Sm;)e

This makes me smile. Mona Lisa is seen through the eyes of 6 and 7 year-olds and a few grown-ups. Another great project from illustrator Marion Deuchers, with animation by studio aka in the UK. The book makes me happy too. 

Some of my favorite Mona Lisa smiles. More can be seen here. 

See a whole crowd of Mona's here.

The Rebus Riddle Rhymes of Mother Goose

One can't help but fall in love with Joseph Low's spirited pen work. This video presentation takes a close view at some of my favorite works of his, from the playful Mother Goose Riddle Rhymes, first published in 1953 by Harcourt, Brace & Co., NY, which he co-wrote with his wife, Ruth Low. Joseph Low's expressive line art illustrations of rebus rhymes and riddles are perfectly paired with his fine type and hand lettering compositions. The New York Times later awarded it the "Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year" in 1953, and AIGA named it one of the top "Fifty Books of the Year" in 1954. Joseph Low (1911-2007) eventually achieved a long and varied career as a successful illustrator of books, magazine and album covers. In 1960 he acquired an old Washington hand press from a defunct newspaper and began his own private press, publishing short stories and poetry under the imprint "Eden Hill Press" from Newton, Connecticut. Prized by collectors, these limited edition books reveal his diverse talents as writer, illustrator, printer, typographer, and lettering artist.

::Source: Cligne Cligne Magazine

Signs of Life Elsewhere

On a recent trip to Portand, this colorful image of the giant gothic P smacked my visual cortex. This extraordinary endeavor is an enormous replica of the Portland Art Museum logo made entirely from bicycle helmets. It is hanging above their entrance in observance of the show Cyclepedia, an exhibition of iconic bicycle design. The exhibit inside was pretty dang fun to see, though difficult to photograph. Probably my favorite was the Capo Elite "Eis", a remarkable hybrid bike and ice skate design developed in 1930 by Otto and Walter Cap, complete with an ice skate blade in front and a studded tire in the rear.

The cycle collection is from more than 200 functioning bicycles belonging to Michael Embacher, an architect in Vienna. Unfortunately it just closed on September 8th, however you can learn more about Embacher's collection here, and see many of the bicycles here or pick up the book or iPad app of Cyclepedia available in many languages. And here is the iPad trailer for Cyclepedia:

Bike of the Week

During my visit, the bike(s) of the week feature had several handbuilt cycles from local artist, Joseph Ahearne of Ahearne Cycles. He custom bulids steel bikes with love and fury, according to his tagline, but I would amend that with good humor as well. My favorite was the touring bike with the spork and flask attached. All sparkling shiny steel and picnic-ready. Simply remarkable work!

Ahearne's Flickr pages are chock full of more bicycle goodness. I love his mash-up of truck cycles which you can see pedaling all over Portland.

The Lost and Found

This post goes out to my friend Tom Boucher, who gave a memorable "Tom Talk" to my experimental type class several years ago. He spoke for an entire hour about finding a bell hanging on a hedge and in short, relating it to a philosophical approach to design; to always be open to wonder, and to discovery, as this can lead to creative solutions.
     Historical fragments are found everywhere, just as illustrated in this lovely animated poem. This video fragment was found by way of Peter Mendelsund's site, Jacket Mechanical. It is the animation work of his new right-hand man, Pablo Delcán. The two minute video, Historical Fragment was written by Éireann Lorsung and included in her book of poetry entitled Her book (real name, no kidding) from Milkweed Editions. With story credits by Pablo Delcán and Brian Rea (who also has drawing credits), this animation is a lovely story about finding cards; or that lucky charm and historical fragment which ignites wonder. Designers take note: this should be a lesson and reminder to continually explore; be receptive; and be a vessel for new discoveries; as you just never know what juju will fuel creativity.
     Many years ago, I stumbled upon this juju on a wooded trail in my neighborhood: two different series of trading cards. One with Christopher Reeve as Superman; Man of Steel, Man of Action and Man of Lycra, issued by DC Comics in 1978, and another of 1977 Star Wars cards with a puzzle on back. Both series were originally part of a Topps Bubblegum package of photo cards which included ten cards, one sticker and one lousy stick of bubblegum. While they never triggered any creative solutions—yet—there is no reason they couldn't. I may yet design a series of trading cards for Letterology. Who knows? And to whomever discarded these lost or stolen trading cards; I surely hope you enjoyed the stick of bubblegum.  

Turning to other serendipitous fragments just discovered as I write: For those of you in my hood...the poet, writer, and designer Éireann Lorsung will be doing a reading from Her book at Seattle's Elliot Bay Bookstore in Seattle this Tuesday, July 30th at 7pm. Find out more details about this event and other readings here.
     Designer Pablo Delcán's recent work is also not to be missed. As one of his first exercises at Pantheon Books, aside Peter Mendelsund, Delcán took on Vladimir Nobokov's The Tragedy of Mr. Morn with great success. Read more about it on Jacket Mechanical where you can follow links to many more fascinating fragments.  


      

The Vandercook Press Now on Screen

What a nice surprise to see cameos in this trailer of my two good friends, Bonnie Thompson Norman of The Windowpane Press in Seattle and Jessica Spring of the Springtide Press in Tacoma. They are joined by 98 other respected Vandercook printers, who are featured in this newly released video in tribute to the centennial of the Vandercook proof press (1909-2009.) The trailer follows last year's release of The Vandercook100 book published by Heather Mitchell of Just Vandy. It showcases the work of 100 selected printers recognized for their fine press work and their devotion to the venerated Vandercook. This popular proof press has probably introduced more people to fine printing than the potato.

::Music by Matt Nathanson, Some Mad Hope, "All We Are" (Vanguard Records)

The White Book

First the White Album, and now Irma Boom brings us the white book, Chanel No. 5. "You don't see it, but it's there." Ok, this trumps a scratch-n-sniff anyday. 

A Cut Above

Cutting Paper, a miscellany of cut-paper art, is the latest collaboration from the Northwest's most notable bookmaking duo Barbara Hodgson and Claudia Cohen. This marks their fifth book together since 2007; each one just as alluring as the next. All five have been published with Rollin Milroy of the Heavenly Monkey Press and were fully subscribed prior to release. This book was printed by David Clifford of the Black Stone Press in Vancouver, BC in an edition of 30; 10 of which will be a deluxe edition. I had the enormous pleasure to preview it at the Codex Book Fair in Berkeley when it first debuted last month. The book contains brief essays describing historical papercutting influences from around the world, including the artwork of Hans Christian Anderson, Matisse and British paper artist Mary Delany. Tipped inside nearly every spread, are some original and some historical facsimiles of papercuts based on Asian, European, Islamic and Mexican designs. If you watch Kate Farnady's great book trailer above very closely, you might catch a glimpse of each example. Or for those slow readers like myself, you can catch some at a more leisurely pace in the following stills.

Hodgson and Cohen have continued to set a high standard since the release of their first collaboration The Temperamental Rose, which was part of an imaginative series of books on the topic of color. Cohen, who now lives in Seattle after many years in Massachusetts, has an established reputation as a fine press bookbinder. Over the past three decades, she has worked with the Gehenna Press, Pennyroyal Press, David R. Godine, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum to name just a few. Hodgson began her career as a book designer in Vancouver after receiving a degree in archeology and a diploma in graphic design. She is also the author and illustrator of a number of popular novels including The Sensualist, The Tattooed Map and Lives of Shadows, where her sensibilities as an archeologist and collector are clearly visible. Together, Hodgson and Cohens' complimentary skills and paralleled interests make for nice bookends and we are all enriched by their contributions to fine press printing and book publishing. 
::With special thanks to Kate Farnady for allowing the use of her Cutting Paper video!  

Speed Reading

Publisher Quercus Books teamed up with the clever Italian design duo Matteo Civaschi and Gianmarco Milesi of H-57 to publish a book for people with short attention spans. Each true story is told in a series of witty pictograms, providing a snapshot on our world. With more than 200 stories, Life in Five Seconds cuts to the chase in order to keep you informed of world events, cultural icons, and famous people. But wait, there is more! You can download the free Quercus Eye app for Android, iPhone or tablet, and point it at some of the designated pages, and the story will spring to life faster than you can turn the page.


See more extracts from LiFS here.