santa Monica, I whine when different cities and places in Europe. Memories and pictures oscillate and overlap to form school near the town of Hatton. I get 15 students in a class. Here, I faced 40 students, plus all the a big, abstract urban landscape. After soaking up the sun on the powdery beaches of Unawa- onlookers at the windows who wanted in on the class as soon as tuna, and leopard-spotting at Yala National Wildlife Reserve, we they saw me passing out watercolor sets. I began with my staple arrived in the heart of Sri Lanka’s hill country, known for its moun- self-portrait lesson and had a sweet exchange with the students, The journey started in January in my hometown of Ludwigshafen, and placed in front of an undulating curtain in various shades of tainous terrain and manicured tea estates. Getting past several translating facial parts and colors into the Tamil language. After where I was invited to exhibit my work in the “Kunstverein,” via green. The collage was then transferred, and the sitting couple unanswered cell-phone calls and missed pick-up points, we the class was over, I was ushered to the science lab—past a group Copenhagen, Berlin (my adopted home), then Leipzig, Cologne, captured on canvas, as if time was inscribed layer for layer. The arrived haphazardly at the town of Bogawantalawa. The Tientsin of Korean students who were doing a an outdoor mural featur- London, Amsterdam and Paris. painted picture was then reconstructed in the studio, and photo- Tamil School, a K-12 government school, perches high above the ing hand-holding students in front of a globe with a ‘We love Sri In my artistic work, I use next-to-new impressions—a kind of a graphed and documented by the camera that was once captured tea plantations amidst low-flying clouds. My sister’s plan was to Lanka banner.’ “Poor kids,” I mused. “Murals are such a pain.” data bank of experienced moments captured by photographs. The by the painting. Like a scene in a play or a sequence in a movie, teach English, and I intended to teach drawing and painting. I was introduced to the science teacher, a sweet lady in a result is a conceptual way of working which includes painting, painting reconstructs a moment. To this end, I look for models The day we arrived, we met our team leader Victor, who bright yellow sari, and she asked me if I was a “professional art- photography and installations. whose postures and physiognomies are similar to those of the enthusiastically greeted us with a warm embrace. He was origi- ist.” I assured her that I was, and thought to say, “Lady, please. During my studies at Otis, my working process was scrutinized people in the original photographs. Then the props are prepared nally from the region but had moved to India as a boy. A group —I went to Otis!” but I figured that wouldn’t get too far in these and turned upside down. Of profound importance to me were on a three-dimensional stage and make-up is applied, in line with of South Korean high school and college students had arrived a parts. She gestured toward the large wall at the back of the sci- the different points of view and opinions that I experienced in the aesthetics and gestures of the painting. The models become week earlier to do various volunteer projects around the school. ence lab, and said she needed a mural that the students could one-on-one meetings, group presentations and artist lectures. I representatives of the couple who lived in Los Angeles at that We met them in the principal’s office as they painted it a paler learn from—an educational mural. “How ‘bout a Tamil Tiger and a was engaged with the following questions: Why do I use photos time. The whole piece is about role-playing and reconstruction. shade of lavender. We exchanged many a vanucam, which means Sri Lankan soldier doing a Bollywood dance together?” I thought. as a tool to create my paintings? Does making figurative paintings Whenever I recall an experience, talk about it or reconstruct it hello and/or welcome in the Tamil language. Probably not, Sri Lanka doesn’t need another civil war. After look- today communicate a very nostalgic attitude? Can the medium of in pictures, I write or draw over a part of the original story. Memo- Later that evening, we hiked down the hill and met the lo- ing at several science books, we agreed on the cycle of life of a painting question actual phenomena and social structures? ries are not authentic. They are not inscribed forever but change cal family hosts: Kala, her husband, and their three beautiful tadpole turning into a frog, and the metamorphosis of a caterpil- In a nine-part photo series, “Green Salon I-IX,” started in Los with time. Psychologists speak of “reframing”—the re-interpre- daughters, along with grandma (whom I fell in love with) and lar becoming a butterfly. Angeles in 2000, the curtain and the clothes were taken from tation of an experience. What a nice and comforting thought: A the mischievous servant boy, Tambie. They were a gracious Tamil Never having done a mural, I pulled up my knickers, tied a different photographs shot in California in the 1970s. The original picture kept in your memory can process a new frame, thus being family who ran a local shop named ‘Sathiyas.’ Although the ac- pencil to a long stick and thought to myself, “What would Gronk pictures were reprocessed, cut out of a beige-colored living room embedded differently in the story. ● q

OMAG 24 25 OMAG Alumni around the world Alumni around the world

do? Does Kent Twitchell ask for a contract? Would Judy Chicago THE HAGUE hold out for a press release?” Time to leave my ego at the bottom of the hill and just do the work. Besides, there was a butterfly in the making and possibly a lotus. I’d try to make Roy and Lari Hands-On proud. Since the Korean students had used almost all the supplies for their mural, there was very little paint left. Also, the lacquer paint Typography and the thinner had been left out in the rain, so I had to find kero- sene and diesel fuel in order to salvage the remaining supplies. They had forgotten to leave the brushes soaking overnight in Berton Hasebe (‘05) paint thinner, so I had to use some of the preschool brushes that I had brought to donate. I blocked in the mural using ground-up watercolor sets mixed with the white latex paint that was used to whitewash the classrooms. This got me started but sent the science teacher into I can’t say that winter in The Hague has a flurry as she thought I was doing the mural with “water paint” as opposed to “shiny” lacquer paint. “Chill, lady,” I thought, “I been the easiest thing for me. As a Hawaii know what I’m doing.” We soon got the supplies straightened out expat, biking in zero-degree weather or and I was off and running, with many of the students poking their heads in through the windows, sharing smiles and helping out being surrounded by grey skies most of the with a few brushstrokes. time is difficult. Later in the week, on their last day, the Korean students gave a cultural performance, complete with music, dance and fashion However the city itself is great, the sky is becoming blue more show. The Tamil students also sang and performed traditional often, and weather-related concerns are a small factor compared dances. My sister and I were honored with flowered wreathes and to how much I’ve enjoyed living, studying, and traveling in I was repeatedly called “the greatest artist ever.” Later that eve- the Netherlands. ning, we all gathered in the science lab and the Korean students I graduated from Otis in 2005 with a BFA in Graphic Design, passed out many bottles of ginseng sake. Needless to say, I got and in my junior and senior years, my interest in letterforms and honorably sloshed. type design grew to a point where I knew I’d eventually like to During our last few days, exhausted by teaching, my sister continue my studies. After working for about two years at Inter- decided to help me out with the mural. The school also brought section Studio in Venice, I was accepted at the Type and Media in a local temple painter named Desh, who was very patient, and program at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK). had the best attitude when it came to all my requests. On our There are several courses in the world that offer a type last day at the school, I completed the giant butterfly that loomed design curriculum, however I was particularly interested in KABK over the pond. The school gave us a farewell assembly with all because of its great faculty and underlying curriculum. Although the students and faculty in attendance. We returned to the science research of historical type models plays a part in the curriculum, lab to share our last goodbyes, hear my sister sing a few Spanish teaching comes from a hands-on approach, where students songs to the faculty (who knew she could sing?), and watch “the quickly begin drawing letterforms through an understanding of greatest artist ever” dedicate his first mural “To the Children of basic structures. Through lessons in contrast, spacing and propor- ● Tientsen Tamil School.” tion, we analyze and draw letters based on an understanding of construction rather than direct historical references. The first part of the curriculum introduces type design through a broad range of topics such as calligraphy, stone carving, let- terform sketching, typeface software/production methods, Python programming, and type history and theory. The second part is devoted to an execution of a final project, where the student focuses on a specific area of interest and designs a type family in this context. Intermittently throughout the year are class trips outside of the Netherlands, which included the Plantin Moretus museum in Antwerp and the Typo Berlin Conference. The ten students in the class come from Brazil, Canada, Italy, Switzerland and Vienna. This diversity plays a strong role in the class atmosphere, as each person’s background and perspective contributes to a variety of coursework and design sensibilities. Since the start of the course we have become quite close, acting as a family with the same goals, rather than individuals compet- ing against one another. My girlfriend Yuko Sawamoto, who graduated from Otis in 2006 with a BFA in Graphic Design, will join me this spring in an attempt to intern or work at one of the many design studios in the Netherlands. With such a high density of studios and events, it has been exciting to take part in such a lively community. As much as I have enjoyed the course’s progression, I’m not looking forward to its end. Through my amazing peers, teachers, and environment, this year has had a major impact on me. I am glad to have been given this opportunity. ●

OMAG 26 27 OMAG class notes class notes

This is a small sampling of recent alumni accomplishments. To keep up with Otis’ ever-active alumni, and to see the fully illustrated digital newsletter ONEWS, click on “Class Notes” at www.otis.edu/alumni. To submit news and images, contact Sarah Russin, Director of Alumni Relations at [email protected]. Also, feel free to call Sarah at 310.665.6937.

Claire Pettibone (‘89, Fashion Design) Charles Belak-Berger aka Chuch BB Trine Wejp-Olsen (‘94, Fine Arts) (‘06, Communication Arts) Nate Frizell (‘06, Communication Arts)

Casey Ryder Jeffrey Vallance Bill Kleiman Joe Sola Entrepreneurs, Cool Designers, (’07, Communication Arts) (’81, MFA Fine Arts) (’89, Fine Arts) (’99, MFA Fine Arts) Graphic Designer, Studio Number “Reliquary Chapel,” De Vleeshal, “Stateline,” Jail Gallery, L.A. “The Buck Stops Here,” Bucket One, L.A., owned by Shepard Fairey Middelburg, the Netherlands. Rider Gallery, Chicago, IL. Soloists, Entertainers, Alumni In Print, (OBEY). Designs for Ozzfest 2007, Publication: Third Edition (30th Daniel Atyim OBEY clothing, Swindle Magazine, anniversary) of “Blinky, the Friendly (’91, Communication Arts) Otino Corsano Dewar’s Scotch and Guitar Center. Hen,” Smart Art Press. Review of “Spoil Strain Release,” Cecelia (’00, MFA Fine Arts) Award-Winners, In Memoriam exhibition at Margo Leavin Gallery Coker Bell Gallery, Coker College “Ones,” Katharine Mulherin Travis Swingler by Annie Buckley (’03, MFA Fine Department of Art, Hartville, SC. Contemporary Art Projects, West (’07, Communication Arts) Arts), Artforum. Toronto, Ontario. Entrepreneurs Ric Allison Susannah (Nah-Hyun) Leam Laurel Scribner Junior Art Director, Foot Cone & James Thegerstrom Anne-Christine Pajunen (’96, Environmental Design) (’01, Communication Arts) (’06, Communication Arts) Belding, Irvine, CA. Peter Zokosky (’91, Fine Arts) Patrick Hill (’87, Fashion Design) Furniture Designer, launching a Senior Graphic Designer, Autry Graphic Design Associate, Walt (’81, MFA Fine Arts) “Transits,” Los Angeles Art (‘00, MFA Fine Arts) Designer/Owner, Minis (children’s hollow-core wooden surfboard National Center, L.A. Disney Imagineering, Glendale, CA. Soloists “The Order of the Primates,” Association/Gallery 825, West “Forming,” Bortolami, NY. prototype, Philadelphia. Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Culver City. Hollywood. clothing and products store), Billy Al Bengston Tofer Chin Mehran Azma Gallery owned by Eleana Del Rio Robert Dobbie (aka Bob Dob) San Francisco. (’57, Fine Arts) Edgar Ibarra-Lepe (‘02 Fine Arts) (’07, Communication Arts) (’89, Fine Arts ). “Artist Profile,”Art Camille Rose Garcia (’01, Communication Arts) Patricia Faure Gallery, Bergamot (’04, Fine Arts) Billboard design, International Graphic Designer, Guess, Inc. — Ltd. magazine, September 2007. (’92, Fine Arts) “Where Crows Die,” Luz de Jesus Andrew Glazier Station, Santa Monica. (’89, Communication Arts) Co-owner: The Sphinx Studios and Outdoor Urban Art Exhibition spon- Men’s Fashion. Designer of t-shirt “Escape to Darlingtonia,” Merry Galley, L.A. Peach Gallery, Professional Tattoo sored by J&B, Barcelona, Spain. graphics, fashion packaging, knits Lucas Reiner Karnowsky Gallery, L.A. Website Owner and Video Producer, Malcolm Lubliner & Body Piercing, 438 S. Main Street, and woven graphics, patterns for (’85, Fine Arts) Mercedes Gertz Back Roads Wine. (’62, Fine Arts) Downtown L.A. Margaret Berg Guess and LADA (Los Angeles “Portraits,” Carl Berg Gallery, Trine Wejp-Olsen (’03, MFA Fine Arts) “Lens on L.A. Artists,” The (’04, Communication Arts) Denim Atelier). L.A.; “Trees,” Pocket Utopia, (’94, Fine Arts) “Contes de Fees et Object de Desir Claire Pettibone 8 Gallery, San Francisco. (Fairy Tales and Objects of Desire),” (’89, Fashion Design) Cool Designers Art Director, Art Machine. Art Brooklyn, NY. “Wild Things,” work by Trine Director/Designer/Illustrator, Ismael Basso Wejp-Olsen and René Vasquez, Milo Catherine Niederhauser Gallery, Owner, Claire Pettibone couture Tom Recchion Judith Miller Pan’s Labyrinth poster for Faction (’07, Interactive Product Design) Elisabeth Condon Gallery, L.A. Gallery owner: Jennifer Lausanne, Switzerland. Exhibition bridal salon, Beverly Hills. Featured (’79, Fine Arts) (’69, MFA Fine Arts) Creative, owned by Otis alumnus 3D CAD Modeler for Apple (’86, Fine Arts) Eckstein (’91, Fine Arts). travels to Mexico and the U.S. on cover of Women’s Wear Daily, Art Director, Capitol/EMI. Working “New Paintings,” Cheryl Pelavin Bryan Allen (‘87). Nominated for a Industrial Design Team. “New Paintings & Collages,” Ada October 30. on CDs for Ringo Starr and pro- Gallery, NY. Key Art Award. Gallery, Richmond, VA. Ruben Ochoa Timothy Tompkins paganda for a Ringo For President Brooklyn Brown (’97, Fine Arts) (’03, Fine Arts) Carla Denker campaign. Featured in Cover Art By... Joanne Julian Christopher Diaz (’07, Communication Arts) Steve Roden “A Recurring Amalgamation,” “New Paintings from the Leftover (’93, Fine Arts) by Adrian Shaughnessy. (’73, MFA Fine Arts) (’04, Communication Arts) Graphic Designer, Intersection (’86, Fine Arts) Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Series,” Susanne Vielmetter Los Owner: “Plastica,” “ Joanne Julian: Counterpoints,” Graphic Designer, Billabong. Studio, Venice, CA. New Works at Susanne Vielmetter Projects, Culver City. Performance Angeles Projects, L.A. 8405 East Third Street, L.A. Michelle Frantz a 25-year retrospective exhibition, Berlin Projects, Berlin. “DANCING PoPos,” installation (’94, Fine Arts) Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, Terry Keating Ivan Canevero for Storefront’s series, Ring Dome Michael Brunswick Soyun Shin Director of Design, Donna Karan and Communication, California (’04, Digital Media) (’07, Communication Arts) Bari Kumar Pavilion, Petrosino Park, NY. (’05, MFA Fine Arts) (’93, Fashion Design) Collection Accessories, NY. State University, Northridge. Owner and Designer, Marlova, Graphic Designer, Roxy, Quiksilver. Graphic Designer, New Media (’88, Communication Arts) “New Paintings,” Hunsaker/ Department, Warner Brothers “Acceptance of Denial,” Bose Koh Byoung-ok Schlesinger Gallery, Bergamot L.A. Published in Daily Candy: Vicki Sum Bruce Edelstein Mark Monterroso Records, L.A. Pacia Gallery, NY. (’98, Fine Arts) Station, Santa Monica. “Pull the Wool over Your Eyes,” (’95, Communication Arts) (‘77, MFA Fine Arts) (’05, Communication Arts) “D-Sculpture,” Andrew Shire August 31, 2007. Senior Art Director, Trinchero Museo de los Pintores Oaxaquenos, Graphic Designer, Old Navy (GAP (Yee) Jeanie Chong Sandow Birk Gallery, L.A. Rashell George Family Estates, St. Helena, CA. Oaxaca, Mexico. Inc.), San Francisco. (’07, Communication Arts) (’89, Fine Arts) (’05, Fine Arts) Colleen Dowd Saglimbeni Designer for thirteen wine labels, Graphic Designer, Intersection “The Depravities of War,” Catharine Kim Fisher “Blank Verse,” Project Room, (’94, Fashion Design) including Sutter Home. Sharon Kagan Charles Belak-Berger Studio, Venice, CA. Clark Gallery, San Francisco, and (’98, MFA Fine Arts) Hunsaker/Schlesinger Fine Art, Designer/Owner, Chaps and Chicks (’79, MFA Fine Arts) (aka Chuck BB) University Art Museum, California China Art Objects, L.A. Bergamot Station, Santa Monica. childrenswear and products. “Dancing Girls Don’t Need Safety (’06, Communication Arts) Matthew Müller State University, Long Beach. Nets,” Los Angeles Art Association/ Black Metal graphic novel, Onipress. (’07, Communication Arts) Gallery 825, West Hollywood. Art Director, Spyder Paintball.

OMAG 28 29 OMAG class notes class notes

Milford Zornes (‘27, Fine Arts)

Bruce Edelstein (‘77 MFA, Fine Arts) Tofer Chin (‘02, Fine Arts) Billy Al Bengston (‘57, Fine Arts)

Joey Santarromana (‘90, Fine Arts) In Memoriam as the New York School of Abstract “Humor Us,” Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, June Muriel Watson Yuer (’52, Expressionism. He taught at U.C. Barnsdall Park, LA, September 14-December 30. Fine Arts), artist and celebrated Tai Davis and at Otis, later returning to Featured Joey Santarromana (’90), Testuji Aono (’96), Chi teacher, age 90; died in October Manhattan to teach at the School from complications of Alzheimer’s. of Visual Arts. Miles is remembered Susan Choi (’97), Sandeep Mukherjee (’96), and Aida Klein Hethur Suval In Print Award-Winners “The Defiant Wait,” at Otis’ Helen with fondness by the alumni who Byoung Ok Koh (’98). www.humorus.net (’05, Fine Arts) (’90, Fine Arts) Diane Gamboa Kerry James Marshall and Abe Bolsky Gallery at Otis in studied with him in the ’70s and “Not Waving but Flailing,” Mary Senior Photo Editor, BLT & (’84, Fine Arts) (’78, MA Fine Arts) March 2003, was curated by Molly ’80s at Otis. Goldman Gallery, L.A. Associates, entertainment industry Chicana Art: the Politics of Spiritual Distinguished Visiting Painting Corey (’01, MFA Fine Arts). design firm specializing in theatrical and Aesthetic Altarities, by Laura Fellow, San Francisco Art Institute Milford Zornes (’27, Fine Arts) Nate Frizzell movie posters, television advertising E. Pérez (Duke University Press). Norman Zammitt (’61, MFA) died in February in his Claremont (’06, Communication Arts) and home entertainment marketing. Also includes Patssi Valdez Elisabeth Condon passed away in November 2007. home at 100 years old. Born in rural “Head in the Trees,” Project: (’85, Fine Arts). (’86, Fine Arts) His work is collected around the western Oklahoma, he studied at Gallery L.A., Culver City. Susan Matheson Pollock Krasner Foundation Award. world, including LACMA. Otis with renowned watercolorist (’92, Fashion Design) Lawrence Gipe One can learn a lot about light and Millard Sheets, and developed the Kathrin Burmester Costume Designer, Semi-Pro with (’86, MFA Fine Arts) J.T. Steiny color from watching the sun set over plein air “California Style,” charac- (’07, MFA Fine Arts) Will Ferrell and The Kingdom Feature: Harper’s Magazine, August (’86, Communication Arts) the Pacific Ocean and filter through the terized by overlapping transparent “Peoplescapes,” Hunsaker/ with Jamie Fox, Chris Cooper and 2007. Fine Artist and Award-winning atmosphere. I was trying to under- washes of watercolor that allow the Schlesinger Gallery, Bergamot Jennifer Garner. Cartoonist, LA Weekly. stand what was going on up there in white of the paper to define shapes Station, Santa Monica. Jennifer McChristian the sky, and down here on my palette. and light. His subject matter was the Entertainers Scott Holmes I wanted to unify them. To make light (’92, Communication Arts) Susan Mondt world around him – first, the rural Norman Zammit (‘61, Fine Arts) Tyrus Wong (’93, Communication Arts) Featured in Southwest Art (’87, Communication Arts) with paint. – Norman Zammitt landscape of California but later, the (’32, Fine Arts) Animator, Double Negative, London, Magazine’s “Artists to Watch,” Emmy Award, Individual landscapes of China, Alaska, Mexico, “SoCal: Southern California Art of the 1960s and 70s Exhibition: “The Art of the England. Working on Hellboy 2. November 2007. Achievement in Animation for Dorrie Dunlap (’72, MFA), Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Hawaii. From LACMA’s Collection,” October 1–March 30, Los Motion Picture Illustrator: Harold Formerly with Sony. art directing “Squirrel Secrets” Professor of Art at Orange Coast Zornes taught watercolor paint- Angeles County Museum of Art, L.A. Featured work Michelson, Bill Major and Tyrus Sam Watters segment for Cartoon Network’s College for nearly 30 years, passed ing workshops all over the world. by Robert Irwin (’50), Billy Al Bengston (’57), Ken Price Chris Rowland away in October 2007 after a long Wong,” Academy of Motion Picture (‘02, MFA Fine Arts) “Camp Lazlo.” During the early 1930s, he worked (’57) and Norman Zammitt (’61). Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills. (’00, MFA; ‘93 BFA Fine Arts) Author, Houses of Los Angeles, battle with cancer. for the federally funded Public Documentary Editor, Over the River: 1885-1919 and Houses of Los Angeles, Johnny Coleman Works of Art Project, producing wa- Dean Tavoularis Life of Lydia Maria Child, Abolitionist 1920-1935 (2 volumes,) Acanthus (’89, Fine Arts) Carolyn Wong-Pfanner (’87, tercolors to be displayed in public (’55, Fine Arts) for Freedom, narrated by Diahann Press. Editor, American Gardens, Fellowship and Exhibition: Fashion Design) passed away buildings. He painted murals for Production Designer. Exhibition of Carroll. 1890-1930: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, “Celebration of Creativity: OAC in November 2007 in a boating several U.S. post offices, including collaborations with director Francis and Midwest Regions, Acanthus Press, Fellowships 1980-2005,” Riffe accident. Christine Pajunen (‘87, the Claremont branch. His paintings Ford Coppola, Pavillon Populaire Laura Daroca 2006. Gallery, The Ohio Arts Council, Fashion Design) posted thoughts are represented in the collections de la Photographie, Montpellier, (‘03, MFA Fine Arts) Columbus, OH. at www.otis.edu/alumni (Class Notes, of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, France. Cinematographer, short indie Natasha Lee Dec. 2007) Corcoran Gallery of Art, Los Angeles filmWestsider . (’04, Digital Media) Sherman Sam County Museum of Art, the White Alex Gibson Review: www.badlit.com/?p=622. Photographer. Cover story photogra- (’90, Fine Arts) Hector Soriano (’96, Fine Arts) House, and the Library of Congress (’79, Fine Arts) phy and spread featuring TV actress “Inspire Curatorial Fellowship” passed away in October 2007 after Collection. He also created New Music Editor for Live Free or Die Lindsay Thompson Lindsay Price, Audrey Magazine, at the Hayward Gallery, London; suffering from liver and kidney Deal murals for post offices in his Hard starring Bruce Willis and The (’07, Digital Media) December 2007/January 2008. funded by Arts Council, London. failure. hometown of Claremont, California, Shooter with Mark Wahlberg. Animator, Rhythm and Hues, for Contributing Writer, The Brooklyn and in El Campo, Texas. Alvin and the Chipmunks. Frances Adams Rail and www.kultureflash.com. Miles Forst (1923-2006), legendary Milford’s work was featured at Ed Gomez (‘03, Fine Arts) (’07, Fashion Design) faculty member at Otis, passed away the Riverside Art Museum and the “Latitude,” a dual-venue exhibition that highlighted the Journalist and Editorial Assistant, Marco Rios April 5, 2006. He was a student of Pasadena Museum of California Art www.fashionwiredaily.com, Paris. (’97, Fine Arts) Hans Hoffman at the Art Students in March 2008. He gave his last art work of six contemporary L.A. Chicano artists included 2007 Fellowship for Emerging League in the 1950s in New York demonstration for the public at the Ruben Ochoa (’97), Ed Gomez (’03) and Mario Ybarra Visual Artists, California and was amongst the group of Pasadena exhibition in January to Jr. (‘99), LA Artcore Center at Union Center for the Arts Community Foundation, L.A. young painters who achieved fame celebrate his 100th birthday. and Artcore Brewery Annex, October 3-31.

OMAG 30 31 OMAG class notes

New York In November, East Coast alumni gathered at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in Chelsea to see the solo exhibition of Brooklyn artist Mark Dean Veca (’85, Fine Arts). Recent graduates, new to the City, enjoyed connecting with alumni from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. The Alumni and Career Services Offices were on hand to meet the ever-expanding community of New York alumni.

‘06 Fashion Alumni: Marcus LeBlanc, Karen Hieda, and Mary Timmons

San Francisco Alumni connected with each other at the second annual San Francisco reunion in October. They met Sarah Russin and Mara Thompson, the Alumni Office team, as well as Laura Daroca from Career Services. Alumni viewed the historic company “vault” and were shown archival pieces by Levi’s archivist and historian. Thanks to Jean Swift, Otis’ Sr. Director of Corporate Relations and our friends at Levi Strauss & Co. for hosting this special gathering.

Anne Christine Pajunen (‘87, Fashion Design), Colleen Dowd Saglimbeni (‘94, Fashion Design), and John McConnico (‘96, Environmental Design).

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Jiberis Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk The headlines in this issue are set in Jiberis, a typeface designed Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu by (Yee) Jeanie Chong (‘07, Communication Arts). Each issue of OMAG will feature a headline typeface designed by an Otis Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 0123456789 student or alumna/us. !@#$%^&*()_+-={}[]:;"'<>?/~.,

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