What excites you most about your most recent work?
My last project was an exhibition of my paintings for the Metro Space Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. Despite the fact that I have created hundreds of similar playful paintings over the last few years this last group truly made me laugh at my own work (in a good way). I rarely want to keep any of my own work but there are several pieces from this show that I would have liked to hang onto. I compare that to a project that I was recently involved with where a team of students and myself created 4 Personal Service Announcements for cell phones in 8 hours using only remote video technology provided by Verizon and Apple. Both projects used very different tools to create interesting work that each had a positive effect on and response from the community. I enjoy mixing up the traditional and new media.
What do you find most appealing about the arts community at Carolina?
So far I have met mostly the art faculty at USC and a few designers from the South Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), and what I notice about all of these people is that they are all extremely friendly and genuinely willing to share resources and connections. So far, so good!
How do you see your work relating to other arts disciplines besides your own?
My work is always grounded in the creative process I have learned through doing graphic design work for printed reproduction. However, I find that creative process has made it easy to transition into doing fine art, illustration and new media such as animation for the web and other time-based mediums. My work is about communicating ideas visually and the technology today makes it easy to express ideas in a number of ways and present it in a number of outlets.
What artist in your field, living or dead, do you admire most, and why?
I truly admire the work of Charles Schultz. Although I use a lot of visual language of cartoons in my work, I am not a cartoonist. I really appreciate the work he created that showed how powerful words and images can be in connecting with others usually in a positive way.
If you had a million dollars to give away, what would you do with it?
I am a book fiend so I would probably create a library just for artists that also had a space for art classes, exhibitions, and other festivities.
What kind of place do you think art has - or should have - in the larger global community? And how does what you do in the classroom connect to the larger world?
I truly believe that graphic design can change the world around us and it often does. Good design leads to changes in culture both good and bad. I try to explain to students that the work they create in class is most powerful when they have carefully researched their topic, which usually leads to an examination of how this will affect others or how their work will be perceived by others. With technology today, everything can be shared across the world instantly so the best design reflects universal ideas and visual language to communicate in a responsible manner.
What’s the last book you read, and what did you think of it?
The last book I read was a graphic novel by Jeffrey Brown called "Clumsy". It is a crudely drawn comic that details the relationship between the author and his girlfriend. The book exemplifies how a great idea will carry bad art, but great art will never carry a bad idea. It also helps me appreciate that good drawing skills are not always needed to express one’s ideas but one has to have the courage to express those ideas.
Tell us about your work in progress - what can we expect from you next?
Personal projects include "Zoo Valdes", a project that will create a brand identity system for some of my character-based artwork. Also, I am working on narrative based artwork entitled "The Unwantables" that will work as traditional 2-D and 3-D artwork but also rely on interactivity with others using blogs and the web. I’m looking forward to working on both and really exploring character design.
My next client-driven work includes packaging design for a local musician, an identity package for a law firm, and retail design for a restaurant in Charleston. Of course my biggest work in progress is our 8 month-old little girl and that is by far the most challenging and rewarding work I have ever done. |
