the view from here

"Designing Obama" is finally here. And I'm in it!

Over a year ago I was contacted by Scott Thompson who worked on the web/design for the Obama campaign. He had seen my Obama cross-stitch portrait in one of the flickr groups and invited me to send in a hi-res images of my project for a book he was writing on the design and creativity generated by the Obama campaign, as well as the ensuing grassroots movement it inspired. It was to be called "Designing Obama." I promptly obliged and heard nothing for almost a year. 

I had very modest expectations -- I was just hoping to be included in the book; I thought I might have a little corner in this vast compendium of artists -- something like the size of a yearbook picture or maybe a postage stamp. 

I received the book last week and what I got was a double-page spread alongside the likes of David Carson, Ron English, Michael Bierut and Paula Scher. I do not exaggerate when I say that in comparison to these people's careers and accomplishments, I am but a dust mote floating aimlessly on a beam of sunshine. But my little cross-stitch portrait can certainly hold a candle to any of their projects. I am humbled and amazed by it all.  

Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

Here are my US Presidents in cross-stitch thus far -- all 22 of them. I have about 2 or 3 that need to be photographed, and another 3 that are already drawn, graphed and waiting to be stitched. The portraits are arranged randomly.

Time for a POP QUIZ! See how many presidents you can identify. Don't feel bad if you don't recognize more than a few -- the likenesses are pretty solid but some presidents are pretty obscure -- through no fault of their own. I've included the key below. 

Once all the presidential cross-stitch are completed, I'm hoping to have kits available on my Etsy store. I'll probably start a new Etsy store as the stitchery doesn't really go with the stationery I'm hawking. More on that later.

The Soviet Style

I was recently approached to design a poster for the Thayer Street Grand Opening here in the South End of Boston. The client wanted a Soviet-style poster with a fist -- because the event was on May Day (May 1). I also provided an alternative.

Here are the results of my labors:

and

I used my own hand to model the fist -- notice the slender wrist in an otherwise sturdy forearm. It was fun illustrating this poster. I looked at a bunch of Soviet Era posters to figure out how to deal with the type. I decided on something bold and big. I used outlines on the type to make them more defined. 

For the second poster, you can view the Soviet original here. I pulled a Shepard Fairey on this one. 

You know that communism and socialism have been totally de-fanged when you can use the visual language of those ideologies to illustrate a capitalist enterprise. I wonder how many people will pick up on the Soviet influences in these posters. It seems so long ago when Cold War was in full swing, people were getting hauled into HUAC, and someone could get blacklisted for having communist/socialist sympathies. Say what you will about the evils of communism, but those Soviets produced visually striking propaganda -- they were on the cutting edge of photography, typography, and design. There is something sensationally original about the graphics from that era. They really owned their look. It is hard to imagine the people who designed these fantastic posters did so in the midst of Stalin's Purges, famines, forced re-settlements, and mass executions. 

Anyway -- new stores and galleries will be opening on May 1. Only the graphics are communist -- the party is pure free market capitalism.

Brother, Can You Spare $3.00 (plus shipping)?

So the economy is tanking. The stock market has taken a precipitous plunge and the recent gains are so reminiscent of the fluctuations that marked the Great Depression, that it's hard feel optimistic about the future. But I'm no economist -- just a small fry  trying to eke out a living in these scary times.

Unlike the Thirties, though, I don't think there's a real threat to democracy. I mean, bad as things are, I would be hard pressed to find any serious player espousing communism as an alternative. Yes, our system is in need of major adjustments, if not outright resuscitation, but communism? Please. Even China is barely communist -- totalitarian, yes. But as afar as communism as Mao and Marx envisioned it -- that train has left the station. Oh, by the way have you seen the Louis Vuitton ads with Mikhail Gorbachev? Do you hear a high-pitched, whirring noise every time you look at this ad? Don't worry, you're not coming down with tinnitus -- it's just the sound of Vladimir Illyich Lenin spinning in his tomb.

Getting back to eking out a living -- creativity is my stock in trade. I tend to find inspiration everywhere -- nature, art, history, current events, etc. Feeling particularly down in the dumps about the economy, I designed "What would FDR do?" buttons. Now I've designed "What would FDR do?" postcards -- an old-timey way to commiserate with friends and family about our economic woes. They are available at my Etsy store for a mere $3.00 plus shipping (you get 3 postcards -- 2 to send out and one to keep on your bulletin board). In the next few days, I will post links for other "What would FDR do?" merchandise t-shirts, mugs (ostensibly from which we can all sell pencils), etc. I think this is what it really means to "never let a good crisis go to waste" -- I'm talking to you, Jonah Goldberg.

I'm infuriated by the recent talking heads who are presuming to rewrite history by claiming that FDR did not pull us out of the Great Depression, and in fact prolonged it. While I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, they are not entitled to their own facts. Some claim that WWII pulled us out of The Great Depression -- not FDR. And who exactly foresaw the threat of Nazi Germany and quietly started gearing up the industrial base to prepare for the war? Some say that the government did not produce permanent jobs to which I say -- exactly. That's the point. It produced millions of temporary jobs so people wouldn't starve while waiting for permanent jobs to come back. These temporary jobs kept body and soul together. Permanent jobs are the domain of the free market.

The answer to "What would FDR do?" is WHATEVER IT TAKES. Let's save ourselves by re-building our infrastructure so we can have energy efficient buildings and safe bridges. Let's modernize our schools so we can graduate more and more students qualified to meet the demands of a complex and technological future. Let's figure an equitable healthcare system so a medical catastrophe doesn't equal financial ruin. Let's do it together. And that's just for starters. 

"Hope is a thing with feathers"

I designed this card earlier this spring. I wasn't thinking of Emily Dickinson's poem. This is just an instance of a happy coincidence. I'd like to share the poem with you:

Hope     

Hope is the thing with feathers 
That perches in the soul, 
And sings the tune--without the words, 
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard; 
And sore must be the storm 
That could abash the little bird 
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land, 
And on the strangest sea; 
Yet, never, in extremity, 
It asked a crumb of me.

--------------

We are certainly about to enter into the "chillest" of seasons. I'm going to try my best to let this "thing with feathers" keep me warm in the coming months and make sure that I am always straining to hear its tune despite the storms that are bound to ensue.

21 Buttons - 21 Days (DAY 21)

'Nuff said.

21 Buttons - 21 Days (DAY 19)

Vote for your health. It's the right thing to do.

21 Buttons - 21 Days (DAY 18)

Teenage dad. Political prisoner. Folk hero.

21 Buttons - 21 Days (DAY 17)

Call a friend and tell them why you're voting for Obama.

21 Buttons - 21 Days (DAY 16)

You've seen this one before. This is the button that started it all. Today, I'll be pulling down the Obama buttons from my Etsy site to make room for other merchandise. The sales have slowed considerably in the past few days which is to be expected. Someone purhased a button from my Etsy store last night and it will just make it to her in time for the election. Don't fret, I still have other buttons to show you in the next few days. I just wanted to acknowledge the first button that sparked the rest.