My uncle, the late Walter Margulis, was an accomplished painter. To commemorate his life’s work, the Museo Sefardí de Caracas (Sephardic Museum of Caracas) organized a retrospective exhibition, taking place at two sites, the museum and the Museo Kern (Kern Museum). I had the honor of designing the catalog for the exhibition, as well as collateral material. I collaborated with the curator long distance: she lived in Venezuela and I lived in New York.
Role: Art director, designer
Client: Museo Sefardí de Caracas
Employer: This Makes Me Happy (self employed)
Engagement: Design for catalog, invitation, and signage
Accolade:
The catalog was selected for the AIGA Philadelphia Design Awards showcase
Awarded best catalog of the year by the Venezuelan Chapter of the AICA (International Association of Art Critics)
Catalog; front cover, back cover, and interior spreads
Invitation for opening reception
Signs for the exhibition’s two sites
Process
The curator, who was my point of contact, was located in Caracas, Venezuela. I was located in Philadelphia, USA. We never met. We communicated over email. We worked together beautifully!
While I was familiar with Walter's work, my first step was to review all the artwork for the retrospective. The curator had already written the text and described the work as spiritual and ethereal, which inspired me to create an open and light design.
The client set the format and number of pages and requested a specific number of images, otherwise, they trusted me with the creative decisions. After the first round, they requested a significant increase in the number of images. My initial concern was that we would clutter the catalog, but working with the client we were able to prioritize the content and images while keeping the lightness that was so key to the messaging.
Since we were working together so nicely, the client asked me to design the invitation and the signage for the exhibition. These were not in the initial scope, but we enjoyed working together and it made sense to design them together.
