AIGA Charlotte Celebrates the Revival of a Centuries Old Tradition
We're only ONE WEEK out from Letterpress Fest! Over the course of four days (Feb. 13-16), AIGA Charlotte is bringing together nationally renowned speakers to give lectures, participate in panel discussions and run hands-on workshops on an old-fashioned tradition that’s never gone out of style – the art of letterpress.

Though the workshops sold out in 5 minutes, a wide range of additional events are planned for Letterpress Fest, including:

• Workshops and demonstrations by Kyle Durrie, the proprietor of Power and Light Press, and the owner/operator of the Moveable Type Truck from Portland, OR.
• A lecture by Jim Sherraden, the manager, curator, and chief designer at Hatch Show Print in Nashville, TN.
• The two co-founders of Ladies of Letterpress Jessica C. White and Kseniya Thomas, who are also owners of their own individual letterpress companies.
• Local letterpress talent, featuring Beth Faragan of Crayton-Heritage Letterpress and Kelly Koeppel, owner of k2forma.
• An exclusive screening of Proceed & Be Bold!, a documentary that covers the life and works of Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., an African American letterpress poster designer.
  

All events will be held at the Chop Shop in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood. AIGA members can purchase a pass for $20 to attend all of the week’s events (excluding the workshops), while non-members can purchase the pass for $40. Attendees also have the option of paying for individual events. For a full schedule of Letterpress Fest and to register, click here.

David Osborn and Charles Woods were two 60s era, California designers, who worked in silkscreen and offset lithography. I had the fortunate luck to stumble upon their artwork while searching for vintage screenprint posters online. After the recent passing of Charles Woods, in 2011, their estate was posted for sale on Etsy.

I was immediately attracted to their use of bold colors, cut-out shapes and ink overlays. And once I learned more about their story and lives, I had to have three posters shown above. I must say, the 60s aesthetic, combined with a Matisse look and rich colors, is even more impressive in person. My favorite is a scene of adobe buildings from the town of Hornitos, California. It is signed and  hand-screened on off-white rice paper. Prints and posters (dating between 1960 and 1969) are limited - so when they're gone, they're gone.

While I'll cherish these posters for their beauty and craft, it's also comforting to know that I am preserving a little piece of graphic design history.

I won tickets to the opera! On Monday, Speak Your Design hosted a last minute contest for two tickets to Tuesday's performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. I was the first to correctly answer the question: "At what theater did Madama Butterfly originally premiere in 1904? Hint: it was beautifully renovated by Botta in 2004."
ANSWER: La Scala (working at an architecture firm has its perks). 

I'd only attended the opera on one other occasion, while studying abroad in opera's birthplace: Kosciusko, Mississippi... oops that's Oprah's birthplace... I meant ITALY. My class took a field trip to Pisa to see Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) at the Teatro Verdi. It was just what you'd expect for an opera: traditional, classic, period piece.

__It was nothing like Jun Kaneko's version of opera. Kaneko is a Japanese ceramic artist who, in 2006, reinterpreted the set and costume design for Madama Butterfly. His artistry had me visually enthralled the entire performance. Each scene was blocked like a work of art. So much attention was paid to each character placed, each color used, each prop delivered, each transition choreographed, each costume adorned.

I know the opera is typically lauded for its performers... and Yunah Lee as Cio-Cio San (aka Madama Butterfly) did not disappoint... but I left the theater with a new favorite art form. Set design. (photos via junkaneko.com)

^ Spoiler Alert!

_Last week I got a very creative email from my friend, and fellow designer, Kevin Brindley. He recently returned to Charlotte, from a trip to Jamaica, and reported back with these photos and a clever note:

Made my day. I'm pretty jealous of my brand though now... where's my trip to Jamaica!?

Not Made in China will be peddling wares at the first ever Queen City Brewers Festival. Come imbibe with us!

via qcbrewfest.com:
The Queen City Brewers Festival is on Tap. Premiering at the Neighborhood Theatre (511 E. 36th Street, Charlotte, NC, 28205), on Saturday, February 4, 2012, QCBF is exclusive to the Charlotte-area breweries that are putting the Queen City on the craft beer map. The event will feature a diverse selection of beer styles and flavors to taste and learn about from official brewery representatives.

With Charlotte’s craft beer market exploding in recent years, the goal of this event is to spotlight the city’s emerging craft breweries while bringing awareness to the event’s nonprofit host, Partners for Parks, a  nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation that seeks to promote and enhance parks, recreation and open space in neighborhoods throughout Mecklenburg County and the surrounding area.

_“I’d give up my spaghetti for
this here Olivetti.”
- Seventeen stylist Toni Kosover (pictured above)

I recently purchased THREE (yes, three) typewriters. I did manage to return one -  typewriter joke - I bought it on eBay and it arrived damaged in the mail. So now I'm down to two. Still, why would anyone need one, let alone two, typewriters? I found this excerpt from an article that I think explains it best....

The contemporary affection for typewriters may be a passing fancy, but it isn’t necessarily fancy. One reputed advantage of the typewriter is its simplicity. I have always been attracted to objects, like the strawberry huller, that can only do one thing. A typewriter cannot cannot find information, take photographs, produce a spreadsheet, tell you who’s following you on Twitter, play podcasts, find tax loopholes, flood you with apps or remind you that three friends have birthdays coming up. All it can do is enable you to type. With however many fingers are equal to the task.

- Reverting to Type  by Ralph Caplan

___One of my typewriters is a 1970's Cursive Olivetti Studio 45. Yes, it writes in CURSIVE! How could you not be obsessed with that? (see writing sample below)

This was the one I ended up sending back: 1955 Bright Red Royal Quiet De Luxe... what a beaut. It broke my heart to see it go.

It's almost time for my absolute FAVORITE show of the year... The Big Crafty! It's only 2 and a half weeks away - and I've got a ton of buttons to press. Make the trip to Downtown Asheville's Pack Place and enjoy arts, crafts, music and FREE BEER from 12pm-6pm on Sunday, December 4th. The event is free and open to the public. Oh, and did I mention there's FREE BEER? 

NMIC featured in Creative Loafing's Style Section: Creative Living. If you missed the printed issue - view it online here.

Look, Ma! I'm on tv! Click to watch my segment on Charlotte Today with the fabulous Colleen Odegaard. And get a peek of the new "Larry is my Homeboy" button commemorating Charlotte's most beloved weatherman, Larry Sprinkle.