Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Night of the Living Tread IV




So it's that time of year again. Night of the Living Tread is upon us again. this years theme should provide plenty of entertainment for those at the checkpoints. There is an origin 8 frame set, track wheelset, origin 8 cranks, mks pedals, random hats and t-shirts as well. One Fixed will be shipping some swag as well. The Diag has proven to be such a good central meeting spot that we will be meeting there rather then Wheeler Park. As always, looking for volunteers to run checkpoints. See you there.
More info.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Internship

This is an outstanding internship opportunity for an individual who wishes to gain exposure to the dynamic atmosphere of internet marketing. You will be working directly with the our web designers & specialists and, although the primary focus of the position will be marketing on craigslist, you will have a unique opportunity to experience and contribute to all aspects of the e-marketing process. Read More.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Design Jobs

I realize how hard it is out there so I thought I would help my fellow designers. I will try and post design positions in the Michigan area. Here are two recent postings I found. Good luck!

Senior Graphic Designer - Web Sites
Niche Retail, a fast-moving, team-oriented, and environmentally-conscious company, is seeking a full-time Senior Graphic Designer to join our team. The Senior Graphic Designer will be responsible for conceptualizing and delivering digital graphic designs for eCommerce websites. Read more.

Entry Level Graphic Illustrator/Designer – Temporary
A full-service engineering supplier headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Michigan, Roush has over 2000 employees in more than 40 facilities across the United States and interests around the world. Widely recognized for providing engineering, testing, prototype development, and manufacturing services to the transportation industry, Roush also provides significant support to the automotive aftermarket, electronics, consumer product, and motorsports industries. Read more.

Monday, September 7, 2009

The Grace of Great Things


What liberates the imagination is the sense that work in its theory and practice holds aesthetic possibilities, that jobs can be elegantly conceived and gracefully done. This sense of beauty unlocks feelings of pleasure and love that break down the barrier between worker and work and commit to work not merely the "thinking" consciousness but the full resources of mind.

- Robert Grudin

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Flash



I am diving into Flash now. This program has had a love/hate or rather love/fear resolve with me. In one hand the timeline reminds me of Final Cut Pro, which I used often once upon a time. However the program offers layers upon layers of timelines and can be confusing. On the main timeline we hold the scene, which holds the animations or what have you. However, you can also click on the objects on the screen and they each have their own timeline, which looks similar to the main timeline. If I had one suggestion for Adobe, it would be to make it easier to tell the difference between timelines, but that is simply my opinion.

I have been researching avenues to learn Flash when I stumbled upon the site LearnFlash.com. Once I signed up for their weekly e-mails, I began getting free small tutorials on animations. For instance I recieved an online lesson to create a foggy effect and a venetian blinds sort of transition. After a couple of these lessons I was drawn in and actually browsed their products. They offer bundles, which includes an array of lessons or in my case I bought a single lesson. Normally I have paid $130 for 24 hours worth of lessons, where I paid only $36 through this site. I would recommend them to anyone longing to learn web-site design or Flash.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Poker Pedal Run


Check JimmyRigged.com for details.

Homeless Dave has Found a Home


Ann Arbor is the kind of city that I consider to be tightly woven, where individuals know one another and care. However, the city is still big enough that you might not know everyone or be able to reach its social boundary on each and every side. Homeless Dave seems to have been able to stretch himself far enough to not only come in contact with the circumference of our city, but to nestle in every aspect of it. Dave has a sincere interest in our city. He takes the time to visit, report, support, converse and even teeter (or totter) with all of us.

I originally met Dave in light of my husband's involvement in the cycling community here in Ann Arbor. Dave would come out to his events, volunteer as well as broadcast the happenings. Dave would also pop up at art shows, council meetings, the streets of downtown and any where people of this city gather to create and promote. He shares his participation in The Ann Arbor Chronicle which describes itself as a "daily news site that reflects and embraces the energy, oddities, and character of our community."

Dave also notices and interviews select citizens of Ann Arbor by sharing a ride with them on his teeter totter. At Homeless Dave Teeter Talk. The interviews are casual and fun, which often involve a dialogue about the teeter totter itself.

I wanted to write this in honor of Dave. In response to all the time and energy Dave has spent connecting his city and shining light on its heroes, he too has become one. Thank you Homeless Dave for all your dedication and talent you have shared with us. You are a valuable token to Ann Arbor, and we are lucky that you call this city home.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Design


I was thinking today how far I have come in this field. I know my journey is still long and dense. I love every moment of this learning experience and now that I am immersed in what I love every day, I feel as if I can simply enjoy what I do.

One attribute that I have seen in previous mentors is the refusal to stop when the design is not perfect. There is a sense of accomplishment as I continually push myself harder and further in my work. I find myself often physically exhausted just from thought.

Every piece I create, no matter how insignificant, is created to the best of my ability. Anything less would eat me alive until it was polished.

On another note, I love seeing the world flip in and out of balance. Traffic aligns just so, natural light glows in its sincerity...
I notice it and I love it. Life is good and I feel very grateful today for art and design.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Time Magazine Article on Facebook



Here is an article Time Magazine wrote on "Why Facebook is for Old Fogies." I think this is hilarious, and I now officially feel like and Old Fogie.

"Facebook is five. Maybe you didn't get it in your news feed, but it was in February 2004 that Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with some classmates, launched the social network that ate the world. Did he realize back then in his dorm that he was witnessing merely the larval stage of his creation? For what began with college students has found its fullest, richest expression with us, the middle-aged. Here are 10 reasons Facebook is for old fogies:

1. Facebook is about finding people you've lost track of. And, son, we've lost track of more people than you've ever met. Remember who you went to prom with junior year? See, we don't. We've gone through multiple schools, jobs and marriages. Each one of those came with a complete cast of characters, most of whom we have forgotten existed. But Facebook never forgets. (See the best social-networking applications.)

2. We're no longer bitter about high school. You're probably still hung up on any number of petty slights, but when that person who used to call us that thing we're not going to mention here, because it really stuck, asks us to be friends on Facebook, we happily friend that person. Because we're all grown up now. We're bigger than that. Or some of us are, anyway. We're in therapy, and it's going really well. These are just broad generalizations. Next reason.

3. We never get drunk at parties and get photographed holding beer bottles in suggestive positions. We wish we still did that. But we don't.

4. Facebook isn't just a social network; it's a business network. And unlike, say, college students, we actually have jobs. What's the point of networking with people who can't hire you? Not that we'd want to work with anyone your age anyway. Given the recession — and the amount of time we spend on Facebook — a bunch of hungry, motivated young guns is the last thing we need around here.

5. We're lazy. We have jobs and children and houses and substance-abuse problems to deal with. At our age, we don't want to do anything. What we want is to hear about other people doing things and then judge them for it. Which is what news feeds are for.

6. We're old enough that pictures from grade school or summer camp look nothing like us. These days, the only way to identify us is with Facebook tags.

7. We have children. There is very little that old people enjoy more than forcing others to pay attention to pictures of their children. Facebook is the most efficient engine ever devised for this.

8. We're too old to remember e-mail addresses. You have to understand: we have spent decades drinking diet soda out of aluminum cans. That stuff catches up with you. We can't remember friends' e-mail addresses. We can barely remember their names.

9. We don't understand Twitter. Literally. It makes no sense to us.

10. We're not cool, and we don't care. There was a time when it was cool to be on Facebook. That time has passed. Facebook now has 150 million members, and its fastest-growing demographic is 30 and up. At this point, it's way cooler not to be on Facebook. We've ruined it for good, just like we ruined Twilight and skateboarding. So git! And while you're at it, you damn kids better get off our lawn too."

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Gifts in Ann Arbor


Just wanted to take a minute to support a local business. Please visit Crown House of Gifts for a wide variety of gifts. A perfect place to find gifts in Ann Arbor.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Shadow, Light and Sarah






While growing up there are things, people, who you gravitate toward even before you know why. Friendships you attain, moments you have, that at the time are everyday but now you think of them always.

Sarah Washburn has been my closest friend for the majority of life. It is not necessarily that we liked the same things nor that we were much alike. Sarah and I seemed to simply take to the same environment even if that meant trouble.

We went to school together, studied under some of the same professors and just naturally grew as artists together. She a painter, I a writer. Our paths have crossed and merged so many times there simply came a time to bond and be.

Today I realize why we connected. Sarah and I are ying and yang. Sarah's incredible talent to capture light and shadow is beyond me. Her gifted patience has paid off. Her work seems to me as a confirming grip of the soft light and shadows that modestly live among us. Her paintings not only notice these highlights and down lights, but she masters them and forces them to come forward.

Sarah's work reminds me of Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin. Gauguin was never my favorite artist, but that does not mean he was not talented. Gauguin always made sure to "box" in his work. There was always a structure; a beginning and an end. I have never personally been comfortable with that notion, which simply reflects on my personality (loose ends).

Sarah utilizes colors that most likely do not exist, or are embellished from their natural state. I may be biased (probably) but knowing Sarah as long as I have is not cognitive, it is a natural attraction to talent.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Back to Art



Okay, I have been getting WAY off subject lately. The news and life in general have been viciously whisking me away from the relevant. I was sitting here thinking how I could get back to what matters... and I thought of Bill.

William Burgard is without a doubt one of my favorite artists. If anyone is on Facebook, they have faced (no pun intended) the "25 Things" where people write 25 things about themselves. Number ten on my list is:

"A few of my favorite artists are Turner, Miro, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Frida, Riviera and my friend William Burgard."

I met Bill in 2003, when I was trying to fulfill my credits at U of M here in Ann Arbor. Mary Schmidt, Assistant Dean of the School of Art and Design, mentioned this fantastic class titled, "Imaging Ann Arbor." It was rather mysterious, even for Bill. We were to design a public art piece for downtown Ann Arbor - specifically the State Street area.

Five years later... I have found an idol. Bill is amazing. His most popular work are the posters for the Summer Festivals he has created every year since the 1980's. However, all his work is consistently random and honest. In my opinion it begins with an image, perhaps a photograph (lets asks him), containing many loose ends.

I believe loose ends offer, although my sculpture teacher disagreed, so many opportunities. Bill finds these small, almost unnoticeable openings for design – and harvests them.

Bill discovers dining images that no one - absolutely no one - could think of.

I sat down with Bill roughly five months ago when I was frustrated with my job. He said "I remember feeling like that. I felt like I was being asked to do these drawings when I knew I could do so much more."

He did.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sink or Swim



In order for there to be a "booming" economy there needs to be an unproductive economy. There has to be a balance in everything, and the stock market is no exception. Some times we do not make sense. When things are great we hold fast, when things are poor we want to sell. The stock market was never meant to perform like that, but just the opposite.

What I really want to touch on is the idea of sink or swim. Hopefully we have learned that financials will never be predictable nor always giving, because they are driven by human beings. The trick is to settle with the nonproductive as well as the non-devastating. Times can be just as challenging when life is simply idle. What I hope that we do during these times of neither sinking nor swimming, is think and prepare. Lets take this unproductive time as a gift of preparation.