Art Yap

Connie W. SFO Museum
Shawna Vesco Ahern: [00:00:00] This is an art. Yap. It is an art. Yap. We're talking art. Yap. Ity y art.
Theme Song: Artfully, artfully, artfully, artfully. Yap. Yap. Yap. It's time.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: The details are not the details. They make the design. I'm Shauna Vesco Ahern, and this is Art Yap. The podcast where I gab with Bay Area creatives about imagination, arts, culture, and everything in between. Today's guest is Connie Wurz (formerly Connie Wood), curator in charge of graphic design at the SFO Museum and someone whose work quietly shapes how [00:01:00] millions of people experience art and information every day.
Connie's design work isn't just beautiful, it's empathetic. It meets people where they are in motion, in stress, in transit. Whether it's a traveler sprinting to a gate, or someone pausing for a quiet moment in an airport terminal, her contributions to exhibitions makes space for curiosity and reflection.
In this conversation, we talk about storytelling through design, how to build for diverse audiences, and how all the details matter and design is everywhere. Connie's path from her early love of photography, typography, and wallpaper to designing for one of the most unique museums in the world is a masterclass in care, clarity, and creative leadership.
Let's get into it.
welcome to Art Yap. I'm Thank you. I'm so happy to have you on the show today. Uh, for at least two reasons, many more, but at least two. The first is you have one of those [00:02:00] jobs that people don't even know really is an entire job. Um, with a very cool title, uh, curator in charge of graphic design.
Yes, the more important you get, the more clunky your title gets, which is good. Um, but the second reason I'm really happy to have you on the show today is on our phone call last week or two weeks ago, you were talking about the Charles Ames quote. You know, about the details, um, aren't just details, they're the whole project.
And then have you seen in the news the last couple days that that Birkenstock building on 1 0 1 is now gonna be like a whole institute for his cultural legacy? So I think that's like. You know, he never comes up really for me. And then it came up in a big way twice. So it just feels a little serendipitous.
Connie Wurz: Excellent, excellent.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Um, so we're gonna get into today you, your career, your perspective, and just kind of your creative journey. So I thought it might be good to let the kind listeners know a little bit about the work that you do here at SFO Museum. [00:03:00]
Connie Wurz: All right. Um, well, I'm curator in charge of graphic design at SFO Museum, which means that I provide the creative direction for all SFO Museum exhibitions, print, web, video.
I, I manage the museum's, various marketing collateral and press materials, and each exhibition is basically breaks down to be a mini branding project. My role is to maintain a cohesive visual identity across the exhibitions and all the communication channels,
Shawna Vesco Ahern: and you have a lot of like. Areas and pockets in this museum.
So how many exhibitions per year, and we can use that word lightly, is it like 30? I think I was talking with a colleague outside and they were saying like, 30 a year is a good number.
Connie Wurz: Well, right now, yeah. We are rotating 15 this year. Um, we used to do 40 a year. Whoa. Too many was when we had a lot more staff.
Mm-hmm. Um, but we are, we do have 25 galleries. And, um, as we open new spaces [00:04:00] coming in Terminal three, which is getting renovated, we'll be doing 24 major exhibitions a year.
so if you were to describe the purpose or the mission of your program, what would you tell listeners? Uh, it's just enrich the guest experience in a busy transportation hub. I mean, if you think about it, we're bringing, um, art into people's lives and we're sharing a museum experience with people who might not otherwise visit museums.
Um, I kind of look at it as a only in San Francisco type of thing. Mm-hmm. That speaks to me as the former art curator for San Mateo County. 'cause I was, if you were going to jury duty, if you were getting married, getting divorced, paying your child support stuff, you would walk past art. And I can't tell you when I was installing how many people would stop and say, this is great.
Like I didn't expect to see this here today. Um, and it is fun to just be going about your business and you see some actual stunning exhibitions [00:05:00] that give you something to think about.
Connie Wurz: Exactly.

Shawna Vesco Ahern: when people sort of ask what you do, what's your little like. Elevator. But do you tell 'em like, oh, like I'm in a, in the creative industry, or like, oh, I just do graphic design. Like how do you, uh, I, well, and like, how do you still identify, I guess, as a graphic designer?
Connie Wurz: Yeah. I like to say graphic designer. Uh, half my career, the title was art director. Okay. Um, then I was design director at one of my pro, um, one of my previous positions. I guess a branding expert. Mm-hmm.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: This work is so nebulous and the more I dig into it, like how people think of themselves in these roles where you're doing other things that aren't necessarily like your primary interest or background.
Mm-hmm. But then how it all after time kind of coalesces around your central or core interest. Um, would you say for you it is kind of thinking visually about text and graphics and image, or do you like more the project management end of [00:06:00] it?
Connie Wurz: Definitely more the creative end of it. Yeah, that's, that's a sweet spot when all the plans are in place and all the projects are assigned.
And then there are those days where I can take all the different components of an exhibition and start to assemble a puzzle.
Mm-hmm.
And you know, it's always trying to find those elements that become the storytelling mechanisms. Highlighting those, we, we will call them hero images mm-hmm. In the museum.
And then building a story around that. 'cause you know, we, we have an audience that's here primarily to travel, right? And so what we're looking for is that person to a plan. Extra time arrive early. It's mostly people visiting before they head out. Mm-hmm. Um, so we're looking for people to plan to arrive early to enjoy our exhibitions, but the other audience is somebody who's walking by, we catch their eye and they come and they go, [00:07:00] wait, and they come back for a second look.
So, um, creating that brand, creating that gallery. Space to like, um, capture somebody's imagination mm-hmm. And inspire them to come inside, ends up being, uh, the most rewarding experience. And a lot of times those people who have happened upon our galleries, um. In a, a very organic way, they'll also engage in visitor surveys.
Mm-hmm. And then we'll hear, oh, you provided the calm in the storm. Keep doing this. This was such a special, uh, experience for me. Where are the rest of 'em? You know, like, they just want, they just be, become, uh, a fan. Quickly.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: so people are running through here early to flights, late to flights. How can they engage with the exhibitions?
Connie Wurz: We started, um, visitor surveys. Um. Maybe two years ago. Uh, so we have a [00:08:00] QR code mm-hmm. In every exhibition space. And if you are engaged in the exhibition and you wanna send us feedback, you follow that code and we.
Less than five minutes. Ask a few key questions and we leave the field open to tell us exactly how you feel about it. And we read this, there's a team of museum professionals reading these every day. Mm-hmm. And we incorporate the feedback in our future planning.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Have you ever gotten really funny feedback?
Absolutely. Really? Yes. That should be its own exhibition.
Connie Wurz: I usually, I keep a folder of, of all the visitor surveys and I usually highlight things I wanna remember. Nice. Yeah. Yeah.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: That's really charming.
I know you're here. And then I don't come here unless I'm traveling. But then when I come and travel, I see.
The banners are at the time I think it was like the different outfits through the ages. Mm-hmm. And mm-hmm. That got me immediately. And then I was here [00:09:00] recently and it was the videography room, which I didn't know that. Yeah. You had, and there was some crazy experimental film playing in there, like a six minute long film.
And I just sat, I was alone in the airport, which is crazy 'cause it's so busy in here. But no one else was in this dark videography room and I was just having a minute with an experimental film before I went about my day. Um, and I just think that's so magical. And that's. Sort of what I love in public art too.
People who aren't necessarily art lovers or they're not here for that, but then it's just a little bright spot in their day.
So for people listening who are now super interested in SFO Museum, but they're not flying anywhere, is there any way we can help them out? How can they come here?
Connie Wurz: Yeah, you're asking the right question at the right time because we recently started, um, a, a museum pass, uh, program where you can have a tour, uh, behind the scenes.
It's a curator led tour every week. Uh, this opportunity to see exhibits without a ticket. And you can reserve a [00:10:00] date by emailing curator@flysfo.com.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Oh, and we could just be like one of us. It doesn't have to be like a group, a five or a school group or someone important,
Connie Wurz: one person at a time. You can come with your family, you can come with your mother best friend, another art lover.
Um, and you'll, it's mostly on Tuesdays and um, it's. It's really taking off. People are enjoying it very much.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: It's taking off, uh, LOL. Alright, thank you.
Um, so when you were a toddler, you knew you were going to grow up and do this. They asked you, they said, what are you gonna be when you grow up? And you said art director in a no major airport?
Connie Wurz: Never, never.
It, it does sink back to, uh, childhood experience of traveling a lot and being really comfortable in airports. [00:11:00]
Shawna Vesco Ahern: I love airports. Yeah. I love them. I feel really energized every time I come here. It's something about like the possibility or people or their stories, where they're going, where they came from.
I love airports. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So you always had a fondness for it and then it just kind of clicked when you got this job?
Connie Wurz: Well, I used to, um, you know, I'd fly in and outta here living in San Francisco, and so I remember walking past probably, I know it was terminal three. Mm-hmm. The exhibitions and taking that second look I talk about.
Mm-hmm. Like, wait, what? Well, how, how do I get that job? I could do that job. Mm-hmm. I'm interested in that job. Where's that job posted? Et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. Um, and so it just stayed in my mind of like, well, this is a mini branding project. The, and in the airport with all this travels, this is really exciting stuff.
And so later it just serendipitously things kind of aligned. [00:12:00] I was at a dinner party and I made friends with somebody new mm-hmm. Who was a designer and at the end of the night she said, Hey, there's this job that came across my desk. I'm not gonna apply to it. You probably be, you might like it. Mm-hmm.
Told me what it was. I was like, yes, I applied and you know, ended up here. So that's how it connected. Um, but I was, you know, the city jobs at that time were like really hard to see and this is a city job. Yeah. Like, I didn't even know where they were posted. Mm-hmm.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Probably a bulletin board in city hall.
Connie Wurz: Yeah. It was a little more than that at that, at that time. But when I did my interviews. I couldn't even look up the people who I was interviewing with. They didn't have LinkedIn presence. Right. They just didn't bother to do it. LinkedIn had been around. Mm-hmm. They just didn't wanna be on it, you know? So yeah, it's always been a kind of behind the scenes place and I guess I like behind the scenes places.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And I feel like, um, being from San Francisco, like [00:13:00] obviously I know it's a thing, this museum is here. Yeah. And it has accolades and it has a legacy. Do you ever tell someone who's kind of not from this area, like, oh yeah. Like I work at the museum in the airport, and they're just like, what?
Connie Wurz: Yeah. Definitely.
Really? Yeah. And then you end up, most people go, oh, I've seen those. Oh, I like those. And people will go back 15 years and remember something that they saw, which is always impressive. Um, but then we, I usually explain, no what, you know, we are really an accredited museum. And what makes that different than the other displays of artwork you see at other airports.
Mm-hmm. Being an accredited museum
allows SFO to borrow objects from major collections locally and across the world.
And so that, and it also holds us to the highest standard. As the other museums are held. Yeah. And the standards are across, um, like how you treat artifacts, but it's also about like education, right? Correct. And [00:14:00] community engagement and sort of that end of things too. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. We have education programs.
We have diverse programming, um, accessibility for everyone. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's all in the foundation. That's great.
So what in your early years or your early career led you to this role?
I think a lot of phases in my career have been very organic. Um. My dad was a wallpaper contractor and he ran a small business and, and the office was in our house and he had swatches and swatches of these beautiful wallpaper books.
And so that was my first exposure to pattern, to texture, and I think it just got in my brain. Mm-hmm. Subconsciously loving pattern and texture. Um. And when I got older, he would take [00:15:00] me to jobs that he had done, and I would see this, these beautiful wall covering designs. And this is Southern California, right?
Yeah, this is in southern California. So I think subliminally subconsciously, it, it, it kind of like sank in. Um, and then in high school I fell in love with, uh, photography and I ended up in the dark room, I think in ninth grade and just loved playing around with black and white, uh, images. Mm-hmm. Um, it. You know, hearing the instruction about when to go out with a camera time of day, you know, to avoid direct sun and get these long, exaggerated shadows, I was instantly drawn to that.
Mm-hmm. And then finding pattern in that, like I, if I go through those early photographs, you'll, there's a lot of pattern. Again, it's not, it's not like I was taking pictures of people or pets mm-hmm. Or still life setups. I would go out and. Discover something and find it. Mm-hmm. And then see the shape and the pattern and [00:16:00] photograph it.
Um, so I, I guess that def definitely starts there. And then in, uh, high school later, I had a studio art class where the instructor shout out to Mr. Friedrichs. Uh, he would set up projects for each student based on what their. Were naturally talented Oh, wow. To do. And so, um, there were people working with, um, colored pencils.
There were people working with acrylic paints. Uh, he started giving me design projects and I was like, okay. You know, so I started doing these patterns and like, okay, this is all right. Uh, he starts asking me for a con, a concept. Um, there was something for a tennis event. Um, well, what he was doing was. He was then taking my final artwork and he entered it into some small competitions and I won.
Wow. I won [00:17:00] awards, and so then he brought it back after I think two. He said, look, you're good at this. I wanted to show you this. You didn't know I was doing this, but I was giving you these assignments and then I was entering them in awards and I was like, wow, thank you so much.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: What a radical form of mentorship.
Oh, I know. Like, honestly,
Connie Wurz: he was amazing. He was amazing. And you know, I, I'm just in this room with all these other kids who I thought were much more talented than me, and the beauty of that moment was like he found where my talent was. Mm-hmm.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: You know what's interesting? The first person still lockman that I ever had on this.
Podcast. She went to School of the Arts in sf. Mm-hmm. She said that she would look around the room at all the talent and kind of feel like, oh, do I really belong in here? Um, so I think that's an interesting thread that I keep hearing from people. Yeah.
Connie Wurz: Yeah. I think creative people are always super vulnerable.
Mm-hmm.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Vulnerable. And it's like creativity spreads like a contagion. [00:18:00] So if you're around creative people, it ups your own creativity. Mm-hmm. Which ups their own creativity and it's this weird play that starts that early at that age.
Connie Wurz: Yeah, I think so. I think so. And then, um. Your, your brain is always, at least for me, it's always scanning and it's always connecting, like visual data more than anyone else.
Mm-hmm.
Like I can watch, uh, film credits come up at the end of a film and, and say, oh, you know, they should have type set that better. The kerning just not right. Yes. Like, why did they do that? They had this chance to do something else. So it's, it's in this scanning where other people won't even see it.
Mm-hmm. So that. That's a big part of just understanding how you are in the world. Mm-hmm. When you're creative, you know, you see color more dramatically, I think. Um, you're just curious. Like, I ask a ton of questions and if I don't know [00:19:00] everything, I feel like I have to find out. Mm-hmm. I have to keep asking questions.
It's kind of a little, little bit of a, um, a deep, uh. Space mm-hmm. To like be in sometimes to It's, yeah. To just feel like you wanna understand, um, as much as possible.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: That's where I enter into it because I don't feel like I have at all a visually creative bone in my body. And I've argued about this with other people who say, you know, painting is just circles and lines so anyone can learn to paint.
Um, but I feel like for me, coming from literature and from semiotics and linguistics. I'm so interested in how we make meaning, and that involves visual objects, it involves placement, it involves color, it involves texture, how we make meaning, how we construct these things. So that's how I sort of enter into that same world as you do.
But you probably have more of a creative [00:20:00] mind for it.
Connie Wurz: I, I think we're both creative. Yeah.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Oh, that's the question, right? Yeah. Is. Is everyone creative or not? We have to weigh in on the age old debate on this podcast. Yeah.
Connie Wurz: I still think everyone is in some way or another. I, I'll, I'll default on that.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Alright. Alright. Richard, if you're listening, and I know you are, we'll have to have a art Yeah. Party where we debate this live. Um, so going back to college then, you knew you were talented. You had outside validation from this teacher and from these awards. Did you feel like you could declare that as a major and that was how you were gonna connect your skills to capitalism?
Or did you feel like, still feel a push to do something? I don't know, normal or reasonable or whatever the words were at the time?
Connie Wurz: No, I, I was really blessed with parents who let me just ramble about and discover, which was, I mean, I, I look back at it. When I read [00:21:00] stories, uh, about people's parents telling them like, no, you have to be something else.
Mm-hmm. But they're innately destined to be artists. Um, I'm just, I really treasure that my parents never asked any questions about it. Um, in art school, um, I went to Cal State Long Beach at the, now they're the Sharks, but, um, they used to be the 49 ERs. 49 ERs, which I always found really confusing, but now it's also controversial.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And was the logo like a guy with like a mining thing? Um, I can't remember. Was it a beaver? I
Connie Wurz: Is this controversial now? Mm-hmm. That 49 er character? Um, yeah. Anyway, but they're the sharks now. when I was there, uh, it is just a ton of discovery time. Uh, the program I wanted to get into was a portfolio.
You had to pass a portfolio review. Mm-hmm. So the first couple years you're just building your portfolio, taking under graduate classes in design and color, um, you know, [00:22:00] typography. And, um, I also was like super interested in written words, so I took a ton of. Um, writing class, a lot of creative writing.
Mm-hmm. Poetry. Um, and then I was curious about the brain. So I would take as many psychology classes as I could, so I was just like, discover mode. Mm-hmm. It was all over the place, but I figured it would be this intersection with what I did because whenever I was working in my, on my design projects, I was very determined that the concept mm-hmm.
Would be. The most important thing, like, it, it wasn't just art for art's sake. Mm-hmm. Um, I wanted to make sure it was telegraphing a message. Right. So I think all of that coming together, the writing, the psychology, and of course all the design courses mm-hmm. Um, it, it all co-mingles to a place where I, um.
I [00:23:00] thought I'd spend the first part of my career in advertising. So that's, that's what I pursued. Um, I graduated Long Beach State and then I went with Portfolio out to, uh, interview at ad agencies and spent my first 10 years at, at a ad agency. But as I was working there, my career, well, my, my design degree was half advertising half.
Design, graphic design. So when I was in the advertising agency, they noticed quickly like, oh, she is good at design too. Yeah. So I would get a lot of collateral projects and then my career kind of shifts. That's interesting. Following
Shawna Vesco Ahern: I have an oddball question Yeah. That we did not prepare for and you can refuse to answer.
That's okay. Or we could just delete those later. I was thinking about when you said you had this kind of like. Net throwing experience in college where you're doing writing and psychology and all these things are gonna play into your work as a creative director and an advertiser and a graphic designer.
And I [00:24:00] feel that same way about myself and about, you know, humanities and arts, general education for people in tech or the sciences or whatever. And there's this discourse now that AI is gonna take away graphic design jobs and comms stuff, and. As someone who, personally, I use some AI tools to get art Yap off the ground.
Um, 'cause it's just me. So I, I have it tootle some things on Canva for me, or I have it write a little texty text from Insta, like whatever. Coming from this holistic person perspective, do you think AI really could ever replace graphic design in the way that people are talking about it? Um, or do you think like, because AI doesn't have a perspective and it doesn't have that same wealth of background that a human gets in these endeavors that it's not that scary?
Where do you fall on ai?
Connie Wurz: Um, I, I think it has a lot of [00:25:00] capabilities. Mm-hmm. Um, I think, well, no, through time, um, good design from AI still requires an editor for sure.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: I've noticed that myself. So it doesn't save me that much time sometimes having to go back through and fix things.
Like if I ask it to pick the most poignant moments from a conversation. She was just some very odd stuff.
Connie Wurz: There you go. So, but I have seen it do some amazing work. Um, I, I, I know a person who ran an AI program to get a logo and shared it with me and mm-hmm. I was impressed. It was, it was act actually very good.
Mm-hmm. So, um, I know, you know, it has that potential, um. Yeah.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And thinking about the logo specifically, I worked for a hot minute, um, for an ad agency, dial house. And um, the guy running it is a [00:26:00] genius and you know, I think he worked for like Proctor Gamble or something. He has like a background mm-hmm. In doing this.
But my role was to come on in psychoanalyze brands. So I would get like Konig coffee from Germany and I'd look at their 80 years of advertising. Mm-hmm. Their, the print ads, the commercials, everything. And I'd also look at what's happening in the community historically and socially and what people are responding to and when and why.
And then put that into a recommendation for their new brand or their new complete rebranding. Is AI doing all of that leg work? You know what I mean? Or like, was I doing some nonsense? It's, I, yeah,
Connie Wurz: I, I can't answer with like, uh, expert level, but I think it is a really good tool mm-hmm. For the search and the organization, but I still come back to somebody has to edit it.
Right. And you have to get those details in there that are important to the work that you're [00:27:00] doing. Um, but as more and more people use it and as, and more and more information is then in the database of it. Mm-hmm. It's gonna improve. Right? Right. So exponentially it is gonna change everything and uh, I hope it's for the better.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Well, and that's like you, so you said you started in advertising. What did you learn like AI is learning and incorporate now into your work that you do like, and do you still consider what you do kind of on the advertising tip in any way?
Connie Wurz: Uh, I think. What really sticks all the time is just looking at the, for us in, in, um, museum world, we have titles mm-hmm.
Of exhibitions. And so the titles are like the headline and so whatever I'm mapping visually, um. For the exhibition space, I want, I'm tracking it to the meaning of the [00:28:00] title, and so I think that goes back to advertising where the image and the headline work together. Mm-hmm. Um, also eye catching and that's neurological pathways get formed by things and so your attention like just follows it through.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot about, you know, you want somebody to. Take a second look. Mm-hmm. Have that aha moment. And I think, you know, that's the time that I spent in advertising was crafting those types of messages. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, it's, there is there every day. Um, it, I think every experience just kind of adds to the next experience, adds to the next experience.
And I, I feel really lucky that I was able to just navigate. To the next thing and, and just adapt, I guess, and, and keep moving forward.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Do you growing, like having like a global audience here?
Connie Wurz: Yeah. I think it's [00:29:00] really, it is really fun and especially in the video arts room. Mm-hmm. Because we can program international films there.
Oh, that's interesting. So that, that's probably one of our strongest, uh, programs for capturing this, this very diverse audience. Um,
Shawna Vesco Ahern: do you think that informs a lot of like your design choices too, knowing that it's already gonna be like the most diverse audience you can get?
Connie Wurz: Um. I don't know if it does like plain, but I hear what you Universal, you're saying somehow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, we, we definitely have filters where we have to remember that, you know, this whatever we're displaying mm-hmm. Has to be available to. Everyone. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, you're not gonna hear swear words in the right video arts room. You're not gonna see explicit context content anywhere or even English lingo.
That doesn't necessarily translate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like idioms. Yeah. So we are, we are trying to present very much friend, family friendly mm-hmm. Um, experience for [00:30:00] everybody. Uh, we're thinking about, you know, an educational experience. Mm-hmm.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: What's one of your favorite projects that you've ever worked on here?
Connie Wurz: Oh, when we did, um, I think it's 2016, we did the exhibition in, uh, terminal three for creative growth. Mm-hmm. Uh, their local non-profit, um, organization started by a husband and wife. Florence Katz. Uh, she was a teacher and an artist, and Elias Katz, a psychologist.
Um, they started this program based on the, the principal that art is a fundamental experience that. Everyone. Mm-hmm. It's a tool for everyone. We're all entitled to it. And they developed this program that opens up studios, the professional, um, exhibition environment, social connection for artists in the Bay Area with disabilities.
And so when, when we did [00:31:00] that exhibition, I just. Just filled my heart be, you know, that we ended up exposing so many people to a, a, a program that helps so many, um, com so many people in the community mm-hmm. Express themselves, have an outlet. Um, and I think the airport, uh, having such a big audience, um.
They just got the word out about programs like this and hopefully, um, then inspires more cities to provide it. So this couple, they have three locations in the Bay Area. Mm-hmm. Uh, and it's just amazing that they were able to do it. And some of the artists are collected by museums across the United States, maybe even the world.
MoMA currently has an exhibition downstairs, uh, showing artwork from some of 'em. That's amazing. It's so important for artists. To see their work in spaces like this. Mm-hmm. [00:32:00] Um, and to kind of have that feedback like, oh, I am producing something that's important and valuable to a lot of people. Um, so that's really great that you got to do that here.
Yeah. It's exciting. We have people call and ask if they could buy the artwork. Yeah. In the, in the vitrines. Um. Yeah, that, that was one of my favorites.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Do you have any surprisingly fun or weird design challenges you've encountered here?
I
Connie Wurz: think, uh, I think the scale, I think the scale of artwork was a really big adjustment. And so when I, when I started the job, I. And just give me, you know, that an assignment would land on my desk and then I'd work out an idea that you have to factor in how big the space is.
Yeah.
And so you can be surprised. I remember doing one title treatment for a photo gallery, and it was a new space that was opening, so there [00:33:00] was no reference point. There was nothing previously made for the the space. And so I just kind of. guessed at it. Mm-hmm. Then they, they installed the show. They put this title treatment, this vinyl tidal treatment up near the photographs, and I walked in to look at it and I just put my head in my hands, like, scale is off.
Oh my gosh, I have so much to learn. I have to, I never even thought about that. That needs to be like 150% of the size that it is. Wow. So that really surprised me. Um, and then. It's, you know, just really beginning to take that into context. Mm-hmm. Every time I was designing. And then there there's also times where're like, whoop, that was too big for the space, you know, so it's really large in here, so we're gonna make it so big.
Yeah. And then, you know, there are some, some executions that we do that just require so many, um, inspections and permissions and safety situations because they're in the. Public space. Mm-hmm. So that, and like hanging [00:34:00] above heads or, yeah. Specifically we have these big fabric banners that are in the international terminal Right when you walk in and they're just massive.
Yeah, I was thinking that, um, as I approached one and then there's one like above the escalators and then you're looking at it as you come up and I thought, wow, you can see it all the way from back there and it still has to be sort of legible and good. As being under it. That must be so challenging. Yeah.
Yeah. And, um, when we, when we're able to succeed at something on that scale, uh, gosh, I wish I had the dimensions to tell you. Um, there's a lot of testing that happens. Speak, you know, because you don't want the image to like lose its crispness. You don't. Mm-hmm. You want it to really be eye catching. Um.
Yeah. And uh, it should feel like a set of images. Mm-hmm. And not just one at a time. There's 16 of those.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: If you were to like, look across the [00:35:00] website, look across all the materials that you have in here, and there's so many, and look across sort of social media and that stuff as well, what would you say your brand is trying to communicate?
Or like if your brand was a person, how would we describe her?
Connie Wurz: Oh. Um, I would hope that people felt it was friendly. Mm-hmm. I hope that people would feel it was inviting, um, provocative. Mm-hmm. At some points. Um,
Shawna Vesco Ahern: and does it have like touchstones? 'cause I know it is like, um, it's government and then there's other international airports and then. You know, it's playing on a certain field, so you kind of have to like, you can't be too friendly. You can be friendly, but then there's all these other touchstones out here that you're sort of dealing with, especially the government part.
Mm-hmm. Um, do you ever feel like that really plays a role in, when you're thinking about the creative [00:36:00] vision?
Connie Wurz: So the. I, my role does not come up with the ideas for the exhibitions. Mm-hmm.
And so that is the curator role. The curator of exhibitions conceptualizes the ideas and then has to present the ideas. And so those ideas are vetted. Okay. Before they end up on our museum exhibition calendar. Mm-hmm. And then that text is written, all the background is as, um. Formalized objects come in and then it comes to the design team.
Mm-hmm. To analyze that. Interesting. So it's already gone through a lot of filter. Yeah. And so I don't have to face that part of That's interesting though.
Hearing about that process is very fascinating. As someone like, I'm totally outside. Mm-hmm. That's really, that's cool. Yeah. And that's usually, you know, uh, in a typical exhibition timeline, we're thinking three years ahead.[00:37:00]
Oh, wow. Sometimes they go faster. Mm-hmm. Um, um,
Shawna Vesco Ahern: do you ever feel like, and I know you're not in curatorial, do, you're gonna run out of ideas.
Connie Wurz: No, but some shows are more inspiring than others. Mm-hmm. Some objects are just so spectacular right from the get go.
Mm-hmm.
That it, we have more than we need. Mm-hmm.
And then others, uh, may be difficult to like find the right angle, um, have the, the photography details that we want.
Mm-hmm.
And so those just take more time to story tell, but, um, usually we can. Analyze it and, and find mm-hmm. The core of the exhibition to, you know, very much. It's like telegraphing the message.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And you've been here for, um, 10 years or coming up on 10? Yep. 10. Um, this is a great anniversary episode for you. Thank you. Thinking back over these 10 years, and I know you've had like a title change in there and roles have changed and directors have changed, [00:38:00] so you've kind of seen a lot happen. What has been.
One or one or more of your favorite shifts or accomplishments that you think you've done here. Something that you changed or you invented, something you contributed here that you feel really good about and, and it might not even be visible to the public. We might not even know about it.
And don't be shy either. You could be braggadocious.
Connie Wurz: Yeah. It just, it's so, it, everything is so multilayered. Mm-hmm. And every, every part of my job, it interacts with someone else.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: So that's what Jackie said last week, that there's not one person that does public art like this. It's always a collective. Always a collaborative.
Connie Wurz: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think the, the important learning. [00:39:00] Was to like, be curious and like watch for how people respond. Uh, one of the things I like to do, and it's really loose, is like as I'm getting to a final design iteration, I just set it out in the public space.
Oh, interesting. And then
I, I watch as people walk by and I interacted and I watch as somebody step.
Two steps forward, five steps back to look at it again. Mm-hmm. Sometimes people stop by and they ask questions, and then I'm gauging like, if it's working, if it's not, I'm, I'm, and also that time inspires the next iteration. Mm-hmm. And the work gets better.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Um, you know that that's kind of an empathetic feedback that not everyone does that.
That's a special talent. That's something interesting you're doing that's innovative.
Connie Wurz: Yeah. Thanks. Um, it is, and you might not think of it that way. Yeah.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: But I can tell you right now, a lot of people don't care and they're just gonna push their design forward, whatever their response [00:40:00] is. Mm-hmm. So this thing I'm hearing right now is already pretty impressive.
Connie Wurz: Thank you. Um, so that, I mean, if, if I had, um, my choice or if I could get a space, I would have like a room that was just like a. Full mood board room. Mm-hmm. Where every. I would just map out every wall with images that inspire, uh, the exhibition that we're working on, but we're limited to space. Yeah. But I think that process and being surrounded by beautiful art, being surrounded by conceptual shape.
Mm-hmm. Context relevant to the exhibition, right. Those visual connections that you might not make otherwise? Yeah. All the connections inform like a really, uh, inform the best solution in the end. Mm-hmm. A team synthesis room where we all walk in and then we come out understanding in a better [00:41:00] way. We have this process over the years we've developed where, when something is viewed, but we don't think it's strong, we just turn it upside down.
Yeah.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: That's great though. Sort of, yeah, just move on. Yeah, move on from that, take that outta the mix, and then how does it change all the other elements we're looking at? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's an important thing to do.
So I'm, I'm working through the thinking. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I mean, who's the exhibition for? It's for the people out there, right? Yeah. And sometimes you kind of have to exit your own mind about it 'cause you have more context or you have more visual imagery that's playing in there, but people out there don't, so it is different to watch it play on someone else.
Connie Wurz: Yeah. Yeah. And I, I think that is something I would say I've been really lucky that, like, going through design school, we had critiques for every project. Mm-hmm. You had a certain level of quality that you had to produce in order to like get the grade you [00:42:00] wanted. Mm-hmm. Um, and if you were off, you heard critique and it was an open, um, presentation and so pluses and minuses.
Mm-hmm. And so I learned really early that all feedback. Was good feedback for sure. And I didn't get too close to any of my designs. Mm-hmm. And so it helps me now, uh, when I lay out, you know, on for review, maybe five designs are, are out there and something turns over. Mm-hmm. That's fine. It, it, it doesn't feel personal to me.
Yeah. There's no, there no ego there. It's not a personal attack. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's, um, it's discovery time. Mm-hmm. So I feel really good about, you know, I feel really glad that, that, um. That's such a big part of developing as a creative, um, professional. So two stories about that.
Mm-hmm.
Um, when I first came out of college and [00:43:00] I was looking for a job in advertising, I had a connection, um, to go to Chiat Day and, um.
Have a informal interview and the art director at the time who reviewed my portfolio, he went through my portfolio and he made two stacks, a real short stack, uh, and a really tall stack. And then he pointed to the short stack and he said, do more of this. And I remember at that, in that meeting, knowing he was right.
And that it was gonna take me time, but I knew that was the best work. Mm-hmm. And so I think that is, is a story I like to tell, um, people starting out is like, just stay open to the feedback. Mm-hmm. There's usually truth in it. Mm-hmm. You know, there's a lesson to be learned and, and all the feedback. Um, the, the other story was taking, uh, classes at night at a school called.
Our, um, ad center, which was hosted by [00:44:00] Adweek Magazine. So they had evening classes with creative directors at different advertising agencies, and then you, they just got portfolio assignments and you're building concept. And I just was not doing well in this class. It just wasn't going right. And finally I came out with this really good idea and I put it out on the, you know, for review and the team critique and the teacher paused and he looked at me and he goes, oh, I had just about given up on you, but you can do this.
I can see it now. Mm-hmm. And you know, and I, I remember thinking that moment too. He's right. And the good news is you already knew. You knew you were struggling. It didn't click, it didn't feel right, and then this, you're like, okay, I'm gonna ship this. This is the one. Yeah. I knew that one came together.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. It was something with um. Church's fried chicken was the assignment. Mm-hmm. And they had said, um, they made the most plump fried chicken. Mm-hmm. [00:45:00] So I illustrated this box that wouldn't close 'cause the chicken was so lumpy and just stuffed into the box. And it was, and I think the headline was.
When your box won't close, you know, you've been to churches or something like that. He's go, you got it kid.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: You know, that's great. You got, it's, it's giving plump without using the word plump.
Connie Wurz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, just being open and, uh, I think that ability to just, okay, move on. Know what you have to do next, and persevere.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Just keep moving, keep going.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Well thank you for ending on such a positive note. 'cause we do have a lot of young art student listeners, so I think that that's all good intel for them in their careers. Um, if you have nothing else, the time has come for you to ask the Magic eight Ball a yes or no question.
I'll hand it over this giant table to you and you can shake her.
Um, all right. I'm just [00:46:00] gonna go for a broad question. Will creative roles in the Bay Area continue to be supported and inspire future generations? Boo to ai? Yeah.
Connie Wurz: Very doubtful.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: You know why? Because she's basically ai. You just insulted her. See? Well, I hope that everybody you know, continues to be curious, that everybody notices that design is everywhere. All the details matter.
Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you.
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