KAA Membership

A few weeks back, I posted that one of my photos was to be the graphic for the 2011-2012 Membership brochure. That committee also asked me to do the reception flyer for the packet going out to the members.

Looking at previous ones, I wanted to really play with the layout. As with using Times New Roman as a typeface, sometimes you get tired of just centering things on the page.

This is decidedly off-center. The images seem a little hither and yon, but your eye does get drawn over to the Arts Center logo in the lower right. And the most important thing to remember when you’ve a lot going on the same evening is don't put it all in one big rambling paragraph. Break it up. It’s easier to read and older eyes will thank you.

Since I completed this, the Vintage Vera exhibit has exploded. I had to tweak the poster a little, and depending upon an experiment I'm doing with irises, it's a toss-up about what I'll talk about that next week.

Resorts at Sea - May

When I went to college, one could’ve made the argument I spent more time researching personal interests than the assigned projects and papers I had for class. I won’t put up much of a defense. I grew up in a rural area, and although I was quite the bookworm, I was not prepared for the vast amounts of resources at my disposal as an undergrad. I was the proverbial kid in a candy store.

At the top of those interests were ocean liners and cruise ships, and I scoured every index possible, writing down every article, forming a master list from which further research would continue. A trip to boxes in storage revealed one: my packrat nature, and two: the master lists.

As life got in the way, these master lists were put on the back burner, and then the burner behind that one, and so on, and so forth. At first glance, I don’t believe there’s much overlap between the research then and the research now. While I’m hoping it stays that way, odds are the passage of time has caused duplications. C’est la vie.

So for now, I’ll be in general housekeeping mode, trying to merge today’s pile with yesterday’s.

Vintage Vera

I met Vera Burk when she was in her 80s and I was working in office supplies. She quickly became one of my favorite customers. I mainly made copies for her, but she picked up the occasional ream of paper and miscellaneous supplies, too. During the few years I worked there, I learned she had a brother shot down while flying a P-38 in World War II, and another brother, Don Faurot, was a legendary college football coach, inventing the split-T formation. She and her husband Sam were one of Kirksville's leading couples, founding the first radio station in town, and engaging in numerous civic activities.

One of my co-workers mentioned she had a ton of money. To Vera's credit, she never acted like it. There was never anything ostentatious about her. She was a class act, passing away a few years ago at the age of 94.

Kirksville Arts has put together an exhibit of her clothing, graciously donated by her family. In today's casual culture, it's interesting to see how people used to dress. (Mad Men anyone?) There are items from other people, but the bulk of this exhibit is Vera, and that's why I labeled it Vintage Vera. (I admit it borders on shameless marketing as her name still has some cachet.)

On a trip down to Kirksville, I was able to get some ensembles together and take pictures, hoping that one of the looks would make a suitable graphic. This shoot was thrown together at the last minute, and in looking at the results, I feared nothing was going to work. As I was making plans to go back down and try again, I started working with one of my favorite looks.

 

Original image and clean-up.

After an auto-enhance, I began to breathe a little easier. Getting rid of the background and dress dummy enabled me to have the image float on the page. I tweaked the side of the dress to eliminate some of the buckles in the fabric. To help with a retro feel, I put in a pink gradient background and utilized a flowing script for the exhibit title.

 Progression towards the finished product.

I think (I hope) it's reminiscent of a clothing ad from that era. The family saw an early draft and loved it, but I know nothing I do will truly equal the class and style of Vera Burk. The do not make them like that anymore.

Publication!

I was asked to submit a photo for the main graphic of the Kirksville Arts 2011-12 membership brochure. I created a short list of about a dozen, finally selecting the image below. I didn't bother cropping as I don't think there's a wrong way to edit this picture, though I suggested starting at the bottom where it's a little out of focus. In any event, it's very neat to be in the company of the more established artists who've been chosen in years past.

Not that I consider myself an artist. I simply take pictures of things I find to be interesting, and a fair number of them happen to be good. If others find them interesting as well, that's cool, and quite frankly, that's what counts in the end. With the proliferation of digital cameras and cell phone cameras, more people are taking more pictures than ever. It's not hard to conclude that, as a result, the photography market is becoming diluted, making it difficult for quality to become noticed over quantity. Feel free to disagree, I don't mind being proven wrong, as that's how one learns.

I'm also working on a very special exhibit poster and a flyer for KAA's Membership Mixer. They're just not at a stage to share. I shall post those upon completion.

Experiments in Constructivism

Back to laboratory ... Mwa ha ha ha ...

Flipping through a design book and some Franz Ferdinand CDs sparked me to ply with designs for Animal Farm. Earlier, I placed an emphasis on the windmill as that was an important plot point. But in looking at some artwork from the Constructivism era (1921-1932), I decided to focus on the pigs. If you recall, Napoleon, a Berkshire boar, seizes power with Stalin-like tactics.

 Some inspiration ...

 I started with a stock photo of a metal piggy bank. Running it through the editing mill, I added an eyebrow and a sneer. After removing the color, I blurred it just a smidge and applied a half-tone which is found in some of those Soviet posters.

Three little pigs ...

Next was the text. I've a few free font site I visit on occasion to see what's been added. Finding just the right Cyrillic-inspired alphabet took longer than I thought, but I finally found one that was suitable. Of course, this was all set against a nice Commie red background.

 On the left is the first Cyrillic text I used, and deciding it wasn't good enough, 

I searched until I found the one on the right.

While I think this is a good effort, I'd like to take it further. I should hit the antique shops and try to find a piggy bank I can photography from a proper angle, preferably looking up so the pig is looming over us, like a statue. I also have some abstract shots of a barn roof -- playing with the subtle curves -- that could be interesting as well.

Hmm ... What would really be cool is if I found a set of farm animals -- in metal -- and do a series ... One with a pig, a horse, a sheep, a chicken, etc.

Given the magnitude of reference images found, I'm undoubtedly going to tinker with this some more. I've always wanted to do a radio-style reading of this play -- adapted from Orwell's book by Nelson Bond. Have a row of mikes; a sound man in the background. Perhaps someone else will be inspired, too.