In the Studio today... Graphic Design: 2nd Fridays Art Walk

This design has a person looking at art (top left) as the first thing you see.

I'm working on a new, general postcard for the 2nd Fridays Art Walk in downtown, San Rafael.  The goal for this one is to have an informative print ad that can be ever present in downtown, sharing information for artists, the general public, sponsors for this event, and volunteers.  I am trying to work on a design that will grab your attention at the first glance, and let you know this is a fun, downtown event.  The back side of the card will offer more detail info targeted towards the different participants. (ie... Particpate!  Sponsor Us!  Volunteer!)  Which design do you like better?

2nd Fridays Art Walk is a program of the non-profit Arts Center I work for, Art Works Downtown.  They promote the event, create the maps, and make sure the venues who are pouring wine or beer do so legally and have licenses with the ABC.  It's a big job, and we are always looking for sponsors to pay for the printing of maps or donate in-kind donations of food or beverage.  Volunteers interested in the Arts are also always needed!  Check out the website for more information:  www.2ndFridaysArtWalk.com or click here to learn about Sponsorship.

In this design, a gallery full of people is the first thing you read, left to right.

In the Studio Today... Press Release: "The Elements" at Art Works Downtown

I have been working for Art Works Downtown since August 2011 as their Communications Coordinator.  My job consists of graphic design for print and web, and the occassional press release with a bit of fun writing about art, where I get to play "art critic".  Here is my second press release written for AWD.  Enjoy! -C.Proppé

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ART WORKS DOWNTOWN
Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12pm PST, February 23, 2012

ART WORKS DOWNTOWN PRESENTS:
“THE ELEMENTS” JURIED BY MARIA MEDUA,
DIRECTOR OF SFMOMA ARTISTS GALLERY

SAN RAFAEL, CA, FEBRUARY 23, 2012:
Art Works Downtown announces “The Elements”, a new exhibit in the main gallery at 1337 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA, March 9 through April 27, Opening Reception on Friday, March 9 coinciding with 2nd Fridays Art Walk. A 2nd reception will coincide with April 13, 2nd Fridays Art Walk. This exhibit has been curated by Maria Medua of the SFMOMA Artists Gallery (www.sfmoma.org/artistsgallery). The exhibit features 32 Bay Area artists working in a variety of medias and styles. Selected from a pool of over 400 submissions, selected works have kept to the theme suggesting fire, water, air or earth. 

Medua says of the works selected, “Expanding upon the theme, some of the work explores our relationship to the planet, which now could be described as fragile at best. Artists do their job when they remind us to see what is right in front of us. In this case the message might be summed up as, “we are all in the same boat.”” 

Artist, Pattie Grey of San Anselmo, has created “a chorus-line” of mosaic sculptures, one for each element: Water, Air, Earth and Fire. Each piece is a torso with legs in the air; the torso extending from a base of Earth, waves, a cloud, or fire, respectively. Grey’s legs exposed to each element have an immediate appeal and force us to think about humanity in the natural world. 

 
 Carol A. Levy of San Rafael, has taken a more abstract look at the theme, with her acrylic on canvas painting, “Spacious Flow”. The background colors suggest a field of air or water, while swirling, mesh-like objects, suggest forces of nature, especially one red and orange tangle that evokes a ball of fire. This piece has the sense that an intricate weave of ideas is melding together, much like the web of life.

Deborah Hayner of San Francisco, has created a piece “Cyclone Wildebeest”, that recalls Rube Goldberg contraptions, the whimsical meta-mechanics of Swiss artist, Jean Tiguely and the world of sci-fi fantasy. This mixed media, watercolor, goache and ink work shows a robotic girl, seemingly running on the power of raindrops from an open window, fire in her belly, and a hen floating in this mechanical confusion. A sign reads, “What good is a hen without color?” A contemplative crow with a detective’s hat looks on to the scene, observing the mysterious contraption and pondering survival in this bizarre new world. Even Hayner’s use of the wildebeest in her title recalls the current battle of man against nature, as wildebeest migrations are threatened by competing human demands on the landscape. Hayner expresses the complex and bizarre realities we are forced to deal with as our demands on the earth’s elements threaten the world towards sci-fi drama proportions.

Other artists exhibiting include:
from San Francisco: stoneware artist, Natasha Dikareva;
from Sausalito: painter, Bret Arenson;
from Corte Madera: painter, Gail Weissman
from San Rafael: Photographer, Jack Androvich; painter, Georgia Annwell; mixed-media artist, Carol Durham; gourd artist, Amï Diallo; painter, Ellen Litwiller; clay artist, Kathy Pallie; watercolorist, Kay Russell; mixed-media artist, Phyllis Thelen, and painter, June Yokell.
from San Anselmo: mixed-media artist, Elise Cheval; photographer, Samuel Henderson; printmakers, Katya McCulloch and Katherine Warinner. from Fairfax: mixed-media artist, Marguerite Elliot; wood artist, R. Dean Nyberg;
from West Marin Ceramist, Barbara Andino-Stevenson; Inverness artist, Zea Morvitz;
from the North Bay: Healdsburg mixed-media artist, M.C.Carolyn; Sebastopol: photographer, Rebecca Guarda; Napa: mixed-media artist, Maash Pascal; Petaluma painter, Kathryn St. Clair; Vallejo painter, Susan Strong;

from Mill Valley: clay artist, Nini Lion;
from Berkeley: encaustic artist, Mari Marks; photographer, Elizabeth Saucier;
from Fairfield: stoneware artist, Lisa Jetonne;

Also featured at Art Works Downtown on March 9 are two events on our lower level, including Dominican University’s “Guest Artist Fellowship Awardee 2012” in the Underground Gallery. This is a new collaborative program between Dominican University and Art Works Downtown. In the AWD Founders Lounge a new printmaking exhibit, curated by Stephanie Jucker, features the works of Barbara Poole, Lisa Long, Jason Sheldrick, Anne Wolfe and additional studio artists from Art Works Downtown. The printmaking exhibit runs through March 31, 2012.

For more information, please contact:
Art Works Downtown, 1337 Fourth St., San Rafael, CA
Phone: 415-451-8119 Website: ArtWorksDowntown.org 
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Additional PR samples:
• Press Release written for "Day of the Dead" 2011 exhibit