Bob Clark Beyond: Inspiration

latest inspiration posts

October's Architects of the Month: Tod Williams and Billie Tsien

Tod Williams and Billie Tsien are two architects that have designed some really impactful and beloved buildings around the world. They’re an outstanding team that have applied their craft to a wide variety of projects, from museums and embassy buildings to private homes and large-scale cultural institutions. Their husband-and-wife architectural firm has been making a name for itself since 1986, and I’m always looking forward to seeing what they will accomplish next. Tod is originally from Detroit, Michigan and received his undergraduate degree, MFA, and Master of Architecture from Princeton University. Billie is from Ithaca, New York and earned her undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from Yale University and her Master of Architecture from UCLA. Both began working together starting in 1977, and ever since, they’ve been completing projects all over the world that are renowned for their scope, attention to detail and the surrounding landscape, and commanding presence.

October’s Featured Artist: McArthur Binion

So many people have become captivated by the minimalist abstract paintings of McArthur Binion, but he is also an inspiration for me and countless others with the ways he’s dedicated to serving as an educator and mentor and seeks to lift up the next generation of Black artists. Though he found success later on in his career, he’s proven that all artists have the incredible ability to use their voices and platforms to give others a chance to be recognized as well, and he’s a great example of an individual who believes in opening up opportunities for others to rise. Binion has been working as an artist since the early 1970’s. After moving from Macon, Mississippi with his family at age 4, he grew up in Detroit, Michigan with his 10 brothers and sisters. He later enrolled at Wayne State University to study creative writing and poetry, but eventually dropped out to move to New York City. While he was there, Binion paid a visit to the Museum of Modern Art as part of his job at a publication. He was moved by the work of abstract expressionist artists and re-enrolled in school to study drawing. He went on to become one of the first Black artists to graduate from Cranbrook Academy of Art’s distinguished MFA program.

August’s Architect of the Month: Adrian Smith

Adrian Smith is another architect with ties to Chicago that I admire, and he is the mind behind some of the most recognizable and enormous buildings in the world. He’s also the amazing architect who designed the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest structure in the United Arab Emirates. Smith’s towering skyscrapers have fundamentally changed skylines in cities across the globe, and all of them are real triumphs of design. Born in Chicago in 1944, Adrian Smith had an early interest in drawing that led his mother to suggest that he go on to study architecture. He started his schooling at Texas A&M University and finished his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1969 while working at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

July’s Architect of the Month: Carlos Martinez

When I think of an architect who has made an impact on my life in a personal way, I’d say that Carols Martinez definitely holds that title. He’s a genuine and talented person who is deeply dedicated to his craft, and his passion for innovation is evident in the projects he has designed throughout his career as an architect. Carlos Martinez attended The Ohio State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1982. He then went on to attend the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he graduated with a Master’s of Architecture in 1984. His professional career took off at Holabird & Root, and today, he’s been with the renowned architectural firm Gensler for over twenty years. Among his many accomplishments, he’s been inducted into the International Interior Design Association’s College of Fellows and he’s also a recipient of Gensler’s prestigious Don Brinkmann Award for design excellence.

Canopy at Centene Park

Artist Liam Gillick designed the canopy at Centene Plaza in Clayton, Missouri, which makes use of the light-diffusing capabilities of glass to illuminate the walkway between two buildings in a new and captivating way. In addition to protecting walkers from the weather and elements overhead, the canopy was also designed to offer a visual distraction and encourage a moment of mindfulness apart from the hustle and bustle of the vibrant commercial center it’s located in. Using Vanceva® color interlayer technology, the canopy lights up the space beneath it in a dazzling array of bright, translucent colors. A passerby using the walkway for its utilitarian purpose also can take an opportunity to observe the canopy’s beauty and functionality, and it plays upon the concepts, similarities, and differences between utility and art.

Ellen S. Clark Hope Plaza

The Ellen S. Clark Hope Plaza was designed by the renowned architect and artist Maya Lin to provide a special place of respite and refuge for employees, patients and other visitors to Washington University Medical Center that is a leading center of research on the front of rare disease. It’s design incorporates a harmonious blend of nature with an infinity fountain as a centerpiece. The plaza’s trees, grasses and wildflowers were specifically selected in collaboration with the Missouri Botanical Garden based on what’s present in a self-sustaining Missouri woodland habitat, and it’s a continually changing landscape that grows and develops over time.

Inspiration

I have always had an insatiable curiosity

What causes me to get out of bed every morning is driven by inspiration. Ever since I was a little boy, I was inspired by my insatiable curiosity, which caused me to be a reader, a thinker, and a dreamer.

I can remember being inspired by seeing Bobby Kennedy on TV and watching videotapes of Martin Luther King Jr., and being deeply saddened by their assassination even though I was only 10 years old when I experienced all of this.

As a little boy, rocket flight was a big thing. I remember being fascinated by the moon and the stars and the astronauts exploring them.As humans we are achieving remarkable things that only a handful of years before were just in the imagination.