January 2, 2008 at 8:06 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Several months have passed now since I worked to bring Cut & Paste, the international digital design tournament to Portland, however, the design lives on! For the event, I designed 3 large banners that graced the Wonder Ballroom day of show. Post-show, I donated the brightly colored banners to my friends at Queen Bee Creations, a quaint little shop in Portland that turns recycled fabrics into gorgeous handsewn bags, purses, etc.
They were thrilled to receive the banners and quickly went to work turning them into large Market totes, so you can grocery shop in style. The “Delzio” line of bags are set to publicly launch soon, but I was lucky enough to score the first one completed (see below) along with a few additional for Christmas presents.
More exciting news to report, along with the Delzio bag launch, is that I will also have a sentence published. That’s right, a sentence. About a year ago I submitted my 6-word memoir to Smith Magazine as part of their call for entries for a compilation book, and my submission was among the chosen. Its a shame that it has been so long that I dont even recall exactly what my 6-word memoir was, but I think it made reference to the hokey pokey. I guess I will be as surprised as the rest when it arrives at my doorstep. You can find the book at amazon.com. Who knows maybe this year I’ll shoot for publishing a paragraph.
December 3, 2007 at 10:27 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Every year Oprah reveals her “favorite things” list to an audience of self-help-reading, home-at-3pm-tv-watching followers who ooh and ahhh appropriately in honor. Well I have a list too, and while I may not have throngs of devoted fans (or one devoted fan), for whatever its worth here is my official 2007 Christmas favorite things, places, or events.
For designers by designers this funky little store in the hipster-converted Alberta is always a stop on my Last Thursday excursions. November’s Last Thursday on Alberta lacked the abnormal circus-like quality of the summers past, but a few diehard fans braved the cold rain and made it out to Office’s Let Her Press exhibit of top Portland female artist’s designs for the letterpress. Amy Ruppel’s work was my favorite, seen here.
There is something very romantic about the letterpress. The thick paper, bright colors and rich texture are qualities of the artform that are often lost in modern design. Its a borderline obsession for me and it was all I could do but to run my fingers across the grooved shapes pressed into the fibery goodness. I get all tingly just thinking about it, thank you Office.
The Green Dragon is the latest brewery to hit Portland, and it is becoming a favorite. They currently have a unique guest tap selection, but look for the first batch of their own beer in January. The food is fantastic, I am obsessed with the Mediterranean bread salad in all of its olive oil soaked goodness. PLUS, there is a glass of chalks and the tables are chalkboards, so you can doodle freely and, on a whim, express love to your dining partner, or write a limerick (if that is more your style) without the guilt of publicly defacing property.
3. Willamette Valley Thanksgiving Wine tours (self-guided)
From beer to wine, your cant beat WV’s pinots. I am thankful on Thanksgiving weekend for all the fantastic wineries that open early, close late, charge $5 for flights and send you away with a glass. This year my friends and I piled into 3 cars and made a 5 winery tour. 20 plus samples later and we didnt even mind the 99W traffic jam.
Adbusters fights to free the media and drive consumer behavior towards products and messages that are more egalitarian and environmentally sustainable. They are culture jammers on a mission and armed with a pool of talented designers, artists and writers. Vive la resistance!
My favorite first Thursday stop, this Portland art gallery always has cutting edge artists, less crowds, full artists bio books, and my favorite microbrew on ice. Check out It’s Kind of Endless an exhibit by Meg Peterson this Thursday, Dec 6th.
November 4, 2007 at 6:04 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Thursday, Oct 25th was the first ever Portland Slideluck Potshow, a traveling slideshow to promote local artists, and my work (an ensemble of photographs, art, design & illustration) was one of many chosen to be a part. The well-attended event took place at The Cleaners at the Ace Hotel. While the potluck was a bit disappointing (cold meatballs and many Whole Foods side dishes) the slideshows more than made up for it.
Below are a few photographs I showed:
Thanks to the Potluck slideshow team, to check out past events slideshows go to: http://www.slideluckpotshow.com/
October 22, 2007 at 7:34 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The crisp fall air is back, combined with the onset of Portland showers and with it a slew of creative events in October that don’t involve pumpkins.
Here are some thoughts from a few I attended:
10/18/07 - Art Chantry lecture- PNCA
Seattle-based design icon Art Chantry spoke to a packed house last Thursday at PNCA. He shared his portfolio and spoke casually about design in a pre-computer era and his visual representations of the punk/grunge movement. This garbage man turned designer spoke of his extensive “trash” collection of 1950 Sears catalogs, old encyclopedias and children’s books. He is best known for his unique typography, to which he attributes to his label maker, and his self-described collage style of art. He is very hands on with his work, utilizing scissors, glue and a Xerox machine to achieve the grunge factor. Chantry would stop at nothing to achieve an authentic look including burning pages and shooting a bullet through a stack of posters. At a time of grunge brushes, stock photos, and free fonts, Chantry encourages you to get down and dirty and look to the trash for inspiration.
10/21/007 - Film Screening, Eloquent Nude - Hotel deLuxe
This documentary by a Northwest filmmaker (who was kind enough to attend and introduce this movie at the screening) tells the story of photographer Edward Weston, and his model and wife, Charis Wilson. Weston was one of the first to give photography a new purpose, from the recording of everyday life to expressions of an artform. He was particularly known for his close-ups on human forms as well as natural forms of shells and peppers. To Weston all had beauty in front of the lens, and the curves of a nautilus shell were equal to that of the curve of a woman’s back. Many of his photographs remind me of the work of Georgia O’Keefe, whom I discovered he had met and admired. Other artists on Weston’s speed dial were Diego Rivera and Ansel Adams. Hmmm…could O Keefe, Weston, Adams and Rivera be the modernist North American West’s response to the French’s Monet, Renior, Cezanne, Pisarro?
Three upcoming events ALL on the same day, October 25th - choose wisely!
1. W+K Ignite - An open forum hosted by Wieden + Kennedy. Anybody can enter a topic and have open floor. There are sure to be some awkward moments, some laughs and maybe some boos, good luck Crystal.
2. Sandstrom lecture - 52 Limited sponsors this speaker event. PDX design celebrity Steve Sandstrom speaks on design v advertising.
3. Potluck Slideshow - This unique event combines a potluck with short artist slideshows about 5 minutes each. Slideshows can tie into the theme “lust” or can just be a random collection of artist’s work. All of course, set to music.
Bring on the rain, with events like these who needs the outdoors?
September 24, 2007 at 4:44 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I finally wrapped up Cut & Paste, the international digital design tournament that I brought to Portland this past Friday, September 21st.
It has been a project that started over a year ago with my soliciting the Executive Director to produce this iron-chef-like design battle in Portland as had been done in NY, Chicago, LA and San Francisco. With my persuasion we put Portland on the 2007 tour among other cities such as Tokyo, London, & Berlin. I led the Portland team and headed up the design and communications effort. Friday night we had 8 designers competing, 5 judges judging, 2 DJs jamming, 1 MC flowing, OVER 700 audience members cheering, and 1 very excited stage manager (me). The house was packed; portlanders came out in full force to witness this event for the first time in their hometown. The designers all did a fantastic job, and it overall was a huge success!
Above- 2 of the champion, Tim May’s 15-minute masterpieces.
Special thanks to the esteemed judging panel featured above: Eric Lawrence, Ziba; Jason Bacon, UNKL; Kristan Kennedy, PICA; Josh Berge, PLAZM; Jose Cabaco, W+K.
And of course the 8 contestants: William Elliot; Jake Hollomon; Mike Henderson; Crystal Beasley; Tim May (the winner); Lap Le; Eric Sellers; Kris Kanaly
