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September 20, 2006

Center for Art and Visual Culture presents
Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture

September 21 – November 25, 2006

Contact: Thomas Moore
Director of Arts & Culture
410-455-3370
tmoore@umbc.edu

Note: You may view or download this release as a pdf file.

Raymond Loewy United Music Corporation UPB-100 Jukebox Introduced 1958 Metal, chrome, plastic, glass, paper, and wire 57 1/4 x 36 1/4 x 27 3/4 Collection Hagley Museum and LibraryUMBC’s Center for Art and Visual Culture (CAVC) presents Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture, opening on Thursday, September 21st and continuing through November 25th. The exhibition surveys the creativity of Raymond Loewy, arguably the most prominent industrial designer of the twentieth century.

Loewy (1893–1986) became involved in the emerging world of industrial design in the 1920s after a successful career in commercial illustration. His modern designs soon became ubiquitous in western culture, streamlining and modernizing silverware and fountain pens, supermarkets, department stores, lipsticks and locomotives. Loewy and his teams designed the color scheme and logo for Air Force One, the John F. Kennedy memorial stamp, the Greyhound Scenicruiser, the Avanti car and the interiors for NASA’s Skylab. He designed the well-known icons of Exxon, BP and Lucky Strike cigarettes.

Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture showcases his work, placing it in the wider context of the shaping of a modern look for consumer culture. The exhibition brings his work to life through an array of original drawings, models, products, advertisements, photographs, and rare film footage of Loewy at work. The presentation draws heavily on Loewy’s personal archives, a treasure collection of images and information not previously available to researchers or the public.

The exhibition is organized by the Hagley Museum and Library of Wilmington, Delaware, and toured by ExhibitsUSA. The exhibition is curated by Hagley Museum staff, including Glenn Porter, Director Emeritus, Lynn Catanese, Head of Manuscripts and Archives, and Jim Hinz, former Library Conservator.

Raymond Loewy Rosenthal china Charcoal line (6 pieces) 1950s China Coffee pot(no lid): 6 15/16 x 8 11/16 x 5  Coffee pot lid: 1 3/4 x 3 7/8 x 3 7/8  Coffee pot (with lid): 7 3/8 x 8 11/16 x 5  Sugar bowl: 3 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/2  Creamer: 4 1/8 x 4 1/4 x 3 1/4  Coffee cup: 2 5/8 x 4 3/8 x 3 1/2  Saucer: 3/4 x 6 x 6  Cup and saucer: 2 7/8 x 6 x 6 Collection Hagley Museum and LibraryEvents
On Thursday, September 21st from 5 to 7 pm, the CAVC will host an opening reception for Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture.

On Monday, October 16th at 6 pm, the CAVC will present a panel discussion, Designs for a Consumer Culture, moderated by Steve Ziger of Ziger/Snead, and featuring Antonio Alcala, creative director at Studio A; Abbott Miller of Pentagram; Tom Strong of Strong/Cohen Associates; and Tucker Viemeister of Studio Red at Rockwell Group. Admission to the panel discussion is free. University of Baltimore, Student Center, Multipurpose Room, 5th Floor. (21 West Mount Royal Avenue at the southeast corner of Maryland and Mount Royal Avenues. On street parking is available in addition to lot parking at 1401 N. Charles Street.)

On Saturday, November 18th, 2006, from 10 am to 12 pm at UMBC’s Commons, six to ten area high schools will participate in a High School Design Fair Competition in which students will re-design everyday objects selected by their instructors. Each high school class will visit the Raymond Loewy exhibition to discuss Loewy's strategies and standards for design before beginning their individual projects. Students will be asked to keep in mind Loewy's design goals of simplicity, ease of maintenance and repair, grace and beauty, convenience of use, economy, durability, and expression of the function in form.

Three judges will select first, second, and third place prizes as well as the best overall school. Judges include: Megan Hoolahan, Mens Designer, UnderArmor; David Yager, Executive Director, CAVC, and Director of the Center for Convergent Design; and a faculty member from UMBC’s Department of Visual Arts.

Raymond Loewy 1951 "bullet-nose" Studebaker Champion model c. 1951 (date of car release) Metal and plastic 3 1/2 x 11 1/4 x 4 Collection Hagley Museum and LibraryAbout the Center for Art and Visual Culture
The Center for Art and Visual Culture is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of contemporary art and visual culture, critical theory, art and cultural history, and the relationship between society and the arts. The CAVC serves as a forum for students, faculty, and the general public for the discussion of important aesthetic and social issues of the day. Disciplines represented include painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, digital art, video, film, television, design, architecture, advertising, and installation and performance art.

Since 1989, the CAVC has incorporated a number of public programs into its exhibition programming schedule to further impact the communities it serves. Symposia, lecture series, conferences, film series, visiting artist series, and residencies have all been fundamental in an effort to create an ongoing dialogue about contemporary art and culture. The Center has also initiated a number of projects with Baltimore and surrounding schools systems to integrate the contemporary artist and their concerns into the classroom. These projects take place on-site at both middle schools and high schools and are team taught by the instructors at these schools, professional artists, and students from the CAVC’s Internship Program.

The Center produces one to two exhibition catalogues each year. Each document is fully illustrated and contains critical essays on the given subject by a variety of distinguished professionals in the field. Recent publications include Postmodernism: A Virtual Discussion and Paul Rand: Modernist Design. These books and catalogues are published and are distributed internationally through Distributed Art Publishers.

Since 1992, the Center for Art and Visual Culture has actively pursued the organization of exhibitions that contain the aesthetic, theoretical, and educational potential to reach both a national and international audience. Over the years, the CAVC has traveled these exhibition projects to a broad spectrum of museums, professional non-profit galleries, and universities national and internationally. Recent traveling exhibitions include:

White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art (2003)
Fred Wilson: Objects and Installations (2001)
Adrian Piper: A Retrospective (1999)
Bruno Monguzzi: A Designer’s Perspective (1998)
Minimal Politics (1997)
Kate Millet, Sculpture: The First 38 Years (1997)

Beyond the scope of these traveling exhibitions, the Center for Art and Visual Culture also undertakes an exhibition schedule that includes a Faculty Biennial, and projects such as the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership. As part of the educational mission of the CAVC, one graduate thesis exhibition and one undergraduate senior exhibition are scheduled on a yearly basis.

This multi-faceted focus for presenting exhibitions, projects and scholarly research publications focused on contemporary art and cultural issues positions the Center for Art and Visual Culture in a unique position within the mid-Atlantic region.

Raymond Loewy Westinghouse skyscraper clock radio 1930 Wood, metal, and paper 62 x 13 3/4 x 10 3/4 Private collectionAcknowledgements
Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture is made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibition is organized by ExhibitsUSA, the purpose of which is to create access to an array of arts and humanities exhibitions, nurture the development and understanding of diverse art forms and cultures, and encourage the expanding depth and breadth of cultural life in local communities.

ExhibitsUSA is generously supported by the Adair Margo Gallery Inc.; Altria Group Inc.; James H. Clement, Jr.; ConocoPhillips; the Cooper Foundation; Douglas County Bank/Ross and Marianna Beach; DST Systems Inc.; Edward Jones; the William Randolph Hearst Foundation; the Helen Jones Foundation; the William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank, trustee; the Richard P. Kimmel and Laurine Kimmel Charitable Foundation Inc.; Land O' Lakes Inc.; Mrs. Tom Lea; the National Endowment for the Arts; the National Endowment for the Humanities; SBC Missouri; the Society of North American Goldsmiths; Sonic, America’s Drive-In; Sterling Vineyards; the Summerlee Foundation; the Courtney S. Turner Charitable Trust; Valmont Industries; the Woods Charitable Fund; and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. ExhibitsUSA is a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Hours and Admission
Sunday and Monday: Closed
Tuesday through Saturday: 10 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Admission is free.

Telephone
UMBC Artsline (24 hour recorded message): 410-455-ARTS
Center for Art and Visual Culture: 410-455-3188

Web
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
Center for Art and Visual Culture: http://www.umbc.edu/cavc

Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online:
http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/
or by email or postal mail.

Directions
UMBC is located approximately 10 minutes from downtown Baltimore and 20 minutes from I-495.
• From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
• From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
• From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.

• Daytime metered visitor parking is available in the Administration Drive Garage.
• Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/

Raymond Loewy 1953 Photograph Image: 13 15/16 x 11  Frame: 15 3/16 x 12 1/4  Courtesy Laurence Loewy, Loewy Design

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Posted by tmoore at September 20, 2006 4:31 PM