Graphic Design

Robert J. Wirth, a retired teacher, artist and graphic designer who made the environment the focus of much of his work, died of a stroke Tuesday at his Woodberry home. He was 83. Born in Bayonne, N.J., he attended the New York University School of Architecture and the Drexel Institute of Technology before enlisting in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. He designed airfields on Okinawa, Guam and the Philippines. "His times of combat haunted him throughout his life," said his daughter Susan Wirth of Baltimore.

Owl Magazine , the student magazine of Harford Community College in Bel Air, recently won national honors in the Apple Awards Competition sponsored by the National College Media Association. The Winter 2012 issue placed second in the category of Best Magazine Cover. The front page was designed by Brianna Breece, a graphic design major, and featured photography by English major John Morin. The front-page models were HCC students Laurise McMillian and Marcell Betts. "A Crash Course in Counter Culture" from Owl Magazine's Summer 2012 issue also placed second in the category of Two-Page Spread, a category judging design, photography and writing quality.

The Maryland Institute, College of Art has an excellent reputation. Recently U.S. News and World Report named it one of the top four visual arts colleges in the nation.But that ranking had little to do with graphic design or illustration."The reputation of those departments was nothing like the reputation the institute enjoys in fine arts," says Ray Allen, who became vice president for academic affairs in 1994. "I saw no reason why we couldn't make the applied arts areas every bit as strong as the fine arts areas."

A decade ago, artisan Mark Melonas was piecing together a living teaching sculpture at the Baltimore School for the Arts, doing some freelance graphic design and staging exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. And he was fooling around with concrete. A friend was looking for a small sink for a tricky spot in a Canton rehab, and Melonas asked if he could give the project a try. "I actually made it in my Bolton Hill apartment, carrying bags of cement up the steps," said Melonas.

Swiss graphic design, beginning in the 1950s, exerted a major influence on graphic design internationally. Swiss design, which came to be known as International Typographic Style, was characterized by a clarity achieved through the use of such design elements as sans serif type and a grid system of organization. Sixty examples of this style are on view at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's Kuhn Gallery in the show "Word and Image: Swiss Poster Design 1955-1997," and it includes work by Armin Hofmann, Wolfgang Weingart, Carl B. Graf, Werner Jeker, Peter Moser and Max Bill, among others.

WOMANSHIP TO AID YMCA FUND DRIVESuzanne Pogell, president of Womanship, the international sailing school for women, recently announced plans to support the YWCA's Capital Campaign.She was joined by Dolores Bail, executive director of the YWCA, Mick Blackistone, executive director of the Maryland Marine Trades Association, Bob Jett, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce's Sail Annapolis Committee, and Jay Templeton, chairman of the city of Annapolis Marine Advisory Committee.Womanship invites marine businesses to enroll in Womanship courses between now and the Annapolis Boat Show in October.

Ten years ago, Nini Sarmiento and Rob Degenhard were scouring flea markets, antiques stores and yard sales searching for midcentury modern pieces to furnish their Rodgers Forge townhouse. They were having such a good time — and becoming so good at it — that one vendor suggested they try selling furniture themselves. And so Home Anthology was born. Today their Catonsville store has become a destination for those seeking midcentury modern, vintage, and retro furniture and accessories.

Owl Magazine , the student magazine of Harford Community College in Bel Air, recently won national honors in the Apple Awards Competition sponsored by the National College Media Association. The Winter 2012 issue placed second in the category of Best Magazine Cover. The front page was designed by Brianna Breece, a graphic design major, and featured photography by English major John Morin. The front-page models were HCC students Laurise McMillian and Marcell Betts. "A Crash Course in Counter Culture" from Owl Magazine's Summer 2012 issue also placed second in the category of Two-Page Spread, a category judging design, photography and writing quality.

Committed. Passionate. Talented. Three words that accurately describe one of our honored men of Harford this year, local painter, Ken Karlic. We chose Ken because he transformed a life-long passion for watercolor painting into a medium that has captured so many beautiful, scenic venues in Harford County. His water color paintings represent the best of rural living and we are happy to tell his story.   Originally from Chicago, Karlic has spent the last 25 years in the Baltimore area and in 2003 moved to Harford County with his wife, Eve Morra, a photographer and their now 9-year-old son Julian who attends Harford Day School.

Accounting course, business plan seminar offered by SCORE SCORE Chapter 390 will conduct a one-day workshop, "Business Accounting Made Easy," from 8:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 4 in the Chesapeake Room of Heritage Complex, 2664 Riva Road, Annapolis. Those who attend will learn how to start and maintain a balanced set of books to meet IRS requirements and how to make a business more profitable. The fee is $45. Reservations: 410-266-9553. A seminar, "Let's Prepare a Business Plan," will be held from 8:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 10 in the Heritage Complex.

Ten years ago, Nini Sarmiento and Rob Degenhard were scouring flea markets, antiques stores and yard sales searching for midcentury modern pieces to furnish their Rodgers Forge townhouse. They were having such a good time — and becoming so good at it — that one vendor suggested they try selling furniture themselves. And so Home Anthology was born. Today their Catonsville store has become a destination for those seeking midcentury modern, vintage, and retro furniture and accessories.

A. Bright Idea Advertising and Public Relations, of Bel Air, recently hired Brooke Austin to lead the team as director of new business development for West Coast operations. With an extensive portfolio of work in Maryland and California, A. Bright Idea provides top quality marketing, brand development, graphic design, interactive web development and design, advertising, CPG packaging and public relations support to nonprofit, government and retail clients. Austin will be responsible for continuing these solutions in working with A. Bright Idea's current and new clients.

Committed. Passionate. Talented. Three words that accurately describe one of our honored men of Harford this year, local painter, Ken Karlic. We chose Ken because he transformed a life-long passion for watercolor painting into a medium that has captured so many beautiful, scenic venues in Harford County. His water color paintings represent the best of rural living and we are happy to tell his story.   Originally from Chicago, Karlic has spent the last 25 years in the Baltimore area and in 2003 moved to Harford County with his wife, Eve Morra, a photographer and their now 9-year-old son Julian who attends Harford Day School.

Ravens Tickets for regular-season home games sell out quickly The team's supply of single-game tickets for eight regular-season home games sold out Friday morning in about one hour. Still available are fewer than 1,000 tickets for each of the team's two preseason games at M&T Bank Stadium: Aug. 13 against the Washington Redskins and Aug. 24 against the New York Jets. Tickets can be purchased by calling 410-261-7283 or visiting BaltimoreRavens.com or ticketmaster.com. The M&T Bank Stadium ticket office windows open Monday at 9 a.m., and will remain open through 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, until the end of the season.

Jane Catherine Smith, a retired graphic designer and artist, died Tuesday of complications from Parkinson's disease at her home near McDaniel in Talbot County. She was 83. Ms. Smith was born in Baltimore and raised in Randallstown. She was a 1941 graduate of Catonsville High School. During World War II, Ms. Smith enlisted in the Women's Army Corps and served as a photographer assigned to the Signal Corps. Her assignments included photographing Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek on their arrival in the United States and covering President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral in 1945.

David Boone McElroy, a graphic designer and former art director of the old Sun Magazine, died of multiple sclerosis June 28 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Parkville resident was 54. Mr. McElroy was born in Baltimore and raised in Northwood and Parkville. He was a 1972 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School and studied graphic design at what is now Towson University and the Professional Institute of Commercial Art in Reisterstown. He began his career in the early 1970s, at Towson University as assistant to graphic designer Mike Dunne.

Antkowiak Design Group Inc., a Glen Burnie-based design and advertising firm, has announced its merger with Interactive Media Concepts in Annapolis. ADg, headed by Jeff Antkowiak, offers services in advertising, corporate identity, graphic design, animation, Web development and interactive media. IMC, founded by Tim Chermak, specializes in multimedia design, computer networking and training. "ADg and IMC are in the same arena," Chermak said, explaining that he and Antkowiak "decided that there are small gaps in what ADg offers that IMC can help to fill, and vice versa."

Sharon Malecki spent weeks last spring putting together an anti-alcohol message for fellow college students in an eye-catching, pocket-size booklet that warns "Alcohol = Impair Yourself."This week, the effort by the University of Maryland Baltimore County senior paid off, as she won the $1,500 grand prize in a national competition sponsored by the federal government's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.At an international conference on substance abuse Monday in Washington, U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello presented her with a check and a plaque.

pixer.us What's the point? -- Now that we're fully into the digital photo age, people are posting photos online and creating graphics for their blogs. If you don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for Photoshop and you want more functionality than the programs that come with your computer, you're kind of stuck when it comes to editing photos. Pixer.us is an online photo editing program -- no downloading required -- that allows you to upload pictures directly from your computer so that you can crop and resize the photo so it fits perfectly into that blog post of yours.

Rosemary Conroy says she lives in a treehouse. Not really. But she has good reason to feel that way when she looks out of her casement windows onto treetops and hears, but does not see, children playing in the yard of nearby Calvert School. Conroy's airy hideaway is one of 36 units at the Gardens of Guilford - a gracious, 1923 Spanish-style complex nestled among old trees and flowering bushes in North Baltimore's Canterbury-Tuscany neighborhood. The white stucco walls, terra cotta roof tiles and U-shaped courtyard with red-tile steps and wrought iron railings are distinctive in a neighborhood of Tudor-style townhouses.