Red Bird
Q. Cassetti 2015
Adobe Illustrator
Checking in.
Just back from a whirlwind trip to Pittsburgh. Bad news--it consumed the weekend. Good news--I had a nice time with Robbie and had a chance to see my mom and a big dose of Pee Aye (PA) nature. They are in a different growing zone than we are--so their fall is behind us a bit...so the brilliant gold was still twinking on the trees--and the skies were clean and clear, scrubbed of clouds and darkness. It is wonderful landscape from Corning to State College and then from State College to Pittsburgh. We did one of my new favorite road activities which is looking up names of towns that interest me, and learn a little bit of local news. We learned about Prince Gallizin, the Allegheny Portage Railroad and the Erie Canal yesterday p.m. Another favorite is taking pictures out of the side window as we drive...its kind of crap shoot as to what you will end up with...either way, good or bad. Got the image above....and am delighted. Am thinking Gingerbread model...
Giving Orders
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
Dr. Seuss
Something to Crow About!
"Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets."
Henry Ford
Say What?
"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it."
Arnold H. Glasow
Hen illustration
Chicken Illo.
Mid Century Furnace: Stoked
I had the fortune to attend a morning of the Pyrex Seminar at the Corning Museum of Glass as Rob moderated a session with the former Director of Design and some of his team from the old days of Corning Consumer Products. It truly was a climb into my way back machine--seeing and hearing about a time in my own history with Corning Glass Works and the men and women that worked on the same campus as me, creating American design classics, such as the Pyrex measuring cup--that we all take for granted--that those elements that our mother's used to bring us breakfast, lunch and dinner--that became ingrained in the musings we have of that time and place. And through these elements, these hard working mixing bowls and casserole dishes folded into the texture of our childhood--they have a space in our personal palettes and perceptions. For me, there was more. There was a lookback for me from the impatient twenty something designer wanting everything to be just so, and not understanding the culture that this design work happened in. Every product for Corning had to be a "hit"--so the data they gathered from the test kitchens, the consumer testing areas, and the knowledge of the incredibly shifting markets at the time (the advent of Walmart/Kmart/Target and the shrinking Department Store that Corning had built their business around). So the purple tinted glass, the brown tinted glass, the cranberry tinted glass all was founded in data and not necessarily in what we wanted to do...but in the market. Terra and some of the other ideas shown--really portrayed that the team was ready and able to do exceptional work...but were constrained by the conservatism of the corporate culture as well as the marketplace. It was far from "Design First".
Rob sklllfullly directed the team to talk about their work, some of the challenges they had and innovations blending design and the capabilities of the machines. As my friend Tina Oldknow exclaimed to me while all this was in process..."I would love a day of this...it's all so good!". And I agree....beyond the nostalgia--there were key historical moments.
A point I had forgotten was that opal pyrex was the dinnerware that was specified by the military for all of their dining halls, and the thick, thick handleless mugs--that brought comfort and home to many of those fighting or in service--brought this material into so many homes in the boom post war. So, bringing fun patterns and colorways that the Missus would want--only made sense.
Dennis Younge delighted us about the design of the stacking measuring cup. Herb Dann talked about a line of White "Opal" pyrex called Terra, a matte, decorated pattern inspired by nature--with simple forms that I want in my future split level. Gorgeous. Anna Eide, pattern designer and current Design Director for World Kitchen spoke about the complexity of a world that moved from everyone wanting the same time ("matchy matchy") to the trend now for everyone to be distinct...and how to develop designs, forms and patterns for that complexity (and multiply it by an international market). Jerry Wright, a long time acquaintance spoke about his work, his interest in establishing an archive for Corning of the design and engineering work that became a significant asset in the years to come. Rob kept it all rolling. Amazing as these guys were his seniors and bosses when Rob was a design intern in 1978 in the model shop at Consumer Products. Funny how things work.
Postscript: Can you say Tammis Keefe and the fabulous Carl Tait? This is all coming from the same vein.
Illustration West 54 Accepted
Christmas will always
be as long as we stand
heart to heart and
hand in hand.
--Dr. Seuss
Delighted that these deer have been accepted by the judges and jury of Illustration West 54, the annual show/competition sponsored by the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles. Thank you to the judges, board and staff of SOILA for their giving me the opportunity to share my work.
No Snow Yet.
Before I jump in the car to go to Corning to pick up Rob, I wanted to share my noodling with snowflakes I am doing for a client...and the creation of some nice clippies for me for the future. I am trying to be a midcentury modern kind of girl...and I do not know if I am succeeding. But there you are. Getting a lot moving off my plate and out in the world which is nice...and hope to have a little freedom to draw this weekend. Good progress with PT...and feel that there is incrementally good progress which Kitty confirms. Nice conversation about work, the transition of ideas and styles with Alex. Poor guy, he has to learn all the painful stuff along with the good in order to be the creative we know is in there. MomCoach to the listen.
On to Corning. Should be a beautiful drive.
Right now.
Here we are. Right smack dab in the middle of a glorious fall. It just happened. Just. Somehow a few days of dreary cold rain--not the uplifting, humid rain..but the downer rain that freezes you to the bone--and snap, there we are. Color in the trees. Piles of buckeyes on the ground. The same with crazy brain fruit, the Osage orange-- nature's croquet balls--ready for a messy game. It is the beginning of Cider Week here in the Finger Lakes with the poor farmers trying to get their apples in and pressed combined with a monumental marketing push to promote cider, cider drinking and most importantly, cider buying. Kitty was down at the apple festival selling bottles of cider, vinegar, ginger beer and shrubs to her delight yesterday in the rain. Today is a quiet day of work and reflection.
I have a pot of recycled soup (a compilation of all the leftovers, bits and pieces, shards and shavings--all cooked down into a potage flavored with a dollop of swad (Coriander chutney) and a crumble of dried basil. I also made a version of the smashed cucumber salad ( see my entry under Blogs>Treats from the NYTimes) to use up the piles of cucumbers I have been hoarding along with the bit of greek yoghurt I had waiting just for this use (not). I am busy cooking as a form of cleaning out the fridge and prepping for the week...what with Rob being out of town and Kitty prepping to go to NYC to begin her time there. All very exciting.
I am doing a lot of research on First Nation People in Arizona and New Mexico. This is a world I have no handle on--it is all very wonderful and quite like nothing this northern, eastern girl is familiar with--from the locations to the concept of Pueblos, Kivas, artifacts, art, religion, nature and community. And the intersections where these things come together. it is an ancient, American landscape I need to embrace. Why go to other continents when we have an extraordinary one to discover...right here....and miles and miles away. I think there might be a trip in the offing to see those things I keep circling back on. I will start talking about this...just a heads up that its coming from this need to see more. I think its a need versus a desire....We will see.
58!
Another year. Another year of physical therapy. Yep. November 2013 was when I broke my ankle (into smithereens). October 2014 was a year with multiple screws and uprights and weekly physical therapy. It was the year of leg elevation, lots of ice, swelling everything and pain. It was no fun. Here we are again, in October, 2015 and all the hardware is out (except for one screw that snapped in half and wasn't coming out), less--almost no swelling, more physical therapy (twice a week), and the pain is less and less the more I move this crazy foot, ankle, leg on the painful treadmill. I know I sound like Debby Downer, but it is getting better and I am so optimistic, I have a pen in my hand and I am drawing Bohtas, and thinking advent calendars...so its all on the upside. So moving forward in the age thing...the time thing and the therapy thing is making me feel better, more energy, less sadness, and more like there is an opportunity to get back into things. Hurray! Lets put an extra candle on the cake just to celebrate that!
Plus, with the amazing lessons from my first cousin, Martha--I cannot moulder in the mire. Ya gotta give it all...until it's over...and then (which happened) you gotta give it all in the last demonstrations of your life on earth--to reassure us that we need to even keep that legacy thing of positive energy moving in the right direction to inspire, teach and personally grow.
So up off my pins. Strap on the stabilizing shoes. Grab that bright orange cane and start whacking at my world. Theme for year 58. Get going!!
Happy birthday to me.
Logo refresh for Ithaca Reuse
Hi: Ithaca ReUse has a logo that has been very recognized but the director felt they needed a refresh as they are growing their organization, their offerings, and their programs. The logo shown to the left is the original version. The image above is the revision--keeping the arrow element, keeping the circle. Simplifying the text..and straightening out the copy so its a bit more direct, a little less fun.
More from Oneida
Funny. I was reading during my early morning random research reading...about John Humphrey Noyes (imagine, right?) in The Atlantic Magazine in this article "Multiple Lovers, without Jealousy"
"In its history, America saw only a handful of collective dalliances away from two-person marriage model. In the 1840s in upstate New York, the Oneida commune practiced “complex marriage,” in which the 300 members were encouraged to have consensual intercourse with whomever they desired. As its leader, the lawyer John Humphrey Noyes, put it in his proposal letter to his wife, Harriet: “I desire and expect my [wife] will love all who love God ... with a warmth and strength of affection which is unknown to earthly lovers, and as free as if she stood in no particular connection with me. In fact the object of my connection with her will not be to monopolize and enslave her heart or my own, but to enlarge and establish both in the free fellowship of God’s universal family.”
By some accounts, the Oneida way of life was far more feminist than traditional marriage was at the time: The women only had sex when they wanted to, for example, and some of the female members relished having multiple sex partners.
But this was no erotic utopia. The commune’s elderly true believers regularly initiated its less-experienced teenagers into sex in order to strengthen the younger generation’s devotion to Noyes. Members were publicly chastised if they were discovered carrying on exclusive relationships. People who wanted to be parents were matched in arranged marriages and prevented from bonding with their children, all as part of Noyes’ plan to create a superior uber-race. In 1879, Noyes, fearing arrest for statutory rape, fled the country and wrote to his to his followers that they should abandon complex marriage. The 70 remaining commune members entered traditional marriages with whomever they happened to be living with at the time."
So, the word according to Noyes still continues on in discussions of American Polyamory...and the followers of that tradition. I am fascinated as a reader and a historian but horrified as a person living and breathing on this planet. I am by nature, a jealous and highly monogamous person..so the idea a shared love is beyond my puritanical thinking. I am saddened by the stoic Harriet Noyes as well as the wife of Joseph Smith, Emma Hale...and the crisis of more women in her marriage as dictated by God and her Prophet and husband. Stiff upper lip, indeed.
Notes on the Oneida Community Mansion
John Humphrey Noyes (September 4, 1811- April 13, 1886) founded the Perfectionist community, The Oneida Community (1848-1881) in the Oneida Community Mansion in Oneida, NY. I have been a big fan of Noyes and the sheer American-ness of this community which was part of the marvel of NY State's burned out zone. Wikipedia briefly sums up the overview of their views:
"The Oneida community’s utopian philosophy focused on the individual relationship to God; it was intended to be a sort of “kingdom of God on earth.” The second focus of the community was sexual morality."
This community was peopled by individuals who gave up all possessions and wealth to the community (included the treasures found in the cases around the mansion)--and gave in to the community in it's entirety. From this shared wealth came shared pleasures including their lovely house, their work in creating carpet bags (as in "Carpet baggers"), seeds, animal traps, silk thread and the most lasting, the Oneida Silversmiths. I could quote a bunch of stuff that I have read, but will leave that to you--but to mention several interesting observations. The Oneida Community did things right. They had designers on the team, and hired some of the biggest talent of the time for Community Plate Silverware (another name they marketed under). They hired Maxfield Parrish and Coles Phillips for illustration for their earlier ads. They were heavily engaged in the war effort--which also manifested itself in some great illustration work for their ads....Who would have guessed.
The Community Mansion still stands in gorgeous condition--with a few rooms available as a bed and breakfast as well as over 50 people rent apartments in their 93,000 square foot building (some being descendants of the original community members). This massive, beautifully maintained building sits perched on a huge piece of property that adjoined the former factory. Smart planning by the Community business people, set up the town of Sherrill and guaranteeing it's life independent of the group. It is a testament to a moment in time, a moment of interesting thought made real, and a group that had impact on upstate New York and truly, American culture. So worth a visit and a tour.
Recommended Reading:
Without Sin: The Life and Death of the Oneida Community
pencer Klaw
From Kirkus Reviews:
"Disturbing tale of a 19th-century utopian community. Klaw (The Great American Medicine Show, 1975, etc.) wrote this with the cooperation of descendants of the Oneida Community, who granted him access to unpublished memoirs and letters. The result is a thorough if somewhat blinkered look at a daring experiment in social and biological engineering, a sort of Victorian brave new world. Oneida was the brainchild of John Humphrey Noyes, a preacher and writer who believed himself to be God's chosen instrument. Like other utopians, Noyes taught the perfectibility of the human being; more controversially, he also condemned monogamy in favor of sexual libertinism. After some false starts--including an arrest on morals charges--Noyes put his theories to the test in 1848 by establishing his own Eden in Oneida, New York. At first, the community flourished. Inventions poured out, including the stainless-steel cutlery still manufactured today; members enjoyed courses in languages and science, as well as equality in food, clothing, and shelter. But too often Noyes's activities seemed a forerunner of China's cultural revolution. Romantic love and celibacy were banned; at 13 or 14, girls lost their virginity, usually to Noyes himself in sessions known as ``interviews.'' Privacy was nonexistent, and members were subjected to scathing public criticism of their every fault. Noyes ruled as absolute dictator, wielding power by manipulating sexual privileges. His social experiments reached their nadir with ``stirpiculture,'' an attempt to produce superior human beings (with Noyes blood involved, if possible) through breeding experiments. Predictably, the community's idealism faded rapidly, and, by the 1880's, Oneida was more or less defunct.
New Logo for Root
My sister-in-law, Jenny Eddy is starting a program to teach/train at risk people (ages mid teens to early 20's) in food, cooking, service etc linking those people to caterers, restaurants etc. Here's their new logotype and tagline (written by little old me). I wanted to show a root vegetable to suggest food, and use a typographic treatment that would look good on a teeshirt and on a Board of Directors presentation. The carrot can snap out of the mix, to be placed on hats/etc. or to embroider on a screened word. I loved the double use of the word feeding-- with it being positive about the participants and the communities (family, church, food, school) that are enhanced by the work of Root. Jenny is remarkable. I look forward to her efforts.
Thrilled! Creative Quarterly 41
Hey! The labels shown above done for Jackie and Ian Merwin, Black Diamond Farm got a "winner" designation in Graphic Design, Creative Quarterly 41.I have included the newest two (First Fling and Jaywalker) who were in process before the show happened. More to enter later!!
"Runners Up" were for the Bright Raven Farm logotype/illustration and my new Happy Birthday cards/ illustration. Delighted.
Kitty is back. So amazing to see her. I have had a lot of time with Alex since the first of the month, so to have our girl back is a nice counterpoint to the ongoing lecture demonstration I have been having with Mr. Cassetti.
The oriole is here as I am loading my guns for more cider work. Just completed JayWalker and First Fling for the Merwin's Black Diamond Cider...as well as the Pommeau and Shin Hollow. We are def going in a bird-on-the-farm/orchard approach which stands out nicely from the others...and gives them a personality that is distinct from the other 2 ciders I package.
Day 7: Portrait Warmup
"You know, it doesn't really matter what [the media] write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass."
– Donald Trump
"...And I'm not saying she's an unattractive woman, but she's not beauty, by any stretch of the imagination. I really understand beauty. And I will tell you, she's not-- I do own Miss Universe. I do own Miss USA. I mean I own a lot of different things. I do understand beauty, and she's not." – Donald Trump
“I love women. They’ve come into my life. They’ve gone out of my life. Even those who have exited somewhat ungracefully still have a place in my heart. I only have one regret in the women department — that I never had the opportunity to court Lady Diana Spencer. I met her on a number of occasions. I couldn’t help but notice how she moved people. She lit up the room with her charm, her presence. She was a genuine princess — a dream lady.”
– Donald Trump
“Trump: The Art of the Comeback”