Artist Spotlight: Richard Pietruska

Richard Pietruska doesn’t simply teach design; he exemplifies it. As a longtime transportation designer and renowned instructor at ArtCenter College of Design, Pietruska has spent over five decades challenging the boundaries between sculpture, engineering, and motion. His work hums with speed, slippage, and grace, even when standing entirely still.

He had been exposed to art from a young age with his family, with his sister being a studio artist, and his brother-in-law a car designer. Ultimately, his path brought him to the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, where the intense competition sharpened his skills and deepened his commitment. “It was very rigorous,” he recalls, “but being around fantastic artists and designers pushed me. I became a better craftsman. And eventually, a better teacher than I ever thought I’d be.” In the end, going to design school acted as an “awakening” for him. 

Pietruska’s kinetic sculptures embody the intersection of an architect’s eye and a designer’s gut. Each piece starts with an idea, sketched out and mocked up on a small scale. Typically between six months and a year, it evolves: a prototype, a mold, a fiberglass form, primed, sanded, and polished until it reflects not just light, but velocity. “I want my pieces to look like they’re moving even when they’re motionless,” he says. “Like a fish gliding through water. Not static, but Alive.”

While creating, Piestruska insists on being present and “fully in the moment”  in order for the best innovation. He often works in pure silence, becoming entirely rapt in his creation. For him, inspiration is everywhere. He analyzes the shifts in transportation design, thinking critically and allowing his tastes to change over the years. He ranges from classics to futurism to drive his pieces. But sometimes, his best ideas come subconsciously, as he says, “I’ll see it in my mind while I’m sleeping.”

His work focuses on interpretation over practicality. Pure shape and form, his vehicles are authentically designed and non-comforming to commodification. In fact, Pietruska laments the automotive industry’s caution. “Too many companies don’t take risks. I say to my students, ‘No boring cars.’ Be weird, wild, and wacky. Be outstanding.”

In his classes, Pietruska urges both technique and exploration. He advises students to look deeply. “You have to notice the reflections, the details, the finish. Everyone can talk about good design. But creating it? That’s where it counts.”

Today, Pietruska is still pushing forward and still impacting the lives of many students. Looking back, he admits he might’ve done things differently. But he’s content. “I’ve had a good influence on thousands of designers,” he says. “I’ve accepted who I am.”

In a world of careful repetition, Richard Pietruska insists on momentum, on courage, on discovery. “Keep an open mind. Take risks. And really pay attention.” His sculptures remind us that design is about soul, movement, and daring to shape what’s never existed before.