How Do You Measure A Year

"What makes the difference between wishing and realizing our wishes? Lots of things, and it may take months or years for wish to come true, but it's far more likely to happen when you care so much about a wish that you'll do all you can to make it happen." - Fred Rogers

For those who wonder why my posts have been so sparse in recent months, let this be the answer. Every day for the last 365 days I have shared a snapshot of creativity with the world. I've researched, sketched, and written a years worth of mini history lessons and posted them on my Facebook page, never missing a day. I amassed over 60 Photoshop files alone with this project, filled with drawings and factoids. Over these past twelve months, there have been times when I wanted to stop. I would have two or three other projects in the works, my day job stressing me out, but I kept going. As I look back on what some may not see as much of an accomplishment, I see just how far I've come. If there's one thing a year-long project will do, it's show you just what the word 'commitment' means in your life.

A Year of Art & Design History
Digital sketches © Rachael Sinclair

Researching these people, objects, structures, and creations has taught me much about where we've been as inspired creatures and where we may go in the future. There has been beauty pulled from darkness and depression, invention pulled from necessity, and awe-struck breath pulled from the lungs of the world over the centuries. Art, music, literature, architecture, craft: these things give us the basic energy we need to soldier on. Without the creativity the arts bring us, we would not know the forms that lie waiting in a slab of marble, the colors hiding in an unpainted canvas, or the way a certain chord or line of prose can bring tears to our eyes.

The milestones as they appeared on my Facebook page.

It's been an amazing journey into history and into my own determination. I've tried new styles and picked up a few bits of trivia. Pearl Buck said, "If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday." I encourage you to delve into the history of what inspires you. Learn the ins and outs, ups and downs. Strike up a kinship with the past and you will never spend another tomorrow alone.

Michael Graves

St. Coletta School, Washington D.C.

Humana Building, Louisville, KY

If the animators responsible for The Incredibles, Wall-e, and Meet the Robinsons, had a patron saint, it would be Michael Graves. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1934, Graves eventually became one of the New York Five and is a household name thanks to his collaboration with Target on domestic products. His buildings and products are futuristic and strong, but not entirely cold like some other modern designs.

Graves uses glass, marble, and metal to paint a picture with his architecture. His work takes chances and liberties with the skyline that stay pleasing in spite of their age. Some may push the envelope with modernism as Graves does, but their work never manages to break out of the current trends, resulting in a heavily dated look as the years pass.

In his product design, Graves uses a great deal of glossy metal and a signature grey blue. His pieces are almost always easy to identify and, like his architecture, lend artistic whimsy to a home no matter the interior scheme.

With hundreds of architectural triumphs to his name and his products revered in homes everywhere, Graves has quite the legacy. His bold style pushes boundaries without becoming garish, cultivating an inspiration of confidence and fine attention to detail.

Louwman Museum, the Netherlands

Sources: Wikipedia, Michael Graves & Associates

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Art nouveau, arts and crafts, and art deco are some of the most popular types of art and architecture. There's something breathtaking and decadent about the lines and materials. In the midst of artists like Tamara de Lempicka and Erté and the achievements of architects the world over, we find Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Mackintosh was talented in many creative fields, but is perhaps most well known for his architecture.

Throughout his life, Mackintosh displayed a singular style, one that ran closely with those of his contemporaries, but still had its own flair. One of his signature elements was a highly stylized rose. You can find it on a number of his pieces, whether architecturally or in paintings. He utilized vertical lines in long succession, peaceful symmetry, and tone saturation in paint and materials. The lines, textures, and figures were a pleasing hybrid of nouveau and deco. His less architectural work still maintained a bone of structure that was very Mackintosh. Human figures and flower stems were long and lean, curving like ceiling trusses.

What's popular is often imitated, most of the time by 'small fish in big pond' artists and architects, people whose names escape the scholar's tongue. The art styles of the day can bring accolades, but a true craftsman must always put a individual stamp on his or her work. Mackintosh was a quintessential creative of his era, but his work is one that people can instantly recognize. For that reason, he set himself apart and made himself a singular cultivator of inspiration.

Sources: Wikipedia, Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society