Christian Solorzano [00:16]

Hello, you're listening to Underscore, a podcast by the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I am your host, Christian Solorzano, and in today's episode, I speak with Vida Sačić, an artist, typographer, and design educator. Her work explores subject matter such as home and identity, and she works with letterpress materials to explore language, communication, process, and meaning-making.

In this conversation, we speak about education, research, and history as primary methods of inspiration, and Vida shares her perspective on teaching and the importance of being passionate about the work that you bring into the classroom. We also talk about hope and optimism and their importance in creativity and so much more. It's a great conversation and I hope that you find it inspirational. And I definitely encourage you to go explore Vida's work. I truly think it's really beautiful and she's just a great person to speak with.

So very honored and very thankful. So enjoy the conversation. Talk soon.

Vida Sačić [01:23]

Thank you.

Christian Solorzano [01:28]

Good afternoon. Nice to be speaking with you. Thank you so much for being on our show. How's it going?

Vida Sačić [01:34]

Good, thank you. Thanks for having me.

Christian Solorzano [01:36]

So you've been, you've been busy lately, and you just wrapped up your residency at the Riverside Arts Center. Can you tell us a little bit about that? What were you up to?

Vida Sačić [01:47]

Yeah, it was really, it was a great time. So Riverside Art Center is a small art center in Riverside, Illinois, which is just outside of Chicago. And they have 2 spaces, a gallery space and a space that's called Flex Space. And I was the resident artist at Flex Space. Basically, they invited me and they said, hey, come and do whatever you'd like for the month of March. And I didn't have a lot of notice.

So I, just gathered my things and thought about what kind of work I can make. A lot of the work that I make is really tied to the equipment that I need to produce it. So in my studio, I have a printing press. I also use printing presses and movable type relief mattresses like printing plates. At other places, but I did not bring any of that to Riverside with me.

I decided I was going to produce the prints that I was making in my studio and at other locations and then bring them to the space at Flex Space and use them to create a site-specific installation. So I worked on that, and I took, a number of prints that ended up becoming different pieces within this body of work that was installed at the space. It all had to do with prints of words that came from letters and the letters that were written by immigrant families.

So basically immigrants who wrote letters to their family and vice versa, historic letters. I went through the archive of University of Minnesota and pulled Archival letters online. I pulled archival letters, and then I kind of took excerpts from those letters that I thought were interesting or funny, or that related to maybe something that happened to me or to people you know that are that I know.

And I took those excerpts, and I you know used that content to set it in wood type and print it on the printing press, and then assemble it in a site-specific installation at Flex Space. So it was a lot of work, but it was really fun.

Christian Solorzano [04:14]

I mentioned this to you earlier, but I used to live in Riverside, and it's such a beautiful place. So it was nice to hear someone else that knows about it too. So for the listener, check out Riverside, Illinois.

Vida Sačić [04:31]

Yeah, it was great. It was a really fun time. And I'm also glad, now it's April 1st, and my residency was for the month of March. So it's officially complete. And that also feels good because there's a sense of accomplishment, okay, that was a good experience and it's finalized.

Christian Solorzano [04:50]

Looking through a lot of your work, I noticed that you tend to focus on process, the materiality of what you're working with, identity, home, a lot of research, and your work to me, at least, it strikes me as more like biographical. There's depth in it, and I'd love to hear about maybe some of your earliest stories with design, or just what are your early memories of storytelling?

Vida Sačić [05:24]

Well, I mean, I thought of, that's an interesting question because I am really drawn to stories like you noticed, and I've always been interested in other people's stories and the way that they kind of resonated with me. So in my work, it's increasingly— I've increasingly been focused on finding stories that I think maybe haven't been heard before or maybe need to be somehow documented or shared.

And a lot of the time I'm printing words that are, that come from somewhere where maybe they're not documented in archives. And now if I print them and I manage to place them in collectibles Collections or libraries or so forth, they will have that documentation. And I think, because I grew up somewhere— I grew up in Croatia, which is a small country in Europe, and it was still a part of Yugoslavia when I grew up.

So I, grew up in the '80s, '90s, and then moved to the United States at the end of the '90s. And during that time, storytelling was a big part of like how I was entertained as a child, how culture was transmitted. I think that some of the stories that my parents told me, I remember being a small child, like I was trying to think. One of the earliest stories I probably remember is my dad telling me a story about like a ladybug.

That was sad at night because she couldn't find her spots, and then she woke up in the morning and she knew that her spots were like, had been there all along, but she just couldn't see them at night because it was dark. So I think that there's always like these little stories that stick with you. There's also like this, not only a personal element to storytelling, but kind of a political and a cultural element to it, of course.

So I think a lot of the way we relate to things, or the way our belief systems are built, comes from stories that we listen to, that we allow to accept, stories that, maybe start to implicitly impact how we think about people that we don't know. I know that from like a political kind of standpoint. There's just a lot of— like, there's just a lot of mythical qualities to stories.

So, this idea of myth-making is really interesting to me, and who deserves to be like, mythologized, and who is telling the myth, and how it can change depending on their objectives. So yeah, it's innate. It's something that's innately connected to, I think, if you're working with words, right? If you're working with language. You're working with stories.

Christian Solorzano [08:23]

Yeah. And at what point does graphic design become something that for you intersects storytelling, language, narrative? How did the two come together for you?

Vida Sačić [08:35]

Well, I mean, as an artist, I've always been interested in working with language and working with type. And graphic designers, I mean, are like, I think they appreciate typography more than anyone, right? Because the medium of design as basically words and images that communicate some kind of a message. So for me, that intersection is deep. I think a lot of artists who work with graphic design as a medium are also, profoundly involved with typography.

If you're working in typography, you have a connection to print, whether you know or don't know it, because printmaking and printing are basically, inextricably tied to typography, and the history of typography is really the history of printing as well. So for me, all of these things are connected, and I don't know that there's really a need to delineate them necessarily. There's so much overlap.

It's useful to have categories and language to speak about them, but it's necessary to acknowledge that None of the media exist in a vacuum, so they're all overlapping and mirroring each other. And I think that is one of the most exciting things about graphic designers, is that they're often people that are well-versed in history, in different areas, in different media, simply because they have to be in order to, create the work that they do.

Christian Solorzano [10:16]

One of the things that I've been thinking about a lot lately is the overlap between anthropology and graphic design. And there is so much of that is connected, but at least for me, I didn't really make that connection up until like within the last few years or so, especially around symbols and like image making and everything that happened with COVID all of the signage and all of those artifacts that, Hundreds of years from now, people look back on as these, artifacts of a moment in time.

And to, I mean, to a big extent, everything that we produce today that's tactile is gonna have some kind of legacy, whether it's like a positive or a negative one. So I love that there's like this element of responsible design that's like, that's happening in your work. Because you're resurfacing things that perhaps are overlooked or forgotten about, like the letters that you mentioned for the show that you did, or you're examining or you're critiquing the mediums that you're working with.

Vida Sačić [11:22]

I think it's really interesting, our inheritance is the design that other folks have made too, right? So that's conversely just the world we live in.

But yeah, I'm really, I think that that's a power of printing is just like this idea that it really holds all other arts within it in a way. And, of course nowadays with digital communication, things have expanded in new and exciting ways. But if you look at history, up until whatever the end of the 20th century, Basically everything we— all knowledge was preserved and contained in print.

Christian Solorzano [12:05]

So you've been in the, in the United States, you mentioned, since the late '90s, and you studied graphic design. You graduated with a, with a BA in graphic design in 2003. And what I'm very— what I really want to learn more about is, for a few years, you worked as an art director at J. Walter Thompson.

Well, talk to us a little bit about maybe your experience doing like commercial work, because to me, a lot of what you're doing right now, I find to be, I don't know, for at least for me, I just find it to be a little bit more interesting because you're initiating these projects that are guided by like your interests, your passions. Whereas when you're working with, let's say, clients, someone else is dictating the direction in which your work is meant to go in.

So tell us a little bit about that. What was, what were you doing like fresh out of school? What were some of the things that you were doing?

Vida Sačić [13:04]

Yeah, well, I, so yeah, I basically came to the US as an exchange student and then I went to college here. And in college I didn't want to study art because my parents are artists and I thought it was going to be different. And there's other, I also was, a kind of a poor immigrant that did not want to necessarily, study art. I needed something practical.

But once I started to take art classes as a part of my gen eds, I really fell in love with the art department. And I ended up studying graphic design and, leaving the university and going into the workforce where a lot of artists, I think, are in a position where they're looking for applied jobs, right? And we all have to sustain ourselves somehow, and there's very few folks that are able to kind of practice whatever they'd like without having to worry about finances.

So I think for me, graphic design was something that was tied to my interests as well as my realities, and I really respected and, cared for that. I think it's really great. For art to be accessible to everyday people and not for art to be just something for rich people. So for me, design enabled me to be, an artist that can make my own work as well as make work for clients. I enjoyed working on a team when I was in advertising.

I think I— it really formed me, and I think probably everybody was formed with— by whatever they were doing when they were like 23, 24, 25. But this really like did help really form me. But I knew that I didn't ultimately want to, stay in that career path because I didn't see it as a lifestyle for myself. It was really kind of a lifestyle fit. So that's why I went back to graduate school, after working with clients for a few years.

I really— it was a, it was a great experience though, on a personal level, but it was also really challenging. Being doing something that you maybe don't see yourself doing long term.

So when I came to graduate school, I knew that I didn't know what I wanted to do but I knew I didn't want to like just stay in my advertising job and I wanted to stay in the United States. So I went to grad school, got a, F-1 visa. And once I came to graduate school, some of the like one of the biggest programs at IU within grad school was letterpress printing. So that's when I started to work with like print as an exploratory medium.

And that kind of snowballed to me basically becoming a professor and working on my own research work and being able to be a, more of a fine artist that doesn't have to or isn't necessarily only working on commissions. I don't really do commission work anymore. It's not something that is a part of my practice yeah.

Christian Solorzano [16:23]

And were there any particular themes? I'm curious about what were you exploring in graduate school? What was some of the stuff that was— because obviously now that you're back in school, you have more time to explore your own interests. So what was on your mind?

What were you trying to— did any of the— and maybe I'm projecting, but I feel like with commercial work, sometimes there's like angst or like this, yeah, just angst of like, I don't wanna be contributing to, these type of clients or whatever the case may be. So was there any, were you doing anything in response to some of that experience that you had working in the industry, in the commercial industry?

Vida Sačić [17:13]

Well, I think just the act of going to graduate school for me was kind of that response, because there were definitely moments in the industry when I didn't align with it, and I thought there's— I always tell this story that there was in my— I had a really nice office at Publicis in like Indianapolis.

It was, and they were great people that I worked with, but I had a lovely office, and there was a poster in front of my office of one of the works that somebody had done in the agency, and it was like a picture of the woods, like a really beautiful forest, and it said something like, that's nice, now where's the mall? And it was an ad for the mall system. And I was like, I don't think I want to be doing this.

So yeah, so just when I came back to grad school, I thought okay, I was really excited still about design. I mean, that's the thing, I loved everything that was going on about in typography, in design. I looked at a lot of the work that was coming out of, Ivy League art schools. I was at a public school, obviously, but I was looking at art schools.

I was looking at young designers and artists, and I was interested in, making things that were visually compelling and making work that was— that allowed me to, investigate things that were important to me. And maybe I didn't know that at what that was at the time, but it allowed me, it gave me that space to look into it. And yeah, and the process became more important, this, it was the search that became like the important part.

Christian Solorzano [18:59]

And now fast forward to today. So you're also, you're also teaching and you've been teaching for quite some time now. I, I'd love to better understand Your, maybe like, maybe it's your ethos or your approach, or how do you, how do you bring some of that like criticality and approach to graphic design within your students?

What kind of— just curious because I started teaching, it'll be, I started teaching in late 2022, and I'm always very curious to learn from people that have been teaching for a while now about what's their approach, especially when you're teaching the next generation of designers? What are your thoughts on that? The next generation? I—

Vida Sačić [19:48]

Well, I'm really lucky because I work in a university that has really great students. So I work at a public school. It's a smaller campus in Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University. So it's a part of the Illinois University system. Our— a lot of our students are some people that are coming back to school after not being at school for a while, or a lot of them are minority students. We have a lot of Hispanic Latinx students. We're an HSI.

We have a lot of folks that are immigrants like myself. So a lot of people that are coming to my classes are not saddled with a lot of debt. They're, able to get funding. They're able to get the support to come to school. Sometimes the very act of educating and offering opportunities for people that otherwise wouldn't have them, like that very like act of having access is meaningful. So for me, I feel like I have the right people in the seats.

They just need access to education. So if access is provided, like half of it is solved. So I'm not trying to like take somebody that doesn't know anything about, yeah, about difficulty, right? About overcoming obstacles. I'm not trying to paint— I'm already working with somebody that understands life problems, and I'm just trying to give them tools to become a designer. So it is a different situation that way. I'm a very— like, I'm all about an inclusive classroom. We're very, non-hierarchical. I see teaching as a journey.

So it's very, collaborative. And I've had— I just really enjoy, that approach to education where I'm not thinking like, oh, I have to funnel knowledge into these people's minds or whatever, but rather it's a story that I'm telling them and we're going on a journey together.

Christian Solorzano [22:16]

Yeah, seems like there's an element of like co-creation as opposed to— and like an element of like, I'm here to speak with you as opposed to speak at you. And I— Yeah. And I know for me, the most impactful, bosses or teachers that I've ever had have always been the ones that have, met me where I'm at. And I'm, slowly, having that become, my style of teaching as well. But it's, it takes, it takes time to get to that level of, level of comfort.

Vida Sačić [22:50]

But that's, kind of a good way to be with everybody. You can have to meet people halfway. And I think even if we just practice that, everything is already better.

Christian Solorzano [23:01]

With teaching, I noticed that you're teaching graphic design, you're teaching typography. Is there anything in particular that— what is it about the teaching that maybe excites you the most?

Vida Sačić [23:14]

Well, the interesting thing about my university was that there wasn't any graphic design classes when I started there. So when I started, and this was 2010, they just had— they had like a visual communications outdated, or not even visual communications. Like it was, it was a very like kind of an old keyline paste-up type class situation. So I was able to write the program there, and we have a BFA now.

So that construction of the program was interesting. Within that program, my primary area of research is letterpress printing. So I am, letterpress printing is closely tied to typography because the type that we work with was originally designed to be cast out of metal or cut out of wood and printed. So that's my close area of research. But I do enjoy teaching across the curriculum and especially working with new professors that, we've been hiring and working on hiring additional talent.

It's been really interesting and rewarding to be a part of that charge as well.

Christian Solorzano [24:33]

I get the impression that right now with like so much happening like globally in the world and also just because of like new technologies, Do you notice that your approach to teaching has had to change as a result of, let's say, everything that's happened in the last, let's say, 6 years? And does that make you optimistic? What's your assessment on the classroom as it continues to evolve? In this climate of uncertainty and yeah, just so much.

Vida Sačić [25:15]

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I do think, I do think things are constantly changing, and especially recently after COVID, there's been some fundamental changes to how we are all working and processing information. So yeah, I have noticed definitely changes. In relation— in relating to people, there is more collaborative work that's happening online. There's more hybrid offerings. We are— we're kind of responding to the changes in the environment.

But I think that more than ever, I'm really finding value in, pursuing my own research and bringing that to the classroom and understanding the importance of my own engagement in the work and trying to, connect to my students on a level like as a maker and as a thinker. And I think that's been really exciting to me.

So moving forward, that's also something I want to emphasize is, making sure that I am involved and engaged and excited and talking to them about things that I am excited about. And I don't think we— everybody, all professors bring different areas of research and interest, and there's not, I don't think everybody needs to be researching the same area, right? There's value in having a unique perspective, and there's value in bringing an understanding, that of something that may be historical, maybe contemporary, maybe kind of future forward-looking.

It all works together. So for me, that's what's kind of keeping me going these days is my own excitement about my work. And I see a huge kind of call and response happening with students who then connect to that. It is challenging for me to think of teaching if I myself am not excited about the subject matter.

Christian Solorzano [27:17]

And I think that's one of the— to me, that's also one of the things that does give me a sense of optimism and hope is the fact that at least in my classrooms and also even on social media, I see that there is a good amount of work that is becoming more autobiographical and more from the perspective of someone's lived experience, which I think is always super neat to teach people the tools and the mediums through which to express an idea, or to sometimes to just like learn something about themselves, to have it be like a journey of like self-discovery or something.

Vida Sačić [27:57]

Well, I think, different programs, and as an instructor, you may find yourself in different programs and different environments where they have a different understanding of the subject, and graphic design is famously polarizing in terms of Whether your institution subscribes to understanding design as a kind of a commercial activity or a didactic activity, and what the relationship of design is to fine art. I think there's a famously longstanding kind of discussion about what the relationship is there.

The way I see it and the way things evolve in my classroom is design is just another medium within the umbrella of art.

And we as artists, I think that we practice whether it's a commercial activity for a client, or whether you're making something that's for yourself. I think you're able to create, on different levels. I don't think that this is very much of an issue in the fine art world necessarily, because there's so many fine artists who employ graphic design and typography in their work, and Definitely these kind of like borders and boundaries are collapsing increasingly so.

So I don't think it's necessarily an issue, but I think in some programs perhaps, there's more of an emphasis on understanding design as like a very different activity from making artwork, which it's not necessarily.

Christian Solorzano [29:37]

Because I mean, a lot of it is a combination of like visual elements that are applicable to just about everything— architecture, photography, graphic design, painting, etc. Yeah.

Vida Sačić [29:51]

Yeah, well, I guess you get to call it what you want to call it though. That's like the artist answer, right? Is like, you get to say what it is.

Christian Solorzano [29:59]

Research plays a big role in much of your work, and you were mentioning to me earlier before this chat that you're going to be going on a research trip to England this year. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? What are you researching and why are you going?

Vida Sačić [30:14]

Yeah, I've been— last year, about exactly a year ago, I was in London. I have a relationship with a few institutions there. I was specifically visiting letterpress printing facilities at— I went to London College of Communication, Central Saint Martins, and I work closely with the Saint Bride Foundation in London, where I researched the archives of typographer and typographic writer historian Beatrice Ward. So they have a large Beatrice Ward archive, although not the biggest in England.

So I'm hoping to go back and look through her archives again. I'm actually going next month. And I'm in the process of kind of finalizing my research plans. But I've been, as a part of my work, I've been working on looking at historic figures in typography as well. So I've been doing work that revolves around the Croatian typographer named Olga Hekar.

She was a 20th century typographer and who had designed a number of like typefaces, hand-lettered fonts, I should say, that are now not available, but I'm re-digitizing them and remaking them, and I'm also redesigning them and using them in different ways. So with Beatrice Ward, I'm hoping to go back to her archive as well and look through some of the materials. She's had a really interesting life, and I'm always surprised that there's not like a biography of her.

You actually— her books are really kind of more difficult to come by than you would think. So I want to dive back into the archive and look through some of her activities, specifically, her activist activities during World War II. And, just kind of her general story. She was really an interesting figure.

Christian Solorzano [32:23]

And do you anticipate any is there going to be a project that comes out of this that you'll be bringing back to Chicago, or?

Vida Sačić [32:29]

Yeah, it, there will be inevitably eventually. So the way things are working for me right now is my projects are, do take a long time. I have several things that I'm working on. Sometimes, it's at this point, it's years and it's ongoing overlapping circles of research and production. So it all kind of— it all works together. But this isn't— this is something that is in the early stages.

The other typographer that I mentioned, for instance, Olga Hecker, I've done several projects that have to do with her work that are already complete and have been acquired by different libraries and collectors. So Beatrice is something that's just still in the works for me, but I'm really excited about it because I think it's— yeah, it'll be fun.

Christian Solorzano [33:24]

Yeah, that'll be great. Yeah, I remember learning about her in school and also like struggling to find much about her beyond just like the obvious, like Crystal Goblets and whatnot.

Vida Sačić [33:38]

So yeah, and the Crystal Goblet is a book— I have it here— it's a book that is also Hard to find even in the libraries, which is crazy. I got this one at University of Illinois or something, shipped it to me. Yeah. So anyway, I'm very excited to kind of resurface some of this information. But it's also great to be in the archive and like touch things that she's handled or like get access to letters that were written on, by her.

It, it's just a fun part of my work. I'm really interested in objects and like material culture. So the idea that, objects themselves, preservation of objects is important. A lot of the work that, as, that I make on the using printing presses, it all has to do with preservation of typographic materials and shapes and mattresses. And yeah, it's very interesting to be able to touch the actual objects that were handled by her.

Christian Solorzano [34:45]

And now shifting topics a little bit, but I want to talk with you a little bit about Chicago and your relationship to Chicago. You've obviously lived here, you've been here for quite some time, but what is it about Chicago specifically that drew you here? And overall, what's your, what's your sense of Chicago's, place within the canon or within the context of graphic design?

Vida Sačić [35:20]

Oh my God. Yeah. Well, I mean, huge. Canon-wise, it's huge, right? A major player, I would say. But I came here because, I got a teaching job here. So I, for me, I was trying to apply to several full-time teaching positions across the country and kind of nailed it down, narrowed it down, I should say, to like 3 different places. And this was one of them. And ended up coming to the city and living here.

And I, it is a great place to be because it is so lively and vibrant in terms of the culture of the city. It's a specific place, that is very like working-class oriented. There's a lot of like history, obviously typographic history is incredibly rich, but also there's a lot of contemporary printmakers, printers, artists, a small Independent galleries, artist-run spaces that are that are very you know typical for the scene here. It's a very DIY scene, and I really appreciate that.

There's not necessarily the kind of market for art that exists in some other like bigger centers. You cannot compare like the artistic. Kind of livelihood of New York, or Los Angeles with Chicago, simply because Chicago has a different thing going on. And I think that it's very interesting that we have so many working-class artists here, and that's probably why the design, there's such a huge part of design world here that's B2B oriented, right?

Because that's how people are making their livelihood. But I'm really interested in the visual legacy of Chicago too. I think even when you're in the streets of the city, you see hand-painted signs, hand-painted, ghost signs, the old signs that, used to be a part of the cityscape that are now coming back. You see so much. Activity in the city. And I think that it's a great place to get inspired.

And of course, all the different communities, all the different immigrant communities that exist within Chicago that have held on to their, identities and left marks on the city, I think are also really a big part of the story. I feel really at home here. And I happen to live in a part of city where there are more people from former Yugoslavia.

So you see a lot of like our language, on signs like around where I live, or I can buy things to eat that I grew up eating. But I'm still in the city, I'm not segregated. And I think that there— that aspect is interesting. Now, of course, there's still a lot of problems. There's a lot of— there's a history of, social justice problems. There's a history that is incredibly complicated to the city, and now that's a part of our inheritance as well.

Christian Solorzano [38:46]

Yeah, and I, and I feel like it's something that we have to, in whatever way we can, try to, try to fight against or try to solve for. And for me, graphic design is— it plays a role in that, whether it's, whether it's teaching the next generation of designers or Creating exhibitions that surface or resurface forgotten history. That, that's— I find that to be the most exhilarating thing about graphic design.

Vida Sačić [39:16]

Yeah, I think it's— I mean, there's an incredible power to speaking with words and images, to tell stories. I think that is just inherently you're stepping in a position of power, and then you get to choose how you use it.

Christian Solorzano [39:33]

Yeah. So growing up, are, were there any, are there any like moments in graphic design or visual media that really stuck to you? Whether it was like a music video or like a movie poster or film, like just anything that left a lasting impression on you that maybe subconsciously or consciously continues to like inspire you somehow?

Vida Sačić [40:01]

Oh my God, there— it's really hard to narrow that down, because it stays with— it stays with me. I think some of the biggest things that I encountered there was a lot of work that was produced by artists and designers in the area of former Yugoslavia during the war. So there was a civil war that happened in Yugoslavia in, between whatever it was, late '80s. Croatia became an independent country in 1991. So during the conflict and the war, a lot of artists were producing protest posters.

And there's a great book by Mirko Ilic Design of the for descent or design of descent, and I think he maybe co-wrote it with Stephen Heller. Stephen Heller was somehow involved because they worked together so much. But in terms of design, you know that legacy of design as a force to tell stories of descent, I think was very powerful. And it's always very interesting to see what artists.

Do in times of crisis and how they can really reach us, maybe in a way that nobody else can. But I'm also an MTV kid, like I watched MTV London, I watched them, and then MTV America, but like I preferred the British one. Sorry, early on. And, I totally like, I watched when like when all of that, all of the '90s things happen, when, Kurt Cobain died or killed himself, I should say. And, all of that stuff stays with you.

So yeah, I think our generation is an interesting generation because it was impacted by print, TV, and then the internet as well. So seeing that change has been— It's been natural for my generation, but not necessarily natural, obviously, for my students.

Christian Solorzano [42:15]

I was reading something the other day about the just nostalgia. And I, and I feel like I tend to be a pretty nostalgic person that tends to always think that the past was better for some reason, especially just within art design, like the '90s to me, I feel like have just been cemented into my brain as like this amazing time of like creativity. And sometimes that robs me of like being able to like appreciate how great things are also right now.

Do you consider yourself to be a nostalgic person or are you more like in the moment?

Vida Sačić [42:57]

First of all, I have to say the disclaimer is that, in my field working with like old letterpress equipment, like nostalgia is like kind of a fraught ground, right? Because it could be nostalgic that you are just like collecting all this old Sure. As you like, want to have it. But I don't consider myself nostalgic. I'm very much in the moment, I think. I like to— I like old things, but I like new things too. I like to use old things in new ways.

Yeah, I'm not interested in recreating the past in the least. Yeah, the past, it like really profoundly scares me most of the time. Because I just think that we can do better. I think that I like to preserve things, though, that I think would be helpful to me. So for me, it's more about taking processes that I find useful, and they may not be, that might be a process that allows me to get somewhere. And it's not, it's not just immediate, right?

The path to arrive somewhere may be a windy road. If that process allows me to take that journey and is useful to me, then I, I'd like to, make sure that I have access to it. So for that reason, I'm very, I'm skeptical of actually like nostalgia because I think that it's very easy to kind of romanticize the past. Yeah, because there are elements of it that are attractive, and perhaps things got lost that we may want to preserve, make sure they are preserved.

But also, inevitably, it's too easy to forget all the things that are that we've gained now, that weren't possible before. And it, I think it's important to stay critical.

Christian Solorzano [44:55]

Yeah, no, I Agree 100%, and on and on that topic, I one of the questions that I always like to ask our guests is in regards to Chicago, and maybe not maybe even beyond Chicago, maybe like nationally or also globally. But what like if you were if it was up to you to create some kind of like Call to action for our community to maybe do more of, do more less, or just do something different? What would be your call to action?

What do you think our community, our industry, our field needs more of right now?

Vida Sačić [45:41]

Well, I think it's hard, it's always hard to talk for a lot of, for like, a lot of people. But I think on an individual level, it, it's always the right time and an exciting time to see people step into their power, and use their voice to create things that are right for them, and that might be right for other people as well. And I think that agency that we all have is important to claim and be able to claim.

And that's one of the powers of being an artist, is that it's a self-proclaimed status. So you get to claim it. And you, I would just encourage people to have to take the agency they already have, right? Because I think we all have access to our voice and to power. And at some point, it's just about claiming it. Sometimes it's easier to do that through inspiration. So definitely by following Folks that make us inspired or feel more powerful. That's one way to get at that.

I really do trust— I don't know, I might be a fool here. You tell me what you think, but I kind of trust people. I feel like the universe, at the end, the good will prevail. So I feel like if people are empowered I think that gives us a really good shot for positive change and for continued positive growth, I should say, or just for a positive present, more positive present. So I think for me that, it is— that's important.

And I do also think that there's something to be said about, not thinking that individualism is everything, and that you have to be able to also connect to other people. And of course, collective action has a lot more power than individual action. But the idea is that if you are able to take agency as an individual, then you can recognize that there's others around you that you can connect to and continue to like, be— get stronger from and get stronger with.

So I think that's the other, part of the story is that hopefully by stepping into your own power, you're able to empower somebody else and you're able to be in community with other people.

Christian Solorzano [48:19]

Yeah, I don't, I don't think that's a foolish point of view. I think that— I do think that there's a lot of there is a lot of good in the world, and there's a lot of good people. And I think in Chicago, despite all of the problems that we have as a city, every day, whether it's in person or online, I just see so many people criticizing the injustice or uniting against a big cause or a very small niche cause or interest.

So I tend to, and maybe I'm just naive, but I, but I feel like optimism is such a good characteristic to have. I don't know that, that's what I think. Even with like artificial intelligence and like all these new tools, I don't think— I think the good will prevail. And at the end, what matters will come at the top.

Vida Sačić [49:25]

But— Well, I think, and I think that's— I think that optimism is a survival strategy as well. And, often you will find that folks who have overcome greatest difficulties are most optimistic. And sometimes they've had to be, I think that those that have encountered real hardship have often experience that optimism will help them overcome the hardship as opposed to pessimism, which won't necessarily give them that same result. But, do you— yes, you have to.

I think there's an important place to, be able to like express dissent and express critical points of view. And it's not always— everything's not always rosy. But I think unless you believe in change, unless you kind of like believe in things getting good, then you're not gonna really be able to, it's really hard to affect things then.

Christian Solorzano [50:27]

Yeah, no. Yeah, certainly. So you have a— so you're going, you're going on your research trip. And you're also going to be having a solo show soon as well. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? You said you shared some you shared the name of the place that you're going to, but I can't quite remember it. But it was, it was very beautiful. So what was— where are you going to be going and what are you going to be doing there?

Vida Sačić [50:57]

So I'm going to Croatia. This is last summer. I went to see my parents in Croatia, and then as a part of that, I took a trip down to the coast. I live in the northwest of the country, and the coast is famously beautiful because it has an island, like a thousand islands. We have, I think, 1,100 islands or something in Croatia at the Adriatic coast. So one of the most beautiful cities that is a huge tourist destination as well is called Dubrovnik.

It's a, it's a really beautiful old medieval city with an interesting past. If you've— I— this is its claim to fame, is that Game of Thrones was shot there. So if you have— That show. But it's it is very beautiful, and I'm very excited to have a solo show there. It's gonna be at Gallery Flora, which is run by the Croatian Association of Fine Artists in the Dubrovnik chapter. But yeah, I'm gonna be staying there for two weeks, and basically I'm working on a site-specific installation.

That's gonna be created for the space. It contains a series of prints, and I am actually gonna be working with folks from my Chicago community to like take some testimonials that are related to cultural identity from artists here in the city and use artist words from artists in Croatia and artists in the city in Chicago to create this installation. So it's very exciting, and I'm just proud to be going there and have this opportunity.

But I'm also like really excited to just be at the beach and, be on boats and go swimming. Yeah, it'll be great.

Christian Solorzano [52:55]

That'll be beautiful, and I can't wait to see, to see photos and to hear all about it when it happens.

Vida Sačić [53:02]

Yeah, you should come visit. That's— I would love to do your next trip.

Christian Solorzano [53:06]

I would love to, because I, I've never been, so that would be— maybe I'll take you up on that offer.

Vida Sačić [53:12]

Yeah, we could. Yeah, we could do like a virtual one first to like dip the toe in. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [53:18]

So we're almost at time, but before we end, I just wanna ask you a few more questions that perhaps are not going to be Super related to design, but what are you currently reading? What are you listening to? What is your— like, what kind of— just curious about what do you surround yourself with? I'm really interested in office spaces, the studios that designers work in. What do you keep at your desk? What's something that you can't live without? What?

Vida Sačić [53:57]

Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [53:58]

What's your guilty pleasure song?

Vida Sačić [53:59]

All of the above. Yeah, I'm— well, I am really, I don't know how I would work without my studio. So I'm such a studio, nerd. So I recently moved to Mana Contemporary a couple years ago in the city, and I love it. And I have a giant window, and I surround myself with light and plants. And I really love that. And like my old printing equipment, a lot of research books too.

But beyond just reading research for my work, I'm also like a big fan of audiobooks. So I listen to a lot of audio content and podcasts. I'm listening to a series of books on like disability right now. I'm really interested in like disability studies. And just, that's just something I'm interested in. I'm also interested in like how folks that are not neurotypical experience the world. And I'm listening to a book about unmasking autism. I'm also a yogi, like I'm a very devout yogi.

So I'm listening to a book about the art of vinyasa. Because I've been doing yoga for like over 20 years, and it's my— that's like my other passion, huge passion in life. Yeah, I do. I've been watching a little bit of TV. I'm listening to— what am I listening to these days on the radio? There's an artist called Rosalie that has a new record. I think it's called Bite Down or Bite Me, but that's really good. Yeah, there's a lot of good music out.

I went to the theater this weekend and I went to see the Penelopiad, which is a play about the novella that Margaret Atwood wrote called the Penelopiad about Penelope from the Odyssey. And that was amazing. So yeah, that's like this kind of slice of life.

Christian Solorzano [56:05]

Yeah. And what about— what are some of your favorite Chicago spots? Where can people find you?

Vida Sačić [56:13]

The Music Box.

Christian Solorzano [56:15]

The Music Box. Nice.

Vida Sačić [56:16]

The Music Box. Watching movies. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [56:19]

Are you a member? Are you a Music Box member? Do you have a membership?

Vida Sačić [56:23]

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And I love it. I'll be there almost every weekend. So find me there. Let's go to movies.

Christian Solorzano [56:30]

Is there— and now another question. And I asked this to our most recent guest, and I want to ask you the same, but are there any words that you feel like you struggle spelling?

Vida Sačić [56:44]

Every single word in the English language out loud.

Christian Solorzano [56:49]

Okay, out loud.

Vida Sačić [56:50]

Yeah, because the thing is, so the letters, like in English, the letters have names, like they're not just sounds, and it's just confusing for everybody. So I That's— that is my huge complaint about the English language, which otherwise I really deeply love. But why do we have to spell?

Christian Solorzano [57:12]

Yeah, I, I've mentioned this in the past, but I think because of spell check, like on the computer and the phone, I'm forgetting how to spell like very basic words. And it's so embarrassing, especially like in class. If I ever have to write on the board, there's no spell check. So it's just—

Vida Sačić [57:35]

I know, I know. It's a struggle. The struggle is real. I mean, for me, it's embarrassing when people like spell out their name, and I can't write it down because it like takes me a while. You have to like say it really slowly for me to write it. Yeah. Oh well. I live with the shame of that.

Christian Solorzano [57:55]

Cool. So if anyone wants to get ahold of you or learn more about you, where can people find you? You're very easy to get ahold of, like on Instagram, you're like super responsive. So what's your preferred method of people reaching out?

Vida Sačić [58:13]

Instagram, and there's a website link too. It's just my first name and last name dot I have a.net and I have a.com, so you can take your pick. But yeah, those are great. Those are the best ways to find me. And, it's always— it's great to be a part of a Chicago community. I think our community is really strong and well connected. And, may it grow, may it grow with many more members, because I think we have something special here.

Christian Solorzano [58:46]

Yeah, I agree. And I think it's because of so many people, including yourself, doing great work, going to other countries to represent Chicago and to talk about Chicago and to just put Chicago on the map. So thank you for all that you do.

Vida Sačić [59:05]

Thanks for inviting me to be on your podcast. This was awesome.

Christian Solorzano [59:08]

When I was looking through your website, I was looking at all your exhibitions and just and it's just like such a long list. I'm like, you've been everywhere.

Vida Sačić [59:17]

I'm trying to do more. I'm trying to focus? So I'm probably looking to do more solo shows or like collaborative projects. I do like to do work in the city, so I'm always like really interested in Chicago projects. And I have a few things going on, but I'm not going to talk about them just yet. But I think yeah.

Christian Solorzano [59:41]

And then, and then just one last question. How do you keep yourself sane? How do you balance all of these things? You're— you come across as like a very disciplined, driven person. Teaching, shows, research, travel. What, what's your, what's your day like?

Vida Sačić [59:59]

So I have epilepsy. Okay. So if I don't take care of myself, I shut down. And no bueno. So I have to sleep and I have to eat and it's crazy things. Yeah, I prefer not to. I'd prefer to just be like working, but I, so I rely really strongly on having some break time. And I think yoga is really helpful. I know you do martial arts, don't you?

Christian Solorzano [60:29]

I do tai chi and jiu-jitsu.

Vida Sačić [60:31]

See, I get that. I really want to do— I want to try tai chi, but I'm totally hugely indebted to my yoga practice because it really offsets my work and it helps me sleep, which I have to in order to stay healthy. And I really love my animals. I have a dog and a cat, like huge proponent of emotional support animals.

So those kind of things I really depend on, but I have to tell you that I made it kind of a point to prioritize some things in my practice and like make decisions, on like what I wanted to make a priority and give other things up. And it wasn't easy, but I think that's what helped me as well, and just going like, okay, studio is important. I'm gonna prioritize that. So yeah, but I think it's a little bit of everything.

And I feel like, again, I feel like I do have a good community here that's really supportive too. And that's really helpful because I know that like my friends get it. If I'm not feeling well one day and I can't come to something, but I can come to something else, they'll get it. And, there's a lot going on. So I do think that community is also a way to lift you up. And we really, we're lucky because not everybody has that.

And all you have to do is make yourself available. There's so many organizations like Chicago Graphic Design Club where really what you have to do is show up. And that's it. You just have to show up.

Christian Solorzano [62:12]

I admire all that you're doing. So.

Vida Sačić [62:15]

I admire you as well. And I'm so glad you asked me to come. I really appreciate this conversation. I feel like I got a lot out of it. So thank you.

Christian Solorzano [62:22]

All right, well, it was fun to chat, and definitely let's keep in touch. Good luck with everything that you have going on. Right on.

Vida Sačić [62:29]

Thanks, Christian.

Christian Solorzano [62:30]

As always, thank you so much for sticking around until the end. I hope that you enjoyed that conversation. And as always, thank you for your support. To learn more about the Chicago Graphic Design Club, just find us on Instagram, where we'll be posting all of our upcoming events. Talk soon.