Free First Saturday at the Walker

FRRRRRRRRRREEEEEE FIRST SATURDAY > tomorrow at the Walker Art Center! Join me + Annie Wang in the Art Lab from 10:00–3:00 and print type using found objects and simple shapes.

More info here. I'll post results from the workshop after the event.

from the MCAD archives

Minneapolis School of Art Letterhead from the 50s and 60s (previously named Minneapolis School of Art, it change it's name to Minneapolis College of Art and Design in the 70s).


MCAD's letterhead from the 70s — the corporate and quirky



MCAD's letterhead from 70s/80s (palette+brush), 90s (Blue M), 00 (Jancourt/Rezac pict system) and now.


Minneapolis College of Art and Design turned 125 this year. Also in 1886: Coca Cola was created, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) is formed and The Statue of Liberty is gifted to the United States from France.

Over the summer, my design partner Annie Wang and I spent countless hours in MCAD's archives searching and researching materials to use in their 125th anniversary book. A wealth of archival photos and ephemera detailing MCAD's legendary visiting artists, milestones and cultural shifts were scanned and photographed. In the end the anniversary book turned out to be an alumni portfolio rather than a comprehensive, MCAD-is-out-of-control-cool-artschool-casestudy. So, on occasion, I'll post some things that didn't make the cut, but things that we really like, beginning with this scanned letterhead ranging from the fifties to present.

kombucha time

Kombucha = my recent science experiment and it's as fascinating and fun as this gif! I'm currently in my third brewing and it's not quite right (yet). does anyone have tips or the perfect proportions?

1 2 3 4 5...

Found! A mini collection of weekly Milwaukee bus passes between the years of 1930–1979. I would love to know more about the keeper of these—certainly the owner held a steady job.

The transit system changed names over the course of 40 years as did the design; great shifts in color palettes and typographic sensibilities. We've got some great fluorescent inks that my scanner couldn't capture...

The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company > T.M.E.R.& T. Co. > Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Corporation > The Transport Co. > Milwaukee County Transit System

more here
+
a refresher of who and what was in the news 100 years ago + Washington's teeeeth. thank you Library of Congress for keeping me off the streets.

playing w/ type

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Hamilton Wood Type Museum—the destination of six hour roadtrip that I took with my friend, Harmen, about four years ago. The museum was HUGE and VAST and MOUTHWATERING! oh my, punctuation! oh my, huge characters make me batty!

On wednesday nights I attend letterpress II at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. We had a thorough-triple thorough demo tonight——I'm trying to get into the technical end of things, but all I want to do is sift through the drawers, work on my puzzle and mix the ink.

A couple weeks back, we went to the Walker Art Center's FFS. The programming = AWESOME. There are art activities, films and performances that are great for both kids and adults. rosenlof/lucas did an awesome workshop called Landscape Remix with tracings, transparencies and projection. Their activity got us excited for our art lab that Tim and I are hosting in April.

This makes me almost want to be a teen again.

POM-POM!

This kit is a great find! Lot's of pom-poms in my family!

Network, Teamwork

I love love love this project by Uta Eisenreich. It's not new but remains quite perfect. I finally scanned in her images from Swiss Design 2002: Netzwerke / Réseaux / Networks. The book is published by Lars Müller. [Apologies for the blurred edges, my book wouldn't lie flat].

for an upcoming project

I'm making the raw materials for an upcoming project——here's some of the lines, shapes and patterns that I'm thinking of using.

Mitchell, Trevor, Lauryl, Brian, Annie and Katie

A handful of Letraset 'info cards' made by my students on their first day to Introduction to Typography. The quick exercise gives students an opportunity to play with type in an illustrative way—the backsides of each card contain relevant tidbits; ie, name, courseload, major—which help me remember my new students. I've been doing this on the first day for seven years so I have an amazing accumulation of type portraits. [[I can't believe the cost of a custom sheet. whoah!]]

Students:
Mitchell Green + Trevor Burks
Lauryl Loberg + Brian Walbergh
Annie Wang + Katie Lombardo

This site is great fun.

atop the mantle

elephant pincushion and tapemeasure—you pull the measure from under his tail!
+ weather forecast chalet. it seems as if today's weather will be fair.

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lovely beaded jar from India (front and back)+ photo of nana in background.

embroidery patterns!

Dear Aimee, thanks for leading the way to this site. I love your most recent post is fabulous——is it for class?

++ Make sure to check out the antique pattern library if you're looking for a great distraction.