Are you a "Drawsigner" ?

Some of you may already know that I teach in the Graphic Design program at Mohawk College here in Hamilton, ON. Recently our faculty hosted an Advisory Council meeting with members of the various industries for which we train our students. Industry partners who attended were from print and web media, design and advertising, and the packaging and printing industries. It was an enlightening experience. I was encouraged to hear all around the table...

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George Giusti: "Art is art."

Take a look at the image below... what do you see? Illustration? Graphic design? Fine art? All three?To its creator, George Giusti, it was simply art. Giusti disdained the labeling of work as either commercial or fine art. "Art is art," said George Giusti, whatever its expressed intention. George Giusti was born in 1908 in Milan, Italy of a Swiss father and an Italian mother. He studied art at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts with the intention...

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From Ben Shahn to Bob Peak - and Beyond. What's the Connection?

I'll try to explain next week. But feel free to comment if you do (or don't) see where I'm going with th...

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Ben Shahn 'Gets Real'... Do You?

I want to explore the subject of Ben Shahn's work further, but on Monday I deliberately interjected the story of Norman Rockwell's 'Four Freedoms' because I wanted to draw attention to a couple of interesting points that were related in that anecdote:One; that the officer in charge of commissioning posters for the Office of War Information rejected Rockwell's proposal because he was "an illustrator" and the department had decided to use only fine...

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