SFDW Recap: Against the Grain, Disruption in Unlikely Places

It was a pleasure to sit down and discuss our respective perspectives on what working "against the grain" has meant for each of us.  The panelists included Bert Berry, Douglas Burnham, John McNeil, John McNeil, and myself.  Rene de Guzman moderated the discussion held in the arresting studio space of JMS, a space designed by the co-host envelope A+D. 

Rene framed our discussion by disbanding the notion of  "off Center" merely in terms of geography, and broadened the idea to include asymmetrical power dynamics in politics with the example of Black Lives Matter as a representation of how the "margins disrupt the center."  

Then we went in. Ideas about choosing to work professionally against the grain in our creative projects, as well as a punkrock approach to setting up our own studios, reflected a personal process of alignment with our inner values.  This line of reflective discussion revealed that for some of us,  a lateral transfer of our skills, from one discipline to another in architecture, animation, design, and public art, provides the necessary risk and friction to offer a dissenting voice based on another prospective and often the resolution and integration of these opposing trainings, best practices and perspectives is the innovative solution.

What happens when we try to institutionalizing the scrappy outsider, or when we ourselves become the establishment?  This brought up the importance of removing oneself form the "center" as an intentional strategy to disrupt one's own authority, in our own companies, and in community engagement. 

There also a wonderfully nuanced conversation of pushing towards excellence, and the vulnerability to rely on questioning "why" to empower our teams to re-align with the larger goals of the company, place, project, and ultimately ourselves.  Let's keep talking. 

BIO's of participants (ya'll know me so here are the other luminaries)

Bert Berry, Art Director at Pixar  has worked at Pixar Animation Studios for 17 years as an art director, digital painter, and production coordinator. He served as the shading art director on the Academy Award winning films Wall-E, and Inside Out. Other film credits include: Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Cars 2, and the forthcoming Finding Dory.

Douglas Burnham, Founder and principal at envelope Architecture + Design Envelope is an award-winning collaborative design firm that advances new models of public and private space anchored in compelling visions of the emerging urban condition. A practicing architect for over twenty years, Mr. Burnham is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Architecture. 

John McNeil, Founder and CEO at John McNeil Studio as CCO, Creative Director, Writer and Art Director, John has solved strategic brand problems and created multiple award?-?winning campaigns for clients such as IBM, Kodak, Microsoft, XBOX, HP, Motorola and American Express among others.  

René de Guzman, Director of Exhibition Strategy and Senior Curator of Art at the Oakland Museum of California joined OMCA in 2007 after serving for 15 years as Director of Visual Arts at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), a multi-disciplinary contemporary art center in San Francisco.

Creative visionaries have always been pioneers, seeking affordable outposts that sit on the fringe of major cities as a means of survival without creative compromise. But in the last decade, thanks to the power of the connected world, ambitious designers, architects, marketers and filmmakers have found real success and influence working for global clients and on large scale projects from humble locales... 

https://2016.sfdesignweek.org/events/against-the-grain-creative-disruption-in-unlikely-places/