Paper Cuts: The Art and Science of Rock Posters

I'm going to be showing some of my posters at an exhibit this month. Here's the info:

Alexandria, Va | Paper Cuts: The Art and Science of Rock Posters will run from March 24 through April 25 at the Athenaeum in Old Town, Alexandria. Featuring a wide range of styles from a number of contemporary artists, the collection reflects the breadth and vitality of the DC Metropolitan area music scene. 

To provide context to the art of these music posters, Paper Cuts will explore the science of the works by exhibiting artifacts from the process, including original drawings, sketches, studies, and printmaking ephemera. Additionally, the opening will feature live printmaking with Kristina Bilonick, where visitors can try their own hand at screenprinting!

Paper Cuts is organized by designer and printmaker Anthony Dihle, who also organized last year's poster show Paper Jam at Civilian Art Projects, which surveyed the work of two dozen East Coast based poster artists. 

The opening reception is on March 28 from 4–6 pm. Regular gallery viewing hours are 
Thursday, Friday, and Sunday from 12–4 pm and Saturday from 1–4 pm. 

Paper Cuts will feature the work of 16 poster artists including Hero Design Studio, Jay Ryan, John Foster, Marc Harkness, Zach Bryan, Strawberryluna, Anthony Dihle, Todd Slater, Marq Spusta, Hatch Show Print, Dan Grzeca, Guy Burwell, Chris Cernoch, John Whitlock, Adam Saul, and Criminal Design.

Exhibition Dates: March 25–April 25, 2010 
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 28, 4–6 pm 
Location: Athenaeum, 201 Prince Street, 
Alexandria, Va 22314

Tao Rodriguez-Seeger: CD Package and Poster

Banana Monopoly at the Black Squirrel Poster

Haiti Benefit Poster

Cover shoot, Duke Law Magazine

These are some images from my photoshoot yesterday with Josh Cogan. It was a great day for shooting, despite some initial friction with a Capitol cop who told us: "You're not breaking any laws. But if you're hanging around taking pictures of vehicles, there's some people that just don't like that. There is a man over there with a rifle that has been watching you. I can't tell you what to do. But if you continue to do this, we'll probably have to hold you for an hour and a half... and that would be no fun for you."  So essentially he had no authority, but was harassing us because he could.

We just moved to a different part of the Capitol grounds and continued to shoot undisturbed. All images © Josh Cogan.

Illustration: Robinson Everett

Portrait of Judge Robinson Everett for Duke Law School

Power Pirate: Band Logo

I met Power Pirate a few months ago when they approached my friend, Sarah Massey, about doing P.R. for them. The remarkable thing here is that they're high-school kids. I think 15 years old. They take themselves and their music very seriously, and after going to one of their shows, I was taken by their work ethic and creativity. I designed this skull mark for them to make stickers and t-shirts. We're hand-screening the shirts tonight -- it should be fun!

Freak on a leash

Been dreaming about birds

I've been waking up the past few weeks and drawing birds for some reason. No specific species... just ones off the top of my head. Birds are in my dreams a lot. They would figure in the old Central American pottery and textile motifs that surrounded me in childhood, and laying awake in the early mornings looking at a rug or pot with a stylized bird on it, I could almost see them move.

Law School Downloads

Law School Downloads is an e-commerce site aimed at providing law students with multimedia study aids. The site is designed to allow quick access to needed information for students who are strapped for time and under the deadline stress of law school or who need to study for various states' bar exams: there are various search matrices that allow browsing by subject, class year, and desired media type. Harkness Design developed an identity that would convey the technological ease of use and consumer focus of the site while nodding to the gravitas that is expected of the legal profession.

McMurtry Live LP/CD/DVD

Today is the release date for the new James McMurtry "Live in Europe" CD/DVD, also available in LP. This was a challenging and fun package to work on -- mainly because our only available images to document this segment of his 2008 European tour came from the video stills.

Arlo Guthrie: Guthrie Family Tour

Arlo Guthrie is taking his children and grandchildren out on tour this fall. Carrying on the legacy of Woody Guthrie, they represent four generations of Americana tradition in song. Harkness Design helped them develop a campaign of graphics for use in posters, online media and merchandise and apparel for the tour.

Lecture poster: Joey Coleman at M.I.T.

Migraine Graphic

Work In Progress: Hive

So that's what I look like when I'm working.

I was on press in Durham, North Carolina, watching Duke Law Magazine rolling off of PBM's web press, when I started receiving text messages, then some emails, then some voice mails. When I finally checked them, I was informed that my picture had appeared rather prominently in the Washington Post's "Express" tabloid. Thank goodness, it was not for my parking tickets, or for jaywalking, as my mother first assumed when I told her I was in the paper, but as part of a report about Affinity Lab, the co-working space from which I run Harkness Design.

Read more about it here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

These are a couple of Valentine's Day cards I designed for Jenni Finlay Promotions, to accompany a couple of love songs by Steve Poltz. One is sweet and tender, and the other, not so much.

Enjoy!

Duke Law Magazine Cover in progress

I'm working towards finalizing the cover for this issue of the Duke Law School alumni magazine. We continue our set of illustrated covers with a black and white rendering of the new Star Commons, with the Sanford Center for Public Policy in the background. To continue the concept of the Law School's international reach, we follow with overlaid images of world cities receding into the background in a two-dimensional distance... Mumbai, London, Ryadh, Vienna, Dubai, etc.

Guthrie/Irion: Folksong CD/DVD

Inspiration: A stop-motion animation using book covers.

From 4th Estate, here is a really cool stop-motion video that uses book covers. Some of my favorite details here are the ones that elude you, like the  hooker beckoning from a street corner, or the wino tugging at his bottle. Enjoy! http://vimeo.com/2295261