'Treats' Acrylic on wood assemblage ©robinrkent

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Graphic Designer As Painter

As a young child I was mesmerized by my Mother's Stangl pottery. The living room's Caucasian rug would entertain me for hours. My eyes would follow the lines and angles under pared down compositions typical in folk art designs. I was a fan. I didn't know it would be a life calling.
Early design inspirations: Stangl & 40's textiles      ©robinrkent
In a former life, I was a graphic designer. That term covers much: Art Director for a lifestyle magazine, Paste-up Artist (rubber cement, anyone?), A Stripper in prepress, Advertising Layout Artist. The thread was the graphic part of graphic design.
It continues to influence me.  It was such an early hands on education. I hope my artwork reflects that charisma today.


6 comments:

Cindi Myers said...

It's Charisma and so much more!
:D
Tango Portrait = Fabulous!

Mimi said...

yes, yes. I can remember spending time just gazing at the wonderful wallpaper in my grandmother's bedroom. THe whole thing was covered in big red roses! Children who are visually oriented become artists.
It's a wonder that we do, because our first attempts are usually so primitive.
So you actually WERE a graphic designer? That's great background material for an artist.
I like your little collection of family heirlooms. :-)

Robin Kent said...

Mimi - My transition from commercial to fine arts had no hick ups. Many colleagues retired from a long ad career before making this switch. The computer tidal wave/desktop publishing forced me into fine arts earlier than planned. (I wasn't the computer savvy swimmer I am now!)
My first - and most recent - works are still primitive.

Robin Kent said...

PS Love your big rose memory. My friend's bedroom wallpaper was toile de jouy. I used to stare at it when sleeping over...

Carole Reid said...

Thank goodness......I thought I was the only one who stared at wallpaper, china, carpets! Daydreaming in patterns and designs.

The man in your 'Tango Portrait" seems to be pretty happy with himself, although I'm not sure about his partner! :)

I've been having a terrible time trying to keep up to date with the blogs I follow. I think it's the new blog readers format. I keep missing blog posts.

Have a creative week dear Robin!

liza myers said...

My mother had Stangl pottery too, though I never knew what it was called. The yellow rimmed plates with flowers and fruit. I always LOVED them, but alas, I think they were all broken eventually with 6 rambunctious kids in the house. But the dynamic, decorative design really spoke to me as a young artist. Joan has it too!