Graphic Design News
Chicks with Guns
Posted on Tuesday, February 7, 2012, by Lindsey Westbrook
Chicks with Guns
Vendome Press, 2011
Hardcover, 168 pages, $45
Graphic Design faculty member Bob Aufuldish is the designer for this book of photographs by Lindsay McCrum showing women gun owners in America. The book examines issues of self-image and gender through the visual conventions of portraiture and fashion. The guns are presented not as superimposed props but as very personal lifestyle accessories of the subjects portrayed. The women (whose portraits are accompanied by their own words) reside in all regions of the country, come from all levels of society, and participate seriously in diverse shooting activities. They are sportswomen, hunters, and competition shooters. Some use guns on their jobs. They may not all be classically beautiful, but in these photographs they all look beautiful, exuding honesty, confidence, poise, power and pride.
Read the rest >>>CCA Wattis Institute: More American Photographs
Posted on Tuesday, February 7, 2012, by Lindsey Westbrook
More American Photographs
CCA Wattis Institute, 2012
Paperback, 106 pages, $28
As the United States slowly emerges from its most significant economic downturn since the Great Depression, the [CCA Wattis Institute] reexamines the well-known photography program of the Farm Security Administration (1935-44). In More American Photographs, 12 contemporary photographers were commissioned to travel the United States, documenting its land and people. These new works are presented alongside historical images by original FSA photographers such as Dorothea Lange in a catalogue whose design was inspired by Walker Evans's seminal book American Photographs. The featured photographers include Walead Beshty, Esther Bubley, Larry Clark, Roe Ethridge, Walker Evans, Katy Grannan, William E. Jones, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Sharon Lockhart, Catherine Opie, Gordon Parks, Martha Rosler, Collier Schorr, Ben Shahn, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, Hank Willis Thomas (MFA and MA Visual Criticism 2004), and Marion Post Wolcott. The exhibition was curated by Wattis director Jens Hoffmann, who contributes an essay, and the book is designed by Graphic Design faculty Jon Sueda.
Read the rest >>>CCA Wattis Institute: Painting Between the Lines
Posted on Tuesday, February 7, 2012, by Lindsey Westbrook
CCA Wattis Institute: Painting Between the Lines
CCA Wattis Institute, 2012
Hardcover, 72 pages, $25
Writing and painting have been intertwined throughout history, but literature has of late become a diminished subject in the medium of painting, which has looked more to history, society and politics for inspiration. With Painting Between the Lines, the CCA Wattis Institute sought to reinvigorate the relationship between these two fields by commissioning 14 contemporary artists to create works based on descriptions of paintings in historical and contemporary novels. Here, art that until now has only existed in the mind's eye can now be seen, as interpreted by the likes of Fred Tomaselli (on Samuel Beckett's Watt) and Marcel Dzama (on Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore). Additional materials include images of first-edition book covers and installation images from the accompanying exhibition. The exhibition was curated by Wattis director Jens Hoffmann and the book is designed by Graphic Design faculty Jon Sueda.
Read the rest >>>Overthrown: Clay Without Limits
Posted on Monday, February 6, 2012, by Lindsey Westbrook
Overthrown: Clay Without Limits
Denver Art Museum, 2011
Paperback, 2 volumes in a slipcase, 64 and 64 pages, $25
Graphic Design faculty member Bob Aufuldish designed this two-volume exhibition catalogue that accompanies the 2011 exhibition Overthrown: Clay Without Limits at the Denver Art Museum. Most of the 25 artists featured in the show made works especially for Overthrown and many are in direct dialogue with the Frederick C. Hamilton building architecture, moving beyond the pedestal to the wall, the floor, and even the ceiling. They break boundaries that are physical, technological, conceptual, and spatial. Working in all scales, from architecturally expansive to almost impossibly small, the artists in Overthrown employ 21st-century technology hand-in-hand with standard modeling and molding techniques. Some push the forms of functional objects. Others push the limits of fragility. They take risks that draw on material chemistry and maverick kiln techniques. Some of their works include not only clay, but also found objects such as metal, plastic, and abandoned industrial materials. Available via mail order from the museum shop: 720.865.4488.
Read the rest >>>Graphic Designer Michael Sun Trades CCA for the NBA
Posted on Thursday, February 2, 2012, by Simon Hodgson
"Zero to hero" is a cliché in sports movies, but how does a sports-obsessed graphic designer make the leap from rookie to professional? Growing up outside Detroit, Michael Sun (Graphic Design 2010) was always a fan but never thought of sports as anything more than a hobby or entertainment. Then after attending the University of Michigan and receiving a teaching degree, he came to the sinking realization that teaching might not be for him. He admits he needed some direction.
"I went to lunch with my dad one day and I was spitballing, trying to think of my next step, but I had no idea what to do. Sports was an obsession, the only thing that held my interest at the time. I didn't know what I wanted. I'd always been interested in sports logos but only doodled them on notes in high school. I didn't even know logos dealt with something called graphic design.
"Fortunately I found CCA, but it was definitely a tough transition. For a while I felt like an outsider. I'd already received a degree, I was a little older, I didn't dress the same way, and I lived far from the city in Sunnyvale. Worst of all, it was discouraging to compare my projects with students who had been designing for longer than I had, or who had a better eye for color or composition."
He realized even in these tough moments, however, that his teachers were on his side. "They knew my work was not the greatest, but they also knew so badly I wanted to succeed and how hard I was trying. My background was academic -- expecting results according to how hard you worked -- so I decided I'd get there if I tried hard enough. And the professors noticed that.
Read the rest >>>California College of the Arts Presents Place=Basho: Osaka/CCA Printmaking and Graphic Design Exchange Exhibition
Posted on Thursday, January 19, 2012, by Allison Byers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
California College of the Arts presents
Place=Basho: Osaka/CCA Printmaking and Graphic Design Exchange Exhibition
February 15-22, 2012
Two CCA Finalists Soak Up Some Visibility in Design*Sponge Scholarships
Posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, by Clay Walsh
Congratulations to Justin Carlisle-Andgrand and Kate Nartker, each a finalist in the 2011 Design*Sponge Student Scholarship!
About the Design*Sponge Scholarship
Now in its fourth year, the Design*Sponge Scholarship is $10,000 in awards for full-time undergraduate and graduate students studying art and design. The scholarship was created to support the creative endeavors of the awardees and can be spent without restriction to support their pursuits (internship abroad, tuition, technology, supplies, etc.).
Read the rest >>>The Art of Food
Posted on Wednesday, November 23, 2011, by Simon Hodgson
From painter to pastry chef, ceramicist to wine cellar owner, innovative CCA alumni are shaping creative niches across the world of food and drink.
Twenty people stand around a long butcher-block table. The lights above cast a pale glow on its surface, illuminating the ingredients piled in its recessed trough -- lemons, lettuce, flour, eggplants, bell peppers -- without lighting the faces of the diners. They are here for Hands On, a food-making experience in which they use their hands rather than utensils to create a three-course meal.
"Cooking is very much a form of art," says Lisa Mishima (Graphic Design 2005), who concocted Hands On together with her boss, Randall Stowell of the creative production company Autofuss, and friend Yvonne Mouser (Furniture 2006). "Both cooking and art involve concepting, crafting, and presenting a piece. But there is something about consuming one's creation that feels even more personal, immediate, and honest."
Initially, the guests are nervous, even clumsy. Flour falls to the floor. Slowly, the experimental chefs grow more confident. There are giggles around the room, then nods of approval as the dishes take shape. The menu features Caesar salad, handmade pasta with pesto sauce, and tiramisu. Some diners shape vegetables into utensils and use those instead of spoons or spatulas. Maybe there will be a meal at the end of this.
Read the rest >>>CCA and the Biennial: East Meets West in Istanbul
Posted on Wednesday, October 26, 2011, by Lindsey Westbrook
The Istanbul Biennial is a key event in the international contemporary art scene -- a highly visible, highly respected exhibition that draws more than 100,000 visitors to the city and exposes them to some of the most engaged and relevant art being made today. In its opening week, the 12th Istanbul Biennial (which remains open through November 13) was attended by almost 4,000 guests, including critics, curators, museum and gallery administrators, and approximately 400 members of the press from 50 different countries. Everything they saw (whether they realized it or not) bore the marks of a CCA affiliate's hand -- specifically two CCA curators, one CCA graphic designer, and one CCA editor. They also saw the work of one faculty member and three alumni; all three alumni had entire galleries devoted to their work.
CCA President Stephen Beal, chair of the Board of Trustees F. Noel Perry, other trustees, and several members of the CCA Curator's Forum (a dedicated group of Wattis Institute supporters) flew to Istanbul for the opening weekend. Stephen Beal remarked, standing at the biennial entrance, "It is very gratifying to see the college so prominently represented here. It is evidence of the major relevance, at the international level, of what we are doing, and the kinds of experiences and access that CCA makes available to its community."
The Curators
It was almost two years ago that Wattis Institute director Jens Hoffmann accepted the invitation to co-curate the 12th Istanbul Biennial. Beginning with that moment, what began as a single thread of connection between the college and the city of Istanbul expanded into a densely packed web involving multiple individuals.
Read the rest >>>Laura Kramer: The Difference a Decade Can Make
Posted on Monday, October 24, 2011, by Allison Byers
Ten years ago, Laura Kramer (Graphic Design 2002) was sitting at a desk in a classroom at CCA. Today, she barely has time to sit down at her desk . . . in her office at one of the most influential fashion houses in the world, where she collaborates with many of today’s top fashion industry leaders. Kramer is the in-house art director at Oscar de la Renta.
The job encompasses a vast range of responsibilities: directing photo shoots, editing video, producing visuals for fashion shows, and shooting in-house. She also takes part in designing fragrance packaging, trunk show invitations, web assets, and social media platforms. "It's a family-run business," she explains, "so we all wear many hats."
Fashion Week Challenge
Last month was Kramer's first experience with New York Fashion Week. "The process is very hands-on. While photographing the fittings in the showroom with Oscar and the creative team, I recognize how amazing it is to be so closely involved in the process.” She manages the visuals both in preparation for the show and the night it takes place, including organizing the videographers and photographers in the pit to ensure the collection is well captured on the runway. The moment the show is over, she is editing video, uploading photographs to the website, and planning for look books. "At times it's stressful, but you step back and think, 'Wow, this is incredible -- I never thought I would end up here.'"
Read the rest >>>