New York, New York

A show of works by the ubiquitous Banksy, anarchist artist extraordinaire (aka “the invisible man of graffiti art”) is scheduled to open at the Vanina Holasek Gallery in New York on 2 December… no doubt to be accompanied by impromptu creative iterations around the city. I’ve admired Banksy’s work for years, particularly with respect to his evocative anti-war, anti-capitalist, and pro-freedom statements.

A “best and brightest” piece in Esquire describes him as: “A phantom with a stencil and a can of spray paint, maybe the premier ‘Guerrilla Street Artist’ in the world, Banksy is almost impossible to find, but his work is everywhere. And he makes people very, very happy.”

Read more about Banksy here; see more of Banksy’s art here.

Winnipeg, Canada

This wall posting and elevated hydro-pole installation mysteriously appeared in the alley behind our Exchange District office one night last week… to whomever is responsible—I approve (it sure beats the incessant and facelessly defacing tagging).

500 years of female portraits in Western art set to Bach’s Sarabande from Suite for Solo Celo No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 performed by Yo-Yo Ma… created by Philip of St. Louis… click here.

Winnipeg, Canada

Saturday was an interesting day back here in the ‘Peg, and I once again gave my “Design 101” talk at FITC’s “Design & Technology” event… though I must admit I felt like somewhat of a dinosaur presenting alongside high-energy Flash aficionados such as Hoss Gifford, Joshua Davis, and Eric Natzke. While my “design primer”presentation dealt with important (read boring?) fundamentals such as the basics of form, composition, typography (e.g. legibility), colour theory, and visual Gestalt principles, theirs exhibited the cutting edge of motion graphics…

Wanganui, New Zealand

I’ve spent the past five days here in and around the far-flung, remarkable community of Wanganui (or Whanganui, as preferred by the local Maori), acting as an external moderator (re: graduating Masters and Bachelors students, along with Sherry Blankenship from VCU/Qatar and Rex Turnbull of Lino magazine, Australia) at the Wanganui School of Design. This remarkable school punches far above its weight (consistently out-pacing other NZ design programs re: student awards won, etc.) thanks in no small part to the inimitably dynamic Hazel Gamec (an ex-pat U.S. citizen from Minneapolis who jump-started the program here 20 years ago).

Aside from reviewing student work (very talented, very intelligent), I was able to take in a day of New Zealand farm-life with Hazel’s guy (tough ex-Navy Seal, diver, ardent hard-man hunter, deer expert), and I spent a day “up the river with Riki,” a cool Maori artist dude (working at the school) who took me to his ancestral land, introduced me to some of his relatives, welcomed me to his marae, and gave me some insight into the fascinating cultural milieu of the Maori (and the polemic relationship between these native peoples and the pakeha, or white folks). Fascinating, and something I’ll be looking into further…

A hearty “kia ora” and thank you(!) to everyone at the school who made me feel so welcome!

Photos above: The design school; awesome Hazel; tattoo-specialist Riki; a cool vernacular sign on the edge of town; freshly ironic graffiti (Maori accused of being “terrorists” headlined in daily news…); and sheep-herding Harvey’s way.

Wellington, New Zealand

I was fortunate this week to be able to visit various studios and design offices in both Auckland and Wellington, to meet with some leading designers and Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ) board members, and to take in some “tiki-touring”—all thanks to DINZ and the gracious hospitality of its dynamo CEO, Cathy Veninga. I also gave evening talks in the two cities (as part of the Designers Speak series), with favorable feedback from attendees.

In Auckland, Cathy and I visited InHouse Design Group Ltd., Shine, and Studio Alexander Ltd. In Wellington, we visited Experimenta (where we also met type maven Kris Sowersby of Klim Typographic Design), Moxie Design Group Limited, Parkview Motorcamp Ltd. (a cooperative with the inimitable Len Cheesman), Base Two (DINZ Vice President Sean McGarry, Creative Director at Base Two, accompanied us on the Wellington visits), and Designworks. Educational visits included the School of Art and Design (Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies, Auckland University of Technology [AUT]), and a pre-opening peek at the graduation show of Massey University/Wellington School of Design students.

Thanks to all those who opened their doors to me! I was impressed with the creativity and positive energy I encountered during this whirlwind design visit… and I look forward to further liaison and collaboration with New Zealand designers in the future (I’ll be writing a feature article on graphic design in New Zealand for Communication Arts magazine over the next months).

Photos above: The black sands of North Piha beach; Cathy and the lead team at InHouse; Kris, Elaina, & Duncan outside Experimenta; coffee at Moxie; the cheeky door at Parkview Motorcamp; Writers’ Walk in Wellington.

Toronto, Canada

In the category of ‘strange but true,’ my old school chum Gary Ludwig (now Creative Director at Interbrand in Toronto), has “officially retired his beard… after 33 years of faithful service” and offered a ‘before & after’ shot to “help identify him, should you run into him without warning.” If you do, let me know…