Audiences get a peek inside the automotive design processnext month with the arrival of a special exhibition to Ringling College of Art and Design’s Lois and David Stulberg Gallery in the new Basch Visual Arts Center.  Entitled Warren Reinecker: 42 Years of Automotive Identity at General Motors Design, this traveling show from the General Motor Archives highlights the work of one of GM’s most exceptional designers, showing the artist’s development from gifted student to respected master over his more than 40 years with the company. “There’s certainly a story to be told,” says Susan Skarsgard, manager of GM Design Archive and Special Collections, who also worked alongside Reinecker for 12 years. “You can see him developing his hand skills and ability to render,” she says, particularly in the chrome. Spending a majority of his time in automotive graphics, Reinecker would eventually have a hand in designing the badges and emblems for nearly all of GM’s cars, trucks and other products. One former vice president of design at GM Design even used to place Reinecker’s renderings under the glass top of his drawing table, so he could copy and learn from them. Featuring a collection of paintings, sketches and prints ranging from Reinecker’s time as a student to his retirement, viewers can see both how the artist refined his skills over the span of years, as well as the more contained design iteration process, where Reinecker would rework a single emblem again and again to get the look just right. “It’s a real inside view at how the design process actually happens in a major organization,” says Skarsgard. “And a profound illustration of [Reinecker’s] thinking and craftsmanship.” Warren Reinecker: 42 Years of Automotive Identity at General Motors Design opens Oct. 17 in the Lois and David Stulberg Gallery at Ringling College of Art and Design.”