Illustration Friday - Alphabets

Sculptures created by JK Keller
The ASL (American Sign Language) alphabet illustrated using matchbooks.

That's all I got today.

CAMBUSHED!

Javier and I cambushed Willie while in Syracuse! My image is on the top, Javier's the bottom.

Cambushing is essentially what paprazzi do, they attack with cameras. Willie was doing his camera thing, very close-ups where we would get blinded by the flash, so we cambushed him. . .both sides!

Lady Gretta die Fledermaus

Gretta, 8 weeks old

12.12.1994 - 8.27.2007

She was a really great dog!

:*(

DAMN Jimmy Kimmel!

Sarah Silverman - smart, funny, damn cute, irreverent, and taken!

Check out Jesus is Magic, but leave your PCness at the door!

Whoa!

Pretty cool use of an abandoned building in Liverpool, England. It is called "Turning The Place Over" and is the creation of artist Richard Wilson and part of the Liverpool Bienial.

Here is a look from the inside.



Thanks for sharing Jonah.

Even a pen wants to be something.

These remind me of the hours spent doodling on the back of your folders in grade school, hell, even in college! But 2004 RISD graduate Justine Ashbee has seen the power of the pen, a Sharpie, to be exact, and it is quite mighty!

In her artist statement she says:
The amorphous entities and reaching tentacles emerge and take form much like the navigation of a surfer within a wave.

These drawings are executed purely by hand, using Sharpie pens. I begin with a curve, from which lines and forms begin to emerge, evolve, morph, and grow organically, in an intuitive flow, while maintaining delicate, elegant precision. The methodology is rhythmic, spontaneous, and direct, reducing interference with mark-making. Much like zen calligraphy, they are improvisational, and intuitively composed, where the physicality and the mark making become one.

I’m utilizing stark, amorphous lines to trace the movement and human experience of the non-linear and imaginational realms. Through this intuitive visual language, a negotiation of the visceral and everyday human experiences of beauty and pleasure, and feeling are given voice.

6th Amendment

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

That burden, and yes I say burden for several reasons, fell on me!

I would be happy to serve on a jury as is my right and provilege as a US citizen, but they make it most difficult to do so. Criminal Court building is where I was assigned as an alternate, that is located at 26th and California, about an hour away. There is another criminal court building about 20 minutes from where I live. Wouldn't those being tried there be much more likely to be afforded my being part of "an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed" if I served in a court near where I lived?

I especially like the 5 guidelines to make the service all that much more enjoyable!
- Be prepared to stay until at least 4:30 PM (even though we know much sooner that we will not need you)
- Bring something to read (for those of you who can read or just read some of the tabloids left from the day before);
- Bring change for vending machines (that is the most nuticious food, right?);
- Please read "Important Information for jurors" (why? just because, it is just some jibber jabber);
- Please dress appropriately, shorts are not acceptable (powdered wigs optional!).

I once heard someone say that in a trial you are not judged by a jury of your peers as much as a jury of people who were not smart enough to get out of jury duty.

Fortunately for me, I called and got the message "If you received a summons as an alternate juror for criminal court and your last name begins with B as in BRAVO through P as in PAPA, you are required to show up for service, all others will be summoned at a later date."

I got that to look forward to!

Fetish

Zuni fetishes are carvings made of stone and shell that are used by members of the Zuni tribe to bring good fortune, rain, and protection from witchcraft and their enemies, among other benefits. Other native American tribes, including eskimos carve fetishes too.

Tied to the back of many fetishes are medicine, or offering bundles of gemstones - to help prayers be heard.

The animals seen above represent (clockwise from upper left):
Buffalo - Abundance, Sacred prophet
Fox - To become one with your surroundings.  To move unnoticed.
Bear - Strength, power from within, spiritual guide
Mountain Lion - Leadership
Turtle - Oldest symbol of mother earth - symbol of longevity and confidence

Lately though, I have been seeing fetishes all around me. Here are two. I like to call them Consumi fetishes.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Awards: Grand Clio, Silver Art Directors Club, OBIE, National Gold ADDY, One Show, Cannes Lion, ANDY
Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, Chicago
Chief Creative Officer: John Condon
Creative Directors: John Montgomery, Mark Tutssel
Copywriter: Gary Fox-Robertson
Art Director: Vince Cook

All is well.

Without giving anything away, I just finished Harry Potter. I know, what took me so long. I had a hard time finishing it because I did not want it to end. But end it did.

Was happy at times, sad at times, and heart heavy the whole way through knowing that each page I read brought me one page closer to the end.

Cole Slaw

I made some cole slaw last night with the red cabbage I got from my veggie club.

Amazed by nature and the shapes and colors it produces, I was reminded of Charles Rennie Macintosh's rose shapes and colors.

Stranger in my town

How cool is it to see something so familiar through someone else's eyes and experience!

Russell is from Grand Rapids, here in Chicago for the summer doing an internship. He started a blog called Chicago Design Intern that documents on a nearly daily basis what he has seen, done, or come across in cyberspace!

"This is just my progress and a way of tracking the my creative process while I am here in Chicago," he says.

Stop by and see what he has seen.

ISDP '07

I had a great time at Syracuse University this past week. Had a lot of fun seeing old friends, inspiring people and people hungry to learn. Lots of familiar faces were missed.

Craig and I taught the last, LAST class ever to be taught in the ISDP Ad/Design program. There will be no more. The third and final residency for the class of '08 might not even take place on campus. All that is left is for the class of '08 to defend their theses, and hopefully they all will.

It was a weird sight on the quad. The flag of Syracuse University ourisde of Hendrick's Chapel was at half mast. I am not sure why. But it seemed oddly appropriate with the state of the program, being all but dead and lost, that the flag would be flying so. It also indicated the general mood. The energy of an incoming class wasn't there. The excitement of what's next was lost. No new Bubba. The celebration was more of a foreshadowing of what was to come.

35 years, all but history now.

One last time!

I'm heading back to Syracuse University to co-teach a session with Craig Welsh during the ISDP 2007 residency!

I/we have wanted to do this with Grager since we graduated. Willie Baronet will be there too. It should be good fun!

We'll miss you Lisa!

Nevermore

An Excerpt from The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Work In Process

I am in a gallery show! So very weird being a designer in a gallery show! We just do not typically show our work this way. The show is called Work In Process and is being held at the A+D Gallery at Columbia College Chicago, are you seeing
the connection here?!

The show is focusing on process of work. How we create the work we do. I am showing some of the process I use while developing a logo for a recent restaurant identity, Asparagus.

I thought there were going to be many more people in the show but there seems to be only 12. Most are fine artists. There is also an architect, a fashion designer and me. Should be interesting!