Invitations

                               Fireweed Designs

I designed this two-sided invitation for master potter Gordon Hutchens' exhibition at the Gallery of BC Ceramics, keeping in mind that the images he wanted to use must work in black and white on one side, and color on the other. The crystaline glazed vase worked well in terms of contrast minus color components, so that was the best choice for the back side. I placed the vase photo slightly off to the right for a more interesting look that would also accomodate the desired scale for retaining decorative detail.

                                Fireweed Designs

I reworked Gordon's original photo of himself in front of a wood kiln (by Paul Bailey), by turning it around so he is now facing in the opposite of the original direction, and lowered the flames so that design-wise they'd work better in the existing space. I inset the smaller pottery image (already available on a gradated background) where I did because it already stood out on its own, and chose to really highlight the larger pot which I photographed myself, because the vibrancy of its colors could almost appear to be sparkling in the light of the flames pictured above.

 It's always important to leave adequate 'negative space' in a design so it doesn't appear too crowded, especially when a lot of information must be packed into a small area! In this case I also had to squeeze in the gallery logo on both sides, so used a dark red on the front that would still be visible without overpowering the rest of the design.