Creativity Worldwide

We recently had the pleasure and the honor of meeting with a visiting artist from Milan, Italy. As part of our involvement with the Charleston Area Alliance, we are often treated to unique and enjoyable opportunities like this one. On Friday, we sat down with Mr. Dario Cardenia, art director and proprietor of B & W Creative. That's Dario in the photo, third from the left. Lineup is as follows (left to right): Thomas White, art director - Maple Creative; Clayton Ray, designer - Maple Creative; Dario Cardenia, art director - b&w creative; Skip Lineberg, chief creative officer - Maple Creative. Photograph was taken by Matt Ballard, president & CEO - Charleston Area Alliance.

What began with "Benvenuto, Dario!" ended with new found respect, new friendships and some wonderful realizations. Working through an interpreter, the very helpful and talented Maria Baker of Allcom, we discussed our roles and our practice of art. Dario reviewed a sampling of Maple's portfolio. Then, we were treated to a wonderful presentation of Dario's considerable freehand drawing and cartoon drawing talents. As we discussed some of our common challenges, tools & equipment and the perceptions of artists, Dario offered the following with sweeping, "gathering" arm motions: "Worldwide, worldwide!" Some things are, indeed, worldwide. What was also very interesting was the fact that the art (the design, photography and printed materials) spoke volumes ... with little or no translation required. We also agreed that art is a product of culture and that, therefore, all art has a regional signature or personality.

Take a few minutes and check out some of Dario's work. You can even try the Italian version! We hope that we will have a chance to collaborate with him very soon!