Janus in 2024

Looking forward and looking back tp 2010. With luck, in 2024, I'll be doing some looking back and looking forward on this blog in the coming months.

Janus Day, January 1, 2010

Jamestown Lead Came Video

A rare video on the subject of lead came, from an unusual place - 18th century Jamestown in Virginia, USA. Finding stamped text in the milling marks of lead came is fairly rare, and is limited to England from 16th to 19th century (Linda?).  I'd never heard of this elsewhere in America.  I've certainly never come across a lead with these kind of milling marks, as all of the panels I've worked on are from the 19th to 21st centuries.

What Secret Can Window Lead Reveal? – Dig Deeper, Episode 38
JamestownRediscovery, 2021 - 11:41

Here are a few other links -

Window Lead: from Jamestown Discovery

LEAD MILLING MARKS FROM A SIXTEENTH CENTURY STAINED GLASS WINDOW

ICON-CC Publications

by Linda Cannon

download PDF - ICOM-CC_1987_Sydney_154.pdf

New Yorker Easter Week Issue 1952

Cover by Abe Birnbaum (1899-1966)
The New Yorker  -  April 12, 1952

The New Yorker website's page on the issue.
Links to specific items need a subscription.

The only info on the web about Birnbaum is the New York Times obituary on Abe Birnbaum.
ABE BIRNBAUM, 67, ILLUSTRATOR, DIES; Drew Nearly 200 Covers for The New Yorker
Again, needs subscription to see article.

The only info not behind a paywall I could find about him is this quote -

“Nothing is ugly. Everything is what it is.”

I wonder whether this cover would be controversial if published today?
Maybe, but probably not as controversial as the cover by Art Spiegelman -
New Yorker cover Spiegelman IRS crucifies Easter bunny 4/17 1995

Typewriter Art

Anyone who knows me and my art knows that I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. I like the Plein Air stuff especially.

James Cook, Typewriter Artist

Making a Masterpiece... with a Vintage Typewriter
Great Big Story
March 2023

Guardian Article on a Stained Glass Artist

Nice photo essay on stained glass artist Nathalie Hildegarde Liege from Shropshire, England. I like when the show the whole studio, including tools and materials. Doesn't show much of her work though. She does not appear to have a website, but she does have an Instagram account.

Shining a light on a stained glass artist – in pictures
The Guardian
Christopher Thomond
March 24, 2023

text for this image - 

When people entered these churches they couldn’t read and so visitors were told a story in glass like a cartoon tells it, with sections in windows. From window to window you follow the story and to me it felt like a contemporary story as I love reading stories told to children using illustrations. I now approach my stained glass as storytelling too. Sainte-Chapelle has a very spiritual side to it as well as a very special site where you play with light to find peace and think of the beauty of life and how we are all part of it as one.

NYC Logo goes Sans Serif

Creative3 Bloq, By Daniel Piper, March 20, 2023
Is the new "We ❤️ NY" logo really that bad? 

Main differences - the typeface is changed from the famous Milton Glaser deigned logo with serif font to a corporate looking sans serif font. The heart in the new logo has a slight shading, with some saying it more closely resembles the heart emoji. The new one looks out of balance to my eye, with the large hesrt way over on the side. Some have complained it looks like it's saying "We NYC love" I can see their point. My only issue with the old logo is not that the font is serif (I like serifs, as you'll find out), but that the serif's style is so long and rounded it screams out 70's to me. The 1974 typeface American Typewriter to be exact.

 The new 'We ❤️ NYC' campaign has sent the internet into a frenzy
Gothamist, by Elizabeth Kim, Mar 20, 2023

New Yorkers On New 'We Love NYC' Logo: We Hate It
Matt Troutman, Patch staff
Posted Mon, Mar 20, 2023

The funniest and most New York take here.

In my view, this is part of a bigger trend, where all graphic design, print and digital, is going toward sans serif typefaces. Especially in digital, ALL digital is now or will soon be all sans serif. Why?

The state department just mandated all official documents to change from using Times New Roman to Calibri. Serif to Sans Serif.. The reason given is readability, especially for dyslexic readers. I'm not so sure.

I think the general trend is more simple, and it troubles me a bit. It seems to me that people are just associating serif with 'old fashioned' and sans serif with 'modern'. I don't dislike sans serif typefaces, though I do hate Helvetica, which is what the new logo has. I just don't want everything to be sans serif. I don't find it easier to read. I would like very much like to preserve the variety and the diversity of typeface styles.

I  like Times New Roman, though to many graphic designers it looks old fashioned. I admit also I am a bit prejudiced from working in a printing company and  seeing how sans serif typefaces, especially Helvetica, are far more troublesome in processing. Times New Roman is just more reliable iin terms of printing.

PRO SANS SERIF ARTICLES/VIDEOS

article
The Rise of the Sans Serif
Laura Keung
Last updated Dec 2, 2020
Basically arguing "Why Sans Serif is so Great!"

The Rise of the Sans Serif
Envato Tuts 2021
Embed
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dYrzYnx4Dr4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

MORE SKEPTICAL ABOUT SANS SERIF

article
Logo Wars: the Sans Serif Epidemic and the Paradox of Modern Luxury
written by Shze Hui Tjoa and Foivos Dousos. March 2019
Medium.com

Landmark the Kogen-Miller and Glasner Studios!

Via Edgar Miller Legacy -
A call to landmark the Kogen-Miller and Glasner Studios in Chicago. 

Recently, the Kogen-Miller and Glasner Studios building was featured in a cover article in the Chicago Sun-Times on December 26, 2022, unfortunately concerning litigation stemming from allegations of improper management and neglect by the controlling majority owners of the property’s condo association. A second article in the same edition, The Glasner Studio, a true Chicago gem, accurately describes the building as an incredibly significant and unique architectural achievement in the City of Chicago, worth protecting.
The Kogen-Miller Studios and the Glasner Studio make up one of the most remarkable apartment buildings in the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, and the United States, and they are more than deserving of landmark designation to ensure their long-term protection.
Add your name and voice to the petition as we call on the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to designate the property at 1734 North Wells Street an official Chicago Landmark.

At the very least, sign the change.org petition. If possible, write a letter. Information on writing a letter to the Landmarks Commission

I visited the Studios in 2015 and the place is amazing. So very worth preserving and making available to the public someway, anyway. There is an album of 47 photos from that visit on my Flickr site - Kogen Miller Studios, Chicago IL

Just one example from the Flickr album -