LCAD president’s goal: ‘Become the Juilliard of art colleges’

Jonathan Burke stood before the knotted, 200-year-old sycamore tree and gazed at the leaves, which were changing to fall colors.

“What I feel every day is natural beauty,” Burke said. “It’s so incredibly inspiring and exciting to be here.”

And it has been the same feeling for him for the past 35 years as an employee at Laguna College of Art + Design, where Burke is celebrating the milestone and simultaneously preparing for a juried auction and fundraiser at the end of this month. He became college president in 2011.

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For the record: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that Jonathan Burke has been president of LCAD for 35 years. In fact, he has been an employee for 35 years and president since 2011.

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The main campus, on Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach, opened more than 50 years ago. It was once a small art school but has transformed into an art- and design-accredited college, with new programs in digital media and game art.

Coming to LCAD, he said, means being among the most talented art students and instructors. Instruction is held in small classes that blend classical training with leading technology.

On a recent afternoon, a group of students in a figure and drawing fundamentals class practiced sharpening charcoal under the instruction of contemporary painter and instructor Joseph Todorovitch.

Others were developing digital images in a computer-imaging class.

Still others were taking a break in between classes at Nina’s Park, named after Nina Fitzpatrick, a 22-year-old fine arts student at LCAD who was killed while walking in a crosswalk connecting campus buildings.

“This is a school, organization and art college that has a focus on where all the resources and passion are given to students so they are prepared and educated to become great artists and designers,” Burke said. “It’s getting them industry-ready.”

Since he was first hired to chair the drawing and painting major, Burke said he has wanted to focus on developing the curriculum for figurative, or representational, art — that which is clearly recognizable for what it claims to be.

His love of the arts developed as a child. His mother was an artist, and his grandfather was a doctor and a sculptor. He remembered looking through Western art books and being taken aback by the quality.

“I knew how hard it was to draw the figure,” he said. “When I saw these compositions, I wanted to do what they did, but I didn’t know how to do it. I was elated, then depressed. It wasn’t until I was older that I learned — it’s a process.”

After studying in Paris, Boston and New York, among other cities, Burke said he learned all he needed to know to create a complex composition within 10 years.

“That was too long,” he said. “I want the students to receive a thorough preparation for their chosen field.”

With a faculty that includes academics and experienced professionals, Burke said he has been on a mission to provide students connections to a far-reaching arts community.

Over the years, Burke has brought a Rodin figure-sculpture exhibition to the college and attracted leading professional artists, designers and illustrators to mentor students. In 2011, he oversaw the the donation of the Rex and Joan Irving Brandt Papers.

One notable instructor is Richard MacDonald, a renowned figurative sculptor whose art is in private collections, including those of former President Bill Clinton, author Dean Koontz and the late opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. He has taught a master class and agreed to serve as advisory chair for the LCAD fine arts program’s sculpture department.

MacDonald’s relationship with LCAD began years ago when Burke looked at his pieces at the Dawson Cole Fine Art Gallery, in Laguna.

“I’ve watched him sculpt, and it seems impossible what he can do,” Burke said. “What Richard does others really struggle with, and that’s finding a moment in time where there’s absolute equilibrium. He does it with the most athletic, graceful and powerful artistry.”

The sculpture program has students learning a variety of techniques and the discipline of anatomy as they produce works.

“There are very few colleges around the world that are focused on the figurative arts, and I see positive worldwide recognition as this college,” MacDonald said from his Monterey studio. “Jonathan has been the force to make this program happen.”

The college will hold its 26th annual Collector’s Choice Juried Art Auction and Fundraiser later this month, and one of the pieces of the evening will be “Blind Faith,” by MacDonald. Proceeds from the juried live and silent auctions will benefit student programs and scholarships.

“My goal is that we become the Juilliard of art colleges,” Burke said. “Elite but not elitist and with that international name recognition for excellence.

“Everything that exists is touched by an artist. If the inspiration is not there, you don’t have the humanity.”

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IF YOU GO

What: LCAD Collector’s Choice Juried Art Auction Fundraiser

When: 5:30 p.m. Sept. 25

Where: Montage Laguna Beach, 30801 S. Coast Hwy.

Cost: $350

Information: (949) 376-6000 or visit lcad.edu/collectorschoice