Five Ways to Engage with the Otis Community This Spring

After two-years of virtual Annual Exhibition, Otis College has planned O-Launch ’22, a weekend of in-person and virtual programs that showcase the future of art and design through the work of Otis College of Art and Design’s talented graduating students. Highlights include the campus-wide Annual Exhibition and fashion show on Saturday, May 14, and  Commencement on Sunday, May 15, featuring special guest speakers and honorary degree recipients. If you can’t make it to campus, you’ll be able to visit the work of our graduating students online starting May 12. Learn more here and RSVP.

On April 13, we released the 15th edition of the Otis College Report on the Creative Economy during a virtual event that featured a presentation of the 2022 Report findings by its author Adam Fowler, a partner at CVL Economics. Following the presentation was a panel discussion on the “Rise of the Digital Creative Economy” and a Q&A with Fowler and our panelists, which included Chrysta Marie Burton, EVP of Physical Production at Bad Robot; Rachel Moore, President and CEO of The Music Center; Christopher Stringer, CEO and Chief Design Officer at Syng; Timoni West, Vice President of Augmented & Virtual Reality at Unity Technologies. The panel and Q&A was moderated by Rio Caraeff, the Chief Commercial Officer of Syng and a member of the Otis College Board of Governors. You can watch the release event and download the Report here.

The work in the exhibition Open Doors investigates and explores the concept of open doors as portals instigating and embodying safe passage and reciprocal exchange across thresholds of time, space, worldview, and community. This year’s event will feature MFA artists Leo Alas, Caitlin Carney, Kai Chan, Sayer Delk, Erica Everage, Xixi Edelsbrunner, Ray Foliente, Danielle Foster, Emory Hall, Dani Iribe, Katherine Jarvis, Katherine Kesey, Henry Krusoe, Astrid Li, Larry Li, Merissa Mann, Alicat (Ali Minette), Tiffanie Peters, Erica Peralta, Suwichada Busamrong Press, Hayley Quentin, Sophie Roessler, Alicia Serling, Joseph Louis Sherman Jr., Krystyny Vandenberg, and Mika Yokota. Open Doors also includes a collaborative sound performance by Ray Foliente, Kai Chan, Emory Hall and Katherine Jarvis, and a socially engaged performance by Ray Foliente, Lucine Luo, Michelle Ross, Ander Sanborn, and Nicole Shen. Accompanying the Open Studios is an online open studio hosted by Xixi Edelsbrunner. You can learn more here. Throughout the Spring semester, MFA Fine Arts graduating students have been installing their thesis shows in Bolsky Gallery and documenting them. Check out the latest additions here.

The Hammer Museum at UCLA is currently showing Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation, the first major retrospective spanning 50 years of work by Otis alumnx Jenkins (’79 MFA Fine Arts). The show has received rave reviews and has been covered in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Hyperallergic, and Artnet News, among many others. You can watch the short documentary above to learn more about Jenkins, as well as a March 2022 Alumnx Exploration Series conversation between him and Eloy Torrez (’79 BFA Fine Arts). To learn more about the show, visit the Hammer online. Following Jenkins at the Hammer will be an exhibition of the work of Otis Fine Arts faculty member Andrea Bowers.

Otis College offers unique summer programs for youth, including our signature Summer of Art four-week intensive in July that is designed for students aged 14 1/2 or older who wish to strengthen and enhance their skills at one of the top art and design colleges in the country. For youth ages 10 to 14 we offer Summer Youth Camps, week-long adventures in art and design topics like photography, animation, and painting that run from June 13 through August 5. Learn more about Summer of Art and Summer Youth Camps.