Please join us for Design Conversation #20: Public Art (part 2) this Wednesday evening at the Windup Space. 
 
Panelists for Design Conversation 20 include:

-Angela Adams, Public Art Administrator, Arlington Cultural Affairs
-Cathy Byrd, Executive Director, Maryland Art Place
-Jann Rosen-Queralt, Baltimore City Public Art Commission

Wednesday June 2nd 2010
The Windup Space – 12 W North Ave @ Charles Street
6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
 
Design Conversations are monthly events held the first Wednesday of every month at the Windup Space (12 W. North Ave.) at 6:30 pm. These events are open to the public and are loosely curated by volunteers around a series of topics related to design, art, architecture, cities, and anything else that is on your mind. Cash bar and A/V hookup available.
 
Design Conversations are made possible by the generous support of Baltimore Community Foundation and D:center Baltimore.
 
Questions?    ben.stone (at) gmail.com  |  www.dcenterbaltimore.com

Don’t forget that this Wednesday, April 14th is Design Conversation #18. The theme is invention, and the diverse lineup of guests includes neuroscientist Charles Limb, MICA’s Ellen Lupton and Inna Alesina, and David Peloff, Program Director for Emerging Technologies at Hopkins. As always, at the Windup Space, 12 W. North Ave., at 6:30 pm.

B more B green is a traveling sustainability exhibit developed jointly by the architectural firm of Hord Coplan Macht, S.H. Silverblatt Electrical Contractor, Silsam Energy Group and Baltimore Green Works. Through a unique combination of three-dimensional and interactive displays, the exhibit teaches children about the important concepts underlying sustainable living practices while facilitating a fun learning experience for everyone.  Samuel Silverblatt, president of Silsam Energy Group, created the original vision for the exhibit. Tarek Saleh and Lisa Ferretto have brought Hord Coplan Macht’s considerable expertise in sustainable technologies and design to the project.  Phase 1, expected to open Earth Day, April 22, 2010 at Port Discovery, consists of a 4 interactive exhibits teaching about water, waste, transportation and energy.  Information on tax-deductible Sponsorship opportunities can be found at www.bmorebgreen.com/pdf/sponsorship.pdf and more information on the project at www.bmorebgreen.com.

They are looking for ways to spread the word and bring in funding.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! 

Phase 1 of the exhibit will be interactive displays at Port Discovery Children’s Museum. The exhibit will stay at  Port Discovery for about 5 months, and will then move to the Maryland State Fair in Timonium, where the [B]house will be added. The [B] House will be a replica house complementing the interactive displays and will provide an opportunity to display energy efficient products, recyclable material, etc.  Phase  3 is still under development, but  the exhibit could travel through the fall and spring to local schools, Museums, Home Depot stores etc.

Design Conversation #18: Invention

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

6:30 – 8:30 pm

The Wind Up Space, 12 W. North Avenue

The line up for April’s design conversation is finalized and it promises to be an exciting evening. The theme for the night is “invention” and we will look at how we can spark Aha! moments and create new creative connections. Invention will be explored from three angles: the brain, materials, and collaboration.

Neuroscientist Charles Limb will discuss his breakthrough research on the brain as it relates to creativity and jazz.

Ellen Lupton, designer, writer, teacher, and curator of contemporary design at New York’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and Inna Alesina, product designer and teacher, will showcase projects from their new book, Exploring Materials : Creative Design for Everyday Objects. They will encourage us to see everyday materials in new ways while expanding our materials vocabulary.

David Peloff from the Johns Hopkins Center for Emerging Technology will tell us how he collaborated with the Applied Physics Lab to bring NASA technology to the creation of a cutting-edge virtual learning environment being piloted in Baltimore public schools.

As always, this event is free and open to the public. Special thanks to the Baltimore Community Foundation for its support of these conversations and to The Wind Up Space for being our gracious host.

About the Baltimore Design Conversations:

D:center Baltimore is a new organization composed of a broad cross-section of disciplines and individuals invested in improving and encouraging design—in all its iterations—in the Baltimore region.

Each month the group hosts a Design Conversation at the Wind Up Space in Station North. The event is a casual gathering that is free and open to the public. It is supported by the Baltimore Community Foundation as well as the hard work of a core of dedicated volunteers. Each Design Conversation is curated by an individual or a team of people and is organized around a theme related to design, architecture, community building, urban planning, and city life. (For a list of upcoming themes click here.)

Local and national participants are invited to address the evening’s theme in order to stimulate a dialogue among audience members. Since it launched in 2008, the Design Conversation has spurred creative projects across the city through a number of collaborations born at the event. It has also stimulated a recognition of shared interests and existing projects around the city and the country.

# 18 Wed., 14 April: Invention
Curator: Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson
(note that due to a schedule conflict, this will be the second wednesday)

#19 Wed., 5 May: Streets/Art Part 1
Curator: Fred Scharmen

#20 Wed., 2 June: Streets/Art Part 2
Curator: Ben Stone

#21 Wed., 7 July: Sketch & Bitch
Curator: Amber Shriver

#22 Wed., 4 August: Raw Materials
Curator: Peter Doo

We’re going to try to have paper and pencil available at the Design Convos from now on, we’ll collect your notes, doodles, grocery lists or whatever and post them here in the blog. Design Convo #16 (we went back and counted, and decided it really was 16, after all), had some great doodling fodder. The collage here shows what looks like some notes from Dana Bourland’s excellent presentation on her work at Enterprise Community Partners (Food Distribution, Public Transportation, Healthy Housing). On the upper left corner is a graphic that looks inspired by some of the amazing diagrams from Pavlina Ilieva of PIKL (this one is my favorite). In the center are some bubble diagrams, reminiscent of Julie Gabrielli’s presentation on wrangling the diversity of constituents involved in the production of UMD’s award winning LEAF House Solar Decathlon entry. Someone’s got some notes on the Baltimore Community Foundation’s Kresge Grant program, which we were lucky to hear about from BCF’s Melissa Warlow.

There’s also what looks like a sketch for some kind of cryptographic or programming matrix, a diagram about greywater capture in a plumbing drain stack, and, interestingly, a small illustration labeled: Blueberry, Mint, Cardamom (sounds delicious). Click here to see a larger version, and check here to download the presentations. Keep the doodles coming!

Thanks to Geoff Stack for curating this one, and thanks to Russell, our host at Windup Space, and to everyone who donated, for helping us raise some funds for Architecture for Humanity’s reconstruction plan in Haiti. Those are on their way to AFH now.

Emily Pilloton, founder of Project H and recent Colbert Report guest, hit the road on Friday for her Design Revolution Road Show. On Thursday, March 11, Emily and her Airstream trailer will be in Baltimore and D:center Baltimore is co-hosting a panel discussion at MICA.

DESIGN REVOLUTION: JOIN THE DEBATE

Thursday, March 11, 6:30 p.m.,* Falvey Hall, Brown Center, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.

THIS EVENT IS FREE!

Debating how the issues of social justice and advocacy will impact the way artists conceive and execute their visual environment, a panel of top designers and editors looks at the future of design practice. Panelists include Emily Pilloton, founder, and Matthew Miller, project manager, of Project H Design, a non-profit dedicated to bringing product design to those who need it most; John Bielenberg, founder of Project M, an immersion program created to inspire young graphic designers, writers, photographers and other creative people to do work that can make a difference; and Julie Lasky, editor of Design Observer’s Change Observer section, which covers socially aware design. Baltimore-based architecture and design writer Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson will moderate the discussion.

This panel is a part of the Design Revolution Road Show, an initiative of Project H Design that is traveling across the United States with an exhibition of humanitarian products that empower people and improve life. The exhibition trailer will be open for viewing before and after the panel discussion. The lecture is co-sponsored by D:center Baltimore and Urbanite magazine.

*Note time change.

As promised, the slides from the evening’s presenters are below:

Sustainability overview from Geoff Stack of STACK Coordination

Diversity of LEAFhouse team (part 1 of 2) from Julie Gabrielli of GOforChange

Diversity of LEAFhouse team (part 2 of 2)

Self-organization in Commonwealth project from Pavlina Ilieva of PI.KL

Interdependence of community development (part 1 of 2) from Dana Bourland of Enterprise Community Partners

Interdependence of community development (part 2 of 2)

The video of the Mannahatta Muir Web from STACK Coordination:

Stay tuned for a special announcement about the March event soon…!

Join us for Baltimore Design Conversation #15, which will revolve around all aspects of “sustainability” in the large and small senses. The curator for this conversation is Geoff Stack, of Stack Coordination.

Wednesday, February 3rd, 6:30 pm. At the Windup Space, 12 W. North Avenue, Baltimore.

(We will be encouraging folks to find ways to support Architecture for Humanity’s efforts in Haiti at this event. If you cannot make it, please check out A4H at this link.)

• Invention
• Baltimore Development Cooperative/Baltimore Development Corporation
• Public Art
• Streets
• Parking
• Water

Are there other topics you’d like to see covered?  Other topics you’d like to curate?