Chouinard Foundation

Randy Akers

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:24:30 +0000

I was one of the lucky ones to graduate in 1969. It was a remarkable time as the disciplines from any one arena merged. I was friends with designers, ceramicists, illustrators, painters and sculptors. It all rubbed off. Of course the most important thing were the faculty. Hammersley, Woelffer, Kanemitsu, Reep, Canavier, T. Hee. They were the best. Where we really learned was hanging out with each other. Peer group pressure was enormous. It was the best of times and could never be replicated.

Stuart Denker, Designer

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:06:07 +0000

During the early ’60s I played a minor role at Chouinard as a member of the short-lived Design Lab
(‘Forgotten its formal name) whose faculty included John Lautner, AIA; Robert Bond, industrial designer;
Richard Selje, industrial designer; John Canavier, sculptor. The specific classes I taught were Projection
Drawing and Perspective Drawing, both of which were aimed at the beginning level for art students making
the transition from the Fine Art foundation classes to a general industrial design, architectural design and
interior design. I also filled in at the lab on the days that the four individuals named above were not
scheduled to be on hand.
The Design Lab was not included in the menu of departments that became the nucleus of CalArts,
following of the demise of the Chouinard Art Institute.

Regards,
Stuart Denker

USA TODAY

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:33:29 +0000

Visual Art Source

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:11:33 +0000

LA WEEKLY

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:56:15 +0000

Ed Ruscha

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:30:33 +0000

While another art school in the area had dress codes (ie: Art Center: no facial hair, no sandals, no bongo drums) Chouinard was free and easy. Shall I say more freedom for everyone? It was great and it worked.

Laddie John Dill

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:00:14 +0000

Chouinard not only taught you the techniques of being an artist, it also, and most importantly, taught you how to live as an artist. Everyone is different. In my case, this was my experience. I learned a lot more than what was mentioned in the brochure.

William Stout

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:00:27 +0000

I attended Chouinard from 1967 to 1971. Because of the timing of my attendance I was offered the chance to go to the new CalArts or stay at Chouinard, as for a time both schools were open simultaneously. I am very, very happy I chose to remain at Chouinard (it was a simple decision; amazingly and idiotically, there was no illustration department at CalArts. The Powers That Be killed a great and wonderful thing).

The differences between Chouinard and Art Center back then were vast.

Art Center illustration students were all taught the same slick style. The samples of student art hanging in their hallways were indistinguishable from one another. Their promise was that if you learned the Art Center style you would immediately segue into a decent career in illustration after graduation. I knew NY art directors, however, who would humiliate Art Center graduates by naming each class their samples were from when they showed their portfolios, then rejecting their work as unoriginal and uninspired.

At Chouinard, the instructors would look at your work and then teach you how to be a better you. They were interested in the enhancement of the skills and problem solving abilities of each individual as individuals. When I teach, I use this same approach. I call it “The Chouinard Method”.

The saying back then went that if you graduated from Art Center you would earn a comfortable (but anonymous) living as an artist. If you graduated from Chouinard you would end up as a gas station attendant (remember them?) — or world famous.

I benefited enormously from my Chouinard education. I often learned as much from my fellow students as I did from my instructors — and I learned a lot from most of my fine instructors. Some time after I graduated, I studied privately with one of the very best teachers I had at Chouinard, Hal Kramer, for about twenty years. What I learned from Hal at Chouinard and afterward continues to serve, inform and benefit my careers as both a fine artist and as an illustrator.

Pearl Cozens at Chouinard

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:03:42 +0000

My mother , the late Pearl (Cozens) Haskett attended Chouinard in the mid to late 1930′s. She was an abstract watercolorist who exhibited with Mark Tobey, Morris Graves and other modernist painters of the West Coast, after she moved to the Northwest in 1946. She studied with Dale Owen, who became the Art Director of the(then)Cornish Art Institute in the late 1960′s. I attended Cornish in 1970-73 , although my first choice was Chouinard ,but they were having dificulty so I applied to Cornish College at Dale Owen’s advice. I have to do some research to get moms dates correct. I recall my mother telling me that she often modeled at Chouinard as a teenager to cover tuition for drawing classes. I stayed in contact with Dale Owen while he was doing a major mosaic for a church known as St Peters in California. in the 1990s. I have to do some research to get my facts together. Dale used to compliment me when he told me he could see the “California school”, influenced from my mom’s teaching, come through in my watercolors. I am happy to have come across this site. I will be glad to share some early newspaper articles I have about my mother’s exhibits in California museums in the 1950s. I have my art studio in Seattle and live in Steilacoom, Wa. http://www.haskettfineart.com My mother grew up in Newport Beach, CA and I was down there last month.

Studentfilmmakers

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:37:52 +0000