Right on Michelle Obama! Food deserts are a problem all over the U.S. It's about time we recognized the lack of whole food available to many urban residents--it's all been replaced with junk food outlets. I hope this program is successful and gets implemented in more cities.
This neat video describes the work of a research organization asking themselves what a magazine would look like in the future. I agree with their insights about the web-- its too unlimited and can be overwhelming. Their idea is to keep electronic media somewhat packaged and contained while embracing design and imagery. As someone who hopes to work in the media industry soon, this is pretty cool. Take a look.
In my Urban Planning class, we discussed how, over the past 70 years, we have essentially built "Futurama," GM's 1939 scale model vision for America. Now we are dealing with the ramifications of that choice in the form of highways, sprawled communities,and large dams.
It was this World's Fair that inspired my Victory Garden of Tomorrow artwork.
Somebody suggested recently that I somehow contact FLOTUS, Michelle Obama, and show her my poster work, The Victory Garden of Tomorrow. That's a pretty intriguing idea, and i bet she would like them, and what the heck-- sure!
But how does somebody go about contacting the First Lady? Would a simple email do it? Any suggestions?
I recently saw the M.C. Escher exhibit at the Portland Art Museum- I hadn't realized how much wood block printing he had done. I've always loved printmaking and cutting out these stamps was great practice for me. Right now, I'm putting them on all outgoing poster tubes. I'd like to do bigger things- maybe some linoleum block? and do a whole poster scene... (wheels are turning). I'll keep you posted.
Wow! What an honor it is to install a set of Victory Garden of Tomorrow posters in Portland Mayor Sam Adam's office. The set of six prints will hang in the Administrative office for the entire summer. I hope they provoke conversations and new thinking (I wonder if the propaganda will work?).
Special thanks to Pollyanne Birge, Arts and Culture Director for extending the invite and making the arrangements.
This June (2009) I worked for an afternoon at a VBC site at Madison High School in Portland, Oregon. They're putting up a covered outdoor classroom space designed by Sebastion Collet. It will feature cob walls (clay-straw mix), benches, and a living roof.
The process is very hands-on and totally accessible. Its the only building site I've been on where I was barefoot the entire time. Glass bottles were cut and taped end to end to make little windows in the cob wall. Building up the cob is done entirely by hand and is really very fun. To work the clay and straw into shape for building, we had to dance on it for a bit in barefeet. nice.
Click the picture to see the whole set of pics.
Go to the website to learn more about VBC:
City Repair
The Victory Garden of Tomorrow
Come see the poster artwork of Joe Wirtheim
June 4th - July 31st, 2009
Reception for the Artist, June 4th, 6pm-9pm
WHAT: See an Original Poster-art collection of New Homefront Propaganda -- Screenprints, Paintings, Giclee prints.
Learn more about the work: www.VictoryGardenofTomorrow.com
WHEN: Reception First Thursday, Thursday, June 4th 6-9 pm
WHERE: Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC)
917 SW Oak St. #218 Portland OR 97205
(near Powell's, above Reading Frenzy)
503-827-0249
http://www.iprc.org/
Project Statement:
The VGoT is an Art Project posing as a propaganda campaign for new American homefront values. The style draws from mid-century war propaganda, and the messages are inspired by the 21st century sustainability movement. The campaign is designed to access America's history of ingenuity to overcome adversity, and apply those values to fighting modern problems.
The VGoT is deployed as a series of poster images that are giclee printed, screen printed, or painted on panel.
Learn more about how WWII Victory Gardens and the NYC World's Fair of 1939 influence the work at:
www.VictoryGardenofTomorrow.com
"The Victory Garden of Tomorrow" is the artwork of Joe Wirtheim since 2005.
I've been working with a student publication at Portland State University called The Portland Spectator. It circulates about 1,000 on the school campus. Its been an interesting job for me, because I've been given a lot of freedom to do editorial design, layout, and illustration. All things I enjoy and have been wanting to get better at doing. But my duties are also to be an Editor for content, which has been quite a learning process; but one that has been very enlightening. The whole project has kind of taken over my brain, and I may have found some kind of calling here. I'm thinking about applying for the Editor-in-Chief position for next year, which really has a lot of reign over the mission and direction of the pub. I'll probably go for it -- this could be the career stepping stone I need.
UPDATE: I got the job! What a great opportunity. There's actually a lot of freedom to hire a staff, raise money, cover what we want, build a brand reputation, while using all the resources of the school--its actually better than a commercial pub would be in terms of freedom and experimentation. Its going to be a good year.
Recently, someone emailed me who works at a garden center, and they showed the folks at the center the Victory Garden of Tomorrow poster and tried explaining the concept behind it. The garden center people didn't get it. I guess we could just shrug and say its just "visual art". Which it is.
But that's only part of the story, and doesn't honor the American history and tradition of rolling up the sleeves and DOING something in a crisis situation. Today, there are people in crisis situations who need better nutrition, better ways to save, and creative solutions to basic household expenses.
The original campaign was all about supplementing rations in a time of food/money scarcity (it was WWII). Recently when I look in the media there are stories of people of all walks of life in very tight situations often relying on a food bank. What's in the foodbank? Canned and processed food. From a health standpoint this is bad, and in economic terms we are relying on the industrial, mass scale food producers to give us something we could make ourselves at several times greater the quality and nutrition. Salty, conventionally grown, preservative laden canned vegetables is no way to feed a family, we now know. Neither is processed foods made with corn syrup and white flour. Supplementing your rations is a genuine expression to have for ourselves fresh greens and vegetables from the thing that we are so desperately trying to hold onto: our own backyards.
Some Victory Garden slogans are coming to mind:
Make those yards work for you! Supplement your Rations. Better Nutrition Means Better Gardens.
See also Slow Food USA.
And this is very exciting: NY Times: Obamas Prepare to Plant White House Vegetable Garden and finally, from MSNBC:
I've been kicking around these new designs. Actually the "Remember" one is a redux of an early design. I'm just getting tired of looking at them and need other eyes see what's up. What do you think? I may have some proof prints made so I can get a better sense of the color.
This week I saw an overwhelming wave of support for the "Victory Garden of Tomorrow" artwork. It seems everyone wants a poster from Esty (yah!). But that means I have to be ready to do some serious shipping. So of course I turned to Scrap - an awesome nonprofit storefront who deals in donated office-type leftovers. There I scored a pile of mailing tubes for posters. Now I'm ready for anything! If I have time I'll try to put some cool stencils on them.
And! Not only have I been receiving orders, but I've been able to make some connections for the VGoT to partner up and do some work for others. I want to be tight-lipped about details right now, but there will be plenty to say by this spring.
This project is getting super exciting right now, thanks to all the support I'm getting! All your comments and insights have been so inspiring. Thanks!
I am an artist, editor, and Communication student living and working in Portland, Oregon. I enjoy watching film, reading books &stuff, and often somehow become involved in odd little social/work adventures. Besides that, I do a lot of thinking about my generation's place in history and its contribution to the American story - that's what my art generally concerns (&stuff). I am an AIGA member and a member of Portland's Independent Publishing Resource Center. Feel free to drop me a line: jwirtheim at gmail.com.
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