the good old days of corporate design

Altar Dresden Foil Scrap from Martin Meyer.comOkay. More Dresden Scrap for your eyes and fun. I discovered this cool site that will wholesale this stuff to me…and I am sorely tempted. Just need a project beyond the drooling and salivating I  have being around this paper ephemera. It’s Martin Meyer Imports. Love the stuff. Take a looksee when you have time. They have altars (like this), wings, and all sorts of other great stuff like suns, moons, stars, comets. Combined with a few wonderful retablos, and one could create your own mixed culture folk art.

Today is the Sausage Fest. The pink teeshirts are rolled in a pile. Sausage is cool in the fridge which decided to work today. I bought corn and a melon from Rick along with a request for salsa tomatoes which he happily sold me for less in abundance. So, the trip for the tomato jackpot was just up the hill and not 15 minutes away in the Amish Wonderland. So, the salsa has been cut and prepped for the gang. May the fest begin. There is talk about a holiday Sausage Fest for fun—perhaps with a santa pig?

I have been musing over what I like about Alexander Girard. I guess its the limited palette, simple color treatment, simple imagery more like icons and less like stories. His work almost seem like logos for life, or symbols for living versus a snapshot from a story. Those images can be grouped together to tell a story in pictograms—evoking traditional images from folk art, folk stories, and toys. His work is altogether very happy as I am sure Girard was a joyous man who let his light shine through his work. Upon a bit a of research on his work, I came across this wonderful site on Braniff Airlines and the work/effort+ thinking that went behind the first big change of image that transformed that airline. The Braniff Pages.com shows the predecessor to Jet Blue. Braniff went from a so so airline in Texas (I think) to a look out operation which was thrilling to ride. The airplanes were different colors (whoa!) with new type by Alexander Girard (now available through House Industires):

In 1965, noted New Mexico architect and graphic designer, Alexander Girard, was hired by Jack Tinker to redesign “every aspect” of Braniff. He created the idea to use bright color schemes and ethnic art for Braniff. This was officially called “The End Of The Plain Plane,” and was applied to aircraft, lounges, ticket counters, ground equipment and everything else the “flying public” would view. 

Girard originally wanted each Braniff aircraft painted all one color, with a tiny “BI” logo and name. Braniff advertising and engineering wanted a bigger logo and bigger type, so they modified the designs and colours (adding white wings and tail) based on the Vega scheme Paul R. Braniff had created in the 1930s.

Braniff Introduced Seven Colors: Powder Blue, Medium Blue,Orange, Ochre, Turquoise, Lemon Yellow and beige. (Lavender was also introduced as shown above, but dropped)The colors were proposed by herman miller designer, Alexander Girard, and modified by Braniff In-house departments.”\

The stewardesses were trained to be hospitable at a College developed for them. Combined with the training came a overhaul of food, service and luxury with an infusion (where my relationship with Jet Blue comes in) of fun from color and design, posters and then the actual floor show during the trip. My father would take Braniff during some of his travel during this time and would come back to talk about how the stewardesses would change their uniforms during the trip going from mini to maxi to raindomed bubbleheads in Pucci designer duds.. A real live trip into a Stanley Kubrick universe from his description to an imaginative under ten year old at home. I am still intrigued. This was the time that contract furnishings via Herman Miller and the whole corporate design machine at Corning/IBM/ Cummings Engine was in full swing and fully functional. It was wild, and crazy. It was the sixties when anything was possible. And thanks to Alexander Girard, it became realized.   I am inspired.

 

 

Saturday review

Christmas Horses, Q. Cassetti, 2010, digitalWe had a lovely day today and yesterday due to cooler temperatures and lower humidity. I am on the Christas card warpath, and think, thanks to the great direction of y clients that we may be pretty close to one for this year. Alarmingly postitive and I only want to hope for a smooth resolution on a normally prickly topic. I might post a few sketches as soon as we know where we are going on this one. I did enjoy pawing through the Matisse work— and plan to continue to do so in the near future as it really charges the batteries for me.

We had eye exams this morning followed by a little shopping at Wegments to create the food event for the scheduled  “Sausage Fest” planned for tomorrow. Alex and 20 of his neares tnad dearrest will be eating sausage, playing Kubb, swimming and eating more along with wearing their pink tee shirts (Alex’s spec) that make them bros together. All for one and one for all. I may be having a Hartford friend come to visit for this hoedown, But the weather promises to be great and the friends continue to RSVP, so I figure36 Italian sausages might be good along with a big bowl of salsa, a few dozen ears of corn, cantaloupe cut up into a big pile…and maybe something green from Rick’s fruit stand right off of 96. I plan to let whimsey and wit direct the rest of the planning. The local bounty makes it pretty easy to be flexiable and random in choosing what to do for things like this.

In a month, school will be back in session. Kitty will be at Hampshire. Alex will be full bore into cross country and the challenges of being a junior stuck with the cranky parents. The hosta will be in bloom (the hugely fragrant, big easter lily sized ones we have at the lake). The pumphouse pavillion will be completed and maybe painted by then. The hundred days of summer is more than two thirds done…and its barely started. Rob has completed his big to dos this month, so maybe a more regular schedule will emerge. But, maybe not. The only ones not bothered by much of anything are the cats except for TJ who was shaved with the horse clippers by Amanda yesterday as the skanky, cranky cat was covered in dreaddy clumps all over the back of his body. He really is quite a mess, particularly for a cat. The picture of Amanda taking the clipper to this sour old man makes me a bit nervous as he is so uncooperative with even a brushing…imagine the shaver and the cheery buzz and tickle they produce. Oy.

We are excited by the prospect of the Town of Ulysses Annual Fair towards the end of the month. Yes, they have the carny stuff, but they also have miraculous and fun stuff like cake judging, flower judging, animals and so much more. I think this is a place I want to lean into next year and go competitive for the prizes. You know, work on building that local public relations. What sort of crafts? Scrapbooking would be a cinch. Knitting could be good ( I one year knit little easter baskets with knitted Nicky Epstein style flowers all over them)—and high humor value. Then there is the food arts…Granola  might work. This year its doing diligence on the research. I am sure you will hear more.

Bruce was reading the Trumansburg Free Press and was enchanted (as were we all) by the Tburg Commissioner for Youth Activities planning movies in the park with prizes. One of the prizes was an order of toast at the Falls Restaurant. Another was one piece of Chocolate from Life’s so Sweet Chocolates. And another, more functional prize, a half pound of nails from Millspaugh Lumber. Imagine the delight of the children. Its positively Krampian.  Brilliant and hysterical.

The lake beckons. I am “not feeling it” re swimming, but am being prodded by the management. More later.

IF: [ Love is not] Caged

Lubok Omphalos, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and inkLove’s a fire that needs renewal    
Of fresh beauty for its fuel:    
Love’s wing moults when caged and captured,    
Only free, he soars enraptured.         
 
Can you keep the bee from ranging,    
Or the ringdove’s neck from changing?    
No! nor fetter’d Love from dying    
In the knot there’s no untying.

J. Campbell from Bartleby.com

Painting with scissors

Hemlock Grove, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink“painting with scissors.” Matisse said, “Only what I created after the illness constitutes my real self: free, liberated.” 

Nice, fun search on Matisse yesterday. Taschen (Henri Matisse: Cut-Outs - Drawing with Scissors (2 Volumes Splip case) ) has a lovely new book just on the cutouts that looks wonderful. Its too new to get used, and its $125. a casebound set, so I will wait. It was fun to pull images and immerse myself in the bright palette and free expression Matisse used. An old high school friend mentioned Matisse’s methodology with his cut outs (gouaches decoupes). And yes, as he aged this was his process (from henri-matisse.net:

“With the aid of his assistants, Matisse invented a systematic approach to the technique of his cut outs.. First, his studio assistants brushed Linel gouaches on sheets of white paper.

Once dry a stockpile  of colored paper were available to Matisse at any given time. He often quite spontaneously cut out elements and placed them into compositions. As the play between consciously sought-for and the fortuitously-arrived at effects worked into their balances the projects moved toward completion. In the meantime many of them were posted about the studio walls.

The Linel gouaches were employed because they “directly corresponded to commercial printers ink colors” (Cowart 17) and would reproduce perfectly. The cut-outs pulsate with energy. The bright, vibrant Linel colors, deep and Light Japanese Green, vert Emeraude (Imitation veridian), Deep Cadmium Yellow, Deep Cadmium Red, Deep Persian Red, Persian Violet, and Yellow Ochre (Cowart 274), keep leaping in front of our eyes.”

The holiday card project is benefitting from the search. Additionally, I am pressing the new proposed color palette into use to see if it works or needs a bit of amendment. I need to go find human body engravings for the next image. I am hoping the NYPL (New York Public Library) Digital Library might have something to work with. If not, maybe a trip to Cornell’s Mann Library? First the simple desktop stuff…we’ll see. Its coming on nicely.

Eli and John are cranking on the rebuilding/ restoration of our pumphouse in the side quadrangle. Nigel is attacking a new swathe of grass to liberate the property further. I have pizza dough in the cold fridge for our lunch (its now between 8 and 10 folks daily—so creativity is a bit more necessary). Though it will be hot, I think I will make a pizza rustica for the crowd tonight…and tomorrow’s lunch.

I am deep into the second book of the trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo—The Girl that Played with Fire.This heat has to stop…but reading this fun book keep the synapses jumping.  And the fans are helping too. The weekend and the promised break in the heat is welcome. More later.

Remote me

Finnish Chicken, Q. Cassetti, 2010, digitalI am waiting for the Sears repairman to come chez Luckystone. We have been doing the cha cha with the local appliance guy re: our refrigerator, and with two fruitless and expensive visits, we decided to throw in the towel and call in the big guns— Sears. The compressor seems to conk out and allow the fridge to heat up after two days. We have been nursing it with ancillary ice chests at the ready.

I worked on the happy brand yesterday. I have a bit more to do, but will break today to work on holiday card illustration/ design. Hopefully, i can wrap some Girard inspiration and wit to this work. I am intrigued in the way Girard cut his work, his patterns into rectangular shapes that he either worked within or cut out of. He developed iconic forms of birds, flowers, leaves, seed pods, berries on branches that fit together like a joyous jigsaw puzzle, humming happily together in vibrant colorways. His work is very derivative of the sublime work of Matisse’s old age, and a body of work I have held dearly, his cut paper compositions. There is also a dose of Mary Blair in his figures when Girard creates them—

The Hangar Theatre’s posters for next summer awaits. I have been given a sneak peek at the offerings which is very broad and ranging from serious to silly. Need to put a pencil to these as I would love to get these done by the end of November so as to get them on a schedule that is not so last minute as it has been in the past.
I also raised my hand to volunteer for next year’s Ithaca Triathlon. Another waterfall coming up! I think Girard may take a hand in this one.

Alex is moving up the corporate ladder at the Rongovian Embassy, from dishwasher to expiditer to his pleasure. Kitty is busy at Silk Naturals, our Main Street makeup business in the Masonic building.

My phone battery is almost gone. Must wrap this up— William Walton’s coronation march is playing on the radio reminding me of my wedding— as Mr. Whitman played Walton for the processional and recessional— shaking the pipes and pulling out all the stops on the massive organ at Shadyside Presbyterian Church to my delight. A good way to start today.

Inspired by Girard

The Nativity, Alexander Girard

 Art is only art when it is synonymous with living.               -Alexander Girard

I am going to be Alexander Girard’s red headed stepchild. I mean, I want to be Alexander Girard’s stylistic red headed stepchild. I want to be him so much, and feel that there is enough Girard (1907-1993) DNA (illustration and graphic design DNA, that is) in me, that I cannot suppress it any longer. I do not know why I have been so reluctant to be this stylistic person, but I have. Maybe because its too easy. Waaaay too easy. But others with the same coding do not have the hangups (maybe I had to get over that I can “be all that I can be” versus paint with oils and be Norman Rockwell).

But hey. Look at this angel to the left. I have been there and back. Just need to give myself permission to go more graphic. I can do more graphic. I do it every stinking day for pay. I can do simple. I can do flat planes of color. And the whole negative/positive thing I eat and drink. There is a sheer happiness with his work that has become renewed in me, and want to take inspiration from him, from similar reference and stylistic sources that he did…and see where it goes.  His collection of folk art, toys, and objects were established as part of the Girard Foundation (at the Museum of International Folk Art) which will be a new go to for me. Sanna Annukka , the wonderful English/Finnish illustrator has taken Girard’s work and embraced it and made it hers. Why can’t I?

Toys represent a microcosm of man’s world and dreams. They exhibit fantasy, imagination, humor and love. They are an invaluable record and expression of man’s ingenious unsophisticated imagination.  -Alexander Girard

I mean, I am there, right? Erzegebirge. Dresden Scrap. Folk art. Lubok/ lubki. Fraktur. Polish Folk art. Mexican folk art. Engravings. Mexican Engravings. Indian art. Hindu folk art. Colonial art. Colonial Gravestones…..my world of influences. Girard is speaking my language, loves the things I love, uses a palette that I am comfortable in. He is a teacher and an inspiration. I need to go with this.

Dresden Scrap

Rooster sketch, Q. Cassetti, 2010, digitalWe saw “Inception” last night to Alex’s delight. It was good, but not the work of art that Alex and Erich claim it to be…but I guess as I am “not the audience” as Erich tells me, it doesnt matter what I think. Alex has been talking about this incessantly since the viewing—smiling and talking…delightedly. We had dinner at Maxi’s late and turned back home for a late night.

Today is a beautiful day…all the heat and humidity washed out  to clear and clean. We have the team working on the pumphouse restoration. Nigel is back to making beautiful with the yard. Kitty is working in the makeup factory in the Masonic Temple (for real). Alex is off playing golf as he has dishes later. Chet the Lawnmower man has come and gone…so the green stuff has been groomed and is gorgeous.

I was googling those wonderful cut out pages (from my SCORE at Sauders) and discovered that they are called either Victorian or German Scrap. The metallic version of Victorian or German Scrap is called Dresden Scrap, Dresden Foil or Dresden Foil Scrap. My mother has taken elements of Dresden Scrap and turned them into pins. There is other Dresden scrap that are these elaborate, paper candy cups or frames for pictures. High end party goods and high end scrap for scrapbooks or for valentines or for me, to scan and party with. Some of the holiday stuff (the big paper santas) I have seen iced to the top of gingerbread cookies or the little hearts attached to candy or gingerbread for valentines day. Linked to all of this old fashioned holiday stuff from Germany (like my favorite Erzegebirge stuff), paper mache eggs and holiday decorations figure into this mix as well. I remember our buying them as a kid , I think at Mr. Marioni’s store on Walnut Street in Pittsburgh along with old things my mother and grandmothers had—combined with funny old fashioned postcards and other ephemera they would toss between the families. I guess this is where my craziness comes from.

Here are some resources: Victorian Scrapworks>> Blumchen & Company>> AlphaStamps>> Your ATCstore>> Collage Closet>> There are lovely things to work with. Inspiring ephemera to collage, scan or use in fun ways. I am cooking on this idea.

more brand thinking...outloud, that is.

Rooster, Q. Cassetti, 2010, Adobe Illustrator, digital.So, The happiness parade continues on my desktop. I am backing into a new mark for the bakery and am making lots of pictures that may or may not work as a mark. But, we have moved off the corporate and staid, and more into tangible and fun. The more I think about it, the more I need to find models that are more reflective of the spirit of the work/ the brand that needs to be conveyed.

As much as I do not love this brand as it does not speak directly to me, the“Life is Good” folks manage to do a nice job of presenting a kind of hippie message in a very friendly, non-threatening way. I mean, what is not to agree with “Life is Good” when you are powering around in your minivan going to the soccer game? Life may not be so good for those inner city moms climbing out of the subway trying to find peace in their lives. But “Life is Good ” is not their brand. Its for those minivan moms…. not the medicated freaks like me— or the hard-working single moms that don’t have the time to reflect on whether life is good or not. But what is not to fight with the look and feel and what it means to those who sport this gear. I mean, they call their damned baseball caps “chill caps”. Where is the vomitorium? However, the spirit of friendly and nonthreatening, I can handle. Its taking it to the enth degree with the “chill caps” and the feel good tote bags. Even your dog can feel good (let it be a golden retriever, please dear god>)Puhlease. But lesson received re the feel good.

On the other hand, you have Stonewall Kitchen. They have a very buttoned up identity that has a nice script handwriting/font that compliments the logotype in simple, shadowed Copperplate Gothic/ all caps. They have a very simple color scheme (a bit dated, but still fresh and recognized). They represent excellent, a bit pricey, but good goods in prepackaged sauces, mixes, jams/jellies etc. They also are from New England (as is “Life is Good”) but they lean on that a bit more. Stonewall tells you it was established in 1991 but feels much the way many of the foods we bought with my grandmother (Crosse and Blackwell being the one that comes to mind)—that they have been around since the mid 1800s like Heinz. Stonewall has established an established look that rests on trust and quality without much fun, though their offerings are imaginative and smart. They rely on whitespace and on hand lettering to “friendly” up the image that could go stuffy if they let it.

Dean & DeLuca and Stonewall have similar design programs though D&D have opted to be more urbane and pulled in as their line expands whereas Stonewall softens their approach. I love D&D’s alternative and smart packaging. They are far more giftable (particularly as a corporate gift)…where the Stonewall products feel more hostess gifty. Stonewall you will find at TJMaxx. D&D does not go outside their network.

There is Le Pain Quotidien, a wonderful bread franchise we have seen/eaten at in NYC. Their hook is fresh bread served in a very honest way with butter/cheese/jam/ soft boiled eggs, as sandwiches etc. in a very fresh, open manner with big tables that you may be seated with other folks you may not know. There is a country honesty in their food, their presentation and the shops. Their mark (which they downplay on their site) is at left with a focus on baguettes with a flash presentation on the top of it for the site.  Nice and discreet use of social networking symbols on their site…but not much of a definitive brand. They let the locations (and the bread) do the talking and making memorable. As an aside, if you have a chance to have breakfast at one, I highly recommend the experience. And, the bread is wonderful.

MOre later. The phone just rang and I need to pick up the little chicks at the park.

Back to the future

Antique Victorian scrapbooking materialIt was a perfect summer day yesterday. We got going on the early side to go get granola fixings, candy (for Nigel), and all sorts of John Martin meats (sausage and lunch meat) for the office and for dinner at our favorite store in Seneca Falls, Sauders. We were heading out of Seneca Falls on the way back, I was reciting the pizza recipe from King Arthur to my friend to discover she missed getting the “optional” dough relaxer (which really makes the recipe). So, in my new cool way, I suggested we head back and get it. She dove into the flour aisle and I went in search of cookie cutters as she had recited her sugar cookie recipe (something I never have made…) and feel that it would be fun to do. I found the cutters I wanted  (a hand, a heart and a daisy)and Kitty and I were loitering in the Mennonite gift and bookshop at Sauders. We were walking down one aisle and came upon a steel cabinet with shallow drawers. Kitty opened one of the drawers and I FLIPPED out. There, in the center of Sauders, they had sheets upon sheets of German scrapbook stickers that I have adored since a child. We used to buy them in Pittsburgh, and I had collected antique ones…but they had them for $.89 a piece as I gasped with delight in finding this sort of wonderful oddity available as an everyday thing to this community of people.  I selected one of each style from a sailboat with flowers, to shoes filled with flowers to some pretty funny/ditsy cats. The best was a picture of a pair of victorian fuzzy chicks, pecking away at a LOBSTER. huh? The best.

Sauders bookstore has odd Mennonite hard bound genealogy books, directories of the various Mennonite communities, amazing old fashioned genealogy charts (ready to fill in ), and local maps with names written in red locating the members of the various familes in each geographic “ward” of the Old School Mennonites (Amish). I had to buy a map too. More from the bookstore. I am seeing Christmas written all over this place.

On the way back, steaming down 414 in Romulus, we stopped on the segment of the road that we refer to as the “Amish Main Street” and bought white corn and a big basket of tomato “seconds” which filled a huge plastic bag for $5. We got peaches and fresh apricots too. A haul for less than $12.

We swam in the afternoon after doing some driving. Alex, Kitty and I played scrabble and we made an early night of it.

Let the Sun Shine

Sun illustrations by Alexander Girard.Sometimes the best stuff is the stuff you do when you back into it. I mean design/illustration work. Not, the car. I have parking lot and driveway accidents all the time (read, bang into stuff when you back into it…a millstone, a tree, you get the idea)—but I prefer to bang into stuff when I cannot figure it out. Case in point. I have been mullling over this image for a really wonderful company to be. Its a wood fired artisan bakery that will be using Farmer Ground Organic Flour to produce bread and pasta. The concept is way beyond just the food, but the community of supporters, believers and consumers in a socio-political way with the community driving the food and the food driving the community. I have been looking at type lockups with images and its clean and nice…but its bleh. However, after working on their website, thinking about content and grid, copy and images, this goes here, that goes there (the laundry sorting of content) within the context of a fairly tight grid….it came to me that I should make the mark more fun. It should have a “hand” that feels like a linoleum cut…with a more fun font…and then applied in a very clean, organized way. 

Thus, the inspiration for me goes in the way back machine to Alexander Girard, graphic designer illustrator for Herman Miller. Early in my career, I was inspired and bitten by Girard but had to put that passion in the back of my corporate mind. But now that I have been reborn as another person, my old friends can come to the fore especially now that the Eames and Girard are fashionable again. Out with austere, in with decorative! Yay and Yay again! House Industries has Girard inspired fonts (just purchased). I may buy the Eames collection too…as it really floats my boat. Saracen (a latin font) along with Acropolis and Knockout have been my go tos…and thanks to my mentor, Murray Tinkelman, I am thinking about what used to be called “display fonts” in a different way. I plan on using the blob brush/eraser/path tool to make a cruder version of what Girard did. Should be fun.

Summertime

Messing around inspired by Alexander Girard, Q. Cassetti, 2010, digitalReally going deep on a project I have wanted to resolve— and now, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thought out enough to show—with some ideas roughed out on a grid with black and white to color rollovers, using the standard html font I like the best (Georgia)—a website layout designed to be implemented in Drupal using the grid system that “Blueprint” offers. So, with this gridded approach, my publications background really is holding me in good stead. Not a lot of fancy schmancy, but simple is elegant. This design is a little black dress. I think I may have to be the photographer on this job with my point and shoot…but I enjoy that, so no biggie.

Fixed the Farmers Market graphic from yesterday. tweaked a few things along with adding and subtracting (digital plakat) with the eraser and blob brush. Then. did the little doodle diddle to the left just messing around with those same tools. It was fun, quick and I like how rough it is. Need to work on more rough stuff. I would love to work up a little linoleum block look for fun.

Got Alex rolling and scheduled for the PSAT prep. He is surprising all of us by willingly picking up books and The New Yorker and reading them. Happily. If you wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday, I have already gotten it. I never thought I would see the day that my dear boy would actively engage in reading willingly…and happily. Now, as his reading coach and librarian, I need to put my head around what is next? John Krakauer’s Into Thin Air? Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential? Albert Goldman’s Elvis? Need to worry this. Any suggestions? Its gotta be good and engaging. He is reading Neverland by Neil Gaiman, a very interesting, simply written, visual book about an alternative world. Love Neil Gaiman. We could try William Gibsons Idoru.

It’s 7:30 and it’s getting darker. Imagine. We are on the downside of the bright side of the year. Rolling into August is just plain shocking. Christmas design work and Christmas presents are on the list of things to do. I am def. going to do a letterpress valentine. I think the Luckystone card is going to be derivative of the Advent calendar work from last December. Likely nutcrackers.

Off to the Pourhouse to buy teeshirts!

to a "T"

Redraw of the Farmers Market Weathervane, inspired by Durand Van Doren’s workBeautiful weather here. The Farmers Market Building moved yesterday from the fairgrounds to the Market Site. We got shots of Durand’s weathervane, and I asked him if I could generate a flat illustration from his work to make a shirt/graphic from. Here is my shot of the thing from his metal illustration. It was kind of cool as I took Rob’s photo of the weathervane against the sky, translated it via photoshop to a high contrast black and white image. I selected the darks and created a workpath that I imported to illustrator to work on. Cool. I think this will be converted into white on black for a teeshirt to give to the guys that worked on the creation of the bandstand during Grassroots. Need to price that one out. Alex’s shirts turned out nicely and inexpensively.

I was given next year’s Hangar’s productions (shhhh) and need to start mulling over what the images need to be for the posters/advertising etc. I would love to have this all in hand by the end of October/first of November. It would really give us the jump on getting in front of this for next year. I also committed to doing the graphics for next year’s Ithaca Triathlon. I didnt do this year as it was getting a bit tedious, so the break gives me a bit fresher look at the design/illustration problem. We will see. That too, has a near and dear expectation too.

Speaking of local projects, look what just arrived today! A tee for the Pourhouse! So, get yourself down toTburg’s very own funspot and get a shirt (guys or gals) to show your civic support. Limited edition.

Someone has posted a request for a Hangar Poster to frame. I am thinking that there might be something in having this stuff early to send out for prints. Also, the new thinking is the $2. gumball art thought. Which is, that people have no problem plunking down a buck or two for a button, a sticker, or a tattoo. They do not even need to think about it. NO problem whatsoever. So, what if I were to create a cool point of purchase, hippie display that gives the person a choice of buttons, stickers, postcards, tattoos…at a good price with the price getting better and better as one nears $10. and $20 a shot. This would be put in places that Q. has relationships with (Grassroots, The Hangar, a gallery, chez Camp, or any of the restaurants etc that I do gratis work for). Build the local brand in a very local way. Adding value  and allowing the individual to take a little bit (bitte ein bit) of Q home with them…priming the pump (?) for an incremental build of sales. That’s today’s thinking.

Just started reading The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo. Delicious summer readling! 

Farmers' Market

Photo montage, 07.26.2010Trumansburg’s Farmers Market got a brand spanking new bandstand today. It was built by a team of wonderful volunteers who donated their time and expertise to design, build and then MOVE this wonderful building from Grassroots (where it served as a play place for kids) to its final home at our new Farmers Market to house the live music we have weekly on Wednesdays.

One more

from 07/25/2010Phew. Its over. Grassroots was wonderful this year with music and friends, and new friends, and music, and dance and delicious food, and big ideas to keep this small head whirring. But too much of a good thing is too much.

I walked over yesterday a bit after noon to find that the clouds and drizzle had cleared and we were to have a perfect blue sky afternoon. Heard the Chokers. Perfect show. A lot of nice new twists to the music, and happier band members made for good music and happy karma for those of us who know a few. We heard Hee Haw Nightmare, didnt love, but the crowd did. Toivo, as Rob said “went electric” with children running in circles and people waltzing and dancing happily in the afternoon. Preston and Keith Frank played the Dance Tent for the Tea Dance segment with the crowd happily dancing and not totally overwhelmed by the heat (like Friday when many of us wanted to lie down and faint from the humidity).

We got home on the early side after just enough and I surfaced that I wanted a scooter, a vespa to be specific. Rob surprisingly perked up about that (and Indian one please as the design was frozen mid seventies with the ferring and design I love). Now the question is which color and could I get vinyl cut to put bumble bees all over it?

I also am going to make a piece of art starting with the new weathervane on our new Tburg bandstand as reference. I think something solid and one color might be a nice thing to have to output on canvas and donate to the events I donate things to, and to create some tees (from my new cheap resource) to give to the men and women who built the bandstand as a thank you for their hard work, determination and wit to make something so outstanding for our little town. We are so so lucky to have such a committed group of people give and give and give to us, to Grassroots, to the general wonder and quality of life I hope none of us take this spirit of giving for granted. My belief in everyone giving a little bit (an hour a week at least) to your closest in community will yield in the Catherine Wheel tradition of bringing back energy to not only yourself but others is constantly proven in this small place of perfection we call home. And the wheel keeps turning and turning and turning.

The puzzle, challenge and amazing opportunity is thinking about the possibilities of what’s next?

Must go now to pick up my stuff at the art barn. Sold buttons and postcards with low expections. Lets see if I am happily delighted?

Link to Sunday’s pix on Flickr>>

Pictures to the left include (at top): Charlotte Senders, actress extrodinaire and cool Tburger, (next row left to right) Peter H., Meryl Young, Rob Cassetti, (Third Row down) The Chicken Chokers performing, (Fourth Row Down) Timmie Dietrich talking to me, (Bottom photo) camping in the center of the racetrack.

Breather

Study, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink, Adobe lIlustrator.I didnt go to the festival yesterday. Just too much. So, there was a swim, a nap, some cooking (note: whenever they suggest or put “optional” in a recipe, use it), and a bit of reading and thinking (lots of that). The Grassroots experience is, for me, very provocative from the music standpoint, but the sheer energy from the people, the community, the connections and connections to be made from that moment, and the opportunities have my head spinning off my body. It is still a brew of ideas with a few coming more to the fore (which I am pricing or planning) and others I will patiently wait for them to form. Kitty and Alex are on overdrive (coming in around 3 a.m. with Rob and Bruce). We will have our morning recap with the pound of bacon ends I need to put on the griddle before they come down. Maybe pancakes?

I just wanted to weigh in before more coffee, bacon and thoughts. You will hear the ideas as they form, and you know I want your ideas and input before I launch blindly forward. There is the festival today with the beloved Chokers, The Thins, Donna the Buffalo and more. Rob is thrilled about Toivo in the Cabaret (or as Bruce calls it, the Cabernet).

More later. 

[Totally off topic, but to my delight, the Hartford MFA blog that I conceived of, do some of the writing, all of the architecture  and maintain (as a gift to the program) has been recognized by Learn-o-Rama as one of the “Top 50 Blogs by Masters Students”. This stuff does work…just keep it focused and interesting enough that even you, the creator want to visit, More here>>]

Humidifier

Snippets from Grassroots: 07.23.2010, Q. Cassetti, 2010It was wet in the air and hot, and still. Nothing moved except the papers to curl into themselves. None of the puddles dried up. And even in the tents, my glasses fogged up. It was a humidifier all day combined with the amazing Preston Frank and thousands of steaming topless bodies, the sights and heightened smells added to the flavor of Grassroots. Heat was also in the music. So, worth it all the way.

Preston Frank in a big tent with a very appreciative audience was a shot in the arm. Hypercharged Zydeco. We danced a bit until my face was streaming and we needed water. It was great hearing Preston do some of my favorite Boozoo Chavis songs…albeit he did not sing my favorite, “You will look like a Monkey when you get old” (a loving tune about his WIFE).

After that, we heard Mountainheart, an amazing string band that segued into rock and roll covers and back out again, seamlessly. The crowd was electric—so as you can see from the top picture, the band had a throughly good time as well. They have tremendous presence and worked very much as an organic group, one instrument, with all the various musicians handing off to the other either instrumentally or vocally. They also loved the audience, and the audience loved them right back.

We hung out with some old friends and then heard the end of the Sim Redmond Band at the Grandstand. G oodness, the level of production is really up, with the lighting and stage dressing at a far higher, far less shaggy approach that  it was a tremendous show with Sim and group as tight and good as ever.

On the way out, we stopped at the dance tent and were delighted with Jsan and the Analog Sons. High energy, driving reggae, great show, great horns and an amazing keyboardist who we see pop up locally.

We got home around midnight. Alex around 3 a.m. and Kitty spent the night. Another day starts. We will swim the vast Cayuga and feed the cats before going back for more music. The buttons are selling at the Art Barn. I have found my price point. Ideas are hatching as we speak.

Friday: Grassroots week

Zydeco Trail Riders, Main Street, Trumansburg, Q. Cassetti, 2010To the left are the Zydeco Trail Riders. They wanted their picture snapped after their fun performance Wednesday night at the Rongo. So obliged. To see more of the Trail Rider photos>> There is a workable one in there. They were very cute and chatty (as you can see) with Sally laughing and making the boys laugh along with her. They were great, high spirited and fun. Wednesday night was fun with dining and dancing with Kitty and Laura shaking their wild thing like the Drama Club regulars they are.. Rob and Bruce saw Keith Frank on the Commons and the All American Hell Drivers late at Barangus.

Friday at Grassroots (an edited collection of images from yesterday’s fun at Flickr)>>

Grassroots opened to a bluesky wonderful day. I went to the festival around two with Rob and Alex and was presented to our tent, chairs and little encampment surrounded by lots of people I already knew. I wandered over to the Art Barn to take my little things to sell (buttons, stickers, tattoos). I made up two little cigar boxes with nice labels on them for the stuff and put the buttons (as groups) on ribbons.

Then, Rob and I wandered over to see what was happening in the dance tent to find Mac Benford and crew playing stellar old time music. Mac is sort of the gran ddaddy  to the local old time music scene and he and they were def. on their game. Peter was there (designating that this was the place to be) complete with his brand new antique electric tricycle complete with cooler and a yellow fringed awning, prominently visual and the making, for me, of what Grassroots is. Small Town, Community, and the Church of Whats Happening Now. The cloggers were there along with our wonderful Professor Margery, Zydeco dancer to the stars. We wandered over to the new Cabaret Hall to hear Pat Burke, and then back to the  Mac and company.

Top: The Grady Girls, Bottom left, Harley Campbell and Mac Benford, Bottom right top: art barn sign, bottom right bottom, Eric AcetoI volunteered to work at the Art Barn as they needed extra coverage and am happy I did. The people loved the work and it was interesting to take money for my stuff and hear what they said about why that button or sticker. Instant feedback. I am seriously thinking of seeing if I can do a tent and do a “Hodge Podge Lodge” or “Q Brand” for the event. I think it would go…shirts etc. This is different than the Art Trail and for the same investment of time and effort, along with an understanding of what the local market wants to pay for stuff, seems doable. I want to sell penny candy too. There is too much easy stuff out there to do.  It is fascinating because there is a ton of interest in how I do my work along with a different respect for the work being printed on canvas versus framed with glass and mats. Seems more real/more accessible I think. My brain is whirring.

I was enchanted with the Grady Girls, sisters and cousins playing traditional Irish reels, jigs and waltzes along with family members from parents and aunts to little step dancing girls leaping and kicking to their hearts delight. The Girls are lovely in fresh cotton sundresses and the requisite cowboy boots, tight in their music and openly loving being part of this whirl they create. Rob is hopeful to get them for the Saint Patrick’s Day 2300˚—which would be terrific.

Djug Django was sublime with the poetic Eric Aceto leading the music with his violin sound bringing pathos and sweetness to a really amazing group of musicians. I have to say, each of the performances from Hip Hop (GunPoets), to Irish (Grady Girls), to Old Time (Mac Benford) to County/Rockabilly Swing (Kelley and the Cowboys)—everything we heard was top shelf excellent. The smaller groups put the “Big Name” (Merle Haggard) to shame in their ernest professionalism and high quality performances. What an honor to have these artists come to our little Tburg….(and many hail from here!).

It promises thunder today. I do not know how I feel about that and the mud. Time will tell.

IF: Double

Sweet Twins, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink/digitalInspired by the British portrait of two sisters married on the same day, and bearing children on the same day, The Cholmondeley Ladies (c.1600). My beekeeping sisters live here in Central New York, maintaining their hives, and keeping their world buzzing with activity.

 

The Cholmondeley Ladies
circa 1600-10 
Oil on wood support: 
886 x 1723 mm frame: 
1074 x 1914 x 100 mm painting Presented anonymously 1955 T00069 
Tate Britain, London

24 hours and counting

Lubok Shout, Q. Cassetti,2010 pen and ink, digital, Grassroots eve. Tburg’s alternative Christmas! The music is ramping up. The tents are being pitched. The crowd at Gimme! Coffee has some new faces. Rabbit Run is filling up with the future campers patiently waiting in line to get in. Rob is mustering the teen forces to work more. They limply complain but follow. New friends await.  For Rob, the thrill of working with an onsite sawyer—creating slabs of wood to spec. It was like heaven to get what you want, when you want it, accurately. Old technology is wonderful.

And Rob performed magic at the end of the workday by buying the ultimate deal ($9. for a box of 30 iced cream sandwiches at the Byrne) and tossing them to the workers, moms, kids. The candy man! He was thrilled to delight the crowd in such a simple way.

So the riches abound. The Tburg Farmers Market has music, then the Rongo with the Zydeco Trail Riders. After that, Preston Frank down on the Commons. And then, the All American Helldrivers at Barangus to close out the night. Ramped and amped.

I will be shooting pictures all weekend. That is my fun project.

The rooster is a new approach with illustrator brushes and big thick markers. QUUUUIIICCCK. Will be doing some more animals just to learn this approach. Maybe a chinese zodiac? Lots of animals there.

Rob visited wonderful Joe Seppi, owner of Pioneer Printing in Interlaken, and a lead type, letterpress afficianado. I am so taken with Joe’s work (and prices) that I am seriously thinking of doing a single letterpress holiday card. Elegant and many of my illustrations will work for that type of thing. Same for Valentine. I bought a stack of Cranes cards with matching envelopes that he could imprint the address/and the card. Come to think of it, if I do that, I could have them set up type for the message and change it out and offer it to my friend with just a slug change. Could be soooo easy. There’s a thought.

Doing a little more validation searching for my big client. Interesting 4 hour meeting yesterday. I managed to chop up our content and detail it with sketches to drag the monster consulting firm to better understanding the thinking we need to see. This consultant is treating this work topically not fully understanding or searching for the scope of the work and making uneducated dictates ie ” you may not use red”. Huh? Why not? Maybe we need to find the right red? Right?

Whoa. I am sounding like a fogey.