Miriello Grafico

BARRIO LOGAN DESCUBIERTO is a visual celebration of the working waterfront Hispanic neighborhood in San Diego, called Barrio Logan. The 88 page book is a graphic expose of the visual richness and unique creative energy of the community, featuring details of murals, typography,  sign painters, activists art and general community visual richness.
The book is designed by the team here at MG, led by Lauren English, many who have been active in the promotion and celebration of the community and it’s passionate and active creative members. The book contains a listing our neighborhood discoveries of cool, including artists, restaurants, activists, cafes, place we as designers have discovered and wanted to turn others onto.

While many work so feverishly to be wealthy, then build a fence around the property and never come in contact with the real world, the Barrio stands for the opposite. It’s a place where people share their feelings, their color, and eccentricities. The pathway to riches very much depends on how you define the riches. – RM

Preview the complete book at  http://www.miriellografico.com/mg/barriobook/. The book is available from that link for about $68.  That’s the publishers price, but they do a decent job. (We’ll even customize it with tipped-in found objects from the streets if you want to bring it in.)

Viva mejor.

The great people at Sanctuary 143 pulled off another stellar arts event last Saturday- CONSPIRE – their latest nomadic arts installation. Since the wildly successful Reinventing The Wheel event here at The Logan, CONSPIRE took advantage of Greg Strangmans Martin Building+Flats in Bankers Hill. Each room in the four story 1950’s apartment building was turned into a separate artists or musicians space. Those showing include: Acamonchi, Josh Higgins, Mike Maxwell, Josh and Jeremiah Zimmerman of The Silent Comedy, Josh Shelton, Sean Kelley, Joel P. West, Wes Bruce, Sandee Manuel, Keikichi Honna, Jeff Faeth, Sean Christopher, Tocayo and Will Redd.

I kinda felt like I was walking through a really creative college dormitory where everyone was focused, productive, social and collaborative. Just the way you hoped college would be – but never was. Check out Jeff Durkin’s video of the event at http://vimeo.com/3050203

Miriello Grafico was a sponsor of the event, in total support of giving young artists exposure. It seems to me that groups like Sanctuary 143 and SEZIO are connecting a new audience of people with the arts in ways formal museums can’t, or have no idea how to.  If I was a museum curator in San Diego, I’d be at every one of these events with my notepad and mind wide open.

See more CONSPIRE pictures on Flickr.

I’ve noticed an undeniable resurgence in the interest in bicycles- older bicycles- over the past year.  Classic steel-frame bikes in particular, have made a return and are being recrafted now into individual custom-assembled, personal statements about their maker.

The show we had here at Miriello Grafico/The Logan last September – Reinventing The Wheel- featured cool frameworks by Sky Boyer and the boys at VeloCult, in San Diego.  I must have six friends currently scouting for particular frames they can build their custom creations around.  Buying off the shelf is out, scanning eBay and garage sales for forgotten and neglected bike parts is in.

Pushing the trend even further from the fine arts end, is Willie Cole, an artist from New Jersey (born 1955) who transforms ordinary domestic parts, irons, lawn jockeys, and bicycles parts into sculpture with references to African-American and West African religion, mythology and culture.  Cole has shown at The Whitney, The Walker and The National Gallery in D.C.   A Toronto friend sent me these shots from their museum where she spotted Cole’s work this week.

Find out more on Cole and his other work from Kimberly Brooks’ article on the Huffington Post.

Scheduling a major party on the first day of the stock market’s downturn and the Vice Presidential debates might seem like its own form of social-suicide. Instead, the opening party of The Logan building was exactly what the masses needed. A place to meet, share, commune and understand that we are all in this together. And quite possibly, the innovation and problem-solving skills of the creative community may be more essential to the national dialogue than ever.

Ron Miriello toasted the crowd, “Our shared abilities of creativity and collaboration are fast becoming a new and important currency-type. As the financial markets waver and the myopic drive for individual wealth is paused, there’s an opportunity for the creative mindset and their unique abilities of invention, collaboration and informed risk-taking. The unique abilities of the people in this room are needed at a time like this.”

The celebration brought over 300 designers, architects, politicos, writers, artists and business people together to enjoy an evening in the creative beachhead neighborhood of Barrio Logan. The hosts – Miriello Grafico and LJG Partners – invited friends, clients and community members to a celebration – and celebrate they did. The Barrio restaurant, The Guild, managed the food and Temecula Valley ConVis organized the wines, all offerings from Temecula Valley. The Barrio Logan spokesperson Rachael Ortiz, arts tagger Crol, and the Mariachi Juvenil helped first-time visitors better understand the rich culture and history of the neighborhood. San Diego architects were plentiful, including the designer of The Logan, Jonathan Segal, who created a space where people obviously love to linger, share and invent.

Watch the party video on YouTube created by Jeff Durkin.                                                                        Find incriminating party pictures on Flickr.

The Sanctuary 143 nomadic artist collective opened their Reinventing The Wheel artist installation at Miriello Grafico’s Logan warehouse to over 700 people. “It felt more like New York than San Diego”, “I’ve never seen so many people into an art event in San Diego before”, and “I was blown away to find this level of energy, and in Barrio Logan of all places.”–were some of the comments coming out of the din.

Several artists and bikesmiths, including Ron Miriello of Miriello Grafico, contributed to the show pieces, all based loosely on the theme of reinventing- rethinking- the wheel. Velo Cult of South Park San Diego had 100 night-riding bicycle members arrive in mass to swarm the show and further expand the eclectic crowd of artists, designers, politicos, media, kids, dogs and hipsters.

Sanctuary 143 is an artist group, masterfully driven by Sean and Stacy Kelley and Jeff Faeth, with an approach to arts events founded on low egos, true collaboration and hard work. You can see photos of the Reinventing The Wheel event on Flickr.

Learn more about Sanctuary 143 and their next event  at : http://www.sanctuary143.com/category/events/

Finding a new creative use for  everyday, throw-away objects has a special satisfaction for both the maker and the viewer. Each get a slightly new perspective on things we see everyday. Re-purposed works send an interesting message that art is always surrounding – as long as we’re wearing the right pair of glasses.

These hanging mobile sculptures, made by Ron Miriello, are made from highway barricade sign and used zinc printers plates, cut with a CNC laser and then bent into three dimensional forms. This series was part of the Sanctuary 143 Reinventing The Wheel exhibition and are now installed in the offices of Miriello Grafico.