Our beloved leader Ms. Marsha Mills has recently retired, and in her stead, Tyler Dockery has stepped in as the new host of the GDA.
Tyler Dockery, Our hero and what a guy!
GDA Celebrates A New Faculty Leader: Tyler Dockery
Mills
GDA Members Blow Off Steam
GDA members blow off steam
GDA members blow off steam as an exercise in creating a larger connection between drawings.
The Graphic Designers Association under the watchful eyes of Tyler Dockery and Marsha Mills created an artistic experiment using the “Exquisite Corpse” Model. Students drew individually and then moved around our whiteboard, picking up where others left off. A thoroughly Good time was had by all.
As our semester draws to a close, many students find that the pressures of the school year are mounting and that even while large projects are graded and completed, still more looms on the horizon.
“If I don’t push down some of this worry and let loose a little creative pressure, I’m going to explode.” GDA President Bri French stated. The artwork was used to begin conversations in the following class, but all good things must come to an end.
“Someone was obviously working very hard,” George Tsai, Instructor of Advertising and Graphic Design said. “I didn’t want to take it down”.
As finals approach, many students will be finding creative outlets for their frustration. As always, the GDA is always on the lookout for those individuals with the fortitude to start something new and exciting.
Open Session with the GDA A Success!
Last week’s meeting of the GDA was a success. In a special “By Request” session, students discussed topics of their choice with Tyler Dockery and Marsha Mills, while students assisted with hands-on assignments.
Tyler Dockery gave a short lecture on the Bauhaus Movement in Graphic Design, discussing some of its origins in Germany as a melding of art, design, industrial design, and architecture and their part in North Carolina History.
The original call of the Bauhaus movement echoed the statements of Walter Gropius: That “Art is not a profession” and spoke out against the isolation of the artist. Artists and architects should work together and mold the most perfect structures. After having their institution summarily closed after a successful exhibition, the major players of the Bauhaus movement were run out of Germany by the Nazi’s and right-wing conservatives as being too “inclusive”, and that their thoughts were destroying the romantic utopia created by artists.
Buckminster Fuller worked on shis first Geodesic Domes at the Black Mountain College
Leaving Germany for the United States, many Bauhaus artists and architects retreated to the Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Here, Joseph Albers and other important figures began a school combining the arts and design together into the modern look and feel of the design system we use today. Although this school eventually closed and scattered the major movers and shakers in the design and art community to the USA, while it ran, it had an excellent, ground-breaking effect on design thought and practice.
Among those who taught at the Black Mountain College in the 1940s and 1950s were:
Josef and Anni Albers, Eric Bentley, Ilya Bolotowsky, Josef Breitenbach, John Cage, Harry Callahan, Mary Callery, Fritz Cohen, Robert Creeley, Merce Cunningham, Edward Dahlberg, Max Dehn, Willem de Kooning, Robert Duncan, Buckminster Fuller, Walter Gropius, Trude Guermonprez[6] Lou Harrison, Alfred Kazin, Franz Kline, Jacob Lawrence, Richard Lippold, Alvin Lustig,[7] Beaumont Newhall, Charles Olson, M. C. Richards, Albert William Levi, Alexander Schawinsky, Ben Shahn, Arthur Siegel, Aaron Siskind, Theodoros Stamos, Jack Tworkov, Robert Motherwell, Emerson Woelffer, and William R. Wunsch.
Guest lecturers included Albert Einstein, Clement Greenberg, Bernard Rudofsky, Richard Lippold and William Carlos Williams.
Ceramic artists Peter Voulkos and Robert C. Turner taught there as well.
This material supplied by the wikipedia
If you want to read more about the Black Mountain College in North Carolina, please consider the following sites:
- http://www.theartstory.org/school-black-mountain-college.htm
- The Bauhaus and America: First Contacts, 1919-1936
- The Bauhaus in History
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mountain_College
Tyler Dockery also discussed the Golden Rectangle and The Golden Spiral with visual demonstrations on the board. While not going into specifics about the number theory behind it, Practical Application was discussed. Materials relating to architecture (worldwide modern and traditional Japanese), typography and letterform logos, as well as renaissance architecture and the birth of modern art.
Marsha Mills was also on hand discussing design pieces and giving hands-on assistance with projects. If you have questions, we hope to see you at our next meeting, and we hope to see you all at Tyler Dockery’s upcoming talk: Everything You Need to Know About Type.
GDA Meeting Calendar
Here is the calendar for our September meetings. We’re looking forward to seeing you at our meetings! The Graphic Designer’s Association is Wake Technical Community College’s premiere group for graphic design students. From here, you’ll lead the way.
Feel free to contact Marsha Mills, MAEd if you have questions or suggestions. You can also contact Tyler Dockery, MAEd if you want materials from any meetings, or would like to see updates online.
GDA MEETINGS
Tuesday, Sept 1
General Discussion
Tuesday, Sept 3
Meet the President
Tuesday, Sept 8
President Workshop
Tuesday, Sept 17
Meeting
Tuesday, Sept 22
Photoshop Basics
Tuesday, Sept 29
Photoshop Basics
Interview Techniques Roundtable with Julie Evans and Marsha Mills
Interview Techniques Roundtable with Julie Evans and Marsha Mills
On Thursday, March 26th in the 228 ETB Building, Julie Evans and Marsha Mills discussed interview techniques with the GDA. As an important first step, the Design Faculty talked about how students should approach the criticism of a portfolio piece.
“Many interviews fail because an interviewee takes things personally.” opened Marsha Mills. “They cannot listen to the criticism of their work without attacking the person who brought it up.”
Students were able to relate this to critique sessions in the classroom when other students had lashed out at constructive criticism.
“We understand that this work is ‘your baby'” added Julie Evans, “but in the end its just a representation of what you can do. The work is used to communicate an idea to an audience. Its not about you.” Attendees went around the room and discussed the finer points of using their work as an object, and while they worked hard, it was not connected to them personally., in the third person if you may.
“In the real world an Art Director may request you execute this with ‘x,y,z’ added for better effectiveness,” Added Marsha Mills. “If you don’t do what they ask, you better have a good answer, a strong conviction, or another job lined up.”
“Your client may also love your designs, but hate your colors,” remarked Julie Evans. “They might make poor decisions, but in the end, the website is really theirs. You cannot give them what they dislike and expect full pay.”
As time wound down, the roundtable discussed how to begin critique sessions:
- Starting with the positive remarks rather than negative.
- Stimulating ideas that make the artist want to explore more by asking questions
- Making connections between it and other pieces
- Discussing how the piece might be integrated into a a system
- Giving constructive criticism to help make it a stronger piece
- Making sure the objectives are met for that target audience
All told, the session was useful, and students felt they were more prepared.