Victoria Harrison

Available for most images are Giclee prints, exquisite reproductions of Victoria’s original watercolor paintings. A recent addition, high quality Open Edition Prints are now available. She uses only her own photographs as inspiration for her paintings.

Currently, Victoria shows her Original paintings and Giclee prints at the quarterly Bainbridge Island Arts Walks. See website www.artshum.org Her work is also displayed at Art Soup, a local artist’s gallery on the island, at the Kaewyn Gallery in Bothell, WA. And at Frame Up Studios in Fremont, WA. She was delighted to have “Disappearing Fence” chosen for the NorthWest Watercolor Society’s juried exhibit Waterworks 2002 at the Artist’s Gallery in Seattle.

Victoria received B.A. Degree in Art at CSULB in 1979 and has been taking photographs of nature from her travels for over 25 years. She developed a deep appreciation for the “masters” through her many years as an art docent. When both of her children started school full time, she began to transform her inspirations into paintings. She says that she felt driven to paint watercolors with a very specific need to express her love for nature, and she immediately started to “paint big”.

Victoria began working with themes that included pathways, walkways, fence lines, leaves, lilies, and water reflections. She continues working with landscapes and gardenscapes, often focusing on a river’s edge, marina or perhaps a greenhouse interior. The themes have a pleasant continuity to them, stemming from her most basic desire to create peaceful images. She strives to have balance in her own family and work life, and states that “in such a chaotic fast-paced world I look for the special qualities in people and in nature that I can translate onto paper.” Whether it’s a simple leaf or a complex landscape, she shares her realistic interpretation of the subject and often incorporates a rich jewel-tone color that pulls you into the heart of the scene.

The paintings have a special depth to them, which is due in part to the focused energy that she puts into her dynamic combination of colors and the numerous layers of paint she applies using a special cheesecloth technique. The semi-opaque layer on layer of color results in richly textured areas that are often placed next to transparent subjects. She particularly enjoys this “controlled surprise” element that draws you into these peaceful and intimate paintings.

Victoria lives with her family in Bainbridge Island, WA and paints in her home studio.

The weir, by Frances Hodgkins.

Vial will discuss Hodgkins’ early years in New Zealand, her involvement in buying works for the national art collection and how her own art developed when she was in countries such as Britain, France and Holland.

Vial says Hodgkins was born in 1869 in Dunedin, home to New Zealand’s first public art gallery and first art school. She was one of its students before travelling to Europe in 1901.

Hodgkins didn’t go overseas because everything was dull and boring in New Zealand, Vial says.

“She was part of the modernist movement in the 1890s … and continued working in that impressionist style till after the First World War.”

Cornwall, England, was the artist’s base during World War I and her style started changing to that of a modernist, placing more emphasis on colour and line.

The arts community’s earlier response wasn’t favourable and her painting, The Pleasure Gardening, was rejected when a group of Hodgkins’ supporters tried to gift it to the Christchurch Art Gallery in 1951. Hodgkins had died four years earlier, aged 78.

Brigham Young University Hawaii Campus

The Brigham Young University Hawaii women’s volleyball team defeated Academy of Art 3-0 Oct. 31 in a Pacific West Conference match that held no tricks and was certainly no treat for the visiting Urban Knights.

The Seasiders swept the Urban Knights with a .254 hitting percentage to just .042 for Academy of Art in a 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 win to improve to 14-3 overall and 11-1 in the PacWest.

Stella Chen hammered 14 kills, hit .314, came up with 12 digs, and put up two blocks to lead the Seasiders to the win. Aika Becker added 12 kills, hit .333, and added three blocks for BYU-Hawaii.

Ariel Hsu led the Seasiders to a 10-2 overall advantage in blocks by assisting on five of them and Courtney Skaggs contributed four blocks. Michelle Chen put up 36 assists and Losaline Pula chipped in 11 digs for the Seasiders.

Academy of Art, now 7-15 for the season and 3-8 in the PacWest was led by Leinani Keanini with 12 kills and 16 digs.

BYU-Hawaii will face Dominican on Wednesday at 7:30 pm in Laie in a Pacific West Conference match with a chance to clinch the conference championship.

Art Institute Design Students Decorate Lobby For Halloween

Set & Exhibit Design students of The Art Institute of California—Hollywood decorated the lobby entrance to the campus to look like a spooky cemetery set design that gives you the feeling of being haunted by great stars of the past such as Betty Davis, James Dean and Grace Kelly.

On Oct. 30, local kids from Lankershim Elementary School dropped by to trick-or-treat and check out the decorations. Some of the props used were on loan from Universal Studios.

“The Halloween project was conceived and built by our SET & Exhibit design students,” said Gary LaVasser, the Academic Director of the Industrial Design and Set & Exhibit Design at the institute.

“We try to do community out reach in whatever way we can. We are working on a holiday toy drive next for a local group, Operation Santa.  Students in the program earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Entertainment design. We have some extremely talented students. We also have great support from the major studios as advisors and with internships.”

The Set & Exhibit Design students also decorated the stage for the school’s rooftop fashion show in June.

LinkOptimizer automates complex image manipulation tasks allowing to significantly reduce the size of InDesign job, save processing time and reduce production costs.

Following its policy of implementing user requests at the earliest opportunity possible, Zevrix released the new update to improve the handling of non-proportionally scaled images in InDesign documents. LinkOptimizer now analyzes such images according to their higher scale value to avoid producing images with potentially insufficient resolution during processing.

“LinkOptimizer makes me extremely happy!”, says Nynke Tiekstra, the owner of design studio ColtsfootMedia in Friesland, Netherlands, “It converted 10000 images in a 1800 pages project saving us at least 40 hours work, and it proved to be 100% accurate.”

LinkOptimizer works automatically with Adobe Photoshop to eliminate the excess image data of InDesign links, perform essential image adjustments such as color conversion and sharpening, and convert image formats. To optimize the job size, LinkOptimizer automatically reduces the image resolution, scales and crops the images in Photoshop according to their dimensions in the InDesign document and the target resolution specified, and reimports them to InDesign at 100%.

Adobe announced 2011 annual design achievement award winning list

This award aimed at those universities from around the world of talented, promising students, involving graphic design, photography, illustration, animation, digital film production, development, and computer arts. These students use Adobe software – primarily for Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection products, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Flash and Flash Builder – as an individual or a team to create.

This is the first time design achievement award Adobe will be included in the scope of staff rewards for good teaching results. This year, ADAA received more than 73 countries 4605 applications, student participation rate 61% higher than last year, and creat the record since the start.

The asia-pacific region overall participation sharply improved, 2010 received 385 applications, and this year the number of application reach 961, or 21% of the total. The participation of Asian countries are increased, Vietnam, the Philippines and New Zealand are the first time to the game.

This year the mainland China apply for several for 99 copies, have a raise compared with 2010. In Taiwan, the primary contestants than in 2010 growth up ten times to 272 copies. San Francisco art university student Sean Chang Taiwan with its work “DAMN! OTAKU-Animation Geeks Self-Help System” was awarded the highest honor the category printing communication.

Adobe is so famous around the world, there are many famous researches are made by Adobe, such as Photoshop、Illustrator、Premiere Pro、Flash Builder, pdf format and so on, recently Adobe has released a pdf reader which was applicable for IOS system and repaired Flash webcam monitor vulnerability.

I admire Adobe and I like the pdf most. because with a pdf file, it is convenient for me to share it with others. But if I want to edit a pdf file, It is not that easy. So I usually need to convert pdf to dwg and then edit it. I use a pdf to dwg converter to help me. If you have met the same thing, you can click in and learn more details. Or you can convert pdf to dxf and it is easy to edit a dxf file.

Launch Whale Trail Game

UK-based digital design studio ustwo will debut a new game tomorrow called Whale Trail which is described as a “beautiful, endless and colourful runner”, and is a one touch game where you interact with beautifully designed whales (you know, the ones with Manga-like eyes).

In the game, you have to keep Willow the Whale flying in the sky, collecting floating Blubbles to feed its rainbow coloured trail and dodging angry Thunder Bros while avoiding the evil Barry Von Barry. We wonder whether ustwo chose the title Whale Trail because it rhymes with Fail Whale.

The sound track of the game has been produced by Welsh Musician Gruss Rhys who once played in a band called Super Furry Animals. There’s a great article about the creative process and the story behind Whale Trail over at Computer Arts.
And in the meantime, you can watch a short trailer of the Whale Trail game below.

ITproportal.com

LJMU Art and Design Academy

The fourth International Conference on the histories of Media Art, Science and Technology was a collaborative project between LJMU, Liverpool’s FACT and the Universities of Sunderland, Lancaster, West of Scotland, Sussex and Amsterdam. It was supported by Computer Arts Society, Leonardo and the Canadian High Commission.

Keynote speakers included Professor Andrew Pickering, internationally recognised as a leader in the field of science and technology.

A highlight of the conference was the exhibition of international artists held at the LJMU Gallery as part of the city-wide AND (abandon Normal Devises) Festival, ‘Quod Erat Demonstrandum’. This exhibition brought together artists who expose artistic and scientific processes to question the faith we place in documentation and the historical record

In addition to the exhibition, LJMU hosted a book launch, the Media Art Histories Archive Roundtable event, Robodevco, the relauch of the MA-net and Artsense.

During the conference over 140 presentations were given by speakers over the three days to a packed auditorium. The state-of-the-art equipment allowed for entertaining and diverse methods of presenting.

Professor Juan Cruz, Acting Director of Liverpool School of Art and Design and co-chair of the conference said: ‘This has been a wonderful project with which to have been involved.

The speakers stimulated rich academic debate and created an electric atmosphere at the School over the days of the conference. Congratulations and thanks to everyone who played a part in this most successful event.’

Despite sophisticated software programs and ever-more-powerful computers, there are still relatively few people who can put words and images together in creative, thought-provoking, sophisticated ways. Just take a look at the average PowerPoint presentation and you’ll see what I mean.

The Walker Art Center’s new exhibit, Graphic Design: Now in Production, is a celebration of the graphic arts, particularly in the areas of typography, information design, magazine and book production, posters, movie credits, and, as it turns out, heavy metal bands. Did you know that one man, Christophe Szpajdel—the so-called “dark lord of logos”—is single-handedly responsible for creating most of those swirly, archaic, demonic-looking Van Helsing logos so popular with death-metal bands?

Destruktor, Bliss of Flesh, Moonspell, Sadistic Slaughter, Distilled Blood—Szpajdel created the logos for these bands and more than 7,000 others. Which means, of course, that all of these musicians dedicated to the ideals of anarchy, defiance, and the right to get as many tattoos as you want, are about as creatively diverse as a glass of milk.

But I digress. Szpajdel’s wall of logos is only a very small part of this ambitious show, which spans 10,000 square feet and encompasses a wide variety of design approaches and mediums. Of particular interest are the increasingly creative approaches to information design, which we rely upon more and more to make sense of a world awash in data. A poster by David McCandless called the “Billion Dollor-o-Gram,” uses various-sized color squares to illustrate where America’s money went in 2009. Fully half of the poster, or almost $12 trillion, is a big peach-colored square labeled “Worldwide cost of the global financial crisis.” Another graphic offers a statistical representation of media “scare” stories of the past decade, starting with Y2K.

Corporate branding is also a significant part of the show. You’ll get the low-down on such familiar corporate logos as Pfizer, Google, Starbucks, YMCA, and dozens of others. How these logos connect with and communicate an organization’s identity and mission is a science unto itself, and now that social media allows people to interact directly with brands, a whole new era of branding evolution has opened up.

There are several rooms and kiosks dedicated to graphic design in movies, video, and on TV. And though it’s not particularly edifying to see the opening credits of such shows as Dexter and Six Feet Under played over and over, it does get you thinking about how much thought and energy goes into those opening sequences that you fast-forward through to get to the show.

Somewhat strangely, the largest section of the show is dedicated to the most dated of technologies: magazines and books. Magazines from all over the world on display, demonstrating the many ways in which print publications have been trying to engage and enchant readers enough to lure some money out of their wallets. Books old and new are also on display, which is nice, because it’s worth remembering that the Times New Roman font was not created on a computer; it was it created in the 1930s, when burly men with strong fingers had to set each letter of type by hand. There is also an iPad kiosk where people can see how magazines like Wired are leveraging the possibilities of the tablet computer to enhance the appeal of their content.

Fittingly, the exhibit ends at a section where graphic design intersects with product design. The section looks like a shop where you can buy designer wallpaper, gift wrap, books, tote bags, t-shirts, and various other items—because it is! Here, in what amounts to a brilliant meta-commentary on the idea of “value,” the symbiosis of art and commerce full circle.

Curators Andrew Blauvelt and Ellen Lupton worked closely with several designers in the Twin Cities, so when this show moves on to New York’s National Design Museum next year we’ll be well represented. Maybe by then the committee that’s trying to re-brand the Twin Cities as a place so exciting you hardly even notice the cold will have its message down.

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Menu Design in America 1850-1985 by TASCHEN books featuring 800 examples of graphic art on menus from 1850-1985 [Photo: Taschen Books

Until restaurants became commonplace in the late 1800s, printed menus for meals were rare commodities reserved for special occasions. As restaurants proliferated, the menu became more than just a culinary listing. The design of the menu became an integral part of eating out and as such menus became a marketing tool and a favored keepsake.

Menu Design is an omnibus showcasing the best examples of this graphic art. With nearly 800 examples, illustrated in vibrant color, this deluxe volume not only presents an extraordinary collection of paper ephemera but serves as a history of restaurant dining in America. In addition to the menu covers, many menu interiors are featured providing an epicurean tour and insight to more than a hundred years of eating out. An introduction on the history of menu design by graphic design writer Steven Heller and extended captions by culinary historian John Mariani accompany the menus throughout the book. Various photographs of restaurants round out this comprehensive volume.

BonAppetit.com reviewed the book prior to its official release saying: “A book due out in (fall) from the design-centric publishing house TASCHEN will feature nearly 800 examples of graphic art on menus from 1850-1985, and it looks charming as all get out… WE’ve got a copy on the way. Restaurateurs, take note: A resurgence in thoughtful, artistic menus is past due.”

Jim Heimann is Executive Editor for TASCHEN America, and author of numerous books on architecture, pop culture, and the history of the West Coast, Los Angeles, and Hollywood. His unrivaled private collection of ephemera has been featured in museum exhibitions around the world and dozens of books.

Steven Heller is co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Designer as Author Program, writes the “Visuals” column for the New York Times Book Review, and is the author of 120 books on design, illustration, and satiric art.
John Mariani is food and travel columnist for Esquire Magazine, wine columnist for Bloomberg International News, and author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, America Eats Out, The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, and How Italian Food Conquered the World.

The Folk Tree is located at 217 South Fair Oaks Avenue, minutes walking distance from the Gold Lineʼs Del Mar station, and just south of Old Pasadena. Hours are: M-W, 11-6; Th-Sat, 10-6; Sun, 12-5. For more information, call 626-795-8733 or 626-793-4828.