Over the past several years the Program in Graphic Design has invited designers of diverse practices, backgrounds, and nationalities to come speak at CalArts, and this year’s series, co-ordinated by MFA2 candidate Eline Mul, is no exception.

Dante Carlos, River Jukes-Hudson & Stephen Serrato are three young designers from California. They will present a combined talk about each of their distinct practices as well as collaborative work for several projects. Dante Carlos is a graphic designer currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition to being a Senior Designer at the Walker Art Center, Carlos maintains his own practice—designing books and printed matter for artists and cultural institutions. Enthusiastic about knowledge, his self-initiated projects serve as an excuse to research seemingly random subjects, many of which inform his process. River Jukes-Hudson is a Graphic Designer living and working in Los Angeles. She specializes in books and regularly collaborates with artists, curators, architects, writers, and other designers. She teaches typography at Art Center College of Design, and together with Leonardo Bravo, Hudson co-directs Big City Forum, an interdisciplinary project highlighting creative practices across architecture, design, and contemporary art. Stephen Serrato lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He studied at Art Center and Werkplaats Typografie. He works across various media but specializes in design for art and cultural institutions and independent record labels. His work has been exhibited internationally and most recently included in the “Work from California” exhibition at the 25th International Biennial of Graphic Design, Brno, Czech Republic. He teaches Typography at Art Center College of Design.

Alice Twemlow is a writer, critic and educator whose work focuses on graphic design. She has an MA in Design History from the Royal College of Art/V&A Museum in London, where she is currently a PhD candidate in Graphic Design History. As the co-founder and chair of the two-year graduate program in Design Criticism at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Twemlow is at the forefront of design education. She is the author of What is Graphic Design For? and has written essays for books such as The Barnbrook Bible and 60 Innovators: Shaping Our Creative Futures, as well as the catalogue for “Graphic Design Worlds” at La Triennale Design Museum in Milana. Additionally, Twemlow is contributor to Design Observer as well as Arena, Baseline, Communication Arts, Design Issues, Design Observer, Eye, Graphis, and I.D. amongst others.

Don Ryun Chang was educated at the University of British Columbia in Canada, the Parsons School of Design, and received his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1984. He is the former CEO of Interbrand Korea and currently advises KT&G and Eeung, one of the premier new media companies in Korea. Chang is also a former president of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda) and is the Chief Event Director for the 2015 International Design Alliance Congress, to be held in Gwangju Korea. Chang lectures widely on branding and advertising, and is Dean of the Graduate School of Advertising at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea, where he also heads the Brand Media Evolution Lab. Since 2012 Hongik students have participated in the Winter Institute at CalArts, and during this Fall several design students from Hongik University have been part of the semester-long Fall Residency Program.

Jeremiah Chiu is a co-founder and partner at Plural. Plural is a collaborative art and design practice. Focused on a process of research and experimentation, Plural collaborates on meaningful projects in art, design, interaction, installation, music, new media, and technology.

The studio was founded in Chicago in 2008 by Jeremiah Chiu and Renata Graw and currently operates out of Chicago and Los Angeles. Collectively, Plural has received recognition from the Art Directors Club, AIGA, The Type Directors Club, The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Communications Arts, Print, HOW, Creative Review, Taiwan DPI, Gallery Magazine, The Society of Typographic Arts amongst others. Plural has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions at the 10th Graphic Design Biennial in Brazil, The Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, Public Works Gallery, Salisbury University, the Chicago Cultural Center, EXPO Chicago, the A+D Gallery at Columbia College, amongst others.

Ludovic Balland is a graphic designer based in Basel, Switzerland. In 2004 he founded the studio Typography Cabinet, where he focuses on book design, visual identities for international brands, architects and cultural Institutions, and does investigations in typography. Balland is the recipient of the Swiss Federal Design Award for “Warsaw under Construction.” Balland’s clients include: Vitra, Fondation Beyeler, The Swiss National Museum Zurich, Christ & Gantenbein Architects, and Herzog & de Meuron. Besides working as a practitioner, Balland teaches graduate and undergraduate typography at ECAL/University of Art and Design in Lausanne. While in Los Angeles, Balland will also be conducting a workshop as part of the Art School Practicum, and working with students at Otis College of Design.

Bijan Berahimi (BFA 2013) relocated to Portland from Los Angeles to work on the 2014 World Cup for Nike Football. While at CalArts, Berahimi founded FISK, an online/print journal and the now annual CalArts Print Fair. Berahimi currently operates his own design practice working for both commercial and cultural clients. In addition he continues to develop FISK which now has a physical location in Portland.

Chris Burnett (BFA 2013) is still figuring it out. After graduating from CalArts with Bijan, he decided to stay in LA as his interest shifted from design to music. However, he still held a design position for the hip hop collective Odd Future. Soon afterwards, another job offer in Portland aligned with his urge to move out of his parents’ house. He worked on the Brand Design team for Nike Sportswear for about a year, until he decided to go out on his own. 2015 holds a promising freelance career for Chris, and a whole lot more time to work on his music.

Bijan and Chris still retain a studio together, working in different mediums they continue to influence each others practice. Together they are constantly figuring out how to navigate their lives and make things happen. They currently share a house together in Portland, Oregon.

On October 6 Emily Luce and Rodney Sayers delivered the first talk of this year’s series titled Nuu Čaa N̓uł in the 21st Century. The lecture can be watched here.

The nuu čaa n̓uł language is a First Nations language spoken by approximately 700 speakers on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Evolved out of an oral history, it has only been recorded in written form for around one hundred years. Over the past ten years, Rod Sayers (a nuu čaa n̓uł speaker from the Hupač̓asatḥ First Nation) and Emily Luce (designer) have worked together on nuu čaa n̓uł language revitalization and its recorded forms. The talk discussed cultural and technological influences on this minority language, including the concepts of time immemorial, intellectual property, sovereignty, and visual language; and outlined larger conversations in the discipline of design including listening as a design practice and the importance of making room for minority positions within technological advancement.

All talks are free and open to the public. Below you can find the schedule for the talks, but please check events on the school calendar as they may be subject to change.

For more information please email the Lecture Series coordinator: elinemul@alum.calarts.edu

2014

Monday, October 6
Emily Luce & Rodney Sayers
Room F200, 7PM

Monday, November 3
River Jukes-Hudson, Dante Carlos & Stephen Serrato
Room F200, 7PM

Thursday, November 20
Alice Twemlow
Langley Lecture Hall, 7PM

Monday, November 24
Don Ryun Chang
Room F200, 7PM

Monday, December 8
Jeremiah Chiu of We Are Plural
Room F200, 7PM

2015

Monday, January 26
Ludovic Balland
Room F200, 7PM

Monday, February 9
Bijan Berahimi & Chris Burnett
Room F200, 7PM

A list of past visiting designers.