CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/24/2015

Off the Richter Scale! 'Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots: California and Graphic Design, 1936-1986' Launches at AIGA SF

Join the AIGA San Francisco Wednesday, April 29 for a book launch and panel discussion about some of left coast’s most earthshaking work. Panelists include Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots author Louise Sandhaus, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon and Emory Douglas; the panel will be moderated by Eric Heiman.

Wednesday, April 29
6 - 8:30 PM

AIGA San Francisco
130 Sutter St, Suite 600
San Francisco, California 94104

Louise Sandhaus is a graphic designer and graphic design educator. She was the former Graphic Design Program Director at CalArts and is current faculty. Her book on California graphic design, Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots was just co-published by Metropolis Books and Thames & Hudson. The book has received extensive coverage and praise from The New York Times, The Guardian, London, Design Observer, and Creative Review among many other publications.She is currently working on “Making History,” a web/wiki platform that will enable a crowd-sourced endeavor to further the documentation of California graphic design.

Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, was born in San Francisco, studied art at the SF Art Institute, design at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel, Switzerland, and received a BA in History and a Master’s in Architecture at UCBerkeley. She opened her graphic design office in SF in 1962 with signing and supergraphics at The Sea Ranch and Ghirardelli Square. She was visiting professor at Yale, Harvard, Rice, and UCBerkeley. In 1980, she transitioned from colossal contentless supergraphics to condensed content, pix and prose juxtaposed, on 8 ½ in x11in pieces of paper, entitled Plays On a Page. Her books include GOOD MOURNING CALIFORNIA, WHY?WHYNOT?, and UTOPIA MYOPIA.

Emory Douglas created the visual identity for the Black Panther Party and his iconic images came to symbolize the struggles of the movement. As the Revolutionary Artist and Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the 1980s, Douglas’s work, described as ‘Militant Chic’, featured in most issues of the newspaper The Black Panther. His work was characterized by strong graphic images of young African American men, women and children. He used the newspaper’s popularity to spur people to action, portraying the poor with empathy and as being unapologetic and ready to struggle for basic human rights. Douglas continues to create art with social and political concerns art that transcends borders.

Eric Heiman is a designer, educator, intermittent writer, so-so drummer, and LP sleeve art enthusiast. He is a co-founder (with Adam Brodsley) and creative director of the San Francisco design studio Volume Inc. Volume’s work has been featured, published, exhibited, and honored by publications, museums and professional organizations worldwide. Eric’s writing has been featured in such publications as Eye, Emigré, and AIGA’s Voice; and he is also a contributing writer for the SFMOMA’s culture blog, Open Space. Eric is an Associate Professor of Design at the California College of the Arts where he won the college-wide Excellence in Teaching award in 2003.