On March 31st and April 1st, the Design Program in the Department of Art, Art History & Design will host the 13th annual Alumni Design Conference. This year's returning alumni are an impressive group. Keynote speaker Brian Grunert '92 is a five-time Grammy Award nominee for his album package design (winning in 2004). 2001 alumnus Allen Hemberger has won two Academy Awards for his special effects work (on King Kong and Avatar). Below is a list of all the alums who are returning to Riley Hall for this event.
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Thursday, March 31st
Riley Hall of Art & Design room 200
7:00pm: Keynote address by Brian Grunert
8:00pm: Allen Hemberger
Friday, April 1st
Riley Hall of Art & Design room 200
9am to 12:30pm: Inpidual talks by each of the 2001 alums
1:30 to 5:00pm: Portfolio reviews by the alumni for current Notre Dame students
Matt Alverson, Account Director at IA Collaborative (Chicago)
Matt drives design innovation at IA Collaborative with global partners, including Nike's Innovation Kitchen, Adobe Brand Marketing and Johnson & Johnson's Global Strategic Design Office. He directs a team of designers, researchers and strategists as IA tackles huge business challenges with design. Matt believes in following humans wherever a design challenge leads—which has required everything from playing hoops on China’s most gritty courts to “tailgate immersions” in the name of beer packaging innovation.
Dave Clark, Creative Director, Draft/fcb Advertising (Los Angeles)
Dave is a creative director specializing in digital media at DRAFTFCB, the international advertising agency whose clients include MillerCoors, VW, Boeing, EA Sports, and KFC. In Chicago, he led creative teams in a wide variety of client groups including Jell-o, Cool Whip, Jack Daniel’s, Herradura Tequila, and Milk. Dave is also a graduate of the Second City improv and writing programs in Chicago. In January 2011, Dave became creative director on the Taco Bell account at DRAFTFCB’s Orange County office, making the move to sunny southern California. Dave now lives in Laguna Beach, just steps from the ocean and thousands of miles away from Chicago winters.
Neil Fitzpatrick, Associate Product Line Manager, Baseball/Lacrosse Apparel, Nike, Inc (Portland, OR)
Neil manages Nike’s baseball and lacrosse apparel product lines across the Nike Branded, Team, and Licensed businesses, including MLB, college baseball, and college lacrosse. His role includes gathering consumer insight, analyzing the marketplace, creating seasonal line plans, briefing design and development, and handing off the line to regions, accounts, and sales. Neil began his career with Nike in the Licensed business after supplementing his design degree with one in law and gaining admittance to the Oregon State Bar.
Molly (Moran) Fremeau, Communications & Marketing Specialist, University of Notre Dame Food Services (Notre Dame, IN)
As the Communications & Marketing Specialist for Notre Dame Food Services, Molly designs everything from signage to menus to invitations for Notre Dame’s restaurants, cafes, dining halls, catering department, and athletic concessions. She also assists with planning each unit’s annual marketing calendar and implementing their promotions throughout the year. Additionally, she creates wedding invitations and stationery for freelance clients. And lastly, but most importantly, Molly is cook, chauffeur, maid, and mom to 5-year-old Audrey.
Brian Grunert, Founder and Principal, White Bicycle (Buffalo, NY)
Brian Grunert is a graphic designer and part of a Buffalo-based studio, White Bicycle. The studio has carved a niche in cultural marketing, collaborating with a variety of clients to help build their brands. Their work has gained national recognition, including a Grammy Award for album package design in 2004 and nominations in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2010. Brian lives in a brick house with D'Arcy, Hope, Zagnut, Deke, and Fletch.
Allen Hemberger, Computer Animation Artist, Pixar Animation Studios
Allen began his career at Big Idea Productions, creators of the animated series Veggietales, which was based in a shopping mall in the western Chicago suburbs. Since that time he’s worked on over a dozen films that range in quality from “pretty rad” to “embarrassingly terrible” and has lived, at various times, in Chicago, San Francisco, South Bend, New Zealand, and San Francisco again. His creative work on the movie Avatar earned his team an Academy Award. He is currently working on a movie about talking cars.
Dave Hunt, Senior Project Director at CMID, Inc. (Indianapolis)
Dave Hunt, LEED AP is Senior Project Director at CMID, Inc, an architecture, engineering, and project management firm in Indianapolis. Dave specializes in project management services for cultural institutions, managing new construction, renovations, and the design, fabrication, and installation of large scale commissioned artwork. Since 2007, Dave has served his primary client, the Indianapolis Museum of Art as project director for the design and construction of 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park and the upcoming exhibit by artists Allora & Calzadilla for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale.
Liz Lang, Photography Department Manager, Fox Broadcasting Company (Los Angeles)
Liz is the manager of the photography department at Fox Broadcasting Company. She is responsible for the creation and usage of all photographic artwork and assets for multiple FOX primetime series and specials. Liz produces and art directs the advertising and publicity photo shoots for designated shows from the pre-production phase through the final image output process. You can usually find her rushing through an airport, buried in a dark editing bay or wandering a Hollywood film lot.
Patrick O’Connell, Lead Designer, Target Corporation (Minneapolis)
Patrick currently manages the design and engineering team responsible for developing Target’s owned-brand housewares product, Chefmate, Room Essentials, and Target Home brands. During his six years at Target, he has design product or managed product development for Michael Graves, Giada De Laurentiis, Mio, John Derian, Rachel Ashwell, Thomas O’Brien, Isaac Mizrahi, and Cynthia Rowley. Patrick’s diverse assortment of products, that range from furniture to electronics to children’s bedding, can be found in more than 1,600 stores across 49 states.
Event coordinated by:
Robert P. Sedlack, Jr.
Associate Professor of Design
Department of Art, Art History & Design
212 Riley Hall of Art & Design
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
office: (574) 631-4276
cell: (574) 621-8119
rsedlack@nd.edu
http://www.sedlackdesign.com