{"id":1001,"date":"2023-11-30T15:36:20","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T15:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/?p=1001"},"modified":"2023-11-30T16:23:07","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T16:23:07","slug":"mediavilla-presented-by-sonia-da-rocha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/?p=1001","title":{"rendered":"Mediavilla, by S\u00f3nia da Rocha"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last Monday, the 27th of November 2023, we had Prof. S\u00f3nia da Rocha at FBAUP, visiting from the ESAD.Har.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had been in Portugal for a few institutional visits and, of course, to attend the fantastic Typography Meeting at the University Lus\u00f3fona in Lisbon<\/a> the previous weekend. We had had the opportunity to catch up and prepare beforehand, but the conference she delivered was genuinely inspiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Quick tour through the Faculty spaces and sharing of research and education experiences and practices before the conference<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

S\u00f3nia arrived for a tour of our faculty. We visited the main buildings and exhibition spaces\u2014the ESAD.HaR<\/a> has a vital component in public art and exhibition design. Hence, it made sense to quickly tour the museum spaces with the Museum curator Lu\u00eds Nunes. S\u00f3nia was also interested in the photography and printmaking workshops as her school has a strong legacy and is very much oriented to the “in-house” Graphic Design production. After a quick tour of these spaces, Prof. Ferro was kind enough to open his classroom door and quickly tour the sculpting and metal founding workshops. Something everyone in our school should visit and know more about\u2014impressively clean and efficient spaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then headed to the South Building to share what our faculties do best. Sonia mostly shared their activities \u2014 especially the curatorial and editorial ones. They involve their students in organizing and producing exhibitions and editorial materials, usually with artistic or linguistic legacies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Moving on, we then proceeded downstairs to the South Building Auditorium for the main conference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Encounter with the work of Claude Mediavilla<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition Mediavilla \u2013 Calligraphie, Typographie, Logotype, designed by S\u00f3nia da Rocha, took visitors to discover the different forms of Latin writing through the eyes of Claude Mediavilla, combining teaching material, calligraphy examples, font designs, and pieces of lettering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claude Mediavilla is known above all for his calligraphic work and the books he dedicated to the discipline. Highlighting the work Calligraphie \u2013 Du signe calligraphi\u00e9 \u00e0 la peinture abstracte, published by Imprimerie Nationale in 1993 (Spanish version of 2005, by Campgrafic, present in the FBAUP Library).<\/p>\n(Excerpt from the conference promotion email)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This was the starting point of Sonia’s conference. After a quick introduction and establishing the importance of Mediavilla in the French and the international typographic and calligraphic landscape, she presented us with her “encounter” with her master and teacher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Mediavilla is also a Graphic Designer and Type Designer, having worked since the mid-70s, with large studios such as TypoGabor and Hollenstein, at a time when the profession was undergoing complete change. He designed fonts and logos for several companies and institutions, such as Air France, Ch\u00e2teau de Versailles, Herm\u00e8s, Ministry of Culture, among others. In 1982, he was awarded the Charles Peignot Prize.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
One of the original posters produced in a silk screen combination of colors and compositions for the 2020 exhibition of Mediavilla’s work<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Primarily a practitioner and less of a professor, his work \u2014 primarily through Sonia’s lenses \u2014 is of the utmost importance. having left us with a series of books, arguably the most important one is his widely translated and still available \u2014 Calligraphy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
One of Mediavilla’s “virtuoso’s master calligrapher” abilities \u2014 render a copy of Rudolf Koch’s expressive gothic [block] letters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some highlights were the size and detail Mediavilla put into his practice. being originals or copies, the intricacy of his drawings is impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S\u00f3nia presented us not only Mediavilla’s work from his books but, most importantly, shared with us his vision and (digital photographies) of his original ink drawings from the professional world \u2014 from a “lost” time, when it was prevalent to render hundreds of drawings a day and production a lot of work by hand (and ink).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Nice audience turnaround. From left to right\/front to the back of the auditorium: 1st-year Graphic Design students, one professor from FBAUP, two professors from visiting institutions (ESAD and IPP), 1st-year master student, 2nd-year master students, 3rd-year Graphic Design students. Out of the picture, is another FBAUP colleague and Graphic Design and Drawing professor. Having joined us later, an old colleague from S\u00f3nia, an IPP teacher, and a 2nd-year master’s student.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She then explains how she gained access and sifted through the thousands of works throughout the exhibition’s discovery, selection, and assembly that revisits and celebrates the work of this critical Designer, Calligrapher, and Type Designer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than a collection of pictures, Sonia left us with a living record of what it was (and still is) to work and learn with such an influential designer and calligrapher. Stories about human relations, work ethics, and the importance of achieving high standards in a professional setting. We had a lovely audience turnaround \u2014 for such a particular topic as calligraphy and “old timers” in our school \u2014comprised chiefly of first-year Graphic Design degree students and students from the first and second years of the Master in Graphic Design and Editorial Projects\u2014 as everyone seemed to enjoy it, as almost all of them stayed long past the hour to have a small talk with S\u00f3nia and browse the catalogs and books she brought with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

S\u00f3nia da Rocha studied graphic design at the Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico do Porto (IPP.ESEIG \u2014 currently IPP \u2013 ESMAD) before learning calligraphy with Claude Mediavilla in Paris, in 2008. In 2010, she attended the postgraduate course \u00abTypographie & Langage\u00bb at the \u00c9cole Sup\u00e9rieure d’Art et de Design d ‘Amiens. At the end of the course, she joined Jean Fran\u00e7ois Porchez’s team (Typofonderie and Zecraft), where she participated in the development of several Typographic Design projects (RATP, Louis Vuitton).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2013, she has been a freelance Calligrapher, Graphic Designer, and Type Designer, having carried out projects for international brands and institutions such as Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse, Metropolitan Opera New York, FRAC Champagne Ardenne, Le Fresnoy, Yves Saint Laurent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a teacher, S\u00f3nia collaborated with different institutions (ECV Paris; ESAD Reims) and since 2016, she has been part of the team of teachers at the \u00c9cole Sup\u00e9rieure d’Art et de Design Le Havre – Rouen (ESADHaR), where she teaches Type Design and develops design projects. curating exhibitions around artists’ editorial objects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Monday, the 27th of November 2023, we had Prof. S\u00f3nia da Rocha at FBAUP, visiting from the ESAD.Har. She had been in Portugal for a few institutional visits and, of course, to attend the fantastic Typography Meeting at the University Lus\u00f3fona in Lisbon the previous weekend. We had had the opportunity to catch up… Continue reading Mediavilla, by S\u00f3nia da Rocha<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,6,4],"tags":[21,129,128,131,127,130,66],"class_list":["post-1001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conferences","category-events","category-fbaup","category-news","tag-calligraphy","tag-esad-amiens","tag-esad-har","tag-logotypes","tag-mediavilla","tag-sonia-da-rocha","tag-typography","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231127-6B2A0196-2-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1001"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1035,"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions\/1035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdgpe.fba.up.pt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}