RICK GRIFFITH Saturday, August 29th, 2pm The California African American Museum (CAAM) in Expo Park

ROSKI TALKS

2015 fall lecture series presents

RICK GRIFFITH, designer

Saturday, August 29th, 2pm

Location: The California African American Museum (CAAM) in Expo Park 

 

RoskiTalks kicks off with Rick Griffith, design director of Denver-based studio and type laboratory  MATTER. "MATTER is a uniquely strange place, compelled by craft, steeped in history and deeply dedicated to letters and words...obsessed with projects in the public good and design with purpose."

Griffith's design approach draws from the D.C. punk scene and record stores of his childhood as well as formative design experiences with big agencies and creative artists in early 1990s New York. In addition to running a successful studio for 25 years, Griffith serves as Denver City and County Commissioner of Arts and Culture, modeling his studio's philosophy: "We have been taught to believe that generosity is an attitude and we continue to seek the opportunity to be educated and inspired by who we work with and what we encounter."

Griffith's lecture is presented by the USC Roski Special Projects Design Course. In spring 2015 students in the course curated and executed the large-scale installation works comprising Shared Otherness (May 29-September 6, 2015 at CAAM). The exhibition is grounded in community-based research exploring the immediate geography shared by USC and CAAM while contributing a collective voice to broader dialogues about otherness. There will be an artists' reception in the CAAM Courtyard from 12pm-2pm preceding Griffith's lecture. All are welcome to meet the USC Roski artists and tour the exhibition.

Shared Otherness includes work by: Ivan Blanco, Schessa Garbutt, Stephanie Guerra, Victoria Horng, Frederick Humphries II, Emma Katz, Tena Kelemen, Grace Mandl, Mayra Moran, Sarah Nakamura, Erin Nogle, Kristine Ortega, Megan Park, Suha Park, Jean Pongsai, Steven Rahbany, Tyler Schuppert, Joanna Sowell

Griffith's lecture and RoskiTalks are free and open to all: roski.usc.edu/calendar

FULL DETAILS HERE

Simon Doonan

A few weeks ago I attended the Simon Doonan lecture, and I am very glad I did.  It was an amazing experience to get to hear Doonan's thoughts on the fashion industry firsthand.  I really liked the way he described fashion as a modern day "spectator sport"; it really is when you think about it.  I had never seen it in this manner but now its the only way I see it.  Different brands are different teams and they hire different designers who are the real players, and of course the regular person wearing the clothing is also competing against their peers.  Competition is fierce in fashion, and it really is sports-like to see what different brands can produce.  Doohan was funny, down to earth, and of course dapper--his shirts are killer.

Art Walk

I ended up making it out to the brewery art walk which was amazing.  The space is massive and it was practically a maze of artist studios and living spaces.  I think that they have 2 of these open houses per year, so I will be sure to go to the other one as well.  The best part of it all though was that you got to see all the artist's work, and then ask them questions if you had any.  It was a very rare experience to be able to have access to the creator of every single piece there is to see at the place.

Brewery Art Walk

I just found out about an event called the Brewery Art Walk which takes place downtown on October 25-26.  The Brewery where this is has actually been converted into a massive art space which houses over 100 resident artists and their studios.  The art ranges in everything from sculpture, to photography, to fashion, and anything else imaginable.  Needless to say there will be plenty to see, and admission is free!
http://breweryartwalk.com

Roski Talks: Stefan Bucher

April 1, 2014 at 
7:00 PM

Gin. D. Wong Auditorium,
Harris Hall

Stefan G. Bucher is the man behind 344lovesyou.com and the online drawing and story-telling experiment dailymonster.com, which has spawned the wildly successful Monster Maker iPad app. 

He is the author of several books, including "100 Days of Monsters" and "344 Questions—The Creative Person’s Do-It-Yourself Guide to Insight, Survival, and Artistic Fulfillment." He has created designs for David Hockney, Judd Apatow, and The New York Times. He designed the titles for the motion pictures "The Fall," “Immortals” and “Mirror, Mirror” by director Tarsem. 

His time-lapse drawings appear on the Emmy-award winning TV show “The Electric Company." He recently designed the Blue Man Theater at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, and in December of 2013 Saks Fifth Avenue adapted his illustrated book “The Yeti Story” into animatronic holiday window displays for their flagship store on Fifth Avenue. 

ROSKI TALKS ARE PUBLIC LECTURES FEATURING CREATIVE LEADERS FROM ACROSS THE FIELDS OF ART, DESIGN, FASHION AND MARKETING. 

DIRECTIONS:Take the Expo Line to Expo Park/USC and follow the map. Meter parking available along Vermont and campus parking available for $10 cash/credit card at Gate 1 on Watt Way and Exposition Blvd.  

Roski Talks: Mark Werts of American Rag

ROSKI TALKS: MARK WERTS Founder, American Rag CIE
Tuesday, February 11 @ 7pm
Wong Auditorium, Harris Hall, USC

The American Rag brand has been synonymous with contemporary styling for over 30 years, due to founder Mark Werts's iconoclastic vision of the retail experience. Each element of his forward thinking empire - merchandise, interior architecture, cafes, and dressing rooms - is imbued with a sense of hand-selected authenticity.
Werts has been celebrated as one of the most innovative and trendsetting retailers in the United States and is currently expanding with outposts in Japan, Eastern Europe and South- east Asia. He and his buying team have traveled the world in pursuit of exclusive merchandise to fill the American Rag stores.

Join us for an evening of visionary insights into the vital roles of art and design in the new global marketplace.

DIRECTIONS: Take the Expo Line to Expo Park/USC and follow the map. Meter parking available along Vermont and campus parking available for $10 cash/credit card at Gate 1 on Watt Way and Exposition Blvd.

Artist Talk: Edgar Arceneaux - Feb 28th at 10am

Los Angeles based artist Edgar Arceneaux will be giving an artist talk to our class Thursday, February 28th at 10am.  We will meet in Watt Hall 105 that day.  To learn more about his work click here.

Graphite, gouache on paper. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis;
Miriam and Erwin Kelen Acquisition Fund for Drawings, 2003.

Extra Credit: Artist Panel

Mitchell Syrop

Bruce Hainley

Lisa Lapinski

& Mayo Thompson

in conversation

Room WAH 108

Thursday, April 19th, 7-9pm

Followed by a reception

First AIGA USC Meeting of the year!

Bring It, Make It, Swap It, Take It! Roski Art Swap

March 29, 2011
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
University Park Campus, South Lawn

Make mono-prints
Model in clay
Generate buttons and books with AIGA
Create ink drawings
Answer the SOFA challenge—sidewalk chalk drawing
Bring art to trade
Pluto is not a planet t-shirts

Popcorn · soft drinks · music · Let's Be Frank turkey, beef, and vegan hot dogs

Trade art with your classmates at the Swap Tarp! 

Museum Visit : Action/Reaction

i found the theme of this exhibit, action/reaction, to be very relevant to this time period, especially in the ways that the artists interpreted the theme. although it is very broad and could be completely lost on our generation, the approach that the artiststook made it current and very accessible. for example i really thought that the reusable bags made out of billboards were really innovative and presented such a creative way to react to the issue of shopping bags. the prius billboards made of plants, in my opinion, captured the theme the best. the design is something that is visible to a vast amount of people, and the way that the designers took the purpose of the object they were promoting into consideration whileconsidering the materials i found to be crucial in the representation of the prius. the most interesting design was the house built with the retired airplane wing as a roof. although it proved to be extremely impractical, the product was visually striking and perhaps will inspire other artists, architects, and designers to take a more practical approach to this idea. i really did not enjoy the crystal designs, which were showcased as futuristic suits for strange alien-like woman. honestly i dont understand the artist's vision, nor did i find it visually stimulating. it was pretty ugly, but not in a good way.

BLT TOUR

BLT TOUR

I toured the BLT design studio this afternoon with AIGA, and I'd have to say it was an INCREDIBLE experience. I really didn't know how the design industry worked on a behind-the-scenes basis until I saw their studios. We got to tour the facilities and see how all the different aspects of marketing and poster production- photography, design, illustrators, etc.- are all housed in the same building. Although they still keep a few traditional illustrators employed, I was really surprised at how digital the whole process is. I was inspired by the level of dedication and love that the designers have for their industry and their work- it takes so many sketches and paintings before a finished product can ever be decided on. I'm not including any photos or detailed descriptions, because the BLT studio allowed us to see a lot of confidential procedures and information behind the scenes, but I will definitely say that it was an eye-opening and inspiring experience. In fact, for my Drawing homework this weekend I'm thinking about making movie posters for some of my favorite classic films.

The Star Trek poster at the top was designed by BLT for the recent JJ Abrams film- it was my favorite poster I saw during the tour. So elegant.

A Message from AIGA USC - First Meeting Tonight

Greetings Design Enthusiasts!

Our first meeting will be on Tuesday, September 7th at 5pm in WAH 105.

 * but don't worry if you are unable to attend, all of our events will be posted on our USC AIGA Facebook page and Blog.

Our Tuesday meetings will not be the main focus of AIGA this year so don't fret if you have class and can't make the meetings.

For those of you who are able to attend the meeting, we will be discussing exciting projects and events for this semester as well as eating yummy pizza.

Some of the events we look forward to hosting include:

T-Shirt making session

Button/Pin making

Art Walk excursions

Book Binding

Studio Visits

USC AIGA club shirt competition

Design Industry speakers

Social events and Networking

Exhibitions at the Art Walk and Tutor Campus Center

Portfolio Day in May

So come out and have some fun with USC AIGA! 

See you on Tuesday!

- Kristie and Jeff

Define: DESIGN 8/28/10

AIGA USC's first event of the 2010 school year THIS SATURDAY (8/28/10) in Harris 101 from 2:00pm to 5:00pm. Define: DESIGN will bring panelists from the design industry to talk about their lives and how they got to where they are now. The panelists will be Haven Lin-Kirk (the design department chair at USC) and Daniel Chou (art director of Inheritance Magazine). Join us for some good conversation, networking, and information about design. Light refreshments will be served following the program. Invite your friends and we will see you at Harris Hall 101 at 2:00pm. See you there!

beautiful losers

Totally forgot to post this sooner... here's my extra credit:

The event started late because it was raining that day so Aaron Rose was running a little behind so I didn't get to see the end of the movie. The 40 minutes or so that I stayed for were fun to watch but my only problem with it was that it really glorified the 'rockstar' artist life. They are self titled losers but I don't know that I would call them that really-- they are different from the main stream culture, for sure, but by no means are they losers, and the movie makes them out to be super cool... I guess it's all in how they felt. They also seemed to me to be stuck in high school mode- a lot of the stuff they said related to their experiences back in the day. Part of it is that they kept their child-like sensibility that definitely adds to their work. Part of it annoyed me though. I can't quite put a finger on why. Anyways, I thought it was a good film and a lot of those guys are really funny. It was interesting to put a face to the artists and hear what they were about and stuff. Mike Mills was the silliest, I thought, even though he was wearing a suit in a lot of the interviews.
-deb

Beautiful Losers

On Wednesday February 24, 2010, I attended the exhibition of the documentary Beautiful Losers and heard Aaron Rose speak of his experiences creating the film. Personally, I thought Beautiful Losers was one of the best documentaries I have seen all year even though Rose claims him and his fellow artists had minimal experience in film making. The documentary consisted of artists such as Margaret Kilgallen, Harmony Korine, Geoff McFetridge, Barry McGee, Mike Mills and Stephen Powers II. All these artists depicted their unique and one of a kind styles which varied from acrylic paint to spray paint, and skateboard artwork to political cartoons. My two favorite artists were Stephen powers and Barry McGee because I found their graffiti artwork as an outstanding novelty. I also really enjoyed how down to Earth, vivid and witty the documentary was and yet it also managed to send a powerful message to its viewers and audience on how artwork is an important aspect of society and culture and that every artist should take pride in who they are. Aaron Rose said " what I was trying to do with this documentary was make people want to make cool stuff" and "encourage their friends to keep working on their art." Another interesting fact about the documentary was that the title was not planned ahead of time, rather, Aaron Rose had to think of a title at last minute so he looked at titles of books on his shelf and saw a novel titled "Beautiful Losers" and said "that's it!" Currently, Rose is working on a new film project on the life of Sister Corita, whom Rose claimed some believed Andy Warhol stole her style during their friendship. I am definitely planning on looking into his new film when it is out. Overall, I was glad that I attended this speaker event because walking away from the documentary Beautiful Losers, I feel I have built much more appreciation for valuable artwork.

Make Something From Nothing.

“If you’re not dispossessed, why make art?”

I thought it was interesting how much this quote stood out to me from Aaron Rose’s short film, Beautiful Losers. In my Arts and Letters class we recently discussed the topic of finding opportunity in adversity. In an interview with Seane Corn, a renowned yoga instructor, she mentions how she used yoga to reconnect with the “shadows” of her past, allowing her to accept them and use those experiences to improve her work both as a yoga instructor and advocate for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Aaron Rose beautifully demonstrates the stories that each of the artists had to share about their journey to self discovery. Most if not all of the artists claimed to have felt rejected by their peers, unsatisfied with conforming to the mainstream culture around them. Struggling to find who they were as people and as artists allowed them to find the inspiration that drives their work today.

Rose mentions that one of the reasons for the creation of his film was to inspire artists to not be afraid to pursue their passions. “Art can be for whatever reason you want…” I found this idea very inspiring, embracing the idea that art shouldn’t necessarily be about aesthetic appeal, but about the intent of the art and the message it is trying to illustrate. Creativity drawn from within the self as opposed to that driven by popular culture is the type of art that Aaron Rose encourages through his film. By using our past and present experiences, both positive and negative, as opportunity to create art, we can hope to place meaning behind our messages and ultimately inspire others to do the same.

Painting above: Chris Johanson, I Am What Is Called Human.

Beautiful Losers (such an original title, I know haha)

Tonight’s showing of ‘Beautiful Losers’ was a thought provoking experience, to say the least. Going into the showing, I didn’t really have any expectations, but in doing so, I was pleasantly surprised by its message and the depth that was presented by the film. No doubt, freshman year of college has been an enlightening and confusing time in life, and with all the general education and required (art) assignments, I think its easy to get lost in all the new artistic endeavours. With that being said, this film…. grounded me, in a way. It serves as a reaffirmation for my faith in art and all of the freedom that lies in creativity.

The free spirit of art is really captured here: the artists portrayed in the film possess the creativity and curiosity characteristic in children that so many of us lose as we depart from childhood. It demonstrates that imagination is not lost--that it can thrive in the adult world too.

Some of my favorite quotes/paraphrases from the film (but shucks… I didn’t get the names of the speakers):

“There is beauty within imperfection”à we are imperfect beings, it is the flaws that make things interesting and real, which is why I think its important for art to illustrate that as well.

“The dispossessed make art”à There is always some part, within everyone, that feels dispossessed, or… inadequate. It is this inadequacy that creates the need for people to prove and express themselves.

While it is necessary for purity to be maintained in art, it must also be acknowledged that (we) artists live in the reality of an extremely competitive ‘industry.’ If one is to survive in this business world, one must never become a slave to the whims of the industry’s desires, but at the same time, some values must be sacrificed for success. What I mean by that pertains to the precarious balance an artist must walk to remain true to his/her own vision and to become successful. Rose touched on this topic a bit in the question and answer round... and of course, its never so black and white as to say ‘give up this much value to yield this much success’. If it were that easy, the arts industry would just be a group of successful, soulless jerks. I'd like to be a little more optimistic... even though I often wonder: how much can one keep of him/her self and still be successful?

To which one could reply, art is not about money. Its just that simple.

On Tuesday night, I saw Savion Glover (Tony winning tap dancer) perform, and what he said parallels the message I took away from the film tonight: Only hard work and dedication will yield success, be it in the art industry, or in satisfaction with oneself.

I saved my favorite quote for last:

“Art lives and breathes. It has a pulse. It is not a stage, not something to outgrow.”

WORD.

The above picture is a funny thing I found on the interwebs whilst googling Aaron Rose. It’s a comparison between the artist Aaron Rose that made ‘Beautiful Losers’, and the artist Aaron Rose on Gossip Girl, who was Serena’s boytoy for a while.

Irene

Beautiful Losers

After watching this film, I realized various aspects of how some viewers may be against the content of the artwork. However, Aaron Rose said that even though many people may dislike the idea of the rebellious nature shown in his art work, it certainly does not mean that he should go with what the public thinks. He says, “Let your art guide the public.” I really like this message because there will always be people who like certain pieces and people who dislike certain pieces.There will always be rude and ugly critcism. However, in the art world, it is really important to not get discouraged!! The main message is to believe in what you do and have fun doing it! The film also delievers a message that at first, an artist may feel like he/she is doing something for him/herself, but later, they will begin to realize that they want to create artwork that makes the audience feel comfortable, such as the guy who painted the Cyclone roller coaster. He said at first he wanted people to know that he was the one who painted it, but later, he wanted people to feel like the roller coaster was their’s to enjoy. He expresses that it is a very happy feeling that people are having fun on something he painted. I was also really inspired by the topics of graffti because of the risks these artists are taking in order to produce these art works. It really expresses their interests and bravery in what they do. Aside from the creative art pieces, what the film delievered most to me was the messages and attidues of the artists.