Scott Hull Associates

Curtis Parker

Mesa, Arizona has a plan. The way they see it, their combination of resources makes them the optimal location for businesses in aviation, healthcare, tourism and education, so they’re launching a move-to-Mesa campaign encouraging those businesses to do just that. For help giving the campaign a visual voice, they brought in Curtis Parker.

His creative challenge: Keep the imagery simple yet bold. Maintain a business approach that covers all the bases. And once the project is underway, preserve the integrity of the original vision amidst a healthy amount of client input. To do this, Curtis worked closely with art director Art Lofgreen at Catapult Strategic Design through the entire process, keeping the ideas flying back and forth like dusty tumbleweeds roaming the Sonoran Desert. (In a business-focused sort of way.)

The end result connects the reader, whether it’s a tourist, teacher or captain of industry, to the city itself. It also connected with the client. The City of Mesa Marketing and Business Development Manager confirmed the positivity about their citywide revamp. “We look forward to promoting the campaign,” he said. “And Curtis Parker’s artistry, too.”

Curtis Parker – The New Republic

Curtis Parker – Tampa Bay History Center/Christopher Chadbourne Associates

Penelope Dullaghan – Vegetarian Times

Curtis Parker worked with Jeff Stammen, art director at Christopher Chadbourne & Associates, and created 4 murals for the Tampa Bay History Center. Curtis admits, “Personally, my favorite piece was the Tampa Bay’s Cigar factory illustration”. Apparently, the folks at the Society of Illustrators felt the same way.

Curtis was awarded the silver medal. The creative process went very smoothly, with all the clients and committees involved unanimously agreeing that Curtis’s visual solution perfectly captured the history of Tampa Bay’s Cigar Industry. Jeff Stammen asked the Center’s curators not to change a thing. He also told the client at the museum that, “They were getting more than expected.”

Curtis says, “I have to hand it to the client and the art director for giving me such creative freedom. I enjoyed working with them and the easy working relationship made the project fun.”

Curtis describes finding out about his award, “When Anelle Miller from Society of Illustrators called me, I assured her that my entry check was good. She laughed and told me that seven of my pieces were accepted in the Illustrator’s 52 show and that the mural had won a silver medal. I was blown away. I feel really honored and very lucky.”

Doug Knopp, art director for Visual Marketing Associates, started his search for the perfect artist by speaking personally with Scott Hull, then went to the SHA website and picked a style appropriate for the client. Doug and his team discussed each style of each artist they were interested in and landed on Curtis because of his sophisticated approach to the theme. Curtis Parker offered his stylistic solutions to give the school a visual voice.

The school wanted the concept of the illustration to support the tagline for the Bell Tower magazine…”Connecting Schoolcraft College Alumni & Friends”. It’s all about cultivating and sustaining a lifelong relationship with Schoolcraft College’s extended family of alumni, students, faculty, staff and the community at large.

So why did Doug and his colleagues decide to go with art versus photography? Several reasons. The client had an illustrated idea of what they wanted. It would set them apart, from most collage magazines that are driven by photos. Always a big fan of illustration, they wanted to go against the grain. Their final outcome must be more customized than stylized. Marrying both style of illustration with the architecture within in the school. They wanted something tactile and approachable.

Curtis describes the initial stages of starting the process, “The school has a bell tower on campus so I wanted to connect all the alumni to this tower. I thought it might be cool to have the alumni crowd holding on to the bell ropes as the ropes weaved their way through the crowd.”

The finished product was described in a brief but effective statement from Doug, “The client is ecstatic.” That’s about the best response any director can hope for. He also went on to say, “The staff is excited about new style the magazine is taking via the illustration. We absolutely loved working with Curtis. He started with thumbnail sketches, so we had a sense of what final illustration would look like. And we were more than thrilled with the final outcome. Conceptually, it was spot-on.”

Christopher Chadbourne Associates contacted Scott Hull Associates once again seeking collaboration with Mark Riedy and Curtis Parker. Well respected individually in the industry for both of their years of creative illustration and high quality finished products, both Mark and Curtis were perfect for what the Tampa Bay Historical Center needed for it’s grand opening.

Vice President for Programs, Liz Dunham wanted the new museum to convey uniqueness, boldness, and a one-of-a-kind style that is synonymous with Tampa history and heritage. Hanging from the entryway ceiling, illuminated with custom made neon lights, Mark Riedy created larger than life signage illustrations of everything from ships to baseball players. Mark made the signage in a way that resembled the hand painted style of the 40’s and 50’s. These alone reached as high as 9 feet.

The Cigar City murals that Curtis Parker painstakingly worked on, depicted the culture and varied people who worked, lived, played and socialized in the communities.

Liz further expounds on her satisfaction in working with Riedy and Parker by saying, “The artists were both extremely open to the creative process and produced the most wonderful product. The icons are the most visible component of our museum. All our visitors comment on how wonderful they are. The curatorial staff is amazed and thankful for the Cigar City murals – they say it all the time! We only could wish we had more funds to seek their work again. The experience is well worth repeating.”