Timothy Banks Illustration

 

Just got off the phone with Timothy Banks Illustration. Above is an excerpt from Banks' Bird Chronicles. We were able to talk about how he got started, his inspiration and current work. I will be compiling my findings into a paper (to be completed before March 1st!) so check back for more details on this amazingly talented artist!

Singer

I started, at the end of 2009, an exploration in hand stitched designs. I loved how my Wedding Invitations turned out, but the amount of hours put into stitching each stitch isn't practical for mass production. (Can you imagine a bride ordering 500 of those?! I would curl up and cry.) This year I wanted to continue my exploration into this facet of design, but needed to research alternatives to the embroidery needle and thread (at the very least, for the sake of my poor bruised fingers). I considered creating one piece then scanning the design and producing multiples that way or using a quality varnish or embossing job, but both of those ideas strayed away from the whole point of the piece: that it was Hand Stitched! and had actual threads of colorful embroidery floss worked in! So I went on the hunt for a sewing machine. My mother's machine is dated which does not rule a machine out... but it has 'tension' issues, and those of you who have tension issues of your own understand the machine needs a break. Thankfully my dad came across a 1951 Singer Featherweight in his explorations and graciously allowed me to use it on this project! It still runs like a dream 59 (yes I am shocked too!) years later. (I wonder what wonderful things have been crafted on this sewing table... if needles could talk!) I am thankful beyond words to him for his generosity and cannot wait to experiment and share my findings with you all here.

Preservation through Production: An Evening with Hatch Show Print

Tonight I had the exciting opportunity to attend Jim Sherraden’s lecture on the history and process of Hatch Show Print at the Westin Poinsett Hotel in Greenville, SC. Hatch is a non-profit working museum affiliated with the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. The shop, founded in 1879, has adopted a motto: “Preservation through production”. This historic shop continues to use only the original wood block type in their designs, supplemented here and there with current woodblock or linoleum cut designs. Hatch Show Print does not strive to recreate historic posters that are now rare or completely lost, nor does it search out vintage copies of printed show posters on Ebay or antique outlets. Rather, they are interested in keeping history alive by using the Hatch brothers original hand carved block in today’s context. Originally typesetting traveling tour posters for Grand Ole Opry stars, Hatch’s more recent clientele consists of Pearl Jam, the Beastie Boys, REM, Coldplay, Mylie Cyrus and many other contemporary artists. Currently B.B. King and Willie Nelson are Hatch’s largest clients. Companies such as Pixar and CNN have also commissioned work with Hatch. Below are some images from the evening: the presentation, the beautiful historic Poinsett Hotel, tasty food, posters I secured at the beginning of the evening and my charming companions! (See more Hatch posters.)

Mr. Sherraden stressed that with these prints the Designer is the Printer and the Printer is the Designer.
If you can't make it to Nashville, then catch the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition.

Patch Prints

Last year for Christmas a friend purchased a gorgeous sketch book for me. The design used old entries from bird encyclopedias and bold floral patterns painted on top. Knowing my love for birds my adorable friend secured the perfect gift for me! As I read through the info in the back of my new favorite sketch book I came across Patch NYC, the makers of the book. Check out their website. I fell in love the moment I saw their prints. I'm including some inspirational photos from the site below.

 

The talented duo that is Patch NYC has recently started a line exclusively for everyone's favorite Anthropologie. Below is a sampling of what they came up with to blow our minds further.

 

1920s Constantinople

Step back 90 years into the charm of Constantinople (now Istanbul). This set of prints offers a window into the everyday culture of Turkey. Scenes depicting marketplace transactions and street entertainers are set against the breathtaking backdrop of Justinian's 6th century Hagia Sophia. The warm tones, animated expressions and body language of each figure and the ability of each work to communicate a story is an inspiration to illustrators. Each piece is marked "Constantinople 1920" on the front and on the back with a number ranging 1-30. The illustrations are rendered in what appears to be an opaque watercolor or gouache. It is a unique pleasure to come across such a broad collection of illustrations this old!

 

 

 

 

 

Gorodets

A beautiful new typeface from myfonts.com! Gorodets is extracted from Russian folk art. Designed by Alexandra Korolkova, Gorodets provides a whimsical tool for designers. Below is a sampling from the glyphs. This face provides filled designs for capitals and negative space designs for the lowercase glyphs. The above images are posters designed by John Collins.

Chamber Strings Illustration

This poster/invitation was designed for two string recitals coming up in February. I have had a few chances at my current job to work hand drawn vector illustrations into my pieces. Here I created this simple cello by sketching the lines in pencil then drawing vectors over top in Ai for a smooth but still hand done look.

Not so Elementary

I never was a Sherlock Holmes follower. I have only read the tales required in high school English classes... The Hound of the Baskervilles and another title about a red something or other. Despite my relative cluelessness about the detective, I am a huge fan of the art created for the recently released Sherlock Holmes. This almost makes me want to pick up a pencil and draw something... I may just do it!

 

Ebelskivers? Yum!

Mmm, these look so tasty and fun to make. The process looks simple enough and would be fun to try with friends or kids. I have not invested in the equipment yet, but have enjoyed adoring the mouth-watering photos at Williams-Sonoma.com. Ebelskivers are a danish pancake-like pastry with a center of gooey wonder! Fill it with anything you like. Williams-Sonoma suggests chocolate, peanut butter, fruit, jam... so good :) Bon Appetit!

Creative Mapping

These canvases were designed in 2009 on a flight to and from Santa Ana, California. I used historic maps of neighborhoods, city buildings and coastlines from around the world to get a wide variety of shapes. I can see these hanging on the wall in my sister's home in California. I'm sure the sunny culture of SoCal inspired my bright colors and bold shape choices. In my search for a new approach to maps, I found a helpful episode of This American Life :: 110: Mapping.

Pre-college Exhibit

This piece was created for a graduate class, Principles of Art Composition, as a final project. It is based on the principles of Dynamic Symmetry as taught by Jay Hambidge. Hambidge stressed the importance of dynamic rectangles and their harmonic subdivisions. The color poster and black and white flyer both use a Root 5 rectangle and promote the Pre-college Art Exhibition held by Bob Jones Elementary School, Junior High and Academy. (The exhibition actually begins February 1st despite the dates on the poster.)