The General Motors Design Dome is one of those places very few people get to visit. And the products seen there often are not seen in public until years later.

But a group of Gold Key winners from the Southeast Michigan region of the Scholastic Art Awards recently got an up close and personal look at the inner sanctum of automotive design. The goal: encourage the students to pursue careers in the multiple facets of automotive design.

GM designers, sculptors, digital modelers and graphic artists met one on one with more than 140 students, teachers and parents, explaining the many disciplines involved in automotive design – from rapid prototyping to digital scanning to merchandising.

“I work with high school seniors putting portfolios together to get into art schools, to go into careers in the arts, and even though I tell them about career opportunities, this gives them a tangible idea of the vast array of careers in design,” says Diane Heath, art teacher at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills, Mich., and 2009 Michigan Art Educator of the Year.

Students also got a look at some of the latest concept vehicles crafted by GM’s artists, including the GMC Granite and Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.

“We share these students’ love for art and what we want to do is tell them ‘You have this talent, look at what you can do with it.’ We want to show them what their artistic skills can lead to,” says Clay Dean, Director of GM Advanced Design.

Darby Barber, an 11th grader from Stoney Creek High School, said she was unaware that automotive design required so many different skill sets, from sculpting to digital animation.

“This opens your eyes to a lot of the opportunities that exist,” she said. “It’s really cool that GM did this so that we can have all of this information. What this event showed me was that if you really want to pursue automotive design, you can make it a reality,” Barber said.

The students who participated in the event will be among the 1,000 students who will participate in the national Scholastic Art & Writing awards, which will be presented in New York City in June.

GM Design has been a longtime supporter of various educational initiatives supporting young adults interested in pursuing careers in the arts. The company plans to host a design career workshop for young adults on its Technical Center campus this fall. More information on GM Design educational initiatives can be found on Facebook at GM Design Educational Relations.

Source: http://publish.media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/news/news_detail.brand_gm.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2010/Mar/0330_artdesign

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