Artist and Illustrator Jesse Joshua Watson will be visiting Pat Cummings’ Children’s Book Illustration class on Monday, February 4th, 2008. Jesse’s recent book, Chess Rumble, was an ALA Notable book for 2008. Don’t miss this exciting chance to hear Jesse speak about his artistic and professional experiences!
Jesse James Watson
February 4th, 2008
12:00 p.m.
2 W. 13th, Room 1202
Artist Alexandre Orion scrapes away layers of soot on grimy underground tunnel walls in Sao Paulo to comment on how polluted the city is. A photographer must be present to document these murals before they are hosed away, as seen here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwsBBIIXT0E&rel=1]
Drawing Art and Politics:
Jules Feiffer, David Levine, Stan Mack, and Edward Sorel
Spend an evening with New York’s renowned graphic artists Jules Feiffer, David Levine, Stan Mack, and Edward Sorel, as they examine the ways in which complex social and political issues are depicted by artists in today’s media. Jules Feiffer will moderate a discussion that explores the roots of political art and social realism in the context of John Sloan’s early 20th-century illustrations of New Yorkers engaging in routine pastimes and pleasures.
Tuesday • February 5 • 6:30 PM
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY
212.534.1672, ext. 3395
Reservations Required
$9 for General Admission
$5 for Museum members, Seniors, and Students
[image by Jules Feiffer]
Illustration Adjunct Faculty Frank Olinsky is a busy man! He recently created his third logo for media wizard Fred Seibert’s Next New Networks, a new kind of media company, creating micro-television networks over the internet for targeted communities, bringing together elements of TV programming and internet philosophy to allow viewers to contribute, share and distribute content. His latest logo is Goggleburn: Online TV You Gotta See. Previous, more illustrative logos were created for Bleacher Bloggers and Metal Chik: The first online network for jewelry making and trends.
Additionally, our friends over at the Spraygraphic Sprayblog interviewed Frank about his artistic process. Here’s a snippet:
SG: How did you get into being an artist/designer for record companies (CD Cover work) and companies like MTV?
FO: A few early album covers somehow came my way, and after designing the MTV logo, musicians, managers and record companies began contacting my former design studio, Manhattan Design.
SG: What kind of deadlines do you work with when producing this kind of work?
FO: That ranges from a few weeks to months. I’ve even had a CD package drag on for several years.
SG: Do the companies come back to you and say “change this” or “change that?”
FO: Always!
SG: How much are you willing to change? Is there some kind of negotiation process you go through?
FO: I try to be flexible and receptive. I know that I am not always the best judge of what is the best solution to a design problem. Negotiation? Let’s just say on more than one occasion told the client to take the job back and find someone else to do it.
Read the rest of the interview here and also make sure to check out the comments below the interview for some lovely appreciations of Frank’s fine work. Congrats, Frank!
[images by Frank Olinsky]
Bradford Shellhammer has posted a set great photos (taken by Michael Devito) of December’s opening of the Parsons Illustration/Design Within Reach Bellini Chair collaboration at DWR’s space in the Meatpacking District. There are some fantastic shots of both the event and the re-imagined chairs.
View the entire set here and several other photos of the individual chairs here! Many thanks to Bradford and Michael for documenting this exciting event.
Adjunct faculty member Tara McPherson will be judging artwork for the 2008 Art of Politics poster contest. Winning posters will tour around the US! Here’s a snippet from the organizers about the contest:
With buzz generating for the past several weeks, the national on-line political poster contest Art of Politics 2008 officially opened for submissions this week. “So far, the response has been incredibly promising- the idea really seems to resonate with people. We’re anxious to see what people submit and what issues are most commonly depicted.” Truly a grassroots effort, contest organizers Leslie Mestman and Summer Lewis have been developing an on-line network ranging from friends and colleagues to political groups and art schools in order to get the word out about the contest.
Art of Politics 2008 will be soliciting original graphic art political poster submissions through April 30, 2008. “We’re really hoping that people will express which issues they want heard this election season instead of just letting the candidates define it for them.” At the beginning of May, the contest will open up for People’s Choice on-line voting to select the thirty finalists. After the thirty are selected, the panel of judges will vote on the top three winners. In keeping with the spirit of the contest, the top three selected artists will each be given money to donate to the political, charitable, activist or political group of their choice.
Visit the official website or Art for Politics’s MySpace page for more information. This is a great chance to create activist art and get involved!
Art of Politics 2008 Political Poster Contest
Theme: Political issues of local, national or global significance. All artwork must be original. You must have permission to use any copyrighted images displayed in your artwork. You can submit multiple pieces of art but only one prize per person will be awarded.
Submissions accepted: Jan 15, 2008 – April 30, 2008
If you’re the NYC area, don’t miss this great program, co-hosted by Illustration faculty Pat Cummings. Brian Selznick will discuss his award-winning children’s books, his artistic process, and his experiences in the illustration industry. Should be very enlightening!
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
featuring Brian Selznick (and Pat Cummings)
BCAT (Time Warner ch. 34 & Cablevision ch. 67)
January 19th at 11:00 a.m.
Kudos to artist & Illustration adjunct faculty Tara McPherson on the recent featuring of her artwork in the major movie Juno! You can see posters and stickers in both Juno’s bedroom and her locker. Congratulations, Tara!
Illustration alum Brian Wood is garnering attention in a recent article in Print Magazine. Author and artist of DMZ, a comic book he creates with artist Riccardo Burchielli, Wood tackles the tricky issue of war in his work, creating a re-imagined America ripped apart by disunion. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
A rocket explodes in a neighborhood in the middle of a war zone, and a U.S. Army division arrives to survey the scene. The commander turns to the embedded photojournalist who’s been traveling with them and suggests a way to characterize the photographs he’s taking: “Insurgent cell defeated en route to engage American forces’ or something. Whatever. And crop out the small bodies.”
It could have happened last week in Baghdad or Fallujah. But this scene is set in downtown Manhattan, in the future—in the comic book DMZ for Vertigo/DC Comics. Writer Brian Wood and artist Riccardo Burchielli’s ongoing series, which imagines a devastating civil war in the United States, is one of a new class of mainstream comics: stories that are clearly responding to the war in Iraq without referring to it directly. Using settings and characters that are futuristic, surreal, or satiric, these new comics go where the network news fears to tread.
Make sure to read the rest of the article here. Visit DC Comics/Vertigo to pick up the most recent issue of DMZ (on sale today!). Congrats to Brian on his thought-provoking work. We’re proud to call him an alum!
Interior Design magazine recently featured a brief write-up of the Bellini Chair collaboration between Illustration students and Design Within Reach. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Sari Widman won first prize for her Fluff chair, which encapsulates a Bellini chair in wire, fabric, and cotton. “I have a bit of a fantasy of being hugged and carried around by a huge, fluffy white monster when I get stressed out or tired,” says Widman. “I wanted to make a chair that would feel like that, and also the opportunity to build something because I draw all the time but rarely get to work in three dimensions.” Other winning designs include See no Sit by Chris Yip and This is Where by Christina Young.
Read the rest of the article here and don’t forget that the chairs are on view until January 20th, so there’s still a chance to see them in person! Congratulations to Sari and all the other Illustration students involved and thanks again to Kenna Kay and Bradford Shellhammer of Design Within Reach for facilitating this exciting project.