Design for Art

Looking for design services for a museum, gallery, or a similar cultural/learning organization? Studio Junglecat recently released EXHIBIT: Design of Exhibitions and Publications for Fine Arts, which includes a studio profile, project samples, and a process overview.

To download a PDF version of this document, click here (9mb file) or contact Studio Junglecat via email to request the book.

Isn’t it Great to be an Artist?

Isn’t it Great to be an Artst? at the Cincinnati Art Museum was an exhibition of more than 150 paintings, sculptures, and drawings spanning the 1960s to the present featuring works by self-taught artists and those seeking alternatives to convention—all selected from the collection of Robert Lewis. The display was conceived as a literal taking over of a conventional gallery space. The rigid existing layout was built upon with a “graphic architecture” of rough natural materials, simple construction methods, and bold colors to create an active and vibrant space to match the energy of the eclectic artwork. This additive architecture provided necessary hanging space, and, by its nature, introduced a unique visual vocabulary to the exhibition.

Large-scale plywood structures in brightly stained colors with bold cut-out typography served as entry portals to the multi-gallery display area. Cutting the title directly from this simple building material introduced the notion of inseparability of meaning and media—instructing the viewer to take notice of this practice throughout the exhibition.

Careful space planning allowed for a sequence of thematic groupings across widely ranging media and scale of works. The result was a viewing experience that felt frenetic and almost haphazard, yet one that thoughtfully accommodated such a large, eclectic exhibition.

Sculpture pedestals were custom designed to maximize material use and minimize waste. Each of the six sizes was built from a single 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood, and the resulting form reflected the engineering behind its construction, thus extending the concept of honestly displayed simplicity in materials and building methods.

CLIENT  Cincinnati Art Museum | SERVICES  exhibition design | CREDITS  curator: Julie Aronson; graphic design: Rachael Hardy; photos: Rob Deslongchamps

Where Would You Wear That?

A great title for a great show of Japanese fashion designs by the likes of Issey Miyake, Commes de Garçons, and Yohji Yamamoto. The gallery was transformed into a pure white box (even the floor!) with angular platforms thrusting from the walls and an undulating curtain of translucent plastic panels directly printed with didactic text. The colors and textures of the suspended fashion designs popped boldly out of this abstract environment, while dramatic lighting created a shadow play across the translucent and white surfaces to emphasize form.

CLIENT  Cincinnati Art Museum | SERVICES  exhibition design, art direction for exhibition graphics, project management | CREDITS  curator: Cynthia Amnéus; graphic design: Julie Nedzel; photos: Scott Hisey

Saul Steinberg: Illuminations

Best known for his witty illustrations for New Yorker magazine, Saul Steinberg’s work typically combines keen social observations with a playful approach to drawing. The title wall for this retrospective exhibition served as both an introduction to the artist and wayfinding for entering and exiting the gallery. This was accomplished through the use of such Steinberg-ian elements as active negative space, simple, casual language and the ever-changing line.

 

 

Within the gallery, the undulating line served as a navigational tool, leading visitors chronologically through the artist’s life and works. Quotes from Steinberg appear periodically to keep the artist’s voice alive.

In order to encourage closer viewing–specifically to a multi-generational audience—several hands-on interactive activities based on the artwork were developed in the gallery. In this activity, visitors are encouraged to read into the artist’s depiction of personality through his varied application of line and form. The intention was to create an open format, in-gallery dialogue on how we individually perceive meaning in art.

CLIENT  Cincinnati Art Museum | SERVICES  exhibition design, art direction for exhibition graphics, project management | CREDITS  curator: Andrew Haslit; graphic design: Julie Nedzel; photos: Rob Deslongchamps

Designed to Dazzle: Cincinnati Collects Tiffany Jewelry

This exhibition featured a stunning array of approximately 20 pieces designed by America’s most important jewelry house, coinciding with Tiffany & Co.’s tenth anniversary in Cincinnati. The individual pieces were culled from Cincinnati collections and represented designs by Jean Schlumberger, Elsa Peretti, Paloma Picasso, John Loring, and Frank Gehry, among others.

Entering the gallery, visitors passed through a tall narrow corridor of plush, dark fabric, which opened into a small, very dim gallery space. On the facing wall, the sharply lit jewelry sparkled and shone in small velvet-lined cases of varying depths and sizes—as though floating in darkness. Two pieces of plique-à-jour enamel were highlighted in small light boxes to demonstrate their delicate translucency. Exhibition and object didactic information was displayed on flanking walls to allow for close, uninterrupted viewing of these finely crafted works of art.

CLIENT  Cincinnati Art Museum | SERVICES  exhibition design, casework design, art direction for exhibition graphics, project management | CREDITS  curator: Cynthia Amnéus; graphic design: Paige Strohmaier; photos: Rob Deslongchamps

International Drawing Annual

Each year, Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio self-publishes an “exhibition in print” of works submitted from around the world to advance and support drawing as an art form. The closely cropped illustration of a human ear on the cover suggests that you are entering the mind of the artist and beginning a journey. Within the catalogue, minimal typography and a structured grid system create easy to navigate pages that give maximum real estate to the artwork. Blue ribbon motifs wrap title pages to remind you that every artist featured had “won” in the selection process.

CLIENT  Manifest Gallery | SERVICES  publication design | CREDITS  curator & editor: Jason Franz; photos: Tim Smith

Vanishing Frontier

“And now… the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history.” Those words by Frederick Jackson Turner introduced and set the tone for this dramatic exhibition of Native American imagery represented through Rookwood Pottery, the paintings of Henry Farny and many related artifacts.

Large cases zig-zagged down the center of the gallery displaying sophisticated, subtly colored Rookwood ceramics and handmade artifacts against a lush, black velvet backdrop. The scale and grouping of the casework became the backbone of the gallery while the deep red perimeter walls were home to the paintings and drawings. The saw tooth arrangement of casework demonstrates the breadth of the works at a glance while encouraging closer viewing of each group. Large-scale photographs in low contrast and soft lighting accentuated the somber, dramatic tone of the story.

Deep red perimeter walls were home to the Herny Farny watercolors, gouaches, and drawings along with a number of artifacts depicted in the works on paper. Again, lustrous black velvet provides a stark contrast to the rough-hewn tools, weapons, and garments highlighting their handmade materiality and silhouetting their forms.

Exhibition review: Vanishing Frontier by Tamera Lenz Muente, CityBeat, November 5,2007

CLIENT  Cincinnati Art Museum | SERVICES  exhibition design, casework design, art direction for exhibition graphics, project management | CREDITS  curators: Anita Ellis, Kristen Spangenberg, and Susan Meyn; graphic design: Paige Strohmaier; photos: Rob Deslongchamps

Sean Scully: Wall of Light

Sean Scully’s series of Wall of Light paintings are large scale abstractions of form and light mixed with smaller works on paper. Galleries were designed as a series of expansive and reductive spaces to allow near and distant viewing with ample space for perimeter navigation. The graphics were minimal and unobtrusive to the commanding presence of the art. Photos don’t pay justice to the beautifully rich surfaces in this show.

Exhibition review: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Contemporary by Jean E. Feinberg, CityBeat, July 19,2006

CLIENT  Cincinnati Art Museum | SERVICES  exhibition design, casework design, art direction for exhibition graphics, project management | CREDITS  curator: Timothy Rub; graphic design: Julie Nedzel; photos: Tony Walsh

Arenas

Arenas was a site-specific multi-media installation by Anthony Luensman of noisy, subtle, beautiful, funny, and nostalgic experiences candidly revealing many personal facets of the artist’s life. Working closely with the artist and photographer, the catalogue is designed to convey both the physical presence of the installations along with a feel for their drama and playfulness. Text and drawings from the artist juxtapose installation shots to bring the process to life. A key piece in a blacked out environment on the cover indicates that you are entering an entire world built by this artist, not just a book of images.

The title page for the exhibition catalogue. In the exhibition’s identity, 13 unique shapes created by negative spaces of the letter forms identify the 13 installations included
in the exhibition. Each unique element is required to constitute the whole.

Exhibition preview and artist interview: Blowing off the Dust by Laura James, CityBeat, March 7, 2007

CLIENT  Cincinnati Art Museum | SERVICES  identity system, exhibition design, publication design | CREDITS  editor: Kelly O’Donnell; writers: Mark Harris, Aaron Betsky & Anthony Luensman; catalogue photography: Scott Hisey 
& Joe Lamb; photos: Tim Smith; printing: Berman Printing, Cincinnati, OH

LeWitt x2: Selections from the LeWitt Collection

The Cincinnati Art Museum and Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati collaborated on this two-part exhibition of Sol LeWitt’s collection and work.  The graphic identity united both shows via marketing and collateral pieces seen across the city and at each exhibition’s entry.  The mark reflects LeWitt’s own interests in its minimalist systematic approach and illusion of dimensionality.

A simple, structured layout allowed for playful interaction of the variety of materials, scale, and colors behind the wide range of modern and contemporary works.

CLIENT  Cincinnati Art Museum | SERVICES  identity system, exhibition design, art direction for exhibition graphics, project management | CREDITS  curator: Jéssica Flores; graphic design: Rachael Hardy; photos: Rob Deslongchamps

Hanten & Happi

Hanten and happi are traditional firefighters’ and other public or shop employee work coats. These beautiful garments rich with symbolism were suspended to dramatically recreate their functions of ladder-top fire fighting and contemporary festival acrobatics. To protect the coats from curious hands, river rocks were arranged as a physical barrier that also reminds us of the importance of nature in traditional Japanese culture. The trickiest part? Convincing a group of over twenty volunteers to help me haul over 10 tons of rocks into the second floor galleries. Thanks, team!

CLIENT  Cincinnati Art Museum | SERVICES  exhibition design, art direction for exhibition graphics, project management | CREDITS  curator: Cynthia Amnéus; graphic design: Julie Nedzel: photos: Scott Hisey