Otis, long considered one of the major art institutions in California, began in 1918, when
Los Angeles Times founder
Harrison Gray Otis bequeathed his
Westlake, Los Angeles, property to start the first public, independent professional school of art in Southern California. However, Otis would not live to see the college's grand opening as he died the previous year in 1917. The current Otis College main campus (since spring 1997) is located in the Westchester area of Los Angeles, close to the
Los Angeles International Airport. The main building (built in 1963) was designed by architect
Eliot Noyes for IBM, and is famous for its computer "
punched card" style windows. The building was extensively remodeled in 1997 by the college when it moved from its original location across the street from
MacArthur Park near downtown Los Angeles. The Galef Center, made for the Fine Arts department, was designed by Fredrick Fisher and built in 2001. A
ceramics school was begun by
Peter Voulkos at Otis in the 1950s and was part of art movements like the Craft-to-Art movement, also known as the
American Clay Revolution, which influenced the
Ferus Gallery scene of the 1960s. Many prominent artists associated with Southern California's Light and Space movement were involved with the school, as well as leaders of the conceptual art world of the 1970s. Moreover, Otis nurtured significant Latino artists, including
Marisol Escobar, and the mural group
Los Four also originated at Otis in the 1970s. The school was originally named
Otis Art Institute. From 1978 until 1991, it was affiliated with New York's
Parsons School of Design and known as
Otis–Parsons (full name:
Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, a division of the New School for Social Research). This affiliation allowed students to spend a semester or more at the Parsons schools in New York and Paris. In summer 1991, it became independent again and known as Otis College of Art and Design. In 2022, the college received the largest donation in its history from the Spiegel Family Fund, which was founded by CEO of
Snapchat (Snap Inc.),
Evan Spiegel. The donation paid off the debt of the graduating class, 77% of whom identify as people of color. The president of Otis College is
Charles Hirschhorn, since June 2020. ==Rankings and programs==