Blog
April 30th, 2013
Wayzgoose worked like a well-oiled machine this year—and that’s the way we like it.
(Even if we were just a little extra tired afterward.)
We were finally able to have the event in the parking lot next door, which allowed way more people to gather ’round the steamroller—and gave the artists more elbow room for spreading ink and chatting it up.
Steamroller prints by Ric Matthies (left) and Charles Wright Academy students (right)
The usual suspects were up to all kindsa good on Sunday—
Our print (left), Beautiful Angle (center), Maggie Roberts (right)
—and it was fun for Jessica and me to come back after a year off.
Photo by Victoria Bjorklund
This year, we added something a little different to the mix—just like we did in 2011 in San Francisco. After Jessica inked up the block…
Photo by Victoria Bjorklund
…and the steamroller packed its punch…
Photo by Victoria Bjorklund
…I set up shop across the parking lot, adding a few hand-colored touches to the piece.
Here’s the finished product—and for those of you who don’t happen to live in T-town, I’ll need to provide a little back-story. You probably recognize the reference to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, but there’s a second tribute to pop artist Andy Warhol, as well. And I’m not just talking about Venus herself—to whom Warhol did pay homage in 1984.
You see, over thirty years ago now, Warhol was one of several artists to propose a permanent public artwork to adorn the roof of the Tacoma Dome. Not only was his proposal rejected at the time, but the whole project resulted in an enormous backlash of public opinion, insurance nightmares and political in-fighting—which literally derailed the city’s entire public art program for nearly two decades afterward. Fast-forward to today: not only is our public art program back in the saddle and going strong, but now there’s a growing movement to put Warhol’s flower on the Dome after all—which, in fact, would be the world’s largest Warhol original.
Whom do we have to thank for both the…uh…Renaissance of our public art program, and the push to bring Warhol back? Our wonderful City Arts Administrator, Amy McBride (click to see her talk about the Warhol story)—who, incidentally, drove the steamroller that printed our Venus linocut on Sunday.
How’s that for coming full-circle, huh?
Many thanks to everyone who stopped by on Sunday, and to Amy and the Tacoma Arts Commission for continuing to make art happen—both for Wayzgoose and for Tacoma.
April 24th, 2013
Yesterday was such a beautiful day, and my hands so badly needed a break from carving, that I took a day off and headed upstate to bask in the tulip fields.
And then, when I got home, there was a postcard waiting for me from my friend Jen—from her own tulip tour in the Netherlands.
I’m taking that as a sign that playing hooky yesterday was the right idea.
April 21st, 2013
It’s that time of year again: the trees are blooming outside, and inside we’re playing with knives. The ninth (!) annual Tacoma Wayzgoose is one week from today—and if we’re really lucky, Jessica and I might just finish carving our design by then. As usual, we’ll reveal the whole design that day, but until then, this little peek might look familiar…
If you’re new to my tiny u-bend of the Intertubes, you might ask: what the heck is a Wayzgoose? It’s a festival celebrating the art of printing, a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. Here in T-town, our party mobile is a steamroller—yes, ma’am—and we churn out giant-sized linocuts in the street to mark the occasion. If you’re local, come on by and get ink on your jeans:
9th Annual Tacoma Wayzgoose
Sunday, April 28, 2013
11 am to 4 pm, Free!
King’s Books
218 St. Helens Avenue, Tacoma, WA
In the meantime, you can whet your appetite with a stroll down Amnesia Lane—take a look at the ghosts of Wayzgeese past:
• 2009 (Tacoma)
• 2010 (Tacoma)
• 2011 (Tacoma)
• 2011 (San Francisco)
• 2012 (Tacoma)
See you next week, rain or shine!
March 26th, 2013
Many thanks to everyone who helped make Dandelion Wishes hit the ground running last weekend—and for everyone who made a wish for the wishing tree!
March 21st, 2013
Well, I can finally let you in on the secret, because “coming soon” is about to be switched to “now open.” My friend Susan has spent years building her children’s apparel business, Dandelion Wishes, from idea to brick-and-mortar store—and I’m the lucky gal she asked to help her develop the look and brand of her shop.
Susan is putting the finishing touches on the place, and making sure everything is pitch-perfect for her grand opening this weekend—
while I’m piecing together (literally!) the final visual details.
(I’ll reveal more about that on the blog at a later date; or if you’re local, come to the grand opening and see for yourself!)
Dandelion Wishes isn’t your average kids’ store; this is something really special. Susan has curated a beautiful collection of clothing, accessories and gifts that paints a picture of what she believes in (and so do I): Support independent artisans. Buy local and domestic whenever possible. Choose natural fibers over synthetic ones. Offer the highest quality available. Bring these ideals into affordable balance and you’ll bring good design within reach.
This project was something special, too. I’ve done lots of identity and branding work for clients, but I’ve never had this much free reign before, to help develop the entire conceptual basis for a business. It was so much fun to dive in and really see what I could do.
Since Susan’s shop is so invested in this story, I wanted to create a story out of the shop. Together we invented a world of characters and narratives that make stepping into the shop feel like stepping into a children’s book. Each character has a story and a secret wish, and a personality that fits the different brand stories of the clothing companies Susan carries.
You’ve already met Ruby and her imaginary friend at the start of this post.
And here’s the rest of our quintet. Once we had our full cast of characters, it made building the shop’s collection of clothing much easier. All of a sudden, Susan was piecing together the wardrobes of actual people with personalities and tastes and preferences—rather than just an inventory list in her head.
I loved weaving the stories behind each character—
—and getting to mix actual clothing samples with whatever else I felt like dreaming up.
As the seasons change—
—and so do the kids’ outfits—
we’ll be creating new stories and scenes to go with them. Keep an eye on the shop’s website to watch the tale unfold.
In the meantime, I already find myself thinking of these kids as real people that I know—and wondering what they’d think of each idea I sketch out for the future.
So help Susan make a splash with Dandelion Wishes—if you’re in the Tacoma area, stop by the shop this weekend. And look for an online shop to appear soon.
For now, I’m going to ask Frank what his summer plans are.
December 25th, 2012
Today contains some of the few precious hours in the entire year that are just for us—when we can just be. We love the whirlwind of lights, colors, food, friends, music and surprises that comes with the holidays, but it’s the day we set aside for nothing but time that we look forward to all year.
May today be a gift to you as well—whether you spend it with family, friends, wide open spaces, or in your own lovely company.
Merry Christmas.
December 13th, 2012
Don’t let the sunshine fool you—the wind was fuh-reezing.
Still, I’m not about to pass up a nice day!
October 2nd, 2012
Can’t you just hear the choir of angels singing, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh” over a pint right now?
I think that’s how everybody around here felt last month, when my good friends (and veteran restaurateurs) Barry & Renée Watson opened the doors of their newest business, Pint Defiance Specialty Beers & Taproom. I mean, come on—look at that heavenly glow there!
Barry and I share a deep love of all things campy and kitschy—so when he asked me to design the identity for Pint Defiance (which in itself is a top-notch pun on Point Defiance, Tacoma’s famous city park), I think he knew he had me at “hello.” Within about ten seconds we were both cackling over the possibilities of things like faux woodgrain and vintage scout badges.
So I put together a hand-lettered logo based on vintage script and the kind of hand-hewn wooden signs you find at summer camps and state parks.
I knew I had hit on the right theme when I saw Barry’s collection of vintage paint-by-number pieces—which are now hanging proudly in the taproom (this, people, is the perfect illustration of why we are friends).
Because I couldn’t resist ganging up on the Point Defiance joke, I also designed a hand-lettered t-shirt for the shop (which is kind of an inside joke for Tacoma folks, sorry—if you’ve ever been to Point Defiance Park, the place is filthy with raccoons, and there are “Don’t Feed the Wildlife” signs absolutely everywhere).
photo by Barry Watson
Below the asterisk, the fine print reads: “Beer is okay, though.” For the record, Barry came up with that nugget, so don’t send PETA after me!
Whenever I stop by the shop, it still strikes me as thrilling (and a little strange) to see my logo reproduced on a hundred pieces of glassware—
—or lining the wall above the impressively massive cooler.
Best of all, though, is the fact that whenever I stop by, Barry flashes me a smile and hands me a pint of cider (my favorite), before I get a chance to ask. And then I raise a toast to Renée, knowing that their little business is going to be a smashing success. Congrats, you two!
September 21st, 2012
I gotta say—even though I have loved all the traveling I’ve done in the past few months,
there is just nothing like coming home.
August 22nd, 2012
A couple of months ago I was asked to create a letterpress broadside for a collaborative print portfolio for a show in Asheville, put together by the Ladies of Letterpress. The theme was Expanding Communities—beyond that, we could do anything we wanted. So I focused on a unique element of Seattle’s community: the P-Patch.
A P-Patch is a community garden like any other—and completely unlike any other. The name comes from the Picardo family, who converted their farm into the city’s first truly communal garden in the 1970s. So to this day, if you life in Seattle, you tend your p-patch, not your garden plot. That just charmed the heck out of me, and I wanted to create a tribute to it.
P-Patch is completely hand-lettered, as well as hand-painted with watercolor, in homage to the hard work required to maintain a thriving garden. Many thanks to the Ladies of Letterpress gals for inviting me to be a part of the portfolio—I can’t wait to see what everyone else came up with!
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