Andy Warhol’s creative approach challenged the boundaries between art and design and ingeniously introduced multi-disciplinarity into the arts. He merged it all in his career: from advertising to illustration, photography, film, music, and sculpture.

By embracing creativity as a whole and by collaborating with the most inspired talents, Andy Warhol showed that commercial art (which we like to refer to in this project as ‘design’) acts as a mirror to the world we live in and can serve as interesting social study content.

Andy Warhol’s fame began with his illustration work for established brands like Tiffany’s , Columbia Records and Harper’s Bazaar to name a few. His success as a commercial artist eventually pushed him towards visual experiments that captured the American way of life shaped by consumerism, materialism and celebrity culture.

A personal favorite at the Andy Warhol Museum are the “Time Capsules”: cardboard boxes that he filled with everyday objects, photos, letters, and other collectible items, from 1974 onwards. The Museum today holds over 600 Time Capsules in their archives and gallery spaces.

The few capsules on display are fascinating from a creative and anthropological perspective as they intimately reveal the random complexity of Warhol’s existence and the beautiful designs of everyday life. Our visit to the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh showed us that life is art, art is design and design is life.

Full Pittsburgh City Report

James and Larkin of Wall to Wall Studios share their insights into the keys to success of rebranding a neighborhood.

Philadelphia is a centerpiece of American History, the place where the American constitution was drafted in the late 18th century. It is a city with a strong physical heritage that sometimes strikingly resembles the streets and architecture of Europe. Today, Philadelphia is in the process of reinventing itself and following the effects of a post-industrial decline, it is now harnessing its creative potential to redevelop itself. With a new brand “With Love Philadelphia XoXo” and events like Design Philadelphia, the city is looking to reflect a younger image and perhaps attract crowds from neighboring cities like New York City and Washington, DC. With the fourth largest GDP in the United States (after New York, Los Angeles and Chicago) Philadelphia has the economic resources to invest in its creative industries to boost its profile to an international scale.

Philadelphia is one of America’s most cultural cities with countless museums, performing arts centers and historic sites. The city also has a unique mural arts program that encourages individuals to collaborate with their communities and together transform public spaces. As the former center for the American textiles industry, Philadelphia continues to promote that heritage through the Fabric Workshop and Museum that includes an artist-in-residence program dedicated to experimentations with fibers. Following the same theme but moving much beyond textiles, Fabric Row is a neighborhood that gathers independent retailers and has become one of the creative districts of the city.

The Design Center at Philadelphia University boasts an impressive fashion archive and stunning gallery spaces exhibiting past and present design works. The center’s mission is to show that design participates and shapes everyday life. Its collection is often used by design students and scholarly research but is also appreciated by design connoisseurs and aficionados.

Pittsburgh is the birthplace of Andy Warhol, home to Carnegie Mellon University and Heinz tomato ketchup. The triangle-shaped downtown area is situated at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers that form the beginning of the Ohio River. Bridges and hill views make this city rather unique. Unlike other American cities, Pittsburgh has kept a very strong sense of authenticity that is reflected in its vintage storefronts, diners, and industrial buildings.

The presence of Carnegie Mellon is a competitive advantage for the city in the fields of science and culture. The university’s School of Design offers an innovative program that blends science, technology and the arts and is one of the few American institutions that offers a Ph.D in design research.

As the former base of Richard Florida (author of The Rise of the Creative Class and former Carnegie Mellon Professor), Pittsburgh is today still pursuing and working towards neighborhood redevelopment projects that are based on quality of life and local creative skills that can generate unique retail and dining experience. Lawrenceville is an example of a mixed-use district that seeks to attract young creative entrepreneurs by offering affordable work/live spaces.

Providence, one of America’s oldest cities and the birthplace of the American industrial revolution, pursues Rhode Island’s story of innovation through its schools, its communities, its businesses and its public services. It is a city that uses its creative resources to transition from past to present and understands the need for a more sustainable future.

Providence is a mid-sized city that is conveniently located between New York and Boston and is known for its outstanding young student population. The renowned RISD and Brown University play a major role in the community and are sources of valuable ideas for the region and the world. Since 2008, A Better World by Design is an example of how local and international designers come together in Providence to think about a better future through design: how can we reshape our community and sustain our environment?

Providence is an inspired city because it is constantly searching for newness and ideas, whether it is food or new places to experience and visit. At the Steel Yard, people connect while learning about things that are hand-made, introducing welding, blacksmithing and casting amongst others activities. This former steel and iron industrial site serves as a catalyst for urban regeneration and community growth through creative approaches. Meanwhile, La Laiterie promotes “haute farmhouse cuisine” by featuring the best of local and seasonal produce on their menus. The honest quality of its dishes is a reason in itself to visit Providence.

It did not take us too long to realize that the Walker Art Center is a very different kind of museum. Our first Walker experience took place as we got out of the car and walked through the parking garage surrounded by experimental sounds. The Walker stands out because it uses and integrates design in a museum environment in order to create experiences: physically with the 2005 facilities extension by architects Herzog & De Meuron, visually with the in-house communication design team responsible for the look and feel of exhibitions and publications, and conceptually with exhibitions questioning the role of design in society, past and present (one recent show that particularly caught our interest is Worlds Away, a study on suburbia and its impact on modern America).

How does the Walker achieve such level of excellence in design? Well, the creative team sitting backstage is rather unusual: since 1980, a small number of young graphic design fellows are selected each year to work with the design director. Keeping the design work in-house is a money-saver and integrating fresh minds is a good way to explore unseen territories and experiment on new grounds. We wonder why more museums aren’t adopting this innovative approach.

Iowa City is surrounded by rolling farmland and peaceful residential neighborhoods making it an ideal retreat for writers and thinkers. The heart of the city is the University of Iowa  where the acclaimed Writers’ Workshop is located. The workshop is a 2-year residency program that has been running for the past 70 years and has graduated a number of award-winning authors. It was the first creative writing program established in the United States. In 1967, the International Writing Program was set-up to welcome authors from around the world in order to give them an opportunity to experience American university life.

Iowa City is a place to be experienced in literary ways. Prairie Lights is a landmark independent bookstore gathering local authors and hosting its own local radio show. The Iowa Literary Walk between Clinton and Gilbert streets is an opportunity to read a selection of words by writers who have a special relationship with the city. The Center for the Book is a unique place where writers, artists, designers, calligraphers and paper makers work together to learn various aspects of book making (from paper to letterpress printing, book-binding and illustration) and take books to the realm of fine art.

The UICB fine press facilities are made of multi-disciplinary classrooms where writers can experiment with letterpress and calligraphers can collaborate with illustrators. All share a passion for the book. At UICB, narratives and poetry can be triggered in the process of making a book: through typography, graphic layout  and images. It is a place where the book goes beyond written words and becomes an integral art piece.

Letterpress studio and binding facilities at UICB (pictured above) are places where writers like to experiment and discover new territories.

Sara Langworthy who is an instructor at UICB shows us samples of fine press books by UI Alumni. Attention to detail is a common obsession in book art: from typesetting to engraving.

The University of Iowa’s Center for the Book (UICB) is a rarity in our digital age. What is the role of the book in our society and how does the book take shape as an art object? From paper to printing and binding, the book is a traditional medium that manages to survive alongside digital content, invites the reader to slow down, reflect and look at the world in unexpected ways.

The UICB’s paper mill is led by Professor Timothy Barrett who is a leading research scientist in his field and focuses on the history, technique, science and aesthetics of hand papermaking. The paper made at the Oakdale facility is commonly used by American libraries for their archives.

Kathleen Tandy (left) and Liz Munger are both assistants at the paper facility and showed us the various steps in papermaking.

Jun Kaneko is a prolific artist working across disciplines and who is known for his large scale ceramic sculptures. He and and his wife Ree initially decided to buy three empty industrial building on Jones Street as a place to store his work. Very quickly, they realized that they could do a lot more and give back to the community of Omaha by creating the Kaneko Center, a place to explore creativity in relationship to art, science and philosophy.

In May 2009, the center served as a venue for Big Omaha, a conference gathering forward-thinking creatives, entrepreneurs and innovators. See our interview with Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson, the founders and organizers of the event.

The center also includes the Kaneko/UNO (University of Nebraska in Omaha) art and design library that serves as place to stimulate creativity and the imagination of local residents.