Fresh from the Carmel Bach Festival: A pen for your thoughts

[Alyson Kuhn] The first event I attended at the 73rd annual Carmel Bach Festival was a one-hour lecture by singer/teacher/raconteur David Gordon preceding a performance of the St. Matthew Passion (1727). Gordon is indeed passionate about this subject, and his talk was not only brilliant but surprisingly, well, Alysonian. When I told my friend Vinz about it afterwards, he deadpanned, “Did he know you were going to the lecture?” Drole.

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07.29.10
In the pressroom: Printing John Madere’s photographs at Sandy Alexander

[Lynda Decker] I’ve been working with uncoated paper for the last 10 years — for almost every project in my studio, including annual reports full of photography. I’m quite excited to have rediscovered Kromekote. It boggles my mind to say this: The surface of Kromekote is so glossy, but it behaves like an uncoated sheet.

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07.28.10
Marian Bantjes: 3 questions by Sean Adams

[Sean Adams] In disaster movies, characters create tight bonds amidst burning skyscrapers, airplane crashes or earth-crust displacement. I formed a bond like this with Marian Bantjes when we both faced down a charging rhino in Africa. Really. This is a true story. Obviously, Marian is incredibly talented. She does work that, to me, is beyond the limits of human beings. And that’s all swell. But she has the most infectious and wonderful laugh you will ever hear.

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07.26.10

Neil Young’s Archives Vol. 1 gets a Grammy

[Tracy Smith] Back in December I had the pleasure of congratulating Neil Young and designers Gary Burden and Jenice Heo on their Grammy nomination for the spectacular box set Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963–1972). Today’s news that the project was awarded the Grammy for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Packaging calls for another round of recognition.

More than just a compilation of Young’s music, the archives volume is a box of memories, including a replica of the journal Young kept through the years (printed, as I previously noted, on Mohawk Via) and many other fascinating keepsakes from his musical and life journey.

For Archives Vol. 1, the titles of creative director, art director and designer are mutually shared by Young, Burden and Heo. I read today in The New York Times that Neil Young attended the awards ceremony, which seems extremely gracious of him in view of the fact that he has never received a Grammy for his music.

Notwithstanding this curious irony, the recognition for a landmark piece of music packaging is richly deserved. And the fact that the box set was designed and produced with sustainability in mind is worthy of mention, too. As music graphics legend Gary Burden notes, “Neil’s music has endured, and we wanted the Archive package to stand up to that. And we like knowing that we used a paper that is helping our environment to endure.”

Here at Mohawk, we’re gratified to contribute in our way to this marvelous achievement by Neil Young, Gary Burden and Janice Heo. Long may you run.

See Tracy Smith’s previous post on Neil Young’s Grammy nomination here. Gary Burden’s blog has fascinating entries about this project with respect to design, sustainability and collaboration; don’t miss these rich insights into how three brilliant artists recapture history — and in so doing, make it.

02.1.10

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