Read this provocative article today by Steve McCallion about logos and social branding. The article cued off of the recent GAP logo debacle, citing it as an example of the myopia of current corporate brand strategists.

This video was embedded in the article as an example of a successful social branding project undertaken by Levi’s. It features an interview with photographer, Tim Barber, who curated the project’s New York show. I was previously unfamiliar with Tim Barber, but this video led me on to his site (online gallery) called Tiny Vices which contains some really good art work and photography (wow, Reza Nader!).

A couple weekends ago, I took both kids out to the School of Visual Concepts’ (SVC) annual Wayzgoose festival, which is an open house and a celebration of letterpress printing. My friend, Kate, teaches at the school and I wanted to go to support her and check out the event and the SVC letterpress studio as I love letterpress printing (nearly as much as Jill!). We ended up meeting Tim, little MJ, Jenny, Koga, and Kate down there!

Click thumbnail for more photos.

Earlier, Dylan’s interest in going had waned and he wanted to stay home and play trains. I was able to change his mind by telling him that there would be a steam-roller down there and that Kate would be driving it. That did the trick.

Kate had finished her stint as driver, but we did see 3′ x 5′ letterpress posters being created 2 at a time by a crew of volunteers, big linocuts, a couple of 4′ x 8′ sheets of plywood, and the steamroller for the actual pressing. Pretty ingenious. The posters were hung from the school balconies to dry and were auctioned off as a fundraiser. My favorite was the Godzilla/sushi poster created by a crew from Starbucks.

A Wayzgoose is a tradition in the letterpress printing world that dates back to the 17th century, when master printers would serve a feast to their apprentices in recognition of the impending shorter days of fall and winter which would require the difficult work of hand-setting type by candlelight. Goose was often served, along with whisky. Now shops had adopted the past time as a way to open their doors to the public and showcase the work that has been going on.
— Kate Fernandez

THE MACHINE from Bent Image Lab on Vimeo.
A film by Rob Shaw (2009)

Following the Twitter tracks today from Another Bouncing Ball to This Is Tomorrow (two blogs with solid content both written and visual–both now blogrolled on the right), I found this arresting shot. The violence of the imagery and the lurid color of the photo caught me…what could it mean?

Reading the words painted on the sign to the right of the ape, I thought perhaps it meant destroy those hungry for death and people like Glenn Beck and W (and other neo-conservative hawks) flashed through my mind…

Destroy all monsters hungry for death

Full spoiler (and context) here.

A couple weeks ago, Jill and I had a wonderful idea Saturday morning. We packed the kids up and got on the bus downtown headed for the Calder and Michelangelo exhibits at the Seattle Art Museum. Going somewhere as a family on the bus provides big adventure for us. Dylan, being a 3 year old boy, loves all things that move, especially trains, planes, diggers, rockets, kites, balloons, and somewhere in that list are buses, but mainly they are a place from which to see lots of these other things. [Some trip photos]

As a parent, the bus is pretty cool too, cause you get to hang on to your child, have them on your lap. No seat belts, no separation. If something passes by on the other side of the bus and it’s not crowded, you can just go there and look at it. It’s a pretty radical change from the normal constraints of a car…

We got out on third and went into the museum. And I have to admit, somewhat abashedly, that this was my first time since the new building, expansion, and renovation (May 5, 2007) that I have been there.

What a pleasure. So big and open and clean and full of light. So much room.

We didn’t linger…not with the kids. It was straight up to the Calder exhibit which was number one for me as I’ve always loved his work.

The space and the limited number of folks there Saturday morning was great. We could all walk anywhere we pleased pretty much around the big painted circles demarcating boundaries below the mobiles. Dylan was pretty into it, Lila was asleep at this point I think, and Jill and I were daydreaming around with all the shadows and shapes moving along the walls. So many flowers everywhere and celestial bodies.

It’s so wild to see an object with multiple lives. the object itself and then the dynamic life of moving shadows. There are some amazing pieces in this exhibit.

It is supplemented with some photos of Calder working; portraits of him in his chaotic studio set in calm NY farm land. But to top it all or really to provide a glimpse of Alexander Calder himself was the movie showing in the back room. Jill fed Lila and Dylan and I plopped down right on the floor rapt with joy and wonder at this amazing movie of him performing his traveling circus.

The man’s joy for and attention to life rollicks around this film and it’s “characters” wire, cork, cloth figurines made mobile, suddenly incarnate with the pull of a string. It’s impossibly ingenious and joyfully intoxicating. I recommend going if only for this film…but of course you’d get to see the work too. Watching this, one understands that Calder is a figurative master. He evokes the movement and shape and muscles of a trotting horse or the barbell-lifting strongman with wires and wheels. Amazing.

Alexander Calder performing le cirque

I’ve included links to a very similar version to the one they are showing @ SAM, but it’s not the same at all. Much of the effect is lost and I recommend soaking in the man’s work and then seeing le cirque!

Calder Le Cirque Clip 1
Calder Le Cirque Clip 2

Movie info from YouTube: “Carlos Vilardebo’s 1961 film of Alexander Calder’s “circus,” an intricately assembled performance piece played out by handmade characters including jugglers, sword swallowers, clowns, and animals. These figures, crafted from a collection of “cork, wire, wood, yarn, paper, string, and cloth,” were each assigned a series of movements and manipulated by the artist to perform specific circus acts. With performances held at various locations in Paris and New York through the mid 1930s, Calder’s circus helped to establish him in avante-garde circles. Jean Cocteau, Joan Miró, Fernand Léger, Piet Mondrian, Le Corbusier, Thomas Wolfe, and André Kertész were among those who saw the celebrated Cirque Calder over the years.AAA “