Temerlin faculty member Willie Baronet
named winner of 2013 Fellow Award from AIGA DFW

The DFW chapter of AIGA, the nation’s largest professional design organization, has announced that Willie Baronet, visiting executive-in-residence at the Temerlin Advertising Institute, will receive the 2013 AIGA Fellow Award, the highest honor bestowed by an AIGA chapter upon one of its members.

The award honors senior-level members who have made “a significant contribution to raising the standards of excellence in practice and conduct within their local or regional design community,” and takes into account their work in education, writing, leadership and reputation, as well as their practice of design.

Also receiving the award will be Jimmy Squires, founder of Dallas-based communications and design firm Squires & Company. The awards will be presented October 5 in a ceremony at the Charles and Dee Wyly Theater in Dallas capping off AIGA DFW’s third annual Design Week, a celebration of design and design advocacy.

“Our chapter is honored to present the Fellow Award to not just one, but two members who have helped build the foundation for great design in Dallas-Fort Worth,” says Gus Granger, chair of the 2013 Fellow Award Celebration, AIGA DFW president and principal and founder of 70kft. “They have not only built a great name for themselves and their companies, but they have greatly influenced many of the design leaders of our community today, and continue to do so. They’re a major part of our community’s footprint in design, both regionally and nationally.”

During Design Week, Baronet and Temerlin adjunct lecturer Suzanne Larkin will each give a presentation on helping professionals grow as designers and problem solvers. The talks will be presented on September 24 beginning at 7:15 p.m. at 2625 Main St. in Dallas and are open to the public. For tickets and more information, visit http://aigadfwdw.org/.

About Willie Baronet

Willie Baronet is the former owner and creative director of GroupBaronet (now MasonBaronet), and worked for ad agencies and design firms prior to starting his own company, which he sold in 2006. His advertising and design work has been featured in Communication Arts, Graphis, AIGA Graphic Design Annual, New York Art Directors Annual, The One Show, Print Casebooks, Annual Report Trends, The Type Directors Club Annual and Annual Report Design: A Historical Retrospective 1510-1990, organized by the Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design.

His print and broadcast work has received numerous medals from the Dallas Advertising League’s Tops Show, the Dallas Society of Visual Communications and the Houston Art Directors Club. Baronet has taught advertising design at TCU, Brookhaven Community College in Dallas and Texas A&M at Commerce, and served as visiting faculty for the M.A. program at Syracuse University. He was also the technical editor for the premiere issue of Advertising for Dummies, though reluctant to admit it. In 2011 he earned an M.F.A. in arts and technology from UTD.

His art has been featured in a number of group exhibitions including the 15th Annual No Dead Artists at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, La., INVASIONEN/INVASIONS at the Galerie Carolyn Heinz in Hamburg, Germany, and 500XPO 2012 at 500X in Dallas. He also had a solo show called HOME? at the Hal Samples Gallery in Dallas, and has organized several interventionist art performances titled “We are all homeless.”

He is currently a member of the art collectives “In Cooperation With Muscle Nation” and “CircleWerk.” At SMU he teaches classes related to creativity and portfolio development.

ABOUT AIGA DFW

Founded in 1914 as the American Institute of Graphic Arts, AIGA remains the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design and is now known simply as “AIGA, the professional association for design.” AIGA Dallas Fort Worth, one of 67 chapters of AIGA, supports the interests of professionals, educators, and students who are engaged in the process of designing, regardless of where they are in the arc of their careers. The organization offers education and professional development programs, competitions, shows that promote excellence in design, and opportunities for students and professionals to network. It also strives to enhance the experience of members and to position DFW and North Texas as leaders in the field of design. AIGA DFW is a nonprofit run solely by volunteers. For more information about AIGA DFW, visit aigadfw.org.

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