bea rigby archives

Ceramics, Jennifer McCurdy (from 2008 show). The Smithsonian has started advertising next spring’s exhibition of contemporary craft. To browse full photo series from this year’s collection, click here

posted by bea on Tuesday, Sep 09, 2008

“Sometimes it is better to be quiet…”
Todd, in realizing that allowing a business partner to talk through some new ideas can be MORE productive than entering the fray. Allowing the person space to come to a reasonable conclusion on their own rather than trying to convince them before they are ready.

posted by bea on Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008

“Work is love made visible.”
Kahlil Gibran

posted by bea on Monday, Jun 16, 2008

I COULD have hair…”
Rob Thomas

posted by bea on Tuesday, May 27, 2008

One of my friends is fortunate enough to work in the office in the foreground; I also like the way they handled the map on their site: 100VE

posted by bea on Tuesday, May 13, 2008

“Noise”—in design and in life

I came here to write an homage to administrative professionals—those often-forgotten treasures that do all the behind-the-scenes things to make our work lives tolerable. I have several that support me, and our design group has an exceptional talent in Debra Xavier.

As I caught up on the recent posts, what I write morphs a bit… Emmy talking about vision, Jason realizing that often the universe won’t recognize design, my own frustrations with keeping consistent vision and a sense of humor about the challenges of our project…

ALL of this leads me to believe that our universe is “noisy”...lots of input, lots of distractions, lots of pressures… and I would say that noise drives me to need to ask: “what really matters today?”

I would submit that design is precisely what allows us to adjust to vision changes [literal and otherwise]. Even if no one else on the particular project agrees with me completely, design matters.

For me, one of those vision-related tasks today became thanking our awesome Debra for all she does. Software comes and goes, but people are the real permanent resource; the relationships and the work we do together will last much longer than our web pages!

Today I will also do what I can to educate our business partner about the reasons behind our design decisions, even when they would like us to do something else. I hope to be both persuasive and respectful as I listen to how they see the world.

and I will look forward to hearing more about how Emmy sees the world, since I’m a lot MORE myopic than she ever was!!!

posted by bea on Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008

Penny Postcards from all states, with some nice Utah nostalgia

posted by bea on Thursday, Mar 27, 2008

posted by bea on Friday, Feb 15, 2008

6 words

So Cameron recently asked us to write about our experience working here in 200 words or less… I’m thinking SIX words might be more interesting. Six Word Memoirs, famous and obscure

posted by bea on Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008

“Lunch is important”
remembering with fondness our director and friend Tadd as he takes on a new adventure.

posted by bea on Tuesday, Feb 05, 2008

“It is not inconsistent to do things different ways.”
At first this was laughed at, but rigid consistent application of the same pattern to every problem is silly.

posted by bea on Friday, Nov 30, 2007

Giving Thanks

A dear friend of mine lost her cat companion Marmaduke last Thanksgiving. It makes me more aware of all the subtle layers that come with this holiday—we can be appreciative in the midst of our grief, happy to have the memories even when they are raw, and sometimes a bit stressed about not being unequivocally cheerful on this day.

I have a personal Thanksgiving tradition of sitting down and listing all the things that I am grateful for. Typically at the top of my list are the many subtle kindnesses of friends and strangers alike. Especially and particularly I am deeply appreciative of those kindnesses that are extended to me when I am hurting, for whatever reason.

So I sent my friend a card, and thoroughly understand that she doesn’t want to celebrate. I would encourage you to reach out in whatever way you can to those that you know are conflicted at this time. Perhaps it is the first Thanksgiving after the death of a loved one. Perhaps it is the first time the next generation hosts and cooks. Perhaps it is the first time a child will not be at home for the holiday. Whatever the reason, if you see pain that you can comfort, try to do so! Even if it just means a smile and gentleness in the face of grumpy stress.

Perhaps NEXT year, you’ll be on someone’s gratitude list!

posted by bea on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2007

Garden of the Gods, a city park in Colorado Springs, CO—allows climbing with permits on some of the sandstone outcroppings

posted by bea on Friday, Nov 16, 2007

posted by bea on Thursday, Nov 15, 2007