Hasta La Ideas

In case you missed it, both a design heavy, a famed architect, and a museum bigwig were hobnobbing with President Obama at the White House last week. Design giant Milton Glaser was awarded the National Medal of Arts and former Met director Philippe de Montebello received a National Humanities Medal, as did Vietnam Veterans Memorial designer/architect Maya Lin (the White House has just released video of the ceremony, which you’ll find after the jump). The three were surrounded by heavies from other fields, including writer Robert Caro and go-to composer for multi-million dollar blockbuster films, John Williams. The full transcript is here, but here’s the snippets about those mentioned above:

Maya Lin. (Applause.) The 2009 National Medal of Arts to Maya Lin, for her profound work as an architect, artist, and environmentalist. Her vision for the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial emblemizes her deep understanding of the ways in which we respond to the world around us. (Applause.)

Milton Glaser. (Applause.) The 2009 National Medal of Arts to Milton Glaser, for a lifetime devoted to improving the way people communicate through innovation in graphic design, and for memorable visual artifacts that challenge contemporary artists and delight all Americans. (Applause.)

Philippe de Montebello. (Applause.) The 2009 National Humanities Medal to Philippe de Montebello, for his vision in bringing great art to an international public and his leadership in revitalizing the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and for fostering arts appreciation among people of all ages. (Applause.)

continued…

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Paint company Benjamin Moore has announced the winners of its fourth annual HUE Awards, which recognize the exceptional use of color in architecture and interior design with glass sculptures shaped like giant paint droplets and cash prizes. The 2010 HUE winners are Ghislaine Viñas Interior Design of New York (residential interiors), Envision Design of Washington, D.C. (contract interiors), color consultant Amy Wax of Montclair, New Jersey (residential exteriors), and Allen + Philp Architects/Interiors of Scottsdale, Arizona (contract exteriors). This year’s HUE lifetime achievement award goes to Diamond Baratta Design. The firm’s principals, William Diamond and Anthony Baratta, join past lifetime achievement honorees Steven Holl, Ettore Sottsass, and Ricardo Legoretta. Additonally, a HUE special achievement award will be presented to Cleveland-based Eikona Studios “for its unique dedication to the restoration and preservation of mural art and masterpieces that grace the walls and domes of American churches, cathedrals, and houses of worship.” The awards will be presented on May 5 in a ceremony at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, after which the winners will paint the town umbria red, ryan red, milano red, ladybug red, spanish red, poppy, and crimson.

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Hot off the heals of December’s revelation that the previous year’s winner was possibly too staged for their liking, the World Press Photo foundation has announced their pick for Photo of the Year for 2009. It was taken by Italian photographer Pietro Masturzo and “depicts women shouting in protest from a rooftop in Tehran” from this past summer’s protests over Iranian elections. Per usual, they’ve also picked a batch of category winners, from “People in the News” to “Sports Action” and “Sports Features.” It’s a collection worth checking out, for sure, if just to skim them yourself to make sure there isn’t any funny business with this year’s selections. Here’s a bit about what winning the top prize gets you:

Pietro Masturzo, the author of the World Press Photo of the Year 2009, will receive his award during an awards ceremony in Amsterdam on Sunday, 2 May 2010. The award also carries a cash prize of 10,000 Euros. In addition, Canon will donate a Canon EOS Digital SLR Camera and lens kit to Masturzo.

The awards ceremony is preceded by a two-day program of lectures, discussions and screenings of photography. The exhibition of prize-winning photography will be shown at the Oude Kerk from 23 April to 20 June and subsequently visit over 100 locations around the world.

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Last week, the AIGA publicly complained about the National Endowment for the Arts‘ launch of a “design our new logo” competition, saying spec work of that sort damages design professions. Now that they’ve gone local, they might also decided to go global to make a statement against the United Nations‘ launch of the World Urban Campaign Logo Competition. The contest is on the hunt for a logo for the World Urban Campaign sessions, held this year in Rio de Janeiro in mid-March. Of the entries, three finalists will be selected and flown to Rio and each will receive a cash prize based on ranking ($5000, down to $2000). While it’s certainly spec work for a good organization, it’s still spec work and could land the group facing another letter from the AIGA. And that it’s endorsed by Icograda makes it potentially more confrontational, given that AIGA also just publicly distanced themselves from that international group. We’d love to hear your opinions on the matter, so get to commenting.

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On Tuesday, we told you about the National Endowment of the Arts kicking off a logo design competition. While the prize is big, $25,000 for the winner, the noxious air of spec designation couldn’t escape it. As such, the AIGA‘s executive director, Richard Grefe, has responded to the contest’s launch by issuing a letter calling out the NEA for requesting spec-based work, which is particularly negative, being that they are a government agency whose job it is to foster growth in artistic and creative endeavors, not exploit, as some would say is what spec contests do. It’s a fantastic read, Grefe’s letter, and really hits hard where hard hitting is needed, summarizing the entire anti-spec stance in just a few paragraphs, with several particularly cutting examples that certainly might do the trick in swaying the NEA to alter the contest. Or they might just ignore the complaint(s) all together. Who knows. Will be interesting to see what happens. Here’s one of many great sections:

…capable and professional designers do not work for free. While there will always be some designers who are willing to create designs in response to an open call for work, without any assurance of compensation, the buyer immediately relegates his or her choices among those designers who least likely to be experienced, knowledgeable designers who are in demand among clients and who work according to the professional standards of the profession. Only too often, it results in a client eventually having to bring a more experienced designer onto a project in order to execute it.

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