Victor Cass was born in Kingsville, Texas on September 20, 1968, and raised in Pasadena, California. He is an Eagle Scout from Pasadena's historic Troop 4, and graduated from John Muir High School in 1986. In 1989, at the age of twenty, he graduated with Honors from the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His first article was published in the Pasadena Star-News that summer.
He moved to New York in 1990, where he worked as an advertising art director, doing direct mail ad design for Xerox. It was there that he was influenced by the New York Police Department in its high profile efforts to curb the peaking crime rate of the early nineties. Realizing a need to dedicate a portion of his life to serving his community, he decided to become a police officer. In late 1991, he returned to his hometown to join the Pasadena Police Department.
Victor was determined that he could have an impact in his community through public service, both in helping to reduce the crime and in improving the quality of life for all residents. He also knew that his creative ideas and artistic abilities could leave a lasting mark on the city and in the department. He set one of his sights on helping to transform the Pasadena Police Department into an agency that reflected the community’s love affair with art, culture, and anything progressive. Luckily, the police brass discovered his creative and artistic talents early on, and Victor quickly began to achieve his goals.
While a patrol officer in 1993, his chalk mural The Pasadena Way, which portrayed an ethnically diverse pair of uniformed Pasadena Police Officers reaching out to an African-American family, was well-received by the public at the first annual “Chalk on the Walk” show in front of City Hall. This led to a request by the Pasadena NAACP, through an affiliated Pasadena cop, for Victor to do the program cover drawing for their Thirteenth Annual Ruby McKnight Williams Awards Dinner in September 1993. This was followed up by a T-shirt design for one of the patrol teams. The “Fantastic Team Four” T-shirts, which were inspired by the Marvel Comics characters, gained widespread notice among the rank and file officers in the department.
That same year, he was asked to design the police department’s corporate identity, including the logo for the police cars. He agreed to take on the task, but requested that he find a way to somehow include the community in the design process, since they would have to see the cars. Victor went to his old alma mater, Art Center College of Design, where he arranged to have the project assigned to the Community Service Design Workshop class there. The subsequent result of the student logo design competition became one of the most elegant and artistic police car logos of any law enforcement agency in the land.
In the summer of 1994, he designed the cover of the police department’s “Pasadena Welcomes the World” pamphlet for the World Cup Soccer matches held at the Rose Bowl.
Later that year, his painting Pasadena Police Building appeared on the cover of the police department’s annual report. The original painting was also exhibited in the group show “Nuestra America,” at the Friends House, in Northwest Pasadena (1996).
In April 1995, Victor continued a long tradition in the PPD by drawing the farewell reception announcement portrait of Chief Jerry Oliver, the original of which was presented by Victor as a gift to the Chief. Since then, he has drawn the official retirement/farewell portraits for 2 executive commanders, 1 commander, 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 5 sergeants, and one Emergency Services Operator.
Also in 1995, Victor’s talents got him noticed by Dr. W. French Anderson of USC, who was writing a definitive account of the famous south Florida FBI shoot-out of April 11, 1986, which left two agents and both suspects dead. Dr. Anderson had been seeking a police artist who could accurately portray, in simple line drawings, each sequence of shot trajectories and hits, in relation to the participants’ positions. Dr. Anderson hired Victor for the job. Victor’s drawings later appeared in Dr. Anderson’s book, Forensic Analysis of the April 11, 1986, FBI Firefight, which was released on the tenth anniversary of the event.
Between 1994 and 1997, both as a patrol officer and as a Community Policing Officer in the Villa Parke Project, Victor designed the logos for the Pasadena Police Athletic Association; the Pasadena Police Athletic Association/M.A.S.S./Special Friends Project First Annual Charity Golf Tournament; Blue Smoke-A Society of Gentlemen Diners and Cigar Smokers (PPD club); and The Pasadena Police Department’s Annual Charity Cook-Off and Volleyball Tournament 1997.
1997 was also the year Victor’s writing abilities were noticed. He wrote his first editorial piece for the Pasadena Star-News, in which he argued that in addition to Community Policing, more police officers were needed if crime rates were to drop. This gained him the attention of the new Chief, Bernard K. Melekian, who recruited Victor on the basis of his writing talents, to be one of several officers to contribute writings to that newspaper’s “Rap Sheet” column, which dealt with community law enforcement issues.
Victor was promoted to Detective in 1998, where he was tapped to do the official logo for the XXXIII California Police Summer Games, which Pasadena was to host in the summer of 1999. These games were one of the largest sporting events in the world, and involved college and professional-level police athletes from agencies all over the state, converging on Pasadena to compete in Olympic-style sporting venues. This would be the biggest design job of Victor’s career, as this logo would be placed on all printed materials related to the games: brochures, media press kits, passes, souvenirs, pins, and giant banners which would hang from most of the street lighting in Pasadena.
Police agencies are not known for their artistic talent since most of them have neither the inclination nor the funds to seek professional designers. Victor knew this and knew also that the odds were good that his training and experience would help him produce to a logo far superior to that from summer games events of the past. But that was not good enough. Victor knew he would have to produce a logo design worthy of not just the summer games committee, but of the City of Pasadena itself–a truly world class place where excellence was not only commonplace, but was expected!
Victor combined a graphic green stem and rose design and incorporated it into the shape of an Olympic-style torch with flame. He used a blue-colored “Greek”-looking typeface, to pay homage to the origin of this type of games, and placed it beneath a “thin blue line,” which represented the police. He placed the type under his “rose torch” and centered this design on a plain white, rectangular field. The end result not only contributed to the overall marketing success of the subsequent games, which were considered the best ever, but the logo was also considered the best logo in the event’s thirty-three-year history.
Things really took off for Victor in 1999. Because of his accomplishments, both in the realm of police work, and through his creative efforts, he was recruited to fill an entirely new assignment in the Community Services Section, one which seemed specially suited for him and one he would help redefine over the next two years. He was now in charge of the department’s “Special Projects.”
During this time, he designed the logos/identity for the department’s Youth Accountability Board; Zap Inc. Tattoo Removal Program; 1999 Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay; The Bridge newsletter masthead; and the poster for the 1999 Pasadena Human Relations Commission Peace Through Music Gala event. He also designed a series of new, cutting-edge award medals for the department, and helped to formulate and rewrite the department policy pertaining to them. The first of these medals were presented to recipients at the 1999 Police and Citizens Awards Luncheon. Both his elegant designs of the medals and of the summer games logo won him a 1999 Chief’s Special Award for Excellence.
Victor also designed a set of bronze memorial plaques for two of the Pasadena Police Department’s slain officers, which were placed on the façade of the police building. He also planned the dedication ceremony, which was held two days prior to the thirtieth anniversary of the last officer’s death, March 11, 1999.
Throughout the latter part of 1999, in between attending business association meetings, and helping to solve neighborhood quality of life issues (also part of his job), Victor dedicated himself to the writing of a new history of the police department. The last one had been written during the mid-seventies, and was not a heavily researched, scholarly account. Chief Melekian had picked Victor to tackle this job, in part because of his writing skill, but also because of Victor’s historical research background. He had received a Master of Arts in Military Science, Land Warfare, from American Military University in the spring of 1999.
Victor spent most of the year assembling photographs and documents, researching archives, interviewing veterans, and in the last four months of 1999, writing day and night, both on and off duty. He also designed the book’s cover (the interior page layout and design was done by a talented Pasadena designer, Mimi Orth). The end result was a beautiful, scholarly, history book entitled Pasadena Police Department: A Photohistory, 1877-2000. This was Victor’s first book, and was carried by Vroman’s, The Pasadena Museum of History, and at all the Pasadena Public Libraries. Victor and his book received a 2000 Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Commendation from Supervisor Mike Antonovich.
In 2000, Victor designed and executed the beginning of a three-phase department-wide hallway project whose purpose is to celebrate the history of the PPD through artifacts, photos, awards, and documents. The first phase was completed on the second floor, in which dozens of original awards, newspaper headlines, and other documents dating from the 1930s to today, were framed and hung. Also on this floor, three unused mailboxes (large P.O. box-style) were removed. In their place, were installed three large wood and glass museum cases that Victor designed and had constructed. These were filled with original Pasadena police artifacts, uniform accouterments, badges, and model cars.
Also in 2000, Victor designed and implemented the Central Service Area Sub-District Advisor Program for patrol, along with the logos for the department’s Peer Counseling program, Black History Month, and Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations. He also designed the programs for the Womens’ History Month event and the Citizen Police Academy Class XIV Graduation ceremony, along with the advertising posters for the PPD Peer Counseling Program.
The accomplishment for which he is the most proud, however, was born in the Summer of 2000, when Victor was asked to substitute for several officers at the Pasadena Police Activities (PAL) Center at The Salvation Army. PAL is an after school program for children, where “at risk” youth get to interact with police officers in various activities, including ping pong, pool, foozball, air hockey, etc. The children also participate on PAL sports teams, including basketball, soccer, softball, karate, etc. Tutoring and school homework time is also provided for the children.
Victor realized that although sports and educational assistance programs are very important, children in PAL were missing something that was also vital to their growth and development. Victor had a theory that for children to succeed in life, they needed to be “empowered” by the three components of his “Trinity For Success”—Educational Empowerment, Physical Empowerment, and Cultural Empowerment! What these children needed was some art and culture in their lives.
Although a lot of PAL programs at police agencies throughout the United States provide “arts and crafts” opportunities for their children, those activities are often relegated to being minor components of the programs. Victor envisioned taking the idea of an arts and cultural education to a higher level, a la public and privately-funded arts non-profit organizations which are commonplace in cities like Pasadena. What if the Pasadena Police Activities League formed their own completely separate arts non-profit, housed at its own “arts center,” complete with actual “teaching” artists from the community? It would be self-sufficient and funded separately from the regular PAL program.
Victor wrote up his proposed idea and it quickly won approval from the Pasadena Police PAL leadership. Once again the Pasadena Police Department would be blazing a new trail in the world of youth and community outreach.
Victor helped forge a partnership between the Pasadena Police Department and Pasadena Presbyterian Church, which was looking to expand its community outreach program. Co-Pastor Mark Smutney secured the donation of a former library at the church, to become an art space for this new concept, along with $2,200 in start-up money. The PAL Arts Center was born!
Victor began recruiting instructors from the community, who, along with himself, would teach art classes simplistically modeled after those at Art Center College of Design. He took a lot of his cues from his former school, deciding on a similar curriculum based upon a fourteen-week term. He then went about identifying a core group of children from the regular PAL Center who were interested in art.
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On September 18, 2000, the first class of the PAL Arts Program was under way. After fourteen weeks, forty children had been through the program. There was an end-of-the-term art show held at the PAL Arts Center, which was attended by a hundred people, including Chief Melekian, the City Manager, a City Councilman, Congressman Schiff’s field representative, and other city officials along with people from the art community.
The Spring Term began on January 8, 2001, and the Pasadena PAL Arts Program made its presence known in the community. It’s reputation started to attract non-PAL children through word of mouth. It forged partnerships with the Playhouse District Association, Light Bringer Project, Art Center College of Design, R.M. Rogers & Associates, Aarnun Gallery, and the Spirit Awakening Foundation.
The Spirit Awakening Foundation chose the PAL Arts Program to be one of the recipients of a special creative writing grant, through the Pasadena Playhouse, for the Winter Term 2001. Also, Art Center College of Design chose the PAL Arts Program to be assigned to students in its Community Service Graphic Design Workshop class for their Summer Term 2001. This class designed the “identity” and collateral materials (promotional brochures, mailers, etc.) of the PAL Arts Program, to be used for recruiting and informational purposes. Art Center was inspired to form its own Art Center for Kids after the PAL Arts Program.
In keeping with the mission of the program, the children took four field trips during the Spring 2001 term, in an effort to broaden their cultural and artistic experience. They visited the Pacific Asia Museum, Art Center College of Design, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, and Light Bringer Gallery.
At the Playhouse 7 theater, the children got to see the “art” movie, Pollock, which told the story of one of the 20th Century’s greatest artists, American Jackson Pollock, who broke new ground with his Abstract Expressionist paintings. The PAL Arts children were especially fascinated by this film, which had wonderful painting sequences, showing the artist in the creative process. It was probably the first time in the childrens’ lives, that they had seen a character in a film doing a positive activity—in this case, painting—that they (the children) had actually done themselves! It was very inspiring for them.
The end of term art show, Color and Black & White, was held at Light Bringer Gallery in Old Pasadena. A record 32 pieces were displayed, including for the first time photographs, 2 sculptures, and a performance art piece. Twenty-two pieces were sold through silent auction, and $1,330 was raised for the program.
The Summer Term began on May 7, 2001. When it ended on August 9, 2001, it marked the end of the first year of the PAL Arts Program. PAL Arts students turned in some of their best work ever. The Summer term also had the highest attendance rate of the program’s history—a record 60 children!—and its popularity grew.
The Playhouse District Association, one of the PAL Arts Program’s partnership groups, chose PAL Arts as one of the recipients of the proceeds to be raised at their “Passport to Treasure” district-wide event in October 2001. Meanwhile, the foundations for four additional partnerships were laid, with the Automobile Club of Southern California (AAA), Art Center for Children, Day One, and the Pasadena Public Health Department—all interested in collaborating on a joint project with PAL Arts. The Community Service Design Workshop Class at Art Center College of Design submitted logo and brochure design concepts for the PAL Arts Program. More importantly, after three terms, the lives of 101 children had been touched and enriched by this arts and cultural education program
On October 18, 2001, the program had its first mini “art show”—a display of several students “Day of the Dead” drawings for the Pasadena Police Department’s Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration.
The Spring Term began on January 14, 2002. Unlike the normal 14 weeks of a PAL Arts term, this term lasted a record 21 weeks. This was due to Spirit Awakening Foundation’s Creative Writing Workshop Grant (we had received this grant in 2001), which began late in the term and ended on May 30. Taught by actress and Playwright Akuyoe Graham, the Creative Writing Workshop was a much-needed boon to the PAL Arts Program, and attracted some PAL children who were not necessarily interested in the Fine Arts-Painting segments.
The PAL children in the Creative Writing Workshop were fortunate enough to all have selections of their writings get published in a book, entitled Blind, which was an anthology of self-exploratory pieces written by the children in this and similar programs.
Spirit Awakening Foundation and the PAL Arts Program collaborated on the Spring Art Show and Reception, which was held in the Forum of All Saints Episcopal Church on June 8, 2002. This event was attended by approximately 100 persons, and included a display of paintings and oral presentations of the children’s writings. It was a huge success; the paintings were sold out through a silent auction, and $395.00 was raised for the PAL Arts Program.
For the Winter Term 2002, Victor forged a new partnership with the Armory Center and Armory Northwest.
It was at the latter art space, Northwest Pasadena’s first major arts center, which Victor chose as the location for the end-of-term art show. This choice was motivated, in part, by Victor’s desire to bring a PAL Arts Show to the Northwest, where the majority of his PAL students live.
Victor chose the theme, “The Armory Northwest Show” to pay homage to the landmark Armory Show of 1913 in New York. That was the famous art show, held in a National Guard Armory building, that introduced Americans to the radical new modern art movements that had emerged in the early part of the 20th Century. Ironically enough, the Armory Center in Pasadena is also housed in a former National Guard Armory building.
The Armory Northwest Show was held on December 18, 2002, at the Armory Northwest, 965 N. Fair Oaks Ave. It was a huge success. Eleven PAL artists displayed eleven paintings. All but three sold out at the event. One was purchased later, and two of the others were given to the artists who created them, per PAL Arts tradition. The show raised $425 for the program.
The Spring Term began on January 8, 2003. While there were no field trips this term, the participation of some of Victor’s best students ensured a quality of artwork ranking among the best in PAL Arts history.
PAL Arts partnered with Pasadena Federal Credit Union during this term, and it was decided that the Spring Art Show and Reception would be in the main lobby area of PFCU. Mary Wilson, then the CEO of PFCU, was very enthusiastic about bring the art show to her institution, as she has been a huge fan of PAL Arts since its inception.
On March 27, 2003, Victor was recognized at the 2nd Annual PAL Golden Badge Awards, held at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel, with a Certificate of Recognition from the City of Pasadena for his work as the PAL Arts Coordinator.
On Tuesday, April 29, 2003, Victor, along with PAL artist Ana-Rosa Morales, gave a presentation on the PAL Arts Program, at the annual PFCU membership meeting. Victor discussed the history of the program, its goals and accomplishments, while Ana-Rosa talked about its impact on her as a young artist.
The Spring Art Show & Reception 2003, with the theme, “The Money Show,” was held at PFCU on April 30, 2003, with ten paintings being displayed and available for purchase through silent auction. Despite the lowest show attendance in PAL Arts History, the show was a huge success with all the paintings selling out! The program raised $510.
After three years, the lives of over 100 children had been positively changed by this exposure to the arts. Victor later received the Chief’s Special Award for Innovation for his work with the PAL Arts Program, among other achievements.
In addition to his Fine Arts interests, Victor Cass continues to write articles, editorials, poetry, and fiction. His work has appeared in "Arroyo Monthly Magazine," "Mexican War Journal," "Pasadena Weekly," and the "Pasadena Star-News." His first fiction book, a short story collection entitled "Love, Death, and Other War Stories," was released in 2005. He recently completed his first novel, "Telenovela," in 2006.
Cass currently lives in Pasadena and has a daughter, Elizabeth.
Victor Cass' art shows and displays:
American Icon (an installation made of eight U.S. flags set in clear-casting resin)
Art Center Gallery
Pasadena, California-1988
One-man show, “Still On Canvas”
Espresso Bar Café (South Raymond Avenue)
Pasadena, California-1992
Contributing Artist, “Chalk on the Walk”
Centennial Square
Pasadena, California-1993
Equator (Oil on Canvas, 24” x 48”)
Equator Coffee House
Pasadena, California-1994
One-man show, “Evolution of Style”
Espresso Bar Café (East Green Street)
Pasadena, California-1995
Group show, “Nuestra America”
American Friends Service Center
Pasadena, California-1996
Mexican Gothic (Oil on Canvas, 11” x 14”)
Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration
Pasadena Police Department
Pasadena, California-1997
The Disembodied Boob (Acrylic on Canvas, 12” x 12”)
Group Show, “Absolut Chalk”
Ross Farrell Gallery
Pasadena, California-1999
Study in Black and White (Oil on Canvas, 14” x 18”)
Black History Month Celebration
Pasadena Police Department
Pasadena, California-2000
Group Show, “The 26th Annual Art Show”
Pasadena Presbyterian Church
Pasadena, California-2000
The Date (Acrylic on Canvas, 12” x 12”)
Group Show, “Absolut Chalk”
Light Bringer Gallery
Pasadena, California-2000
Children Art Culture Power
PAL Arts Program Winter Art Show & Reception
PAL Arts Center Gallery
Pasadena, California-2000
(Produced only)
Color and Black & White
PAL Arts Program Spring Art Show & Reception
Light Bringer Gallery
Pasadena, California-2001
(Produced only)
Rainy Night in Pasadena (Acrylic on Canvas, 12” x 12”)
Group Show, “Absolut Chalk”
Centennial Square
Pasadena, California-2001
PAL Arts Program Summer Art Show & Reception
PAL Arts Center Gallery
Pasadena, California-2001
(Produced only)
School Girl with Creepy Guy (Oil on Canvas, 12” x 12”)
Group Show, “The 27th Annual Art Show”
Pasadena Presbyterian Church
Pasadena, California-2002
The Armory Northwest Show
PAL Arts Program Winter Art Show & Reception
Armory Northwest
Pasadena, California-2002
(Produced only)
The Money $how
PAL Arts Program Spring Art Show & Reception
Pasadena Federal Credit Union
Pasadena, California-2003
Pasadena Police Building (Oil and ball-point pen on canvas, 36" x 48")
Pasadena Police Department
Permanent collection
2004
The Social Worker (Oil on canvas, 30" x 40") and Murderess In the Rain (Oil on canvas, 30" x 48")
Nova Gallery
Pasadena, California-2004
A Woman Ironing
(Oil on canvas, 22" x 29")
Brenart Cafe Gallery Holliday Season Art Competition-Exhibition
Pasadena, California, 2006-07
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