This has a seventies yellowed film feel to it. Remember visiting The Byrd in the early seventies, remember the red interior and the organ - both of which are amazing
Thanks for sending me pix of the posters - it’s always interesting and really an honor to see them relocated in folks’ homes
Publicly funded schools all the way through bachelor’s degree. Anti-elite to the core!
Exposure to despairing images defeats us. Let’s have a vision of the future.
Make your life more meaningful and engage in this fight. It’s what has me fired up and fighting for my children’s future, and that’s not a slogan, that’s what I live most days.
Turn that despair into fury and into action.
How about being kinder to our children. A $3600 check will help. This new administration off to a good start.
I would prefer to read a biography of someone I thought admirable, but Harry Byrd is not really known to me and is key to understanding my adopted state of Virginia, so here goes.
Byrd was before my time, died about when I was born. Would I ever read a biography of a similar character within my own memory, say, Newt Gingrich? Ew. No. But Byrd is so often the answer to “why is (…random oddity/shameful thing in Virginia…)?” Byrd was an extension of the Virginia aristocracy. Though he wasn’t born into opulence, he did descend from the most connected families in Virginia and he was all about protecting the status quo. Some elements regarded him as a man of the utmost probity, the epitome of the Virginia Gentleman - rural and rich - can’t really call him a snob as he was not educated nor cultured as that word implies but still he was totally snobby and segregationist - basically an obstructionist of any change that sounded like federalism or social progress. Or that spent money. Parsimonious is a charitable word for this most uncharitable Scrooge. He had a pathological fear of the future and saw bankruptcy and ruin around every corner. Another mean stingy conservative but one who set the tone for much of what we live with today, including the Robert E Lee statue in the state Capitol in Richmond that was quietly removed early this year. I could not help but wonder when the last page reveals Byrd died of a brain tumor if that physical infirmity in some way contributed to his constant refrain of impending doom especially if money was to be spent.
Though Byrd perpetuated a lot of undemocratic and indeed oligarchic structures in Virginia, he didn’t invent them, that’s for sure. They were long established by the time he was born in 1887. And he wasn’t all bad? Was actually a progressive (relative term) early in his career, modernized roads and bureaucratic procedures (while simultaneously building a patronage network) and was not as bad as, say George Wallace or Strom Thurmond. Yay.
Having recently read books about the New Deal and other histories of the USA in roughly that era, this book helped fill in some details and told it in an engaging way. I would have never thought I would sit down and read a biography of Harry Byrd in just a few sittings, but the pandemic sets us a lot of free time plus this is well done. The book is a well told tale. I have tried to read some political history books before, particularly Katznelson’s ‘Fear Itself’ but I could not. Political science freaks me out. There’s so much meanness. I remain on the lookout for that FDR biography that’s not a bazillion pages.
Last night as I put the book down I attempted to contact the author with my thanks but sadly he passed away, only last month.
Broadly, government has provided so much to me personally including an excellent state university education, and recently has come to rescue my microbusiness with a PPP loan and via my main gallery, CARES Act loans that will at least keep the lights on there until spring. Retail of all kinds is hurting, and a good deal of my posters are in the category of travel related gifts. No need to explain to anyone how that sector is ailing.
And more props to our local government which has found the money to temporarily shelter the many folks who are living on the streets during this COVID crisis which shows no sign of abating, indeed is getting worse. Though the art festivals were all cancelled and sales are down massively, these grants and the $150/wk that I get through unemployment surely helps us pay our extortionate health insurance bill, maintain our home and support our college aged son, and in turn contribute to our community by supporting local agriculture, restaurants and businesses. It is not fashionable to be anything but critical of the hand that feeds and yes there is a lot to be concerned about as far as how our governments conduct themselves, supposedly on our behalf, but we are all supported in so many often not obvious ways.
I’m all about it. We are all about. I propose a cabinet level Future Czar, for future generations. Our grandchildren get a seat at the table.
So many good people rising to the occasion. So many. I cannot even get into it, so here is a WPA poster - remember this was during the time of The Dust Bowl. From the Library of Congress, of course.
This is color altered to coordinate with the dining room decor. Looks nice!
Three recent eras in the US of great possibility; the New Deal, the Space Age and the Obama Hope years are balm to my distress with the constant deluge of so much ugliness and struggle. As a media person - words and images - my mission is communicating, catching one’s eyes and tickling the mind and tugging the heart. The New Deal era powered a patriotic can-doism; the Space Age (the years when I grew up) was full of wonder at science and technology; and the Obama Hope era, which we are currently still in, (maybe) promises Green technology for a better future for us all. Greener, cleaner, more abundance for the planet as a whole, inclusive.
So, how to appeal these awesome possibilities to an often cynical population? The accomplishments that make all our lives better, more comfortable, cleaner - smart phones, GPS, AI, robotics, renewables etc - we quickly get used to these amazing advancements. It is only human nature to focus on bad news and there’s more than enough of that. Yet, the future will continue to get better and better - if we commit to it. So why is this message not articulated more persuasively? Well, we can start with a giant well-funded propaganda machine here in the US driving hate and negativity, which most pointedly derides all things government. But that doesn’t cancel out the positive and inspiring, the ambitious and audacious. Of course there will always be elements that drag us down. I will grapple with imagining and image-ing this promise of a better future.
There are many exciting thinkers out there today. I just love listening to ideas for how to solve x and y. I am finding this in (mostly female!) economists such as Marianna Mazzucato, and engineers such as Saul Griffith. So how to put this messaging into a graphic? There are lots of great media that effectively reach people, especially the short (Youtube or Instagram) video, but my jam is the poster so that’s where I will be. Here’s a start.
Dear Reader, I am open to suggestions. Words are not my strong suit. Help me out here peeps!
These are all LOC WPA posters
These are available in 8x10, in contrast to most of my work which is 13x19
This is from the early 40s and is by Herbert Bayer, who went on the be a total Mad Men era designer. This poster was commissioned by the Rural Electrification effort, curiously. Bayer had a super interesting story, check it out.Image courtesy of LOC of course
