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The current rant | past ramblings The best award I've ever received. I have been cleaning and rearranging the studio again. It seems that I must go through this ritual every 4 to 5 months. I guess moving my desk gives me a new perspective. Who knows, probably just an INFJ thing. As I always do, I came across the pile awards that I keep pushing aside. This time before I moved the pile, I stopped to look them over. I started wondering why I have not taken the time to put them in the frames I purchased for them 2 years ago. Many reasons come to mind. None of them good enough to support my actions. Thankfully, a recent email that I received from the daughter of a client made me stop and take stock of our past accomplishments. For the last 7 years, I have not given applying to design award shows a second of my time. I have been content knowing that my clients appreciate what we do. That's not to say that we have not won any awards. Some of our clients submitted some of our work. I'm sure I never really thanked them enough for it. It's not that I think peer recognition is bad or something that cannot satisfy the ego. On the contrary, I'm very proud of the Print, ACI, ADC and other awards our work has won. It is very gratifying to know that designers whose work you appreciate, like something you did. But... There is something far greater. I met E. Carey Kenney on Friday May 9th. I was going to McDonogh School in Baltimore to meet the artist and to talk about creating a book of his work. He is 93 years young and was an art teacher at McDonogh for much of that time. Over the years, he had produced an amazing portfolio of paintings and drawings of the school and it's wonderful woods and fields. It was a meeting that changed my life. As I sat and listened to his life story, I was enthralled by his love of art and by his life's journey. He said to me that he had lived a charmed life. Good things just seemed to always show up at the right time for him. But, one statement about his childhood grabbed me a shook me to my core. It jogged a childhood memory of summers long ago, drawing flowers on my grandmother's porch. I love my grandmother and she has always been wonderful to me, but she did not like me wasting my time with art. In her mind, and a lot of others from her generation, I'd never be able to make a living and support a family drawing pictures. That was all the motivation I needed. I always seem to revel in proving people – even those I love – wrong when they say I can't do something (which explains why my sons are so damn hard-headed). Throughout my career, there has always been something nagging at me that has kept me from being truly proud of what I do. At the same time, I flashed forward 60 years and saw myself sitting across the table from me. My journey as an artist had taken and similar path, and at that moment all the doubt about my career choice vanished. I knew i had to do the job. Projects like this do not come along very often. I wanted to make sure his legacy was preserved for all to see. Later that night, i got a call from McDonogh. Ed wanted me to do the book. We had made a connection and, being 93, they did not want to waste time bringing in the other 2 companies to interview. I knew from the first meeting what I wanted to do, The book layouts flew out of my head and soon after I had all 112 pages done. I presented the full layout to Ed on July 1st. I knew the book looked great, but I was nervous. The only thing that mattered was pleasing Mr. Kenney's artistic vision. This is his life's work that he is leaving to the rest of us. I certainly felt the weight of the responsibility. The meeting went well. We went page-by-page and he would sometimes recall a moment of creation, or the way the flowers bloomed, or a tennis match that he could have won. The book will release to the printer soon. Maybe by next week. I know it will be one of the rare pieces that I will treasure my whole life. It may or may not win a design award, but on July 2nd a 9:21 am I received my award.
Fwd: Wonderful book! Jamey: FYI. Got this this morning. I knew you'd be pleased to see this. Hi -- I had a chance to run to parents last night and saw the book
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