James Castle Exhibition

Went to see the James Castle Exhibition the other day at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and blown away by his work. I had only seen small reproductions of his work previously but when you see the work up close, and the sheer volume of work, it's simply mind-boggling how much this man produced in his lifetime. The exhibition is very well organized and displayed and there is also a very informative short film on view that I would highly recommend to see if you go there. One of the people interviewed in the film said that looking at Castle's art was like looking at the history of art but it's all in one person, and I thought that was a great way to describe the many kinds of art on display in the exhibition from painting and drawing to sculpture, surrealism, deconstruction, collage etc. The show is only open until January 4th so there's not a lot of time left to see it. Here's a sample of the video.

Cool Irma Boom video

Long been one of my favorite designers, Irma Boom has a unique, very Dutch, approach to design in general and book design in particular. I saw her a few years ago in Philadelphia and was impressed by her thinking, the range of her work and her presentation in which she used a video camera to project her work while she flipped through her books for the audience to see. I'm still waiting for her to create her own website but I suppose she's just really busy creating all this beautiful work. Here's a nice (albeit a low-res) video showcasing her work.

Van der Graff wand

Check this out. I just love the surreal, almost ethereal look to this.

Been a while…

It's been a while, I know, since I last entered anything here. Been really busy in the studio and teaching. Between the two it doesn't leave much time for much of anything else. Still, I'll make an effort to try to keep more up to date on this. Check out the new link I posted opposite on Dutch design; can't go wrong there.
Also take a look at this great article on designing a cover from one of my favorite designers: John Maeda. A very interesting insight into his design and creative process.

AIGA/NY eventhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Last Saturday went to NY to attend the Smart/Conference. It was great. Really well attended and in an amazing setting in the New York Times building. Orange walls with red accents, very cool. You can read about the architect Renzo Piano here. The event was very well organized with some great presenters, notably Douglas Riccardi from Memo Productions and Jason Fried from 37 Signals. Some great ideas on how to run and maintain a business. I especially thought that 37 Signals approach to running a studio was a breath of fresh air. Direct and to the point, his talk didn't devolve into a simple show and tell presentation. Instead, he delivered, what I thought was a frank discussion of their business model and how they have grown beyond the normal client designer relationship. Douglas Riccardi of Memo was great. A fun presenter, unpretentious and his work, especially his typography was just great. The last presenter, Sylvia Harris from Sylvia Harris, LLC, was different in that she has completely avoided the normal route taking by most designers, and instead forged her own path to where she currently seeks organization that need help and then figures out ways to best help them achieve their goals. What was refreshing was that she simply hired the designers when needed, and became the facilitator between client and potential designers. Very interesting approach for a trained designer to be in, I think.

Great Profiles

Just came across this great site as part of youworkforthem of designer/artist profiles. Very interesting work and I'm enjoying seeing these video interviews popping up on the web. It's great to see the faces behind the actual work. I especially like the work of Geoff McFetridge, great stuff. Check it out.

2008

Happy New Year everyone — it's going to be a very, very interesting year I think.