This past weekend, I got to attend the National AGM for the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) as an observer from the Manitoba Chapter. This is my second time attending and once again, it proved to be an incredibly rewarding, albeit tiring, few days.
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Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a bit of an organizational nut. Not in the sense that I’m organized 100% of the time, but definitely in the sense that I get overly-excited about things that are meant for organizing. At work, I have a few friends who are equally excited about such things… to the point, that we sometimes email each other to compare how much we’re geeking out about our new organizational system of the week, special project or funky tabs meant for sticking on things. Oh yes…
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This week, I was all over the place in terms of creative outlets. However, my main focus was to start and finish a presentation that I’ll be sharing with the Winnipeg South Photo Club on Wednesday, January 16. The title is “PLANNING AND PACKAGING YOUR GALLERY SHOW” and I’ll be explaining the approach that I took for my last gallery show, “The Spaces Within“. I’ve divided my presentation into five sections: Theme, Layout, Design, Promotion and Reception.
Aside from that, I shot a couple of self-portraits that I’m really pleased with, spent Thursday night drumming with some good friends (smiled all the way home because I was so happy) and did a little sketching.
I should technically wait until tomorrow to post this, but I’ve spent the majority of my Saturday putting together the presentation and I don’t want to be anywhere near my computer tomorrow. Instead, I plan to go skating down the river trail with a good friend.
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I have a Flickr friend (Dan A’Vard or ‘theapostrophe‘) who continues to inspire me with almost every image that he posts. I like the way that he sees the world, and I love the depth and thought that he adds with his words. Back in July, he wrote a blog post that really resonated with me — in part because over the last few years, I’ve spent my own time watching my body/mind/heart/soul levels, but also because he added some other dimensions, as well as his affirmations. He wrote that post for himself, but it was almost like part of it was written for me.
Anyways, after asking Dan’s permission, I decided to spend the week focusing on the SPICES (you’ll need to read his blog post to fully understand). My goal for the week was to design a small poster to frame and hang somewhere in our house as a daily reminder. However I plan to revisit this topic later in the year as I’d like to create a series of photographs that are based on the same theme.
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For week one of my 365two project, I decided to design a tattoo for myself. I’ve had the idea in my head for a number of years now, so I feel confident that should I ever get a tattoo, that this is the one that I’d get. I would of course need to work with a tattoo artist, as I’m not sure I could have this level of detail (given the size that I’d like the tattoo to be; which is small). Anyways, I’m going to keep the meaning to myself — other than to say that my intention is to include my birth year. For internet purposes, I’m saying that’s the year 1900. But you get the idea.
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I suspect I got into design for the same reason that many other designers did… I loved to draw. I wish I still had one to show you, but when I was a little kid, I used to draw some pretty elaborate farmscapes (house, barn, fences, livestock, rolling hills, sun, etc.). I could never really draw anything out of my head so instead always had to copy a photo or the object/scene itself. In high school art class, my attention to detail started to come out. I didn’t have an illustration style, but I did have a whole lot of patience. I mostly liked working with pencil, or with pen & ink (the dip kind, not the technical kind) and watercolour.
When it came time to decide what I wanted to take in university or college, I sort of wanted to be an archeaologist, but I mostly wanted to do something creative. I was pretty certain I wasn’t going to make it as an artist, so when a friend of my brother-in-law was visiting and told me about graphic design, I was sold. I still had no real understanding of what graphic design was, but I applied to two colleges (Medicine Hat and Red River College in Winnipeg) and was accepted into both. At my RRC interview, it was suggested that I attend the student Open House to see what it was all about. Seeing the work there made me decide to stay in Winnipeg. I remember being really inspired, and finally having a sense of what I was getting into.
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