bLog-oMotives: Artist

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Still time to enter Holli Conger's
First Annual Pumpkin Junkin' Contest

Holli Conger has been one of my favorite illustrators for quite a few years now. I always enjoy getting her emails, as I never know what they may bring. Today I got a reminder message from her about the First Annual Pumpkin Junkin' Exhibit & Contest. The deadline of October 31st is fast approaching. Artists around the world are encouraged to use and abuse a pumpkin with found objects, creating a masterpiece to share in the 2007 Pumpkin Junkin' Gallery. All the rules are on the official site.

Worldwide exposure of your pumpkin creation is not the only benefit of participation. There's a grand prize of one of Holli's great original Junk A Doodles illustration pieces. She's even lined up illustrators Paige Pooler, Robyn Fabsits and Andi Butler as judges.

By the way, be sure to check out Holli's fun illustration work.

The Magic of View-Master exhibit in Portland

As a kid I was fascinated with my View-Master. It took me on travels around the world and gave incredible dimension to some of my favorite cartoon characters. I also thought it was really cool that the company was based in Oregon - and, on our station wagon adventures, my family occasionally went by the factory where the magic was taking place.

My childhood flashed back to me the other day with an article in The Oregonian about the new exhibit at the The 3D Center of Art and Photography. This past Thursday the exhibition The Magic of View-Master opened in the gallery/museum. The show will run through May 27, 2007.

From the Center's website:

The Magic of View-Master will take a stroll through the history of the View-Master company. The exhibition will included numerous pieces of View-Master history, such as cameras, viewers, reels and projectors.

A highlight of the exhibition will be original sculptures from View-Master artist, Joe Liptak. Mr. Liptak hand-crafted many of the best View-Master sets in the 1970's including Cinderella, the Jungle Book and the Flintstones. A selection of Mr. Liptak's creations will be on display in the Gallery.

During the run of the exhibit, a digital stereo slide show, View-Master Through the Ages, will be presented in the Stereo Theater. On the evenings of April 19th and May 19th there will be discussions with sculptor Joe Liptak and former View-Master employee Rich Dubnow.

The 3D Center of Art and Photography, a non-profit museum/gallery, features the best in antique and contemporary 3D imagery. The Center houses everything from antique stereocards to View Master, contemporary 3D photography, lenticulars, anaglyphs, and computer generated 3D art. The facility is located at 1928 NW Lovejoy Street in Portland, Oregon.

Hmmm...I wonder what happened to the View-Master and reels that my siblings and I enjoyed as kids. I suppose our parents sold it all at some point, along with our Lionel train set, because they felt we were no longer interested in the toys of our childhood.

Photo of View-Master sculptor Joe Liptak from The 3D Center of Art and Photography website

Finds while bouncing 'round the blog-o-sphere

Just got up from my nap on this rainy Saturday afternoon and was checking out some of the links that run down the left side of bLog-oMotives. To be honest, I'd much rather be out "playing in the dirt" of my garden.

However, the always interesting the thought kitchen, from the folks at nau, led me to pausing for a moment on their "like minds" links. I wondered what Milky Plastique was all about - and found plenty of art and design eye-candy to visit. Browsing through the entries was a great was to spend some time on this lazy day. I bounced a ways down to the post about The Poster List and was connected to the great poster design work of a couple guys named Adam and Neil. I think the image "Cut & Paste" (above) may have cause a momentary design career flash-back. Nice work guys!

Illustration courtesy of The Poster List

Stone Soup: Exhibit draws on personal experience

The other day I got an announcement from Jan Eliot by way of our mutual friend Mary Simon. The talented cartoonist behind the successful comic Stone Soup sent out the email to make others aware that an exhibit of her original cell drawings will be on display March 30-April 29, 2007 at the Opus6ix gallery at 22 West 7th Ave. in Eugene, OR. There will be a gallery reception for the artist at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 6. An additional opportunity to meet Eliot, and get copies of her books signed, will be on April 28.

I can't even remember how many years ago I was introduced to the cartoonist by Mary, but it was back in the days of her original strip Patience and Sarah. I've been a fan of Eliot and her work ever since.

These days, with the popularity of Stone Soup, she has lots of fans. Stone Soup is now a syndicated cartoon strip that's distributed internationally by Universal Press Syndicate to over 140 newspapers in 6 countries, and read by over 8 million readers every day. The distributor's web site offers this history of the journey to cartoon success:

Jan Eliot began cartooning as a form of self-defense when she was a single mom trying to raise two daughters, stay fully employed, pay the bills and still have a little fun once in a while. She discovered that cartooning gave her the opportunity to laugh at adversity, vent her frustrations and find humor in being short of money, short of time and short of patience. Not coincidentally, her original comic strip was called 'Patience and Sarah' and featured a single mom (Patience) and her daughter. It ran for five years in 10 weekly and monthly papers.

While working as a copywriter and graphic designer, Jan continued cartooning and developed a second strip called 'Sister City,' which ran weekly in the Eugene Register-Guard for five years. Her cartoons have been reprinted in many humor collections, magazines, computer manuals and parenting books. Jan has also published greeting cards with Maineline Press, Umbrella Press and Marcel Schurman.

In 1995, under the new name of 'Stone Soup,' Jan's comic strip was nationally syndicated. Jan promptly quit her job to become a full-time cartoonist and with the quick success of 'Stone Soup,' she has had no regrets. Closely based on her own life and the lives of her unsuspecting friends, 'Stone Soup' focuses on human relationships and the modern family. As one newspaper described it, the strip 'pursues the humor in life, parenting and even the friends we can't choose - relatives.'"

Stone Soup has become an industry. A new book, Desperate Households, will be released in the near future. Five other book collections are available: Stone Soup, You Can't Say Boobs On Sunday, Stone Soup the Comic Strip, Road Kill In The Closet, and Not So Picture Perfect. Readers can get their daily fix of the strip - and order prints - online. There's even a Cafe Press site of products.

With all the success of Stone Soup over the years, one thing has remained constant - Jan Eliot is still one of the nicest people I've ever met.

Photo: Sol Neelman

Do you buy Chateau Mouton Rothschild for the label?

As a graphic designer I will often give a bottle of wine a try simply because I like the art of the label - and I occasionally find a great wine in a pretty bottle. The wines of Chateau Mouton Rothschild take both the buying of wine and the art on the label to an entirely different level.

Recently the CBS Sunday Morning program had a wonderful piece on the Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, the Sotheby's sale of wines from her private cellar (where a Jeroboam - an oversized bottle - of 1945 Mouton sold for $260,000!), and the incredible collection of art that has graced the labels of the wine each year since 1945. A show of the paintings on which the labels are based, which has traveled the world for 25 years, was a part of the Sotheby's event, complete with a ceremony to unveil the Prince Charles watercolor label that will decorate the 2004 vintage. More about the television show segment can be read at Wine And Art Meet At Mouton Estate.

Baroness de Rothschild explained to Sunday Morning host Charles Osgood that her father, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, put the family in the wine business in 1922, and was the first to put fine art on a wine bottle when commissioned the artist Jean Carlu to design a label in 1924. That particular piece of art is considered a landmark work in Cubist commercial art.

In 1945, to celebrate the end of World War II, de Rothschild commissioned the young painter Philippe Jullian to produce a graphic design based on the "V" sign made famous by Winston Churchill during the war. Each year since then the work of an artist has been selected for the Chateau Mouton Rothschild label. Artists such as Joan Miro, Marc Chagall, Picasso, Keith Haring, Salvador Dali, and Andy Warhol have been exhibited on the bottles.

"Andy Warhol didn't just do what he's told. which is normal for Andy," Baroness de Rothschild told Osgood. "This one thing that is told to the painters, they can do whatever they want, but horizontally because of the shape. The shape, exactly. but he didn't paint them that way. Warhol did these beautiful portraits of my father, three of them, but vertical, so we had to lay my father down on the label."

A number of the labels were shown on the Sunday Morning program - but I wanted to see more. An Internet search led me to the site The Artists Labels. Each label created since 1945 is displayed on the website. A brief history of the label project is provided, as are links to additional information of each featured artist. It's a great resource about an ongoing international art exhibit.

Illustration: 1988 label by the late Keith Haring

Tharp Did It: A retrospective exhibit

At the 2005 HOW Design Conference in Chicago the news spread quickly through the gathered design professionals: Designer Rick Tharp was missing. It was later learned that the man whose work I admired so much had taken his own life. At the time, as a contribution to my Logo Notions column, I wrote the well-received tribute piece An introduction - and farewell tip of the hat — to Mr. Tharp. Through that article I cyberly met many people who cared deeply for Tharp, including family, friends and design industry peers.

This evening one of those individuals, Lourdes Pollard of the Phoenix Data Center, contacted me to make me aware of an exhibit honoring Rick Tharp and his work.

The exhibit, THARP DID IT: GRAPHIC WORK - A Retrospective Exhibit, opened this past week at the Art Museum of Los Gatos in California. The show of Tharp's work will continue through March 30, 2007. On Saturday, March 24, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., there will be a Gala Reception, and silent auction, to benefit the Rick Tharp Design Scholarship.

The museum's website states:

Rick Tharp came to Los Gatos in 1974, and maintained a studio in Old Town for 30 years. He designed the masthead, mascot, and the first few issues of the Los Gatos Weekly in 1982.

Rick’s firm, Tharp Did It, specialized in corporate identity, package design and environmental design. Renowned for his humorous designs, his work ranged from wine labels, business logos, and award-winning advertising campaigns for companies such as Brio, a European toymaker.

Local Tharp customers include: Steamer's, Le Boulanger, Carrie Nation, Domus, Bears in the Wood, The Wooden Horse, Valeriano's Restaurant and Old Town among others.

In 1988 Tharp received a CLIO Award, often referred to as the "Oscar" of the advertising world, in New York for wine packaging design for Mirassou Vineyards. He designed street signs and banners for the Town of Los Gatos. His philosophy was "Don't break rules just to be breaking rules, but, on the other hand, don't let them get in the way either." and "Always have fun doing it."

Anyone having the opportunity should see the exhibit, which is sure to be a collection of incredible creative inspiration for any designer.

Photo: Saratoga News/George Sakkestad

Toot! Toot!: Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
featured in Creatively Self-Employed*

Jeff Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity for the design firm Jeff Fisher LogoMotives, is featured in the recently released book Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs, by writer Kristen Fischer. In the book, more than 65 creative types - writers, designers, painters, illustrators and others - speak out about dealing with rejection, coping with loneliness and building strong businesses. Any creative professional, either starting an new business venture or looking to give their existing efforts an infusion of inspiration, will find the volume a valuable resource.

The author says she included Fisher as "a Creative Profile in a chapter about support, and also to discuss how to stay physically healthy - and what can happen when we don't."

Jeff Fisher has worked independently as a graphic designer, specializing in logo design, for all but three years since moving to Portland, Oregon in 1980. Since then he has received over 500 regional, national and international design awards for his logo design efforts, and his work is featured in over 80 books about logos, the business of design, and small business marketing. He shared many of his own business experiences in his initial book, The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success, which was released in 2004. A second book, Identity Crisis!, is currently in production and will be on bookstore shelves in the fall of 2007.

Other "creative types" featured in the book include "real world" industry friends Ilise Benun, Von Glitschka, Cat Morley - founder of Designers Who Blog, and Neil Tortorella. The experiences of cyber acquaintances Art Javid, Kristen King (also a recent client), Calvin Lee, Chris Tomlinson, and Tamar Wallace are also highlighted.

Kristen Fischer is a New Jersey copywriter with a wide range of print and Web copywriting experience. More information about the author, and her first book, is available at her Creatively Self-Employed website

Creatively Self-Employed is available through online booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Note: Photo courtesy of Kristen Fischer

(*If I don't "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.)

Artist/prankster Danny Finegood loses cancer battle

This past June I posted an entry on bLog-oMotives about my friend David Batterson writing a song celebrating art student Danny Finegood's legendary 1976 alteration of the famous Hollywood sign - making it read "Hollyweed." This past week my blog was getting numerous visits through Internet searches for "Danny Finegood" and "Daniel Finegood." Late Thursday night I learned that Finegood passed away on Monday, due to multiple myeloma, at the age of 52. The Los Angeles Times posted an updated tribute on the paper's website earlier today.

This afternoon I had a very nice email from his daughter Natalie, asking if I would post the sad news. She said that her father "was an awesome guy." In responding to her email I wrote: "From everything I've read and heard about (your father), he was a man with an incredible spirit and an individual I would have thoroughly enjoyed knowing personally."

Finegood coordinated the alteration of the Hollywood landmark three other times. Once the sign was changed to read Holywood for Easter. In 1987, during the Iran-Contra hearings, it was altered to read "Ollywood" to protest the hero worship of Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North. Another brief change was made by Finegood in 1990 when the sign read "Oil War" before police removed the plastic draping the structure.

In a 1983 letter to the Los Angeles Times, Finegood and his cohorts wrote: "We broke no laws and did no damage to the sign. An artist's role throughout history has been to create representations of the culture he exists in. By hanging four relatively small pieces of fabric on the landmark, we were able to change people's perception of the Hollywood sign."

For many, that perception will include fond memories of artist and prankster Danny Finegood. Posters of the Hollyweed image may still be ordered at Hollyweed.net. Donations may be made in Finegood's memory to the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research, 9201 W. Sunset Blvd., Suite 300, West Hollywood, CA 90069.

Corita Kent - artist, designer, activist - gets her due

In my college years, and after first moving to Portland in 1980, my favorite artist, graphic designer, political activist and wise woman just happened to also be a Roman Catholic nun. Corita Kent blended her faith, political beliefs, art, graphic design, typography and sometimes the headlines of the day into some of the most recognizable, and unsung, imagery of the 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's. Now, over 20 years since her death in 1986, she is getting the attention I always personally felt she deserved as a female graphic communicator in what was primarily a good old boys' club.

Much of the renewed interest in Corita Kent comes with the release of the book Come Alive!: The Spirited Art of Corita Kent by Julie Ault. I was thrilled to learn of the book from a recent entry at UnBeige. That blurb led me to Lorraine Wild's piece, Sister Corita: The Juiciest Tomato, at Design Observer and Mark Kingsley's Speak Up article, Corita. (This is a fascinating woman who ended up on the cover of Newsweek back in 1967.)

With the London release of Come Alive!, from Four Corners, there was an exhibit of Corita's work at the Between Bridges gallery, which got the attention of The Guardian newspaper. Nun Like Her was the Creative Review response to the exhibition and book release. The exhibit, Sister Corita: The Joyous Revolutionary is currently available for touring and I do hope it gets more exposure in the U.S. Six Corita prints are part of the exhibit DISSENT!, on display at Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum through February 28, 2007.

If I sound a bit excited about the March release of this book, I am. As a designer new to the profession in the early 80's, I received a signed Corita as a gift and was able to purchase another from a gallery that would later end up selling my own silkscreen efforts. Each morning I wake up to the graphic representation of the Corita Kent quote, "Life is a succession of moments, to live each one is to succeed." There's a bit of irony that my other Kent piece, Yes #3 (a large red heart over the word "love"), went to the other party when I got divorced in 1985.

Today the Immaculate Heart Community is the home to the Corita Art Center. The center's online presence includes an archive of Corita Kent's serigraphs and pieces for sale. The U.S. release of the book Come Alive! is currently available for pre-sale.

Update - 05.22.07: I just got the book for myself with a birthday gift card. It's an incredible resource for anyone interested in the work of Corita Kent. I would highly recommend it.

Print image © The Corita Art Center

Bibendum: "Puffed up and provocative"

I've always loved advertising characters. In fact, I have a collection of over 200 advertising figures in my home studio. Bob's Big Boy hangs out on my desk with Toucan Sam, Sprout, Mr. Bubble, Cap'n Crunch and Chinese versions of Tony the Tiger. Colonel Sanders, Marky Maypo, the Trix Rabbit, Frankenberry, Sleepy, Snap, Crackle, Pop, Tillie the Tillamook cow, and many others look on from around the room. With the increasing value of the growing collection, I somewhat jokingly refer to it as "my retirement fund."

One of my favorites has always been Bibendum, better known to most as "the Michelin Man." As a kid, I remember seeing him on billboards, in the form of large roadside statues, and even sitting on an ashtray at my grandparents' house. He stands tall (and in other forms) among all the characters in my studio gathering.

Recently, with the popularity of the traveling exhibition “Nunc est Bibendum, An Iconographic Legend Since 1898,” Bibendum has been getting a lot of international news coverage. The exhibit is currently at the Conde Duque Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporaneo in Madrid until January 14, 2007. Additional locations in Europe, and eventually the United States and Japan, will be announced in the future. Michelin has a fun, abbreviated version of the exhibition on their corporate website.

The Michelin Man was first created in 1898 by French entrepreneurs André and Edouard Michelin in cooperation with the artist O’Galop (pseudonym of Marius Rossillon). Edouard noticed how a display of tires, stacked one on top of the other at an exhibition in Lyon, resembled the shape of a portly restaurant reviewer he knew. He told his brother Andre, who commissioned O'Galop to recreate Edouard's vision. The new character appeared in a 1898 poster showing him offering a toast, "Nunc est bibendum" (“It’s time to drink,”- or "Cheers" - in Latin), to his competitors with a glass full of highway dangers such as jagged glass. Nearly 100 years later, in 2000, Bibendum was selected as the "most recognized corporate symbol" by an international panel at the Financial Times.

Hopefully I will be able to see the exhibition in person at some location in Europe or when it comes to the U.S. I'll post any exhibit location updates in future bLog-oMotives entries.

One of my own Bibendums (in the photo above) is a 1980-81 French representation of a slim and trim Michelin Man. There's even an entire book about such Michelin items: The Michelin Man: An Unauthorized Advertising Showcase. I'll introduce you to some of my other advertising "friends" later. For more information about iconic advertising characters you might want to take a look at the books Meet Mr. Product: The Art of the Advertising Character or What a Character: 20th Century American Advertising Icons

World AIDS Day 2006:
A day of reflection and a call to action

Just over 25 years ago a small article in The New York Times reported the outbreak of a rare "cancer" among 41 gay men in New York and California. No one could have predicted the impact that news item would eventually have on the world.

Today, an estimated 22-25 million men, women and children have died of AIDS or AIDS-related illnesses, and an estimated 40 million individuals are living with HIV. AIDS impacts people of all ethnicities, ages, genders and sexual orientations. AIDS is devasting generations in Africa. The United Nations AIDS agency estimates that India has the largest caseload for a single country with 5.7 million individuals infected with HIV. AIDS continues to impact Americans in huge numbers.

World AIDS Day, December 1st, is a time for all people worldwide to unite in the ongoing fight against AIDS. It is up to all of us to stop the spread of HIV - and prejudice - through education, prevention programs, assisting in the care of those with HIV/AIDS, and doing what we can to help find a cure. World AIDS Day also offers a time to reflect on the personal impact of AIDS in our lives.

In December 1985 I got the news that one of my best friends had AIDS - one of the earliest cases in Oregon. Still, I was not prepared for what was to come. Over the next decade so many people I knew died of AIDS, including my college roommate, a fraternity brother, teachers, friends, clients, vendors, neighbors, other roommates, a distant cousin and others. I literally lost count as the number of people I personally knew who died from AIDS neared 100. My cousin, promising playwright and director Bradford O'Neil, was HIV-positive and committed suicide after caring for his partner until his death. This past year my best friend, Brad Hall, - who was diagnosed HIV-positive many years ago - died from what had extended his life. The "cocktail" of medications he'd taken for quite some time destroyed his liver and he did not live to get a proposed transplant. I've thought about many of these individuals with recent AIDS, and World AIDS Day, news.

As "creative types" - designers, photographers, writers and others - we are in a unique position to take action in the ongoing battle against AIDS. It's hard to believe that it has been 20 years since I first started doing design work related to HIV and AIDS. The projects have included logos for AIDS Walks, fundraising events, AIDS organizations, theatrical presentations about AIDS, a food bank for people with HIV, hospices and related clients. I've also created posters, newsletters, banners, ads, education booklets and other collateral items used in informing the public about the prevention of AIDS and the care of those with HIV.

I encourage - or challenge - others in the creative professions to do the same. Contact your local AIDS organizations, health departments, hospices and related groups to offer your services as a designer, photographer, writer, or even as person with some time to donate in providing any service needed.

The following resources may be helpful in locating organizations needing your assistance:

amFAR • KnowHIVAIDS.org • MTV/Staying Alive • UNAIDS • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative • The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation • Designers Without Borders • ONE • We All Have AIDS • WorldAIDSDay.org • Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS • Doctors Without Borders • GuideStar • Design for Social Impact • AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Doodlers-in-Chief doodle-doo

Some of our U.S. Presidents, like Dwight Eisenhower, were fairly good artists. Others simply preferred to doodle. The creators of Cabinet magazine have spent years scouring archives and libraries across America in creating the new book Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles & Scrawls from the Oval Office. They have unearthed hundreds of presidential doodles and present the finest examples of the genre in the volume. Historian David Greenberg sets these images in context and explains what they reveal about the inner lives of our commanders in chief.

Additional information about the book can be found on the site of the CBS Sunday Morning television program, in the article Drawings By Commanders In Chief May Hint At Their Thoughts. It's interesting to learn that Presidents Carter and Ford were not doodlers, and Nixon was a "disappointing doodler."

The book's accompanying website PresidentialDoodles.com offers doodles from the book, a "who did the doodle" quiz, and additional resources - including links to many of the presidential libaries or other libraries with presidential collections. You can even send a doodle e-card to a friend.

Cabinet is a quarterly magazine of art and culture that confounds expectations of what is typically meant by the words "art," "culture," and "magazine." Like the seventeenth century cabinet of curiosities to which its name alludes, Cabinet focuses on the margins of culture. Playful and serious, exuberant and committed, Cabinet features the work of artists, writers, historians, scientists, and much more.

Cracked Pots and Twilight in the Garden

I'm currently sitting out at the table in my garden working from my PowerBook. In looking over my calendar I see that two of my favorite garden-related events are coming up this next week. Put them on your schedule as part of your recovery program following the expected heat wave here in Portland this weekend.

Cracked Pots presents their 7th Annual Garden Art Show July 25 & 26 (next Tuesday and Wednesday) at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale. From 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. over 60 local artists will be displaying and selling their garden art made from recycled materials. The Edgefield gardeners will also be having a plant sale each day from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Grab a brewski (my favorite on a hot summer day is always the Ruby) or summer cocktail from one of the numerous bars at Edgefield before taking an extended tour of the gardens and what the artists have to offer. My garden is home to several pieces purchased over the years at the event.

The internationally recognized Joy Creek Nursery hosts their annual "Twilight in the Garden" event on Saturday, July 29th from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The event gives visitors a chance to tour the beautiful 4+ acres of show gardens in the cool of the evening while enjoying light refreshments, live music by local high school jazz musicians and garden plantings highlighted by the light of dusk. It's also a great opportunity to check out the work of local artists. My garden features birdbaths, pots of all sizes and trellises from the selection at the Scappoose nursery.

Joy Creek is responsible for the design and installation of the gardens in both my front and back yards. The nursery is also a client of mine and I have designed the Joy Creek logo and many other marketing materials over the past 13 years. My partner and I have been long-time friends of owners Mike Smith and Maurice Horn. In fact, as we occasionally stay out at the home on the grounds of the nursery, we refer to the place as "our country house." "Twilight in the Garden" is a chance for others to have the evening nursery experience we've come to take for granted over the years.

Flower photo courtesy of Joy Creek Nursery

High on Hollyweed:
30-year-old college art project is put to music

Many friends and acquaintances of mine are "creative types" - designers. artists, architects, writers, musicians and others - who are always working on some interesting projects. The other day I got a press release from writer, and former Portland resident, David Batterson about his latest effort. I know Batterson from his work writing articles and text for businesses and organizations. However, he's also a song writer.

Batterson and former deejay Mark Giles have completed a new song - "Hollyweed USA" - celebrating a popular stunt that happened 30 years ago, when the landmark Hollywood sign was changed to read "HOLLYWEED." Batterson wrote the lyrics to the song and Giles composed the music. Giles also sings on the demo of the copyrighted song. The musical tribute has not yet been recorded by a record label, but has been distributed to college, indie and "pirate" radio stations in the U.S. and overseas.

Student Daniel Finegood was the person who envisioned the stunt and - on January 1, 1976 - carried it out with some friends. It received worldwide publicity at that time, and earned Finegood an 'A" for his college art project. The artistic deed was in recognition of the new California marijuana law being implemented on that day. Finegood documents the event on the site Hollyweed.net.

Batterson and Giles have also written the songs "Unless We Have A Song" and "Rattling The Dishes," and are working on more songs.

Update: Danny Finegood lost his battle with cancer on January 22, 2007.

Big surprises in a small art museum

When traveling - which I seem to do a lot (we've been spending a fourth to a third of recent years in hotels or other travel accommoda- tions) - I always like to check out the local art scene. I may visit local art galleries, pre-arrange visits to the studios of designers or artists, or take in current exhibits at a local art museum.

I hit the jackpot earlier this week in Tampa when I learned that the Tampa Museum of Art had featured exhibits of the works of Maurice Sendak and Keith Haring. I've always been fascinated by the work of both artists. To have exhibits focusing on both in one museum was almost sensory overload.

Many years ago I was introduced to Sendak's book Where The Wild Things Are. This exhibit, WILD THINGS: The Art of Maurice Sendak, displays preliminary drawings and final art for that book and so much more. Original book manuscripts, set designs, personal letters and over 100 other pieces of Sendak memorabilia are included in this beautiful exhibition. A detail description of the exhibit can be found on the site of The Jewish Museum New York, organizer of the traveling exhibition. The show will be available for viewing in Tampa until April 23, 2006.

My other purpose in visiting the Tampa Museum of Art was to view the installation Keith Haring: Art & Commerce, A Tribute to the Pop Shop. The exhibit is a tribute to Keith Haring’s Pop Shop, which closed its doors in 2005 after nearly 20 years in operation and 15 years after the artist’s death from AIDS. Keith Haring opened the Pop Shop in 1986 and sold inexpensive clothing and gift items that featured his unique designs, in a venture that critics viewed as crassly commercial, while Haring’s vision always had more to do with art than commerce. Over 100 examples of Haring's work are on display - from early high school drawings to his familiar T-shirt and poster designs. The show, organized by independent curator Jade Dellinger - in conjunction with the Keith Haring Foundation - for the Tampa Museum of Art, will be open through June 11, 2006.

A special treat was seeing works by designer and artist Ivan Chermayeff in a showing of print work in one of the museum galleries. Chermayeff is a principle in the Chermayeff & Geismar Studio, known for some of the most recognizable corporate identities and logos in the world.

The museum's ongoing permanent exhibit, The Classical World, is very much worth a good look as well. Across the Hillsborough River from the museum is the fascinating and imposing historic Tampa Bay Hotel structure - now the home of the Henry B. Plant Museum at the University of Tampa. Plant, honored by the museum in his name, built the incredible hotel in 1891. We were lucky enough to be given a tour of the beautiful building by Tampa designer (and HOW Design Forum member) Chris Baltzley. The museum and the old hotel are "musts" if you visit Tampa.

Hot art and design in a book about cool jazz

I'm fascinated by great children's books - especially children's books that are for kids of all ages. Books that are well designed or incredibly illustrated always catch my eye. I recently came across the beautifully designed and illustrated book Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits, a collaboration of jazz great Wynton Marsalis, illustrator Paul Rogers and graphic designer Jill von Hartman. The book, published by Candlewick Press, includes text and graphic tributes to Louis Armstrong, Sonny Rollins, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Art Blake and many others. It's a wonderful treat for any jazz enthusiast, a fan of the stylized illustration of first half of the last century, or a kid being introduced to jazz and design.

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