Just My Type

Some dimensional typography I had around the house.

The top item is a little needle-book (more on those another time). The Vogue cover is illustrated by Covarrubias, from July 1, 1937. It looks like this was his only Vogue cover. At that time, Vogue incorporated Vanity Fair, for which Covarrubias illustrated 16 covers. See them at the Condé Nast Store. The images are on the small side, but they are all on one page--definitely worth the visit.

Ike Liked Golf

A couple of years ago, I was stuck in a room with nothing to read but Golf Digest. So I had no choice but to start looking through it. To my great delight, I was rewarded with this incredible chart. It shows how often President Eisenhower played golf while in office.

The first page shows 1958. Each dot is a day. A red dot indicates that Eisenhower played at least one round of golf that day, blue dots are for days he practiced. The red dots are annotated to show where he played (24 times that year at Augusta National Golf Club). The second page shows all eight years in office, and lists world events occurring in that year.

I’ve kept this graphic because I think it’s a wonderful example of how a lot of information can be clearly displayed and can work elegantly on a number of levels. On the most general level, the density of colored dots is an instant read (it’s pretty clear that once Ike got that second election under his belt, he could get serious about what was really important). The graphic can also be read on a more detailed level of practice vs. play, world events and even includes significant medical events.

Sorry to disappoint anyone who thought this would somehow end up being about Tiger Woods.

Incredible, Inedible, Eggs

In honor of Easter …
Mini Egg House
Egg bed
Egg chair
Egg tub
Egg toilet
Egg carton of lights
Egg mini-fridge
Egg speaker, egg lamp
Egg birdhouse
Egg USB card reader
Egg timer, label-maker, cosmetics jar
Egg mice
Weill Cornell Medical College, Qatar
Astana, Kazakhstan and L'eggs

Opening Day, Red Sox vs. Yankees at Fenway Park

These first two are the coolest of each team’s programs that I’ve been able to dig up. This 1948 Red Sox program is so Bauhaus, and the Yankee program from 1967 has got a real Warhol/Xerox/Barbara Kruger quality about it—don’t you think?





I can’t say that I quite know the difference between programs, scorecards and scorebooks, but here is a sampling over the years from both teams.











Boston Red Sox material via murphman61
New York Yankee material via Hollywood Collectibles, Bob's Baseball Museum, eBay.

Be sure to check out 20 Great Baseball Covers for Opening Day at Robert Newman Design.

Okay. Now, PLAY BALL!

ffrench Family Calendar

One of my few countervailing joys to monthly bill-paying is the monthly page-turn of my Dolphin Studio hand silk-screened calendar. The annual production of this glorious work, is a group effort by three generations of ffrench Family artists.
Family patriarch, John ffrench, died in January at age 81.

I’ve read a number of obituaries and bios, but I like most what was written by his daughter Crispina, who is a well-know textile artist. She posted this on the Etsy site set up to sell the small paintings John was making during his illness, right before he died.


Crispina writes:

John ffrench is actually my dad. 

He is 81 and has no idea how to use a computer.
He does, on the other-hand know how to make really cool things. 


John C. ffrench is Irish. Grew up in a castle in Co. Galway. He went to art school in Dublin, Ireland and Florence, Italy.

Trained as a potter, spent time in Cuba, Italy, Iceland, France, Switzerland, Peru, Haiti, Australia, a few years in India working for the government teaching potters to use glaze (where he admittedly learned more than he taught).


Since 1983 John ffrench and his lovely wife, Primm, (my beloved mom). Have spent their summers in Nogra, near Kinvara in County Galway Ireland and the rest of the year in Stockbridge, MA where I grew up. As a matter of fact they live in the same house where I, and my two sisters, grew up.


Mainly John is highly respected in Ireland where he has ceramics in the National Gallery in Dublin. In 2008 there was an hour long retrospective television program all about John ffrench and his impact on the changes, namely, introduction of color and free form, to Irish ceramics - That summer The National Crafts Council of Ireland in Kilkenny had a summer long retrospective show of all my dad's work from his college career up to present time.

As a kid, my dad was the ceramics teacher at the high school I attended. 

So, right now, I, my husband, Chris, and our kids are staying in my childhood home while the cancer spreads through John's body and we work to keep him engaged and interested. So far our work has not been difficult - he is easily entertained with art supplies and company. In this shop you will find Aceo cards he has been working on. If time allows I will post some of his ceramics too. 

When you convo John, I will get the messages and pass them on. He loves people and will surely love to hear feedback or your stories.

I hope you enjoy his work as I have thoroughly enjoyed his company for my adult life - he is a treasure and knows how to make those too!

February 22, 2010
: so sad to say that my Dad, John ffrench, passed away one month ago today. It brought him great pleasure to know that each piece of his I posted here was sold in short order. I miss him.

I feel lucky to have met John a number of years ago, when a friend took me to visit The Dolphin Studio in Stockbridge, MA.

Like everyone else who has met him, I was charmed by his Irish accent, and his good nature in telling stories and showing his work. You cannot help but be enchanted by the colors, patterns and images throughout the studio. And he was totally unfazed by the two six-year-olds with us, who "enthusiastically explored" his ceramics-filled studio.



There are more calendar pages to view on the blog Return to Bohemia. You can see more ceramics online at the Kenny Gallery.

To be contacted when next year’s calendar is ready, go here. The calendars sell out, so order when you get the email.

Aerodromes

When I came upon these images in the Smithsonian archive, I didn’t know if they were sculptures or experimental musical instruments. I did love their insect-like delicacy and the ethereal blue of the cyanotype. How was I supposed to know that they were meant to fly?

The Smithsonian houses an extensive archive of material relating to turn-of-the-century flight pioneer Samuel P. Langley and his sometimes-flying aerodromes. Langley, a renowned scientist, was affiliated with the Smithsonian for many years. His research received government funding and much public attention. The Smithsonian, in biographical material about Langley, states that he “almost succeeded with inventing the airplane before the Wright brothers.” But as the Smithsonian had much at stake in Langley’s success or failure, be sure to read elsewhere about the feud with the Wright Brothers and how even the Smithsonian didn’t succeed in rewriting history.






A houseboat in the Potomac served as a launching site for a number of doomed flight attempts.

Read more here, here, and here. Listen to an NPR piece here.

Birds Head Revisited

Tonight is the first night of Passover and Jews worldwide, will be participating in a Seder. There are basically three components to a Seder—a story, wine (you are supposed to drink four glasses), and food. The ratio of storytelling, drinking, and eating, varies greatly from household to household.

For those not familiar with the Haggadah, it is the book that contains the story of how the Jews, after being enslaved in Egypt were liberated by God. Traditional Jewish law has it that it is incumbent upon parents to convey that story to their children as if they themselves experienced God taking them from slavery to freedom. There are numerous interactive components to the Seder in order to keep the children’s attention until the food is served.



I’m guessing that keeping children involved is what prompted illustration of the Haggadah. On account of the commandment forbidding graven images, traditional Jewish texts contain no images whatsoever. In fact, it seems that first illustrated Haggadah c. 1300, was from Germany and didn’t even show human faces. It was called the Birds' Head Haggadah since the characters where shown with heads of birds and other animals. The angels had blank faces.

The actual book resides in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.