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Why BFA Graduate Tina Miyakawa Returned to Otis College for an MFA in Graphic Design

Otis College of Art and Design’s Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design program is a collective of students, faculty, and international and local designers that over the course of an accelerated, 14-month timespan work through design exploration, critical inquiry, and applied projects. The program is designed to help working professionals and traditional students develop a professional practice in the fields of graphic design and technology. 

Meet an Otis Instructor: Raul Moreno on Teaching in Otis College’s Digital Media Department, What Inspires Him, and More

A previs from Furious 7Raul Moreno is an associate professor in the Digital Media department of Otis College, where he teaches in the Animation, Motion Design, and Game & Entertainment Design programs.

Otis College Remembers Fine Arts Faculty Member and Alumnx Michael Schrier (’65 MFA)

The Otis Community mourns the loss of a giant on campus, Michael Schrier, an esteemed and beloved colleague and faculty member, and challenging and supportive instructor.

Linda Hudson, current Foundation chair stated, “I’ve never known anyone more knowledgeable about color, the history of pigments, and the psychology and the transformative power of the hue, chroma, and value. Michael and I bonded over histories of the color blue. We all benefited from learning and working beside Michael, he was an important mentor.”

Otis College in the News, from Making Waves to It Gets Better

The new year and the start of the Spring 2021 semester not only bring exciting opportunities for creativity, but also a chance to kick things off on a positive note with some good news from our community. Even as we were all enjoying a much-needed break over the winter holiday, many instructors, students, and alumnx were getting accolades for recent work and projects. Below is a list of just some of the recent news about the Otis Community, with links to read more. 

Inspiration Here!

Mike Cedeno has played a major role in the creation and execution of a legion of animated characters you might be familiar with: Aladdin for one, The Little Mermaid’s Prince Eric for another (a character he says he was told to model after himself and Tom Cruise), and, oh, just one of the most popular princesses ever put to cel, Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

Mike Cedeno

Unbound Creativity with Rebecca Chamlee

Not every artist can pinpoint the experience that inspired their life’s work. But Rebecca Chamlee can: it was during her time as a student at Otis College of Art and Design. “That’s where I discovered letterpress, and it changed everything,” she says. “I was in a class and they taught us how to hand set our names, and then we put it into a big press and printed it. The fact that we were making something real, just like that—it was transformative for me.” That resonance was amplified when Rebecca paired her newfound passion with book arts.

AIGA Eye on Design: Silas Munro

“Weekend With” is a new series that explores the world of design through the eyes of a designer on their days off. Our last installment took us on a typographic tour of Chinatown with Tracy Ma. This week, Silas Munro, founder of poly-mode, assistant professor at Otis College of Art and Design, and an advisor and chair emeritus at Vermont College of Fine Arts, takes us through a typical weekend in his adopted home of Los Angeles.

The Artist That Launched 100 Ships

 Hanging on the wall of painter Kim Russo’s art studio, is a cross-stich sampler depicting a large, masted sailing ship, which she found several years ago at a flea market in Pennsylvania while visiting family for the holidays. “I just walked over to it, asked how much it was, and bought it,” says Otis College of Art and Design’s interim Provost (she is also Dean of Graduate Studies). “There was probably less than 90 seconds between when I saw it and when it was in my arm being carried out.”

 

MFA Writing Chair Peter Gadol's New Novel Is Out

The Stranger Game coverMFA Writing Chair Peter Gadol's new novel, The Stranger Game, was released this week from Hanover Square Press, an imprint of HarperCollins, to sparkling reviews and enviable comparisons.

Scratching the Surface: Silas Munro

Silas Munro is a designer, educator, and writer based in Los Angeles. He’s currently an Assistant Professor in Communication Arts and MFA in Graphic Design at Otis College of Art and Design, Advisor, Chair Emeritus in the MFA program in Graphic Design at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and his work and writing has been published in many forms around the world.