Monday, June 22, 2009
Valedictorian Address - Art Institute of California - Los Angeles 2009
For those of you who missed it - this is the text of my speech:
Good afternoon Art Institute of California-Los Angeles graduates, faculty and staff. Also thanks for coming parents, siblings, friends and any and all random stragglers who showed up for the light dessert reception.
Ai Graduates - we’re here today because we got through it! Family and friends – you’re here because you watched us go through it and are amazed we’re here today.
A while ago we students were in a “big room” being introduced to AI’s leaders at an orientation meeting. Then we wandered hallways (or the same hallway over and over again) looking for room numbers that made no sense. We put on our student uniforms, whether it be the culinary whites or the non-culinary hoodies and jeans, rolled our giant new student kits around to cold rooms and began the study of our future trades.
At the Art Institute our lives were very strictly planned. Having previously attended a traditional 4 year college I could immediately feel the difference in method and appreciate its design. As I see it our education here was divided into 3 sections – the Elements, the Structures and the Possibilities.
The Elements are what we learned in our first year. Our Theory and Fundamentals classes. For some of us these were classes about color, design, photography, computer basics and software specific classes. For others of us these were classes in listening, history, theory, business, sanitation and safety. During this time we often struggled with our limitations – looking up to our upper classmen, the pictures of alumni on the walls, the framed projects in the hallways, the Best of Quarter meetings, video screenings and Portfolio shows – and we wondered, “Am I ever going to learn how to do that? Will I be that good when I get there?”
And when our eyes were really beginning to open and our creativity really expanding – they started us in the study of the Structure. WHAT A SMACK IN THE FACE! Here we were with our new set of tools and skills ready to tackle the projects in our imagination and Ai said, “Nope. Not yet.”
This was about the time of our 4th Quarter Reviews and when things started to get hard. And that’s about the time when we lost many of our classmates. Some refused to be tethered and went their own ways. Others realized that it just wasn’t their time yet or that they didn’t enjoy it and they moved on. The rest of us strapped in and rode the emotional roller coaster of Structure.
For my major, Interactive Media Design, structure came in the form of Design Documents, wireframes, sitemaps, moodboards and code. For others, structure looked like storyboards, scripts, blueprints, architectural drafting, lighting, rigging, recipes, diagrams, time codes, budgeting, business planning, modeling, prototyping, design patterns and more.
The Ai instructors said, “Hey wait. We gave you that clay and you can do anything you want with it. But take a step back and look. If you build a frame out of wire first and THEN apply that clay look at how much more amazing your sculpture will be!” So we did. And sometimes our creations were amazing and other times we realized our structures were weak and we had to start again. And we did. And we’re the better for it.
And then they reintroduced the Possibilities.
When our admission reps first took us on our tours of the school they told us about the programs Ai offered and they gave us examples of the kinds of careers we could have. While we learned the Elements we were still dreaming big. When we began learning the Structures our visions became a little more short sighted. We needed to know what we could do today to get those assignments done by tomorrow. What prerequisites did we need to fulfill in order to get a specific class in by a certain quarter. And we got a little too serious and a little too focused on the here and now. And again Ai said, “Hey wait! Remember those big open eyes you had at the beginning? Open them up again.”
In our final time at Ai we began to learn about taking our elemental knowledge and our structured technique and applying it to an array of different possibilities. Whether it be different cultural foods, different styles of storytelling, different interactive or printed mediums, or different ways to market ourselves to employers – we learned that we had options and that our options weren’t limited. Anything is possible.
Now that we’ve reached the end of our time at Ai – we are in THAT mindset. Some of us have more of an idea about what we want to do. Some of us are already doing what we want to do. The rest of us know that we have the ability to adapt to whatever opportunities arise because we have the tools.
And now that we’re graduating, the state of the world economy is a little scary right now and the thought of going out and getting a job in this environment is stressful. But remember that we, in particular, have an advantage. We are all artists and entertainers and entertainment is what is most needed in times of trouble.
The world is changing before us and what it needs most now is our vision. This time will be remembered in the future by the way it was shaped by us. Whether it be through the stories we tell on screens of various sizes, the characters we create to entertain others, the environments we build or the comfort we cook up – in the future this time will be remembered by all of our possible contributions.
Emily Dickinson, another artist, wrote a poem (which I shall now read):
As we prepare to move out into the world I urge all of the Art Institute 2009 graduates to thank your family, friends, Ai staff and instructors for supporting you through the methodical instruction and the emotional ride that you’ve just been on.
Know the elements. Use the structure. And dwell in the possibilities.
Congratulations graduates.
Good afternoon Art Institute of California-Los Angeles graduates, faculty and staff. Also thanks for coming parents, siblings, friends and any and all random stragglers who showed up for the light dessert reception.
Ai Graduates - we’re here today because we got through it! Family and friends – you’re here because you watched us go through it and are amazed we’re here today.
A while ago we students were in a “big room” being introduced to AI’s leaders at an orientation meeting. Then we wandered hallways (or the same hallway over and over again) looking for room numbers that made no sense. We put on our student uniforms, whether it be the culinary whites or the non-culinary hoodies and jeans, rolled our giant new student kits around to cold rooms and began the study of our future trades.
At the Art Institute our lives were very strictly planned. Having previously attended a traditional 4 year college I could immediately feel the difference in method and appreciate its design. As I see it our education here was divided into 3 sections – the Elements, the Structures and the Possibilities.
The Elements are what we learned in our first year. Our Theory and Fundamentals classes. For some of us these were classes about color, design, photography, computer basics and software specific classes. For others of us these were classes in listening, history, theory, business, sanitation and safety. During this time we often struggled with our limitations – looking up to our upper classmen, the pictures of alumni on the walls, the framed projects in the hallways, the Best of Quarter meetings, video screenings and Portfolio shows – and we wondered, “Am I ever going to learn how to do that? Will I be that good when I get there?”
And when our eyes were really beginning to open and our creativity really expanding – they started us in the study of the Structure. WHAT A SMACK IN THE FACE! Here we were with our new set of tools and skills ready to tackle the projects in our imagination and Ai said, “Nope. Not yet.”
This was about the time of our 4th Quarter Reviews and when things started to get hard. And that’s about the time when we lost many of our classmates. Some refused to be tethered and went their own ways. Others realized that it just wasn’t their time yet or that they didn’t enjoy it and they moved on. The rest of us strapped in and rode the emotional roller coaster of Structure.
For my major, Interactive Media Design, structure came in the form of Design Documents, wireframes, sitemaps, moodboards and code. For others, structure looked like storyboards, scripts, blueprints, architectural drafting, lighting, rigging, recipes, diagrams, time codes, budgeting, business planning, modeling, prototyping, design patterns and more.
The Ai instructors said, “Hey wait. We gave you that clay and you can do anything you want with it. But take a step back and look. If you build a frame out of wire first and THEN apply that clay look at how much more amazing your sculpture will be!” So we did. And sometimes our creations were amazing and other times we realized our structures were weak and we had to start again. And we did. And we’re the better for it.
And then they reintroduced the Possibilities.
When our admission reps first took us on our tours of the school they told us about the programs Ai offered and they gave us examples of the kinds of careers we could have. While we learned the Elements we were still dreaming big. When we began learning the Structures our visions became a little more short sighted. We needed to know what we could do today to get those assignments done by tomorrow. What prerequisites did we need to fulfill in order to get a specific class in by a certain quarter. And we got a little too serious and a little too focused on the here and now. And again Ai said, “Hey wait! Remember those big open eyes you had at the beginning? Open them up again.”
In our final time at Ai we began to learn about taking our elemental knowledge and our structured technique and applying it to an array of different possibilities. Whether it be different cultural foods, different styles of storytelling, different interactive or printed mediums, or different ways to market ourselves to employers – we learned that we had options and that our options weren’t limited. Anything is possible.
Now that we’ve reached the end of our time at Ai – we are in THAT mindset. Some of us have more of an idea about what we want to do. Some of us are already doing what we want to do. The rest of us know that we have the ability to adapt to whatever opportunities arise because we have the tools.
And now that we’re graduating, the state of the world economy is a little scary right now and the thought of going out and getting a job in this environment is stressful. But remember that we, in particular, have an advantage. We are all artists and entertainers and entertainment is what is most needed in times of trouble.
The world is changing before us and what it needs most now is our vision. This time will be remembered in the future by the way it was shaped by us. Whether it be through the stories we tell on screens of various sizes, the characters we create to entertain others, the environments we build or the comfort we cook up – in the future this time will be remembered by all of our possible contributions.
Emily Dickinson, another artist, wrote a poem (which I shall now read):
I dwell in Possibility--
A fairer House than Prose--
More numerous of Windows--
Superior--for Doors--
Of Chambers as the Cedars--
Impregnable of Eye--
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky--
Of Visitors--the fairest--
For Occupation--This--
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise—
As we prepare to move out into the world I urge all of the Art Institute 2009 graduates to thank your family, friends, Ai staff and instructors for supporting you through the methodical instruction and the emotional ride that you’ve just been on.
Know the elements. Use the structure. And dwell in the possibilities.
Congratulations graduates.
Labels: speech
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Free business cards for life?
OvernightPrints.com is having a design contest - design this guy's card and if he picks it then you win free business cards for life!
http://www.overnightprints.com/businesscards-for-life-contest.shtml?&adt=319010
I wonder if that offer translates to cards that you would design for clients. (Probably not... just thinking out loud.) (Er... thinking in writing?)
http://www.overnightprints.com/businesscards-for-life-contest.shtml?&adt=319010
I wonder if that offer translates to cards that you would design for clients. (Probably not... just thinking out loud.) (Er... thinking in writing?)
Labels: logos
