Instructor
MFA (CalArts)
BFA (San Francisco Art Institute)
Liberal Studies
John Calvelli is a design theorist, designer and photographer. His work explores the role of the image in producing or countering unsustainability. He is on the faculty of liberal studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Canada, where he lectures on design theory and history as well as visual culture. His papers have been published in the journals Design Philosophy Papers and visual:research:scholarship, and his photographs can be found on Urbanautica.com. As a designer, he held the position of director of the Department of Graphic Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as worked at the Walker Art Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
MFA in Visual Communication, CalArts, 1989
BFA in Photography, San Francisco Art Institute, 1981
Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, 1982-3
2009-present
Instructor in Liberal Studies. Alberta College of Art and Design
2005-2008
Associate Professor, Communication Design. Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), Portland, Oregon
2001-2005
Academic Department Director, Design Management (2004 - 2005); Faculty, Graphic Design. Art Institute of Portland, Portland, Oregon
Brand Strategy Manager, KPMG consulting, San Francisco, CA 2000-2001
Director and Designer, Department of Graphic Design, The Museum of Modern Art, New York 1995-2000
Design Manager, Scholastic, Inc., New York 1993-94
Art Director, SmartMoney magazine 1992-3
Graphic Designer, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago 1990-1991
Graphic Designer, Walker Art Center, 1989-1990
2008
Remants: Nature + Politics. Solo exhibit of photography. Alexander Gallery, Clackamas Community College, Clackamas, Oregon.
Art Contemplates Industry: Hawley Powerhouse. Group exhibit. West Linn Public Library,
West Linn, Oregon
2011
Paper presentation: “Design Is/Is Not the Problem: Ethological and Disciplinary Considerations” University Art Association of Canada annual conference, Ottawa.
Workshop participant: DesignInquiry: Design Cities: Montreal. Photographs and paper (forthcoming): “Instructions for the Design of a City.” DesignInquiry <http://designinquiry.net/category/designcities-montreal/>
Workshop project lead: “Experiments in Infrastructural Ontography.” Visualizar ’11 workshop at Medialab Prado in Madrid, Spain <http://pushplusminus.com/ontography15m/>
2010
Journal paper: "Unsustainable Histories, Models of Practice." Design Philosophy Papers. <http://www.desphilosophy.com/dpp/dpp_journal/journal.html>
Workshop participant: “Arts & Cartography: Mapping Environmental Issues in the City.” Produced a series of photographs with paper titled “Experiments in Correlative Ontography.” Edited version of paper published in Mapping Environmental Issues in the City: Cartography and Arts Cross-Perspectives, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2011.
2009
Paper presentation: "Theses on Image, Species, Unsustainability." 40IADE40 5th International Conference, Unidade de Investigação em Design e Comunicação. Lisbon, Portugal
2008
Paper presentation: "Design, designing, designing designers, and redesigning designing: a fable on sustainment." Fifth Annual Design Research Conference, Interdisciplinary Design Institute, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington
Paper presentation: "Design Redesigned" panel moderator and speaker, School of Visual Arts Twenty-Second Annual National Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists on Design, the Arts and the Political, Algonquin Hotel, New York
Public lecture and exhibition organization: "Design Futuring, Culture and the Coming Age of Unsettlement" featuring Australian design theorist Tony Fry
Symposium organization: Focus the Nation symposium on design, art and climate change for Pacific Northwest College of Art
2007
Journal paper: "Design, designing, designing designers, and redesigning designing: a fable on sustainment," visual : design : research, Research Journal of the Australian Graphic Design Association, Vol. 3, No. 2. <http://research.agda.com.au/index/index/volume/1>
Paper presentation: "Design, designing, designing designers, and redesigning designing: a fable on sustainment." Contemporary Design Theory and Practice panel, College Art Association Annual Conference, Dallas, Texas
Symposium development: Focus the Nation on Global Warming, public symposium on art, design, and sustainability, Pacific Northwest College of Art
2006
Curation and symposium development: Tokyo Object Flow exhibition and Tokyo Flow academic symposium, Pacific Northwest College of Art featuring MoMA curator Paola Antonelli and Tokyo design firm Nendo
Visiting lecturer: Universidad Blas Pascal, Córdoba, Argentina
Panel participation: Illegal Art (in conjunction with exhibition), Pacific Northwest College of Art
Brand Consultant for identity redesign, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, Portland, Oregon 2006
2005
Exhibition research advising: "Safe: Design Takes On Risk," curated by Paola Antonelli, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
2004
Review: "Feeling Good, Feeling Guilty," (on the AIGA national design conference), Design Institute of Minnesota website
Paper presentation: "The Practice of Theory in a Profession of Form," Association Typographique International (ATypI) annual conference, Vancouver, Canada
Developed and implemented B.S. in Design Management for Educational Management Company and the Art Institutes International
2003
Book contributor: History of Graphic Design syllabus published, Teaching Graphic Design by Steve Heller, published by Allworth Press
Presentation: "Art History, Design, and the Digital Database," Computers and the History of Art annual conference, British Academy, London
2001
Presentation: Small Talk series, AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), New York