Up There

A very intriguing, short documentary on a group of wall painters and their ever-fading occupation. Shot in New York City, this amazing video was recorded by a group of filmmakers who are referred to as The Ritual Project. Although it's unfortunate that vinyl advertisements are now the standard for billboards today, I feel like this video helps shed light on an art form that's really quite amazing—and one that (to a certain extent) will never really
fade away. +

You can learn more about The Ritual Project at www.theritualproject.com

Andrew Bird covers Cass McCombs

Andrew Bird covers a song by Cass McCombs entitled Meet Me Here at Dawn. A beautiful song that was originally recorded on Cass McCombs 2003 album A. I love the way this video is shot though. Everything just seems very spontaneous and casual, for lack of a better word. Anyways, two great musicians, and one great song. +

French Paper Sample Room

The other day my screen-printed Girls Are Cute posters got posted onto the French Paper: Sample Room blog. A website which showcases the best work printed on French Paper. Thanks for that guys! For me, this is better than winning an AIGA award. +

To view more amazing work visit www.frenchsampleroom.com

Girls Are Cute Poster

This limited edition, screen-printed poster was created for a poster/art print show at the Pink Hobo Gallery in Minneapolis, MN. Entitled, Girls Are Cute, the poster was hand pulled on French Paper: Poptone Bubblegum, and utilizes illustrations that I created while at CSA Design.

Design & Illustration: Cory Loven
Screen-printing: Sam Anderson & Cory Loven

Typographic Sketches

These are some sketches that I created at CSA that could potentially be in an upcoming book by Steven Heller on typographic sketches, or illustrative type, or something typographic. I'm not so sure to be honest. Charming neverthe-
less though. Sailors.+

French Paper Mill Tour

When the gang at CSA Design went to go document the French Paper Mill in Niles, Michigan; Susan, Josh, and myself were holding down the fort back in Minneapolis. It was a quiet week, with no boston terriers, but we made some kick ass illustrations and probably listened to some loud music as well. Anyways, despite our quiet week, the other guys and girls were busy shooting video of the Mill, and here it is.+

My Old, Familiar Friend

It's difficult and quite rare to find an album cover that really makes you stop dead in your tracks and makes you want to look at the artwork for hours. Brendan Benson's latest album entitled My Old, Familiar Friend does just that for me. And when I saw the cover artwork on Pitchfork's site months in advance before the release date of Benson's new album, I was extremely excited to hear the album, as well as enjoy the artwork. The image displayed above is what the album cover looks like on vinyl, yet the image below is what the cover looks like on CD.


Quite a drastic change between the two, and a saddening one at that. To me it just feels like all of the beauty of the original illustration is sucked out, due to the dark and confining booklet background. I'm aware that the main reason this cover was altered was probably due to the fact that the album title and musician's name had to the placed on the cover, and this was certainly one resolution for that problem. Yet what still remains is an amazing illustration that's hindered by it's context and refinements.

If text were to be displayed over the illustration it would probably be very illegible, due to the ornate and busy detail of the image. This is certainly understandable, however, a clear sticker with the album name and artist could've easily been placed on the cellophane of each of the albums to resolve this issue. Not to say that this is the right way, but it would've been a reasonable option.

Shortcomings aside, My Old, Familiar Friend is a wonderful power pop album by a great musician, and the illustrator Evan B. Harris certainly creates amazing work.+

Make sure to check out all of Harris' work at www.evanbharris.com