Mary Banas,
Design Education


An ongoing record of teaching & related activities, 2007–now.



Advanced Studio: Personal Publishing ︎︎︎Advanced Studio: Personal Publishing ︎︎︎




Personal Publishing
BFA
Fall 2020
California College of the Arts
Chair: Rachel Berger
⟶ Course website: Personal Publishing



Work by: Alia Moussa, Keston Hinds Cruz, Darian Newman, Malik Sapp, Aashi Jhaveri, Ruiyi Liu, Bueli Pert, Menaja Ganesh, Karina Kristensen, Hollis Panelli.

⟶ Learn more on the final project student work here: Personal Space
An advanced studio cross listed in graphic design and illustration focused on publishing. Students generate their own content for this course.

Course Goals:
1. Survey methods of contemporary and historical publishing to inform your creative practice.
2. Generate content as a writer, editor, visual maker.
3. Develop, design/visualize and produce your content for the public in the form of a digital publication. 4. Collaborate with other creative people.

Visiting lecturers included:
Lukaza Branfman Verissimo who gave a talk and led a workshop called OUR VOICES ARE IMPORTANT! on Sept 23

renald Louissaint who shared his undergraduate thesis work The Process and Scrutiny of the Color Pink on Oct. 7

Breanne Trammell who shared work with their talk 1-800-ONLY-DO-WHAT-YOU-WANNA-DO-OTHERWISE-ITS-NOT-WORTH-IT on Oct. 14

Somnath Bhatt who shared his process and conducted a workshop titled
The Idea of work / Publishing Chaos on Oct. 21

Draw Down Books (Kathleen Sleboda and Christopher Sleboda) who shared work in a talk called The Urge to Publish: Looking Back with Fresh Perspectives on Nov. 11

*Due to COVID-19 this class was online.


Virtual Critic,
University of Utah

BFA
December 2020
University of Utah
Course: “Identity Systems & Brand”
Professor: Zak Jensen
Senior graphic design students created identity systems, and I was a guest for their final critique. “Each student was asked to create a brand identity for something of their choosing—anything, real or not, that doesn't already have a brand identity. They had two weeks to think, research and develop a brief—what is the thing, how's it unique, who's the audience, what are the goals of the identity? Followed by a few weeks of design and guidelines development. The final product was in the form of guidelines, including example applications of the identity.” — Zak


Very Varied, a talk about my practice

BFA
March 20, 2020
University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Invited by Moon Jang
I gave a variation of Very Varied — a talk about my practice organized in a set of “knowns” about the possibilities and challenges of making, designing, teaching, and being. This talk took place over Zoom.



Graphic Design 2
BFA
Spring 2020
California College of the Arts
Teaching Assistant: Juan Pablo Rahal 💫

Chair: Rachel Berger

Some activities were in collaboration with other GD2 sections taught by Ana Llorente & Jeremy Mende—the charette, Valentine’s Day workshop, and final presentations, for example. 

Guest Critics, both in person and remote:
Mark Buenafe, Silas Reeves, Josh Silverman, Drianne LaLiberte, Denise Kan, Renald Louissaint, Kyle Davis, Tim Belonax, Ana Llorente, Lisa Maione, Darian Newman, Kaming Lee, David William
A core studio for sophmore graphic design students focused on the process and methods of design. Students work with different content each semester to create identities, posters, typographic animations, process books, and independent projects. 

Charrette:
This semester started off with a charrette IF YOU THINK SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING for which all 3 sections of Graphic Design 2 responded to the “Stuff We’re Not Talking About” flyer and conversation and then designed, produced and installed a bumper sticker with a personal message from that conversation. 

Talks:
• Shannon Finnegan “Accessibility Dreams” Lecture hosted by CCA Design Division

• Ordinary People Lecture coordinated by chris hamamoto & offered by MFA Design program

“Around Seoul” Graphic Design Exhibit curated by chris hamamoto

• Field Trip to SFMOMA hosted by David Senior in the archives

Visiting designer presentations:
Divya Das
Mark Buenefe

*Due to COVID-19 this class adopted a “distance learning” format after March and class took place over Zoom.


A = B: The Studio Practice Conference

MFA
Saturday, October 5, 2019
Cranbrook Academy of Art, 2D Department Studios

See more ︎Video


A = B: The Studio Practice Conference “Analogy as a Means for Understanding” was a weekend-long conference with talks and workshops centered around non-traditional design practices, experimental studios, and critical design education models. Breanne Trammell and I gave a presentation titled IS IT A BLACK HOLE OR A TUNNEL about “where our ideas come from” in regard to our collaborative work BMTMB. We also facilitated a workshop for which the participants assembled a collaborative ‘trash flag’. I concluded with the weekend with a day of studio visits.

Guests:
Breanne Trammell
Ramon Tejada
Erik Carter
Nicole Killian
Piotr Szyhalski

Special thanks to Wes Larsen, Lindsey Camelio, Elliott Earls and the 2D Dept. at Cranbrook.


CONTACT
For speaking engagements, workshops and critic appoinments, drop me a line here.


BIO
Currently teaching at School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston, MA.

Mary Banas has taught graphic design since 2009, notably as Visiting Assistant Professor in Residence at the University of Connecticut, Rhode Island School of Design, University of Bridgeport, Roger Williams University, and California College of the Arts.

She has led design workshops for the Center for Creative Solutions (Vermont), Dolby Labs (San Francisco), OTIS College of Art and Design (Los Angeles), the Berkeley Art Museum + Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley) and Cranbrook Academy of Art (Michigan). She has been a visiting critic at Maryland Institute College of Art, Pratt Institute, University of Utah, Boston University, Rhode Island School of Design, and San Jose State University.

Mary has been invited to talk about her creative practice at California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA), Cranbrook Academy of Art (Michigan), and University of Georgia (GA). 

Mary develops conceptual and informed designs for brands, institutions, and artists with her independent creative practice YES IS MORE and currently serves as a Senior Visual Designer in Marketing and Communications at Rhode Island School of Design.


Education
Rhode Island School of Design
MFA Graphic Design, with Honors
May 2009

University of Connecticut
BFA Communication Design
May 2003

Original photo: Hunter Kelly. Image manipulation: Derrick Schultz