Recent News

Three Teams from Cal Poly Placed at Paperboard Packaging Alliance Challenge
Jan 25, 2018
Three teams of Cal Poly students, including students from the graphic design concentration, received well-deserved recognition in the 2017 Paperboard Packaging Alliance 2017 Student Design Challenge, taking home second place, runner up and shout-out awards. The projects were generated in winter 2017 between IT 408 Paper and Paperboard Packaging in collaboration with ART 437 Graphic Design III. The challenge was to design an interactive package for a fitness tracker that allows customers to try on the product, which could be reused to store the product after purchase. The faculty mentors were art and design professor Mary LaPorte and industrial technology and packaging professors Javier De La Fuente and Irene Carbonell.

Kurt Brown Wins Outstanding Staff Award for Career Achievement
Jan 25, 2018
Kurt Brown, the Art and Design Department’s photography and video technician since 1984, won the 2017 College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Staff Award for Career Achievement.

New Art and Design Faculty - Elizabeth Folk
Jan 25, 2018
The Art and Design Department would like to introduce a new faculty addition in the studio art concentration with a specialty in sculpture: Elizabeth Folk.
Program Review and Reaccreditation
Jan 25, 2018
In May 2017, the Art and Design Department hosted site visitors for our comprehensive program review and reaccreditation with the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). Among the strengths of our program, the Visitor’s Report cited the following:
Bob Howell Retires After 43 Years at Cal Poly
Jan 25, 2018
When Robert (Bob) Howell (B.A., Brooks Institute, 1973; M.A., Pepperdine University, 1976) arrived at Cal Poly in 1974, there was no art major and the department was scattered among several old Quonset huts in a former baseball practice field. As a professor of photography with interests that ranged from studio art to design to programming, Howell was instrumental in developing the art and design program and overseeing its initial accreditation with National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). Prior to coming to Cal Poly, he taught at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara. A beloved professor over the past 43 years, Howell taught Cal Poly students from all majors. Students benefited from his teaching and mentoring in both professional and general education courses in photography. He also taught courses in the Computer Science Department at Cal Poly and at the Institute for Computer Technology in Sunnyvale. In 1975 Bob developed a campus-wide computer-assisted learning program available to all students, and in 1990 he presented his work at the International Conference on Technology in Paris.

Sky Bergman's "Lives Well Lived" Upcoming Film Festival Screenings
Jan 25, 2018
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Three upcoming film festival screenings
Lives Well Lived is continuing our film festival journey. After the success of our world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, we are happy to announce that Lives Well Lived will be screened at the following upcoming film festivals:
Maine International Film Festival, Waterville, Maine: July 14 - 23, 2017
The Legacy Film Festival on Aging in San Francisco, September 15 - 17, 2017
The Lunenburg Doc Fest, Nova Scotia, September 21 - 24, 2017
2017 Art and Design News in Brief
Nov 9, 2017
2017 Art and Design Department News
2016 Art and Design News in Brief
Nov 10, 2016
2016 Art and Design Department News
Cal Poly University Art Gallery to Feature time[scape]lab’s ‘Confabulatores Nocturni’ Exhibit Nov. 16 to Dec. 16
Nov 9, 2016
Cal Poly’s University Art Gallery will present “Confabulatores Nocturni” — an exhibit featuring theoretical designs by time[scape]lab, a group whose work considers architecture in terms of its representation and its physical existence — from Wednesday, Nov. 16, through Friday, Dec. 16.
Henry Horenstein: Life in Pictures
Oct 14, 2016
Noted Photographer, Filmmaker Henry Horenstein to Speak Oct. 25 at Cal Poly
Distinguished American photographer and filmmaker Henry Horenstein will speak at Cal Poly from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, in the Constructions Innovations Center (No. 186), Room C303.