Creative Visionaries

Just a note. I’ve never been called on to create a CV. It may not be written correctly, but I had

fun. Before I started, I wanted to thank you.

This is… Curtis Lane Rice. He has been him for a little more than 5 decades. He has NOT been

him forever. It seems that he is fascinated by so much that he is him for weeks to a year to a

decade at a time. For example, if he were a company, early in his life his motto or mantra would

be something to the nature of “Never try the same meal twice”. That’s not a limitation, it is

guideline for experimentation… for trying. Now that he is more of an established larger

business, his motto would be something like “A fine wine has been made, now let it age and get

better; deeper”. It’s best to sum up that last motto with the word “refinement”. That is what

was; the following is how it became.

In the late 60’s Curtis was born into a loving caring middle class family. He had an older brother

and an older sister. He, Curtis, was the youngest and became a Mama’s boy. To the present day

he touts that he was able to be that.

He had a normal life with great parents in a fantastic city near the center of Oregon. The

weather was mainly wet and the area green. If there were a path he hiked it. If there were a

dune he climbed and ran down it. If there were a lake he made ripples.

Through his childhood and finishing high school he was involved in all sports but excelled in

water sports. He was on the swim team and played waterpolo as the goalie. He applied himself

to that position so deeply that he, in the 80’s was privileged enough to compete internationally.

That in the most modest sense. More exactly, he played the National Junior team from Mexico,

from Canada, and from the boycotted Cuba.

His desire to compete in waterpolo drove him for his entire high school education. In fact, it’s

what brought him to Southern California. There is where the water sports were best.

So in 1986 Curtis moved to Long Beach, California, to start his college education. He played

there for three years and earned his AA degree in four. There was some fun to be had.

In those four years, Curtis realized his desire to impress. He became a bartender, a beach

lifeguard, an Australian surf boat bowman, and a partier. He exhausted himself with clean fun.

Now it was time to think about his education further. Now he needed to apply himself. Now he

needed to transfer to a university. He chose California State University in Fullerton, and chose

to study Communications in Advertising.

Curtis Lane Rice

Altadena, CA • 818-288-0554 • grimmace@pacbell.net • linkedin.com/in/clr2020

online portfolio: www.curtislanerice.com

At CSU, Fullerton, there were no water sports to compete in. However, Curtis didn’t move

away from Long Beach, he only commuted. So his love of water sports was always nearby. He

continued rowing. He continued to put in his laps. He toyed around with is old waterpolo

teammates, and he put himself through college lifeguarding and bartending.

Unlike at Long Beach, Curtis received his BA in three years. It seems that Curtis was beginning

to slowly refine his life.

His first job in his chosen career path was not in sales, but in graphics. He made advertisements

for the Anaheim Indoor Marketplace. It was no Grove and it may not be around to this day. It

wasn’t the best beginning job, but it was his internship turned job.

It took a year and a half to break into the more stable graphics career. He landed a job as an Art

Director for “Rehab Management Magazine”. That job also included the responsibility of being

Assistant Graphic Designer for the other three magazine that were published.

It took a year and a half for Curtis to become anxious and start looking for another job. His

ambitions kept him striving for better.

Through his searches, he called on a job listed with two sentences in the newspaper. His was

asked a few questions over the phone and was scheduled for an interview. He got the job. The

job every graphic designer wanted. To design movie posters, 1-sheets.

At Graphic Orb, Curtis was hired as a Graphic Designer. That position title change quite quickly

to Assistant Art Director. It seems that his desire to learn and work excelled him up the ladder.

His first movie campaign was for the movie “As Good As It Gets” with Jack Nicholson. That

campaign was quite overwhelming and included bus sides, bus shelters, the 1-sheet, bill boards

and banners, and other unique media.

Time passed and there were plenty of other major movie campaigns that were in his charge.

Movies like Mask of Zorro, Wild Things, Spice World, Happy Texas, and other Sony titles.

After three years of the late night design binges, Curtis felt it was time to try design on his own

and for others. He left Graphic Orb to be a freelancer. However, he wanted to do it wisely. He

incorporated.

Curtis went down the freelance path fending for himself and using agencies. This excited him.

There was constant change. There were always challenges. There was always something new.

Then a new thing found him. It was point of purchase.

Point of purchase really challenged Curtis. Nothing was inside the box. There were no normals.

His displays were mainly entertainment industry POP. There was a huge demand for displays

holding VHS and DVDs. These were designed in Photoshop with perspective paths. There was

a sense of a chaotic challenge. He felt it was fun. It didn’t seem to get boring.

Soon he was introduced to 3D software. That was bliss.

Now Curtis was designing with Strata, 3DS Max, and the other Adobe software. He advanced

so quickly that he was also contributing with the consumer product displays. That meant he

was not just using the same VHS and DVD modeling files, he was building product in the

displays. He was in his element.

This was it. Curtis enjoyed designing POP using 3D software and Photoshop with the other

Adobe applications. He continued down this path and soon decided to shutdown his freelance

business and just have one employer. It was too much running the business side and designing.

As time continued, Curtis added web banners, web pages to his repertoire and then began

looking into augmented reality. For a time, this was just fine. But then, he started feeling that

same exhaustion of doing too much. It was feeling like a rollercoaster ride. And then, the

pandemic happened.

Curtis was furloughed because of the Covid pandemic of 2020. His rollercoaster ride slowed.

And then it stopped. There was no work. But… but that felt good. He was experiencing

refinement. After 20 years of point of purchase design, Curtis found it was time for a change. A

new challenge.

Possibly a new challenge as a Creative Director with Lunya.