CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS THE OF COLLEGE CALIFORNIA FALL 2015 A publication for the CCA community CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS San Francisco / Oakland Fall 2015 Glance CONTENTS Fall 2015 FEATURE STORIES COLLEGE NEWS Volume 24, No. 1 2 Game On: How Video Games Are Changing the Way 30 Edith Garcia, 2015–16 Viola Frey Distinguished We Work and Play Visiting Professor Editor Laura Kenney 6 Honorary Exchange: Joan Jonas Pays a Visit 32 New Trustees: Carl Bass and Liam Casey Contributors 8 Enlivening San Francisco’s Market Street 33 Student Spotlight: Renata Cruz (Textiles 2018) Benjamin Austin (MFA Writing 2016) 12 Christopher McCall and Pier 24 Photography: 34 At the CCA Wattis Institute Susan Avila The CCA Legacy Continues Chris Bliss 35 Bookshelf Laura Braun 14 A Sampling of Work from Spring Grad Shows 36 Awards & Accolades Ashley Eva Brock (Fashion 19 Mastering Filmmaking Design 2012) 40 CCA in the Media Troy Covello Renata Cruz (Textiles 2018) LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ALUMNI STORIES 41 First-Ever CCA Contingent Marches in Kelly Dawson 20 Debra McGuire (Painting 1974) 2015 Pride Parade Amanda Glesmann Dear Friends, 22 Shannon and the Clams (Shannon Shaw, 41 New Oakland Campus Mural Celebrates Diversity, Glen Helfand In the past several months I’ve presented at some interesting gatherings— Illustration 2007; Cody Blanchard, Writing & Literature; Social Justice Jeremy Joan Hewes Autodesk’s IDEAS: Innovation and Design Series, the 2015 Nueva Innovative Ian Amberson, Painting/Drawing 2008) Laura Kenney Learning Conference, and an “un-conference” at CCA organized by the PHILANTHROPY Jim Norrena (MFA Writing 2013) 24 Hoang and Anh Nguyen (Industrial Design 2009) technology company Globant. These meetings have given me an opportunity 42 Spring Gala: Black Is the New Black Mara Holt Skov to talk with not only educators but also futurists, artists, designers, engineers, Brenda Tucker scientists, technologists, and business leaders. FACULTY STORIES 44 Spotlight 26 JD Beltran & Scott Minneman (Design) Design One common ground for these seemingly disparate groups is innovation, CCA Sputnik, a student design team and it’s clear that there is much to discover at the intersections of art/design 28 Vincent Perez (Illustration) 46 In Memoriam and technology/science. But what these audiences seem to be hungry for is Faculty Advisor something that’s not particularly new. In fact, it’s more than 100 years old— 48 Notes from the Studio: Ashley Eva Brock Doug Akagi the distinctive teaching and learning that occurs at a school like CCA. (Fashion Design 2012) What’s so special about our educational model? Design and Production Manager • Learning through making. This is where our founding motto, Theory Meghan Ryan & Practice, truly resonates. Our students—regardless of their academic Designers program—learn through iterative, progressive modeling. It’s the founda- Olivia Basic (Graphic Design 2016) tion of the creative process: ideate, make, test, edit, choose, discard, fail, Jireh Datuin (Graphic Design 2017) try again. • Project-based learning. Art and design students bring particular Glance is a twice-yearly publication of approaches to unraveling complex real-world problems. We encourage California College of the Arts them to collaborate and work in teams—not just within the boundaries 1111 Eighth Street, San Francisco CA of their courses and our campus, but out in the world. 94107-2247 Our students create in an ecosystem that provides a 415.703.9542 • Culture of critique. [email protected] steady stream of direct feedback. Public critiques build courage and con- fidence, but also allow our students to gain empathy and an appreciation Change of address? Please notify the of diverse views and opinions. CCA Advancement Office Judging from my experience at these conferences, there is growing rec- 5212 Broadway, Oakland CA 94618 ognition of the value of a studio-based education. More and more, business, 510.594.3784 technology, and community leaders are learning from the art school model [email protected] to help propel their organizations forward. Many of them will be looking to CCA for the next leaders in creativity and innovation. Photo credits Printed by Quad Graphics, Inc., on All images of student work appear courtesy the students, copyright California College of the Arts, unless otherwise noted. Images of alumni and faculty 10 percent postconsumer waste paper. work appear courtesy the artists unless otherwise noted. Cover: iStock; inside front cover, pp. 1 (top right), 7 (bottom), 15 (bottom left), 16 (bottom right), Our printer is certified by the Forest Sincerely, 44 (1, 2, 5, 6), 45 (9–11): Alison Yin; 2, 3, 4 (top): Kellyn Borst; pp. 4 (bottom), 8: Joseph Chang; p. 5: T. Jason Anderson; pp. 1 (bottom right), 6, 7 (top), 12, 13 Stewardship Council™ (FSC(R)) and (bottom), 19, 30, 33, 38 (12), 41 (top), 44 (3, 4), 45 (7, 8), 48–49: Jim Norrena; p. 9 (top): CCA Prototyping Mobility Studio; p. 9 (bottom): Future Cities Lab; p. 10: Neal J.Z. Schwartz; p. 11 (top): Gregory Hurcomb; pp. 1 (top left), 11 (bottom): Erik Schmitt; p. 13 (top): Allie Haeusslein; pp. 14 (top right), 17 (bottom the Sustainable Forestry Initiative right): Stevan Nordström; pp. 14 (bottom right), 18 (middle right): Natali Truax; p. 15 (top right): Ang Li; p. 15 (middle left): Mark Serr; p. 16 (top and bottom Stephen Beal (SFI). Printed with inks that contain a left): Owen Smith; pp. 16 (middle right), 18 (bottom left): Anisha Gupta; p. 17 (middle right): James Sinclair; p. 18 (top left): Johnna Arnold; pp. 20–21: Amy minimum (27.3%) by weight renewable President Dickerson; p. 22: Nadia Lee Cohen; p. 24: Luis Ruano; p. 25 (bottom): Paul Vu; p. 26: Sebastien Bachar; p. 28: Vinny Perez; p. 31 (top): Yorkshire Arts Space; content. p. 31 (bottom): courtesy Edith Garcia; p. 32 (left): Autodesk; p. 32 (right): Leslie Williamson; p. 36 (3): Barbara Holmes; p. 37 (5): Variable Projects; p. 37 (6): Wenxin Zhang; p. 37 (8): Irene Suchocki; p. 38 (11): Bruce Damonte; p. 39 (13): Brianna Tadeo; p. 41 (bottom): Claudia Bernardi; pp. 42–43: Claudine Gossett (Drew Altizer Photography); p. 46: courtesy Mara Holt Skov; p. 47: courtesy Sunne Savage. Gaming is storytelling. From a design the game, trapped in a snowstorm. perspective, a good game presents Borst’s vision is still developing. a world that is both accessible and As it stands, the snowdrifts that fantastic; at its center are good impede your movement are white characters. The cross-disciplinary blocks you can disperse by grabbing educational opportunities for gaming onto them or by casting spells, depend- at CCA combine the latest tech with ing on their size. Even in its beta phase, back-to-basics instruction on character Dredkuld is an interesting digital development and world building, with interaction, and you can sense Borst the goal of training designers to create is creating a sort of spiritual successor a fully immersive experience for the to games like Myst and Shadow of the player. From this simple model, infinite Colossus. An Xbox controller moves variation emerges. your avatar forward, backward, and “Animation instruction hasn’t side to side, but there’s an element to really changed since it was taught with the movement that’s not so familiar. In pencils and paper in the 1970s,” says order to cast spells, you must abandon Animation Adjunct Professor Ken the controller in favor of your hands Cope. What has changed is the speed by themselves. at which certain steps in the process can be accomplished and the variations in style afforded artists through digital tools like Photoshop and TV Paint. Cope is a big believer in “going wide”; becoming a jack-of-all-trades, he says, is a good way to ensure steady work. Likewise, he says it’s important to stay current on the latest technology and to think creatively about how to use tools in new ways to tell stories or add new elements to gameplay. He Animation student Kellyn Borst highlights new technologies like “aug- mented reality,” which takes gameplay off screen and superimposes it onto With the help of a Leap Motion sen- our three-dimensional reality—so the sor, a rectangular device one-quarter baddies that used to scroll from one the size of an iPhone, your real-world side of the screen are able to leap at hands are recognized and digitally players from the walls in their living represented on screen. So when you room, not just with goggles, but with open your fingers to let fly a bit of smartphones. magic, you can see them spread apart STUDENT CREATES A WORLD WITH in the digital world as you push the NEW TECH TOOLS snow blocks out of your way. In its final form, Borst intends for the game CCA students like Kellyn Borst to operate using the Oculus Rift virtual How Video Games Are Changing (Animation 2016) are already making reality headset, meaning the user will use of these new technologies, as is be in the middle of a 3D environment. the Way We Work and Play evidenced by her prototype, Dredkuld. In the world on screen, everything is ID COURSE TEACHES PLAYFULNESS white. The wind is high, and hidden Digital platforms are where many see BY BENJAMIN AUSTIN in its howl is the voice of a goddess. the future of games headed, but the All you have to guide you through this reality is something different. Perhaps (MFA WRITING 2016) blizzard are your wits and spells. Your because games are fundamental to avatar is a shaman, a manifestation of human interaction, we crave all kinds the goddess who shares a name with of ways to play. “People learn through 3 FEATURES very unique skill sets that make us a GAMING TOOLS ASSIST ARCHITECTS good team,” Platz says.