Powerful powerpoint

It's so interesting when just the artifacts of something in service become actually powerful. I've never been moved by a powerpoint presentation before; as this article states, these slides are used to teach Marines serving in Afghanistan about the Afghan people. No bullet points, no typesetting. See the whole (short) article for the rest of the images here.

Keep on Truckin'

Distressed typography: old but still at work. Okay, so one image is new and is a cab...

Heathens at the gate

Well, the NYTimes has posted an article about people who are "typographically sensitive" and as I write this, it is the 8th most emailed article today.

Michael Bierut, in his typically funny way says “I think sometimes that being overly type-sensitive is like an allergy; my font nerdiness makes me have bad reactions to things that spoil otherwise pleasant moments.”

The article goes on to talk about how a church near his vacation home (sigh! successful designers with vacation homes!) uses Cooper Black for their sign outside, which mars the lovely restoration. He says "Cooper Black is a perfectly good font, but in my mind it is a fat, happy font associated with the logo for the ‘National Lampoon,’ the sleeve of the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ album and discount retailers up and down the U.S. I wouldn’t choose it as a font for St. Agnes Church even as a joke. Every time I go by, my vacation is, for a moment, ruined.”

So I did a little googling, and here is that itch that can't be scratched:

Pratt in Fall

Today I accompanied my "mentee" and her mother to National Portfolio Day, where hordes of students gathered in Pratt's gym to show their work to art schools large and small. The energy was amazing. I think it's a huge and generous act that most schools were represented by volunteers who gave thoughtful crits—most of them, it seemed, without any intent of eliminating potential applicants (Maryland Institute College of Art did indeed make specific evaluations). The crits are helpful to students. A forewarning of shortcomings, the reviews sort of prepare students for possible non-acceptance (okay, nothing really ever prepares one for rejection, does it?).

Pratt's campus had a lot of intriguing sculptures sprinked around the grounds. I hadn't been to Pratt since around 1997 and was surprised by the handsome physical plant.

The neighborhood was full of surprises: some decaying signage plus a building formerly intended for decaying old ladies.*




*In 1996, in The New York Times, Daniel Schneider answered a question about the home:

An Old Old Folks' Home

Q. At 320 Washington Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, there's a boarded-up building with a plaque inscribed ''Graham Home for Old Ladies.'' Can you tell me anything about the place, and its oh-so-blunt name?

A. If you think that name is notable, wait till you hear the building's other monikers.

The institution was founded in 1851 as the ''Brooklyn Society for the Relief of Respectable, Aged, Indigent Females.'' The name was changed in 1899 to the more insouciant ''Graham Home for Old Ladies,'' according to documents furnished by the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Public Library.

The home was built on land donated by John B. Graham, a paint manufacturer, who also contributed to the $22,000 cost of the imposing neo-Georgian brick building, which housed 90 women over the age of 60 from Brooklyn. They paid a $60 admission fee.

By 1958, the fee was $2,000. A brochure that year described a tenor of life that had endured for a century: ''Here every week . . . meets the Thimble Bee. So violently do the machines whirl, the needles ply, it is a problem to keep them in work.''

When the Graham Home closed, the hulking building became a cheap hotel for prostitutes and by 1985, the building was one of the most notorious welfare hotels in the city. Up to 27 families were temporarily housed in such Gothic squalor that newspaper articles were written about it. Bob Herbert, the New York Times columnist who was then with The Daily News, described the former home as an ''ancient, soot-black, five-story building that sits back from the avenue and looks dismal enough to have been designed by Edgar Allan Poe.''

P.S. It looks like the home for decaying old ladies is now a gentrified condo.

Indeed.

No wonder we worked so well together; we travel in the same psychic circles!

I'm betting your photographee bought the bag from this guy!


He touts his clever wares at the Union Square Market, and insisted on being included in the photo! I was very taken with the hilarious "Che R"!

SymbolBlender

Why stop at Che? The guy on the subway was tickled to pose his carryall bag for me. If I were more energetic, I'd provide an image of the Marx Brothers all with the faces of Karl Marx (and the berets of Che).

Logos and branding and fans oh my

Hardly as beautiful as your card series is my middlebrow moment of noting the power of the Yankees brand (logo, shirts, caps etc) this morning. Fans on subway and streets sport the team colors on their way to the parade celebrating the Yankees's World Series victory. Maybe Bloomberg should use his personal fortune to pay for the parade . . . .

Blatant self promotion

My new etsy shop has opened!



My handpainted and limited edition printed postcards are based on the nine chapters of "The Art of Travel" by Alain de Botton.

Each of the nine postcards represent a chapter, and the complete cycle of work represents one trip, from anticipation (The Grass is Greener) to the return home (All the Things You Left Behind). The common phrases used during travel take on additional meaning when coupled with the patterns and landscapes of the miniature paintings of India and the Himalayan area, which evoke the imagery and keepsakes of a voyage.

The original hand-painted postcards are gouache, pencil, ink, and metallic paint on watercolor paper. The printed postcards are offset printed in a limited edition of 250. Printed cards are sold as a complete and signed set.