The exhibition showcases a diverse range of recent works by more than 60 Chicago artists utilizing letters and text in a wide array of mediums through April 2012.

Rick Valicenti / 3st

The four sumi ink drawings come from a recent series of stream of consciousness word associations triggered by the economic downturn and political/media response.

Valicenti drops ink on heavy Fabriano paper and simply moves the paper encouraging the ink to draw on its own with gravity. While the messages Valicenti focuses on are simple and delightful to say, the issues he speaks of are considerably more complex and messy.

John Pobojewski / 3st

Common Ground is a video installation with custom sound composed in Live using sound-sampled text from different texts of faith, logic, reason, and reflection.

Pobojewski reminds us that “as human beings we search for meaning in our lives, focusing attention on various keys along the search for truth. As time goes on and the video continues, the areas of focus stack on top of one another as the pile grows higher and higher on common ground.

In addition to the video, Pobojewski has two 24 x 36″ images which reveal through typography how much is shared between cultures.

The script words ‘Salam’ (in blue Hebrew) and ‘Shalom’ (in green Arabic) are woven together like a basket. S-L-M is the triconsonantal root of both Salām and Shalom, and has been used throughout history as a sign of peace between the two cultures.

Bud Rodecker / 3st

Bud Rodecker displays his Ode to Carl series of silkscreen prints created in early 2011. The passages are from Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” and pays homage to Chicago’s roots, honors Carl Sandburg and brings his words to a new audience.

“Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.”

C2F/ Cybu Richli & Fabienne Burri are very pleased to announce COMMERCE ART, an exhibition at the Weltformat Poster Festival in Lucerne.

COMMERCE ART presents a selection of contemporary, commercial posters of artistic quality and distinctiveness. According to the curators these posters “clearly demonstrate that it is still possible to make high-quality art for commercial clients.”

Rick Valicenti/3st is thrilled to have been included with three posters. Selected posters are from all over the world and their makers range from individual graphic artists to large-scale agencies:

Eboy (Berlin)
Jianping He (Berlin)
Jung von Matt Donau (Wien)
KNSK (Hamburg)
McCann Erickson (Dublin)
Ogilvy (Singapore)
Out of the Box (New Dehli)
Stefan Sagmeister (New York)
Sulzer Sutter (Zürich)
Alex Trochut (Barcelona)
Rick Valicenti (Chicago)

We are proud to announce that Thirst’s Intelligent Design is represented in the newest exhibit at the Walker Art Center: Graphic Design: Now in Production. This is the largest museum feature of graphic design since 1996. As the Walker puts it:

This major international exhibition explores how graphic design has broadened its reach dramatically over the past decade, expanding from a specialized profession to a widely deployed tool.

The exhibition is on display until January 22.

Other designers exhibited include Daniel Eatock, Experimental Jetset, James Goggin, Lust, Project Projects, Stefan Sagmeister, and many more.

Intelligent Design credits
Concept: Rick Valicenti
Design: John Pobojewski and Rick Valicenti
Programming: Robb Irrgang and John Pobojewski
Illustration: Gina Garza
Production: Classic-Color, Inc.

Thirst shares the national design award: John Pobojewski, Rick Valicenti, Bud Rodecker

Rick and the maestro, Milton Glaser (I <3 Thirst)

Milton’s original I Heart NY sketches on display at MoMA

Rick Valicenti and Sigourney Weaver who presented the national design award for architecture.

Stefan Sagmeister presented the National Design Award and hosted John and Bud for a studio tour.

Sagmeister at the podium.

Lifetime Award winner, Matthew Carter, hangs with Bud and John.

The 2011 Design Mind Award recipient, Steve Heller, feels the joy. Design Observer’s William Drenttel in the background

Stephen Doyle, the 2010 National Design Award recipient, passes on the glory to a very happy-boy Rick.

Also… Frank Gehry as seen from the High Line

and Thom Mayne’s Cooper Union architecture… Mike Essl, head of the graphic design department, provided the personal tour.

and what is a trip to NYC with out a star sighting – Former Rep Anthony Weiner

Attention student groups, we have set aside an entire Saturday at the Thirst office for student tours. We will host 4 student groups on Sat, September 24th. Please try and limit your group to 20 if possible. First come first serve. Don’t worry if all the slots fill up, we’ll be having another tour day in the spring 2012.

group 1 / 9:00 – 10:00
group 2 / 11:00 – 12:00
group 3 / 2:00 – 3:00
group 4 / 4:00 – 5:00

Click here to reserve your spot.

Not too long ago we posted about something you might not see. Well now you have the chance to see Rick’s contribution along with everyone else’s. 17 years of number 17 will be on display Tusday May 17 at the Type Director’s Club in NY.

Other Contributors include:

• Marian Bantjes
• Stefan Bucher
• Seymour Chwast
• William Drenttel
• Ira Glass
• Jessica Helfand
• Steven Heller
• Maira Kalman
• Christoph Niemann
• Stefan Sagmeister
• Paul Sahre
• Paula Scher
• Erik Spiekermann
• Michael Vanderbyl
• James Victore
• Armin Vit

Tuesday May 17
6–9 pm
Type Director’s Club
347 West 36th Street
Suite 603
NYC

Ode to Carl is now printed! Delicious Design league did an incredible job printing them, they look fantastic. To celebrate we hosted a small get together at the 3st office. Music was played, drinks were drunk, large quantities of chips were consumed, and posters were picked up.

Posters begin shipping this week; I’ll be mailing them out as fast as I can roll them. Thank you again to all 83 of you who supported my project, and to those of you who helped me spread the word.

Gravity Free poster by Milton Glaser (Sorry Milton, RV)

Gravity Free 2011, The Great Multidisciplinary Design Conference: Coming up this May, Rick Valicenti will be presenting at the 2011 Gravity Free conference in San Francisco. He’ll be sharing the stage with 21 other seriously talented folks.

Shazam! Right in front of our eyes, designers became the Merlins of the 21st century… fearless wizards turn Mad Men titles into Emmy-winning motion graphics… True Grit into a showcase for Oscar-nominated production design…ordinary eyeglasses into fashion eyewear Elton John can’t resist… even John Lennon personal moments into iconic “I Love New York” images. And that’s just the beginning.

This year twenty two of the world’s most remarkable designers—from as many different design disciplines—invite you to join them backstage for an close up look at the “Wonders of Magical Thinkers”

Presenters

• Jonathan Harris
• Ingo Maurer
• Mark Gardner
• Moritz Waldemeyer
• Jess Gonchor
• Andrew Ashton
• Edwin Schlossberg
• Reuben Margolin
• Marian Bantjes
• Matt Chambers
• Rick Valicenti
• Jason Bruges
• Gai Gherardi & Barbara McReynolds
• Bjarke Ingels
• Bob Gruen
• Ari ‘T Hart
• Kevin Slavin
• Marcel Wilson
• Stefano Giovannoni
• Grant Achatz
• Martin Kastner
• Jeff Kuo

May 24–26, 2011
San Francisco, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
www.gravityfreedesign.com

Cybu Richli of C2f is currently in Chicago on a residency from Lucerne through March 2011 serving as both design ambassador and design observer.

He’s been sent here by his government to meet and engage with the Chicago design community. Last friday he and his collaborator Fabienne led Thirst in a day of play and experimentation.

Bud: “What do you think we should do today?”
Cybu: “Today, I would like to explode something.”
Bud: “OH! well, I don’t think we have any fireworks.
Commences grabbing anything Bud can find in the office.

The rest of the day was spent working on various projects. Cybu made Helvetica out of thick rubber bands. Fabienne made a typeface out of a hair net. Tinne organized office materials. Rebekka made a bubble wrap person. Bud forced inflated rubber gloves into artificial relationships. And John Pobojewski explored some film abstractions of the oddest truths ever heard… he calls them Fuzzy Truths.

C2F’s website describes their practice like this:

C2F is a young communication design company established by Cybu Richli and Fabienne Burri. Our focus is on visual communication for arts, architecture, business, design, education, cultural clients, sciences.

But to truly understand their work, you have to spend time with it. It’s all the right things, smart, clever, surprising, and complex. Do spend some time with it.

This past Friday, Typeforce 2 opened at the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Typeforce showcases great examples of lettering work by Chicago’s emerging professionals, including John Pobojewski / 3st in last year’s show.

This year Bud Rodecker / 3st was fortunate enough to be featured alongside some excellent Chicago talents. He displayed his series inspired by Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” called Ode to Carl. The exhibited work consisted of 2 screenprinted posters and three one of a kind pieces.

Running simultaneously with the show Bud has posted all five posters to Kickstarter — and just 3 days later, it is nearly half-way funded! Hopefully by the time the exhibition closes, There will be enough backers to produce a complete set of screenprinted posters. Go to Kickstarter.com to order your set.

Ode to Carl by Bud Rodecker on Kickstarter

If you didn’t make it to the opening, don’t worry, it will be on display until March 7.

http://typeforcechicago.com
http://coprosperity.org/2010/12/typeforce-ii/

featuring: Andy Luce, Bill Talsma, Bud Rodecker / 3st, Caroline Corboy, Chris May, Emily Vanhoff, Frances MacLeod, Gary Rozanc, Jarred Kolar, Jessica Lynn White, Justin Gilman, Kyle Fletcher, Margo Yoon, Mark Addison Smith, Matthew Hoffman, Meng Yang, Nancy McCabe, Nick Adam, Nicole Briant, Quite Strong, Scott Reinhard, Sean Fermoyle, Sonnenzimmer, Studio 1a.m., Tami Churns

Sponsored By
Firebelly Design,  Public Media Institute, Graphic Arts Studio

As we prefaced a while back, our Curiosities – The 21st Century Thirst feature exhibition is now open at York College in Pennsylvania. Special thanks to gallery curator Matthew Clay-Robison, professor Melanie Rodgers, and all of the students for their tireless efforts putting up the show.

Please stop by before February 24, 2011.

Cora Miller Exhibit Hall
WOLF 201 B
York College of Pennsylvania
441 Country Club Road
York, PA 17403-3651

More photos after the jump…

Almost one year ago, Curiosities – The 21st Century Thirst opened at the Schmidt Center Gallery on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. On January 23 Curiosities 2.0 opens at York College of Pennsylvania.

The exhibition has been dramatically refashioned to include new work and to respond to the fabulous setting. Self-inspired art and design fills Brossman Gallery while Thirst client-initiated work hangs in the adjoining Cora Miller Gallery.

We love to share our art and design, so please stop by York College between January 21 and February 24, 2011. Your feedback is encouraged.

WOLF 201 B Cora Miller Exhibit Hall
York College of Pennsylvania
441 Country Club Road
York, PA 17403-3651

Image from RicharDaily

Next week on wednesday, November 3rd at 7pm, Rick Valicenti will be presenting at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC. The following wednesday, November 10th at 8pm, Bud Rodecker and John Pobojewski take to the air waves on Design Chat. If you’re in Washington DC stop by and say hi to Rick at the Corcoran, and no matter where you are in the world, tune in to Design Chat on Nov 10th to say hey to some other 3sties.

Senator Richard J. Durbin presents

Samuel Skinner and Mayor Daley on stage for an animated panel discussion

Thirst has been working for the past nine months to help CMAP re-focus its brand presence and to design the publication and website for the plan in a manner that would make the 30-year future envisioned in the plan feel both attainable and new.

an identity refresh and branding guideline system
the look and feel of the future imagery
a 128+ page short version document
a 3000+ page website
an interactive/video kiosk

CMAP Project Co-Lead Erin Aleman

We are proud and grateful to be part of such an incredible team
that made this campaign come to life.

CMAP
Executive Director: Randy Blankenhorn
Project Co-Lead: Erin Aleman
Project Co-Lead: Tom Garritano
Chief of Staff: Jill Leary

Public Relations + Project Lead: ASGK
Branding + Design: Thirst
Website + Kiosk Development: Thirdwave
Illustration: Ginkgo Planning & Design, Inc.
Video: Mode Project
Photography: Wm Valicenti Photography

“[The Short Plan] looks flat-out amazing. You guys are such a pleasure to work with… even apart from your design genius, you helped to keep a high-pressure process on an even keel throughout.” Tom Garritano, Communications Director, CMAP

CMAP Executive Director Randy Blankenhorn and John Pobojewski

Right after our fall student tour day, we had the pleasure of being visited by students from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China. While on their grand American design tour—including stops in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and of course, Chicago—they chose Thirst and IIT as their Chicago must-see’s. View more of their trip on their blog.

On September 25th we had our fall student tour day. Students from University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois State University, and Northern Illinois University came and learned about the experiences of 4th year Thirster Bud, and 4th month Thirster Tinne. They listened, learned, snacked, questioned, and left inspired.

Missed the fall student tour? Reserve a spot to come visit us in the spring! We have set aside an entire Saturday at the Thirst office for you. We will host 4 student groups on Sat, April 9th. Please try and limit your group to 20 if possible. First come first serve. Don’t worry if all the slots fill up, we’ll be having another tour day in the fall 2011.

group 1 / 9:00 – 10:00
group 2 / 11:00 – 12:00
group 3 / 2:00 – 3:00
group 4 / 4:00 – 5:00

Click here to reserve your spot.

While you’re out tonight, be sure to stop by the Chicago Art Department (1837 S. Halsted St.) to check out the Great Lakes Nation opening. The opening is from 6–10pm, and is open through October 24 by appointment. Contact stacy@chicagoartdepartment.org for viewing.

On display will be Bud Rodecker’s video created for Moving Design’s Call to Action Workshop.

More about the show:

What if the 35 million people living in the Great Lakes Basin decided
to secede from North America due to a lack of sustainable priorities?
Motivated by the impending freshwater crises, artists will examine the
issues of living in Chicago by the largest freshwater system in the
world.

Other Featured Artists from Moving Design’s Call to Action workshop:
Nick Adam
Todd Childers
Matthew Hoffman
Lisa Korpan
Bill Lenehan
Stacy Peterson
Scott Reinhard
Bud Rodecker
Matt Wizinsky

Opening Night: Friday, October 8, 2010, 6-10pm
Open through October 24 by appointment.
Please contact stacy@chicagoartdepartment.org for viewing.

Following up our previous announcement, here is Rick’s presentation at PechaKucha Night.

I have been invited to be a PechaKucha Night presenter at Chicago Volume 15, September 7th (TONIGHT) at Martyrs’, the official home of PechaKucha Chicago. Admittedly, lacing my 20×20 (20 slides, 20 seconds each image) with a blend of surprise and personal/professional commentary has been more fun than I anticipated.

From what I can tell, PK Chicago has a global reputation for an eclectic mix of artists, musicians, designers (interiors, graphic, fashion), architects, filmmakers, photographers, writers, mountaineers, et. al., coming together to make their patented PechaKucha presentation to a knowing audience.

A good time should be had by all as Martyrs’ gets packed to the gills on a PK Night… or at least that is what i am told having never been there before. Please stop by or check out the pecha-kucha.org to get a sense of PechaKucha – it’s now in 330 cities.

See you soon.
-RV

Rick will present Thirst and Moving Design’s latest work and thinking on design at the TEDx in Minneapolis on Wednesday, June 16.

The theme of TEDxMillCity
How today’s business leaders can use creative methods to gain insight and inspire change. Attending this invitation-only event at the Guthrie Theatre will be many of Minnesota’s business leaders, thinkers, strategists, and marketeers.

Other presenters include Captain Dale A. Dye, USMC (Ret) and Philip Enquist, FAIA of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Learn more about TEDxMillCity and its presenters at tedxmillcity.com.

Moving Design’s Call to Action: A Design Intervention on Water is now underway! Participants were welcomed with a Chicago must “see and do” – a cruise of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Martin Felsen, Director of Archeworks was onboard to share facts and figures about the city’s water system and its (ab)use of Lake Michigan. On June 3, participants attended the Infrastructures for Change Conference which focused on the design and planning of the next 100 years of Chicago, Lake Michigan, and the built urban environment within the Great Lakes Basin.

Tuesday, June 15th the Call to Action Speaker Series begins. Four guest speakers will share their experiences. The evening with be filled with information and inspiration as we experience the beginnings of our collective energy.

June 15, 2010 Guest Speakers:
Martin Felsen / Director Archeworks
Phil Enquist / Head of Urban Planning, SOM
Sarah Herda / Director Graham Foundation
John Bielenberg / Founder, Project M (virtual)

We will broadcast the Call to Action Speaker Series live online.
To watch visit the event on Vokle at 6:10 pm (CST) tomorrow evening!

Mark you calendars for Moving Design’s Call to Action Speaker Series
Monday, July 5
Monday, July 12
Monday, July 19
Monday, July 26
Monday, Aug 2

2,000,000,000 gallons of fresh water go down the river every day.

Participants capturing the sights.

This weekend, Rick Valicenti and I went up to the Hamilton Woodtype Museum with the STA. It was an all-weekend workshop that included some Hamilton history, a crash course in letterpress by Paul Brown (the distinguished Indiana University professor/printer), and Hamilton director, Jim Moran. On day two Rick and I were left to our own devices in the print room.

Operated by volunteers of the Two Rivers Historical Society, the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum is the only one of its kind—dedicated to the preservation, study, production, and printing of wood type. With 1.5 million pieces of wood type and more than 1,000 styles and sizes of patterns, Hamilton’s collection is one of the premier wood type collection in the world.

If you haven’t been to Hamilton, I recommend you make the drive. I came away from this weekend with a deeper appreciation for our region’s rich design and printing history.

Hamilton is one of the few places that actually produces new wood type, and is working to preserve the art form. Above, Jim Moran demonstrates how to use a Pantograph to cut wood type.

That’s a 6′ (72″) tall wood type two! enough said.

The Hamilton Type Museum always seemed like a million miles away, but as every Chicagoan migrated north into Wisconsin for Memorial Day Weekend, the three-hour drive zipped by as Bud and I talked the whole way.

Expectations usually deny discoveries and so I did not try to pre-visualize the experience and if I had, I never could have imagined being in a group with my friend, Jack Weiss; Phil Hamilton who built the esteemed letterpress program at UW Madison; Renee Ramsey, Columbia College educator; and Carol Ross Barney, architect to name a few. Adding to the buzz were members of Chicago design’s next generation. Time well spent, indeed.

On the second day, I spent my morning making peace with a box of broken letterform misfits. The beautiful patina on each and every wooded letter fragment was rich with a history of the many impressions it had transferred. These pieces were moved into a rigid lockup on the Vandercook where metallic gold ink came in contact with black paper. Truth be Sold is an edition of 15.

I spent day two printing a poster edition inspired by Nick Adam’s “We/Us=USA” series. 8 unique 18 x24″posters titled “The Greatest Show on Earth.” The title says it all. They will be released on richardaily.com.

Jim and Bill Moran will be in Chicago on Friday June 25th at Columbia College, they’ll be presenting on “The Wood Type Museum of the Future”

The Moran brothers have a long history with the Hamilton Wood Type Museum and are now leading it into the future. We will hear about how today’s technologies are helping to preserve a rich past—from digitally archiving the skills of the last surviving employees of Hamilton Manufacturing, to using CNC routers to produce new wood type for generations to come.

They will also be hosting a workshop that weekend, see all the details at bookandpaper.org.

This past February Rick Valicenti gave a presentation at IIT College of Architecture. Enjoy…

Call to Action

Rick Valicenti, of Moving Design invites passionate, fearless, and brilliant designers to join forces inside the Archeworks Studio. Come together to advance powerful ideas in response to the glocal issues underscored in Archeworks’ Infrastructures for Change Conference. During 11 summer-evening sessions over 6 weeks you will convert design into a tangible and real social currency.

Visit calltoaction.movingdesign.com to sign up for more information as it is available.
Details and application form to follow.

We’re excited to announce that our very own John Pobojewski and Bud Rodecker are participating in the upcoming Printervention exhibition. Their modern WPA poster will be displayed alongside posters from over 70 of the best designers, print-makers, and artists from across the country.

We have asked artists from around the country to create works that raise awareness of social and political issues of our day. Printervention underscores the necessity for the support of artists and the idea of civic responsibility to the greater society…

A true collaboration — this poster results from John’s custom programming,
handwork from Bud, and impassioned direction from Rick Valicenti.
Printed at The Post Family with help from Ina Weise.

Give a shit and do some good means stand up, care about others, and do something;
hold the elevator for a stranger, volunteer, donate to a charity, or even fill out your census.

Other contributors to include:
Alex Valentine / Angee Lennard Spudnik Press / Bryan Baker / Chad Kouri The Post Family /
Chris Roberson / Christi Jo Mace / Christina Vantzou / Cody Haltom Public School / Colin Matthes Justseeds / Cynthia Juarez The Printstitute / Damon Locks / Dan S. Wang / Danimal / Delicious Design League Billy Baumann and Jason Teegarden-Downs / Derek Dietrich-Muller / Dominic Fortunato /
Ed Marszewski / Eric Nyffeler Doe Eyed Design / Gregory Calvert / Ina Weise / Jennifer Farrell Starshaped Press / Jenny Beorkrem Ork Posters / Jessica Owings / Jessica Taylor / Julia V. Hendrickson / Justin Cox Public School / JW and Melissa Buckanan The Little Friends of Printmaking / Kathleen Judge Judgeworks / Katie McCauley Strangelight / Katy Keefe / Keith G. Herzik Alamo Igloo / Kenton Quatman / Laura Klein / Letterform, Inc Julie Morelli & Andy Schwegler / Lise Haller Baggsen / Luke Williams / Marvin Chan The Printstitute / Mary Tremonte Justseeds / Michelle Mashon Spudnik Press / Nick Adam / Nick Bahr / Nick Du Pey Young Monster / Nicolas Lampert / Rand Renfrow / Rebecca Ann Rakstad Rar Rar Press / Richard Repasky The Printstitute / Ryan Duggan / Sanya Glisic Spudnik Press / Seripop / Shaun Lind Public School / Sonnenzimmer Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi / Steve Walters Screwball Press / Superkonductor David R. Head, Jr. and Jen Hazen / Thirst John Pobojewski & Bud Rodecker / Tyler Galloway / Veronica Corzo-Duchardt Winterbureau / Will Bryant Public School

Print has invited 12 leading visual artists including Rick Valicenti to choose a cause they would like to support and create a design for tote bags that will be sold on MyDesignShop.com. One hundred percent of the profits from these bags will go to the causes chosen by the artists.

The artists included in this project are:
Atélier Telescopique: Fondation de France
büro destruct
Christoph Niemann: Doctors Without Borders
Deanne Cheuk: Smile Train
Ed Fella: KPFK Radio
Geoff McFetridge
HORT: Amnesty International
James Joyce: Save the Children UK
Laurent Fetis: World Wildlife Fund
Rick Valicenti / Thirst: CASA of Cook County
Si Scott: World Wildlife Fund
Spin: Bone Cancer Research UK

Last week Rick was on Design Chat with Ryan McGovern. It was a great session with 60–70 people online that covered subjects ranging from the founding of 3st to Rick’s dogs. You should watch it, it’s informing and entertaining. After you’ve seen this one, head over to designchat.info to watch the rest.

Attention all student design groups, we have set aside an entire Saturday at the Thirst office for you. We will host 4 student groups on Sat, September 25th. To reserve a spot email info@3st.com.

group 1 / 9:00 – 10:00
group 2 / 11:00 – 12:00
group 3 / 2:00 – 3:00
group 4 / 4:00 – 5:00

First come first serve. Don’t worry if all the slots fill up, we’ll be have another tour day in the spring 2011. Please try and limit your group to 20 if possible.

TYPEFORCE : The Annual Chicago Show of Emerging Typographic Allstars

Be sure to stop by the Co-Prosperity Sphere tomorrow night and show some love for Thirst’s John Pobojewski. He’ll be exhibiting a mix of personal and professional typographic work that showcase his unique digital sensibilities.

At the Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 S Morgan St in Bridgeport
Opening: Friday, February 26, 2010
Runs through: March 14, 2010

John is in good company, other contributors include:
Jeremiah Chiu, Renata Graw, David Weik, Billy Baumann, Matthew Hoffman, Chris Eichenseer, Chad Kouri, Ryan Thurwell, Luke Williams, Tnop, Andy Luce, Darren McPherson, Lora Fosberg, Margot Harrington, Greg Calvert, Aaron Pedersen, Duncan MacKenzie, Will Miller, Nick Adam, Damian Abraham

Brought to you by Public Media Institute and Firebelly Design
Sponsored by AIGA Chicago, Graphic Arts Studio, Unisource Paper & I Shoot Rockstars

Since the start of the new year, we have been preparing for an exhibit titled: Curiosities: Rick Valicenti + the 21st Century Thirst . The exhibit opened on February 13. It is free and open to the public until April 3rd at the Schmidt Center Gallery on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus.

The exhibition includes Thirst work from the past decade. In an effort to display the various types of work Thirst, we recreated our office environment. The Curiosities exhibition is a place where professional work mixes freely with personal explorations, where there is no boundary between “serious” play and “serious” work. Curiosities invites you to step into the fertile creative grounds that exist in the minds at Thirst. If you are in the south Florida area visiting a grandparent or parent or planning Spring break on the beach, be curious and visit the exhibition.

An opening reception celebrated the collaboration between FAU and Thirst — nearly 200 people were greeted upon entering by Thirst founder and owner, Rick Valicenti and designer Bud Rodecker. For the full Thirst experience, attendees were able to talk to senior designer John Pobojewski and Thirst intern Jason McAloon and get a glimpse into the office via live webfeed.

Freestanding walls display posters, and prints—professional, political, and playful—of Thirst’s varied and fascinating history.

Collaboration is at the core of what we do and it is reinforced immediately upon entering the exhibit.

The concept for the inevitable Iraqi war memorial, made for print, gets a new life as a 3D print.

Rick Valicenti, Bud Rodecker, and Jason McAloon have collaborated with Diana Mighdoll Hoffmaster, MFA in Choreography, to premiere a new work using dance, lighting and graphic design elements. Text’n Motion premiered February 5th on the FAU Boca Raton Campus and coincides with our Curiosities exhibition.

Diana initiated the process with this direction, “We have begun to work based on what community means to us”. This experience represents our first collaboration in the dance medium and with that we consciously took a baby step to comfort in the discomfort zone. The piece exceeded all expectations.

Here is a glimpse.

Our previously announced exhibition, Curiosities, is coming together nicely. Above are some images of our over the top installation. We are thankful to all the design students of Florida Atlantic University for bringing our work to life.

The exhibition opens with a lecture by Rick Valicenti on Friday February 12th.

For more detailed information about Curiosities see the press release below.

Boca Raton Graphic Design Exhibition Features Rick Valicenti and Thirst

CHICAGO (February 12, 2010) –A retrospective exhibition of work from graphic design studio Thirst opens Saturday, February 13 at the Schmidt Center Gallery on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. Thirst is a graphic design firm based in Chicago that was founded in 1988 by internationally known designer/artist Rick Valicenti.

This marks the first national retrospective exhibition of Thirst’s work. The opening reception for the exhibition will be Friday, February 12 from 7 to 9 pm, beginning with a free public lecture by Valicenti.

The exhibition runs through April 3 and is open Tuesday–Friday 1:00–4:00 pm, Saturday 1:00–5:00 pm and is at the Schmidt Center Gallery & Ritter Art Gallery at Florida Atlantic University: 777 Glades Road Boca Raton, Florida 33431. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

The show, entitled Curiosities: Rick Valicenti + the 21st Century Thirst displays both commercial designs created for clients and personal art from the past decade. Over 150 pieces cover the gallery walls and display tables to showcase the energy and connection to human emotion inherent in Thirst’s designs.

Some of the work shown includes designs with designers Adrian Smith, Jeanne Gang, Arik Levy, Martin Felsen, and for clients like Richard Wright, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Herman Miller, and more.

Thirst is a studio devoted to “art with function” and serves a collection of clients from the worlds of design + culture: architects, industrial designers, furniture designers, engineers, and artists. Thirst’s work continues to lead the industry and express intelligence, high fashion, and a connection to the human spirit within today’s world of communication.

Thirst is opening a 21st century retrospective exhibition in Boca Raton at Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt Center Gallery. The show opens on February 13th and will run until April 3rd, and ultimately migrate to NYC and then to one other national university setting.

Curiosities, Rick Valicenti + the 21st Century Thirst is work from the past decade curated to underscore the collaborative balance and value between the professional commission and the personal research.

An opening reception for the exhibition, beginning with a lecture by Valicenti, will be presented on Friday, February 12 from 7 to 9 pm. In association with our exhibition, the department of theatre and dance’s FAU Dance Ensemble will premiere a work on February 5–7 that Rick Valicenti is collaborating on with graduate students in dance and visual arts.

We’ll be posting more detail and images very soon!

Floor-plan of the Thirst show.

As you enter the show you’re greeted with a collective gasp.

Thirst + Moving Design are now accepting applications for an intern specializing in digital design for the summer of 2010. We are looking for someone smart, capable, with an interest and talent set for all things within the interactive and media-rich realms of design. This is an unpaid internship.

you will
gain exposure to the design process and engagement in the work of thirst + moving design
develop a project aligned with your interests together with rick valicenti + john pobojewski
collaborate on the design development of one semester-long moving design initiative
receive serious mentoring from experienced professionals

you get
letters of introduction and recommendation from rick + john upon leaving
access to the chicago, national, and international design community

previous interns have said

“You might think you know your stuff pretty well until Rick, John or Bud sits down next to you and leaves you scratching your head, swearing there was some sort of magic involved in what they just showed you.”

“Becoming a part of Thirst will certainly propel you to a new level.”

“I would not be where I am now without the experience that I’ve gained at Thirst.”

and experience in software:
Flash
After Effects

we also would love experience in programming:
Flash AS3
Processing
C++
OpenGL

and experience in software:
Maya/Cinema4D/Comparable 3D Software

As one of the prime design events of the Icograda World Design Congress Beijing 2009, 24-30 October, 2009 the “Post__: Contemporary International Poster Retrospective” hosted by the Central Academy of Fine Arts, will exhibit 300 award-winning posters from the past 30 years. The collection will demonstrate an exploration of global cultures and styles. Such curatorial blending lends a unique documentary-like characteristic to the exhibition, making it one of the most inimitable retrospectives to take place, exposing the contemporary scene of poster design to both Chinese and international design professionals, as well as the general public, and hopes to instigate design dialogue between Eastern and Western audiences.

The posters exhibited are:
Lecture Series Vancouver, 2005
Lecture Series AIGA Miami, 2007
AGI StudentConference, 2008
ESPN Money, 2000
Harvard Loeb, 2008
Classic Las Vegas, 2009

Go to archeworks.org to RSVP online for Rick’s lecture, call 312.867.7254 to reserve your seat.

This event is free and open to the general public.  Archeworks is located at 625 N Kingsbury (at Ontario) in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Find directions on the archeworks website.

Guitar and DJ Heroes you can’t see anywhere but here! If Thirst’s Rick Valicenti were to make the final selection on behalf of our friends at Pentagram, these are his selections:

btw
Rick’s long-time collaborators, Bill Cornman at Real Eyes and Thirst’s John Pobojewski and Bud Rodecker, were all instrumental in turning up the volume on these variations.

Read the about the rest of the project on Pentagram’s site.

We at Thirst want to give Rick Bayless a shout out and a big congratulations for winning the title of Top Chef Master! We always knew our hometown hero had the chops to bring that prize money back to Chicago’s farmers.

The picture above is at The Green City Market Chef BBQ where Rick V received from Rick B a delicious Taco.  In return RV zapped his new best friend with Thirst’s palm-sized iPhone Tazer App™.

While making the rounds to all the booths we met this lovely lady who informed us that our tote bag design was successful beyond all estimates.

Cheers to you Ricky B!

We are proud to announce Moving Design, a social enterprise dedicated to expanding the culture of design, founded by Rick Valicenti and John Pobojewski.

Moving Design is a new model of passionate pedagogy residing at the intersection of experimentation, experience, and education. In the spirit of fusing design research and art‚ we create initiatives that bring together organizations, professionals, and students from different disciplines to present relevant new ideas that shape the public’s point of view.

Much is on the horizon — please stay tuned.

Mel’s powers of observation are as sharp as ever on her last day of work. “Frankie, is that you!?”

More images after the jump.

Massimo Vignelli

Ahn Sang-Soo

David Hillman

Markus Dressen

Neville Brody

Irma Boom

R.O. Blechmann

Grab the corner to flip the pages.

Rick Valicenti has returned to the United States with a refreshed perspective. He spent the 35 days in Italy creating new personal work and exploring his curiosities. Read more after the jump.

On May 25, 2009, at 11:30 PM, Stefan Sagmeister wrote

I am putting a talk together for TED on sabbaticals.

Besides talking about my own experience, I’m giving examples of people who
have done successful sabbaticals in the past. I have heard, but don’t know
if its true, that you did a mini-experimental time every day.
The timing that I’ve heard is that you do client work until 3:00pm and then
do your own experimental work after this.

Could you tell me about it? Yes?

Stefan

Your note comes on my first day returning to the domestic studio and as you can imagine, I am pinching myself to see if indeed I really was away.

I return to this reality with is not so much a body of work, but a renewed sense of being centered in who and what I am. it did not take long to re-learn that I am prolific, curious, and incredibly talented once fully immersed. this in and of itself was a very healthy reminder for this soul that is often misplaced during the day to day of this (sur)real world.

In the mornings I would begin the day with a drop of black sumi ink on a 9 x 12″ piece of Yupo (plastic) paper. I would then relax, take a breath, and hold the sheet in front to of me allowing this drop, located at twelve o’clock, to move and draw a complete circle. I have never really created an exercise for myself that would force me to be so in the moment, and save for an EKG exam, this two minute drawing records every seismic pulse—each exhale, twitch and pause my body experienced while turning the smooth paper yielded a indelible bend in the line.

Like a tarot card reading, these circle glyphs provided me with a visual glimpse into my relationship with the day.

—-

Only on a few days I did work the ‘second shift’ with a virtual double dutch in the chicago time zone which was after drinks, dinner and socializing, but for the most part, I held my time for myself. now that I am on the cusp of re-entry, I know I will do it again next year and the maybe year after… for knowing so beats wishing (it could happen).

take care and thank you for the continued inspiration.

Rick

Design Indaba 2009: what can your creativity do? from Design Indaba on Vimeo.

“creativity can spread the best spirit from one person to another.”

Rick Valicenti is set to speak at York University on March 18.