SHO-GLOBE - Alaska Design Forum JUNEAU

WOW -- finally recovered after working on the SHO-GLOBE project. ReBar from San Francisco came up to Juneau and created the project. This was apart of Alaska Design Forum's project titled COMMON SPACE, which addresses communal spaces within communities that is is underutilized. This space should be a place of engage and interaction, but unfortunately for many communities it is not and is really dead space.

It was an epic week of work. From massive production of a 20' x 14' x 8' inflatable structure that was self sufficient and and could be set and packed into two "backpacks" and moved throughout a community. A place for interaction.

Lots of labor went into this piece. It was amazing to see how people engage with the piece after so many hours of work. SHO-GLOBE had a life of its own. From seeing it live next the State building in Juneau and seeing suits come in, to Friday night at Folk Fest and seeing every kid jumping into it.

WOW. Blaine and Adam of Rebar put so much into this project. It was really neat to see. And also all the volunteers that dedicated their time and to all the people that were so excited about the project. The best was as we were walking to Friday evenings launch, Blaine and Adam were walking with the monsterous backpacks and someone says .... what is that and what are you doing .... they reply .. it is SHO-GLOBE. His response was oh SHO-GLOBE right on. Everyone in the community talked about the project. It was really neat to have a store front to construct it to the Juneau Empire and local public radio station really promote it. And the amazing thing was all the papers that picked up the article on the AP Wire. We were even on the cover of a Boulder Paper .. and in papers across the country!

Okay ... back to routine ...

well ... not really.

JUGGERNAUNTS

JUGGERNAUTS is a solo show for Rachelle Dowdy at the Anchorage Museum. I worked on the catalog for the show. Because Rachelle uses pretty simple materials: nails, wood, concrete, rope, etc ... I decided to create the title of the show out of nails. It was pretty fun. I used this prototype for the catalog ... and we will create a larger one onto plywood for the entrance wall for the exhibition. Pretty fun. Lots of nailing to do next week.

PILOT PROJECT - POP 11

PILOT PROJECT is up.

Until Jan. 16th, 2011, the oversized pilot bread box will be up at west chester lagoon. The 4'x 14' piece is place around a great skating track. Last night was the opening, where pilot bread with salmon dip was served, amongst a nice fire. The install was on a perfect day of ice fog, with the sun breaking up the fog for a magical day.

This project is apart of POP 11, which is various art happenings community wide coinciding with the Warhol exhibit at the Anchorage Museum. These happening relate to POP art, POP culture and things relevant of our time, and Alaska.

I constructed this piece to engage the larger public about the exhibit. Bring art into everyday culture is important. Engaging people in settings other than a museum is important.

Pilot bread is an unique product/icon. 98% of all the production of the product is made for Alaskans, which is made in Virginia.

Hamilton Wood Type - WOW

Lucky me ... getting to visit the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Since 1880, they have been making wood type - and grew to the largest producer of type in the country. With over 10,000 type families - it is one incredible place. I even got to pull a few prints in their letterpress studio. Now that I am a member of the museum ... it comes with some great perks ... like the ability to use their sweet studio. I am already planning my next trip back ... and getting the time to really explore. The best part about my trip was my mom telling me my uncle earl worked there ... along with a cousin of mine. For all graphic designers this is a must see and all need to support a place like this.

un/common & common space

It is that time of the year, I am working on a crazy alaska design forum project.

This year's lecture series theme is un/common ... focusing on inspiration from things, common and uncommon. We have a shortened lecture series, but will be presenting a symposium and design challenge titled common space, happening in April of next year. It will focus on common spaces in communities rural and urban across the state. Right now, it is set for five communities.

I created these dimensional letters with the help of Michael Gerace doing some very nice drawings .. and Insofoam, a foam company right here in Anchorage. The idea was to use the common word of common, create it in a material (that is locally made), have it share the common space, and be able to use the sculpture to create excitement and awareness for the symposium and design challenge.

With the help of Larry Harris, a photographer here ... and back up help of Mike Hondell, we photographed one location of them .. today we will do another on water.

Now I just have to bring it all together for the season poster that must go to the print on Wednesday.

wow....

Palette House

how beautiful.

Go old school

I stumbled across this short film on the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum. Titled Typeface, it is an interesting film on the soon to be lost history of letterpress type creation. The crazy thing is this place is just an hour away from where I grew up. I am looking forward to my visit to the museum ... and maybe a workshop if it works out. Jim the director says they have some major leaks in the building, which is putting off some of their summer workshops. I am heading back in September, and hopefully I get to play with these -- and meet some of the neat people there!

Help support the museum.