Monday, June 8
9:00am - Renzo Shamey, author of the book “Pioneers of Color Science”
Pioneers of Color Science: Faber Birren
Color plays an important role in our daily lives. Among our sensory qualities, color has historically attracted the greatest level of interest. At the ISCC/IACC-NA conference at Yale University this presentation will be dedicated to covering the life of a pioneer who had a lasting impact in the field of color science and technology. Faber Birren was an American pioneer, author, historian and consultant on color theory who is credited as having established the profession of color consultants in 1936 and left a permanent legacy at Yale University in 1971 by establishing the “Faber Birren Collection”. The depository at the university’s Art and Architecture Library is one of the largest in the world with books on various aspects of color including color theory, masterworks by the most noted color theorists, human perception and experience of color, ancient philosophical views on color, religious connotations of color, applications in art, and the latest scientific discoveries pertaining to color.
10:15am - Robert Hirschler, Chair of the AIC Study Group on Color Education
Bauhaus Influence on Colour Education: a Critical Homage
There are several articles, books and even doctoral theses on Bauhaus colour in spite of the fact that there has never been a “Bauhaus colour theory”. Colour courses at the Bauhaus started with Itten’s Vorkurs, colour was a part of the obligatory course. Later Klee and Kandinsky, then Moholy-Nagy and Albers also gave courses, but these were not coordinated. Albers remembers the subject of colour at the early Bauhaus as a “stepchild.” “We had very little color,” he remarked in a 1968 BBC interview, “real colour studies, in Itten’s course and in Klee’s and Kandinsky’s courses….” Although we find many references to colour theory also in Klee’s and Kandinsky’s writings, what gave true visibility to “Bauhaus colour” were two publications in the 1960’s. Itten’s The Art of Colour has already sold well over half a million copies world wide and it has been translated into 13 languages. It has, no doubt, even today the greatest influence on colour education in art and design schools, followed by Albers’s Interaction of Color. Most current textbooks on colour aimed at artists and designers quote these two among their sources, with some of them mentioning Kandinsky’s writings, but very rarely those of Klee. Moholy-Nagy and Hirschfeld-Mack are barely remembered for their work in colour education. Although the letter of Bauhaus colour may not be relevant anymore, the spirit has been carried on. After the Bauhaus had been forced to close its doors in 1933 former teachers and student continued to work in the spirit of the heydays both in Germany and abroad, establishing schools or at least courses based on the Bauhaus model. Many of the details of the colour theories expressed by the Bauhaus masters may have lost their relevance by now, but we must be grateful for these outstanding educators for their pioneering work.
11:00am - Keynote: Shashi Caan
Distinguished thought leader for architectural design internationally
Leading with Color: Shaping the Built Environment
Color is everywhere. In design education and practice, it is almost nowhere. The practice of design sets out to be synonymous with quality of life and well-being, a creative act that is integral to shaping the sustainable development of a community. Breaking down the foundational components of design, we find: Light, Color and Form. These three essentials can be combined differently to influence human and societal behaviors inclusive of aspirational, practical and perceptual outcomes.
Traditionally, form is the design starting point. To lead with color is to explore its potential as the first and most vital of the design ingredients. Leading with Color: Shaping the Built Environment seeks to explore the implications of this pivotal shift in the designer’s toolkit and the resultant implications for the built environment. If we recognize the importance of color in the design practice - its ubiquity and global diversity - an opportunity exists to create unique regional and global environments, identities and forms. When this method is combined with other global opportunities (such as design’s pervasiveness across the world), we can shape the built environment by leveraging an urgent concern for color, while combining the art, science, and craft of design toward new ways of creating form.
1:30pm - Keynote: Spencer Finch
American artist best known for his ethereal light installations
Keynote Summary
This presentation looks at over two decades of work that explores time, light, color, and the nature of sensory perception. Finch’s work integrates science, poetry, art, and philosophy to examine the forces behind what we see and how we represent the world. His practice embraces color in all its paradoxes and ambiguities, and investigates the power of the mind to shape our memories and shared experiences.
2:30pm Afternoon Breakout Sessions begin
5:00pm Panel Discussion on Lighting
Get up to speed on the issues and trends in this fast-evolving industry. Hear from experts in research, design, standards and products address questions such as: How has research on the effect of lighting on human welfare influenced lighting design? What challenges does LED technology present with regard to standards, design and sustainability? What trends and products are on the horizon for lighting in the built environment?
Tuesday, June 9
9:00am - Leslie Harrington Ph.D, Co-founder of HueData, a color intelligence company
Augmented Color Intelligence
Are you relying on intuition and traditional research methodologies to make color decisions for you products or brands? Have you made a color decision only for it to be rejected by the client or your boss? Did you ever wondered what goes into making color predictions, forecasting color use in industry two years in advance, or selecting the right color for a product? Traditionally, color decision making processes have relied on personal experience, as robust as it might be, limited datasets, and expansive-to-conduct market research. All of this is about to change. In today's world of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, new platforms and tools are emerging to support and augment intelligent and informed color decisions, ones that can be substantiated, validated and justified. Learn how color decision making has transformed over the last 30 years, through a personal journey that started watching the pros, becoming a pro, and coming to question our existing methods and look for new solutions that leverage today's technology to drive new color decision process of the highest efficacy.
10:15am - Kory Stamper, author of the best-selling book, “Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries”
"Rose" By Any Other Name: The Color-Name Problem from the Language Specialist's Point of View
A color scientist, a fashion consultant, and your Uncle Norman walk into a bar, where the bartender is wearing a sweater that’s…what color, exactly? Each person will recognize that color and will give an accurate answer, but that answer may well not be understood by anyone else in the bar. Our understanding of color itself has progressed dramatically in the last 100 years, but the names we use to describe individual colors are maddeningly diverse, confusing, or imprecise. Color specialists may wonder: why can’t we come up with a list of acceptable color names and just tell people to use them? That is precisely what one scientist, two dictionary companies, and the ISCC decided to do. Stamper will discuss how dictionaries are written, the role of the lexicographer in the whole process, and how technical language enters (or doesn’t) the vernacular. In particular, she’ll look at how a multiplicity of color names across different disciplines and eras makes the dictionary writer’s life a Technicolor headache. She will also share some of the research she’s done for her upcoming book on how the ISCC and Merriam-Webster decided to fix this problem once and for all—with mixed results and unintended consequences for the nonspecialist and the specialist alike.
11:00am Keynote: Eve Ashcraft
Author of “The Right Color” and founder of Eve Ashcraft Studio
Practicing Color in Context: Navigating through History, Human Dynamics, and Informed Inspiration
To be working with color is akin to weather prediction; we are tied to something that is constant, yet ever-changing and at times, elusive. My daily handrail through my process has been a constant acknowledgement of context. To understand color is to know and see how and why it functions in situ. In my work context extends beyond the physical reality of built space into history, human dynamics, and modernity.
I am a lover of history. Knowing more about the past informs many of the decisions that I make in my work. It’s also allowed me the freedom to not be a slavish historicist when it comes to assigning color in built space. This potential irreverence has its limits though, since I also have great respect for architecture. I find that this mix of knowledge and respect gives me a solid working platform, a contextual foundation that bolsters and inspires my ideas. For example, the ultramarine blue panels that punctuate a New York City building by architect Cary Tamarkin sprang from a discussion with Cary about Le Corbusier. I depend on historical precedents and references not as things to copy but as informed inspiration.
Since all of my work involves what can be called a “group effort”, I rarely make decisions without input from my clients whether they are private individuals, architects, museums or companies. In addition, coop boards, friends, families, neighbors, and contractors get in on the act. It seems as if the whole world will give you their opinion when it comes to color. It pays to have a keen filter and a sense of diplomacy to navigate through the noise. I am pleasantly surprised by how intimate color is for many of my clients. I often feel like I’m guiding them into the great unknown even if we’re just looking at something only slightly more pigmented than white. I take this adventure seriously and relish bringing my clients into a more personalized colorful space. This interaction between people is filled with every emotion and idea possible.
My projects touch upon a broad range of conditions from intimate residential interiors to wayfinding through vast public spaces. All of it is impacted by modern technology, with developments accelerating in the past ten years. All of us are faced with a rapidly changing visual world. Our sensitivity to color has been greatly impacted by omnipresent backlit screens. Additionally, we have to grapple with the Wild West of modern lighting, where the changing of a lightbulb can make or break a color plan in an instant.
I sometimes have a fairly comical image of myself with a foot in the past, a foot in the future and my arms wrapped around a project. It’s my job to see beyond the beautiful or inspirational into the specific and hardworking aspects of color. To quote myself, my favorite color: the one that works.
1:30pm Keynote: Jill Pilaroscia
Architectural Color Consultant and founder of Colour Studio
The Impact of Color on the Built Environment: How Color Shapes Experience and Human Behavior
In the built environment, color matters. By looking at color from an interdisciplinary perspective, the fields of art and science are critical to analyzing, measuring and interpreting human response to color. We will discuss my path to becoming a color consultant and my search to understand the power of color. The framework for my practice will reference the teaching and writing of Frank H. Mahnke, the former President of the International Association of Color Consultants as presented in his book, Color, Environment and Human Response. A brief discussion of the work of individuals who influenced Mahnke’s writings; Goethe, Albers, Itten and Birren will provide context into how one can approach color using the objective principles of Spatial Color Experience. We will look at project case studies demonstrating art and science principles of color applications for residential, mixed use, institutional, corporate and factory buildings in both exterior and exterior applications. We will summarize the potential benefits and importance of using color to shape experience and influence human behaviors in the built environment.
2:30pm Afternoon Breakout Sessions begin
5:00pm Color Education 2020 Panel
What is color literacy? Why did Red, Yellow, and Blue retire from the color wheel? How can color be taught as a STEAM Learning Model (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math)? Who should be studying color in 2020 and beyond? Why does it matter? Join us to be part of the transformational 21st century color literacy paradigm!