Change Lab: Conversations on Transformation and Creativity

In the fourth episode of the Why AxS podcast—where brilliant scientific and artistic minds ponder the important whys—we explore the rise of Futurism in Indigenous art as a means of enduring colonial trauma and envisioning a more inclusive and sustainable future. We're joined by Virgil Ortiz, a Pueblo artist known for his traditional Cochiti figurative pottery and experimentations with science-fiction storytelling.  Ortiz's art is a testament to his boundless imagination and his ability to push boundaries. He creates art the way his ancestors did while interweaving futuristic, sci-fi themes that bring light to untold histories. ReVOlt 1680/2180: Sirens & Sikas, for instance, unearths the artistry and significant history of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, the only successful Native uprising against a colonizing power in North America (which you've likely never heard of.) The striking piece is part of an exhibition currently on view at the Autry Museum of the American West entitled Future Imaginaries: Art, Fashion, Technology. The Autry's Amy Scott  joins this episode of the Why AxS to weigh in on the complex ideas animating an exhibition featuring over 50 works exploring representing a diverse array of Native cultures.  Part of Getty's PST ART: Art & Science Collide (as is this podcast), the exhibition also opens audiences to the significance of non-Western knowledge, especially when it comes to climate change. This is where our third guest, Dr. Daniel Wildcat, comes in. The professor and highly accomplished scholar works to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and culture into federal policy.  Join us for a lesson left out of the history books, as we imagine a more inclusive and sustainable future.   

Ready to go dark and get deep? In the third episode of the Why AxS podcast—where brilliant scientific and artistic minds ponder the important whys—we explore the infinite possibilities of the origins and nature of our universe. Our guests couldn't be more disparate in their paths, yet conjoined in their pursuits. Lita Albuquerque, an internationally renowned visual artist and ArtCenter faculty member, is inspired by the natural world, on this planet and beyond. Her works are intimate and epic, earthly and ephemeral—a celebration of how we connect to our environment, below and above. Her large-scale installations—like Rock and Pigment, a series of rocks in the Mojave Desert in alignment to the stars overhead—connect human to celestial bodies, allowing us to feel what our minds can't comprehend—that we're a tiny speck suspended among billions of galaxies. Dida Markovic, an astrophysicist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also studies the incomprehensible, specifically the dark sector of the universe. Dark energy and dark matter govern 95% of all the gravitational interactions in the universe–yet, present a mystery to science.

Did you know the intersection of art + science has been rooted in the DNA of Los Angeles from the very beginning? In this episode of our Why AxS podcast, alum + former ArtCenter Exhibitions director Stephen Nowlin unravels the rich intertwining origins of the artists and experimenters who landed in L.A. and pioneered new industries, from  aeronautics to film. As humans, we aspire to find common ground between the two district sides of our brain. That's why science needs art to tell its narratives in a language that makes data illuminating, immersive, complex and even transcendent.   We invite you to join us on this journey — and bring both sides of your brain.

Welcome to the Why AxS, ArtCenter's podcast featuring brilliant scientific and artistic minds ponder the big why's that come with being a tiny part of this universe.  Our first episode, How to Land on a Comet, takes you aboard JPL's Rosetta Mission, as we're joined by mission planner Art Chmielewski + alum/illustrator Liz de la Torre (BFA 13), who mapped the surface of speeding comet for a first-of-a-kind rendezvous with a spacecraft — from a single pixel. Rosetta remains one of the world's most ambitious — and arduous — space exploration missions. Landing on a comet as it zips and twists through space poses seemingly limitless degrees of difficulty and danger. Seeking an artistic solution to a scientific problem — how to map the comet's surface — Chmielewski recruited de la Torre while she was a student at ArtCenter.  Now working as a Creative Strategist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, de la Torre acts as an artistic interpreter of scientific theories, using the illustration skills she honed at the College. For the Rosetta Mission, de la Torre listened to some of the world's leading experts on comets, and based on their  ideas and projections, created multiple approximations of the comet's terrain.  These beautifully detailed visuals, capturing the comet's potential tiny pores and bubbling gas, allowed scientists to better visualize the best approach — and helped secure the mission's success. They are truly brilliant works of art and science.   Join ArtCenter's Lauren Mahoney and Ethan Stockwell for an episode full of behind-the-scenes insights into everything from the search for life in the universe to the hidden impact of space research on our everyday lives as we embark on an extraordinary and otherworldly ride.

Join us for ArtCenter's new mini-series investigating the powers of art and science–and the extraordinary, unexpected outcomes when the two fields intersect. The four-part series, launching September 12, features prominent artists–often with connections to ArtCenter–and scientists tackling big ideas about dark matter and transcendence from right- and left-brain points of view. At ArtCenter, science and art often cross paths–after all, CalTech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are in our backyard, allowing for unique collaborations through programs, exhibitions, internships and more. With Why AxS, we invite you into insightful conversations with some of the brilliant minds in our orbit as they explore the many big why's that come with being a tiny part of this universe.

To many of our listeners, this guest needs no introduction. She is someone who has burst through seemingly impenetrable ceilings – glass and otherwise – to claim leadership roles historically held by men. She rose through the ranks as a strategic industrial designer before returning to ArtCenter, her alma mater, for a transformative stint as Chair of our Product Design department. She was also a driving force behind ArtCenter's innovative DesignStorm program, through which major brands engage our students in developing new products and ideas.  The force of nature I'm describing here is none other than ArtCenter Provost and President-elect, Karen Hofmann, who is the first woman to serve in either of those roles. On a personal and professional level, I couldn't have asked for a better partner in leading this College through the uncertainties of Covid-19 and the enormous logistical, creative, social and emotional adjustments that went along with the transition to remote learning and back. Thanks in no small part to Karen's dedication and unflagging optimism, we've emerged stronger and better equipped to face the future than we've ever been. And, come July, Karen will be poised to build on those achievements when she takes office, upon my retirement, as ArtCenter's first female president. Throughout her tenure as provost, Karen tackled a set of complex challenges with an eye toward ensuring ArtCenter's health and longevity. Karen managed to keep calm and carry on, facing each new obstacle with a solution-minded determination that is the hallmark of every great designer. In fact, it was almost as if she was making the case, in real time, that there is no better person to lead ArtCenter through the uncertainties that lie ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we first heard from Jackie Amezquita four years ago, she was an ArtCenter Fine Art student on the cusp of graduating. In a raw and revealing interview, she traced the arduous path she'd walked to find the stability she needed to risk everything for her art.  Her remarkable journey (captured in E14 of Change Lab) began in her native Guatemala, where surging violence and poverty had forced Jackie's mother to migrate to the United States to provide for her family. At age seventeen, Jackie followed her mother's footsteps to the US (quite literally), and barely survived a dangerous border crossing. After years spent working as an undocumented nanny to put herself through community college, Jackie eventually earned her Bachelor of Fine Art at ArtCenter. Her thesis project drew international media coverage when she bravely embarked on a second grueling walk from the Tijuana border all the way to Downtown Los Angeles.  The power of her resilience and grit continues to stand out as an example of a purpose-driven artist whose message brilliantly aligns with her chosen medium. We've held her story close to our hearts, and the hardships she's transmuted into art resonated all the more this season as we explore the alchemy of creativity and adversity. It's for those reasons that We've asked Jackie to join us as Change Lab's first returning guest, even as she puts the finishing touches on her MFA thesis at UCLA. We waned to know more about her investigation into grief and displacement, and we were fascinated by the bravery and creative energy it took to revisit her trauma and to give depth and dimension to a painful story that needed to be told. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aimee Mullins is a true polymath. Her passions and professional pursuits are as varied and boundless as the awards and groundbreaking strides she's achieved within her many chosen fields. She broke new ground in athletics as the first amputee in history to compete against able-bodied athletes in the NCAA's Division 1 track and field events. She went on to set records in the 100 and 200 meter races and the long jump. Her poise and athleticism led to a career in fashion as a runway model for Alexander McQueen and as a global ambassador for L'Oreal. She then added acting to her portfolio with roles in wildly varied projects ranging from artist Matthew Barney's Cremaster series to Netflix's Stranger Things. Through it all, Aimee has continued to make sense of the many trails she's blazed in a series of influential TED talks that have been viewed by millions and translated into 42 languages.  It was her paradigm-shifting talk on the “opportunity of adversity” that offered a veritable proof of concept for the ideas we're exploring in this season of Change Lab. Her powerful argument for the creative leaps that result only from the hurdles we face resonated deeply with the idea that the human imagination feeds on challenge and uncertainty – a familiar concept to regular listeners of this podcast.  Aimee contends that we meet and exceed our goals because of—not despite—each obstacle we encounter. An insight she's earned the hard way navigating the world as a double amputee. Her insistence that “good enough” isn't good enough has led to advances in prosthetic design that would never exist without her. In fact, Aimee contends that disability itself is a misnomer better attributed to a broken piece of machinery than a human being whose differences are the source of their strength. We all have much to learn from Aimee's self-determination, curiosity and wonder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're lucky as artists that we can recover much faster because we can express. Nature recovers and we recover.  Lita Albuquerque is an artist whose body of work has often defied the strictures of convention and, ultimately, canvas. Over the course of her celebrated career, her paintings and sculptures outgrew the traditional materials contained within her studio and expanded to inhabit the land and people around her.  To experience Lita's large-scale installations (often tinged in an ultramarine blue pigment all her own) is to dance with dichotomies. At once grounded and transcendent, intimate and epic, earthly and celestial – Lita's work, above all, is a celebration of how we connect to our environment.  It's a creative worldview that was put to test in November of 2018 when the Woolsey Fire engulfed the hills around Malibu and destroyed her home and studio. Suddenly, the place in which she spent decades raising her kids and making her art was gone, along with a vast archive of completed works and works-in-progress.  It was a monumental loss that would have been devastating to any artist—and particularly so for Lita, whose creative imagination has always been intrinsically connected to her environment. But Lita could not let her grief paralyze her because she had to get to work on the long list of pieces previously commissioned by collectors. That backlog turned out to be her saving grace. Eventually she found that the process of creative expression had resurrected the parts of her she feared the fire had claimed forever.  Over the course of a Change Lab conversation alternately stirring and sublime, Lita generously retraces the harrowing path she's walked to a place of recovery and renewal she simply describes as “back.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Client hypothetical. This is the term pioneering architect and designer Eileen Gray used to classify the many Modernist masterpieces she designed in the absence of actual paid commissions. She was simply making things because that was what she was made to do.  Gray now stands alongside other towering talents whose under-recognized body of work were later exalted by their artworld peers. First among Gray's admirers is artist Kim Schoenstadt who spent the past two years creating an entire exhibition inspired by the way Gray essentially designed her way through the many challenges laid in her path.  Enter Slowly, The Legacy of an Idea, which opened last fall in ArtCenter's Mullin Gallery, paid homage to Eileen Gray as heroine of Twentieth Century Modernist design despite the fact that her work was often misattributed to her male collaborators and counterparts. Indeed, for much of her life, E-1027, the house she designed in the South of France, was credited to superstar designer, Le Corbusier, who did little to correct the record.  Shining a light on Gray's legacy was a task tailor made for Kim, an artist best known for her “mash-up drawings” layering elements of architecture and history. She's also demonstrated an equally steadfast commitment to moving the needle toward gender parity in today's art world through her Now Be Here project.   We were particularly fascinated by the idea of an artist who creates a body of work based on the struggles she shares with an artist from another era. It's an act of deep empathy and bravery and a perfect example of how adversity and creativity often coexist on the path toward redemption. Please enjoy this conversation with Kim Schoenstadt Selections of music in this episode were provided by Paco Casanova and J.C. Furmanski. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Meraz joined the faculty of ArtCenter's Environmental Design department in September of 2001, shortly before 9/11. In the wake of that tragedy he wavered about how to proceed with his planned curriculum. How would it all be relevant? In the end, he resolved to lean into the uncertainty of that “cataclysmic moment,” realizing that the only way out of the pain, chaos and confusion was to go through it.  Above all he discovered the value in staying present and connecting with others when things fall apart. Of course, he had no way of knowing how much he'd come to rely on those same skills when another catastrophe struck much closer to home.  In June of 2019, James' twenty year-old son, Luke, died. James and his wife were immediately thrust into every parent's worst nightmare. But as they were pummeled with wave after wave of agonizing grief, James eventually felt called to move toward the pain in order to understand the lessons that might benefit him and others – all of which we cover in our Change Lab interview that cycled through tears to moments of transcendence. James' journey has been an arduous one. The pain of loss remains an ever-present burden he's dubbed “the backpack.” But by bringing his creativity to bear on an unbearable situation, James has discovered opportunities for reinvention and even a kind of rebirth in the projects he's undertaken to support young artists and vulnerable communities in Luke's honor.  Like the skilled designer he is, James has continued to ask himself the hard questions and has found renewed meaning in the simple act of showing up, even when part of him wants to give up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The next season of Change Lab debuts on March 23. We're calling it Forged in Fire: Make to Heal and we're looking at the ways in which adversity can be a conduit for creativity and, more importantly, how creativity can offer solace during the hardest of times.  You're not going to want to miss a single episode of a season that explores the connection between heartbreak and hope on the path toward resilience and reinvention.  Please join us for a raw and revelatory season of Change Lab created in response to these extraordinary times to nourish, heal and inspire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Google's vice president of hardware design, Ivy Ross is breaking new ground in the physical world for a trillion-dollar company synonymous with building tools for navigating the virtual one. Since assuming the role in 2014, she's been tasked with translating a corporate identity consisting of a primary colored logo and blinking cursor into three-dimensional products and environments that are inviting, accessible and add value to people's lives in ways big and small.  Ivy oversees the team responsible for Google's entire eye-catching suite of curvy, pastel-hued devices including the Pixel phone and Nest home safety system. And she's also the creative visionary behind Google's first retail store which debuted this past summer in New York City. It takes a special kind of moxie to forge ahead with a plan to open up to the public during a time when many stores were still shuttered. But Ivy is a true iconoclast who understands the value in bringing unconventional thinking to bear on high stakes challenges.   Lorne had the great pleasure of getting to know Ivy through her role as an ArtCenter Trustee. During their time together, they quickly discovered a kinship around a shared interest in the role the imagination plays as a catalyst for change, particularly when combined with the physical act of making and doing.  Transcendent might be the word to best describe the expansive conversation they have in this episode. The two explore the opportunities the pandemic has presented to improve our connection to each other and to the planet. They also explore their shared interest in the work of Carl Jung and how creativity can be a portal to accessing the life we're meant to be living even when it's not the one society has laid out for us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the two decades since she graduated from ArtCenter with a degree in Transportation Design, Tisha Johnson has blazed trails for female design leaders in industries dominated by men. Her success has been propelled by her genuine passion for each phase of the design process, from research to experimenting with materials to aligning aesthetic beauty with human need.  The results of her efforts are written into her ever-evolving career, which includes transformative stints heading up design teams at Volvo and Herman Miller en route to her current role as head of global design at Whirlpool. Tisha's growing list of achievements has done little to dampen her palpable excitement for the fundamentals of a job she views, in its simplest terms, as making things that make people's lives better. In order to do that well, she's committed herself to a lifelong learning process as a designer and leader, both in the studio and out. In fact, she's even been known to use her twin passions for surfing and motorcycling as laboratories for design thinking and doing.  For Tisha, good design is a feeling. And that feeling, in a word, is freedom. It's part of the purity of spirit and infectious enthusiasm she brings to everything she does. Even now, from her perch atop the upper rungs of corporate America, she speaks of her new role strategizing future generations of home appliances with the reverence and excitement of someone who has just landed her first job.  I was particularly taken by Tisha's description of the design process as a dialogue between materials and maker, which echoed themes in my book about the discoveries that happen through physical engagement. Over the course of a conversation that felt at times like a masterclass on design strategy, we also covered her thoughts on how research and careful listening guides the teams she leads, the role of empathy in design and how her work at Whirlpool in connection to what she calls “the hearth of the home” can move her to tears. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For novelist Aimee Bender, magic is not a limited resource. Nor is it something to be feared, coveted, mistrusted or monetized. In her view, rather, magic is an everyday occurrence woven into the fabric of our lives captured in fleeting moments of transcendence all too often overlooked.  No wonderment, however small, seems to escape Aimee's notice. And as her readers can attest, her comfort with uncanny occurrences can be found throughout her celebrated novels and essays. Whether she's writing about a child's ability to taste a parent's depression in her bestselling novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake or a young woman confounded by inanimate objects that spring to life in The Butterfly Lampshade—Amy's work gives voice and validity to the things we know and feel but can't explain.  Aimee and Lorne share an interest in exploring the unknown and making sense of it in their writing. For me it's best summed up by the subtitle of my book: from spaces of uncertainty to creative discovery. Whereas Aimee describes her connection to this terra incognita as a way of acknowledging “the presence of ghosts” and making room for a “different kind of thinking.”  Aimee is the rare artist whose warmth and gregariousness match her vast talents. And as you'll soon hear, this conversation was no exception. As she sought to illuminate the mysterious and sometimes tortured nature of the writing process, she regularly invoked her students with deep affection. So it should come as no surprise that her creative writing classes at USC are among the most popular in the program. Aimee and I also discussed the way creativity provides a “lab” for experimenting with uncertainty and how, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, writing, on a good day, can feel like dipping a cup into the river of ideas and delighting at the surprises discovered within it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To experience one of Ann Hamilton's installations is to be transported into a world of invention unlike any other. Recognized for her large-scale public projects and performance collaborations, Ann uses space as her canvas and fills it with a sense of mystery and drama that is as inviting as it is provocative.  Though much of her work is, by nature, transitory, its impact and ideas endure. To get a sense of the experiential texture of her work, look no further than her extraordinary 2012 installation, the event of a thread, at New York's Park Avenue Armory. The hauntingly beautiful piece filled the large space with billowing white fabric panels and an array of swings inviting participants to experience a joy and weightlessness too often relegated to childhood.   In this timely and incisive Change Lab interview, conducted the day before the 20th anniversary of 911, Hamilton explored the ideas animating CHORUS, her public art installation at the World Trade Center Cortland subway station. The piece, visible from the platform and passing trains, consists of a field of marble mosaic weaving the texts of the Declaration of Independence and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights onto a wall beneath the spot where the towers once stood.  Change Lab listeners will recognize her ideas connecting making and exploration as core to the themes explored throughout this show. It's hard to imagine how anyone could more artfully illuminate the creative power and exhilaration that comes from braving uncertainty and lingering in the mysterious “I-don't-know.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To call Mike Shinoda a rock star would be technically accurate and yet incomplete. He is the lead singer and driving force behind Linkin Park (one of the best selling bands of the 21st century), Fort Minor (his hip hop project) and a thriving career as a solo artist. But that list of headlining achievements doesn't even begin to capture the scope of his creative versatility.  He's always been a creative omnivore since his days as an ArtCenter Illustration student when he divided his time between the painting studio and band practice. Even as Linkin Park soared to stratospheric success, he continued to multitask creatively. He continued to pursue solo endeavors (including a Grammy-winning collaboration with Jay-Z) while cultivating a diverse visual arts practice designing album covers and merchandise and assembling a series of paintings that have exhibited in major museums and galleries. But for all his myriad achievements, what stands out most about Mike is the unique quality of attention and intention that he brings to everything he does. We were only a few minutes deep into our conversation when it became clear that I was in the presence of a rare breed of artist who is uniquely curious about the mysterious forces at play in his own creative process. He gamely expanded upon his challenges and breakthroughs as a songwriter (with a vital assist from producing legend, Rick Rubin), his use of doodling to access certain parts of his creative brain and the twitch channel he's created to make things from scratch, in real time, often in collaboration with his audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Diana Thater making art is like oxygen. It sustains and nourishes her. And when her access to it is suddenly limited -- as it was in the spring of 2020-- she figures out a way to create her art. By any means necessary.  Her latest exhibition, Yes, There Will Be Singing, is the captivating result of one such extraordinary pandemic pivot. She conceived the idea for the sound-based installation when her in-person show was cancelled. But what's most ingenious about this immersive work is not its format but rather its remarkable subject --Whale 52, who is deaf and yet sings into a world of complete darkness and silence.  It's hard to imagine a more perfect metaphor for resilience in the face of the isolation we've all just experienced than Whale 52 and, more specifically, the sensitivity with which Thater represents his plight in her work.  That kind of empathy is the lifeblood running through everything Thater creates. Best known for creating large-scale installation art exploring the tensions between the animal kingdom and mankind,  Thater's studio practice has sent her around the globe to film species in peril in their natural habitats. Her work has been widely exhibited at major institutions worldwide, including MOMA, LACMA and the Guggenheim Bilbao. In this lively and fathoms-deep Change Lab episode, Thater explores the forces animating her creative practice, the role of improvisation in her filming process and her enduring commitment to risking life and limb to transport us there alongside her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pop quiz: Do artists and designers create to express what you know? Or do we make things to get to know ourselves and the world we inhabit?  Those are a few of the questions we'll be grappling with throughout the next season of Change Lab, launching on September 29th, with Lorne's revelatory interview with Mike Shinoda, artist, musician, ArtCenter alum, and rockstar in all senses of the word. This season coincides with the release of Lorne's book, Make to Know, investigating the relationship between inspiration and improvisation, artist and artwork, maker and finished product -- themes that will resonate with anyone familiar with this podcast. The book was inspired at least in part by insights derived from Change Lab interviews revealing the many insights into the hows and whys we humans are driven to create.  This new season will take a deep dive into those ideas with a phenomenal lineup of interviews with creative luminaries designed to complement Make to Know and function as a complete guide to accessing and implementing the creative power that lives within us all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erika Endrijonas isn’t just an advocate for the pivotal role community colleges play in providing equal access to the American Dream. She is also an alum of Cal State Northridge and direct beneficiary of California’s longstanding commitment to affordable higher education for all. As such, she has an intrinsic understanding of the system’s value to society. And in her current position as the Superintendent and President of Pasadena City College, which is consistently ranked among the best in the state, she is fiercely determined to make sure the system remains a vital engine driving social mobility for generations to come.  Her guiding principle in leading a large public institution is to ensure that PCC levels the playing field for students from all walks of life. In her view, Pasadena City College and others like it are providing singular opportunities to transcend barriers—financial, cultural and social— that might be standing between them and a college degree. Erika’s combination of passion, tenacity and acuity has fueled her remarkable self-made success story. She cleared a set of financial obstacles only to go on and earn a PhD in history culminating in a fascinating dissertation on the ways in which mid-century cookbooks prescribed gender roles to a limited set of separate but unequal stereotypes. Though the segue to college leader isn’t an obvious one, the throughline connecting those dots is Erika’s unmistakable commitment to creating a more egalitarian world and her pragmatic approach to getting there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are many apt metaphors for Carol Christ’s achievements. Most of them have to do with breaking things like glass ceilings or barriers or new ground in Victorian literary scholarship. But none of those do justice to the sheer scope of the professional arc Carol has traversed en route to her current role as the first female Chancellor of UC Berkeley.  Carol has spent the better part of her five decades entering academic spaces and roles previously reserved for men. But she has less interest in reflecting on her own pioneering achievements than in her passion for participating in the collective march toward institutional progress. In fact, from the moment she began ascending through the leadership ranks at Berkeley, and then as President of Smith College, she’s been a vector for positive change through her first-rate mind, her warmth, humanity and passion for the transformative power of education.  She certainly had an effect on Lorne. The two met at UC Berkeley when he was a newly-minted PhD teaching in the Dramatic Art department and she was Dean of the College of Letters and Science. Though Carol might not have known it at the time, Lorne was inspired by her and viewed her as a mentor. He greatly admired her forthright and compassionate approach to leadership and marveled at how she would give equal voice to the many varied factions comprising California’s largest and most prestigious public research institution.  Carol is the rare university administrator who sees her work as an artform. Lorne relished the opportunity to reconnect with her about her trailblazing journey to the Chancellorship of UC Berkeley, her literary approach to leadership and her perspective on the road ahead for all of higher education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As President of Fuller Theological Seminary (with more than three decades of pastoral experience behind him), Mark Labberton is more than comfortable dwelling in uncertainty. For him, the space of the unknown is at least one way to access the kind of epiphany familiar to those of us on the creative path.  Mark is far more than just a big picture thinker and leader. He’s a prolific writer and orator with a unique gift for mining the sublime out of a secular idea. He is also someone who embodies the immersive and expansive mindset he brings to his teaching, writing and his wonderful podcast, Conversing with Mark Labberton.   Mark and Lorne first connected years ago as leaders of two important institutions of higher education in Pasadena. From the start, they were both fascinated by the connection between spirituality and creative expression. Lorne was a teacher and theater director curious about the relationship between inspiration (divine or otherwise) and creative flow. Mark was a pastor who has come to see himself as a curator of faith and experience. From there a friendship grew.  Their affinity has continued to expand and deepen. And once we decided to dedicate this season of Change Lab to explore the future of higher education, we seized the opportunity to speak with Mark, knowing all that we can learn from him.  As you’ll hear in this rich and full conversation, Mark understands something vitally important about leading with vulnerability. Perhaps even more resonant, however, is the power he’s found in what he exquisitely describes as a ‘theology of making.’ Please enjoy my conversation with Mark Labberton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Brodnitz didn’t set out to join a revolution in online education. He saw himself changing hearts and minds through his novels and poetry. Fate, however, had a different plan for Dan’s talents — but one no less transformative. It placed him at the helm of global content strategy at LinkedIn Learning at a time when the entire world migrated into digital classrooms. Never has his expertise in creating meaningful virtual learning experiences been more valuable than it is right now.  Dan found his way into this fertile field through his own natural inclination to understand how things work and, crucially, how to make them work better. He’s applied this iterative mindset far and wide — from his desire to improve his own creative practice as a writer, as well as to the learning process itself.  He began his career in publishing before joining the pioneering online learning site, Lynda.com, which was founded by former ArtCenter faculty member Lynda Weinman and alum and now trustee Bruce Heavin. It was there that Dan honed his skills in this emerging arena and found his passion for democratizing education by making it accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.  His role today at LinkedIn has scaled considerably to keep pace with the growing market for knowledge in today’s information economy. And his enthusiasm for the work is contagious. He sees LinkedIn’s 16,000-plus course library as a resource for nothing short of personal transformation. And his work, as he eloquently puts it, is to “orchestrate the beautiful, thoughtful whole.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harry Elam and Lorne had only met casually before we sat down to record this episode of Change Lab. Interestingly, they had spent much of their early careers as two ships passing in the San Francisco Bay. Harry pursued his PhD in theater at U.C. Berkeley while Lorne earned the same degree at Stanford. They then traded places and Harry became a theater professor at Stanford and Lorne took a faculty position in Berkeley’s Dramatic Art department.  Their mirrored movements continue to this day. With Harry’s recent appointment as president of Occidental College, they now both serve as college presidents for venerable institutions located just a few miles apart in Northeast Los Angeles. This past year, maybe more than any other, has called upon them to draw on skills they developed in the theater. They’ve had to improvise and lean into the unfolding drama, responding to challenges with ‘yes and’ rather than ‘no but.’  Harry has written several books and scores of journal articles on how theater has become a vehicle for social change. He and Lorne discussed how those movements might even serve as a model for progress within the very institutions they both lead. Their conversation shed light on the importance of communal spirit—not unlike that of a theater company—in forging the path ahead.  But, in the end, they were just two theater guys connecting around their shared belief in the power of creativity and education as well as in our conviction that, above all else, the show must go on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

D’Wayne has a lot in common with Michael Jordan, his former boss. His appetite for excellence has propelled him to superlative success. D’Wayne turned his childhood passion for drawing sneakers into a high-flying design career, moving from L.A. Gear to Sketchers and then eventually landing his dream job at Nike’s Jordan Brand. D’Wayne’s designs have, in total, earned over $1.5 billion. But D’Wayne was determined to leave a mark on the footwear design world that couldn’t be measured in dollars. As one of very few Black leaders in his business, he saw an opportunity to create a pipeline for diverse designers. D’Wayne quit his job at Nike to launch Pensole Footwear Design Academy in order to build career pathways that didn’t exist when he was coming of age. Pensole is now an established force in footwear design education, providing a host of immersive programs in partnership with ArtCenter and other institutions. The results speak for themselves: Pensole had a hand in training over 500 footwear designers working today. In this debut episode of Change Lab’s new season investigating the future of education, D’Wayne reflects on the importance of mentorship, hard work, and hands-on learning in creating a more diverse and sustainable design education model. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we begin a new year and a new season of change lab, I think most of us are torn between looking forward with hope and looking back with a kind of weary amazement we've prevailed over enormous obstacles in the last year. But as educators and designers, we know all too well that every challenge we meet offers an opportunity for learning and progress. That was certainly the case here at ArtCenter, where we migrated along with the rest of our colleagues and higher ed to digital classrooms, we then did what we do best experimenting, prototyping, iterating, and inventing until we found what worked best for our faculty and students. Not only has the experience taught us invaluable lessons about the grit and creative adaptability of our own community, but we've also made important discoveries about the nature of education itself. That's why we're dedicating this season of change lab to exploring the future of education. Beginning on February 17th. We'll look at what we've learned, where we're headed and how to get there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elle Hearns did not set out to lead movements for social justice. Nor was it her lifelong dream to make the world a better and safer place for Black transgender communities. Growing up in Ohio, she imagined herself as an iconic singer, a chart-topping diva with a voice powerful enough to crack your soul wide open.  In the end, she did end up using the power of her voice to inspire people -- just not in the way she originally planned. As one of the world’s most effective leaders in the movement for social change, Elle has dedicated her life to organizing and advocating for marginalized communities. She began her career working on campaigns for marriage equality and don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy change. She then transitioned to groundbreaking work as a leading voice for the Black Lives Matter Global Network. In her current role as the founder and executive director of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, she’s dedicated herself to protecting and defending the human rights of Black transgender people.  Under Elle’s leadership, the Marsha P. Johnson Institute has become a vital resource for Black trans women in particular, who have suffered an onslaught of violent attacks resulting in alarmingly low life expectancy rates. Elle has focused on raising awareness, advocating for policy change and marshalling resources to provide pathways to stability. Her work has generated widespread media attention toward the plight of Black trans women in the pages of Vogue and The LA Times. The Institute also recently received a $500,000 gift from Google earmarked for COVID relief.  Among Elle’s many remarkable qualities is her ability to apply a strategic mindset toward affecting change within her own besieged community. But it’s the strength of Elle’s voice -- what she says and how she says it -- that remains her most powerful tool in her efforts to build a better world for all its inhabitants. Links The Marsha P. Johnson Institute

Grace Lynne Haynes’ creative calling didn’t announce itself until she set foot in her first college painting class. But from that moment forward, Grace’s artistic destiny came through loud and clear, as unmistakable as a spiritual epiphany. Here’s how she describes it: “It almost reactivated my physical senses. I felt as if colors were brighter, senses were stronger. I just felt like my passion for life began to come back again. I knew that I had to be doing this for a living." She poured that passion into her painting practice as an Illustration student at ArtCenter, where she cultivated the signature style that quickly translated into a thriving career as a professional painter and illustrator.  Her works are striking and instantly recognizable, at least partially because you’ve probably seen them on the cover of The New Yorker, which has featured two of her illustrations in the past eight months. She’s also recently graced the pages of Vogue, ELLE and The Washington Post. The vibrancy of her bright color schemes and rich skin tones, which she describes as “pitch black,” offer a counter-narrative to the negative connotations placed on the very idea of darkness. Grace’s brush strokes depict a better world, one where light and dark coexist harmoniously in brightly hued images that celebrate contrast. Grace’s career launched like a rocket the moment she graduated from ArtCenter. She was selected to be an inaugural member of Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock Senegal residency and was included in Forbes “30 Under 30” list under Art and Style. In many respects, Grace is now living her dream along with that of most every young artist. But perhaps most admirable is her commitment to pursuing a creative practice that reflects her deeply-held values. https://www.bygracelynne.com/

Throughout this season, on alternating weeks, we’ll feature a handpicked episode from podcasts by, for or about the Black community. This week we’re excited to share an episode from the Micheaux Mission. Since 2016, Len Webb and Vincent Williams have been challenging themselves to watch and review every Black feature film ever made and released to theaters. In Vincent's words, they hope to give 'Rolling Stone' style examination to these under appreciated works of art. Together they hope to find the perfect wine to drink with Pam Grier's Coffy, the five movies, since 1985, in which Samuel L. Jackson does not appear, and someone else who agrees with Len that The Last Dragon is a bad movie. The Micheaux Mission is named for Oscar Micheaux, regarded as the first major African-American feature filmmaker and the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the twentieth century.  Len and Vincent have spent the last few years bringing the good word of Black film to the masses in a fun and engaging way. Along the way, they have been featured in The Philadelphia Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Radio New Zealand and won the Expression in Radio Award at the 2019 PhillyCam Cammy Awards. Today’s episode features the 2012 film, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty. According to the Micheaux Mission, Writer/director Terence Nance has created a literal poem of a movie, a heartfelt exploration of one man's feeling for his homie-lover-friend, that has enthralled Vince and Len unlike any film before on the Mission.

Last year, Cedric Johnson embedded himself at ArtCenter for a week-long residency. Included in that visit was a talk about the policing crisis as well as a workshop with students exploring what it means to “do good” in the world through art and design.  These issues have only become more timely in the intervening year. But as any good historian will tell you – and Cedric most definitely fits that description – history has a way of colliding with the present if you wait long enough.  As a professor of political science and African American studies at University of Illinois at Chicago, Cedric has dedicated his academic career to studying and writing about the relationship between class, race and social change. These ideas coalesce in rich narrative detail in his award-winning book, Revolutionaries to Race Leaders: Black Power and the Making of African American Politics. Cedric has a gift for communicating complex and sometimes disruptive ideas with warmth, clarity and impressive skill. Throughout his extensive writings (and in his interview with Change Lab), he emphasizes the need for addressing the roots of racial injustice in class inequities, from persistent poverty and the “crimes of survival” committed as a result of “structural unemployment. Our conversation was full of ideas, both grounded and groundbreaking, that are critical to creating sustainable social change. Particularly germane to the ArtCenter community, were his observations on the importance of decommodifying education (i.e., making it accessible to all students regardless of their ability to pay). This, he insists, is an essential stepping stone toward creating more diverse, equitable and inclusive college campuses.

Welcome to our third episode of Change Lab Presents Throughout this season, on alternating weeks, we’ll feature a handpicked episode from podcasts by, for or about the Black community. This week we’re excited to share an episode from Scene On Radio, produced by host John Biewen, in conversation with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Scene on Radio is a Peabody-nominated podcast that dives deeply into issues central to American society. The show comes from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and is distributed by PRX.  Today’s episode features Myra Greene, who for years explored blackness through her photography, often in self-portraits. She then explored what it would mean to take pictures of whiteness. By photographing friends, peers, and mentors, Greene visually ponders whether photography can capture and describe the nuances of whiteness.   Please enjoy this Change Lab Presents episode of Scene on Radio. Scene On Radio Website

Like the consummate designer he is -- Kevin Bethune has iterated his own job description.  Kevin’s strikingly diverse career-path includes stints as a nuclear engineer at Westinghouse Electric, a financial manager at Nike and strategic design innovator at Boston Consulting group -- all achievements that would stand alone as a high-point on most resumes.  But Kevin still had goals he’d yet to articulate and accomplish. And, as you’ll hear through his deeply introspective reflections in this episode of Change Lab, Kevin takes his dreams very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they became the driving force behind his current venture, an innovation think-tank called dreams, design + life. Animated by the idea of bringing a child-like openness and imagination to realizing our highest possibilities, Kevin now leads a multi-disciplinary team at dreams, design + life. There, he uses design innovation tools to help businesses plan for an uncertain future.  Kevin is a unicorn even by Silicon Valley standards. He comes to the table bearing a trio of specialized degrees from prestigious institutions – including a Master of Science in Industrial Design from ArtCenter. And, perhaps even more rare and relevant to his success is the kindness, humility and integrity he brings to every layer of his creative process.  Though he has faced his share of obstacles as a person of color. He’s prevailed by remaining true to his commitment to connecting people with their dreams and taking the high road in business and in life.

Welcome to our second episode of Change Lab Presents Throughout this season, on alternating weeks, we’ll feature a series of bonus episodes we’ve handpicked from some of our favorite podcasts by, for or about the Black community. This week, we’re excited to share an episode from The Brown Girl's Guide to Politics from the Wonder Media Network. Host A’shanti Gholar leads conversations with women changing the face of politics. Episodes include interviews with politicians, candidates, and influencers.  Today you'll hear from Brittany Packnett Cunningham. Named by People Magazine as one of the five inspiring people chartering a path forward as America fights racism, Brittany is the co-founder of Campaign Zero and a leading force in the fight for social justice. Please enjoy this Change Lab Presents episode of The Brown Girl's Guide to Politics. https://brittanypacknett.com/bio

Throughout her long and distinguished career as a commercial and fine art photographer, Barbara DuMetz has produced images that feel familiar even if you’re viewing them for the first time. Through her lens, even the most ordinary subject matter has a mythic quality. She has a story to tell that reaches far beyond the frame.  That’s her unique creative gift. And it’s one she began cultivating as an ArtCenter student and ultimately deployed to great effect in editorial spreads for glossy magazines and iconic ads for global brands like Coca Cola and Delta. Despite her vast reserves of natural talent, it was hardly a given that Barbara would achieve her lofty creative goals as a Black woman making her way in the predominantly white male field of commercial photography in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. And yet she persisted. Against steep odds, Barbara built a professional photography practice from the ground up and paved the way for a new generation of Black female artists. Her personal journey is nearly as inspiring and captivating as her iconic images of such legendary trailblazers as Maya Angelou, Quincy Jones and Thelonius Monk – the latter of whom she first met by chance as a young aspiring photographer. In this week’s lively, history-soaked Change Lab episode, you’ll hear her describe that encounter with Monk with sheer wonder at his genius. And then, with characteristic humility, she’ll concede, after some prodding, that maybe, just maybe, her work echoes the deeply-felt rhythms of her beloved jazz. As anyone listening to this conversation can attest, Dumetz walks through life to a beat as cool and distinctive as the art she makes. Links from this episode: BarbaraDuMetzPhotography.com 1984 Olympics Coca-Cola Advertisement

Welcome to our first episode of Change Lab Presents Throughout this season, on alternating weeks, we’ll feature a handpicked episode from podcasts by, for or about the Black community. This week we’re excited to share an episode from The Institute of Black Imagination. Hosted by artist, writer, and brand consultant Dario Calmese, the show features conversations from The Pool of Black Genius: a collection of iconoclasts at the leading edge of cultural thought and innovation. Today’s episode features architect, designer and scholar, Dr. Mabel O. Wilson, who discusses her trans-disciplinary practice touching upon the worlds of curation, performance, art and cultural history. Please enjoy this Change Lab Presents episode of the Institute of Black Imagination Links mentioned in the episode: Mabel's Instagram: @studio_and Her new book: Race and Modern Architecture: A Critical History from the Enlightenment to the Present 

There is something almost poetic about beginning this season, dedicated to amplifying Black voices, with today’s interview with Bob Davidson, who recently stepped down from his post as Chairman of ArtCenter’s Board of Trustees. Bob was instrumental in my decision to assume my current role as President of ArtCenter. And over the past eleven years, our collaboration has been among the most profoundly transformative of my entire career. Our bond transcended our professional roles (for all intents and purposes, he was my boss) and became something much richer and deeper, rooted in our shared values and an almost spiritual commitment to manifesting the College’s mission statement: learn to create, influence change. And change we did. In partnership with Bob, we launched two iterations of a master plan that prioritized long-term sustainability and diversity. The College has grown in many important ways thanks to his contributions. But there’s still much work to be done, which we discuss at length in today’s conversation. Even though we’ve known each other intimately for over a decade, our candid conversation was revelatory. I hadn’t known the extent of the racism he faced growing up in the Jim Crow south. Nor was I aware of the subtle bias he experiences in his daily life now. At the same time, he confirmed many of the qualities and achievements I’ve long admired – his self-made success at the highest levels of business and his steadfast unwillingness to let anyone stand in the way of progress —his or anyone else’s for that matter.

On September 23rd, Change Lab will kick off its seventh season, which is dedicated to amplifying Black voices in art, design and activism. Much has changed since our last episode – everything really. So in response to these radically shifting times, this next set of interviews will lean into the special relationship between uncertainty and creativity and how it just might hold the key to unlocking ideas and works of art and design that can change the world.

This episode of Change Lab happens to be the last one of this season and we’ll resume again, as usual, in the fall. And though it wasn’t planned this way, it’s hard to think of an interview more timely or better suited to demonstrating the strength of the creative spirit to transcend expectations, assumptions and challenges than this one with Chaz Bojorquez, aka the Godfather of Graffiti. There are few art world honors as coveted as having a piece of work included in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection. Likewise, in the pop culture universe, not many artists can claim to have their own special edition line of Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers. Chaz can claim both of those achievements and many more. A native of East Los Angeles, Chaz merged his tandem passions for creative forms of socio-political protest, underground comics and the Chicano muralist movement into a signature style that has influenced his widespread popularity and established prestige now, finally, attributed to street art. After Chaz visited ArtCenter last fall to deliver a talk about the role of graffiti in creating cultural unity, Lorne was taken by the power of his wisdom and his work. In fact, we were all so impressed with his accomplishments that we decided to award him an honorary doctorate at our Spring commencement ceremony (which was sadly postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis). But Lorne and Chaz had the opportunity to sit down together in early February to reflect on his remarkable career that blurs the boundaries between high art and street art, calligraphy and graffiti, popular and alternative culture. Related Links: https://americanart.si.edu/artist/charles-chaz-bojorquez-6040 https://lagunaartmuseum.org/artist/chaz-bojorquez/ http://www.sohodh.com/chaz-bojorquez https://sneakernews.com/2013/06/26/chaz-bojorquez-x-converse-chuck-taylor-all-star/

Diane Luby Lane’s job title is pretty straightforward. She’s the founder and executive director of Get Lit-Words Ignite, a leading arts education nonprofit dedicated to increasing literacy and stemming dropout rates among at-risk youth. Her groundbreaking curriculum, fusing classic literature with spoken word performance techniques has been adopted by schools around the country, equipping new generations of students with a powerful connection to classic literature, self-expression and the performing arts. It is a remarkable story, one in which poetry has changed the lives of countless teens. The Get Lit Players, the organization’s award-winning poetry troupe, has performed at the White House, the United Nations and the Hollywood Bowl. They also hold the distinction of being the most watched poets on the internet, with over 300 million views and counting. In the words of L.A. Mayor, Eric Garcetti, “The Get Lit Players are changing the landscape of literacy in Los Angeles and providing a model for the rest of the nation.” But for all the laurels and accolades she has accumulated with Get Lit’s success, none fully captures the richness and complexity of Diane’s journey to leading a dynamic and diverse movement of teen spoken word poets. Determined to understand the source of Get Lit’s success in igniting a passion for reading and writing among students whom the system has failed, Change Lab’s Lorne Buchman sat down with Diane in Get Lit’s bustling headquarters on the border of Downtown L.A. to discuss the redemptive power of poetry and her mission to share it with the world.  Related Links: https://getlit.org/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClSaAMiTH3wUhFAdEQBaksw

Storytelling is Dennis Gassner’s mother tongue. It’s the language – and the context -- through which the ArtCenter alum and legendary production designer processes the ideas of a script, and it fundamentally shapes the worlds his characters inhabit on screen. The six-time Oscar nominee is best known for the technically ambitious and artfully realized environments he has created for six Coen Bros films, the last four James Bond movies, Blade Runner 2049 and Bugsy – for which he won an Academy Award. Dennis received his most recent Oscar nomination for his stunning work on 1917, a World War 1 epic for which he designed, built and destroyed French villages and battlefields all, seemingly, filmed in one-take. The film also presented him with the rare opportunity to go to war with his longtime collaborators, director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins – two major talents with whom he’s found great success in the moviemaking trenches. On the eve of the most recent Academy Awards show, Change Lab’s Lorne Buchman interviewed Dennis in his home, which is steeped in Hollywood history and filled with artifacts from his films and the places they’ve taken him. As we sat facing each other on two art deco couches he used to furnish a lavish set in The Hudsucker Proxy, we discussed his transition from architecture to production design, his discovery (while at ArtCenter) that facing fear is fundamental to creativity and his conviction that successful storytelling is best measured by the heart rather than the head. Related Links: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0309357/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 https://www.1917.movie/

It’s not an overstatement to say that Jessica Helfand is a renaissance woman of the design world. She co-founded Design Observer, an authoritative digital publication on the state of visual culture and an oracle of wise and thoughtful discourse on design for many of us. She also co-hosts two podcasts: The Observatory and The Design of Business/ The Business of Design. In all aspects of her work and writing, she asks profound questions about creative practice and challenges our assumptions about how to reconcile an ethical design practice with a successful one. In addition to her thriving art and design practices, Jessica is also a prolific author of numerous books, including her latest work, Face: A Visual Odyssey, recently included on the “new and noteworthy” list of the New York Times. With encyclopedic thoroughness, Jessica examines the cultural significance of the face and its centrality in human experience, from archival mug shots through selfie culture and facial recognition technology. Her academic career has been no less impressive than her literary and creative accomplishments. She has taught design at Yale University, her alma mater, since 1996. She currently serves as the second-ever Artist in Residence at Cal Tech, which is located a few blocks from ArtCenter in Pasadena. Later in the episode, we’ll join her there in the classroom for a fascinating peek at how she’s opening pathways of design to the quantitatively-minded students of science and engineering. A fascinating conversationalist, Jessica readily peppers her answers with cogent insights into social media’s impact on the next generation of designers and a very honest and moving sense of the ways in which personal experience invariably shapes creative practice.   Related Links: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/face https://designobserver.com/designofbusiness https://designobserver.com/ https://designobserver.com/podcast-the-observatory.php https://www.jessicahelfand.com/

Ini Archibong is a luxury goods designer. He is also a furniture and immersive experience designer and an ArtCenter alum. This is all accurate and incomplete. So we’ll leave it to Ini to describe his creative practice: “Any of the objects I’m making -- all they are is a potential entry point to wonder.” Ini has been accumulating accolades and prestigious commissions from the moment he graduated from ArtCenter’s Environmental Design program in 2012. After earning his MFA in Switzerland from the Lausanne University of Art and Design (ECAL for short), Ini’s furniture began appearing in the pages of Vogue, Architectural Digest and the New York Times. Ini’s iconic works of functional art have made him a rising star in the design world culminating, most recently with his celebrated Gallop watch for Hermes. Over the course of a philosophical exchange with Lorne, Ini explored what it means to design a sacred space, the mythological underpinnings to his work and how he achieves a state of creative flow. Related Links: https://www.dezeen.com/tag/ini-archibong/ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/t-magazine/ini-archibong.html https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/hermes-watch-launch http://www.artcenter.edu/about/get-to-know-artcenter/people/david-mocarski.html https://www.hermes.com/us/en/product/galop-d-hermes-watch-40.8-x-26mm-W047890WW00/ https://www.ecal.ch/fr/100/homepage

Ivy Meeropol is a documentary filmmaker whose emotionally and politically charged films explore social and cultural injustice from the inside out. Her work in TV and film ranges from an exploration of the threat posed by the nuclear power industry to the good, bad and ugly of the American political system, particularly as it relates to her family (more on that in a moment). But what distinguishes her work most is her disarming refusal to judge the characters in her films as heroes or villains– a process Ivy describes as an “active pursuit of empathy.” The result is a deeply nuanced body of work that reverberates with wisdom, intimacy and socio-political nuance. That empathy infuses every scene of her latest film, Bully, Coward, Victim: The Story of Roy Cohn, which recently premiered at the New York Film Festival. Combining archival footage with original reporting, the HBO film explores the complicated, controversial, and enduring legacy of Cohn, the closeted right-wing political attack-dog who was an early mentor to Donald Trump. Cohn launched his notorious career as the young prosecutor who convicted Ivy’s grandparents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, of spying for the Soviet Union at the height of the Red Scare. Cohn succeeded in his quest to send both of them to the electric chair, leaving their two young sons (one of whom was Ivy’s father) orphaned. Over the course of an intimate and animated Change Lab interview, she explored the personal and political forces at play in her work, her willingness to allow her films the freedom to dwell in ambiguity and her sense of responsibility to ask questions previous generations never could.   Related links: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1532413 https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2019/films/bully-coward-victim-the-story-of-roy-cohn/ http://indianpointfilm.com/ https://www.sundance.org/projects/heir-to-an-execution

Sadie Red Wing and Saki Mafundikwa grew up a world and two generations apart. Sadie was born into the Lakota tribe and also considers herself a citizen of the Spirt Lake Nation of Fort Totten, South Dakota—two longstanding American indigenous communities. Saki, on the other hand, didn’t set foot in the United States until he left his native Zimbabwe at age 24 in 1979, almost twenty years before Sadie was born. Despite their different points of origin, their approach to their chosen profession is strikingly similar.  They’re both pioneering designers who focus their practices on giving voice and context to underrepresented communities whose rich visual languages have often been subsumed or ignored by mainstream design’s bias toward Western modes of communication. Saki and Sadie joined forces for the first time in a joint workshop at ArtCenter entitled: Finding Our Way Home. The four-hour workshop created a space for students of all backgrounds to visually identify themselves, exhibit pride in representation and come away inspired to allow their heritage to inform their design work. We’ve also included a first-hand perspective on the workshop from participant, Amina Maya, a photographer and designer who works as a Junior Creative Director at Black Girl in Om, and Founder of Naturaliste Apothecary. This thought-provoking episode of Change Lab explores some of the most vital issues facing both design and academia through the lens of Sadie and Saki’s unique but parallel journeys toward better representing their own cultures in their work and encouraging diversity and inclusivity throughout the arts. https://www.aiga.org/design-journeys-saki-mafundikwa https://www.sadieredwing.com http://www.aminamaya.com

ArtCenter’s Transportation Design program has a type and, at first glance, Vicente Magaña seems to fit it perfectly. A lifelong obsession with cars? Check. A childhood spent sketching every type of vehicle his imagination could conjure? Check. An insatiable desire to land a job designing supercars and road testing them at top speed? Well…that’s where Vicente, a Summer 2019 ArtCenter alum, separates himself from the pack. Vicente is the rare car guy whose driving passion is not to design the ultimate driving machine. Instead, Magaña dreams of designing a public transportation system that turns cars into more of a luxury for weekend joy rides than a necessity for getting from Point A to B.  We were particularly intrigued to learn more about the motivating factors guiding Vicente’s unique spin on a quintessential ArtCenter career-path, which is why we selected him for this season’s recent interview.  As the son of Mexican immigrants (and the first person in his family to attend college), Vicente’s upbringing instilled a desire to use his education to improve the quality of life for those who need it most. While attending ArtCenter, Vicente seized every opportunity he could to apply his seasoned problem-solving skills toward the greater good. Nothing illustrates this more than his thesis project, Incog-NEATO, a modular system designed to convert most sedans into a discrete space for living and working out of a vehicle.  Intrigued and impressed by Vicente’s unique combination of courage, empathy, and humility, Lorne dedicated this episode of Change Lab to tracking the journey that brought him to ArtCenter and where he hopes to go from here.

Though Phil Gilbert’s official job title is General Manager of Design at IBM, he’s more often referred to as IBM’s very own design evangelist. But ask him to describe his earliest creative impulses and he’ll tell you without hesitation that he was an entrepreneur from “day one.” It quickly became clear that Phil is all these things and more after spending the day with him at IBM’s colorful, post-it-strewn design studio in Austin. In other words, to use a tech-speak term of art: Phil is a unicorn.  Need proof?  Look no further than his decision to embed design thinking at scale across a company that spans 387,000 employees and 170 countries. Fast Company recently praised Gilbert’s accomplishment at IBM as “establishing a modern standard for increasing the role of arts in business.”  Under Phil’s leadership, the legacy computer brand has resurrected and expanded its venerable design program and transformed itself into a nimble, forward-thinking company employing a fleet of designers, charged with applying their problem-solving skills to innovative software and B2B infrastructure initiatives, like quantum computing and state of the art digital security. To wit, ArtCenter alum Tina Zeng, a design researcher on IBM’s security team, offers an insider’s perspective on how design is being deployed on a day to day basis under Phil’s leadership. Over the course of a lively Change Lab conversation (conducted in IBM’s employee programmed radio station) Phil opened up about his appreciation for the school busing program in Oklahoma City that first exposed him to the value in a diverse learning environment, his evolution as a leader and the importance of seeing every day as a prototype that can be improved upon.  Related links: https://www.ibm.com/design/ http://www.tinalzeng.com/ https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/gooddesign/

In the lead up to the launch of Change Lab Season 5 on September 25, we’re releasing a series of “Encore” episodes. For this final installment, we caught up with graphic journalist Wendy MacNaughton to discuss her latest creative endeavor: A Honda Element she’s tricked out to function as a mobile studio. The car features a custom-made drafting table, art supply storage, and a double bed to catch some zzz’s on longer road trips. Wendy embarked on the project after realizing that solo time on the road has always been a reliable source of creative inspiration. Wendy called us from her idea-generating machine in San Francisco to update us on her most recent wanderings. We hope you enjoy the episode. Don’t forget to tune in for a whole new season of conversations on creativity and transformation kicking off with Lorne’s incisive interview with IBM design chief, Phil Gilbert.

In the lead up to the launch of Change Lab Season 5 on September 25, we’re releasing a series of “Encore” episodes. For this installment, we caught up with designer and entrepreneur Jesse Genet for an update on the big changes she’s undergone in the short time since we last spoke. As the home-shopping revolution continues to redefine the way we shop and live, Lumi, Genet’s packaging business, has become an integral part of the e-commerce pipeline. To accommodate this growth, Lumi has moved into a larger space near the Arts District in Downtown L.A. Genet invited us into Lumi’s new HQ to give us the lowdown on the latest developments in her dynamic career.

In the lead up to the launch of Change Lab Season 5 on September 25, we’re releasing a series of “Encore” episodes. For this debut installment, we caught up with artist Jackie Amezquita before she embarked on a three-week journey from Southern California through Mexico, primarily on foot, all the way to her native Guatemala. Amezquita refers to this emotionally and physically arduous journey as a performance titled “De Norte a Sud.” Over the course of her three-week trek, she’ll be retracing the path she took as a young Guatemalan migrant to an unknown life in the United States of America, only this time in the opposite direction. Amezquita uses her interactions and conversations with people along the way to explore the myriad cultural, economic, and racial divides so entrenched in this part of the world. This bonus episode interweaves two conversations with Amezquita, recorded more than a year apart, producing an illuminating and intimate portrait of the lived experience of an issue that’s too often reduced to sensational headlines. We hope you enjoy this updated episode. Don’t forget to tune in for a whole new season of conversations on creativity and transformation kicking off with Lorne’s incisive interview with IBM design chief, Phil Gilbert.

For the past thirty years, Father Greg Boyle has made it his mission to heal those afflicted by the epidemic of gang violence. As the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehab and reentry program in the world, Father Greg has been instrumental in turning the tide on violent crime in Los Angeles and beyond. The secret to his success begins with reframing the question typically posed by well-meaning social servants. Instead of asking “how can we serve gang members?” Father Greg asks: “how can we stand with them, in awe of the pain they carry, and allow ourselves to be reached by them?” Father Greg, a Jesuit Priest who affectionately refers to his flock of recovering gang members as his “homies,” would argue the centerpiece of what homeboy does is provide the space for “exquisite mutuality” to provide the framework necessary for healing from trauma. Lorne’s interview with Father Greg took place on location at Homeboy. As much as he had absorbed about Homeboy’s culture of “radical kinship,” he was still unprepared for the joyfully kinetic energy coursing through its bustling, light-filled headquarters. The place was teeming with men and women of all ages engaged in both casual conversations and impassioned heart-to-hearts. At the center of the communal action was Father Greg’s glass-encased office, which he seems to occupy only occasionally. To find Father Greg, search the crowd. He’ll be there, doling out bear hugs and giving his undivided attention to anyone in need. There never seemed to be any shortage of takers. Father Greg exhibits a striking generosity of spirit. But Lorne couldn’t help seeing him as the artist, and was determined to explore with him the creative nature of his work. Given his modesty, he initially resisted the notion. But by the end of the interview, a number of striking parallels emerged.   Links mentioned: https://homeboyindustries.org/ https://www.amazon.com/Barking-Choir-Power-Radical-Kinship/dp/1476726159 https://www.amazon.com/Tattoos-Heart-Power-Boundless-Compassion/dp/1439153159/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2/136-7784137-0791013?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1439153159&pd_rd_r=8f4f74ae-7cd8-11e9-ba98-0ff29dc49ff2&pd_rd_w=hM8Jy&pd_rd_wg=6FlCF&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=05B0AYAJB0JEVF778649&psc=1&refRID=05B0AYAJB0JEVF778649

Rosanne Somerson is an internationally exhibited furniture designer and President of Rhode Island School of Design. Somerson, a RISD alum, sees her parallel roles as a leader and practitioner as complementary parts of her life’s work, which she says began when she was a young girl charged with describing the world to her blind grandfather and “opening doors for people to see things differently.” Somerson, who grew up outside of Philadelphia, initially set out to pursue a career in photography. She changed course after her first year at RISD, when she discovered her calling to create functional works of art in 3D during a woodworking class. After earning her degree in Industrial Design and establishing a thriving design studio, she began teaching at her alma mater. In 1995, she was asked to run the newly minted degree program in Furniture Design. The scope of her leadership responsibilities expanded in 2011 when she elevated to the role of provost, and then, in 2015, named president of Rhode Island School of Design. Lorne came to know and deeply respect Rosanne through their time spent together at various meetings and conferences. They discovered that in addition to leading colleges of art and design on opposite coasts, they also share a conviction that a studio based immersive making environment is fundamental to fostering and mastering a creative life. As they gathered in Detroit for a recent conference, Lorne sat down for an interview with Rosanne in a recording studio (converted from an old shipping container) to explore some of the most pressing issues facing arts education today. The result was a wide-ranging dialogue on innovation and change, affordability and accessibility, and the enduring and growing value of design thinking in these challenging times.