End-of-Semester Views in the Art Building at the University of Minnesota

My "fill in" position in the Art Department at the University of Minnesota is over. It was great being back there where I taught 1-2 classes every semester from 2005 through 2011. Here were some views as I was there to return student work in late December:

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The classroom where we spent the last half of the semester.


The darkroom sink at the U of M.








Outside the darkroom, with the film processing area in the background.


Aperture examples above the entrance to the darkroom.


Drying racks.








Down the hall in the DSB (Digital Service Bureau).


I honestly love working in here.






Large roll printers in the back corner.


View from the back corner.


I've never asked for the backstory regarding these palm trees. But they've been there for years.

Oh, and I had a student turn in some final prints in a manilla envelope, and it's pretty clear that they forgot my last name:

Ha! Here's to a good spring semester!

It Must Be Finals Season...

... because I woke up to these 2 texts on my phone:

I love that there was a realization an hour later that I might have been woken up, but then still an embarrassed follow-up text after that realization. Ha!

(Turns out it was a question about processing film - nothing super urgent.)

Department of Art Website

If you go to the University of Minnesota's "College of Liberal Arts" website and find the faculty section...

... you can scroll down and find me!

Here's my very in-depth page:

I tease, but it's nice to be recognized even if it's just a "short term" hire. Thanks CLA!

Start of Fall Semester

The 2024 fall semester is underway! Here's a first day shot from my Concordia University classroom:

And a shot from my University of Minnesota classroom:

I taught in that very same classroom at the U of M from 2005 to 2011, and very little has changed! (Pretty much just the TV instead of projection screen, and the table right in front of the camera has been turned 90 degrees.) I'm back for maybe just the semester to help out with someone's maternity leave. I've been at the U of M College of Design (St. Paul campus) for the previous 5 semesters, but now I'm in the U of M's Art Department (Minneapolis campus) for this class. And here's my exotic shared faculty office at the U:

That's a bike helmet and bottle as I'm trying to bike like I did all of last school year.

And Concordia, we just had our first "nerdy lecture" covering some good stuff:

Happy Fall 2024!!

Movie Poster Project

I shared a few movie posters at the end of fall semester from an intro to design course that I teach at the University of Minnesota. Here are 4 quick ones from this past semester:

Nice layering and texture from Devyn.


Good focal point from Emma.


Erik pushed the idea that he's stepping through the end of the song because he dies (spoiler alert).


Some nice use of space by Ben.

Again, here's a bit more from last year in a different post.

Color Naming Book from 1955

I found this in one of the classrooms where I teach at the University of Minnesota:

Figure out your Munsell notation (something I became VERY familiar with
teaching Color Theory at CVA) and then turn to the correct page in this book.


Follow the Munsell chroma and value notation to get the "name" of the color


PAGES of color names!


Close-up of names.

Being so wrapped up in "true" Munsell color notation while teaching at the College of Visual Arts, I never thought about what you would "name" any of the given colors in his system. But this book does that... to an extreme measure!

Movie Poster Project

I teach a "pre-design" class at the University of Minnesota geared toward first-year graphic design majors. We cover basic design elements and principles, but then also discuss a lot about how designers can "control" how a viewer relates to imagery based on how it's communicated to them. It's part "2D Design" and part "Visual Conceptualization"... sort of.

After basically 1 type lecture and an hour intro to Adobe Illustrator, here are a few movie poster projects from this past semester:

Simple but effective from Gus.


Nice use of negative space by Kaemon.


Very photographic from Natalie.


And a good take on this documentary from Leah
(with the tag line pseudo hidden as a green line in the code).

Fall Semester is Underway!

It was a hot start to the Fall 2023 semester last week. My first day of class at Concordia University was the last in a 5-day stretch of 90+ degree days, so I wore shorts to the first day for the first time ever:

But then my first day at the University of Minnesota the following day was much cooler, so I wore pants as one normally does:

Happy fall 2023!

Faculty Feedback

My reviews are in from my 3 classes this past semester. And it was all really solid, so I just had to share. First, here are all the comments in 2 sections from my class in the Design Department at the University of Minnesota:

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I'm really happy to see so much about my students getting good feedback.

And here are some final comments from my students in my 2 classes at Concordia University:

In that first one, I'm not surprised to read something about "challenging" but "low stress" because that's sort of my vibe.

And I love the final comment of that last one: "Free spirit, nerdy, amazing instructor who knows his stuff" - happy to be labeled that! :)

End-of-Semester Scenes

Just before finals, I was walking around both of the universities where I’m currently teaching, and I found myself snapping some pics with my phone. Sort of for memory’s sake.

First in McNeal Hall at the University of Minnesota:

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Book jacket designs up in the hall.


Album cover designs.


McNeal Hall is a funky amalgamation of buildings.




My classroom for this past semester.

Next are some of the empty halls of Concordia University:

Looking back towards the art building.


The odd little tunnel to the art building.


Outside the library.


My classroom for both of my classes this past semester.


I’ve always loved these crammed bulletin boards outside of the Mac Lab.
There’s an old CVA Action postcard back there if you can spot it.
(See also here, here, and here.)




I've always enjoyed this.




Outside the darkroom.


Just outside my office - some shots from solo exhibition last year (see also this post).

Happy summer break!