James Billiter Studio

I've had a really inspiring week of culture. Monday night was a visit to Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center to see Typeface the movie presented by the local AIGA. It's about the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Wisconsin.




We walked around after the film and saw the current exhibits, including one on Keith Haring. I always liked Keith Haring and I would like to go again and really read into his life story and influences.




Thursday we went to a lecture by Thomas Widdershoven of the Dutch graphic design firm Thonik. Thonik does quite a lot of design for the public and his lecture really inspired some of my thinking for a small project that I am doing for a county in Ohio. In one campaign Thonik used new media and wit to revolutionize the Socialist Party in Holland.




And on Friday my photog friend Dion and I visited the Cincinnati Art Museum to see the Circus Poster Exhibit, as well as a Dutch Modern Design exhibit and the 21st Century Art.



The amount of detail and the artisanship of the Circus Posters is incredible. The old stone lithography style where they used pencils to paint on the image create some beautiful results. And they sometimes used handmade lettering and woodtype at other times. Very cool!