Christine's Design Blog

On Wednesday Nina and I helped hang the upcoming TDC56 exhibition, showcasing the winners of this year’s Type Directors Club competition. There were amazing pieces from all around the world, and many of the winners will be present at tomorrow’s opening reception.

Plus, the show poster, designed by Paul Sahre, is hilarious, so come see that as well.

The exhibition will be up until August 19, so if you’re not a TDC member, you can see it for free then. But who can resist brushing shoulders with the winners?

Kittisak Chontong
Untitled
Acrylic on canvas
0.70 x 1.20 m
2010

Saw these paintings at the Thai Artists Alliance‘s Siamese Connection show, which happened at the Dumbo Arts Center back in May. Here’s the description that accompanied the piece:

This work was inspired by Chris Gall’s artwork in the MRT subway trains that depict the different types of people within New York. At the time, I had just arrived in New York and had been here for just one week. I knew very little about what I saw and experienced here. This piece depicts a visual account of my very first experiences as an overwhelmed foreigner in a foreign land.

I love how whimsical the figures are, even as they experience the chaos of the city for the first time. The color palette makes me think that it’s a reflection on past events, with a sepia tone. What strikes me most, though, is how much stark negative space there is in paintings showing one of the most overcrowded and overloaded cities in the world. It makes me kind of nervous, like that part of memory was just wiped out, due to the sensory overload.

The show was pretty amazing, even as I think back on it a month later. I shall return with some more photos I took, but meanwhile enjoy Kittisak’s wonderful work.

This really cool split fountain letterpress poster was made on a class field trip to the Arm in Brooklyn with my Pre-Press and Print Production class taught by Sarah Foley. This happened about three weeks ago, and we were each able to take about 10 posters to promote the show. As you can see, I haven’t really put any up anywhere, so if you would like a cool letterpress poster … let me know.

The class was split up into groups of 3 and Nina, Liz and I were the first group to go. We helped find letters and set the type for the first lines before we had to skedaddle to make room for the next group.

Luckily, Steven took some photos, so here’s some of the process that we missed:

There’s Mika with his beard. He’s been growing that beard since school started two years ago, and it will come off after graduation. It’ll be so strange to see his naked face.

Sarah, letterpress and print expert.

And here’s a video that Steven took:

So cool! It’s a shame the whole class couldn’t fit into the space, because it was such a fun experience. Nina and I are considering taking a letterpress class at the Cooper Union this summer.

Also, there was this wonderful dog at the letterpress studio, as seen in one of the photos from their website:

Today was the last day of classes. I cleaned out my locker, and Nina and I walked away from Pratt together, and she said that we’d walked home together after first meeting at orientation. I don’t quite remember walking home together, but I do remember Nina being the first one I spoke to, and we’d shared a sandwich. I’m going to miss school. But it ain’t over yet, since there are four days of the Pratt Show to enjoy, as well as graduation. See you at the show!

The Wilde Ones from SVA GDAD on Vimeo.

I love this video about Richard Wilde and his teachers at SVA. First saw it at AIGA‘s Those That Can, Teach back in October, and they were looping it at the corresponding Richard Wilde exhibition at the SVA Gallery.

Beautifully directed by Benita Raphan, my favorite bit is James Victore at about 9 minutes.

With just a week left of the show, Nina and I went to the Milton Glaser’s SVA: A Legacy of Graphic Design show at the Visual Arts Gallery on Saturday. It’s no secret that my classmates and I are avid Milton Glaser stalkers (I mean fans and admirers), so it was a wonderful experience. Milton Glaser is such a truly talented designer and artist, as well as an amazing teacher, and I can only hope to hear him speak again or possibly learn from him someday.

Here are some highlights and favorites from the show, which showcased Mr. Glaser’s years of work designing for the School of Visual Arts (click to get a larger view of any image):

The galleries, the first room of which showed reproduced posters hanging from the ceiling.

Here’s Nina in deep observation.

Just reading this letter gave me that giddy, excited feeling that anyone would get when receiving such a thing. But it was even more exciting since we know that it was only the beginning of his amazing career.

One of my absolute favorites.

Also another one of my favorites … I’m also a huge fan of Magritte! This is just too funny.

Sketches found in a glass case in the other room.

This one speaks to the silhouette-lover in me!

Such a clever use of typography in this poster for a Robert Delpire show.

Posters made after the 9/11 attacks.

This project Mr. Glaser explained at the SVA MFA Thesis Forum, but you can read more about it here on his website. It is a sculpture that now sits atop the marquee at the SVA Theater, and at the Thesis Forum, he had explained that we are never done with our work — we always have room to improve, and so we must consider everything a work in progress. The sculpture is an appropriate representation of time.

Afterwards, Nina and I walked by the SVA Theater, which was on our way home. Before, it had not been completed, but it seemed so appropriate to be able to see its completed form after seeing the model at the gallery.

It was such a great exhibition, which I encourage everyone to catch before it ends on September 26. I’ve been highly inspired by Mr. Glaser’s high-concept work and many approaches to the problem of design … now off to do my own homework, I go.