Mo’Joe Coffeehouse on Michigan Street displays works of art for sale by local self-taught artists with advance permission from the shop’s owner. Currently, Angelina Fielding’s art is featured along with her bio and artist statement. According to the barista, “the art adds to the atmosphere” but doesn’t necessarily sell. My Starbucks on Massachusetts Avenue is in the process of establishing a program for local artists. In the meantime, the store encourages partners (employees) to display their work, along with other individuals connected to the store’s management. Nathan Wohlt and Jenny Elikins are a few of the artists with work on view. “A lot of artists work in coffeeshops so it’s a good place to sell your work,” said the barista. But where did the connection between art and coffeehouses originate?

Coffeehouses inspired the origin of countless noteworthy institutions and ideas. In the late 1700s, the auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s began in rooms attached to coffeehouses where sales of art took place. Coffeehouses aided in the business of buying and selling art and were essential to the success of an artist who could promote their work at little or no cost. It makes perfect sense that today’s coffeehouses continue to sell art from their walls.

A bit more history — coffeehouses originated in Middle Eastern countries in the 1400s as places where men gathered to drink Arabic coffee or tea and listen to music, read and play games. Discussions of war and politics also became common. In the 1600s, coffee arrived in Europe and coffeehouses quickly gained popularity. Venice, Oxford, London, Paris and Boston all boasted the first coffeehouses in their regions. They were places of “great social levell[ing], open to all men and indifferent to social status, and as a result associated with equality and republicanism,” according to a Wikipedia article. Business could be conducted and new ideas could spread unobserved by government. It is interesting to know that women were not allowed in coffeehouses in Europe, yet were in Germany.

The coffeehouse was an alternative to the “pub” and precursor to the more elite “club”. In the United States, coffeehouses first popped up in immigrant communities and attracted the free thinking Beat generation, the youth counterculture, solo musicians and today, wireless internet seekers. Coffee anyone?

Okay, well maybe not. Perhaps I’ll just follow Richard’s lead and start off with what I do.

I’m the Senior Graphic Designer here at the IMA. So what does that mean exactly? Any graphic designer will tell you that we get this a lot. Not a big deal. Don’t be afraid to ask if you ever find yourself in this situation. My own family still has trouble figuring out exactly what I spend my day doing. When I was growing up I loved to draw things. I was a drawin’ fool. Mainly Spider-Man and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This, of course, implied to every adult that knew me that one day I might just become a successful artist. Watch this kid; he’s going places!

When I grew up I did go to art school but I didn’t major in the illustration of mutant turtles that have mad ninja skills. Those classes were always full or at least had a really long waiting list. Instead, I got a degree in Visual Communication, or Graphic Design. Generally after I tell someone that I’m a graphic designer, I get one of three reactions. One: they know exactly what it is I’m talking about because they have a cousin who does the same thing. Two: I get a “that sounds fun” response that I think mainly pertains to the fact that I work in an art museum and not to my exact job here. Three: I get asked to explain what that means. When I do explain, I will usually get hit up for a logo because their uncle’s ex-wife’s second cousin who was lost at sea for four years recently decided to open up a business that specializes in mold abatement for residential architecture. (Not making that one up. Well, not the mold abatement company part anyway.)

Every day you encounter work by a graphic designer, whether you think about it or not. Magazines, billboards, book jackets, the graphics on your Starbucks coffee cup…all graphic design. Design is not only an end product, but also a process that usually begins with research and brainstorming. A graphic designer takes an idea or concept and makes it visual through the combination of photography, typography, color, the right type of paper,etc. When successful, everything comes together to produce a feeling and visual style that best communicates to the audience.

Good design makes things easier. It makes people happy. Anyone who has ever had trouble reading a magazine because of bad layout, had trouble navigating a website or gotten lost in an airport due to bad signage design knows how important well-executed design is to daily life.

I work in collaboration with nearly every department in the museum to design anything from a brochure for Summer Nights (to the graphic identity of an exhibition and the printed pieces that market the show. Anytime you get a printed piece like Art For You in the mail, see a banner on the outside of the building or even just pick up a brochure while you’re here, I might have worked on it.

Some of you out there have my work in your recycling bin right now. If it’s in your trash, get it out of there. If you’re going to throw my stuff away at least recycle it. With any luck, you got something that I did tacked up in your office. Or better yet…your fridge! Score!

So, that’s basically what I do.

Up next, Philippe Starck and why design is useless.