BIOGRAPHY
About Me
I grew up in Watervliet, NY, a city on the Hudson River about 10 miles north of Albany. My first name is actually Riccardo. I use Ric now because of all the confusion as a child with I Love Lucy's leading man. I attended Sacred Heart of Mary, a parochial school, until the eighth grade. Then I attended Watervliet High. My family (Mom, Dad, older brother, three younger sisters) lived in an older home that was a work-in-progress. I learned how to use hand tools and wire a circuit from my father and how to decorate around a stack of wood in the living room from my mother. (My children can make that same statement today.)
I have always been interested in art. I decided in my senior year to pursue a career as a commercial artist. I set my sights on Syracuse University because of their excellent advertising program and their reputation on Madison Avenue. I needed a portfolio to be accepted there. Watervliet High, I'm sorry to say, was not the best place to develop a portfolio worthy of SU. My guidance counselor suggested I go to Dean Junior College in Massachusetts. No problem getting accepted there for an honor student with a regents diploma.
Frosh Forward
Dean has a tremendous visual arts program. Many of the professors there are graduates of Boston's Museum School. In addition, all of my credits were transferable to SU. My two years there were invaluable. I was exposed to aspects of fine art I didn't even know existed. I experienced everything from mold making to oil painting. I absorbed every detail like a parched sponge.
My summers were spent working for a painting contractor by day and working at a drive-in theater nights. On weekends I helped my family build a vacation home in the Adirondacks.
I developed a portfolio worthy of acceptance to Syracuse, but not their advertising design program. I went there as a fine art major but took all my electives in the ad design program. I excelled in all my advertising classes and was noticed by a professor who convinced the dean to accept me as an ad design major. I also minored in computer graphics.
At Syracuse I learned the fundamentals of print production, graphic and editorial design, photography, television production and, most importantly, effective creative thinking. I also made some great friends and became fanatical about SU basketball.
I graduated from SU in the Fall of 1984. I remained in Syracuse until Spring to: (A) attend commencement; (B) finish out the lease on my apartment; and (C) enjoy a social life without the pressure of classes or grades.
During this time I worked at Carrier Corporation in the industrial design department. There I designed packaging, and international symbols for air conditioner control panels. I also made functioning prototypes of "Euro-styled" air conditioners using plastics. I had pocket money and time to work on my advertising portfolio.
Taxi!
Suzanne, my high school sweetheart, and I survived our long-distance college romance. (Me at SU, Suzanne at Plattsburgh State.) After graduation we moved in with a college buddy of mine in Astoria-Queens. Suzanne's internship at IBM in Tarrytown had turned into a full-time gig. I landed a job in Manhattan at Kosarin Design, a division of Grey Advertising, as a graphic designer.
I left Kosarin Design after about eight months to take a job as an assistant art director at Benton & Bowles Advertising. I spent five years at B&B. During that time I married the lovely Suzanne, got promoted to art director, survived a merger with D'Arcy McManus Masius, worked on some great accounts, made some contacts that are still valuable today, and helped the industry evolve from the formulaic style of the 70s to the creative medium it is today. I also had the opportunity to work with some of the best computer animators of the time, like Abel and Associates, Pacific Data Media/BioImages, and Cranston Csurey. What little I knew about computer animation made me the office expert. I left DMB&B to move back upstate and start a family.
A Familiar Nest
Suzanne and I moved into the first-floor flat in a home that we had purchased a year earlier in Watervliet as an investment. We had to—our last tenant destroyed the place. It was unrentable. Because a lot of the plaster was already knocked off the walls, it wasn't difficult to finish the demolition.
I began the process of remodeling our flat and restoring the exterior. I also did freelance design and had a go at a small restoration business. Suzanne transferred to IBM's Albany office and had our first child.
A master carpenter I am, a self-employed proprietor I am not. I did some beautiful carpentry I'm still proud of, but didn't charge nearly enough for the effort. I decided to take a job at an Albany ad agency and get back to what I do best. Restoration became a hobby.
Hooterville
After adding another son and finishing the Watervliet house, we moved to a larger project in the country. We bought this cause at a foreclosure auction. Our newest money pit is in Hoosick Falls, NY, about 6 miles east of Bennington, VT. It's a great place to call home. In 1999 we added son number three to the brood.
I've worked at ad agencies in Albany and Troy. A recent stint evolved over the course of 6 years from an ad shop, to a direct mail shop, to a multimedia shop, to a company with New York headquarters, to a dot com. I learned a lot of new things with that team. We were always on the cutting edge of the latest trends and technologies. If there wasn't a technology solution, we made our own. I'm thankful for all the opportunities I had there. That company had their IPO on Black Friday; the Troy office did not survive. As Creative Director, I was given a nice severance package. I used the time to do some freelance work, to learn to code, and to spend quality time with number three—who loves to help Daddy work on the house. In 2002 I took a job as a designer of computer-based education.
