The mourners arrived at the Pour House in Capitol Hill on a chilly Friday evening shortly before Halloween. We gathered together with a single purpose: to bid farewell to a respected member of the DC creative community. Katie O’Brien — art director at esteemed agency Fleishman-Hillard, former ADCMW board member, member of AIGA, and active member of the DC arts scene–has decided to leave the nation’s capital and follow her heart to San Francisco. She and her husband, Tyler Morell, dressed as walking dead, were the guests of honor at the “Katie & Tyler Are Dead to Us” goodbye party on October 29.
Though the scene looked funereal, with some attendees in black veils or somber suits, the mood was undoubtedly festive. People enjoyed plentiful drinks and a delicious coffin-shaped cake provided by DC pastry shop Chouquette. Despite their macabre garb, the guests of honor were the life of the party. It was clear by the crowd of close friends, coworkers, and admirers that the couple will be sorely missed.
Photos By Nick Whitmoyer
Katie has made quite the impact in the DC community. She was an enthusiastic presence and organizer of many local creative events, regularly attending lectures, events, and happy hours put on by organizations such as AIGA, ADCMW, and DC Design Babes. She’s taught classes at the Georgetown campus of Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts and participated in portfolio reviews, undoubtedly inspiring a fresh crop of young designers in DC.
With Katie’s cross-country movie, DC is losing a vibrant presence from our community of creatives. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors!
I’m sorry Katie, you can’t leave the DC area.
You are wanted sooooo much!
Anyway, GOOD LUCK IN SF!
A truly bittersweet occasion in that any party with, or in this case in honor of, Katie and Tyler, is guaranteed to delight you and provide stories of “that awesome time we had that one time”.
I had the pleasure of meeting Katie 9 years ago at what might have been her first AIGA event. We fought over my love, and her disdain, for Woody Allen that night. And we’ve been friends ever since.
It’s good to know that we’ll only have to really endure the loss of her physical presence since her spirit and influence will always be a part of the DC creative community — and through Twitter.
She’s truly one of the good ones.
Katie,
You have left a ginormous crater in our DC designer social scene. A crater that will take thousands of people to fill, and it still won’t be enough. I know for several of us it will take many, many events—our eyes constantly looking through the crowd wondering what’s taking you so friggin long to show up—for us to come to grips with you being gone.
We miss you so much and I hate your for leaving us.
Thanks Pat, Jim and Carolyn. I miss you all too. And I think it’s going to take me just as much time to stop checking my calendar when I see some hot new event advertised on twitter, before realizing I can’t go.
It was particularly hard to leave the DC Design community behind, because it’s incredibly unique and tight knit and I was so proud to be a part of it. I’m hoping San Francisco will know what to do with me.
Katie,
Just do there what you did here — start working the clubs. We expect to hear how great AIGA-Frisco or the Western Art Directors clubs have become because of you. And let us know when those great jobs open up out there, so we can join you!