Every year* since 2004 (*almost - I think I missed one year!) I have been making limited edition calendars for clients, colleagues, family and friends. Some years I've sold a small number of them, but mostly I make them as gifts: to pass to others, yes, but also as a gift to myself: reserving the time and answering the challenge of creating something new, pushing the definition of what works as a "calendar," and designing efficiently so that printer costs and assembly time isn't prohibitive. Some years I'm more focused on the style, others on the technique, but the subject is always a topic that's been food for thought or discovery over the year.
The 2022 calendar was inspired by a Paper Engineering class I took last summer. I wanted to explore pleated folds and systems, and loved the elegance of this unfolding. I planned the layout to be printed on an 11"x17" sheet of paper, and worked backwards from there to figure out size, dates, etc. Illustrated with photographs and digital prints.
2022 CALENDAR
5.5" x 5.5" folded, about 24" extended
Paper, printed, cut, scored + folded - pleated
The 2019 calendar was inspired by research I explored during a residency at WGBH in Boston. The Launchpad residency focused on the intersection of animation and science, brainstorming ideas for episodic videos. My project was about a botanist, so I learned some amazing things about plants - some things blew my mind. Seed dispersal methods, plant protection, parasitic trees and blooms, and humungous fungus are all featured! Illustrated with pen and ink on rice paper, printed as one double-sided full color print and a black and white info page adhered to the back.
The 2018 calendar was a series of cut-outs and folds that create space within which the dates and images can be read for each month. The exterior sleeve was printed with light outlines on the inside for cutting templates, then cut out and folded by hand. The interior sleeve is full color and fits inside the month box.
Below is the calendar for 2017, inspired by stories read with my children. We were reading different mythology books and came across books by Chief Lelooska: Echoes of the Elders and Spirit of the Cedar People. This calendar was designed to unfold and reveal different animals and months over the year. The first image is the thunderbird, then spider and turtle, sun and moon, then the interior which unfolds to full dimension and has all the spirits interacting with one another. Pages were printed in black and white and color added by hand, then folded.
This one is from 2014, but remains one of my favorites. So many varied and wonderful creatures which once existed - biodiversity is still threatened, perhaps more than ever (in a word, humans).
Extinct animal illustrations: pen, ink + paint on paper.
Each calendar is constructed from digital prints on two 11”x14” sheets of cardstock; cut, scored and folded; and attached together with small paper tabs on each sheet that fold over the outer rim to the other side.
Extinct animal illustrations: pen, ink + paint on paper.
Each calendar is constructed from digital prints on two 11”x14” sheets of cardstock; cut, scored and folded; and attached together with small paper tabs on each sheet that fold over the outer rim to the other side.
