frame by frame, sketch by sketch

Came across this vid. Thought I pass it along.

ASTRO STUDIOS

Happy Thanksgiving

Cranbrook

Many that live in the Detroit area are unaware of what is in their back yard. An institute where being creative and pushing yourself out side of your comfort zone. This place is called Cranbrook.

Cranbrook Academy of Art, known as the cradle of American modernism, continues to have a significant impact on the world of art, architecture, and design completely disproportionate to its size. Outstanding artists, architects and designers – the Saarinens, Ray and Charles Eames, Florence Knoll, Jack Lenor Larsen, Donald Lipski, Duane Hanson and Hani Rashid, to name only a few - have been a part of Cranbrook’s community of artists. Lasting friendships formed at the Academy lead to future professional collaboration. Our alumni have an international influence through their individual artistic practices and teaching professions.

Cranbrook Academy of Art is part of the 315-acre Cranbrook Educational Community, described as “one of the most enchanted architectural settings in America.” The community was founded by George Gough Booth, a Detroit newspaper baron and philanthropist, and Eliel Saarinen, the Finnish architect who occupies a major position in the history of modern American design and architecture. Both were inspired by the vision of the Arts and Crafts movement, which began in England in the mid-nineteenth century and soon spread to the United States. The Arts and Crafts movement appealed to George Booth aesthetically and morally. He hoped its influence would banish tasteless, mass-produced goods from American homes. He believed that craftsmanship would result in superior products and provide the foundation for an ethically responsible life. Cranbrook would come to support those ideals and satisfy the desire of its founders to achieve something of lasting value and significance.

In 1904, George Gough and Ellen Scripps Booth bought the property that would become Cranbrook, and spent their first years at Cranbrook landscaping the property and constructing their family home designed by Albert Kahn. With their estate established, they began the buildings for public use. The Greek Theater was built in 1915, Christ Church Cranbrook was completed in 1928, plans for boys and girls schools were begun and foremost in their minds, plans were made for an art academy based on their visit to the American Academy in Rome. At the suggestion of his son Henry, George Booth approached Eliel Saarinen, a visiting professor in architectural design at the University of Michigan, with his idea for an art academy. Ultimately Booth invited Saarinen to move to Cranbrook from Finland to oversee the architectural and landscape development of the campus. The Cranbrook School for Boys was completed in 1928, Brookside School Cranbrook in 1929, and Kingswood School (for girls) in 1931.

Informal art education began at the Academy in the late 1920s, in studios built for the artists and crafts people working with Saarinen. The Academy of Art was officially sanctioned in 1932 with Saarinen installed as president. He continued to design new buildings for the campus with Academy student apprentices. The original Cranbrook Institute of Science building was completed in 1937 and the Academy art museum and library in 1942. The campus is a National Historic Landmark, considered the most complete example of Saarinen’s genius. It is an architectural and horticultural treasure where Academy students live and work today, inspired to write their own history in an environment of beauty and innovation.

Recent additions to the Cranbrook Educational Community campus uphold the international standard of excellence set by Saarinen. Spanish architect Rafael Moneo designed the New Studios Building addition to the Academy and Art Museum that opened in Fall 2002. Other new buildings at Cranbrook built in the 1990s include the Stephen Holl designed addition to Cranbrook Institute of Science, the Todd Williams and Billie Tsien designed Natatorium at Cranbrook School, and the Peter Rose designed addition to Brookside School.

My personal experiences there range from picnics on lazy summer Sunday afternoons to seeing the laser light shows when I was in high school. I have visited the campus and museums many times over the years and every time I visit I discover something new. I am glad that we have an institution like this in our back yard and I hope that it will be cherished from years to come in the future.

CRANBROOK

Google WAVE

Last night as I was surfing around the internets..i came across a blog about Google's latest toy, WAVE. Google WAVE is is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps. A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when. A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

I was quite impressed at what it is capable of. They are pretty much in the final stages of releasing this but what I found very interesting is that they are allowing the public to write code for this. This enables the public to view, re-design, and evaluate the product before launch. This allows Google to make any changes or modifications before launch.

I'm not the most computer savoy person in the world, especially when it comes to writing code or html. But i can see for the guru this is must be heaven for them. Being able to write what they want and send it in to be evaluated and possibly used.

One feature I do like is the editing of email and context. You are able to reply to specific parts of an email rather than applying to the whole document. Another one is the ability to update other sites through WAVE without having to open new windows on the desktop, especially with their maps.

Below are two videos explaining WAVE in a more in depth fashion. One is an 1.5 video on the product @ I-O 2009 and the other is a short overview.

Enjoy!

Avedon @ the DIA

Recently I visited the DIA to see the Avedon exhibit. This exhibition is a comprehensive study of Richard Avedon's (1923-2004) fashion photographs that includes a selection of over 200 images representing his stylistic evolution over a period of 50 years. Both iconic and lesser-known photographic prints, as well as never-before-seen material including contact sheets, magazine layouts, personal ephemera and archival material are included. All photographs are from the Avedon estate, and many are vintage prints.

Avedon began his career at the end of World War II in New York City. Influenced by photo reportage and the innovative eye of Harper's Bazaar art director Alexy Brodovitch, Avedon revolutionized editorial fashion work for magazines in the post-World War II era. At the young age of 23, his work was fresh and created to rejuvenate the Paris fashion market after the war.

As his career developed in the 1950s and 1960s, Avedon captured the independent lifestyle and spirit of the times in women's clothing of the period. In addition to his fashion work with celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Streisand, Avedon was one of the first high-profile photographers to work with African American and multi-racial models including Detroit-native Donyale Luna and the Eurasian model China Machado.

Avedon continued to dominate the photography world until his death in 2004. Works from the 1990s include his collaborations with famous models on the fashion scene including Kate Moss and Stephanie Seymour.


Below are a few of my favorites from the show.

Out with the old...

Well after 1o plus years with my G4 Power PC it's time for a little upgrade. I found out that Autodesk is offering laid off designer a full year subscription to Alias so with a little research I ended up getting a Dell T3500. I know I know how can I get a PC. I grew up with a MAC use one all through school and at home. At Ford we used Dell workstations and I can say I was never disappointed. If anything goes wrong I'll let you all know.

123 Sesame Street

Great article from CNN about Sesame Streets 40th Anniversary.
LINK

Good Read

Core 77: Four Fields of Industrial Design

Social Software: YIKES!

Human-centered approaches to industrial and interaction design have long focused on studying human behavior to create informed and appropriate designs. A social interaction designer must consider not only people, environment, and existing tools, but also the unseen elements of the system such as social relationships, power dynamics, and cultural rules.

The Witching Hour

Another year another Halloween. This year seemed to be a little rougher than usual. We stated off at a party in Groose Pointe and ended back in Ferndale for last call at our local watering hole. Some great costumes this year in our group but mine was a last minute put together, oh well. All in good fun. We'll see what we come up with next year.

A roll of toilet paper soaked in keroseane and lit inside a pumpkin. Great effect for the kids!!

Captain and Teneil

WHEEL...OF...FORTUNE.!.!..!..!!

Is that the orbitz guy?

The ladies kicking it up a notch with a little Tesla!

Nothing goes good with shots at 1:45......

Motor City Mini Rally

Here are some pics of the Motor City Rally a few weeks back. Detroit Auto Art supplied the graphics for this ervent. The Rally started in Birch Run and went up 75 all the way to the UP. Great time and alot of fun. Enjoy the pics more to come.