Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth... I attended Pratt Institute (class of 1980) as a Illustration and Graphic Design Major. And this was a little book project we did in one of My design classes in 1978, Typography with the renowned and excellent Ray Barber. The design assignment was an Artist’s Alphabet book. "A is for ART" was fun to do and well received.
In 2001, our home in Brooklyn, NY suffered a house fire that
destroyed my studio and most of my portfolio, all my gear and slides. But a few things were salvaged from the ruins.
I proposed the project on my Live
Journal page, and got some encouragement. So went on to do the project in November and December of 2005, in-between paying studio Projects.
The image above is a scan of all that is left of the cover case of the book, recovered from a ruined flat file. But I kept the plates, with the original cartoons and text sealed and preserved in a plastic bag. I hoped that one of these days, I would scan and restore them digitally. Also replace the utterly horrid student-grade calligraphy with some decent type. Lefties are not the worlds greatest calligraphers. But the cartoons are cute, with a certain charm and student vitality, turns out I still liked 'em after over, good gods... 27 years later.
The project became very therapeutic, as I did the work essentially on the anniversary of my mother's death from Uterine Cancer. I conceived of the project as a print restoration, and had been producing one-offs in my studio for our family and close friends. However, I do now connect to a greater online community, and decided to build an online incarnation of the project. I have added some commentary to the plates to make this version a bit unique and partially overcome the limitations of print media. This has changed, see NEWS below!em>
A is for Art: The Digital Restoration now lives as an honest to ink-on-paper Hardcover Printed Edition. Thanks to the magic of Print-on-demand, it is now avalable from Fantastic Realities Studio for $19.95. Wait long enough and the technology catches up to your publishing aspirations!
[Note: 1/1/06] Since I did this project essentially solo, It's a bitch being your own proofreader.
If you should spot typos, glitches, or glaring informational errors, please zip me a note. –KG
