The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
art university in
Santa Clarita, California
Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17th ...
. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the
visual
The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...
and performing arts. It offers
Bachelor of Fine Arts
A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases.
Background
The Bachelor ...
,
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...
, Master of Arts, and
Doctor of Musical Arts
The Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) is a doctoral academic degree in music. The DMA combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization (usually music performance, music composition, or conducting) with graduate-level academic study in ...
degrees through its six schools: Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theater.
The school was first envisioned by many benefactors in the early 1960s, staffed by a diverse array of professionals including
Nelbert Chouinard
Nelbert Chouinard (born Nelbertina Murphy; 1879–1969) was an American artist who founded the Chouinard Arts Institute (1921) in Los Angeles, California. The Institute had a great influence on the arts and art education in Los Angeles, educat ...
,
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
, Lulu Von Hagen, and Thornton Ladd.
CalArts students develop their own work, over which they retain control and copyright, in a workshop atmosphere.
History
CalArts was originally formed in 1961, as a merger of the
Chouinard Art Institute
The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt and Roy Disney guided the merger of the Chouinard Art In ...
(founded 1921) and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (founded 1883). Both of the formerly existing institutions were going through financial difficulties, and the founder of the Art Institute,
Nelbert Chouinard
Nelbert Chouinard (born Nelbertina Murphy; 1879–1969) was an American artist who founded the Chouinard Arts Institute (1921) in Los Angeles, California. The Institute had a great influence on the arts and art education in Los Angeles, educat ...
, was mortally ill.
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
was longtime friends with both Chouinard and Lulu May Von Hagen, the chair of the Conservatory, and discovered and trained many of his studio's artists at the two schools (including
Mary Blair
Mary Blair (born Mary Browne Robinson; October 21, 1911 – July 26, 1978) was an American people, American artist, animator, and designer. She was prominent in producing art and animation for The Walt Disney Company, drawing concept art for s ...
,
Maurice Noble
Maurice James Noble (May 1, 1911 – May 18, 2001) was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand man ...
, and some of the
Nine Old Men
Disney's Nine Old Men were Walt Disney Productions' core animators, some of whom later became directors, who created some of Disney's most famous animated cartoons, from '' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937) onward to ''The Rescuers'' (197 ...
, among others). To keep the educational mission of the schools alive, the merger and expansion of the two institutions was coordinated; a process which continued after Walt's death in 1966.
Joining him in this effort were his brother
Roy O. Disney
Roy Oliver Disney (; June 24, 1893 – December 20, 1971) was an American businessman and co-founder of The Walt Disney Company. He was the older brother of Walt Disney and the father of Roy E. Disney.
Biography Early life
Disney was bor ...
, Nelbert Chouinard, Lulu May Von Hagen and Thornton Ladd (Ladd & Kelsey, Architects).
Without Walt, the remaining founders assembled a team and planned on creating CalArts as a school that was a destination, like Disneyland, to be a feeder school for the various arts industries. To lead this project they appointed Robert W. Corrigan as the first president of the institute.
The original board of trustees at CalArts included
Harrison Price
Harrison Alan "Buzz" Price (May 17, 1921 – August 15, 2010) was a research economist specializing in how people spend their leisure time and resources. Price guided Walt Disney in the siting and development of Disneyland in Southern California an ...
,
Royal Clark,
Robert W. Corrigan
Robert Willoughby Corrigan (23 September 1927 – 1 September 1993) was an American academic and the founding editor of the ''Carleton Drama Review'', which later became '' TDR: The Drama Review''.
Robert Willoughby Corrigan was born in Portage, W ...
,
Roy E. Disney
Roy Edward Disney KCSG (January 10, 1930 – December 16, 2009) was an American businessman. He was the longtime senior executive for the Walt Disney Company, which was founded by his father, Roy O. Disney, and his uncle, Walt Disney. At the ti ...
,
Roy O. Disney
Roy Oliver Disney (; June 24, 1893 – December 20, 1971) was an American businessman and co-founder of The Walt Disney Company. He was the older brother of Walt Disney and the father of Roy E. Disney.
Biography Early life
Disney was bor ...
, film producer Z. Wayne Griffin,
H. R. Haldeman
Harry Robbins Haldeman (October 27, 1926 – November 12, 1993) was an American political aide and businessman, best known for his service as White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon and his consequent involvement in the Watergate s ...
, Ralph Hetzel (then vice president of
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
),
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
, Ronald Miller,
Millard Sheets
Millard Owen Sheets (June 24, 1907 – March 31, 1989) was an American artist, teacher, and architectural designer. He was one of the earliest of the California Scene Painting artists and helped define the art movement. Many of his large-scale bu ...
, attorney Maynard Toll, attorney Luther Reese Marr, bank executive G. Robert Truex Jr.,
Jerry Wexler
Jerry may refer to:
Animals
* Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National
* Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...
,
Meredith Willson
Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American flutist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer. He is perhaps best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 195 ...
, Peter McBean and Scott Newhall (descendants of
Henry Newhall
Henry Mayo Newhall (May 13, 1825 – March 13, 1882) was an American businessman whose extensive land holdings became the Southern California communities of Newhall, Saugus and Valencia, and the city of Santa Clarita.
Life
Born in Saugus, Ma ...
); and the wives of
Roswell Gilpatric
Roswell Leavitt Gilpatric (November 4, 1906 – March 15, 1996) was a New York City corporate attorney and government official who served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1961–64, when he played a pivotal role in the high-stake strategie ...
, J. L. Hurschler, and Richard R. Von Hagen.
In 1965, the Alumni Association was founded. The 12 founding board of directors members were
Mary Costa
Mary Costa (born April 5, 1930) is an American retired actress and singer. Her most notable film credit is providing the voice of Princess Aurora in the 1959 Disney animated film ''Sleeping Beauty'', of which she is the last surviving original vo ...
,
Edith Head
Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making her the most awarded woman in the Academy's history. Head is consi ...
,
Gale Storm
Josephine Owaissa Cottle (April 5, 1922 – June 27, 2009), known professionally as Gale Storm, was an American actress and singer. After a film career from 1940 to 1952, she starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, ''My Littl ...
,
Marc Davis,
Tony Duquette
Anthony Duquette (June 11, 1914 – September 9, 1999) was an American artist who specialized in designs for stage and film.
Early life and education
Duquette was born in Los Angeles, California. He was the oldest of four children. He grew u ...
,
Harold Grieve
Harold Grieve (February 1, 1901 – November 3, 1993) was a motion picture art director and interior designer.
Born in Los Angeles, California, he attended Hollywood High School then studied art at the "School of Illustration and Painting" run by ...
,
John Hench
John Hench (June 29, 1908 – February 5, 2004) was an American artist, designer and director at The Walt Disney Company. For 65 years, he helped design and develop various Disney attractions and theme parks.
Early life
Hench was born on June 2 ...
,
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
,
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...
,
Marty Paich
Martin Louis Paich (January 23, 1925 – August 12, 1995) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, record producer, music director, and conductor. As a musician and arranger he worked with jazz musicians Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kento ...
,
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many world-famous vocalists at Capitol Records ...
, and
Millard Sheets
Millard Owen Sheets (June 24, 1907 – March 31, 1989) was an American artist, teacher, and architectural designer. He was one of the earliest of the California Scene Painting artists and helped define the art movement. Many of his large-scale bu ...
.
The ground-breaking for CalArts' current campus took place on May 3, 1969, as part of the Master Plan for a new planned community in the Santa Clarita Valley of Los Angeles. However, construction of the new campus was hampered by torrential rains, labor shortages, and the
Sylmar Earthquake in 1971. CalArts moved to its new campus in
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
, now part of the city of
Santa Clarita, California
Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17th ...
, in November 1971.
Founding CalArts president Corrigan, formerly the founding dean of the
School of Arts at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, fired almost all the artists who taught at Chouinard and the Conservatory in his attempt to remake CalArts into his new vision. He appointed fellow academic
Herbert Blau
Herbert Blau (May 3, 1926 – May 3, 2013) was an American director and theoretician of performance. He was named the Byron W. and Alice L. Lockwood Professor in the Humanities at the University of Washington.
Early life and career
Blau earned ...
to be the founding dean of the School of Theatre and Dance, and serve as the Institute's first Provost. Blau and Corrigan then hired other academics to found the original academic areas, including
Mel Powell
Mel Powell (born Melvin Epstein) (February 12, 1923 – April 24, 1998) was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, and the founding dean of the music department at the California Institute of the Arts. He served as a music educator for over ...
(dean of the School of Music),
Paul Brach
Paul Brach (March 13, 1924 - November 16, 2007) was an American abstract painter, as well as a lecturer and educator.
As an abstract painter Paul Brach exhibited his work in New York with the Leo Castelli Gallery, the Cordier & Eckstrom Gal ...
(dean of the School of Art),
Alexander Mackendrick
Alexander Mackendrick (September 8, 1912 – December 22, 1993) was an American-born director and professor, long based in Scotland. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and later moved to Scotland. He began making television commercials befor ...
(dean of the School of Film),
Maurice R. Stein
Maurice R. Stein (born 1926) is an American sociologist and innovator in higher education. Stein is co-recipient of the 1987 Robert and Helen Lynd Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed by the American Sociological Association's Community and Urban S ...
(director of Critical Studies), and
Richard Farson
Richard Farson Ph.D., (November 16, 1926 – June 13, 2017) was an American psychologist, author, and educator. He was the president and chief executive officer of the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute, which he co-founded in 1958 with physici ...
(dean of the School of Design, the remains of which was integrated into in the Art school as the Graphic Design program), as well as other influential faculty such as Stephan von Huene,
Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as ...
,
Bella Lewitzky
Bella Lewitzky (January 13, 1916, Los Angeles, California – July 16, 2004, Pasadena, California) was a modern dance choreographer, dancer and teacher.
Biography
Born to Jewish Russian immigrants, Lewitzky spent her childhood on a ranch in San Be ...
,
Michael Asher,
Jules Engel
Jules Engel (born Gyula Engel, March 11, 1909 – September 6, 2003) was an American filmmaker, painter, sculptor, graphic artist, set designer, animator, film director, and teacher. He was the founding director of the experimental animation ...
,
John Baldessari
John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California.
Initially a painter, ...
,
Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
,
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...
,
Max Kozloff
Max Kozloff (born 1933) is an American art historian, art critic of modern art and photographer. He has been art editor at ''The Nation'', and Executive Editor of ''Artforum''. His essay "American Painting During the Cold War" is of particular im ...
,
Miriam Shapiro,
Douglas Huebler
Douglas Huebler (October 27, 1924 – July 12, 1997) was an American conceptual artist.
Life and career
Douglas Huebler grew up in rural Michigan during the Depression and served in the Marines in World War II. After the war, funded by the ...
,
Morton Subotnick
Morton Subotnick (born April 14, 1933) is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his 1967 composition '' Silver Apples of the Moon'', the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch. He was one of the foun ...
,
Norman M. Klein, and
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super hi ...
, most of whom came from a
counterculture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
and ''
avant garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical De ...
'' perspective.
Corrigan held his position until 1972, when he was fired and replaced by then board member William S. Lund, Walt Disney's son-in-law, as the Institute approached insolvency. The period between 1972 and 1975 was extremely unstable financially, and Lund had to make significant operational reductions, including layoffs, to keep the Institute alive.
In 1975,
Robert J. Fitzpatrick was appointed president of CalArts. During his presidency, the Institute grew its enrollment and stabilized, and added new programs for which it is known globally today, including the programs in Character Animation and Jazz. While President, Fitzpatrick also served as the director of the
1984 Olympic Arts Festival. He then founded the Los Angeles Festival, which grew directly out of the proceeds of the
1984 Olympic Games. After 1984, John Orders (the assistant to the president/chief of staff) largely coordinated the Institute's operations in partnership with the other leaders. In 1987, Fitzpatrick resigned as president to take the position of head of EuroDisney (now
Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disneyland Park is the origin ...
) in Paris, France.
In 1988,
Steven D. Lavine, then the Assistant Program Director for the Arts and Humanities of the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
, was appointed president. During his time in office, Lavine continued to grow enrollment without physically expanding the campus, and added the
Roy & Edna Disney CalArts Theatre, part of the
Los Angeles Music Center
The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ...
’s new
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Ave ...
project, to the operations of the Institute.
Lavine navigated the
1994 Northridge Earthquake
The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.
The quake had a duration of approximately ...
which closed the main building in Valencia at the start of the spring semester. Classes were held in rental party tents on the 60 acre grounds, and alternate teaching locations were scattered miles apart around Los Angeles County. The building was “red tagged” and not allowed to be used until millions of dollars of repairs were performed.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided the bulk of the financial assistance allowing fundamental repairs due to seismic activity to occur, with private donations allowing the renovations of certain spaces in the building, which opened during the fall semester.
Also in 1994,
Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the ...
, a professional musician and admirer of the institute, established the
Alpert Awards in the Arts
The Alpert Award in the Arts was established in the 1994 by The Herb Alpert Foundation in collaboration with the California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, Cali ...
in collaboration with CalArts and his Herb Alpert Foundation. The foundation provides the funding for the awards and related activity. The Institute's faculty in the fields film/new media, visual arts, theatre, dance, and music select artists in their field to nominate an individual artist who is recognized for their innovation in their given medium. Recipients of the award have a visiting artist residency at CalArts, mentor students, and sometimes premiere work. In 2008, CalArts named the School of Music for Alpert, in recognition of his ongoing support.
On August 29, 2014, a freshman student identified as Regina filed a Title IX process complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights against CalArts, alleging an improper response to her reported rape by a classmate. According to
Aljazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
, the CalArts administration's process included the questioning of the victim, "...ask
ngher questions about her drinking habits, how often she partied, the length of her dress, ..."
The victim alleged that she was also subjected to retaliation from friends of the perpetrator. The perpetrator was ultimately found responsible by the Institute's investigation process and was suspended.
The student's process complaint was investigated and dismissed by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. During the process of the complainant's Title IX investigation, CalArts students walked out of their classes and protested in solidarity with the victim, later initiating a student-led meeting to discuss the issue of sexual assault.
On June 24, 2015, Lavine announced he would step down as president in May 2017, after 29 years in the position.
On December 13, 2016, after an 18-month search which included over 500 candidates, Chair Tim Disney and the CalArts board of trustees announced that
Ravi S. Rajan, then the dean of the School of the Arts at the
State University of New York at Purchase
The State University of New York at Purchase (commonly Purchase College or SUNY Purchase) is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It was fo ...
, was unanimously selected as president, to begin in June 2017.
Over the years the institute has developed experimental interdisciplinary laboratories such as the
Center for Experiments in Art, Information, and Technology,
Center for Integrated Media
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bo ...
,
Center for New Performance at CalArts, and the Cotsen Center for Puppetry and the Arts. Some of these experimental labs continue today.
Academics
CalArts offers various undergraduate and graduate degrees in programs that are related to and combine music, art,
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
,
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
, animation,
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
, and writing. Students receive intensive professional training in an area of their creative aspirations without being cast into a rigid pattern. The Institute's overall focus is on experimental, multidisciplinary, contemporary arts practices, and its stated mission is to enable the professional artists of tomorrow, artists who will transform the world through artistic practice. With these goals in place, the Institute encourages students to recognize the complexity of political, social, and aesthetic questions and to respond to them with informed, independent judgment.
Admission
Every program within the Institute requires that applicants send in an
artist's statement
An artist's statement (or artist statement) is an artist's written description of their work. The brief text is for, and in support of, their own work to give the viewer understanding. As such it aims to inform, connect with an art context, and pre ...
, along with a
portfolio
Portfolio may refer to:
Objects
* Portfolio (briefcase), a type of briefcase
Collections
* Portfolio (finance), a collection of assets held by an institution or a private individual
* Artist's portfolio, a sample of an artist's work or a ...
or
audition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performer. It typically involves the performer displaying their talent through a previously memorized and rehearsed solo piece or by performing a work or piece giv ...
to be considered for admission. The institute has never required an applicant's
SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schola ...
or other test scores, and does not consider an applicant's
GPA
Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...
as part of the admission process without the consent of the applicant .
Conception and foundation
The initial concept behind CalArts' interdisciplinary approach came from
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's idea of ''
Gesamtkunstwerk
A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, literally 'total artwork', translated as 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of al ...
'' ("total artwork"), of which Walt Disney himself was fond and explored in a variety of forms, beginning with his own studio, then later in the incorporation of CalArts. He began with the film ''
Fantasia
Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...
'' (1940), where animators, dancers, composers, and artists alike collaborated. In 1952,
Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attra ...
was founded, where Disney formed a team of artists including
Herbert Ryman
Herbert Dickens Ryman Jr. (June 28, 1910 – February 10, 1989) was an American artist and Disney Imagineer. Ryman worked in watercolor, oils, and pen & ink sketches. In 1953 Ryman drew the first illustrations of Walt Disney's vision of a theme p ...
, Ken O’Brien, Collin Campbell, Marc Davis,
Al Bertino
Al Bertino (July 15, 1912 – August 18, 1996) was an American animator best remembered for his work with the Walt Disney Company
Born in California in 1912, Bertino began work for Walt Disney in 1935. Apart from his work on feature films, such as ...
,
Wathel Rogers, Mary Blair,
T. Hee
Thornton Hee (March 26, 1911 – October 30, 1988) was an American animator, director, and teacher. He taught character design and caricature.
Career
Hee worked at Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1935–36 as a character designer. He de ...
, Blaine Gibson,
Xavier Atencio
Francis Xavier Atencio, also known as X Atencio (September 4, 1919 – September 10, 2017) was an animator and Walt Disney Imagineering, Imagineer for The Walt Disney Company. He is perhaps best known for writing the scripts and song lyrics of th ...
,
Claude Coats
Claude Coats (January 17, 1913 – January 9, 1992) was an American artist, background artist, animator and Scenic design, set designer, known for his work with the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering. His pioneering work wi ...
, and
Yale Gracey
Yale Gracey (September 3, 1910 – September 5, 1983) was a Disney Imagineer, writer, and layout artist for many Disney animated shorts, including classics such as ''The Three Caballeros'' and '' Fantasia''. Gracey joined the company in 1939 as a ...
. He believed that the same concept that developed WDI could also be applied to a university setting, where art students of different media would be exposed to and explore a wide range of creative directions.
Schools
Schools at CalArts include:
* School of Art
* School of Critical Studies
* School of Film/Video
* The Herb Alpert School of Music
* School of Theater
* The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance
Notable facilities
A113
A113
A113 (sometimes A-113, A-1-13, A1-13 or A11-3) is an inside joke and Easter egg in media developed by alumni of California Institute of the Arts, referring to the classroom used by graphic design and character animation students.
History
Student ...
is a classroom at CalArts where the character animation program (then called the Disney animation program) was originally founded. Many CalArts alumni have
inserted references to it in their works (not just animation) as an homage to this classroom and to CalArts.
Downtown Los Angeles
In 2003, CalArts built a theater and art gallery in downtown Los Angeles called
REDCAT
Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) is an interdisciplinary contemporary arts center for innovative visual, performing and media arts in downtown Los Angeles, located inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Opened in November 2003 ...
, the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater as part of the
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Ave ...
in the
Los Angeles Music Center
The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ...
.
John Baldessari Art Studios
In 2013, CalArts opened its John Baldessari Art Studios, which cost $3.1 million to build, and features approximately 7,000 square feet of space for MFA Art students and program courses. In addition to debt, funding for the studios was partially raised by the sale of artwork donated by School of Art alumni, for whom each studio was then named.
Notable alumni, faculty, and honorary degrees
*
List of California Institute of the Arts people
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
Alpert Award in the Arts
The
Alpert Award in the Arts
The Alpert Award in the Arts was established in the 1994 by The Herb Alpert Foundation in collaboration with the California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, Cali ...
was established in 1994 by The Herb Alpert Foundation and CalArts. The Institute annually awards a $75,000 no-strings-attached fellowship to five artists in the fields of dance, film and video, music, theatre, and visual arts. Awardees have a residency at CalArts during the following academic year.
Critical reception and cultural influence
In 2011, ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''/''The Daily Beast'' listed CalArts as the top school for arts-minded students. The ranking was not aimed to assess the country's best art school, but rather to assess campuses that offer an exceptional artistic atmosphere.
Animation industry
Several students who attended CalArts' animation programs in the 1970s eventually found work at
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
, and several of those went on to successful careers at Disney,
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
, and other animation studios. In February 2014, ''
Vanity Fair'' magazine highlighted the success of CalArts' 1970s animation alumni and briefly profiled several (including
Jerry Rees
Jerry W. Rees (born November 15, 1956) is an American film director and animator, best known for the Emmy-nominated animated film ''The Brave Little Toaster'' (1987) and creating many of the visual effects for the cult classic ''Tron'' (1982).
E ...
,
John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter (; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, and the head of animation at Skydance Animation. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, ...
,
Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...
,
John Musker
John Edward Musker (born November 8, 1953) is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He often collaborates with fellow director Ron Clements and is best known for writing and directing the Walt Disney Animation Studi ...
,
Brad Bird
Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning forty years in both animation and live-action.
Bird was born in Montana and grew up in ...
,
Gary Trousdale
Gary Trousdale (born June 8, 1960) is an American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of t ...
,
Kirk Wise
Kirk Wise (born August 24, 1963) is an American film director, animator and screenwriter best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Wise has directed Disney animated films such as ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''The Hunchback of Notre ...
,
Henry Selick
Charles Henry Selick Jr. (; born November 30, 1952) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, production designer, and animator who is best known for directing the stop-motion animation films ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...
and
Nancy Beiman
Nancy Beiman is a director, character designer, teacher, and animator. She attended the Character Animation program at CalArts.
Career
Animation
In 1986, Beiman cofounded Caged Beagle Productions with business partner Dean Yeagle. She then move ...
) in an article illustrated with a group portrait taken by photographer
Annie Leibovitz
Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of Jo ...
inside classroom
A113
A113 (sometimes A-113, A-1-13, A1-13 or A11-3) is an inside joke and Easter egg in media developed by alumni of California Institute of the Arts, referring to the classroom used by graphic design and character animation students.
History
Student ...
.
In the late 1980s, a group of CalArts animation students contacted animation director
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatric ...
. As he was in the process of moving to New York, they persuaded him to stay in Los Angeles to continue to produce
adult animation
Adult animation, also known as mature animation, and infrequently as adult-oriented animation, is any type of animation, animated motion work that is catered specifically to adult interests, and is mainly targeted and marketed towards adults and ...
. Bakshi then got the production rights to the cartoon character
Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse is an American animated Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''Th ...
. By Bakshi's request,
Tom Minton
Tom Minton is an American animator, producer, writer, and storyboard artist. He created and wrote the "Toby Danger" episode of ''Freakazoid!'', wrote the lyrics to the song "Brainstem" and served as head model for the Warner Bros. character th ...
and John Kricfalusi then went to the CalArts campus to recruit the best talent from what was the recent group of graduates. They hired
Jeff Pidgeon
Jeff Pidgeon is an American animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and voice actor at Pixar.
Early life
Influenced by Charles M. Schulz's comic strip ''Peanuts'', Jeff Pidgeon dreamed of becoming a newspaper cartoonist. He studied and grad ...
,
Rich Moore
Rich Moore is an American film and television animation director, screenwriter and voice actor. He has directed the films ''Wreck-It Ralph'' (2012) and co-directed ''Zootopia'' (2016) and '' Ralph Breaks the Internet'' (2018) for Walt Disney ...
, Carole Holiday,
Andrew Stanton
Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American filmmaker and voice actor based at Pixar, which he joined in 1990. His film work includes co-writing and co-directing Pixar's ''A Bug's Life'' (1998), directing ''Finding Nemo'' (2003) an ...
and Nate Kanfer to work on the then-new ''
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'' television series.
In an interview, Craig "Spike" Decker of
Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation is a presentation of Award-winning animated short films, annually touring throughout theaters, film festivals or college campuses in the United States.
Background
The festival is presented annually in th ...
commented on the work of independent animator
Don Hertzfeldt
Don Hertzfeldt (born August 1, 1976) is an American animator, writer, and independent filmmaker. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee who is best known for the animated films ''It's Such a Beautiful Day'', the '' World of Tomorrow'' series, an ...
stating that Hertzfeldt demonstrated good instincts coupled with his lack of interest in the world of commerce. In making a comparison, Decker made a reference to CalArts stating: "A lot of animators come out of CalArts – they could be so prolific, but then they're owned by Disney or someone, and they're painting the fins on the Little Mermaid. You'll never see their full potential". He would later go on to serve as a mentor to
John Kricfalusi
Michael John Kricfalusi ( ; born September 9, 1955), known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, voice actor and former animator. He is the creator of the animated television series ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', which was ...
, who has been openly critical of Disney and the CalArts style.
CalArts style
A
pejorative term
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
, "CalArts style", gained prominence in the late 2010s to describe a thin-line animation style that spread around the world during this period. The term's origin is attributed to animator
John Kricfalusi
Michael John Kricfalusi ( ; born September 9, 1955), known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, voice actor and former animator. He is the creator of the animated television series ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', which was ...
in a now-deleted blog post from 2010 about the film ''
The Iron Giant
''The Iron Giant'' is a 1999 American animated science fiction film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Brad Bird in his directorial debut. It is based on the 1968 novel '' The Iron Man'' by Ted Hughes (which was publish ...
'', in which Kricfalusi criticizes what he sees as young animators subconsciously copying superficial aspects of well-respected animators' work without learning underlying animation skills.
The so-called "CalArts style" has been attributed to successful animated shows like ''
Adventure Time
''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...
'', ''
Gravity Falls
''Gravity Falls'' is an American mystery comedy animated television series created by Alex Hirsch for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series follows the adventures of Dipper Pines (Jason Ritter) and his twin sister Mabel (Kristen Schaal) wh ...
'', and ''
Over the Garden Wall
''Over the Garden Wall'' is an American animated television miniseries created by Patrick McHale for Cartoon Network. The series centers on two half-brothers who travel across a mysterious forest to find their way home, encountering a variet ...
'', which are from CalArts graduates
Pendleton Ward
Ward Taylor Pendleton Johnston (born September 23, 1982), known professionally as Pendleton Ward or simply Pen Ward, is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor who has worked for Cartoon Network Studios, Freder ...
,
Alex Hirsch
Alexander Robert Hirsch (born June 18, 1985) is an American voice actor, animator, writer, storyboard artist, and producer. He is the creator of the Disney Channel series ''Gravity Falls'', for which he provided the voices of Grunkle Stan, Soos ...
, and
Pat McHale
Patrick Nolen McHale (born November 17, 1983) is an American animator, screenwriter, songwriter, and director.
Known for his work in animation, he served as writer, creative director and storyboard artist for both the television series ''Adventur ...
, respectively, but has also been attributed to non-CalArts animators, such as
Rebecca Sugar
Rebecca Rea Sugar (born July 9, 1987) is an American animator and screenwriter. She is best known for being the creator of the Cartoon Network series ''Steven Universe'', making her the first non-binary person to independently create a series for ...
's ''
Steven Universe
''Steven Universe'' is an American animated series, animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (character), Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who li ...
'', Kyle Carrozza's ''
Mighty Magiswords
Mighty may refer to:
* ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album)
* ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album)
* ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film
*''The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film
* ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title
*Th ...
'', and
John McIntyre's 2016
''Ben 10'' reboot.
Detractors claim that because of CalArts' importance to Western animation, it is the cause of the style of illustration in the animation industry.
Animators like
Rob Renzetti
Robert John Renzetti is an American animator and author. Renzetti is known for creating ''My Life as a Teenage Robot'' and the ''Oh Yeah! Cartoons'' series ''Mina and the Count'' for Nickelodeon, directing '' Dexter's Laboratory'', ''The Powerpuf ...
have questioned the use of the term, saying that it has been applied so broadly as to be functionally meaningless as criticism, and is instead just name calling.
Adam Muto
Adam Muto (born July 19, 1980) is an American writer, director, storyboard artist, animator, and producer known for his work as the executive producer and showrunner of the animated television series ''Adventure Time''.
Career
Muto was a classma ...
, executive producer on ''Adventure Time'', has also said the term over-simplifies the process of animation design, and is too vague. Gavia Baker-Whitelaw on ''
The Daily Dot
''The Daily Dot'' is a digital media company covering the culture of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Founded by Nicholas White in 2011, ''The Daily Dot'' is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
The site, conceived as the Internet's "hometown ...
'' wrote that many animation fans that deride the "CalArts style" do so only when it is associated with shows that appear to promote, in their views, "
Tumblr
Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...
culture" that favors
progressive views.
Art
During the formative years of the Art School many of the teaching artists led different camps of movements. The two main camps were the
conceptualism
In metaphysics, conceptualism is a theory that explains universality of particulars as conceptualized frameworks situated within the thinking mind. Intermediate between nominalism and realism, the conceptualist view approaches the metaphysical co ...
students, which were led by John Baldasseri, and the fluxus camp, which was led by Allan Kaprow. Kaprow's approach to art was a continuation from his
tenure at Rugers University. Other movements included
Light and Space
Light and Space denotes a loosely affiliated art movement related to op art, minimalism and geometric abstraction originating in Southern California in the 1960s and influenced by John McLaughlin (artist), John McLaughlin. It is characterized by ...
, which was closely related to the artists associated with the
Ferus Gallery
The Ferus Gallery was a contemporary art gallery which operated from 1957 to 1966. In 1957, the gallery was located at 736-A North La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. In 1958, it was relocated across the street to 723 North La Cienega ...
in the greater Los Angeles area. In 1972, Calarts hosted an exhibition called ''The Last Plastics Show'', which was organized by faculty artist Judy Chicago, Doug Edge, as well as
Dewain Valentine. This exhibition included artists such as,
Carole Caroompas,
Ron Cooper,
Ronald Davis
Ronald "Ron" Davis (born 1937) is an American painter whose work is associated with geometric abstraction, abstract illusionism, lyrical abstraction, hard-edge painting, shaped canvas painting, color field painting, and 3D computer graphics. He ...
,
Fred Eversley,
Craig Kauffman
Craig Kauffman (March 31, 1932 – May 9, 2010) was an artist who has exhibited since 1951. Kauffman's primarily abstract paintings and wall relief sculptures are included in over 20 museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whit ...
,
Linda Levi
Linda Levi (born 1935) is an American artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Early life and education
Born in Los Angeles, Levi was educated at Los Angeles High School, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Ca ...
,
Ed Moses,
Barbara T. Smith
Barbara Turner Smith (born 1931 in Pasadena, California) is an American artist known for her performance art in the late 1960s, exploring themes of food, nurturing, the body, spirituality, and sexuality. Smith was part of the Feminist Movement in ...
, and
Vasa Mihich.
In the autobiography ''Bad Boy: My Life On and Off the Canvas'' by CalArts alum
Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl (born March 9, 1948) is an American painter, sculptor, printmaker, draughtsman and educator. He is known for his paintings depicting American suburbia from the 1970s and 1980s.
Life
Fischl was born in New York City and grew up on su ...
, he describes his experience as a student as "CalArts had such a narrow idea of the New. It was innovation for its own sake, a future that didn't include the past But without foundation, without techniques or a deeper understanding of history, you'd go off these wild explorations and end up reinventing the wheel. And then you'd get slammed for it."
Art critic
Dave Hickey
David Hickey (December 5, 1938 – November 12, 2021) was an American art critic who wrote for many American publications including ''Rolling Stone'', ''ARTnews'', '' Art in America'', ''Artforum'', '' Harper's Magazine'', and '' Vanity Fair''. ...
critiqued the art program of CalArts by suggesting that the variety of reference that students are exposed to is limited to a certain pantheon. He stated "I can go over to Cal Arts and ask them if they know who
John Wesly is, and they would go, 'Huh? What discourse does he participate in?' I am in the art world only insofar as there are interesting things for me to write about. When that stops, or when I stop getting offers to write things, I’ll be out." Additionally, Hickey mentioned the use of appropriation by students at programs like CalArts. In this, he referenced the show
Pop-Up Video
''Pop Up Video'' is a VH1 television show that shows music videos annotated via "pop-up" bubbles — officially called "info nuggets" — containing trivia and witticisms relating to the video in question. The show was created by Woody T ...
, by which he stated "Creators
Tad Low
Tad Low (born Josiah Orne Low IV on September 26, 1966) is an American businessman and media entrepreneur. He is the creator and producer of television shows, including ''Pop-Up Video'' and ''Pants-Off Dance-Off''. He currently helms Spin The Bot ...
and Woody Thompson should receive honorary MFAs for
op Up Video because grad students worldwide are getting diplomas for just this sort of thing -- stealing (or as they say in art school, "appropriating") hackneyed pop images and scribbling on top of them ` la granddaddy Marcel. The show, which would not be out of place on a monitor in a darkened gallery at CalArts
...
In the ''
LA Weekly
''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...
'' op-ed piece "The Kids Aren't All Right: Is over-education killing young artists?", published in 2005, curator
Aaron Rose
Aaron Rose is an American film director, artist, exhibition curator and writer. Rose is known as the co-director of ''Beautiful Losers'', a film that focuses on an art movement which includes artists such as Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, S ...
wrote about an observed trend he recognized in Los Angeles's most esteemed art schools and their MFA programs, including CalArts. He uses the example of Supersonic, "a large exhibition ... that features the work of MFA students from esteemed area programs like CalArts, Art Center, UCLA, etc." In his observation of the showcase, he examined, "... the work left me mostly empty and with a few exceptions seemed like nothing more than a rehash of conceptual ideas that were mined years ago." He went on to state that "these institutions are staffed with amazing talents (Mike Kelley and John Baldessari among them). Legions of creative young people flock to our city
os Angelesevery year to work alongside their heroes and develop their talents with hopes of making it as an artist." He goes on to further state "What happens too often in these situations, though, is that we find young artists simply emulating their instructors, rather than finding and honing their own aesthetics and points of view about the world, society, themselves. In the beginnings of an artist's career, the power in his or her work should lie not in their technique or knowledge of art history or theory or business acumen, but in what one has to say."
CalArts alumnus
Ariel Pink
Ariel Marcus Rosenberg ( ; born June 24, 1978), professionally known as Ariel Pink, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter whose work draws heavily from the popular music of the 1960s–1980s. His lo-fi music, lo-fi aesthetic and home ...
notes in an interview "Unlike other art schools, they didn't focus on skills of any kind, specific color theory or anything like that. They were the only art school that was totally focused on teaching artists about the art market. They were trying to make the next
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst (; né
Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...
. They're trying to make the next
Jeff Koons
Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror- finish su ...
. Those guys don't need to know how to paint or draw."
Music
CalArts graduates have joined or started successful pop bands, including:
Maryama
Maryam Mirbagheri (Persian language, Persian: مریم میرباقری; born February 18, 1992), known professionally as Maryama, is an Iranian-American singer, songwriter, composer, music producer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles.
Early ...
,
Tranquility Bass
Tranquility Bass was the stage name of Michael Adam Kandel (1967/1968 – May 17, 2015), an American musician whose music has been variously categorized as ambient house, trip hop, and funk rock. He released various singles during the 1990s, follow ...
,
The Belle Brigade
The Belle Brigade was an American vocal and instrumental duo from Los Angeles, California, consisting of siblings Barbara Gruska (born c. 1983) on guitar, drums, and vocals, and Ethan Gruska (born c. 1989) on guitar, piano, and vocals. The duo r ...
,
The Weirdos
The Weirdos are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California. They formed in 1975, split-up in 1981, re-grouped in 1986 and have remained semi-active ever since. Critic Mark Deming calls them "quite simply, one of the best and bright ...
,
Bedroom Walls
Bedroom Walls was an American pop rock band active from 2001–2007 in Los Angeles, CA. It was formed in 2001 by Adam Samuel Goldman (later of Fol Chen) on guitar/vocals, with keyboardist/vocalist Melissa Thorne and drummer Julian Gross (now of ...
, Beelzabubba,
Dawn of Midi
Dawn of Midi is an American acoustic ensemble from Brooklyn, New York. The group is composed of bassist Aakaash Israni, pianist Amino Belyamani and drummer Qasim Naqvi. The group formed in 2007 in Los Angeles but have resided in Brooklyn since 2011 ...
,
Dirtwire,
The Rippingtons
The Rippingtons are an American contemporary jazz group, mainly relating to the genres smooth jazz, jazz fusion, jazz pop, and crossover jazz. Formed in 1985 by guitarist and band leader Russ Freeman, their career has spanned more than three de ...
,
Fitz and the Tantrums
Fitz and the Tantrums are an American indie pop and neo soul band from Los Angeles, California, that formed in 2008. The band consists of Michael Fitzpatrick (lead vocals), Noelle Scaggs (co-lead vocals and percussion), James King (saxophone, ...
,
Fol Chen
Fol Chen is an American electronic band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2009.Staff (undated)"Fol Chen" Asthmatic Kitty Records. Retrieved February 18, 2013. The band is signed to Asthmatic Kitty Records and has released three full-length ...
,
London After Midnight,
No Doubt
No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, they ...
,
Mission of Burma
Mission of Burma was an American post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The group formed in 1979 with Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass, Peter Prescott on drums, and Martin Swope contributing audiotape manipulation and acting as ...
, Radio Vago,
Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo () was an American new wave band formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the ye ...
,
Acetone
Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone), is an organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly volatile and flammable liquid with a characteristic pungent odour.
Acetone is miscib ...
,
Liars,
Suburban Lawns
Suburban Lawns were an American post-punk band formed in Long Beach, California in 1978 by CalArts students William "Vex Billingsgate" Ranson and Sue "Su Tissue" McLane. They later recruited Richard "Frankie Ennui" Whitney, Charles "Chuck Roast" ...
,
The Mae Shi
The Mae Shi was an experimental rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2002.
History
The band was formed by Tim Byron and Ezra Buchla, who had known each other for years, having spent time growing up in the Los Angeles suburb of Cla ...
,
The Suburbs
''The Suburbs'' is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on August 2, 2010. Coinciding with its announcement, the band released a limited edition 12-inch single containing the title track and "Month of May". ,
Touché Amoré
Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2007. The band consists of vocalist Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Babin. Among other ...
, and
Ozomatli
Ozomatli is an American rock band, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and incorporating a wide array of musical styles – including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, hip hop, and others. The group ...
.
Individually,
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...
and
Grant-Lee Phillips
Grant-Lee Phillips (born Bryan G. Phillips; September 1, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He led the group Grant Lee Buffalo in the 1990s, afterwards launching a solo career. He features as the town troubadour ...
never officially enrolled at CalArts, but participated in the world music courses at CalArts. Elfman would later gain recognition for his composition work with CalArts alum Tim Burton, and Phillips would go onto a career in music.
Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, members of the band
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
, remarked in an interview with
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
about the band
Liars, of which Angus Andrew and Julian Gross are CalArts luminaries. Moore's initial remarks were: "There's this whole world of young people who
hinkeverything's allowed. What Liars are doing right now is completely crazy. I saw them the other night and it was really great. It's really out-there". Gordon then stated "I'm not so crazy about the way
he Liars' They Were Wrong, So We Drownedsounds. It's like 'how lo-fi can we make it?' But I think the content is really good". In reference to CalArts and Gordon's statement, Moore lastly remarked "They're art kids. They came out of CalArts and that's the kind of sensibility you have when you come out of these sort of places."
Interestingly, Moore's partner Gordon went to the
Otis College of Art and Design
Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...
, herself a product of an art school.
See also
*
Afterall
Afterall is a nonprofit contemporary art research and publishing organisation. It is based in London, at Central St Martins College of Art & Design. It publishes the journal ''Afterall;'' the book series ''Readers,'' ''One Works'' and ''Exhibiti ...
*''
Black Clock
''Black Clock'' was an American literary magazine that published twenty-one issues over twelve years. Edited by Steve Erickson, the magazine was "dedicated to fiction, poetry and creative essays that explore the frontier of constructive anarchy.. ...
''
*''
East of Borneo
''East of Borneo'' is a 1931 American Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Pr ...
''
*
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
*''
The 1 Second Film
''The 1 Second Film'' is an American non-profit collaborative art project. The 1 Second Film began as a student project by Nirvan Mullick in 2001. Receiving contributions from thousands of people around the world, including many celebrities. The p ...
''
*
The Pictures Generation
''The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984'' was an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City that ran from April 29 – August 2, 2009. The exhibition took its name from ''Pictures'', a 1977 group show organized by art h ...
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Womanhouse
''Womanhouse'' (January 30 – February 28, 1972) was a feminist art installation and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, co-founders of the California Institute of the Arts ( CalArts) Feminist Art Program and was ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:California Institute Of The Arts
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