New work: The 2015 St. Andrew’s-Wesley Church’s Oratorio Singers Poster

Graphic designer: David Versluis / Lucca photography: iStock

This year the Oratorio Singers in Vancouver under the direction of Darryl Nixon is scheduled to perform Messa di Gloria by Giacomo Puccini at St. Andrew's-Wesley Church. The concert starts at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, 2015. The photographic image seems to emulate the look and feel of a 1930s color postcard. In addition, dots on the letters “i” in Puccini have been lowered to suggest a closer visual proximity in the type style.

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To God be the Glory (Soli Deo Gloria)

Photograph by versluis © 2011

It’s not everyday you see the Dordt College motto on the roof of a barn. This is the old barn from the Crull homestead located several miles west of Rockford, Illinois near German Valley. Steve Crull, (Dordt alumnus ’72) says that over forty years ago, as a Dordt student, he was back home working on the farm for the summer when his dad had the idea to reroof the barn and cleverly weave the two-color shingles to form the letters. So Steve and his brothers shingled the barn as one of their summer jobs. Interestingly the letter style naturally seems to anticipate bitmapped typography, which would come along a little later with the dot matrix printer.

As a side note: the name “Crull” is of German descent and if you follow US 20 west from Rockford into Iowa you’ll find settlements of Germans who are of the Reformed (Christian) persuasion. Among others, the Iowa towns include Ackley in Hardin County and Wellsburg in Grundy County; in fact, at one time, many of the members of the Christian Reformed denomination in this part of Iowa were Germans and not Dutch. (reference)

Note: I may have seen this story about Crull's barn in the Dordt “Voice” awhile ago.

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The Paris Book Fair at the Porte de Versailles

Upper right, clockwise: 2011 brochure cover design with the new “typographic” logo signifying the new Fair format. Below the brochure cover is the “mascot” symbol/logo that was used on the 2010 Salon du Livre de Paris street banners, which lined both sides of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Book publishing still lives. Street banners photograph © versluis 2010.

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René Clement portrays the heritage of Orange City, Iowa in a book and exhibition

Above: Cassie (Huizenga) Baker dressed in costume and wrapped in the American flag as the Orange City Tulip Festival Queen, 2006. Photograph © René Clement, used with permission. In the upper right, René is shown speaking about his project in Dordt’s gallery during the show reception (photograph courtesy of Jordan Edens). The Promising Land exhibition is on display this summer at Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa (installation view). The exhibition, which initially coincided with the Orange City Tulip Festival, has been partially funded by a grant from the Netherlands Consulate General in New York.

Promising Land is a book by award-winning photographer René Clement picturing residents of Orange City dressed in old-world Dutch costumes, shown in a variety of situations from satirical to traditional studio portraits. René says: “I started [the project] with portraits. I was fascinated with how beautiful their clothes were.” In addition, Clement’s portraits reflect the influence of the seventeenth century Dutch Master, Jan Vermeer (reference Girl with the Pearl Earring). The black background and chiaroscuro effect of each portrait is reminiscent of the Italian artist Caravaggio whose style influenced many artists associated with the so-called Golden Age of Dutch art in the 1600s. An interesting side bar note is that Clement’s photographic images perhaps correlates with Vermeer’s supposed interest in camera obscura.

An exhibit of 37 of his photographs will be at the Dordt College Campus Center Art Gallery in Sioux Center May 12-July 24. The gallery is open 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Sioux City Journal did a very nice feature article about René, his book project, and mentions the show at Dordt.

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Commemorating the Freedom Rides

We’re posting this piece as a tribute to the Fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Rides of 1961. The “Freedom Rides” were an important part of the non-violent protest against racial segregation; many of the Freedom Riders were college students.

Illustrated is a digital capture of the abbreviated version of “I Wonder Why…” —a photographic essay by Shirley Carter Burden, which appeared in Reader's Digest in February 1964. From a private collection. © 1964 Reader’s Digest, all rights reserved.

Not surprisingly Mr. Burden received several letters from very offended reader’s criticizing the piece. As Jeffery Dallas Parisi writes: “All letters of this sort were from prejudiced and racist readers across the country and their content is quite shocking and gives clear evidence of the extremely prejudiced sentiments people harbored during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.” [1]

1. Parisi, Jeffery Dallas. “Shirley Carter Burden Papers, 1947-1989.” The New York Public Library Humanities and Social Sciences Library Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library, Mar. 1993. Web. 15 May 2011.

Following the introductory title page (shown above) the essay begins as follows:

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Joan of Art

David Versluis
 
A Collage piece from the “Icon Series”

Collage media: graphite, prismacolor, gold paint, colored paper, refuse printed material, and drawing on 22 x 30 BFK Rives Cream, 1980.
 From a private collection.



Photo credit:
 Joan Mondale attends the Department of Labor’s “Bread and Roses” event.
 Photograph Collection 1980, Location no. Walter F. Mondale Papers; Minnesota Historical Society, used with permission.

The basis for the “Icon” series was finding a small elm tree growing in one of the spiked holes of a concrete parking lot car bumper. And after pulling it out, its roots were bound tightly in a cylindrical form.

The passing of Geraldine Ferraro several weeks ago prompted me to think, among other things, about this piece once again.

This piece was one of several in the series, which was exhibited as part of a group show in the early 1980s at Bergsma Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This show was the first show in the gallery when it relocated in prominent commercial space in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

Highlighting the opening reception was a surprise visit by Joan Mondale who was in town as a keynote speaker for a National Organization of Women (NOW) Conference. Mondale was the wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale who at that time was laying the foundation for the Democratic Party nomination for President. That evening she cordially greeted me as we shook hands and said, “I like your work,” for which I politely thanked her.

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AIGA Dordt College student group: second anniversary

Chef Giovanni Romano in the kitchen at the Fruited Plain Café, Sioux Center, Iowa.
Photo credit: Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times.

Today is the second anniversary of the dcaiga blog and this site has gained regular visitors from all over the world. In addition to this blog, the AIGA Dordt College Student Group has held monthly events with guest designers who come to campus to talk about the world of graphic design and the work that designers engage in.

Either after the presentation or before, the students and I treat our guest designer to dinner at the Fruited Plain Café in their Backroom Bistro where on Wednesday evenings an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner is served. Last September our first guest was Erik Rodne who’s a versatile designer with HenkinSchultz in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Erik is young and smart and came early that day to help me with students’ critiques. As we began to eat our meals Erik commented that the pasta was done to perfection! I appreciated the fact that Erik noticed because in small-town NW Iowa, Italian food is perhaps the last thing you would expect. We sent word back to the kitchen to thank the cook, Giovanni.

Just recently I was reminded of the exceptional food that’s served here at the Backroom Bistro when my daughter in the Twin Cities asked if we had seen the article about Giovanni Romano in The New York Times. (The New York Times. Yes!)

Here’s the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/us/03iowa.html

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intrinsic color and pattern

“The Juggler,” a Parisian street performer who seems to be playing for the camera, is performing near the Carrousel Venitien at Place Saint-Pierre in Montmartre. This location is below the hill from the basilique du Sacré-Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart). Photograph © 2010 by versluis.

Besides being one of the best street performances in Paris this performer was also visually compelling by the intrinsic color and pattern of his attire. In addition, this photograph tries to capture the unruffled balance and symmetry of the juggler’s dynamic movements.

One of the things suggested by this photograph is a passage from George Nelson’s book, “How to See” in which he writes, “Just how much any of us sees of the most intimate personal environments is an open question. Can you describe to colors and pattern of any rug in your dwelling? The wallpaper in the bedroom? When were they last looked at?”[1]

1. Nelson, George. How to See: A Guide to Reading Our Manmade Environment. Boston, Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. 224. Print.

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Reminiscences about “Plucked Chicken Press” — founded in 1978 by Will Petersen and Cynthia Archer — specializing in lithography

Front and back of the Plucked Chicken Business Card, c.1980 — from the collection of David Versluis

One afternoon, perhaps in the fall of 1980, while researching art internship sites for students at Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, Illinois my colleague Jake Van Wyk and I visited Plucked Chicken Press and met with Will Petersen to discuss the possibility of providing a student internship. Cynthia Archer was there to greet us as well as we entered the workshop, which was housed on the second floor of an old industrial building. Petersen was professional and friendly and with a sense of humor — he was a genuine character. We were impressed with his collection of lithographic stones. The press was located in downtown Chicago just west of the fork in the Chicago River.

Along with the “Plucked Chicken” logo and printer’s mark — the business card design is based on the printmakers numbering system, which is a good way of recognizing a limited edition original art print. Usually, but not always, for authentic prints the artist signs their name in the bottom right-hand corner on the front just below the image. On the bottom left corner opposite the signature the artist writes the number of each print in the edition. So, for example, a print numbered “3/30” signifies that it is the 3rd print out of 30 in the print run.

As published in the current Plucked Chicken Press website (courtesy of Oakton Community College, Skokie, Illinois) here’s a nice synopsis about the origins of the Plucked Chicken logo:

Plucked Chicken — The Journal and the Logo:

Plucked Chicken, a journal of art and poetry, was founded in Morgantown, West Virginia, in 1977. The Chicago poet and writer, Effie Mihopoulos, provided a glimpse of the journal’s birth in an April 1981 Serials Review:

The magazine was started because Petersen just having quit his teaching job [at the West Virginia University] (at 49) and feeling like a plucked chicken, had boxes and boxes of notes, letters, prose and other miscellanea that needed sharing, an outlet. He had a strong editorial background ranging from work with mimeographed magazines in grade school to [poet] Cid Corman's second Origin series; he was also associated with Bussei, which published [poet] Gary Snyder's first poems and [writer] Jack Kerouac's first haiku. Working with shapes one day, Petersen and his wife [Cynthia Archer] came up with one the size of a postage stamp that they liked — it looked like a plucked chicken, and since it seemed symbolic of the artist (a bird that can't fly, ready for the stew or to be barbecued, all goose bumps and no feathers), the name stuck.

The journal ended in 1980 with issue number six when Petersen and Archer moved to Chicago, but the name and logo continued to identify the press they had founded in 1978. Every print published by the Plucked Chicken Press was embossed with this logo.

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Contemporary French poster design: La Francophonie

An example of a Parisian street digital “Rolodex” broadside station.
Photograph taken on Mar 20, 2010 by versluis © 2010.

Poster objective and context was to generate public awareness for the International Day of Francophones. Francophonie is a name that refers to the community of people and countries using the French language and cultural heritage.

The year 2010 marked 40 years of OIF existence. OIF is an acronym that stands for the International Organization of the Francophonie. In a unique event, the 40th anniversary of the OIF was celebrated in Paris on March 19 and 20, and at places throughout the world.

The poster suggests that the OIF is interested in global borders, boundaries, points of merger between languages, communities, and political and social networks. In addition, the poster designer uses “emblematic colors” as a means of symbolizing diverse cultural identities expressed through literature, drama, speech, art and music.

The OIF celebrated and dedicated its 40th anniversary as a sign of solidarity with Haiti.

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“The Visionary” at Ferris State University

Above: Publicity poster, (24 inches x 24 inches) designed by Versluis, for the “Prodigal Son” exhibition, The Father and His Two Sons: The Art of Forgiveness held at Dordt College this past summer and early fall. The poster features a watercolor piece by Robert L. Barnum, who’s a fine arts faculty member at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. Barnum’s preferred medium is watercolor and one can easily see the influence of artist Thomas Hart Benton in Barnum’s artwork.

“His style is one of sweeping motion in the tradition of “regionalism,” a movement that grew in the United States from the early 1900s to World War II.”

For more information about Robert L. Barnum see this fine article called “The Visionary” at Ferris State University. Unfortunately, for those who are typographically sensitive, the article is set in Comic Sans.

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The tension between making art that depends on familiar devices and being honest to an artistic vision.

David Versluis
Spirit Lake, Iowa: Fish with Brush
Digital / Giclèe Print, Framed 31'' x 40''
2005 and printed in 2007

This piece responds allusively to tension between the technical aspects of digital images and the intention of the artist who makes them. Thinking of the fish image as metaphor was the primary goal with these digitally produced pieces. However, the inclusion of the brush image in the composition is a simile that senses the intrinsic tension between the computer as artistic medium and the tradition of the artist’s brush as the painter’s handcrafted tool.

My work is produced through digital photography, digital collage techniques, and eight-color giclée printing. Digital collage is a medium, in the structure of binary data that can shape and express highly personal artistic work.

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Alfred Hahn, Abraham Kuyper and Common Grace

Albert Pieter Hahn (1877-1918), Self Portrait, 1915. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Dordt College has named its newest residence hall on campus the Kuyper Apartments.

In honor of Abraham Kuyper it’s interesting to see how artist Albert Hahn portrayed him when Kuyper served as prime minister of The Netherlands in the early twentieth century. Hahn was a very versatile artist, graphic designer, illustrator, political cartoonist, and satirist. Pictured above are various Kuyper caricatures by Hahn, which were published in c.1905 and ironically have become endearing symbols of Kuyper’s indomitable spirit and oratorical exuberance.

While John Calvin developed the foundation and basic concept of the doctrine of common grace, Kuyper worked to expand the idea. The following passage by Kuyper biographer Frank Vanden Berg adequately summarizes the doctrine of common grace:

“In the September 1, 1895, [De Heraut] issue he [Kuyper] began a series on Common Grace, on which he was writing in 1899, which would run to July 14, 1901, a period of nearly six years, and which would appear in three volumes from 1902 to 1905.

What is common grace? Let us describe rather than define it. ‘God’s common grace must be sharply distinguished from His saving grace, inasmuch as it is of an essentially entirely different nature. It does not save unto eternal life. God has made His common grace the portion of all individuals, mankind as a whole, and the cosmos. Even the evil and the reprobate are included. By His common grace God bridles the evil of fallen human nature, restrains the ruin which sin has produced and spread, and enables even unregenerated men to do good, the true, and the beautiful which remain, in spite of sin, in human life which has not been regenerated. It operates in the family and the State, in science and art, in education, society-at-large, in fact in every area, even in the life of men and humanity who have not been renewed by regeneration, although human nature has been corrupted by sin and although nature outside of man lies under the curse. It will endure to the end of time. In the future eternity there will be no common grace of God.’ (This explanation is taken from the Christelyke Encyclopedie, published in The Netherlands.)”

Vanden Berg, Frank. Abraham Kuyper. First ed. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1960. 206-07. Print.

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Liturgical Art and Design

Sacrament Banners: Communion, © David Versluis 2000

On display in the Dordt College Campus Center Art Gallery, for part of the summer, is a retrospective exhibition of liturgical banners designed by Dordt professor David Versluis. The show will open on Wednesday, May 19 and will run until Wednesday, July 14. The banners are on loan from Westview Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.


Sacrament Banners: Presence of the Holy Spirit, Baptism; © David Versluis 2000

Just prior coming to Dordt, in 2001, Versluis was commissioned by Westview CRC’s Worship Committee to develop a new series of worship banners. Featured in the show are banners that highlight and celebrate the sacraments of baptism, The Lord’s Supper and “The Word” (pulpit paraments) as reminders of the “means of grace”. Marilyn Vanden Heuvel of Cutlerville, Michigan fabricated each of these appliquéd banners. In addition, a baptismal banner specially commissioned by Robert and Mary Molewyk Doornbos, of Grand Rapids, celebrating the birth of their son is included in the show. The Doornbos banner is now a piece that is brought out and used for every congregational baptismal occasion at Westview. Joan Dykstra of Grand Rapids fabricated the banner.

The last piece in the show is the “Firstfruits” banner, which was commissioned by the Westview CRC diaconate for the annual congregational stewardship, giving and budgeting process. Versluis’s design is somewhat based on the biblical Old Testament “Feast of Firstfruits” known as Yom HaBikkurim.

During the 1980’s and 90’s Versluis developed numerous worship banners for Faith CRC, Tinley Park, Illinois and Westview CRC. Versluis credits his teacher, artist, Chris Stoffel Overvoorde for his interest in liturgical art.

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French Curves in Honfleur

These natural and painted wood entrance doors were all found on the same street and not that far from the harbor in Honfleur, France. As architectural antiques the doors are very inviting as well as being interesting examples of French decorative and functional design. The natural wood door displays classic spirals while the green and red doors show some stylistic elements of Art Nouveau. In addition, the cast iron metal work functions as glass protection.

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Dordt students win state graphic design contest

The following piece is from a Dordt College News Release written by Sarah Groneck.

A team of Dordt College graphic design students won an Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) design contest on November 19, edging out one of Iowa’s top graphic design schools in the process.

The Iowa e-Health website project and logo design contest is an initiative by the IDPH to provide Iowa residents with health information technology and encourage website use in addressing health issues.

Iowa colleges and universities were invited by the council to develop and propose a brand name and logo for the Iowa e-Health Project. Dordt was one of three colleges participating in the project. Iowa State University of Ames, which is highly ranked for its graphic design program, and Simpson College of Indianola, also took part.

Two Dordt groups—the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) student group and another graphic design group—presented the brand name “Iowa HealthLink” and three separate logotypes to the committee.

The council deliberated on eleven submitted designs, and selected Scott Vande Kraats’s design, with a design by Iowa State placing second. With a final vote, four out of six council members selected Vande Kraats’s logotype as the official chosen design.

The Dordt design team earned $500 dollars, and their brand name and logotype will be featured in health care facilities across the state of Iowa.

Students Amanda Brouwer (Escondido, CA) Sarah Groneck (Godfrey, IL), Katherine Gorter (Holland, MI), Piper Kroeze (Sioux Center, IA), Scott Vande Kraats (Sioux Center, IA), and Mark Veldkamp (Escondido, CA) traveled with graphic design professor David Versluis to Des Moines to present their brand name and logotypes to over 25 onlookers.

Versluis first learned about the opportunity through a business department professor, Brian Hoekstra. Versluis incorporated the logotype/brand name project into his Graphic Design III class curriculum and also requested that the Dordt AIGA student group take part in the competition.

“I wanted the project to give design students the experience of approaching a project in a classic way from analysis to design to implementation,” said Versluis.

“I knew that the graphic design class had some excellent designers, writers, and video producers,” said Versluis, also knowing that Iowa State University has a highly-rated art and design program. “If we organized as a cohesive group and did our best we could provide a highly professional presentation.”

Even if the team had not won, Versluis thought Dordt’s presentation went well.

“The Dordt student proposals were outstanding and very impressive,” said Versluis, “The decision to present with art mounted to large black boards was helpful and the presenters said just the right things about their design to the panel.”

The AIGA student group and graphic design group came together through the presentation.

“I was proud that it was my design that got the prize in the end,” said Scott Vande Kraats. “But it was truly a team effort, and if it hadn't been for everyone's hard work and Professor Versluis's keen sense of professionalism we wouldn't have had such a strong showing.”

IDHP will likely implement the logotype and brand name into the health care system by April 2010.

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reconstituted design

Sundogs
Café drop-ceiling panel proposal for the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art (UICA)
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2009.

In the summer of 2009, a national call for proposals went out for architectural interior installation art and design for the new UICA building — completion date of Spring 2010. The stipulation and criteria stated that all designs had to utilize recycled or “green” materials with a maximum $3000 budget. Potential designers had to select one space from a choice of four: the reception desk, the ceramics studio ceiling, the film theatre ceiling, and the café ceiling and submit one proposal. The initial thought for this design came from an e-mailed message from somebody at Unity Christian High School of Orange City, Iowa asking if anyone had need of used CDs. The project began as a collaboration | discussion with Paul Hanaoka and Jon Dykstra.

A panel, which is displayed above, shows recycled CD disks snapped to clear jewel cases mounted to 24” x 24” acoustic ceiling panels, painted black. Identical and subsequent panels would fill the drop-ceiling metal grid system.

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austere transparency (a follow-up)

The previous post resulted in a message from Design Observer (thanks to MB). It expands the discussion and I thought you would like to read more, for links — so here’s another post. I appreciated reading the article from the Design Observer Archive titled: Why History? Why Bother by David Cabianca. Mr. Cabianca teaches graphic design at York University in Toronto, Canada.

I enjoyed reading the responses to his short essay as well (some responses very forthright). I wonder how many others have tried to wrestle with an understanding, or responsibly, of the client / designer / icon relationship? Here's the essay:
http://www.designobserver.com/archives/entry.html?id=20666

In addition, here’s a link to the Farnsworth House flooding last September:
http://www.designobserver.com/archives/observed.html?id=39266

Also, a (somewhat fictional) play about building it:
http://www.designobserver.com/archives/observed.html?id=24576

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