On August 30th I moved into my new living space at the University of Hartford where I am attending The Hartford Art School. I am very happy here and all the people are amazing. The photo above is of my roommate Jeff and I at one of the art shows.

The Hartford Art School is a remarkable place and I am very happy to be pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design here. It feels magical to be making art all the time, we go to the studio late at night to work and it is a great feeling to be producing creative work in this new atmosphere. The professors are very friendly and caring on top of just being very knowledgeable and creative individuals. The way the school works is that the first year we all take the same courses as every other art student, this is called Foundation Year. This semester I have a great lineup of classes.

Drawing is providing an introduction to representational drawing, we have done a large self portrait, large charcoals drawings, interior and exterior spaces, photo reproduction and will be moving on to the figure shortly. 3D is a sculpture class in which we create three dimensional work and we are now focusing on linear pieces of work. And 2D Color is a color theory class based around painting, we have been doing color scales, abstract paintings, and exploring the way different colors work with other colors. As for non-artist classes I am taking a course on Western Heritage and a Rhetoric and Writing course.

The first week there was an Alumni Art Show that some friends of mine and I went to. This was before classes even started and it was great to see all the work in the gallery and talk with some of the teachers. The photos above are of us at the show and my two favorite pieces.

Then there was The Hartford Art School Faculty Show which was a great experience to see the artwork that our teachers have made recently. We met up with some of our teachers and the opening was packed. The photos above are from that show.

Several weeks ago, my mom and I attended the AIGA Design Gala event in New York City. It was a wonderful experience and that evening I was honored for receiving an AIGA Worldstudio Scholarship. I went on stage an took a bow and spent the rest of the night with fellow recipients and meeting designers and contributing artists to my book. I met Debbie Millman, Armin Vit, Troy Monroe and many others. I ran into Scott Belsky from Behance where I am interning. Also, Khoi Vinh came and introduced himself, he is the design director for the New York Times website. Stanley Hainsworth was generous enough to buy the table for the scholarship receipents and has been the creative director at Nike, Starbucks, and LEGO. Also, I was introduced to Richard Grefe, the executive director of the AIGA and Ivan Chermayeff, past AIGA Medalist. The photos above are from that night in the city.

We also attending Adam Machose’s solo show in Hartford. He is our drawing teacher and he presented a series of small acrylic portraits of friends and imaginary characters.

The completed manuscript for my first book, Creative Grab Bag, was sent off to my wonderful editor over at HOW Books at the end of August. I have received initial feedback on everything and they are very pleased with the outcome of the book and the direction we are moving forward with it. The book is scheduled to be published sometime later this year in the Spring of 2009. Thank you to everyone who has made the book what it is and to all of the contributing artists. It is a wonderful thing to create a book and I look forward to sharing it with you.

There have also been some changes around here on my weblog and personal website. The header has been designed as a cleaner version of the past one. As seen in the navigation at the top the structure of the site as also changed. The Blog is now located on the Front page and the retired web address for the weblog is now serving as an Archive. There is a Portfolio of graphic design work which will soon feature new work from The Hartford Art School, there is Books section which contains information on Creative Grab Bag and A New World Platform, along with the About section where you can learn more about myself.

In the Elsewhere section of the sidebar there have been the additions of Last.FM which tracks all of the music that I listen too and FriendFeed which combines all my online activity into one online space. For the time being Videos for Creatives, a weblog featuring video from the online creative world is being retired.

The other night we made some pasta in the kitchen on the bottom floor of our building. My roommate Jeff has started a radio show on campus and some friends and I sat in as guests for a little while. I got a typewriter for our place as well. And tried tea, some funky lights, and a live plant. A bunch of nights we worked in the studio for a while, late into the night. And during the week I get the New York Times for free, I read it every day. The photos below are from all of those experiences. You can see more pictures from all of the recent events including the art shows, the AIGA Design Gala, and my time at The Hartford Art School here.

The blog moving forward will have four main types of posts, Photography posts containing just photos from my life, Art School Work which will feature photos from the work I have produced along with artists statements, Sharing Links which will be a collection of links to other interesting things online, and then Normal Posts that will be my own thoughts, stories, and projects.

I will soon be introducing a series of poster for sale, along with some new photography, recent projects from my art classes, and a brand new project that will document my art school career and life going forth in a new manner. Thanks to you all, your the best, see you soon.

On my trip to New York City last week I had the amazing opportuninty to stop by and visit with Paul Sahre at his studio. Paul is participating in Creative Grab Bag, my visual collaborative book and it was a great experience to meet him in person, discuss design and creativity with him, and view the space where he works.

Graphic designer, illustrator, educator, lecturer, foosballer and author Paul Sahre established his own design company in New York, in 1997. Consciously maintaining a small office, he has nevertheless established a large presence in American graphic design.

While I was there I interview him for Behance Magazine and that article will be up soon, you can view more photos of my visit here.

I can’t help but be drawn to the Happiest Book in the World by Alex Ostrowski. It just seems like such an amazing book by looking at the photos and hearing what its about, there is only one copy as of now, which makes me not happy at all. Alex shares with us the story behind this book.

In one way or another we are all looking for happiness. Some people even say that man’s sole purpose for existence is to hunt down and capture this intangible and elusive treasure. In 2006 researchers at The University of Leicester concluded that Denmark is the happiest country in the world - this was good enough for me. In March 2008 I made the decision to visit happiness, and embarked upon a pilgrimage to find it. My experiences are presented in this book.

Take a look at more photos of the book here.

To listen to them play these two songs provides such an amazing feeling. I was watching television late one night and this came on and I was blown away by Sigur Rós, I quickly recorded the show so that I can watch it in high definition whenever I want to. It is absolutely stunning piece of work.

Discovered Days With My Father online and it is a brilliant piece of online storytelling. By combining beautiful photographs with simple text it tells a heart warming and sad story. The piece develops the character of Phillip Toledano’s father through written memories and visual moments captured in time.

Just wanted to take a moment and provide an update on the book that I have been working on for over a year. The first announcement is that the book will be entitled Creative Grab Bag which is a name that I am very pleased with. This was approved a while ago and I have been trying to get around to telling you all. Before we go any farther here is some background on the book.

It is a visual collaborative book that forces creative people from around the world to explore their creativity. Each artist is randomly assigned a creative task that is not in the area of their expertise or training. The book is due to come out this spring and is being published by F+W Publications’ HOW Books.

At this point in time I am waiting for the final round of work to come in from the amazing people that have agreed to take part in the book, the final count will be one hundred artists. The list of artists has been updated on the book’s website.

Thanks to all so far for everything!

On a trip to New York City about a week ago I acquired for myself a Nikon D60 Digital SLR Camera and proceeded to walk out of the store with a new toy to capture the world with. For the past couple of years I have been using similar cameras that the school had provided. I have enjoyed capturing the lives and moments of my friends and I as we went through high school along with the many different things I observe in life.

Now as I prepare to enter art school it is even more important to me to observe and capture images. See what I see on my Flickr photostream, just signed up for the professional account as well. When you carry a camera you see the world more.

I plan to build a small house that combines modern and rustic into one livable and well designed package. It will be located on the coast of a Scandinavian country maybe, possibly Denmark or Sweden. I will have a greenhouse and garden to grow plants and food. I will stock the kitchen shelves with cookbooks and create dishes of food that are full of color for us.

I will have tons of books and read them on the beach all day long. I will fly kites and kayak in the ocean. I will think and ponder the world, I will write, design, and paint. I will ultimately create there in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nature. I will make my own scarves and mittens and build snowmen with my grandchildren when they come to visit us. I will learn to play the piano again and compose music that I can call my own.

The house will have wooden floors and big windows. There will be neighbors but they will not be close by. I will have a cat and dog that are best friends and they will play all day on the beach with us. I will ride a bike as my only mode of transportation.

I think this is what will make me happy.

Recently visited Mass MOCA to view several great exhibits with the family. The second photograph is from Projections by Jenny Holzer and the third photograph is from Sculpture and Paintings by Anselm Kiefer. See more photos on the Flickr stream.

MASS MoCA is the largest center for contemporary arts in the United States. The institution is dedicated to the creation and presentation of provocative visual and performing arts pieces, and of works that blur conventional distinctions between artistic disciplines.

Design holds a special place in my life and work. It is just not a career track but a way of thinking, communicating, and living. While I plan on being a graphic designer I also plan on using design and creative thinking in other areas such as business, politics, and education.

Shel Israel will be getting a fresh coat of design work on his blog and website by yours truly! I am really looking forward to the design project and developing a more strucured online presence for his many projects. Shel interviewed me about social media here and blogged about my book here. You can read more about the changes in Shel’s work at this post entitled Several Changes.

The book tentatively titled Backwards will have much of it written this week. It is a book of my ideas, plans, and proposals on how to solve the many problems that are facing us in the world today. I have recently finished the detailed outline for the book and have concluded most of the research, in doing so I will start the actual writing process this week. I look forward to sharing some of the book with you in the coming weeks.