ephemeral states | transient texts on temporary subjects

I will be participating in the the North Carolina State Master of Graphic Design graduate symposium, Design, Community, and the Rhetoric of Authenticity, January 22–23, 2010. I am a member of the panel for “New Kids, Sell Outs and Celebrity Suicides,” with Elliott Earls, Artist in Residence of 2D Design at Cranbrook Academy of Art, [...]

A new essay, “Design’s Just Dessert,” has been posted at Voice: the AIGA Journal of Design. The essay is the second “bonus track” (the first was “I Believe in Design” at Design Observer) from the “Volume” sessions—written along with the new essays for the book but not to be included. Big thanks to ODU design [...]

Years ago, I worked at a national historic site on Boston’s Freedom Trail. A frequent question of visitors was “How much of the building is original?” I knew what they meant by the question but sometimes I felt waggish (or was a smarmy asshole, depending upon your point of view) and would answer that it [...]

Thirty-one artists have been selected from nearly (perhaps over) 80 applicants for the Repurposes exhibition to be held at the Ellin and Baron Gordon Galleries at Old Dominion University, March 20–April 18, 2010. The artists come from around the world, with work representing a wide variety of media, including artist books, print, text, design, photography, [...]

On election day 2004, I volunteered to hand out literature at my polling place for John Kerry. It was a first for me and I didn’t know how people would respond. I knew I’d encounter voters of other persuasions and political passions can run hot. For company, I brought along my then six year old [...]

The supremely talented illustrator Mark Andresen recently gifted me a portrait, drawn on the cardboard from a flat of cat food. The perfect meshing of subject and object! My thanks to Mark, who was the subject of my profile in the spring 2008 issue (#67) of the international design review Eye.