ArtCenter College of Design Graduates Told Creative Community Has Role Combating Climate Change

 

ArtCenter President Karen Hofmann, who presided over ArtCenter College of Design Spring graduation last weekend, reminded the graduating students of their responsibilities as global citizens as the event coincided with the 53rd anniversary of Earth Day.

ArtCenter College of Design celebrated over 300 graduates at a ceremony held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium last April 22.

“[Earth Day] is a reminder of the importance of dedicating our time, resources, and energy to solving climate change and other environmental issues that impact our world,” she said.

Hofmann said over the past few years, ArtCenter students have invested in the planet through various classroom projects. 

Some have been on a local scale like creating campaigns for wildfire prevention and preparedness in Southern California; or reimagining Los Angeles neighborhoods on a human scale by eliminating traffic, saving energy and providing equitable access. 

Other projects have been on a global scale, like investigating life without plastics through the use of alternative materials in our everyday products or developing adaptive design plans to address rising sea levels in our coastal communities. 

“I strongly believe our creative community has an important role in creating the change we so desperately need,” Hofmann said.

In her commencement address, sustainability leader Gun Denhart urged students to create things that are sustainable.

“The long-term consequences of climate change are already here—and they’re getting worse. We all must take action. Especially you, graduates of ArtCenter.”

“As creatives, designers, and artists, your work informs nearly every aspect of human life… So let sustainability inform every aspect of your work.”

Denhart is co-founder of the Portland-based children’s clothing company Hanna Andersson and founder of The Denhart Family Sustainability Scholarship Prize at ArtCenter. 

Since 2011, the scholarship fund has awarded more than $350,000 to students whose work marries creativity and design with environmental and social objectives.

Her son, Christian Denhart, earned a degree in 2010 from ArtCenter’s Product Design department.

“I didn’t like the clothes available in the US. They were scratchy, synthetic, and fell apart after a few washes. So my family would send me Swedish outfits for Christian to wear. And people would stop me in the street, asking where his (Christian) clothes came from,” Denhart recounted as she shared how Hanna Andersson started. “He (Christian) was wearing cotton clothes in bright colors that could be washed hundreds of times and still looked like new. Clothes that were soft against children’s skin. So that became our business: offering clothes that looked great, were easy to care for, and let kids be kids.”

In the early 90s, her company switched to organic after Denhart had looked into how the cotton they used for their clothing was sourced.

“My visit to the organic farm was encouraging, but seeing the conventional farm drove my decision. I remember so clearly: in the processing plant, a man was breaking clumps of cotton apart with his feet, exposing himself directly to those toxic chemicals.”

“At that moment, I knew we had to go organic. It would be more expensive, but this, to me, was a human rights issue. We could not let people get sick making our clothes.”

Towards the end of her speech, she advised graduates to welcome people’s perspectives but also trust themselves.

“Trust your head to consider the facts and data. Trust your heart to value the views and experiences of others. And trust your gut to know what’s right – then redesign the rest,” Denhart said. 

“Class of 2023, whatever your achievements, whatever your ambitions, you are all artists and designers of enormous capability…Every project you take on is a chance to apply your creativity—to design resilient systems for our people and our planet,” she further added. 

Spring 2023 class Valedictorian is Entertainment Design major Kennard Chin, a concept artist, illustrator and graphic designer who focuses on bringing ideas to life through visual design.