AIGA Minnesota
Names Three 2016 Fellows April 19, 2016

MINNEAPOLIS — April 2016

The Minnesota chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design, is pleased to announce the selection of Andrew Blauvelt, Timothy Eaton, and Kolean Pitner as recipients of the distinguished AIGA Fellow Award.

The AIGA Fellow program recognizes mature designers who have made a significant contribution to raising the standard of excellence in practice and conduct within their local or regional design community as well as their local AIGA chapter. Contributions in education, writing, and leadership, as well as reputation and the practice of design, are given equal consideration. The Fellow Award is the highest honor an AIGA chapter may bestow upon one of its members.

Minnesota’s 2016 Fellows were chosen from member nominations by a subcommittee of the AIGA Minnesota chapter board, and approved by the Board of Directors. The nominees will be publicly honored at a special event at the American Swedish Institute on Thursday evening, June 2, and their names will be added to the national list of AIGA Fellows. Details regarding the event can be found here.

Previously named AIGA Minnesota Fellows are Peter Seitz (2000); Tim Larsen (2007); Sue Crolick, Joe Duffy, Eric Madsen (2010); John DuFresne, Monica Little, Heather Olson (2012); Jo Davison, Dale Johnston, and Doug Powell (2014). Fellows are now honored by AIGA Minnesota every two years.

Andrew Blauvelt

Andrew Blauvelt is a designer, curator, and educator. For 18 years he held several distinguished positions at the Walker Art Center, including Design Director, Senior Curator of Architecture and Design, and Chief of Communications and Audience Engagement. While at the Walker he oversaw the print and online publishing programs as well as civic engagement initiatives, and served as creative director for the Walker’s progressive brand identity across various media platforms. As a curator he organized many popular traveling design exhibitions, including Graphic Design: Now in Production (2011) with Ellen Lupton at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York—the first such survey in more than 15 years; Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes with the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; and Some Assembly Required: Contemporary Prefabricated Houses (2005), the first major museum survey of the subject. His latest exhibition, Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia (2015), is the first major museum survey of the art, architecture, and design of the counterculture in more than a decade. He also co-organized the popular Insights lecture series with AIGA Minnesota for more than 15 years. In 2015 Andrew Blauvelt was named Director of the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, which organizes exhibitions, presents programs, and collects objects in the areas of modern and contemporary art, architecture, craft, and design. He is also a graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art where he received his MFA in Design. A practicing graphic designer for more than twenty-five years, Andrew is the recipient of nearly 100 design awards, including several nominations for the Chrysler Award for Design Innovation and the National Design Awards in Communications Design as well as numerous inclusions in AIGA’s 50 Books/50 Covers competition. His work has been exhibited and published widely in the United States, England, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan. In 2009, while serving as Design Director, the Walker Art Center received the National Design Award for Institutional and Corporate Achievement from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum—the first non-profit organization to win the honor. As an educator, Andrew served as department chair and director of graduate studies of graphic design at North Carolina State University’s College of Design. He has also taught the history and theory of design in graduate programs in the U.S., the Netherlands, and Mexico. In 1995, the Graphic Design Education Association (GDEA) named him Educator of the Year. He also served as Adjunct Professor of Practice in the Department of Architecture, College of Design at the University of Minnesota. He has served on the national board of directors of the AIGA and is an elected member of the Alliance Graphique International (AGI) based in Switzerland.

Timothy Eaton

Tim Eaton is an accomplished graphic designer and successful business owner. His 45-year design career includes senior design positions with Cowles Communications, Debrey Industrial Design, Ellerbe Architects, Ariss & Eaton, Eaton & Associates Design Company, and Canoeing.com Limited. Tim’s first business venture was a partnership with British designer Frank Ariss. From 1973 to 1980 their consultancy, Ariss & Eaton Design, provided brand identity and collateral design services to Fortune 500 and start-up companies alike in San Francisco and Minneapolis. In 1981, Tim founded Eaton & Associates Design Company—a full-service design agency. That year he joined MGDA (AIGA Minnesota Chapter). Today, E&A continues to provide a select group of small businesses, governmental agencies, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations with full-service design, including brand development, print and digital communications, web development, eNewsletters, blogging, ePUBs, and 508 Complaint solutions. Tim’s design work has been published in AIGA, American Center for Design and Graphis poster books as well as in Communication Arts, Graphic Design USA, Graphis, How, Industrial Design, Photo Design, Photo District News, and Print magazines. His design work has received awards from AIGA, American Center for Design, International Association of Business Communicators, Minneapolis Art Directors Club, Minnesota Graphic Designers Association, Package Design Council of America, Society for Technical Communication, Society of Typographic Arts, Typographers International, Graphis, and AIGA Minnesota. In 1995, Tim purchased the Canoeing.com domain name with the vision of one day sharing his personal passion for canoeing and wilderness travel. On June 1, 2007 the website was launched and continues to grow today with a 100,000+ following with over 525 pages of information and 5,000+ links to additional information. The Canoeing.com brand mantra is The Ultimate Guide—Where to Go and What to Buy. Tim received a BFA in Graphic Design from Minneapolis College of Art & Design in 1968.

Kolean Pitner

Kolean Pitner is an enthusiastic advocate of design history, teaching History of Graphic Design and History of Illustration at College of Visual Arts for 26 years. She co-authored the book Peter Seitz: Designing a Life, and co-curated CVA Gallery exhibits bRANDs: The Early Years, Branding by Paul Rand, 1941–1955 and The Lustigs: A Cover Story, which later traveled to New York’s AIGA Gallery. Her own work was exhibited in Women in Minnesota Design at CVA. A long-time AIGA member, Kolean has served on the Minnesota board twice as Education Director, and organized the Insights Lecture Series as its Programming Director. Kolean coordinated AIGA’s Get Out the Vote Twin Cities poster exhibition. She helped produce AIGA Minnesota’s Art Buddies fundraiser/mural painting project featuring L.A. street artist Chase. She also coordinated the Create! Don’t Hate program with local college design students mentoring Washburn High School art students. Currently, as Associate Director of Archives, Kolean curated, wrote, and collaborated on the design of MGDA/AIGA: A History Exhibit presented at Walker Art Center. She is guiding translation of the exhibit for aigaminnesota.org, and negotiated the archives acquisition by the Minnesota Historical Society. Kolean has bachelor’s degrees in Graphic Design and Art Education from Kansas State University and a master’s degree in Communication Design from Pratt Institute. Prior to teaching, she practiced graphic design at firms in New York and Minneapolis before starting Pitner Design.

— For more information contact Miranda Woehrle, Director of Design Impact, AIGA Minnesota, [email protected]