HELEN MAYER HARRISON + NEWTON HARRISON / BOOK DESIGN PROPOSAL
As a designer, my research is aligned with the current discourse around ‘sustainist design,’ a concept proposed by the cultural theorists Michiel Schwarz and Diana Krabbendam, in which “sharing, localism, connectedness and proportionality are creating a new agenda for social design,” and in which design is valued not only for its form and function, but also for its social and environmental impact.
These ideas are particularly important to me now, at a time in my career and in our history when protecting our environment and giving back to the community seems especially urgent.
Artists Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison, known as ‘The Harrisons,’ have since the early 70’s viewed their only client to be the earth, the ecosystem itself, with their works channeling the agency of nature.
At the request of the Nevada Museum of Art, I designed this proposal for the Harrisons monograph, an overview of nearly 50 years of works. From the manuscript I focused on their latest series of work called The Force Majeure, and chose the name CounterForce for the title of the book.
In ‘The Force Majeure Works’, they outline four basic principles that underline the Law of Mother Earth:
1. Nature has agency
2. Nature has no waste
3. Nature creates itself continually through processes of exchange
4. Nature mostly stores excess energy in various forms of carbon.
My book design expresses the personalities of the Harrisons: strong stewards of the ideas they cultivate as artists. The design honors their passions, poetry, and character. Like their scientific approach, the design is grounded, rigorous and straightforward.
The book seeks to embody the core qualities that form the Harrisons’ distinct character, which I defined as following.
Bold: An ability to take risks; confident and courageous.
Upfront: Honest and frank.
Clear: Easy to perceive, understand and interpret.
Thoughtful: Consideration of the needs of different people and of the environment.
Thorough: Careful and deliberate regard to every detail.
Elemental: Embodies the primitive and inescapable character of a force of nature.
Unfortunately, the Harrisons wished to go in a more academic direction for their monograph, but did express they wished to return to this design at a later date (...)
These ideas are particularly important to me now, at a time in my career and in our history when protecting our environment and giving back to the community seems especially urgent.
Artists Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison, known as ‘The Harrisons,’ have since the early 70’s viewed their only client to be the earth, the ecosystem itself, with their works channeling the agency of nature.
At the request of the Nevada Museum of Art, I designed this proposal for the Harrisons monograph, an overview of nearly 50 years of works. From the manuscript I focused on their latest series of work called The Force Majeure, and chose the name CounterForce for the title of the book.
In ‘The Force Majeure Works’, they outline four basic principles that underline the Law of Mother Earth:
1. Nature has agency
2. Nature has no waste
3. Nature creates itself continually through processes of exchange
4. Nature mostly stores excess energy in various forms of carbon.
My book design expresses the personalities of the Harrisons: strong stewards of the ideas they cultivate as artists. The design honors their passions, poetry, and character. Like their scientific approach, the design is grounded, rigorous and straightforward.
The book seeks to embody the core qualities that form the Harrisons’ distinct character, which I defined as following.
Bold: An ability to take risks; confident and courageous.
Upfront: Honest and frank.
Clear: Easy to perceive, understand and interpret.
Thoughtful: Consideration of the needs of different people and of the environment.
Thorough: Careful and deliberate regard to every detail.
Elemental: Embodies the primitive and inescapable character of a force of nature.
Unfortunately, the Harrisons wished to go in a more academic direction for their monograph, but did express they wished to return to this design at a later date (...)
