boston blast with MECA seniors

Posted by on Feb 2, 2013 in Illustration, Maine College of Art | 0 comments

My Maine College of Art senior illustration students recently blasted to Boston, with department chair Scott Nash at the helm of our rocket ship. Our first landing was Cloud Kid, where we received warm and furry greetings.

Creative Director Dave Schlafman gave an engaging talk about their work, specific projects underway, and a tour of the lively studio. It’s true, every member of his team has their head in the clouds!

We loved the murals..

and the toy collections..

Thanks to Cloud Kid for sharing their professional wisdom and awesomeness. The glimpse of real-life creativity totally fueled our jets!

Next, we were off to the Boston Public Library, to view in dim light and hushed quarters the Dwiggins Collection. William A. Dwiggins (1901 – 1986) was a type designer, calligrapher, typographer, illustrator, marionette designer and performer, and writer from Hingham Massachusetts.

These are a few of my favorite Dwiggins’ covers.

Scott gave a brief talk about Dwiggins and we saw original sketches for his typeface Caledonia, as well as a room full of his books and personal effects. Even his pipe.

His marionettes were the biggest hit, like ancestors to animated characters.

 
He even carved one of himself. Love this!
From there we launched over to FableVision, where art director and illustrator John Lechner gave us some company history and showed us behind the curtain.
 
They have a reception area chock full of collectible fun, too.
Our final stop was at Mike’s Pastries in the North End, for sugar to take us all the way home.
Yeah, Boston, we love your dirty water.
What’s a trip without some illustrative gratitude?
This is Daelyne Bell’s thank you:
Noreen Torelli”s:
Andi Croak’s:
 
Hannah Rosengren’s:
Even I could not resist drawing the marionettes:
Michelle Cooney drew this for FableVision:
And Devon Johnson summed up our feelings with a pun:
Thank you, Scott Nash, Cloud Kid, Boston Public Library, and FableVision for giving my class a trip to remember.
The inspiration certainly took Peter Rimkunas‘ first project for class out of this world:
 May the rogue mothership of MECA seniors be ready for another blast-off soon!

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