Otis History:About

From Otis History

Otis College of Art and Design is an art and design college located in Los Angeles, California.

Otis began in 1918, when Los Angeles Times founder Harrison Gray Otis bequeathed his MacArthur Park property to start the first public, independent professional school of art in Southern California. The main campus, located in the Westchester, Los Angeles, California, close to the Los Angeles International Airport, is anchored by the 1963 IBM building (famous for its computer "punchcard" style windows) and a contemporary fine arts facility.

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). This affiliation allowed students to spend a semester or more at the Parsons schools in New York and Paris. In 1991, it became independent and known as Otis College of Art and Design.

The intention of this wiki is to collect information about the college and its community.

Images and other information can be found through the Otis Archives located at the Otis Collections Online.