Graphic Artist George Courage to be Featured in MassArt Alumni Exhibition of Design Work

  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Date: June 8, 2015

Contact:
Rae Francoeur
Principal
tel: 978-869-8139
email: rae.francoeur@newartscollaborative.com

 (Salem, Mass.) – Salem resident George Courage has been chosen to participate in the 3^rd Biennial Juried Alumni Exhibition Above the Fold: Alumni Works in Design at Massachusetts College of Art, on display from June 11 - July 11, 2015.

Courage’s design will feature logos created for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Western Massachusetts Scenic Byway rebranding project in 2014. For the rebranding, he created 8 logos, a brochure, and multiple advertisements in collaboration with the New Arts Collaborative team. Three of the Byway’s logos will be shown in the exhibition.

An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on June 11^th from 6-8 pm at MassArt’s campus in the Bakalar Gallery, located at 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA.

For additional details on the exhibition, please visit http://www.alumni.massart.edu.

George Courage serves as Principal Graphic Artist for New Arts Collaborative and George Courage Creative. Trained as an illustrator with an eye for design, he specializes in visual rebranding, logos, print collateral, and advertisements. Past and current clients include the Peabody Essex Museum, the Trustees of Reservations, the Essex National Heritage Commission, the Boston Institute for Contemporary Art and the Crow Collection of Asian Art. He lives in Salem, MA with his wife Amy.

About New Arts Collaborative:  New Arts Collaborative specializes in creative marketing collaborations with arts, nonprofits and entrepreneurial organizations. With extensive experience working with large arts organizations as well as individual artists, they are known for handsome design and photography, smart and focused writing, problem-solving skills, and most of all, for the high quality of their finished work. For more information, please visit http://newartscollaborative.com.

Western Massachusetts Byways Project Launches

After months of work for the Franklin Council of Governments on the Western Massachuesetts Byways Project which is promoting the 7 scenic byways in western, Massachusetts, major elements of the project are making their public appearance in anticipation of the Byway launch event on June 28th, including print advertising in the major markets of New York, Hartford, Albany and Boston. Promotions include a billboard, NYC transit kiosk posters, and a 20-page brochure. The cornerstone of the promotions and a major component of the project has been the soft launch of the new website bywayswestmass.com . designed by Alex Turnwall of the Hifinit Design Group working in collaboration with New Arts Collaborative.

New Project

New Arts Collaborative has recently been awarded a project by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments to provide promotional campaign services for the seven scenic byways located in western Massachusetts. Using funds obtained from State and Federal agencies,  the goal is to promote and increase tourism to the following areas: Mt. Greylock, Jacob's Ladder, Mohawk Trail, Connecticut River Valley, Route 112, Route 116 and Route 122 Scenic Byways. The Byways connect to each other and cross through Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, and Worcester Counties.
New Arts will develop a comprehensive marketing plan each of the byways, as well as for the overall byway program, as well as logos, print collateral such as maps and brochures, websites, phone apps and signage.
The project is set to last approximately 18 months and is is scheduled to be rolled out by the end of 2013.

Why collaborate?

Frank Gehry makes very rough sketches of his structural designs
and then gives the sketches to others who use
sophisticated computer programs to create workable design.
This building under construction, in Lower Manhattan,
would not exist without input from literally hundreds
of stakeholders. It's base, for example, is a rather
unglamorous public building.

You won’t find many artists who say they like to collaborate.

The creative process is, by and large, a very solitary engagement. One artist. One work of art.

Put a bunch of artists of any kind on a team and ask them to produce something together and you’ve got a management problem. If you question this, just watch the incredibly nasty episode of Project Runway that aired September 8. Or go see Spider Man on Broadway, a musical that veered from being too tightly controlled to one that got workshopped into mediocrity.

In fact there is a place for collaboration in the creative process. The magic happens when you know how to collaborate and when in the process you need to collaborate.

The work we do at New Arts Collaborative — marketing and promotional projects — relies on high artistic achievement informed by clear communications.

We need to understand what our clients want. Our clients need to understand what the market wants or doesn’t know that it wants. The members of our artistic team — made up of a writer/editor/project manager, a graphic artist and illustrator, and a photographer/director — are instinctively proprietary about our work. You could say this is the artist’s way.

This Gehry building in Chelsea, off the West Side Highway,
was commissioned by a single client who asked,
for, among other things, a deck
off his office from which to view the Hudson River.

On the other hand, we are seasoned professionals who have a unique experience. We know how to collaborative. We learned collaboration when we joined forces to produce creative products that needed the talents of photographers and designers and writers and editors. Add to that the bosses and clients who must weigh in. The focus groups. And colleagues and stakeholders.

The collaborative process is essential. It’s informed by surveys, market testing, queries and answers, listening, and feedback. Then the creative process pushes back. Relaxes. Revises. Problem solves. Produces another round of work to present.

Dennis, George and I have engaged in this process hundreds of times. We love it. We are creative problem solvers who trust each other, and who’ve learned the value of knowing our client and investigating thoroughly the nature of the job.