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June 2019 Design & Art Event Hotlist

Converse, view, shop—there are many ways to get inspired this month. Hear what artist David Byrne has discovered about forgotten—and still brilliant—ideas. Experience collaborations between fine artists and floral designers, between artists and fashion designers. Join in COMMUNITY with other local creatives. In/Visible Talks’ co-founders (and long-time practicing designers) Arianna Orland and Dava Guthmiller have perused the many invitations in their inboxes and picked the events in the Bay Area they “must do”. We hope to see you at some—or all.

David Byrne: Good News & Sleeping Beauties.

We love everything musician (Talking Heads), visual artist (films, books, graphic art works), and scholar David Byrne does. Recently he delved into history for “sleeping beauties”—brilliant ideas that got overlooked or forgotten but can be revived. He’s interested—and so are we—in how that rediscovery process works and can be made better. $100 for Patron Ticket (You might check Craigslist for General Public tickets, which started at $25. A limited number of tickets will be available day of. Check the website for info.) June 4, 7:30–9:00 pm. The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco.

Bouquets to Art.

Florists from around the world breathe new life into the de Young Museum’s collections by creating their own masterpieces inspired by famed artworks. It’s a floral explosion, now in its 35th year. While the galleries are blooming, the de Young hosts a series of lectures and demonstrations with guest speakers, including renowned floral experts and international tastemakers. Free–$28. June 4–9. De Young Museum, in Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco.

West Coast Craft.

Find well-designed goodies, check out the juried exhibition of artworks, and get inspired by what is trending on the West Coast art & design scene. Free. June 8–9, 10:00 am–6:00 pm. Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd. (at Buchanan Street), San Francisco.

Creativity Explored x VIDA Launch Event.

Creativity Explored is partnering with VIDA to launch an art-inspired fashion and lifestyle collection. For the premiere collaboration, VIDA paired its signature fashion and home décor statement pieces with select artworks by Andrew Li, Vincent Jackson, Dan Michiels, Ethel Revita, and Marilyn Wong. We can’t wait to be among the first to view and purchase from this exclusive collection. Free. June 13, 5:00–7:00 pm. Creativity Explored, 3245 16th Street, San Francisco.

Brand Talks San Francisco

Hosted by Monotype, Brand Talks is an evening of conversation with creative and marketing leaders who will share insights on the challenges and opportunities facing today’s modern brands. You’ll also get an inside look at the design and development of Helvetica Now, the first update of this iconic typeface in 35 years. Free. June 13, 4:30–8:30 pm. W Hotel San Francisco, 181 3rd Street, San Francisco.

Design Thinking for Well-Being: A Conversation.

This event is music to our ears. Join design leader Yingzhao Liu, robotics engineer Mikey Siegel, and wellness expert Aneel Chima for a conversation exploring the intersection of design, technology, and our well-being. What are our roles in creating a better future for ourselves and our planet? Let’s figure it out together. $10. June 19, 7:00–9:00 pm. California Institute of Integral Studies, 1453 Mission Street, San Francisco.

SF Design Week Opening Night Party.

Thousands of designers will converge on the waterfront for drinks and conversations to kick off this week-long celebration of design. Explore exhibitions and installations. The Opening Night is a fundraiser, and all ticket proceeds support the organization’s continuing efforts to create COMMUNITY through timely, relevant, and impactful design programming in the San Francisco Bay Area. $25–$150. June 20, 6:30–9:30 pm. Pier 27, The Embarcadero, San Francisco.

Want more? Check out the In/Visible Talks blog for reviews of design and arts events we’ve attended recently and to learn about upcoming opportunities.

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Non-judgment, Impermanence, and Faith: What I learned teaching design to Buddhist Monks

CCA and In/Visible Talks present a talk by Creative Director, Artist, and Educator Lara McCormick

In a time of instant digital communication and endless distractions, reminders to pause and notice are essential to fueling our creativity. Lara recently traveled to India on a one-week intensive to teach the graphic design basics to Tibetan monks through the Science for Monks initiative. What sounded like a pretty straightforward assignment, in a somewhat unusual location, turned into a lesson for us all.

In this talk Lara will share:
– More about the Science for Monks program
– The multitude of constraints that emerged as part of this unusual assignment
– The status of the project now
– And most importantly, how the teacher became the student through this cross-cultural exchange

About the program
The Science for Monks project is a direct result of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long-term personal interest in science. In 1999, the Dalai Lama provided a vision and directive for the exiled Tibetan monastic community in India to engage science, and to initiate science trainings that would eventually support new learning at the frontiers of science and Buddhism.

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In/Visible Talks’ Vision for 2020: Go Beyond

Shortly after wrapping up the second In/Visible Talks conference in January 2019, Co-Founders Arianna Orland and Dava Guthmiller got to work planning for year three. From the beginning, their mission has been “to build community through a conversation about the process, inspiration, and challenges behind the creative practice.” To achieve this, the team hosts Salons and other small events throughout the year, followed by another day-long conference in San Francisco on Thursday, January 16, 2020.

Both women are long-time practicing designers, so it’s only natural they would dive deeply into the creative process to come up with a theme for the 2020 event. Here they share some insights into how they hope to inspire us all to “Go Beyond”.

What are you hoping to address at each In/Visible Talks event?

Arianna: “The boundaries of design are constantly evolving, whether they be what we call ourselves, who’s at the table, the tools we use…”

Dava: “…or the problems we’re being asked to solve.”

Arianna: “In 2020, we’re asking our speakers—and attendees—to GO BEYOND the expected perspectives, guardrails, materials, and thinking.”

What inspired you in this process of coming up with a new theme?

Dava: “We couldn’t help but be inspired by the year: 2020. It’s hard to say ‘twenty-twenty’ and not think about vision. When speaking about a design conference, ‘vision’ comes into play in many different ways.”

Arianna: “It also happens to be closely associated with our conference name, which comes from the idea that design is making the invisible visible.”

Take us inside your brainstorming process.

Dava: “One of the phrases that was written down during our brainstorm on the concept of vision was ‘Seeing beyond the surface’. Everyone really liked this notion, but it felt too limiting. While the idea is certainly a goal for the conference, it’s just one of the angles we explore.”

Arianna: “In/Visible Talks goes beyond the obvious design conference topics and circuit speakers, beyond the case studies and portfolio pieces, beyond what’s been designed to explore the actual process behind it. Those are the kinds of conversations we crave, and the ones we learn the most from, which is what we feel our community needs too as the boundaries of ‘design’ continue to expand.”

How’d you land on “Go Beyond”?

Arianna: “We asked ourselves, what if we remove ‘seeing’ and ‘the surface’ from that original sentence and just have it read ‘beyond’? By constraining our theme simply to ‘Beyond’, we opened it up to encapsulate everything that makes In/Visible Talks special.”

Dava: “The word ‘go’ was added because it gives us a sense of forward momentum, and it can mean so many things in different contexts: push, drive, move, work, reach, see.”

How does the theme tie into the visuals created?

Dava: “We were interested in exploring something with depth and multiple surfaces. We wanted something that gives us the ability to present typography in a nonlinear and dimensional way. After some experimentation, we landed on a collection of folded paper sculptures that would allow the viewer to see different shapes, from various perspectives. We used the sculptures as the base of a full system we hope to expand on as we continue to prepare for the conference throughout the year.”

Arianna: “We hope you’ll join us in January to GO BEYOND.”

In/Visible Talks is a conference for creative professionals that celebrates the art of design. Register now to join us for the one-day conference on January 16, 2020. Follow the In/Visible Talks blog to learn about Salons and other events held throughout the year.