This week’s postcard hails from the great red north, where the Winter Olympics Games are well under way… go USA!
DATE: June 2004
FROM: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
SENDER: Annemarie
PHOTOGRAPHER: Marin Petkov
ippe! I’ve been following typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische’s Daily Drop Cap blog for some time now, just waiting for the perfect specimen to scream “blog me!” That day has finally come.
I’m a big drop cap fan… not surprising since I work in the print world. I love their functionality, yet the seemingly endless creative ways designers work within the constraints of only 26 letters. Wired magazine, for one, does a good job of mixing it up… even taking a drop cap to more than a fourth the page size (see examples from the Jan 2010 issue below). But are drop caps another breed dying alongside print? It seems most online sources, even wired.com, drop the beloved drop cap for plain-old bolded text, or nothing at all. Perhaps I need to start a Save the Drop Cap campaign. Who’s with me?
DATE: April 2, 2007
FROM: Reno, NV
SENDER: This gem come from the lovely Chérie, who was a coworker turned great friend of mine. As she loved to gift me postcard sets, she is responsible for many of the blank postcards in my collection, like the one below from Lela Lee’s Angry Little Girls series. The set of 30 postcards came in a lemon yellow tin that I’ve since kept to store other postcards.
ARTIST: David & Goaliath
This one’s in the mail to Chérie right now:
It’s Moonshine time! I love it when my column gets inked every month… just seeing on the page is exciting, but especially when it’s chosen to be in color. My interview with photographer Ryan Salm got two full-color pages (pg 54–55), so be sure to check it out. You can see even more of his work on his new gallery website.
A few other highlights, in my opinion, are (links and page #s provided):
-the photo of “Taxi James” in Do Tell, pg 2 (he he!)
-Beth Ingalls’ call for patience, pg 9
-Olivia Dwyer’s Vancouver Olympic round-up… what locals to watch, and when to watch them, pg 31
-Flip Speckleman’s diary column… be sure to read his Feb. 1 entry, pg 39
-Jackie Varriano’s Knitting Factory (pg 53) and Courtesy Call (pg 56) profiles. Courtesy Call front-woman Elyssa Lee cuts my hair, and she rocks!
And don’t forget to submit to Moonshine’s winter photo annual (deadline is March 3) and/or the Moonshine Ink 500 writing contest (due April 19). Details on pg 6 of the current issue.
Well I’m back from Tulum with a few new postcards I found on my journey, and so I just have to share one with you this week. The weathered, handmade paper was hard to write on!
DATE: February 9, 2010
FROM: Mexico
SENDER: Me, sending this off to a Missouri Postcrossing member first thing tomorrow
ARTIST: José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican engraver, illustrator and artist
I think I’m in love with quilts. Like big modern canvases, they are geometric, and not afraid of color. But better than a painting or sculpture, they have a function. Thus, I am thrilled to see some highly renowned examples of the craft at the Nevada Museum of Art this month.
Opening tomorrow (and showing through April 11), A Survey of Gee’s Bend Quilts takes a look at the quilts and traditions of the women from Gee’s Bend, Alabama. The New York Times called them “some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced.” Now if only I could snuggle up in one.
Nettie Young, Sampler Quilt, early 1970s. Corduroy, 84 x 77 inches. Courtesy of Tinwood Alliance
Mary Lee Bendolph, Blocks and Strips, 2006. Denim, cotton/polyester twill, polyester, 79 x 72 inches. Courtesy of Tinwood Alliance
This week’s postcard is promotional… it arrived advertising “Shoot First and Ask Questions Later,” an experimental video by Julie Perini that’s showing at Sierra Nevada College’s Prim Library through February 19. The opening reception is on February 11, 5–7 pm, with an artist lecture at 5:15 pm. I’m intrigued, and would find out more, but it says to ask questions later…
DATE: January 27, 2010
FROM: Incline Village, Nevada
SENDER: Sierra Nevada College Fine Arts
I’m Mexico bound, heading to Tulum tomorrow for a friend’s wedding. Actually, I’ll be officiating the ceremony so let’s hope I pull this off! I leave you with the scrap stampings (was just testing out some ink colors here) from my last craft project: a personalized stamp for Victoria with her new last name.
And just to make you jealous, here’s where I’ll be soon (photo by Photopia):
It’s a great week to be at home as this snowstorm just won’t quit. Squaw Valley’s reporting the storm total at 76 inches! This postcard hails from a college friend (later to be a Lake Tahoe roommate), who first led me on to Tahoe’s greatness. She’s now headed for greener pastures, and nursing pre-reqs in Santa Cruz.
DATE: February 26, 2004
FROM: Lake Tahoe
SENDER: Ellen
PHOTOGRAPHER: Vance Fox
Very excited to find a package in my mail this week from UNR’s Center for Basque Studies as it contained the book my proofreading eyes slaved over this fall. Hooray for the first book under my belt!
_____smith 