“You know, I went into it thinking about how I can design a park. And when I was in school, they were people who were designing fun beautiful parks. And Peter Walker, for example, was there at the same time as Frank Gehry. They were all into art, like how art influenced design. But the…
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Architectural Colorist and Artist Betty Merken Creates Custom Hues
“I taught a weekend seminar through the Architecture and Interior Design program at UCLA Extension, and at least half of the participants were architects,” she says. “I didn’t realize how underserved design education for color was. One architect said, ‘The only color class I ever got was the color wheel. There was no connection to…
How ‘Beetlejuice’ Was Born
The true story of a horror writer and the unsung heroes who helped Tim Burton bring his afterlife classic to life. While teaching UCLA extension courses, he’d gotten to know Marjorie Lewis, a young development executive at the Geffen Film Company. She loved Wilson’s classes, during which well-known scripts were scrutinized and discussed. “I read…
A Portrait of the Marriage of Fred and Marcia Weisman, by David Hockney
Los Angeles in the first half of the 20th century was not particularly receptive to contemporary art; a Modern Institute of Art opened in 1948 and shut two years later, just before the Los Angeles City Council banned the public display of such work, labeling it Communist propaganda. But in 1957 the UCLA Adult Extension…