Denver Art Museum, Denver CO, 1992
Published:
You Are Here - Graphics that Direct, Explain, Entertain, 1999
Designing & Planning Environmental Graphics, 1994
Architecture magazine, 1993
Identity magazine, 1993
Communication Arts magazine, 1993
In July of 1991, architect Anthony Pellecchia of Anthony Pellecchia Architects and graphic designer Kathy Wesselman of Wesselman Design, Inc. were commissioned by the Denver Art Museum (DAM) to design an exhibition titled "The Art of Architecture - The Denver Art Museum Reconsidered" about the museum and its architect, Gio Ponti. This exhibition opened February 1993 to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the museum.
Pellecchia and Wesselman worked together with Craig Miller, the curator of the Design and Architecture department of DAM to develop the concept for the exhibition. The goal of the exhibition is to educate the viewer about the unique qualities of DAM and to allow them to see the museum in a new way. Architecture, graphic design, photography and video are employed to deliver the message.
Photographer Thomas Arledge of Arledge Studios was commissioned to photograph the museum from the inside out, carefully shooting to convey ideas that are the intellectual raison d'etre of the museum. The video was created by filmmakers Arnie Knox and Tom Neff of Denver/L.A. Wild Wolf Productions and acts as a coda to the exhibition.
The design approach consists of two major elements - the integration of references to Ponti's work and the decision to let architecture and graphics (i.e. typography, photography and drawing) have equal voices. The marriage of the two makes for a very challenging and compelling exhibition. The exhibition was on display for one year.
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