little red girl

Seen and Heard / The Conductor

2012-01-28T22:30:00.000-08:00

I just picked up this picture book, The Conductor, by French illustrator and artist Laetita Devernay. The story is elegant and moving - a compelling meditation on creativity, connection, complexity, destruction and rebirth expressed through the conflation of visual and musical composition. The styling is both restrained and complex, subtle and epic, with a limited color palate, bold lines, and areas of dense detail juxtaposed against generous white spaces. Her symbols are clear (yet not trite), carrying her narrative (the book is wordless), and her layering of visual metaphors adds enough interest for multiple readings.

Here are a few spreads. You really have to see the entire book and flip through all 72 pages to experience what she accomplishes: the ebb and flow, the crescendos of form and pattern that channel a feeling of music so clearly as to grant what feels like temporary synesthesia.

I think - though it is hard to tell - it was also published originally as a longer accordion book of the name Diapason (again, the French - it's causing problems...).

I've always loved the rhythms felt in poetic, narrative and visual forms. The Conductor sings this silent music.

New Piece / (To Be Titled)

2012-01-21T16:08:00.000-08:00

New piece. I'm revisiting my small Little Red Girl series. I might also make this into a screen print of some sort...

New Piece / Islands

2012-01-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

(detail)

(aaaaannnnnd a super up-close detail. because I got a little obsessed with this texture.)

I would like to step out of my heart and go walking beneath the enormous sky

2011-12-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

Playin' around. I love this line (from "Lament," The Book of Pictures)

With music / Lately, these days are wider than they are long.

2011-12-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

Aaron Bloom, a super-talented, graphic-designer/creative-mastermind friend of mine, made a song to go along with the piece above.

View/listen at the link below (the music will open in a new tab/browser).

http://www.erinkendig.com/these_days

I'd love to do more collaborations like this in the near future.

The Drums Posters / For You

2011-12-17T12:56:00.000-08:00

Do you like The Drums? Do you know someone who likes The Drums? Do you need to get a holiday present for someone who likes The Drums?

I still have a few of these posters remaining from the Sasquatch Poster show in May. They are burning hole in my portfolio and aching to burst forth into the world/on your wall. They are two color, screen-printed, 18" x 24" and designed by yours truly.

Want to purchase one for a small fee (plus shipping, if need be?) ? Contact erin.kendig@gmail.com.

P.S. Are you one of my friends? I'm also quite into exchanges/swaps/the barter system.

P.P.S. Ah! I am such a loser! I can't believe I didn't go to their show when they came to Seattle this fall!

Art / Letters Series

2011-11-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

Finishing up Stream has taken me down memory lane. Below are pieces I've done over the last few years in what I now see is coming together as a loose series. The smaller pieces came first, then Alphabet Pile, then Treeline, and lastly, Stream.

Alphabet Pile

Alphabet Pile (detail)

Alphabet Pile (detail)

Treeline

We Began to Send out Signals to Each Other

I Like Walt Whitman

Stream

Stream (detail)

New Work / Stream

2011-11-26T15:25:00.000-08:00

A new piece I made:

(detail)

Stream
30" x 22"
Ink, watercolor, acrylic, cut up books

Robert Creeley / Old Illustrations

2011-11-16T08:15:00.000-08:00

So, I was reading some Robert Creeley the other day - another favorite poet of mine. I was reminded of an exercise I had to do for school a couple of years ago using poetry or song lyrics (above). I used the poem (below).

'The Tunnel"

Tonight, nothing is long enough--
time isn't.
Were there a fire,
it would burn now.

Were there a heaven,
I would have gone long ago.
I think that light
is the final image.

But time reoccurs,
love--and an echo.
A time passes
love in the dark.

Ok, while the above images aren't exactly graphic design genius, they were fun to do and have got me thinking: Maybe I should try to do an illustration/type design for a poem or excerpt from a book every couple of weeks. It might be a good way to practice my design/illustration skills and intimately engage with some texts. But alas: who knows! I am full of ideas and not time.

Anyway, Robert Creeley is great. I always come back to this poem:

"Love Comes Quietly"

Love comes quietly,
finally, drops
about me, on me,
in the old ways.

What did I know
thinking myself
able to go
alone all the way.

Screen Printing Magic / Explosions in the Sky

2011-11-10T15:05:00.001-08:00

Well, this poster by DKNG is amazing. Why is it amazing? Well besides being a fantastic image (you have eye balls, right?) it is screen printed and maintains such a high level of layering, texture, nuance and detail. Man! I want to make prints like this! Very inspiring. Go to their site and watch the process video and check out the detail shots.

And...besides being awesome in and of itself, this poster is also for one of my favorite bands, Explosions in the Sky.

So as long as I'm at it, here is some more Explosions in the Sky poster goodness I found (I was actually sad I didn't see more posters I liked):

Dog and Pony
(More of the underwater/night theme)

Jason Munn

(Good ol' crying eye - I have the light one - Jason Munn is one of my favorite poster designers)

Happy Halloween / From My Bookshelf

2011-10-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! From my bookshelf to yours.

From Une Semaine de Bonte, Max Ernst.

From Epileptic, David B.

The Ghost, from the series The Hundred Ghost Stories, Hokusai. Taken from Japanese Woodcuts, Basil Gray.
From House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski.

The Book of Hours / Rilke / Le Guin / Covers

2011-10-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

Alright. So I am borderline obsessed with Rainer Maria Rilke. (Someday I am going to write an involved post about him/that - today is not that day.)

Also, as I have mentioned, one of my favorite things is when my favorite creative types like my other favorite creative types. (Favorite!)

In addition, I highly enjoy well-designed books and particularly book covers. (Hey, writer friends: hurry up and write some books and have me design them for you.) I often enjoy spending time in book stores just looking at books (yes, hanging out with me is a blast).

So anyway, you can imagine how pleased I was to find this:

A newly (new as in 2009) "gift edition" from New Directions of poems from Rilke's The Book of Hours with a preface by Ursula K. Le Guin, one of my favorite sci-fi authors!! Joy!!. It is wee (6" x 4") and aesthetically pleasing (cover design by Ben Wiseman / Rodrigo Corral ).

Le Guin's preface is very nice:

"With The Book of Hours, written between 1899 and 1903, Rainer Maria Rilke came of age as a poet. He was ready to do the difficult thing...The images of the great later works began to gather cloudily around him. And his voice was taking on its utterly characteristic ring. Now he wrote lines that nobody ever could write but Rilke - those lines that seem to burn through language as if it didn't matter which one they were written in."

Ah! I wish I could read German!

In Praise of Fallow Fields / ARCADE

2011-10-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

I was reminded yesterday of one of my favorite recent ARCADE articles. This was is in ARCADE's June issue, The Good Life Reconsidered. I actually liked it so much I took a quote from it and put it on my fridge. Check it out, and if you are curious, you can subscribe to ARCADE by going here.

In Praise of Fallow Fields
By Kurt Lavenson

fallow [fal-oh]
1. (of land) plowed and left unseeded for a season or more; uncultivated.
2. not in use; inactive. (From www.dictionary.com)

Let Everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Rainer Maria Rilke

The economic downturn has hit my architecture business rather hard. For years, decades actually, I had a running list of clients waiting for me to design their projects. Now the backlog is gone. I have large blocks of unscheduled time. I live and work only in the present tense, unsure of the outlook next year or even two quarters ahead. This can be awkward to discuss with friends and colleagues. I see pained looks flicker across their faces when I answer the ubiquitous “so how’s business?” with an unequivocal “really slow.” Apparently, I have offered more than they really wanted to hear, violating an unspoken rule by giving voice to loss. Occasionally, I go further, adding, “…and I like it.” Perhaps I am expected to say business is OK, or at the very least picking up again; it is apparently safe to talk about loss in the past tense but not the present. Some colleagues are relieved to discuss loss in the open, taking comfort that they are not alone, but most react as if loss may be contagious and pull away. For my part, I am learning to embrace the slowdown for its cathartic qualities. The stillness has within it another kind of wealth—one of reflection, grounding and opportunity. I have come to appreciate the fallow period.

Until the modern era of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, it was common practice for farmers to let alternating sections of their fields go fallow to regenerate. This gave the soil and organisms a chance to rebuild the land’s nutrient base for subsequent crops. However, as emphasis shifted toward maximum production, the soil was never allowed to rest. Nutrient flows were subsidized and accelerated by artificial means, leading to depletion and pollution. I see a metaphor here for the construction industry and the economy as a whole. The boom cycles are not sustainable without artificial subsidies, and they become unhealthy when pushed past their natural limits. An economy which primarily measures success in terms of speed and quantity of production will eventually become toxic. It is time to take another look at the elegance of processes that appear inefficient, like those fields left unplanted and uncultivated for a season. When we think with a longer-term perspective, not doing can be as valuable as doing. There is regenerative opportunity in stillness.

Recently, I spoke with Sim Van der Ryn, architect, author and leading proponent of sustainability and whole-systems thinking before most of us knew the words. I asked him to discuss the fallow field metaphor. After hours of conversation, I had only one word circled on my notepad—presence. We always came back to presence. If ambitious, hyper-multitasking is a skill of the head, then mindful presence is a skill of the heart. Valuable knowledge and insight reside in the heart, where they are often ignored in the rush to success or the panic of crisis. Taking time to pause, to lay fallow, allows us to connect with that wisdom and reach a fundamentally new kind of productivity.

Endings are required before we can have new beginnings. Frank Gehry has been quoted describing a period in 1978 when, at the age of 49, his work came to a halt. During a conversation with his biggest client, he admitted to not really liking the projects he was designing. The two parted ways amicably, and the work was suddenly gone. A few days later, Gehry had to cut his staff of fifty down to three. He called the experience “seeing the devil” and said it was neither the first nor the last time it happened. However, that moment was a turning point at which he committed his attention to design work that aroused his passion. He is now one of the most notable and celebrated architects in the world, having fundamentally redefined building form and process. Gehry acknowledged his sense of loss and disappointment. He spoke from the heart. He stopped what he was doing, took the hit and remained present. Then he became available to use his gifts in new and more meaningful ways.

Many now claim their design practices to be focused on sustainability. I’m not convinced, however, that specifying bamboo floors and solar arrays is enough to deserve that moniker if the underlying business paradigm requires constant production. Perhaps design itself would be more sustainable if it allowed, or celebrated, pauses in the economic cycle. They are natural inflection points. For some the consequences of a slowdown are more dismal than others. However, the need to become less afraid of stillness and loss is universal. How many of us have said that we learned more from a test we failed or a job we lost than from an easy victory? Clearly, we don’t need to seek sadness or emptiness; we just need to stop pretending they can, or should, be eliminated. The cusp of profound change is similar to the demolition phase in a construction project. Before building something new, it is necessary to destroy old structures that are interfering—to clear the ground. We have to accept loss, and sometimes destruction, in order to grow. Releasing the past and its hold on us allows for new opportunities.

Kurt Lavenson, AIA, is principal of Lavenson Design, in Oakland, California. He operates a solo architecture practice and may be reached at kurt@lavensondesign.com.

This article first appeared in arcCA, 10.4, Faith and Loss, December 2010.

Yellena James / Aquarium

2011-10-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Looking on Etsy today, I stumbled upon the work of artist/illustrator Yellena James (a few of my favorites above).

I love her use of intricate, transparent layering and delicate organic forms. You can feel the implied currents ebbing through the blooms. This makes me want to go to the aquarium - I haven't been for a while.

Check out her website and prints available through Etsy.

Codex Seraphinianus / Two Worlds

2011-10-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

I was going to title this post "Codex Seraphinianus / Best Fake Encyclopedia Ever." The Codex Seraphinianus is a 350+ page illustrated book, published in the late 70s (I think) by the Italian artist, architect and industrial designer Luigi Serafini.

The Codex documents an imaginary world in an a indecipherable language represented in an unreal script (dang!). Topics include flora, fauna, anthropology, anatomy, history, language and architecture. The images - strange, delightful, curious, wry - are juxtaposed with the writing - inscrutable yet familiar in form. Inherently, by providing us with a visual explanation while depriving a verbal exposition - but implying there is one - the structure brings us back to our first experiences with written stories: as children, unable to read our favorite books, we flipped through the pages, prompted by the structure, by the learned understanding of what reading is, and made up our own stories based on the pictures, goaded by the presence of an alphabet, by our desire for a narrative and our ability to create one. In this way, The Codex takes us to two worlds - one we'll never see and another often lost.

I learned about The Codex Seraphinianus a few years ago in The Believer. Read the article, "The Codex Seraphinianus," by Justin Taylor, here to get a great understanding/insight into the book's story (there are also more images). I saw the book for the fist time when a guest speaker brought it to my graphic design class a couple of years ago (he also shared these scans). I wish I owned it.

Here are a few of my favorite illustrations. Enjoy!

Kenneth Koch / Boiling Water, Serious Business

2011-10-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

Kenneth Koch is one of my all-time favorite poets. His enthusiasm and reverence (expressed as a comic irreverence, in many ways) for life is on par with Whitman's, or for a non-poet/real person comparison, perhaps Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks (that is a really tenuous and odd connection - focus on the "enthusiasm for life" part).

Anyway, if you are new to poetry* and you'd like to give it a shot, Kenneth Koch is a great place to start, I think, because his work is very accessible (i.e. conversational, casual and prose-like). Perhaps because of his very intentional refusal to create poetry that focused on being sad or difficult (qualities sometimes mistaken for "seriousness", he would say), he was, during his life, not always as critically acknowledged as his peers. Yet in a straight-forward, joyous and often humorous manner he manages reach levels of profundity.

I was looking for my favorite poem, The Boiling Water, to post - but I can't find a complete, accurate version of it online!**

But anyway, the first line of the poem is:

"A serious moment for the water is when it boils." I love that.

And later:

"Seriousness, how often I have thought of seriousness
And how little I have understood it, except this: serious is urgent
And it has to do with change."

A great review/overview of his work in general, can be found here.

A couple of years ago, I made a painting (in the possession of my sis) inspired by The Boiling Water. (above). Which makes me think I'd like to do more illustration work...

Anyway, a good collection of his work can be found here. The book is itself is neon orange and designed by Mr. Chip Kidd, design nerds.

*If you aren't used to reading poetry, it can feel irritatingly aloof, pretentious, self-involved. Obstinate. Difficult for no reason. That is how I used to feel about poetry - honestly, there is a lot of bad poetry out there that does encompass those qualities, but there is also so much that is so, so good. For me, the key to enjoying poetry came when I stopped expecting it to be prose - prose and poetry function very differently. Reading poetry is a different type of engagement, and a very rewarding one.

**I've found a lot of incomplete and wrong versions with a lot of ellipses abuse taking place (cringe!). Upsetting! Particularly because these people obviously don't know it is wrong! One jerk must have posted it this way and then all these other fools keep reposting it! If you find a version with ellipses in it - it is not the right version!

Illustration / Book of Trees

2011-10-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to get together this "Book of Trees" illustration project - here's another one to add to the illustration fire (that might be the wrong metaphor...).

I'm not totally sure how it is going to shake out. More illustrations here.

I've been wanting to make some sort of book for a long time (as I really, REALLY love books!). In addition to the daunting task of creating some sort-of worthwhile narrative, there is the issue of production. I'd really like to learn some printing techniques - maybe block printing - which I could do in my wee work space.

Excursions in Science / Blackout Poems

2011-10-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

Going through some old art-things (paper scraps, dead plant matter, things like that), I found some "Blackout" poems I did a couple of years ago. They are taken from a book from times of yore called "Excursion in Science." (found on a free-table somewhere at some point).

See a few of the better ones are below:

Blackout poems are pretty fun, particularly if you have good source material, which I did in this case (also: very fun in groups).

Fern

2011-09-30T19:53:00.001-07:00

Cosmic Habituation - Radiolab Short - More Destruction of Pages

2011-06-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed this Radiolab short.

And I like that Jonah Lehner guy. I am reading Proust Was a Neuroscientist. It is pretty good - perhaps not deeply profound, but intriguing and very well written. Highly enjoyable. Also, though I haven't delved into it too much, I'm a fan of Seed, at which I believe he was once an editor.

Annnnnnnd...I am back to cutting up books in the name of art. So simultaneously satisfyingly destructive and creative, so hand-crampy making. I like to think about how appalling the act of cutting up books would be to not only those living 500 years ago, say, but also, I am guessing, 500 years in the future. It would seem an extreme act of decadence.

When I was taking Classics courses during my undergrad, we learned about "the dearth" of texts available to us due to the need to reuse paper/papyrus - how so many texts were "lost to posterity" because the materials used to record them were deemed more valuable and scarce than the ideas they held.

What an inversion from our current time!

Everybody Loves Voice-Overs/Terrence Malick Voice-Overs

2011-06-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Terrence Malick, totally brilliant (I think) director of Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The New World, and the highly anticipated (by me) movie releasing today in Seattle, The Tree of Life, loves voice overs: epic, odd, intense, magical voice overs. And I love them, too.

And so do these folks:

From "The Thin Red Line"

From "Days of Heaven"

I love it when people I love obvious love other people I love (that statement can be applied to all manner of situations). Love!

And speaking of love and voice overs, The Tree of Life trailer promises more memorable off-camera commentary to come:

(Sean Penn, above, in The Tree of Life, preparing for his coming voice over).

Tree of Life Trailer

Drums - Posters Remaining!

2011-06-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

So, if you are a fan of The Drums, or a fan of this poster, or a fan of both The Drums and this poster, or you know anyone with the aforementioned affinities, and you would like to purchase this poster for a small cost, send me an email at erin.kendig@gmail.com. I still have posters left after the Sasquatch poster show - and they want to be out in the world, not sitting in the corner in my room!

I should also mention that if you are a graphic designer and you'd like to poster swap, that could be fun, also!

Road

2011-06-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

These Days

2011-04-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

A Variation - Super Tree!

2011-03-18T09:11:00.001-07:00

Untitled as of Now

2011-02-19T16:44:00.000-08:00

I have a hard time coming up with titles sometimes.

Resolutions

2011-02-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

2011 Resolutions

Be unabashed.

Create and finish a book (er...I think this is a carry over from last year...).

Take a creative writing or literature class.

Read more.

Watch less TV.

Keep up on news.

I'm sure there are will be more to list. But for now, this will suffice.

I am going to make a new art website soon.

Letters to A Young Poet

2011-01-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

"So you mustn't be frightened, dear Mr. Kappus, if a sadness rises in front of you, larger than any you have ever seen; if an anxiety, like light and cloud-shadows, moves over your hands and over everything you do. You must realize that something is happening to you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall. Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any misery, and depression, since after all you don't know what work these conditions are doing inside you? Why do you want to persecute yourself with the question of where all this is coming from and where it is going? Since you know, after all, that you are in the midst of transitions and you wished for nothing so much as to change."

-Rainer Maria Rilke

This book is great. Rilke is great. Go read it.

Wall

2010-12-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

The tentative title for this one is "Wall" - though I don't really like that. Anyway, another tree picture.

The Ocean at Night

2010-11-13T09:57:00.000-08:00

(pardon the horrible scan which is creating all sorts of weird bumpiness and reflection in spots - at least on my monitor).

Continents

2010-10-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but I finally finished a new piece. I've been trying to be more open about trying new...techniques...letting myself play around and/or just see what happens. This one, at least in part, was inspired by a wonderful camping excursion and excellent trip to the Olympic Peninsula this fall.

Beach

2010-09-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

I think I will call this one "Beach"...could change...

Aspen Grove (For Megan)

2010-08-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Finally! A new piece. This one is very small - 4" x 6." I made it for my sister, who is studying abroad for a year. I wanted to give her a little something for the road.

Anyway, aspen groves are great.

This is titled "For Megan" because I think I will do a series based on the idea/place/trees seen here (I encourage anyone who is interested to do a quick bit of research on aspen groves). Perhaps it will figure into this grand idea I have for this odd, non-linear book I have bouncing around my brain...I went to the book store the other day and was reminded how much I love graphic novels and illustrated/pictorial stories in general.

Also, as you may or may not have noticed, I have updated the skin of this blog. "Ta da"!

It feels good to be drawing again.

P.S.
Alas, I am saddened by how different my drawings look online vs in person. Lame. Another vague idea/goal/dream/aspiration: Learn to better use the internet (in terms of how art can live on it/utilize it as a unique medium).

A little review of Cloud Atlas

2010-07-17T09:29:00.001-07:00

Hello,

I have been a bad blogger. It is because I've been busy!

Which is good - the problem is, the more I have to write about, the less time I have to write.

So a book I've recently read:

(By the way - I've shockingly realized that , yes, reading actually does increase your vocabulary and boost your ability to visualize things. I hadn't had much time to read anything at all this last year due to school and work, and in the two measly weeks I've been back on the reading-wagon, so to speak, I've already seen a difference in how I'm talking and thinking. Interesting and kind-of frightening, the human brain...).

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

I picked this book up at the suggestion of my (now former) roommate. Overall, it was fantastic! It is structured in a somewhat unique way - a soft-of short-story sandwich (this will make sense if you read the book). All the stories take place in vastly different times/settings, and the author dexterously hops from one narrative to the next, easily occupying varied voices and genres. Each story is different, enjoyable and memorable in its own respect, while contributing to the overall arch and greater purpose of the novel, operating like movements in a symphony, in a way (I didn't think of that - that's actually pretty close to a metaphor the author uses when he gets all meta on the reader). The pacing - the ebb and flow - of the novel is very successful, think. And the theme is relevant and memorable - the author has named human "predacity" as the overarching concept he explores; in the book he often uses the phrase "the will to power". The book is essentially about the human impulse to prey upon others and how this impulse manifests in varied situations - from the quite-obvious violence of war and colonialism, to the potential domination and noxious influence of huge corporations (this is a big one), to the intimate dramas of domestic settings, to art and the creative process - and how various characters, throughout space and time, succumb to or overcome this tendency. I left the novel not quite sure if I felt hopeful or depressed (this resulting mental ambiguity is a sign of a good read, in my opinion). I think I mostly felt validated, as I mostly agreed with the author (but see below).

My one comment of complaint is that I felt that "the forces of good and evil", for lack of a better phrase, were simplified and unexplored on a deeper level in this book. I.E. there were "evil" characters - very clear bad-guys who were impossible to identify with or sympathize with as they were seemingly huge assholes for no apparent reason. Their motives were completely unexplored - they were just inherently extremely bad human beings doing really cruel things. I'm usually pretty unimpressed with books (or movies, or stories in general) that use "villans" in this way - I find it an unproductive exercise (I don't believe people act poorly for no reason, and I think that the mental exercise of interpreting individuals in this way - even fake people, like characters in a novel - is inaccurate and generally bad). However, since the "point" of this book is to call out and illustrate this inherent flaw in human nature- the human tendency to dominate and subjugate others - and the fact that this concept was presented in a series of examples spread over multiple characters, the good/evil polarization didn't bother me as much as it might of in other stories; the "blame" is spread over multiple characters to form a statement of "look, this isn't about one person being bad; as a species we have a major problem - lets identify and fight it". In a way, this does create sympathy for the "bad guys" - through the sheer number of them alone, it is as if he is saying, look, this could be you - this is just how people are.

I think I'm just a little sad he didn't take the idea of predacity further and explore why and when people act this way instead of a "this is just how humans are" approach, which keeps the book from going to the next level of sophistication, I think. The book reads as more of a statement than an exploration of the concept, I suppose - it lacks a certain subtly, a certain convolution I enjoy.

But all in all: I highly recommend this book! Very entertaining, well-written and thoughtful! It is fun as well as relevant.

P.S. The paperback edition of this book that I read (image included above) includes - ready type nerds!? - a colophon! Well, it at least includes a note on the type in which the book is set - which happens to be Requiem, which happens to have crazy-ass swashy uppercase Q's and distinct lowercase p's. Why don't more books have notes on the type? I love it!

P.P.S. I really love the word "predacity".

Oldie but a Goodie (I think)

2010-07-01T09:56:00.001-07:00

I've been going through old sketchbooks and pieces. This is still one of my favorites (Tree-head).

Tomatillo/Martyr

2010-06-29T22:59:00.000-07:00

I'm just playing around, trying to remember how to draw again. Like literally - the other morning I was like "oh my god, I can't draw a straight line anymore!!??!" and this afternoon I realized I was pushing the brush the wrong way (or in an awkward way - a way that was obviously not conducive to drawing traight lines). Um...yes. So I'm posting sketches.

How little kids draw skies

2010-06-28T10:48:00.001-07:00

In an effort to get back into drawing, I'm going to try to do a bunch of small illustrations. It seems like less pressure that way. Have you ever seen little kids draw skies like this?

The Off Hours Summer Reading

2010-06-26T18:57:00.001-07:00

Here lies a poster I did for The Off Hours Summer Reading. Find more info about the event on facebook.

White Space

2010-06-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting in my apartment and it's like a yoga studio. My roommate is nearly done moving out, and I'll have the apartment to myself for a month. Most of the furniture was hers - what remains in our living room is one couch (I'm lounging on it) which she was so kind to leave with me and a mammoth drafting table (mine, given to me from a friend). The room has white walls, warm hardwood floors and a large window facing West. Yoga studio.

And I'm pretty excited about it. After a year that was completely overwhelming - both logistically and emotionally - being in a quiet, empty space feels like dipping into a cool river on a warm day. I just want to lay on the floor, flat on my back, stare at the ceiling and feel the still space around me. Feel the small movements of the air on my arms and the floor against my back and nothing else.

Once, when I was reading up on meditation via my good friend the interwebs (I promise I read books, also...) I happened upon a site that gave meditation tips and techniques - according to this site, one should meditate in a room devoid of clutter. Apparently a mess of a room can translate to a mess of a mind.

And now, sitting in my yoga studio, I'm thinking about one of my favorite things: white space.

When I look at art or design, I'm still learning how to verbalize what I do or don't like about something - pinpoint and explain what, in my mind, is or isn't working. I love the challenge and exercise of analysis and understanding. One thing, however, that I am very aware of is the value of "white" or negative space. It's a pretty fundamental design concept, but one that a lot of people really don't seem to appreciate. I enjoy generous, almost obscene amounts of white space. I like it when art or design has moments of extreme complexity coupled with complete emptiness. I love the blank, white forms that emerge against a foreground of chaos.

This entire year my life was completely lacking any sort of off-time. There were no quiet breaks, no moments for reflection. Between family, school and work, I felt like I was basically in survival mode for nine months. There was no pause. When white space is present in a design, it gives the eye a place to rest, and this resting place adds beauty, elegance and harmony to the piece, underscoring the value and character of the more complex areas of focus. My life had no white space this last year.

In our society, I think white space is not appreciated - more than that, I think its existence is generally not even acknowledged, actually. In a design of any sort - be it on a piece of paper or a room in a house - if there is space for more content, for anything additional what so ever, most people who are not trained to recognize the purpose of the unfilled space will want to cram in more - more graphics, more furniture, more copy, anything at all to fill that space. You try to justify white space in design to some people, and they get it - others don't. You have an extra hour in your day that has not been filled with some sort of activity and it is expected that you should fill that time. You try to explain that yes, you have an extra hour at night or during the day that has not been filled with some activity and some people understand the value of that and some people don't. I think we are trained to see the emptiness or moments of pause as wrong, a mark of something unfinished or indicative of a wasted opportunity - that if something doesn't feel right, if we just add more to it, the problem will be solved. I understand, in a very explicit way, the value of negative space in design and even I have to fight the urge to fill it with crap! I have to reassure myself that this quiet form is ok - that it is more than ok, that it is vital. I feel like I spend a great majority of my time defending the white spaces of my life - not only from others, but from myself.

So anyway, now that I have finished-up school, I am excited to add balance to my own personal composition - the relationship between activity and rest in my life. I hope I remember how to do so - it's really not in my nature. It's challenging for me to take a break, quite honestly. It's something I have to work at, but when I succeed in doing so, ironically, my life becomes fuller. And I'm excited to learn how to live like that again. To create forms of calm amidst the complexity - don't get me wrong, I love the chaos, the hard work, the dynamic moments, the tension, the convolutions - and because I love them, I need a place to rest. I need a moment to take time to do what some people see as nothing, and know that the nothing is just as important as the something. That it isn't nothing at all.

Time - You have Come Back to Me

2010-06-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

Wow. I have graduated. I now have time to do things that are not HW. This is profound.

Things I am doing/will be doing:

1) Designing postcards and fliers/small posters for the The Off Hours Summer Reading. The Off Hours is this wonderful, boozy reading series in Seattle where (mostly) local writers share their new work in a venue where the drinks and good people flow as abundantly as the prose/poetry (Wow, did I actually just write that? That is horrible. It actually doesn't make sense, but I am leaving it. Please do not associate my writing with this event).

Check out their facebook page: : http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=130337520028&ref=ts

Seriously, these readings are a really good time. The writers are great and the vibe is just really inviting and positive. Now that I've graduated, I'm really excited to get involved in the arts community in Seattle again.

2) Reading Cloud Atlas. I just started, but I've heard it is an excellent read. I haven't actually read anything for...well...a long time, it feels like.

3) Some sort of weekend trip. I tend to be bad at taking breaks unless I physically remove myself from an environment where I can work. This means getting out of Seattle for bit. I'm thinking Portland might be in order.

4) I want to go hiking! Commune with nature!

5) I'm going to start writing/illustrating a book soon. I haven't decided exactly what it will be about yet. I have three ideas that seem feasible/interesting to me currently. I'm pretty excited about that though.

6) I want to do some sort of on-the-web art project/related thing. I'm not sure what that will be yet. But I want to do something.

7) I'm treating myself to some new clothes. And a new phone. Yeah. Doing it.

8) I'm connecting with all the long lost friends I haven't seen for two years because I've been doing HW fifty thousand hours a day. You know who you are. Maybe. But maybe not, since we haven't hung out in so long. Have you forgotten me? I haven't forgotten you. Here I come...

I'm going to go start in on some of this business.

Thank you

2010-06-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

These last two years have flown by. It's just hit me.

I've learned so much - shockingly much. I cannot believe how much knowledge has somehow managed to cram itself into my brain in the last 24 months. And I've met the best people - as in honestly, really good people. Of course, my classmates and teachers are also amazingly talented and creative but there are innumerable amazingly talented and creative people in the world - there are far, far fewer people who, in addition, are wonderful and inspiring and just really good human beings. I'm pretty thankful - and kind-of in awe - that I was somehow lucky enough to happen upon such a large bunch of these people all at once, all in one place, and subsequently find myself spending hours upon hours with them. I've learned so much from everyone - not only about design, but about life in general. About how to see things. About how to appreciate one another. About special online deals at Dominos and how to tape massive impromptu music videos on your Mac. It's been pretty amazing. It's been an experience. One two-year-long, really, REALLY intense experience.

Our portfolio show is today. Come see what we've been doing the last two years. You shall be amazed!

www.sccaportfolioshow.com

Design Website - Here we go!

2010-06-14T08:30:00.001-07:00

Wow. I have been long absent from this blog. Apologies.

My excuse: it's because I've been preparing to find (design) employment! Ah!! I can't believe I finish school this week. The last two years have gone by rapidly. And I've learned an incredible amount. It's a little hard to reflect upon the experience at the moment.

At any rate, here is my design website. There are still a few bugs (like it's just not going to work in IE6 or 7 yet... working on it... )

www.erinkendig.com

Enjoy!

Top 10 5/2 - 5/8

2010-05-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

In no particular order:

10. DUG at lo-fi. I love dancing! I wasn't sure what to expect (it was a funk night) and I was very pleased. So fun!

9. The latest episode of Lost. It was too intense. It made me cry. I like it when shows/movies/books make me cry. The Greeks had it right with the whole tragedy/catharsis thing.

8. Cheese/non-cheese products. Mostly, what I mean is "I like Cheez-Its and Nacho Cheese Doritos particularly a lot this week."

7. Galaxy formation/space! For my After Effects project, my group is doing an animated infographic on some research that a friend of ours heads at UW concerning galaxy formation and CDM. A couple of days ago we interviewed him and got to pick his brain about the intricacies of dwarf galaxies, space, cold dark matter and the research process in general. Astrophysics, man. Wild. It was like a private, live radiolab (see last week's Top 10). This project is going to be a rough one, as one of my group members said - so much work in such a short amount of time (!) but so exciting and engaging that it's worth it (!)

6. Orange-red and teal. (See my business cards).

5. Putting together my portfolio. I'm shooting photos of (most of) my print stuff today. It is exciting! I love a good photo - it's mighty satisfying to see your work flatteringly framed and captured on screen. I'm getting excited for my website also. The goal is to have my portfolio and website basically done by June 1. Here we go...

4. Bauer Bodoni Bold Italic and Trade Gothic Regular (see my business cards). Trade Gothic is a staple of mine. It just looks good in so many different treatments, and it comes in so many distinctive weights . Bodoni is a new one for me (like I haven't really used it much before). I'm discovering it's an oldie but a goodie, I think. I like how the bold italic feels a little retro almost, and it's so lush. I like classic typefaces used in interesting ways.

3. Caecilia (light and book weights). This typeface is doing what I always imagined was probably impossible: it's making me like slab serifs.

2. Spring! It's freaking sunny out!

1. You!

CSS "typesetting" tip: Letter-spacing

2010-05-05T07:33:00.001-07:00

So...I like type a lot (duh). I've come to appreciate the nuances of setting type - the zen of getting it so right the viewer doesn't even notice how right it is!

So...I also like webpages that are built in a way that empower the user/administrator (i.e. a "normal" person can update them) and this year I've learned the beauty of achieving this, in part, through the separation of style and content: CSS and HTML.

(Of note: my friend found a shirt or button or something that said "You are the CSS to my HTML." I want it!)

So what do we do with type when we have to deal with CSS and fonts (i.e. depending on whatever the user has on their system) and the lack of a decent program with which to deal with type on the web?

Well, I've been researching.

Here's one little thing I've discovered:

You can control the letter-spacing in CSS through the "letter-spacing" property. You can set it with px or ems. It responds to whatever the "normal" spacing already exists as specified by the user and adds or subtracts from that.

A little letter-spacing can go a long way in terms of increasing the readability of text in all caps:

The top example has no letter-spacing. The bottom example has "letter-spacing: .1em" applied to it. The difference is subtle, I think, but nice - as is most fine tuning when it comes to typography. Good typography looks natural. Bad typography is the type you notice (NO PUN INTENDED! Oh god, that was bad...). Not that this example is the most stunning bit of type... I'm now wondering if I should align it left...

I'm hoping that as my web skills increase, so will my ability to make type look decent on the web. I'm excited that things are moving in this direction - having the ability to embed fonts, for instance, is rather great, I think!

Business cards!

2010-05-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

This quarter we are charged with the task of creating our own identity system, so to speak. It has been no easy task. It has been nerve wracking, actually.

Here are my business cards (they will be printed - perhaps letterpressed - on a nice, cream paper):
(These colors are looking very desaturated here, btw).

Of note:

erinkendig.com is not up and functioning yet - but soon it will be!

On color and place, memory, perception

2010-05-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning thinking about color. Specifically, I walked out to my kitchen, desperately groping for coffee, and looked out the window and began thinking about color. Yesterday, the weather was pathetic for May, even in Seattle (cold, windy) but this morning, I looked out to a street filled with sunlight. The sky was light blue, translucent - a morning-sky. I noticed for the first time this spring how suddenly everything is green and alive again.

The scene before me was filled with color vastly different from the day before. Grey was the dominant palette of yesterday. This morning, it was icy blue, green and various shades and hues of warm, light, cream or brown (sun against the walls of buildings).

I don't think it's necessarily natural to notice the color of place on a conscious level, but as someone interested in visual communication - art and design - it is something I've made a conscious effort to do. But actually, that isn't why I started noticing. I started noticing because Seattle was making me mad.

It was winter four years ago. It was morning and I was taking the 5 busline from Phinney Ridge downtown to work, which meant passing through Aurora and all the miles of concrete - miles of grey concrete meeting grey sky framing grey buildings, all in this sickly white, grey light. As a native Northwesterner, I've never really gotten used to the monotonous grey of winter in Seattle. I decided to try to look at things differently. Maybe I could trick myself - maybe I could decide that this depressing, suffocating grey was good, that overcast was good, or at least not as aesthetically offensive as I was currently painting it to be.

And so I started to see the overall palette of Seattle in winter - that Seattle is predominately greyish blue with flashes of red - the tail lights of cars, traffic lights, the little blinks on the tops of tall buildings. And naming its palette in such a way made me hate the grey less. It also gave Seattle a stronger visual identity in my mind - one that made it distinct and valuable to me, marking it physically in time and place.

I realized how this had affected my perception of place when later that Spring I vacationed in Rome. Walking through the ancient city, I immediately noticed distinctly how warm in color everything was in contrast to Seattle - all the ancient, worn stone, everything was tawny and heated, dirty and dry in a wonderfully welcome way. Browns, oranges, ochres, yellows accented by steely grey (the old cobbled street) - this warm scheme was in the quality of light and air as it reflected off of all the ancient, warm walls of the city. I could breath it.

And I noticed, then, when I went to Florence for a night, that this was a distinctly Roman coloring. Maybe I had thought myself under the influence of some Old World, Italianate glow but Florence was different. Florence was a cool lavender, blue and bright grey (if grey can be bright - what I mean is the grey was stronger, bolder, than that in Seattle). After the heat and chaos of Rome, walking through the streets of Florence was like wading into some sort of cool, enchanted pool.

Since then I've visited a few different cities/regions/places and always tried to make mental note of their color schemes, if they don't immediately jump out at me. It helps me love that place more. It helps me remember it more. Maybe this act is akin to painting a landscape - carefully picking and mixing paints to render a place - a place remembered or imagined or both. And to create something is, at its best, a passionate act. Art historians can tell which landscapes were painted by oceans by their depiction of light. The marshes of Alaska are chartreuse and teal.

Top 10

2010-05-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I feel the need to do this, but I kind-of want to start doing a personal, weekly "Top 10." Here goes! (This list is in no particular order.)

10. Emigre's New Type Catalog. It's free (duh). It's clever. I love their faces! Get it here.

9. Glee. Man I love this show. It's like a TV version of karaoke crossed with the OC crossed with Arrested Development. This week's episode sort-of made me tear up. I don't know what that says about me. Watch it here.

8. Friends. The people, not the show. Like friends whom I've worked with who, on their own volition, have recommended me for awesome projects/work. You are great. I am lucky.

7. Big type/dynamic typography. This year I focused a lot on honing my technical typography skills - making my type pristine, neat, ordered. Professional. Mastering the basics. I feel like my typography skills have vastly improved and as a result, I'm feeling slightly more confident when it comes to playing with compositions and letterforms. It's an exciting place to be.

6. Realizing that school has taught me A LOT. I graduate in less than eight weeks and have learned an astronomical amount about design. It's a bit hard to put everything into perspective at the moment, but I'm starting to appreciate all I've learned in the last two years - and those who I have learned from, including my classmates. Classmates: I have learned so much from you. I am lucky.

5. The most recent edition of Radiolab. It's on "human limits." The last story/anecdote is particularly interesting (if you are into nerdy science-y/mathematical/philosophical conversations) . Listen here.

4. Kindred spirits. I haven't met any new ones, as of late - it's more that I've realized their existence in my life, and articulated, mentally, their importance to me. I am profoundly thankful for moments of human connection.

3. Dusk. I have always loved this time of day in this way that makes me kind-of giddy. I love it when you are sitting by a window a dusk, and the sky is clear, and this wonderful blue/purple light filters in and contrasts against the warm incandescent light of a lamp. And you just get to sit there and relax and bask in it all.

2. Keeping to a budget. I'm real broke right now, and it feels good to set a strict budgetary goal and be able to stick to it. I hope to have a bit more money once I start working full-time (like I want to be able to comfortably support myself), but there is something about not having an overabundance of resources that makes me really appreciate what I do have. Again, I'm lucky.

1. Wood. I love my hardwood floor. I love its color. I love the patterns the grain creates. I love how it feels against my soles. I think having something so richly organic beneath my feet makes me happy.

-Erin

Break - Done

2010-04-04T19:08:00.001-07:00

A List of Spring Break Happenings/Accomplishments

1 House of Leaves read (minus appendixes - short review to come!)

1 Sister visited

1 Art piece finished and delivered

1 Bedroom made livable

1 Pair of shoes bought

1 Eye exam received/prescription acquired

1 Tax return ALMOST filed

Many articles edited

1 Art Museum visited (Fleeting Beauty exhibit at the SAAM - so good! Go see it!)

Many good times with friends

I start school tomorrow. I am excited for the coming quarter. We're spending the majority of our time revisiting past pieces to make sure they are portfolio worthy...And then we're putting together our portfolios! Eek! We're also taking After Effects, which will be totally new to me and a lot of fun, I'm thinking. In addition, I'll be working with a freelance client for a class as well (also exciting!). As far as the art goes, I'm trying to decide what my next project will be...what is striking my fancy at the moment...there are two or three separate series I'd like to start/continue, actually. I'm not sure which one will win out. So many choices!

New Art - Tree Line

2010-03-29T12:39:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time coming, but I finally finished a new piece. I'm calling it Tree Line.

Light & Warmth

2010-03-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

A few of my favorite things + break!

2010-03-26T23:32:00.001-07:00

I am on break now. It feels good! One more quarter left.

Things I am currently excited about - for break and longer:

{ Working on finishing-up an ongoing art piece (almost done) }

{ Starting a new art project yet to be determined (so many options - which to execute?) }

{ Really cold ice water with lots of ice }

{ Oranges }

{ Obtaining new shoes that do not hurt my bone spur and also aren't ugly }

{ Obtaining a new phone with 3, 6, 9 and # keys that function }

{ House of Leaves (yep...still haven't finished that) }

{ Seeing the sis in Bellingham }

{ Caprica }

{ Din }

{ New ARCADE articles coming in to edit }

{ Light }

{ Warmth }

{ Hummingbirds }

{ Fleeting Beauty at the SAAM (!!) }

Anatomy of a Garment - D1

2010-03-19T08:33:00.001-07:00

Workin' on another poster for class. This is draft 1 of a poster promoting the apparel design program at school. I'm pretty into this image.

X-Type: Populations

2010-03-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

For our x-type class, we had to make an experimental font.

I made mine an interactive infographic of sorts.

Check out Populations here.

ARCADE 28.3 - Art/Design Happenings

2010-03-12T07:57:00.000-08:00

I wrote a few clips for ARACADE's new issue 28.3 Air: The New Milieu. Thought I'd repost here.

A FORM OF BREATHING Alexander Calder at SAM

To look at Alexander Calder’s mobiles and stabiles—in particular, his smaller pieces—is to remember what it is to feel delight. You stand in the quiet, still austerity of the museum and stare, inquisitively, at what you assume is (of course) a static sculpture formed of delicate wire and organic shaped disks of red, blue, yellow, white. They balance precariously, almost magically, rich with modernist beauty, art historical import and technical skill. And as you continue to stare, carefully pondering the deeper implications of this important work, something unsettling and wonderful happens: you realize it is alive. Yes, the sculpture in front of you is bowing, turning, dipping ever so slightly—a slow chameleon animated by the invisible currents of air that gently caress it. It is moving with nothing less than the subtlety of breathing.

Through April 11, 2010, the Seattle Art Museum will be showcasing a large survey of Calder’s signature mobiles, stabiles, works on paper and jewelry in the exhibition Alexander Calder: A Balancing Act. The exhibition, drawn primarily from the Seattle area collection of Jon and Mary Shirley, traces the master American sculptor’s work from the late 1920s to the 1970s in a showing that is not to be missed.

For more information, visit www.seattleartmuseum.org.

Photo: Justin Gollmer
"Untitled," ca. 1948, Sheet metal, wire, wood, string, and paint. Collection of Jon and Mary Shirley.© 2009 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

A MASTER VISITS THE NORTHWEST

Leonardo da Vinci at the Vancouver Art Gallery

For Leonardo da Vinci, drawing was an act of discovery and investigation, a genuine search for truth through intense observation and graphic depiction. This veracious mind embraced all facets of the natural world, absorbing and filtering them through his amazing aptitude for draftsmanship. “Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known,” wrote the ingenious painter, inventor, designer and engineer.

In the end, among other scientific and artistic feats, a graphic manifestation of the human body emerged from this Renaissance man’s hand that would deeply influence the future of scientific illustration, and thus, the progression of modern science itself. As art historian Erwin Panofsky wrote in The Renaissance, “Anatomy as a science (and this applies to all other observational or descriptive disciplines) was simply not possible without a method of preserving observations in graphic records, complete and accurate in three dimensions.”

For the first time in history, Leonardo da Vinci’s most skilled and definitive group of anatomical drawings, Anatomical Manuscript A, will be on view in its entirety—and, as luck may have it, in the Northwest. The collection will be shown in the exhibition Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man at the Vancouver Art Gallery from February 6 to May 2, 2010. On loan from the Royal Collection by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for presentation during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, this exhibition will include more than 240 individual drawings. Extraordinarily detailed, the drawings will be displayed in double-sided frames, allowing for an intimate study of the meticulous renderings. And as Martin Clayton of the Royal Collection and the show’s curator writes in the exhibition catalogue, “It is futile to try to enumerate all of the firsts embodied in these drawings [as] virtually every one is the finest depiction of a particular structure to that date and, in some cases, for several centuries to come.” For more information, visit www.vanartgallery.bc.ca.

Image: Leonardo da Vinci, Anatomical Manuscript A, folio 4v. The muscles of the shoulder, c.1510. Pen and ink with wash, over traces of black chalk.

LIVING IN THE MOMENT

Japanese Woodblock Prints at the Seattle Asian Art Museum

Ukiyo-e prints were, in some respects, the rock-posters of old Japan. Produced for the masses and available at modest prices, ukiyo-e or “pictures of the floating world” celebrated the transient joys and dramas of urban life in flourishing Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Images of sensational actors, seductive courtesans, magnificent clothing and a dynamic and dramatic natural world are found in these prints, often used as playbills for shows or advertisements. Elegant, bold and abstract, utilizing line and form to highly evocative ends, when ukiyo-e reached Europe in the 19th century, it took the art establishment by storm, deeply influencing the direction of Western modern art and graphic interpretation.

From April 1—July 4, the Seattle Asian Art Museum will be showing an exceptional collection of ukiyo-e prints, including pieces by many of the movement’s heavy hitters—Utamaro, Hokusai and Hiroshige. With over 60 prints on view, this showing will include two of Japan’s most celebrated artworks — Hokusai’s iconic The Great Wave and Red Fuji — as well as several works from Hiroshige’s major series of landscapes.

And even if after viewing the show you decide ukiyo-e isn’t your “thing,” it’s hard not to appreciate the irony: for a movement founded on the ephemeral — in format, material and content — ukioy-e has proven to have amazing staying power. For more information, visit www.seattleartmuseum.org.

Image: In the Well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa-oki nami-ura) Series: Fugaku sanjûrokkei (Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji), 1830-33. Polychrome woodblock print on paper. Katsushika Hokusai. Japanese, 1760 – 1849. 10 3/16 x 14 15/16in. (25.9 x 37.9cm). Promised gift of Mary and Allan Kollar, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum.

For this content and more, visit www.arcadejournal.com.

This is for You

2010-03-06T20:12:00.001-08:00

Book Covers Design + Title Type

2010-03-05T07:29:00.001-08:00

I love book design. I love going into bookstores and just looking at books. I've always loved doing this. Here are some book covers that I think have interesting treatments on their titles. They aren't particularly obnoxious yet still intriguing - that's sort of how I like my design.

Designer: Helen Yentus
I'm into the inky growths - very creepy, yet still restrained, communicating both the idea of children (again, growth) and writing (ink) and horror (the spindly, black forms on stark white.) I don't know how I feel about the main typeface - I think something with slightly more character could have been used, but otherwise, I think this is quite lovely.

Designer: David Drummond
I love how clever and simple this one is - it's also sort of ballsy. I mean, a word is missing from the title! And what is so great about it is that even though a photo is used instead of the written word, it still works instantly, and in a highly memorable way. I suppose it shows how common the crow is - it is an instantly recognizable animal, to the point where it works on a symbolic level. And using an actual image of a crow in this way, particularly with nothing else on the cover, in this really dramatically posed manner, really puts all the focus on the animal, and strongly personifies him in this very striking way. I feel something when I look at this cover. The only thing I feel a little iffy about is the positioning of the type - but maybe not. I don't know, this one is pretty fantastic.

Designer: John Gall
I like the perspective imposed upon this title in the sky. I wish I could see what was in the bottom of the photo, however - I'm finding this photo visually beautiful but a little vague. I actually don't really mind vague, but I don't get a strong initial, emotional reaction from it (besides thinking that it looks real good, which isn't really an emotional reaction, just a reaction). When I look at this I feel hopeful, perhaps? Positive? Again, I think being vague is generally ok for book design - it is more important to be intriguing, I think, which this book cover definitely is (maybe this is why I like book covers so much more than posters). But yeah, I think the type treatment is engaging - controlled yet dynamic. I also like the use of the small dot holding "a novel."

All of these covers were found at http://bookcoverarchive.com/.

Nabokov Covers

2010-02-25T07:07:00.000-08:00

I really love this. This makes me wish I could take a freaking picture worth a dang!

This is just one (by Barbara de Wilde) is just one in a series of Nabokov book cover designs. Organized and curated (if curated is they right word) by John Gall, each is done by a different designer under the theme of the specimen box (Nabokov was wild about butterfly collecting, apparently). The set (and a good explanation of the concept) can be found here:

http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=11597

The Tunnel

2010-02-20T09:16:00.001-08:00

Part of the same exercise as the image below. Another visualization of 'The Tunnel" by Robert Creeley.

Here is the poem:

Tonight, nothing is long enough-
time isn't.
Were there a fire,
it would burn now.

Were there a heaven,
I would have gone long ago.
I think that light
is the final image.

But time reoccurs,
love and an echo.
A time passes
love in the dark .

Light is the Final Image

2010-02-19T11:21:00.000-08:00

Line from Robert Creeley's "The Tunnel."
(This is part of an exercise from my xtype class).

In particular, Seb Lester, your swashes are spectacular

2010-02-19T07:08:00.000-08:00

He has designed a new series of covers for J.D. Salinger books. I don't like Holden (Holden = whiniest character in literary history) but I sure like this cover.

To see more about his making of the Salinger covers, visit Creative Review.

To see more of his awesome work in general, visit Seb Lester's site.

Atlas, Product Demo, Poster # 6

2010-02-16T10:33:00.000-08:00

SCCC Info
A hypothetical environmental design-thing for the Atlas Building on Broadway that Seattle Central owns. The idea is to brand the building for Seattle Central and promote the school to the community. This is an infographic showing the various communities comprising the Seattle Central student body population (roughly). 140+ communities are represented here, broken into various areas: North Seattle Neighborhoods, Central Seattle Neighborhoods, South Seattle Neighborhoods, Outside Washington State, Outside the US.

Flash Product Demo
http://edison.seattlecentral.edu/~ekendi01/dream_demo.html
This is a hypothetical product demo made in flash for the Dream espresso machine (i.e. the cutest designer espresso machine EVER)

Rat City Re-do - Poster # 6
For our poster this week, we had to re-do an existing poster we found somewhere. This is my re-do.

I just can't get you out of my head

2010-02-14T19:50:00.001-08:00

Duvall, no matter how I try, I cannot escape you.

Psycho Type

2010-02-14T18:06:00.000-08:00

Yes.

2010-02-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Found here, on a blog post documenting a bunch of photographs great found type. Seriously, they = beautiful.

"Design" - Great Type Treatment

2010-02-04T07:23:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty dang into this. Found here.

Poster # 4: Martin Luther King, Jr.

2010-02-02T08:03:00.001-08:00

For our fourth poster assignment, we were given an important person in history. I got Martin Luther King, Jr. Like there aren't already a million Martin Luther King, Jr. posters. I didn't want to do something superficial. It seems like in poster design, there is this fine line between being too obtuse (and therefore, not communicative at the fast speed at which posters are digested) and obvious and boring. This was therefore difficult. I didn't want to play into already existing, surface level characterizations of Mr. King. That seemed unfair.

So, I decided I wanted to take it in a very different direction from what I've seen before. I tried to keep it abstract and focused on his "I Have a Dream" speech, which makes up the inverted triangle (I know, featuring the "I Have a Dream" speech - not terribly original/surprising but still better than a giant/and/or/stylized picture of his face). I hadn't read the speech for a long time; it is pretty amazing, and even profound. You should read it - or even better, listen to it - if you haven't done so recently.

Flash Project 1! Done!

2010-02-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

Flash Project 1 - done!

(Don't mind my in-progress website housing my school stuff).

(Song is "Lux Aeterna," from Requiem for A Dream).

A Social Life, With Friends (and Type)

2010-01-31T10:12:00.001-08:00

Kenneth Koch, I feel you.

Type School - Ha!

2010-01-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

Type: Designed Quotes

2010-01-29T06:49:00.000-08:00

From this great series by FreshBumb. Find the rest here.

Stop Motion Type/Love

2010-01-24T15:31:00.000-08:00

Those are some cute and creepy little letters!

This looks like it might not be embedding right (do you like how I said "embedding" instead of "embedded," like the video is at fault?). If it's screwed up, go here.

Also, I'm not (at the moment) a huge fan of this style, but I do love this piece by Si Scott (below). It's just so over the top and ornate - perfect for the content/quote/whatever.

Poster # 3: Haiti Relief

2010-01-22T14:42:00.001-08:00

More Alphabet Piles - Like Snow - In Progress

2010-01-22T08:53:00.000-08:00

Again!

*Those are more cut up letters - sorry you can't see them. I really need to invest in a better camera - like one that isn't just on my lame cell phone.

Little Book: Everywhere I Go I See You

2010-01-20T07:48:00.000-08:00

So...for the last year or so I have been working on this little picture book (my first). I posted some illustrations for it a while ago (it has to do with a tree and a bird) and have been playing around with the story forever...I have finally come to some resolution. The book isn't for sale or anything; it's just something I've done for friends and family and anyone else who wants to look at it! I have fantasies about folding it into a larger project someday (ah, dreams).

Anyway, here are a couple of images for refreshers (above).

If you'd like to see the finished book shoot me a line, and I'll send you a pdf. (erin.kendig@gmail.com).

Screw This!

2010-01-17T12:10:00.000-08:00

I love this book cover! I found it (perhaps not surprisingly) at http://ffffound.com/. (It is part of a series).

Meat Type?

2010-01-16T10:55:00.000-08:00

For my X-type class, we have to design a typeface that is a little out there/experiemental. For example, I could design a typeface made out of spam!

http://moblog.net/view/870171/spampersand

I am not going to design a typeface made out of canned meat, but you get the drift.

I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do. Maybe something illustrative? Maybe something in flash? (I am becoming a fan of making things move). Maybe something science-y? We'll see! The possibilities are nearly endless?

Poster # 2

2010-01-15T15:04:00.001-08:00

The Dark Flow

2010-01-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

Continuing on my space theme, from Seed Magazine:

"In 2008, a team led by Alexander Kashlinsky of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center found evidence that many galaxy clusters were moving toward a single small section of the vast horizon of our visible universe. Last month, new observations by the team confirmed these unexpected findings and extended them to 1,400 galaxy clusters as far as 3 billion light-years from Earth, again using the SZ effect to help identify and measure the clusters. The velocity of the clusters is as high as a thousand kilometers per second, suggesting that some immense, unknown force is acting upon the galaxies like flotsam caught in an invisible current. This is the dark flow."

The article goes on to explain this in more detail and offer suggestions as to why this may be: other universes messed with ours when our little universe was born, our universe is just real bumpy/nutty/less "regular" than we thought (I always knew there was something special about us) or lastly, who cares, it's all just meaningless statistical mumbo jumbo.

I'm a huge fan of the phrase "the dark flow." What a beautiful phrase and idea to boot - and so fecund with poetic possibility! I should make a list of all my my favorite science-related phrases/jargon and do some sort of creative something with it. (Filing that idea away!) Screw being in school, I want to make art and read about science! Sigh...

Read the rest of the article at Seed, right here.

I love Seed Magazine! They are going through a re-design, their website says; I thought what they had before was pretty great. I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Fifty Years of Exploration

2010-01-11T22:25:00.000-08:00

Each line represents a trip into space. National Geographic, you win.

(We had to find poster examples for class. This is one example of an informational poster that I found).

Poster # 1

2010-01-10T19:01:00.001-08:00

Sooooo...in one of my classes this quarter we are making a poster a week. The idea is to do whatever and be creative. This week we had to include the quote "All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie," so obviously I came up with the only design solution really fitting to this assignment, which is to include an old-timey picture of a kid sitting on the lap of a man dressed up as a rabbit. I think that basically says it all.

I think I'll probably post my posters here, even if they are horrible, just for the heck of it. Beware!

Plantage

2010-01-04T22:48:00.000-08:00

Ugh. This is a flash animation that just made eyes explode it was so great:

http://www.samorost2.net/plantage/

Go See This

2009-12-29T08:24:00.001-08:00

Shi Shi Beach, 8/11/81, 1981
Digital chromogenic laser print
Johsel Namkung
American, (born in Korea), 1919
48 x 60"

At SAM

I am a pretty big fan of Asian art. Luckily for me, I live in Seattle, home of one wonderful museum devoted to the subject, The Seattle Asian Art Museum in the lovely Volunteer park.

Now that I have some time for cultural excursions, I took a trip there with a friend. There is a show up at the moment called New New: Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Asian Art that highlights works acquired by the museum since 2002. There is a lot of great work in this collection - I was particularly moved by Johsel Namkung's Shi Shi Beach, 8/11/81 (above). It is a very large print (this little photo is doing it absolutely no justice) that functions more like an abstract painting than a photograph - and it actually looks like paint on canvas, from the proper viewing distance. The work is beautifully unsettling, intimate and expansive simultaneously (am I looking at something magnified or am I looking some spectral space shot taken from a telescope), reminiscent of life and the inanimate (there is something oddly life-like about this rock). It is stunning - go see it.

And there are many other good things to see there as well!

I can't put my arms down!

2009-12-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW4IZ0Flh3M

Ah, children after my own heart.

Merry Christmas!

Merry White Christmas (Eve)

2009-12-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

The Snow Man
Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

New Design Hero

2009-12-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Dinosaur-Chuck-Klosterman/dp/1416544208#reader_1416544208

Best Photo I Have Ever Taken

2009-12-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

I don't really take photographs. And I feel like I have a complicated relationship with photography because I get hung up on this expectation that I want the photographs I take to objectively represent reality, or maybe a better way of phrasing it is: I want my photography to accurately represent my subjective view of reality at a given time, and I can rarely get a camera to do this for me. I suppose this is why I draw or write instead. Maybe it's that, for me, photography (my own) epitomizes the inherent problems with communication I am continually so focused on in my creative work and thought - mainly, the desire to take a meaningful experience and give it, at least in part, to another, complete with the set of concepts, history and emotions tied to that moment in time. Photography seems like it should so effortlessly do this - you see something, you feel something, and you look through a hole and you press a button - that when photography fails me - and haven't I set it up for failure with my unreasonable expectations? - it seems to scream of this inherent problem, this problem of being human and trying to relate to other humans through the stilted communication tools at our disposal - language, image, sound, touch, a look...

Anyway!

I dug this up (it is about four years old) because it is probably one of the only photographs I have ever taken that I am really pleased with - not because it is technically strong (it isn't) but because it seems to match-up well with my memory of the place and time in which the photo was created (so much of my photography doesn't - it has a mind of its own AND is also ugly! Bah! Insult to injury!). This photo isn't that great, but for me it has something behind it, I suppose, which is what I value most about any sort of creative output (though I admire pure technical skill, as well).

This picture is of a road in Scotland during March. I liked this road because it hugged up against this wall and the trees on this hill hugged up against the road the the whole scene seemed mildly convex in a pleasant sort of way. And it was very grey and wet and cold that day (much like it is here for 90% of the year, it seems).

Someday I will have to learn how to take photos!

Books for Break

2009-12-21T08:55:00.001-08:00

Here is the blog entry where I detail my reading hopes and dreams for break.

A list of books I've started that there is some chance I will finish in the next two weeks:

The Stroke, Gerrit Noordzij

While You're Reading, Gerard Unger

House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski (see picture)

The Art Student's War, ? *

This list is somewhat short as it a) does not represent all the books I have open at the moment, just the ones I think there is some sort of feasible chance I will read in the near future and b) does not count the books I am hoping to get for Christmas, which, upon their receipt, will probably cause me enough excitement that I will immediately forget the aforementioned books, ravenously attacking the new books and thus continuing the wake of non-resolved book reading wreckage. (p.s. things that don't make sense = previous sentence).

So...so so so so...

So far:

The Stroke: Already blogged about this. Good book, pretty intellectually intense.

While You're Reading: At first, it was sort of a bunch of "know-duh" set in a typeface I didn't like that was too big on white paper that I also didn't like. There were some bits of interesting historical info on the history of type and readablity/legibility/etc but the anecdotes seemed a lot longer than they needed to be, and this combined with the giant type was making me think that maybe this dude's publisher just wanted the book to be longer than it actually was. But NOW things have started to pick up, talking about the physiology of the eye and reading and what not. At the moment, it is talking about how the brain processes written language, which I am pretty into.

House of Leaves: I have been wanting to read this for a while, and so, while I was at the bookstore buying other people presents I impulsively bought this book for myself (this is a constant problem for me when I visit bookstores). I just started reading it, and I am already loving the removal of the author from the immediate narrative - that there are these narrative layers - there is an intro by a fictional character that has found a manuscript by another fictional character (the manuscript will become the crux of the actual book) and the fictional manuscript is based on an analysis of a fictional documentary that holds the main plot of the story, I gather. Anyway, it is also supposed to be creepy. Also, one big reason House of Leaves is sort-of famous/well-known/popular is because of the experimental, highly "post-modern" way it deals with the type on the page (don't really feel like describing it at the moment - maybe I'll scan some pages in at a later date - it's just all over the place - scattered, sideways, backwards, like a dictionary entry, tons of footnotes - real and fake - the word "house" is always in blue...for now, see above pic at beginning of blog). I like things that are a bit experimental and I'm interested in how writing/type and the processing of a story work together...also, I like wacky, surreal junk. I am kind of thinking maybe this book will end up being a little like The Wind-up Bird Chronicle for me - wonderful, but highly disturbing. I had to race through that book because it was making me feel to0 uncomfortable.

The Art Student's War: This book is set in WWII era Detroit and is about an art student lady who draws dying soldiers (I actually haven't gotten there yet). Since I imagine all WWII era stories to be romantic and all the people young, tragic and physically attractive in an East Coast, Ivy League sort of way (note: everyone who is not a soldier always has great clothes) it will be easy for me to like this book no matter what. (see footnote below)*

*Note: In making this list, I attempted to find The Art Student's War to check the author, and discovered I have lost the book somewhere - presumably in my room. This decreases the chances I will finish this book.

Input/suggestions/vote?

2009-12-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

So...next quarter we are taking a flash class and get to make a short animation (30 - 60 seconds) that can be about anything. I've often been told my art would probably lend itself well to animation (animation, among other things, definitely influences my work). Sooo...I don't know enough about flash to know what would actually be feasible for me to animate considering my limited time/animation skillz and also... I don't know what to pick! Here are some things I'm thinking of. You should tell me what to pick, if you want.

Choice 1: Agent H
I took a character development/cartooning class a couple of years ago. We had to create a couple of characters that could be hypothetically animated by an animator. So...Agent H is one of the characters I made. He is an incompetent horse spy sent to infiltrate the unicorn army of hott babes. My somewhat creepy old man teacher at the time made lewd comments about this idea. It was mildly traumatizing. Note above pose sheet and illustration of Agent H in the field (PUN INTENDED). Note: I don't know why I initially put quotation marks around "H" as that now seems silly to me.

Choice 2: Olly the Office Otter This is yet another character I made for that class of yore. Olly is a mild-mannered office otter. Here is an illustration of him in the thick of it and also a character sheet or something like that - I had a pose sheet, which showed him busting all sorts of moves and what not, but alas, it has been lost to posterity.

Choice 3: Excavators
Excavators that look like dinosaurs. Always a crowd pleaser. Possibly too reminiscent of Wall-e if done in brown. Also, this might be too complicated. But I'd like to give these guys a story someday.

Choice 5: Other
Something with type. Something...with the alphabet pile and type flying around...

Anyway, yeah - input and opinions welcome.

Good

2009-12-19T10:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKnxmkOAj88

I never cease to love this song.

Name those semicolons!

2009-12-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

Can you name those semicolons? I have to say my fav is second to the right.
I'm going to try to blog every day of break, even if I only have complete inanity to share.

(I'm also not sure "inanity" is a word, but I think it should be.)

Pretend Norwegian Time Travel Documentation

2009-12-16T08:23:00.000-08:00

Pretty big fan of these old Photochrom pictures, found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157612249760312/. I love the super saturated blue and slight pink tint. Wonderful!

I love science = collider!

2009-12-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

Exciting!

Not to be trite...

2009-12-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

...with some poorly taken sunset pictures from a camera phone, but every once in a while I am reminded that I live in a ridiculously beautiful little corner of the world.

Argyle's Nuthouse Wine

2009-12-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

Here is the final hypothetical ad for Argyle's Nuthouse Wine. Thanks to Laurie Clark for her awesome photography skills and Seth, Nora and Amy for being amazing models! Also, thanks to cheese and wine for being delicious and aiding the creative process - and you look great, Gouda!

Waves

2009-12-04T13:21:00.001-08:00

Art for the City

2009-11-28T08:34:00.000-08:00

Still busy with school. This quarter is painful, but fun. Here is something else I've been working on: an new hypothetical masthead for City Arts Magazine. One of our projects this quarter is a hypothetical/faux magazine re-design - which of course I LOVE because editorial design encompasses everything good about design I think - micro typography, macro typography (SO MUCH TYPE!!) , layout, illustration (or photography - but what I mean is that it is all illustrative) and of course, I love that it is all in the service of reading something (hopefully) pleasurable and informative.
Anyway, enjoy!

Hypothetical Ad Series = Books!

2009-11-18T22:10:00.001-08:00

I've been quite busy with school this quarter. My brain wants to explode. Below is some recent work (I've been on a bit of a minimalist bent as of late).

Assignment:
Create a cohesive series of ads for a small business in Seattle
Client of Choice:
Twice Sold Tales

Enjoy your Book

2009-11-08T21:19:00.001-08:00

I saw this little beauty of a book the other day. It's a paperback. It's simple. It's clean. It's philosophy. It's oh so nice. Wonderful, clean typographic treatment inside (great blend of serif and san-serif faces - san serif set as body text, which I don't see hardly at all in paperbacks. Maybe I just don't pay as much attention as I should).

I mean, look at it - just look at it! I love how the author's name is treated. I love how the title is treated. I love the red mouth coming in from the corner (at first I didn't - but it has grown on me). The back cover is the same hot red mouth color with the san serif face in white, left-justified, reversed out. I feel lame that I can't identify the typeface..the capitol W is distinct...I will find out what it is! I will! It is probably obvious...I'm very bad at identifying sans serifs...

(As a side note, I want to read this book, also.)

The Power of Design

2009-11-07T09:43:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y

Most Scary Wine Label

2009-11-04T22:43:00.001-08:00

Is it wine? Is it blood? IS IT WINE!??!
(I need a new phone).