TOP LEFT: NEW TACTICS IN HUMAN RIGHTS: A RESOURCE FOR PRACTITIONERS, September 2004. A 192-page book for national and international human rights workers and activists published by THE CENTER FOR VICTIMS OF TORTURE and THE NEW TACTICS IN HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT. BOTTOM LEFT: PERFORMING ARTS SEASON BROCHURE 2005–2006, July 2005. Designed for an audience of Walker Art Center members and visitors, as well as the local and national performing arts community, this 36-page brochure was printed in 5 colors and saddlestitched. RIGHT: WALKER ART CENTER VISITOR MAP, March 2005. The map was offset printed in 4 colors.

Matthew Rezac Latin Name: Ars Sine Scienta Nihil Est or Cattus Reus ut Lepus Age: 29 612.251.3982 | www.soonafter.com, design.walkerart.org

Matthew Rezac took a slightly circuitous path to graphic design. Despite some urging from the chair of the Design Department to change his major, he graduated from MCAD with a photography degree. The commercial photo world, however, didn’t prove to be a good fit for Rezac. He missed the research and concept development aspect of design, which he’d been introduced to in elective courses at MCAD, and eventually he returned to the school for a two-year, pre-MFA design program.

Today he’s working as a graphic design fellow at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Since the institution is known for the quality of its in-house design department, the one-year fellowships are highly coveted. Rezac and the other current fellow, however, were asked to stay on for a second term in the midst of an ambitious building expansion. “It’s been great,” he says of the experience. “I think I’ve learned more in the last year than I did my entire college career. It’s kind of trial by fire.”

One of the things Rezac enjoys most about design is the process of discovery—the conceptual exploration as he tries to find the perfect solution within given time constraints. He’s put his problem-solving skills to work on everything from a visitor guide map for the new Walker to a full-length book called Expanding the Center: Walker Art Center and Herzog & de Meuron.

“He is someone who intuitively understands the importance of challenging traditional notions of how a designer sees or how they should work,” says Kali Nikitas, the former MCAD faculty member who was at first unsuccessful in encouraging Rezac to change majors and was later instrumental in his re-enrollment at the school. Now the chair of the department of Visual Arts at Northeastern University in Boston, Nikitas says Rezac distinguished himself by being enthusiastic, modest, and committed to his work.
Michelle Taute