American Archetypes Meet Contemporary Design

Design Lab will host an exhibition of the work of Mississippi designer Critz Campbell, principal of b9 Design llc. His designs are as whimsical as the 2002 Luna Dress, which is a lighting fixture that resembles the 1950s Simplicity dress pattern named “Luna,” and as functional as commercial steel shelving. He is well known for his Eudora Chairs, named after fellow Mississippian, writer Eudora Welty. The chair is made from fiberglass, cotton fabric, polyester resin, and fluorescent lights. It is a contrast of ideas and materials. Part sculpture, part commercial product, the Eudora Chair, like many of Critz Campbell’s designs, suggests the dualities within ourselves and embedded in common objects. Even the company’s name b9, which can be interpreted as “benign” suggests that what may seem benign most certainly is not. Campbell layers his work with histories of design, craftsmanship, and creativity. Campbell will create new projects for his exhibition at the Knoxville Museum of Art and show some of his older work as well.

In 2003 his work was chosen for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s Design Triennial Inside Design Now. Campbell has commercial designs produced under license for Crate and Barrel and CSL Toronto. He has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (AIADO department) and is a fellow teacher at “DesignCamp04” Sponsored by Target Corporation and the University of Minnesota. He is also a consultant for NEST magazine.

Critz Campbell received his B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his Masters in Furniture/Design from Parnham College, Beaminster, England. He completed an artist residency at the Crab Tree Farm Foundation, IL, a “Core Student fellowship” at Penland School of Crafts, NC, and he participated in an artist exchange at Arco Centro de Communicao Visual, Lisbon, Portugal. Campbell has received grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.