PROJECTS BY THE MVA

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Our unique practice is focused in three areas:

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Client-commissioned work:
we have handled
• t-shirt graphics for Analog Clothing
• portraiture, advertising and packaging for Corleone Records
• promotions, web design and exhibition graphics for Intermedia Arts
• catalog design for MCAD Gallery
• identity design for Northern Lights
• catalog art direction, retail and educational signage, product development and design, apparel design and promotions for Target
• illustrations and bespoke typography for XLR8R Magazine

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Independent curatorial and publishing projects:
• “New Skateboard Graphics”
A 144 page collection of contemporary skateboard graphics from around the world. written, designed and edited by the mva, with contributions from over 30 major skateboard companies and dozens of artists, in a span of 5 months from proposal to final print-ready book. in addition to the editorial and art direction, the mva handled all of the administrative work from making contact with brands to collecting artwork and releases.
Published by Mark Batty Publisher, November 2008.

• “DIY Album Packaging: Paper Bags and Office Supplies”
our 2nd collaboration with Mark Batty Publisher documents the output of the 90’s punk and hardcore scene in the form of vinyl record packaging. utilizing everyday materials that could be stolen or acquired on the cheap, teenagers across the country were releasing a new kind of underground music that with intensely hand-made packaging. this 144 page is designed entirely by hand (no digital type-setting anywhere in inside) and the 300 some odd color illustrations were all photgraphed by the mva.

another project concieved and executed on an extreme timeline, we began writing, compiling and designing in august 2008 with the final book being delivered in March 2009 for a late-June 2009 publication.

3) Entrepreneurial activities:
• Hardisty-Disk
An experiment in curation. our independent record label that releases small runs of vinyl and CDr's from a variety of experimental musicians and artists.

• MVA t-shirts and product
We regularly put our own ideas into production and sell small runs of t-shirts and other objects.

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We find that this focus on a wide-range of activities allows us to keep our work dynamic and changing and each bears out certain lessons: the freedom of our own projects expands our visual language and becomes a playground for experimentation; the parameters and unique needs of clients challenge us to develop new strategies; and our work in publishing marries our interest in curating and writing with the need to be aware of audiences and markets.