Oscar Niemeyer - Images of the architect's works

ANTONIO SCORZA/AFP/Getty Images - Slide show

Published: 20071225
"The corbusian influence is evident in the early works of Oscar Niemeyer. However, the architect gradually acguired his own style: the lightness of the curved forms created spaces that transformed the architectural scheme into something that was hitherto unknown; harmony, grace and elegance are the adjectives that are most appropriate to describe the work of Oscar Niemeyer. The adaptations produced by the architect to connect the baroque vocabulary with modernist architecture made possible formal experiences in spectacular volumes, executed by famous mathematicians including the Brazilian Joaquim Cardoso and the Italian Pier Luigi Nervi." Read more...

French creative studio Trafik - Art of Code

Graphic Design

Damien Gautier,

Pierre Rodière, Julien Sappa, Lionel Michée

Multimedia Development

Joël Rodière

Combining the arts of design and coding, French creative studio Trafik designs dynamic visual art and interactive environments then builds the custom applications necessary to realize them. In creating exhibitions, scenography, and other multimedia projects for institutional, cultural and industrial clients, Trafik’s five graphic artists and one programmer push their Macs to the limit, using special applications created in Xcode in combination with other creative applications as primary design tools. Although their work runs the spectrum from classic graphic design to new media, they have received special attention for their signature interactive work. For their Sonic Cube, a large illuminated canvas box shown recently at the contemporary art center, La Ferme du Buisson in Paris, they developed an interactive application that reacts to sound. In this and other projects, Trafik’s designers and coders have uniquely established themselves as “artists of programming.”

Illustration: Early 50s Disney Christmas Cards

Animator Clair Weeks has had a hand in creating some of Walt Disney Studio's most memorable animated features, including Snow White (1931), Bambi (1942), Cinderella (1950), and Peter Pan (1953). A missionary's son, Weeks was born and raised in India and did not come to the U.S. until his late teens. He joined Disney in 1936 as an assistant animator, remaining there until WWII when he left to serve in the military. He came back to Disney in 1946 and remained there another decade. In 1956, Weeks became an animation ambassador and returned to India to help develop its animation industry. He remained in Asia, traveling to Thailand, Nepal, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Malaysia over a 16-year period.

• Born: in India
• Died: Aug 26, 1996 in Los Angeles, California
• Active: '50s
• Major Genres: Children's/Family, Fantasy
• Career Highlights: Peter Pan
• First Major Screen Credit: Peter Pan (1953)

Italy - CINEMA UNDER FASCISM

"When the Italian government moved to block Hollywood's near monopoly of film distribution within the Italian market, the Hollywood "Big Four" (20th Century Fox, Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros.) withdrew from the Italian market in protest. No longer forced to face overwhelming American economic pressure, the Italian film industry eventually rebounded, filling the void of Hollywood products with nationally produced films."
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Ars Subterranea: The Society for Creative Preservation

"Ars Subterranea is comprised of artists, historians, and urban explorers working to create an intersection between art and architectural relics in the New York City area.

Our aim is to instigate unique perceptions of New York's history by constructing narratives around the city's forgotten relics. Ars Subterranea encourages its audiences to interact with the city's neglected and ruinous locations by recreating obscure but fascinating aspects of its urban development. Our projects include art installations, history-based scavenger hunts, unusual preservation campaigns, and much more."

William McDonough - The Next Industrial Revolution

“I believe we can accomplish great and profitable things within a new conceptual framework—one that values our legacy, honors diversity, and feeds ecosystems and societies . . . It is time for designs that are creative, abundant, prosperous, and intelligent from the start.”

William McDonough is a world-renowned architect and designer and winner of three U.S. presidential awards: the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development (1996), the National Design Award (2004); and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (2003). Time magazine recognized him as a "Hero for the Planet" in 1999, stating that "his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world."
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While some environmental observers predict scenarios in which a rapidly increasing human population is forced to compete for ever scarcer natural resources, Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart see an exciting and hopeful future. In their vision, humanity takes nature itself as our guide, reinventing technical enterprises to be as safe and ever-renewing as natural processes. It's part of what architect McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart call The Next Industrial Revolution.

Marketing Mentor - Ilise Benun

She is the author of "Stop Pushing Me Around: A Workplace Guide for the Timid, Shy and Less Assertive" (Career Press 2006), "Self-Promotion Online" and "Designing Web Sites for Every Audience" (HOW Design Books), and "The Art of Self Promotion" (Marketing Mentor Press). She is also co-author of "Public Relations for Dummies, 2nd Edition" (Wiley, 2006).
Her work has been featured in national publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, The Journal News, The Denver Post, Inc. Magazine, Nation's Business, Self, Essence, Crains New York Business, IQ (a Cisco Systems magazine) and Working Woman, plus all the major design publications, including HOW, Dynamic Graphics and more.

About Marketing Mentor
The mission of Marketing Mentor is to teach the "creatively self-employed" how to run the business side of their business. Through both one-on-one coaching and group mentoring programs, Marketing Mentor provides accountability, feedback and hand-holding (when necessary).

Marketing Mentor was founded in 2004 by Ilise Benun and Peleg Top and since then has helped hundreds of designers build and grow their businesses.