OCAD University

Faculty Member, Faculty of Design

Visiting Professor

About

Born Glasgow, Scotland.

Began playing music (drums) at the age of 11. Apprentice commercial artist at 16. Various agencies in Scotland. Art Director, Hall, Edinburgh; Saatchi & Saatchi, London.

Percussion studies with Tony Oxley. Played on the jazz and new music scenes in London. Fine Art, St Martin's School of Art, Hornsey College of Art. Communication Design North East London Polytechnic.

Met photographer Philip Jones Griffiths of Magnum in 1974. Left art school a year before graduation to become a photojournalist. Worked in homeless shelters, at a clinic in Lonon established by RD Laing, and in Belfast Northern Ireland for BBC Television. 2 years with BBC Scotland.

Emigrated to the US 1979. Designer at Weymouth Design, Boston. Founded Appleton Design 1983 in Connecticut. Taught design at Hartford Art School 1987-88. Published in principal international design journals.

Moved to New York City, 1994. Taught at Cooper Union and Parsons School of Design until 2001. New York clients included IBM, Graphis Press, Verve Music Group, Herman Miller as well as composers and performers in New Music and Jazz. Digital portraits of 12 Nobel-prize nominated women, Bread & Roses Gallery, shown at the UN, and toured internationally.

Taught and Director Grad Studies at UMD 2001-06. Began studying the Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization with George Russell in 2004. Visiting professor in design at CAFA and Glasgow School of Art, China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, 2006-07.

Moved to Toronto as Associate Professor of design at Ryerson University, 2007 - present. Masters in Interdisciplinary Media, Art and Design, Ontario College of Art and Design (2010).

Elected to membership of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) 2001. Elected Chair of AGI Canada, 2008. Elected Chair of AGI Foundation 2010.

Current studio work and research involves performance, publishing and evolution of "Vortex. Visual Aural Textual. One Language." Simultaneous improvised performance of image, sound and text mediated by technology. 

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