Proposed T-Shirt Design | Stephanie Davison

T-shirt design (2013) © Stephanie Davison

Above Design for a t-shirt for the College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences (CHAS) at the University of Northern Iowa, as proposed by graphic design student Stephanie Davison (2013).

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Buck Johnson, quoted in Remar Sutton and Mary Abbott Waite, eds., The Common Ground Book: A Circle of Friends. Latham NY: British American Publishing, 1992, p. 27—

One of my funniest early memories: Mama had back trouble, and one winter night—we all slept in the same room where it was warm—Mama said to Daddy, "Grady, you have got to rub my back." Well, we didn't have electric lights, so Daddy got up in the dark and got a bottle of liniment and rubbed Mama down. And she said, "Oh, that's the best stuff." Then she went to sleep in about thirty minutes, saying, "That is the best liniment I've ever seen." When we got up the next morning, we saw Daddy had rubbed her down with O-Cedar furniture polish. I was about six or seven then.

Digital Montage Parody | Kelly Cunningham

Self-Portrait Parody (2013), © Kelly Cunningham

Above Digital montage by graphic design student Kelly Cunningham (University of Northern Iowa, 2013), a self-portrait parody of A Nymph in the Forest by Charles-Amable Lenoir, oil on canvas, n.d. The original painting is shown below. 

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Bunny Johnson, quoted in Remar Sutton and Mary Abbott Waite, eds., The Common Ground Book: A Circle of Friends. Latham NY: British American Publishing, 1992, p. 274—

We've some good friends who put words together more entertainingly than most of us. For instance, at Christmas they put "ointments" on the tree. Once when she went to visit the Mennonites up in Jefferson County, she stopped to ask the policeman where the "morphodites" lived.

When his ulcer was acting up, he reported that the doctor had told him "not to eat any more plumage." That gives new insight into the meaning of "roughage," doesn't it?

World-class achievements go into the "Gideon's Book of Records." And once after a "hockey expedition game," they took us out to eat "garnished hen."

They've had such an influence on their friends that sometimes we can't remember whether the color, for instance, is really "burgamy" or not. 

Charles-Amable Lenoir, Nymph in Forest (n.d.)

Portrait of George Eastman | Kellie Heath

Interpretive portrait of George Eastman (2013) © Kellie Heath

Above Digital montage by graphic designer Kellie Heath (2013) in response to an assignment to design an "interpretive portrait" of a prominent historical person. The subject she chose was George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of the Eastman Kodak Company.

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Leo Rosten (recalling his father's death), People I Have Known, Loved or Admired. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1970—

After he died I swam a lot, every day. You can weep in the water, and when you come out red-eyed, people attribute it to the swimming. The sea my father loved is a fine place for crying. 

Miami Art Deco Postage | Evan Seuren

Miami Art Deco stamps © Evan Seuren (2013)

Above Block of hypothetical postage stamps by graphic design student Evan Seuren (2013), commemorating historic Art Deco architecture in Miami. Scroll down to see the single stamp (one of two variations) from which the final block was made.

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Richard Critchfield, Those Days: An American Album. New York: Dell, 1986, pp. 375-376—

The dining table [in the family's house] was round and solid oak, an extension table  Jim bought when he was in medical school. The extra leaves hadn't come with it, so Jim sawed boards to fit, which we used when we needed to expand it for company. This gave the table considerable personality—you couldn't lean on the middle leaves with your elbows, or the other end came up like a teeter-totter and you got your dinner in your lap. The table was always in use. Here we ate on Sundays and holidays, brooded over jigsaw puzzles and chess sets, Monopoly games, Old Maid and ouija boards, built model airplanes, spread out magazines and newspapers, colored pictures with crayons, modeled with clay, wrote to Aunt Mary and Uncle Burke, puzzled over algebra problems, set sacks of groceries, piled up books or just sat and drank coffee and talked. At the height of the Depression there was a spell when everybody who was without work used to come over and spend hours sitting around our dining room table, decorating paper plates. Billy fringed a plate with tiny red diamonds he painstakingly cut  from an old pack of cards; he put the Queen of Diamonds in the center. Jimmy cut out characters from "Boots and Her Buddies" and "Thimble Theater" in the funny papers and painted on "Pappy," his nickname for Pat, in gold letters. A friend of Betty's named Elaine dropped in out of the blue and did an exotic ram's-head design. After she'd gone, Billy said, "Elaine always looks like she's been up all night." Betty's comeback: "Probably has."
 

Miami Art Deco stamp © Evan Seuren (2013)

In one corner of the dining room, by the hot-air register, was a big old Morris chair, where Betty, when she still worked at the bakery, would sit and fall asleep, she was so tired. Billy used to say, "Betty's spent half her waking life in a pink chenille robe." The stairwell to the attic was always loaded with things left there by somebody intending to take them up later: books, clothes, tennis rackets, skates, Tinker Toys, little trucks that always seemed to have a wheel missing. Like the road to hell, the stairs were paved with good intentions. 

Miami Art Deco Postage | Cody Russell

Design © Cody Russell (2013)

Above Hypothetical postage stamp by graphic design student Cody Russell, commemorating historic Art Deco architecture in Miami.

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Elizabeth Pringle (aka Patience Pennington). A Woman Rice Planter. New York: Macmillan, 1905—

Mrs. R., one of the loveliest women in our community, was struck by lightning during the storm last evening. She had always had a great terror of lightning, though in every other respect she was a fearless woman, so that her family always gathered round her during a storm and tried as much as possible to shut out the sight and sound. On this occasion her husband and daughter were sitting one on each side of her on an old-fashioned mahogany sofa, she with her handkerchief thrown over her face. When the fatal flash came the husband and daughter were thrown forward to the floor and were stunned; as soon as they recovered consciousness they turned to reassure the mother as to their not being seriously hurt. She was still sitting straight up on the sofa with the handkerchief over her face; they lifted the handkerchief as they received no answer and found life extinct…There was only one small spot at the back of the neck.