EXSCRIBO

MIAD: DEFINE

I found MIAD Define to be surprisingly intriguing. I had the opportunity to talk to thesis presenters one on one more often than I ever expected in a few short hours. Among the students I spent the most time with were Liz Rasper, Nate Pyper, Grace Blevins, Kaitlynn Scannell, Nicholas Ludwig, Izamar Virafuentes, and Skully Gustafson.

I asked the seniors questions like:

• What inspired your thesis? 
• At what moment did you realize you wanted to make this idea your project?
• What was your biggest challenge along the way?
• How was your end product different from your initial idea?
• What were your greatest successes/biggest failures?

The strongest and most unique presentation in my opinion was Nate Pyper’s Young Tongues open dialogue. His project centered around artist talks as well as the organization and advertisement that went into them. The featured artist at the discussion I attended titled Reductive Ornamentation was Grace Blevins, one of the graduating communication design majors I had talked to earlier in the day. I was really captivated by the idea that a dialogue amongst peers could be considered art. The discussion of art, artists, and the concepts that surround us proposed interesting questions about what a thesis can be. Nate led the talk, all the while encouraging participants to feed off of one another’s thoughts. He also designed all the informational posters, advertisements, and structures that decorated the space. I think he did an excellent job of creating an environment for free and critical thinking. When discussing his project, he referred to a basic observation of supply and demand. He saw that students wanted a place to talk about art, pop culture, artists, methods, and whatever else. His goal was simply to meet this demand.

In general, I was extremely impressed with all the seniors I talked to that day. I especially liked hearing the presenters discuss their process. Between drawing majors, ISA experimenters, and business-minded designers, there were a wide variety of approaches when they started thinking about thesis. Many were inspired with their initial ideas in settings where they least expected inspiration to strike. Through the process of thesis, they had to make compromises that could either improve or ruin the vision of their final product. I think in hearing these things, I learned important lessons about the importance of dedication. It seemed to me that the seniors whose projects meant the most to them were the ones who were most successful and satisfied.

STATEMENT - DRAFT 02

March 22, 2012

My body of work ranges from business-minded branding to light-hearted layouts with differing objectives, environments, and attitudes in mind. Specific themes and subjects vary in my designs depending on the context of the assignment or job. I have recently worked creating single and double page editorial layouts, full-scale design publications, abstract typefaces, and an app developer’s company identity. I am experienced in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign as well as many traditional, non-computer-based methods. When I work, I keep the elements of a page loose and slowly solidify the composition as a whole. My first priority in any is to establish a hierarchy between the elements of the page that speaks to what the image is trying to portray both physically and emotionally.

My designs consciously reflect the content of the images, text, or ideas that I am trying to portray or design around. In the field, I am constantly searching for ways to incorporate a larger territory for expression through multiple disciplines. I like to include photography, drawing, and collage in my work to unite my fine art and design skills and challenge the broader definition of design. In these attempts to invent and transform, my main goal is to clarify and generate meaning and significance in each project. Things like movement, color, and the element of surprise that heighten the viewer experience are frequent in my work. Establishing cohesiveness and harmony throughout are, at the base level, what I want to accomplish in everything that I do.

8 REVIEW THE EXHIBITION

One of the pieces that particularly grabbed my attention was the photo emulsion screen print by Andy Warhol titled Birmingham Race Riot. Like many of us know, Warhol was a leading member of the pop art movement in the 1960s whose art capitalized on the commercial culture of the United States. He is best known for his bright, repetitious screen print works including the iconic images of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell’s soup cans. The print featured in this gallery, however, was one I had never seen before. The photo that the print was made from was taken by photojournalist Charles Moore during the violent Birmingham uprising in 1963. The image, which features white police officers utilizing dogs and high-powered water jets to harm peaceful black protestors, was featured in LIFE magazine. Warhol took this highly controversial image and transformed it into a political symbol that provoked dramatic emotional response. Instead of desensitizing his viewers to such a graphic event, his aim seems to be to amplify its importance. Warhol used the tools of the mass media to capture this moment in American history and culture.

Andy Warhol, Birmingham Race Riot, photo emulsion screen print, 1964.

Paul Shambroom’s photograph titled Dassel City Council, Dassel, Minnesota (population 1,134), (L to R): Nancy Nichalson, Ava Flachmeyer (Mayor), Jan Casey, Sherlyn Bjork (Deputy Clerk) seemed to have a very different mission. His work usually centers around the relationship between power and culture in America. Viewers familiar with the history of western art may call to mind the group portraits of seventeenth-century Dutch painting, even The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. The large piece captures a moment in the precedings of the city council of Dassel, Minnesota. Four women members sit at the council table, facing but not engaging with the viewer, surrounded by maps, flags, and everything else you would expect to see in a city council setting. They are nearly expressionless. The women represent a part of government that we usually forget, or one that is at least taken a little less seriously than their higher-ranking peers. Shambroom has successfully taken this seemingly mundane moment in government and given it some sort of significance. The piece is almost satirical of how seriously Americans treat their local matters. There is a theatrical undertone to the image and the idea of committees, their lack of attendance, and inclusion of seemingly out of place formalities.

Paul Shambroom, Dassel City Council, Dassel, Minnesota (population 1,134), (L to R): Nancy Nichalson, Ava Flachmeyer (Mayor), Jan Casey, Sherlyn Bjork (Deputy Clerk), inkjet on canvas and varnish, 1999.

Without a doubt, these two pieces have very different objectives. One seeks to raise awareness and make serious political statements about the unrest of its time, while the other takes a look at our own local political organizations through unique lenses. After touring the capitol building in Madison, I thought a lot about what holds us together as a country. Is it our government? Is it because our citizens share a common morality? Or is it simply because we share the same land? I think when juxtaposing these two pieces of art, and the E Pluribus Unum exhibit as a hole, we should consider these questions and how these different interpretations of our society come together to form the society that we live in. Being in the capitol building and seeing these images really made me think about the gravity of our actions. The social change brought about by rioting in the 60s, the miniscule alterations in local policies, and the state laws created in Madison are all connected to form this great country we live in today.

http://www.paulshambroom.com/art/resume/resume.html
http://www.biography.com/people/andy-warhol-9523875
http://www.gallerywarhol.com/andy-warhol-birmingham-riot-1964-FS-II.3.htm
http://www.paulshambroomart.com/art/meetings%20revA/
http://mmoca.org/exhibitions/exhibitdetails/epluribusunum.php

7 MISSION

To me, creative responsibility is the force that drives artists to do whatever it is that they do. It is one of the only professions in the world that has no definitive motivator and no conclusive outcome. Some artists create their work for clients, some show it in galleries, and some never share it with anyone at all. Inevitably, creative responsibility becomes a matter of self-determination no matter what the reason for creating. Artists don’t necessarily need to ask permission to speak out or act upon the inspirations, motivations, and ideas that guide them, and for this reason I think that creative responsibility can be seen as the initiative associated with making art.

Although it justifies some liberties, creative responsibility also comes with responsible limitations. We see an artist like Banksy, for example, who creates political street art all over the world. Banksy breaks laws to create the type of art that he does but you don’t see him causing any real harm to anyone to get there. Society has given us many rights and special freedoms as artists to exaggerate, distort, ignore, and embellish for the purpose of art, especially if our audience agrees with our message and demands more. This can be applied to both commissioned design work and fine art alike. I suppose an artist who doesn’t have to “answer to anyone” is the one who carries the heaviest burden of creative responsibility. Someone who had no outside motivators other than their own creative drive might find themselves lost and without clear purpose. On the other hand, this lack of direction can (and I’m sure many times does) justify and result in totally boundless creative expression. I think it is evident that there needs to exist a balance between freedom and purposefulness.

Mariko Mari’s mission is to, “fulfill the human desire for perfection.” The cyborgs in her images are representative of idealized states of being in their respective pseudo-natural environments. Rather than pushing away technology, Mari strives to embrace it and associate it with the natural world. China Adams’s mission is to “update the age-old human concerns that still prevail, and have yet to be adequately resolved.” Her work is accessible, humorous, and fundamental and challenges age-old, existential questions. Her modern take on old ideas creates an interesting contrast to the technologically based forward thinking found in Mari’s work.

These two artists resonated with me simply because they seem to contrast each other so much and yet they are so similar. One finds completely unprecedented ways of communicating ideas about nature and feeling while the other sheds new light on ancient concepts. One draws attention to the possibilities of perfection, and the other commands us to look at the fears and trepidations that surround us. Both artists juxtapose past and present in new ways to share their messages about the world around them. The difference in this is that Adams seeks to highlight the problems with the present while Mari encourages the advancement of the future.

5 NEW EXCHANGES

It is the first thing I see when I look into the gallery. But then again, how can anyone miss it? When I look at the Fine Line Magazine wall, I see a collage of all things beautiful. As a designer who loves the fine arts, I can’t help but appreciate this seamless fusion of the two. The wall brings text and image together in a way that transcends the average magazine. Every photograph, every illustration, and every word is carefully considered and placed to form an immaculate, wall-scaling composition. The images are printed in ultra high definition and flat mounted on foam-core, holding fast to their two dimensional radiance. It pulls you in and keeps you glued to its contents. The pages, tiled and gleaming, seem to look back at the viewer and at one another. Each one is beautiful and interesting on its own, but takes on a whole new life when grouped with its counterparts.

The magazine itself focuses on the appreciation of art and ideas across disciplines. By putting these otherwise hidden gems in one place, the publication produced by Jessica Steeber and Cassandra Smith aims to make high art accessible. It’s almost as if they bring the gallery experience to publication. The image quality and minimal use of text and description give the reader the ability to view the work as authentically as possible. The art communicates for itself. There are also no advertisements in the magazine, and I really think this helps to maintain the intimacy of the art and viewer relationship. It is clear to me that if there were advertisement, or if the pages were poorly designed or executed, the magazine would not be nearly as successful. The presentation and publication both scream of high quality and simplistic beauty and create an incredibly unique viewer experience.

6 SYMPOSIUM

The Symposium really opened my eyes to the range of possibilities for careers after MIAD. As a Communication Design major, I was especially interested in asking the designers things like: How did you get to the position you’re in today? What kind of work would you like to do in the future? Do you still practice other forms of art, or do you do any artwork just for yourself (like painting or sculpture)? And what are the most important things to consider in the business of design? I also tried to ask some fine artists some of the opposite forms of these questions: How important is it to be able to market yourself and your work? And is there any work that you needed to do that you never envisioned yourself doing (like designing a website or learning to photograph work)?

Katie Donahue had a lot to say about her journey to becoming the creative director for a newly published magazine. When I asked her about the most important things to consider when entering the design world, she said that craft and presentation were key. She went on to explain why being able to sell yourself is one of the most important things you can do when trying to get a job, and the biggest way you can do that is by building the best portfolio you can and presenting it and yourself professionally and maturely. I thought what she said was extremely practical advice. You could be one of the best designers in the world, but if you don’t present your work in an accessible way and don’t come across as someone your clients or bosses want to work with, you’ll never even get your foot in the door.

Nikki Jeffries, another graphic designer, seemed to have a little more work under her belt. She was also working doing small-scale design on a team of about five, and she was doing so by choice. She told us about why she tried the corporate job but felt that the work she was making was too impersonal and didn’t reflect her passion for design. I asked her if there was any artwork she did on the side and she admitted that yes, she draws and paints in her free time. She also went on to tell us how the ideas in her own personal work sometimes find their way into her designs. I loved hearing that. I know I want to be a designer, but it was very refreshing to hear that it’s possible to maintain other passions and even incorporate them into her work.

Even though I loved talking with Katie, Nikki, and many more artists and designers throughout the night, my favorite presenter was Chip Kidd. I am a huge fan of his book cover design and was delighted to hear about his process. After his presentation I was able to talk with him briefly about his long career and how he’s grown as an artist. I asked him what, after doing this for over 20 years, was the most important thing to remember as a designer. His response was simply “listen.” He told me to listen to the client, listen to my boss, listen to my peers, but above all listen to my gut. He explained how some of his best designed originated from instinct, and that whenever he didn’t, he wasn’t happy with the work he produced. I think this was really valuable advice at this point in my artistic development. I think Chip is an important example of how designers can have a voice in their work even when they are working for someone else.  

4 LOVE VS. HATE

PART 1

I love…

• Eric Marrian
• Peter Downsbrough
• Blake Rayne
• Jeremy Geddes
• Michael Cinque
• Iannis Delatolas
• Robert Adams
• Andy Denzier
• William Turner
• Jesse B Harris

I hate…

• Keith Nelson
• Thomas Kinkade
• Bernard Gilardi
• Ugo Nonis
• Judith Braun
• Taka Ishikawa
• Vincent Van Gogh
• Lee Krasner
• Kara Walker
• Trenton Doyle Hancock
  

I “love” Kara Walker:

Kara Walker is an installation artist who works mainly with cut paper silhouettes. The tension found in her vignettes is enough to grab the audience by the throat and hold their attention for hours. The work centers around physical, emotional, personal, racial, sexual, and historical power struggles amongst the characters she brings to life. She harmonizes understated humor and the darkness of human nature in her work. The scenes almost always appear harmless and even playful on the surface, but the details tell a very different, much darker story. This skill for duality is something I haven’t found in any other artists’ work I’ve encountered. Her larger than life silhouettes each speak to their audience. The characters beautifully narrate Walker’s messages on race and power in pre-Civil War, Southern American scenes. One of my favorite parts of Walker’s work is the way she uses every wall of a room to let these figures tell their stories. She immerses her audience in the drama of her work from the moment they see it. When you look at the work as a whole you can interpret it one way, and the more you catch on to the small details, the more you’re able to learn about and be shocked by what’s really going on. These subtle but strong messages that Walker sends come together to form a beautifully unique body of work. 

PART 2

Katie Donoghue - How did you get the idea for your magazine? What kind of process did you go through between conception and the final product?

Chris Willey - Is it important for you for your audience to experience your work in person? What role do photographs play in your work?

Ashley Morgan - What kinds of feelings do you hope to convey through your work? Are there any themes consistent throughout?

Frances Ford - How did you get started working with such a broad range of photographic fields?

Chip Kidd - Do you think your book cover designs are culturally or socially influenced? What role does audience play when you are designing?

3 VALUE JUDGMENT

“Absolute values…are inborn in all humans identically in all times and place, in what Pluto called the Eye of the Soul, and what Kant called the Faculty of Judgment, or Taste” (17).

I think absolute values, whether they be the Eye of the Soul or the Faculty of Judgment, have a lot to so with instinct. The book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell talks about why our snap judgments are the ones we should pay attention to. In relation to value judgments, we know within the first few seconds of meeting someone or seeing/hearing/smelling/tasting something how we feel about it. Gladwell mainly discussed this instinctual reflex in regard to sensing danger and threat, but this concept can also be applied to taste. What we like, don’t like, and feel neutral about usually relies on intuitive feeling. We decide, either subconsciously or consciously, whether we like something or not within the first few seconds of encountering it. Now, that’s not to say our minds don’t change, but I think that it is very rare to be truly ambivalent about something. In other words, I think its difficult to see something as being black and white, right and wrong, or good and bad when value judgments are so ingrained in who we are.

“Artists seen as great by their own generation may seem mediocre to a later one, and vice versa. The very notions of what makes a work good have been observed to change from age to age” (18).

It’s interesting to put art in a position of approval or disproval in the context of time. If an artist of the past were to create the same artwork today, would it be seen or interpreted in the same way? I think it really depends on the specific art we’re talking about. One could argue that some works have gained prestige with time, even when out of context. With classical paintings, for instance, we know enough about them and their artists historically to analyze them according to their original context. The same way that the paintings of the past would be out of context in our world, the art of today might be harshly rejected by past and future generations. We really have to consider all art movements and how each one was revolutionary of its time. The “next big thing” is most likely something the world has never seen before, something that surprises people and reflects societal factors of the time.

“…we take as objective measures of value what we have been conditioned to take that way” (21).

We really are products of everything and everyone we’ve experienced, encountered, and interacted with. The lessons we’ve learned, the things we’ve been exposed to, and the opinions we’ve formed over our lives are only a few pieces of the equation that makes us who we are. That being said, it makes total sense that the way we make value judgments is also a product of these things. The way we judge things depends on how we’ve been conditioned to judge, interpret, or comprehend them. I think that with art these judgments are especially true.