Kudos to the curator who created "The Shock of the News" exhibtion at the National Gallery of Art. As someone who loves collage, typography, photomontage, DADA, encaustic, publications, altered books, screenprinting, paper and graphic design, it couldn't have been more apropos. Who knew (or is surprised) that Picasso put together the first-known collage when he incorporated newspaper into a painting? And how can I describe the joy upon seeing a collage up close by my idol, Kurt Schwitters? Ever wonder how Hannah Höch assembled her brilliant photomontages without a stat camera or Photoshop? I marveled at finding new artists, such as Eugen Batz, who managed to make art from letterforms, newspaper and comped type (the way we used to do it, by drawing thick lines). And what show featuring the news would be complete without a Warhol? Extra! Extra! 

(Above: Eugen Batz, Contrast Study, 1929-1930, © Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin.

Kurt Schwitters, Untitled (The Hitler Gang)

Hannah Höch, Von Oben (From Above)

While NY's Cooper-Hewitt  National Design Museum is undergoing renovations, their exhibitions have been forced to other locales. This summer brought me and my "Design Divas" to the designer's dream: Graphic Design: Now in Production, a "pop up" show on Governor's Island in New York. I was at first puzzled by the title. Was the show not finished? Well, yes, the graphic design show is very much in transition. The once clear definition between content maker and content messenger has blown apart, and no one knows where it will lead.

"The rise of user-generated content, alternative methods of printing and distribution, and the wide dissemination of creative software, have opened up new opportunities for design." --Cooper-Hewitt

So why did this statement fill me with dread? My fears about our industry are not new. I watched as photo typesetters, color separators, photographers and illustrators had their professions either dry up or downgrade. Graphic designers somehow managed to sidestep the story. But no longer. Crowdsourcing, templates, easy-to-use software enable anyone to dive in to design, opening up "new opportunities".

The exhibit may not have put my fears to rest, but it did prove graphic designers are not pushovers. By exploiting the new possibilities, we see designers making products, producing brilliant motion sequences for TV and film, exploring their own stories through print and digital media. Designers are thinkers. Designers are creators. We are the magic makers.

Interactive twitter feed poster display. Viewers could tweet messages that would appear on the revolving screen.

The exhibit featured the best of the best, including books, screenprinting, wallpaper, type, logo and product design and commentary.

From Brazil, an opening collage sequence to Capitu, by Lobo

Hailing from western Massachusetts means frequent visits to MASS MoCA, the erstwhile mill turned modern art museum. I am never disappointed. The current show, "Oh Canada" featuring artists from, uh, Canada, was no exception. Environmental themes, surprising media combos and subversive humor blended in this stellar show. My hands-down favorite piece was Kristan Horton's mesmerizing Haptic Sessions ed #1/3, (above) a stop motion video made on a flat bed scanner.  The terrible mix of oil and wildlife is clear in Iiniiwahkiimah, (below) by Terrance Houle. A black vinyl buffalo drips above oil flasks, the type used for filling up car engines, and frequently tossed in parking lots. The title references Houle's Blackfoot name, translated to mean buffalo herder.