Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Documentation strategies for environmental graphic designers including approaches for different stages in the design process, 3-D documentation, specification approaches, and fabricator coordination. With Mark Andreasson, Design Communications Ltd.; James Keppel, LRK Architects; Jan Lorenc, Lorenc + Yoo Design; Susan May, Gensler; Bill Phillips, Icon Identity Solutions

You’ll get the Austin vibe on this tour, which will include a rundown of the city’s vintage, whimsical, and downright funky signs and the unconventional art galleries for which Austin is famous. Our tour guide will be Vikki Loving, author of Wildly Austin: Austin’s Landmark Art.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a “green” building in an extraordinary setting, is designed for the public to experience the natural beauty and importance of native plants. Lady Bird Johnson was more than just a genteel Southern First Lady. She left a strong and enduring legacy in conservation activism, and co-founded an organization to protect and preserve North America’s native plants and landscapes.

If that works up a good appetite, you’re in luck. We’ll stop for an early dinner at the nearby Salt Lick Bar-B-Que, one of Austin’s favorite barbeque spots. This is a real Hill country experience!

Post-modernist architect, prolific author, and well known teacher Charles W. Moore knew that great architecture doesn’t have to be big or serious—just memorable and, hopefully, playful. Think of the Sea Ranch in California! At the end of his career, Charles Moore brought his unique approach to Austin and the University of Texas. The compound, built around a lap pool, includes many surprises and features his vast collection of folk art from around the world.

Tour the last home and studio of this globe-wandering innovator who founded a string of luminary architectural firms (Moore Lyndon Turnbull and Whitaker) and influenced environmental graphic design (think super graphics).

From trains, to theater design, to the 1939 Worlds Fair in New York City, all of Geddes’ models, photographs, and industrial design papers are housed at the Harry Ransom Center, one of the best and largest cultural archives in the world.

Lawrence Speck, admirer and expert on Bel Geddes, is an architect and former Dean of the UT School of Architecture and Planning. Speck, clearly enthralled with Bel Geddes’ range of talents, will share his insights. You’ll also be enthralled after this opportunity to see these rare materials, interpreted and explained. You’ll have a private behind-the-scenes tour led by curator Helen Adair, followed by a discussion among curators, noted museum and exhibit designers, and you. These curators want to hear from you on how to work with designers, and how to balance the tensions between archiving and exhibiting.

Our premiere SEGD Film Festival was a big hit last year, and this year we’re continuing the new tradition with a private viewing of Bomb It!, a documentary on global graffiti featuring the top artists from five continents. After the film, conference co-chair Leslie Wolke will lead a discussion with producer/director Jon Reiss and Austin graffiti artist Nathan Nordstrom.