BOOKS

Top: Detail from "Their Ancient Grudge" (University of TN Press)
Bottom: "In the Footsteps of Champions" (University of TN Press)

Some of you may know that I started a new fulltime gig recently. Instead of freelance design, I am now designing books at the University of Tennessee Press. It's been an interesting transition for me, and I'm excited about seeing the first two projects I worked on come into the Press all printed and shrink-wrapped. The first one is a novel originally published in 1946 by Harry Harrison Kroll called "Their Ancient Grudge". It's based on the Hatfield/McCoy feud and should be a really great read. I just worked on the cover, and have shown a piece of it here.

The second project was the big one; a retrospective of the past 30 years of Lady Vol Athletics. It's chock full of stats, facts, stories, and photos...all hopefully designed so that it's fun to read and look at. It's 336-odd pages with 250-odd photos, and every stat you could imagine...four main chapters covering the beginnings of the program through now. It was a challenge, and a huge learning experience for me. Look for it in November.

Virginia Creepy

Virginia Creeper/Abandoned Garage - Chattanooga, TN. July 20, 2008.

Just a creepy garage we saw near St. Elmo in Chattanooga this past weekend. That's all.

$0.49

Paul Westerberg - 49:00

49 minutes of new Paul Westerberg songs. 49 cents. Cool. If you're a fan, well by all means go and get 'em now! If you're not familiar (or not a fan) well give it a try. I mean, you know...it's only 49 cents. From Billboard.com:

Westerberg played all the instruments on the decidedly lo-fi recordings, which often feature two songs playing at once for a few seconds and short snippets that abruptly cut off. "It's almost like you're scanning a radio dial," Hill says. "You're getting a glimpse inside of Paul's head here."
"49" concludes with a strange mash-up of partial covers such as the Partidge Family's "I Think I Love You," the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye," Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild," Simon & Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock" and Elton John's "Rocket Man," and a rave-up apparently sung by Westerberg's pre-teen son Johnny.

Links below:

49:00 Download at Amazon

Man Without Ties

LA Times Article

TYPE

Type sample (workshop assignment)

I went to Chapel HIll this past week for an AAUP (Association of American University Presses) type workshop. While two days of staring at type may sound boring and exhausting (it is a bit of both), it was a completely refreshing 2 days as well. The basic assignment was for 26 people to submit their own designs of the same manuscript. These samples were bound and given to each person, and a panel of 4 designers "critiqued" each one. So, 16 hours of looking at, and discussing the intricacies of subhead hierarchy, B- and C-heads, linear vs. old-style figures, proper margin proportion, etc...etc...you get the picture. Anyway, it was fascinating to see 26 people put their own imprint on the same words...sort of like listening to a mix-tape of 26 artists covering the very same song...

INDIA INK...

Indi-aha! 10x10" - 24 pieces.

This collage was made for this week's cover of the Metro Pulse (comes out Thursday). All of the collages I've done in the past have been of my own topics and subjects...this one was made to illustrate an article on Indian culture in East Tennessee, so it was a new challenge for me. Fun. I love getting to work on the floor with the X-Acto blade and a beer. This one uses 24 pieces of "paper"...the sun-rays were made of yellow mylar, so it looks a bit different in person...all transparent and shiny. I ran out of tape on the last piece (it must have been meant to be). Anyway, if anyone even reads this...check out the Metro Pulse this week and see how it turns out. I want to thank the fine folks at "Rama" (Indian Market in West Knoxville). They gave me lots of inspiration for the collage, and were extremely helpful...and hooked me up with some delicious Indian lunch materials for the week.

EN ROUTE - #8/8

Bill's Diner. Hwy. 25W.

Well, here we are at the last of the En Route series. This one's been on the blog before, but I think it was a fitting last-shot in the series. I've been really attracted to taking reflection shots in windows. The obvious reasons are for the depth and interesting results, but it also gives me a good way to practice really seeing how things line up. I love to see if I can make new scenes out of window shots...relationships out of all the objects in the foreground and background...and not necessarily direct relationships, but even just in shapes or shadows. I like how the building in the reflection makes a whole new impression of the face stencil in the window. Well, I dunno. Enough of that. You can look at the whole series at the link below.

REFUSE!