If anyone went to the celebration and has photos, PLEASE email them to Ray. Our camera broke and we only got two photos at the event. This was one of them.

Robyn Stern (’94), Ray Nichols, and Dave Laden (’95).
I thought the T-shirt made a nice statement about the evening.

. . .

On October 5, 2008 I had the honor of being awarded the title of Grandmaster by The Art Directors Club of New York. The ADC initiated the award to highlight people in the design education field. The ADCNY describes the ADC Grandmasters as educators whose teaching careers and mentoring have impacted generations of students and whose legacy is a far-reaching network of industry leaders and professionals in advertising and design.

The five honorees for this first exhibition include me, Ray Nichols (University of Delaware), Sheila Levrant de Bretteville (Yale), Carin Goldberg (School of Visual Arts), Mark Fenske (Virginia Commonwealth University / Brandcenter), and Jeffrey Metzner (School of Visual Arts). The award is a great honor in itself and also to be included with these important teachers from such important schools.

I’ve been blessed with the opportunity of working with a lot of great colleagues and students who worked hard, stood up well under the assault of critiques and all-nighters, and opened their minds to creative possibilities. While I had a great time in VC I envied every student when they graduated. I’ve often wished I could change places.

Maybe as many as 100 graduates attended the celebration or joined us afterwards at the Black Door. It was great to see both graphic design and advertising design graduates there, as I had only chosen from my advertising design graduates to be in the show, along with a sizable number of younger graduates. It was an astounding feeling seeing graduates spread over 25 years meeting each other, many for the first time. Two of the graduates, Ellen Steinberg (’90) and Nancy Miller Vonk (’79) said they had been emailing each other for two years and only were aware that they had me in common when I sent a note listing who was included in the exhibition. Graduates came from a lot of places, including San Francisco (2), Boulder, CO (2), Chicago, and Toronto.

Here is the other photos we got before our camera decided it didn’t want to work. Hmmm. A Nikon, also.

Eric Collins (’08), Joey Ellis (’08), and Ray.

The following creative directors, art directors, copywriters, and photographers were chosen to represent that “far reaching network.”

Nancy Miller Vonk / 1979 / Ogilvy / Toronto, Canada
Brad Tillinghast / 1980 / Produce Marketing Association / Newark, DE
Bill Oberlander / 1981 / McCann-Erickson / New York, NY
Mylene Turek Pollock / 1983 / Leo Burnett / Chicago, IL
Craig Cutler / 1983 / Craig Cutler Photography / New York, NY
Ann Lemon / 1984 / Freelance / New York, NY
Joe Johnson / 1985 / Ogilvy / New York, NY
Kirk Souder / 1985 / GMMB / Washington, DC
Kevin Moehlenkamp / 1986 / Hill Holiday / Boston, MA
Sean McCormick / 1986 / Caspari McCormick / Wilmington, DE
Rick Midler / 1988 / formerly of BBDO / New York, NY
Ellen Steinberg / 1990 / McKinney / Durham, NC
Franklin Tipton / 1991 / Goodby, Silverstein & Partners / San Francisco, CA
Libby Brockhoff / 1992 / Founding partner of Mother / London, UK
D.J. Pierce / 1993 / Crispin Porter + Bogusky / Boulder, CO
Marc Sobier / 1993 / Goodby, Silverstein & Partners / San Francisco, CA
Dave Laden / 1995 / Dave Laden Films / Ubër Content / San Francisco, CA
Tesia Farquhar Barone / 1997 / Philadelphia, PA
Bill Starkey / 1997 / STICK and MOVE, Philadelphia, PA
James Helms / 1997 / Slingshot / Dallas, TX
Brandon Henderson / 1999 / Y&R / New York, NY
Karl Lieberman / 1999 / Wieden + Kennedy / Portland, OR
Kat Morris / 2001 / Crispin Porter + Bogusky / Boulder, CO
Marco Kaye / 2002 / Wieden + Kennedy / Portland, OR
Amy Servidea / 2002 / BBH / New York, NY

A few more photos from the evening (hopefully, more to follow).

Bill Oberlander (’81), former president of the Art Directors Club of New York opening the event.

The certificates designed by Lizzy Ferraro (’05) ready to be served.

Left to right: Carin Goldberg, Sheila Metzner, a Metzner family member, Mark Fenske, and me. Sheila Levrant de Bretteville had to leave early and wasn’t there for the photo.

There were a couple of an added bonuses. The concept for the image, poster and certificates for the Grandmasters exhibition was designed by Lizzy Ferraro (’05) and it is wonderful to see what I believe is the impact from the program (and Hendrik-Jan Francke) in the visual concept. The photo was done at the studio of Craig Cutler (’83). Rick Boyko, director of VCU / Brand Center), who was supposed to introduce me couldn’t come, so they switched it to Nancy Miller Vonk (’79) who had some wonderful things to say and that made it so much more wonderful and personal.

Jill’s and my letterpress shop, Lead Graffiti, was asked to print the certificates which added another very nice, personal touch to the whole event.

It is worth mentioning the importance of a few colleagues in our program that contributed in very important ways to my own successes, both inside and outside of class, including Bill Deering, Martha Carothers, and Hendrik-Jan Francke.

And then there is Jill Cypher. Anyone who knows me knows how important she is to me.

And a photo of the three most important people in my life headed to the celebration from Brooklyn.

Steven Heller and Gail Anderson have come out with a new book entitled New Vintage Type. Five letterpress pieces produced by Ray and Jill, except as noted, through Raven Press at the University of Delaware were included. There may have been students involved I cannot remember at this point. If you read this and were involved drop me an email and I’ll correct the credits below.

From the top left clockwise:

1) The cover of New Vintage Type by Steven Heller and Gail Anderson.

2) Program for the International Association for Robin Hood Studies
held at the University of Delaware, produced by Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher, 14″ x 22″, 40 copies, 2005.

Book caption: MORRIS AND HIS CIRCLE—Raymond Nichols reports that William Morris and the Kelmscott Press were the prime influences here, particularly in the illuminated initials. The main typeface, Troy, named after The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, was designed by Morris in the Arts and Crafts aesthetic of the mid-nineteenth century.

3) Poster for Black Maria Film & Video Festival
held at the University of Delaware, produced by Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher, 14″ x 22″, 40 copies, 2005.

Book caption: THAT HANDMADE LOOK—Black Maria Film & Video Festival is a film festival where many of the films being shown have a handmade look. “We thought letterpress would best represent that,” explains Raymond Nichols. The distressed slap serif type evokes the ad hoc sensibility, while setting it against the white background keeps it from being too musty.

4) Poster for Steven Heller lecture
(book’s author) for a talk he gave to Visual Communications at the University of Delaware, produced by Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher, 19.5″ x 30.5″, 25 copies 2005

Book caption: SCALE IS EVERYTHING—Raymond Nichols and Jill Cypher credit Hatch Show Print posters for inspiration. “We wanted the poster to look human because I think Steven {Helleer” comes off like that.” (Little did they know.”

5) Poster for Battle of the Bands for South Africa Aids Awareness Week
produced by Sarah Rosenthal, Courtney Bowditch, and Ray Nichols, 24″ x 18″, 40 copies, 2005.

Book caption: THE GOLD STANDARD—The Hatch Show Print posters are the gold standard of vernacular concert and fai bills. This poster may have been influenced by Hatch, but the University of Delaware print shop has developed its own hybrid of vintage and contemporary style.

6) Poster for Art Happens 2
an exhibition of graduate students in the Department of Fine Arts & Visual Communications, produced by Ray Nichols, Jill Cypher, David Huynh and Louis Flanigan, 22″ x 14″, 40 copies, 2004

Book caption: LOTS OF WOOD—Actual vintage woodtypes are at the core of Raven Press’s design activity. If an entire alphabet is not available in thee same point size, then they mix and match to get an aesthetically pleasing result. This is one of the man small jobs the Press handles for the University of Delaware. While it uses types of the past the design is of the present.