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Today’s Reconstructionist is one of my favorite poets and writers, Adrienne Rich. I had the privilege of seeing her speak & read her work when I was just 23 years old. Her writing has been very influential in my life. Adrienne Rich passed away just a little over a year ago. I paid tribute to her here.
You can see an archive of all the Recontructionists from this year here.
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Last week the world lost one of its foremost voices on women’s rights: Mary Thom. She was founding editor of legendary feminist magazine Ms. and editor-in-chief of the Women’s Media Center, the think-tank co-founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and reconstructionist Gloria Steinem.
Let us celebrate her achievements and her life. May she rest in peace.
Learn more about her here on The Reconstructionists site.
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One of my favorite things to do when I am traveling is to look at food packaging in grocery stores. Sometimes I’ll even buy things in stores just for the packaging! Not surprisingly, Scandinavian people have designed some of the most attractive food packaging in the world. Today’s My Nordic Adventure entry is a collection food packages that I saw and loved on my trip. There will be more food packaging to come as part of this series in the months ahead.
When you are traveling, grocery stores are great places to see great graphic design and typography specific to that culture. Sometimes food packaging hasn’t changed (or has changed very little) for 25-100 years. I love those packages the most. On my trip to Scandinavia last year, I spent a lot of time looking at aisles and aisles of food and photographing some of the beautiful stuff I saw. Sweden was especially fruitful, but I found amazing packaging in Denmark, Finland and Iceland too. I can’t wait to visit some grocery stores in Paris when I am there in July!
Happy, happy Friday to you. Have a great weekend.
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You may remember that last summer I did some limited edition San Francisco, I love You note cards for The Bold Italic (which you can get here).
What you might not also know is that the original painting of the iconic San Francisco Victorians that dons the notecards is also for sale (Update: sold!). You can purchase this framed original painting (pictured above) from the Bold Italic here. Here’s a “close in” on the artwork in the piece:
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Can’t afford the original? Prints are also for sale.
Hope you are having a lovely Thursday, friends. I’ll be back tomorrow with my next installation in My Nordic Adventure.
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Today might be my favorite Reconstructionist so far, and not because I think it’s the best illustration in the series. I have loved Ray Eames — who she was, what she designed & made, her diverse skills and interests, her sense of style — for many, many years. So drawing this portrait was perhaps the most exciting for me yet. If you haven’t watched the PBS documentary about Charles and Ray Eames, I highly recommend it.
Happy Monday.
{Journal Entries from Day 12 of my adventure in Scandinavia}
When I was traveling in Scandinavia last year, I kept a travel journal for the entire adventure. Every evening after a long day of exploring, I took my thoughts, my water color paints, my pens and any ephemera I’d collected and document my day. I used one of these gorgeous Large Moleskine Watercolor Books to record everything. I have never been an art journal keeper, except when I travel. The joy I experience when I keep a journal like this makes me wonder why I don’t engage in this kind of activity in my regular life. While traveling, I find it really grounding to re-assemble my day (and all of the visual inspiration I found) in pictures and a few words.
As part of My Nordic Adventure series, I’ll share with you some of the pages from that journal. First up: two different days from my time in Copenhagen. The entry above was from Day 12 and the entry below was from Day 13 of my trip. Copenhagen is a really colorful, lively city and I cannot wait to go back and visit there again.
{From Day 13 of my Adventure}
Happy Thursday.
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This week’s Reconstructionist is Susan Sontag, essayist, film maker, novelist, playwright, director. I first fell in love with Susan Sontag when I ready The Volcano Lover in 1992. I wrote about the influence of that book in the introduction to my own book, A Collection a Day back in 2010.
You can see an archive of all of this year’s Reconstructionists and read more about this project (a collaboration with Maria Popova) here.
Have a great Monday!
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Who doesn’t love a good chair? My trip to Scandinavia offered a treasure trove of seating delights. This week’s addition to My Nordic Adventure series is an assemblage of paintings I made of a few chairs I saw and loved in Sweden. Many of these I saw at the Nordiska Museet in their collection of Swedish decor through the ages. Have I mentioned how much I love that museum? You can read about my visit there here.
Happy Thursday, friends!
Today’s Reconstructionist is novelist and poet Charlotte Brontë.
On another note, I’m back to blogging this week. See you tomorrow.
Today on The Reconstructionists we present to you the magnificent mathematician and writer, Ada Lovelace.
Happy Monday.
{My first abstract paintings, hung in my living room. The neon paint is more neon-y in real life.}
You may remember this post back in January in which I discussed “changing things up” and making abstract paintings (as opposed to my usual literal drawings and paintings). Shortly after I wrote that post, I indeed started painting a pair of two abstracts on 24×24 inch panels that would go side by side.
And then, as happens sometimes, life hit me like a hurricane. I moved, got 1000 illustration jobs and two new book deals, and those two paintings got thrown to the wayside.
That is, until this past Sunday. In an attempt to stay connected to the a more pure, not-for-work-or-money-art-making process (since I spend so much of my time illustrating for clients), I am trying to spend some time in my studio every week (and it usually ends up being on the weekend) just playing around. And this past weekend I did just that, and I worked for several more hours on the pair.
They each have about 20 layers of paint on them and I kept adding more till I got them just how I wanted them. And now they are hanging in my new living room. Making them was pure frolic (and so different than my regular process) and I cannot wait to make another.
Happy Tuesday.
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Today’s Reconstructionist: the incredible Billie Holiday. See all of the former Reconstructionists this year here.
Happy Monday!
Woman of the week: Gloria Steinem, whose birthday is today! See all the Reconstructionists here.
Happy Monday!
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Those of you who follow along here know that last week I started a new project here on this blog called My Nordic Adventure. This week’s entry: Swedish mittens! I hope you like them.
BTW, I was pretty excited when my favorite travel magazine AFAR posted about My Nordic Adventure in their Reading List: 8 of Our Favorite Stories This Week. Thank you, AFAR!!
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{Today’s Reconstructionist: Maya Angelou}
As some of you know, my first career was as an elementary school teacher. I taught a first and second grade combination class for several years in a row, and every day there was a period of time dedicated to sitting in a circle, singing and ready poetry. My kids loved it, and so did I. It was sometimes the only period in the day when there were never any altercations among students or frustrations with learning. One day, one of my students (named Ivory) came in and announced that he would like to recite a poem for the class that his grandmother had helped him memorize. Ivory was extraordinary in many ways, and so I was not surprised. Turns out he had memorized Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” — every word of it (except the stanza about sexiness, which I think his grandmother omitted on purpose!). The class and I sat dumbfounded and moved as Ivory recited this beautiful poem with perfect cadence and inflection.
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
I have been profoundly moved by Angelou’s poetry over the years, and this was just one of those occasions. Maria and I are so excited to present her as this week’s Reconstructionist.
You can peruse all of The Recontructionists here.
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