IN CHARACTER
Every one of the 100 famous actors featured in the forthcoming book, In Character: Actors Acting, was given a direction, a character to play, a scene, and at times, even dialogue, by acclaimed portrait photographer Howard Schatz.

The quick-witted talent of Kelsey Grammer is captured in a triptych. As fast as the shutter can open and close, he portrays a CFO under indictment for looting a company pension plan upon hearing the words not guilty; a CPA at a strip joint; and a doting grandfather suddenly discovering that his granddaughter is no longer on the park swing where he saw her just moments ago. By putting himself in the director’s chair, Schatz engages both subject and reader. And one can see a striking difference of talent: Hollywood hams like Fran Drescher assume predictable poses as thespian talents like Natasha Richardson appear enigmatic in character. Bulfinch Press will release the hardcover in April. And the Museum of New Art in Detroit will show the collection, March 17–April 29. www.howardschatz.com

THE SILVER AGE
Curators of the Dallas Museum of Art concur that the medium is the message. After acquiring perhaps the most important private collection of 20th-century American silver in existence (from private collector Jewel Stern), the museum is now trumpeting the significant effects silver as a medium made in 20th-century design and marketing it as a nationwide exhibition with cultural importance. Modernism in American Silver: 20th Century Design features more than 200 works from art moderne to contemporary—the latter including Eliel Saarinen, Robert Venturi, Michael Graves, Elsa Peretti, and Richard Meier. The exhibition, which has already traveled widely, will be on view in Dallas ( June 18–Sept. 24), then travel to The Wolfsonian–Florida International University in Miami in November, and the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis in April 2007. Yale University Press has published a handsome catalog, which was underwritten by a company rightfully represented in the show, Tiffany & Co. www.dallasmuseumofart.org

AMBIDEXTROUS DESIGN
The nascent design school at Stanford is so radical that it doesn’t have traditional design students or faculty—it doesn’t even have a space yet. The idea behind the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (named after the former SAP founder who donated $35 million to the University in October) is to create a meeting of academic minds already on campus. From the schools of engineering, medicine, business, the humanities, and education, students and faculty interested in “design thinking” are now meeting under the University’s “d.school” shingle to, well, mingle. Its first tangible initiative is to publish a quarterly journal, Ambidextrous Magazine. Conceived, written, and designed by two Stanford mechanical engineers, co-editors W. Lawrence Neely and Wendy Ju, the book may have its quirks. “You can tell it’s not designed by professionals,” admits Ju. “But it’s refreshing in that way. We’re not exactly polished, so a polished look is not what we’re going after.” To emphasize the journal’s handmade, hands-on quality, a simple brown kraft paper is used as its signature cover. An unpretentious touch, yes, but its content may come across as trivial to an experienced, working graphic designer. http://ambidextrousmag.org

KILLER OF GIANTS
All work and no play makes New York photographer Angela Boatwright a dull girl. So when she’s not on location shooting Urban Outfitters’ latest catalog, Boatwright, owner of the young photo agency, Killer of Giants, is on the road documenting fanatical fans of death/black metal bands. A diehard heavy metal fan, Boatwright recently traveled to Finland to follow Children of Bodom, whose albums include Hatebreeder and Are You Dead Yet? While her love of music borne in the dark regions of the underworld doesn’t appear at the forefront of her commercial work (see her latest ad for surf and skate retailer Etnies Girl in Teen Vogue this season) her portraits of sorrowful, sundeprived teens with long greasy hair will be fully exposed at 222 Gallery in Los Angeles, March 3–April 28. www.killerofgiants.com, www.222gallery.com