R is for rust

W is for wabi sabi.

I used to go on inner-city field trips in Indianapolis with Eric Kass; we'd photograph old signs and other deteriorating type. I think I shot this on the side of a railroad car. Eric introduced me to this book about wabi sabi, a Japanese concept of aesthetics.

Here is a definition of wabi sabi from another book: "Wabi sabi is an intuitive appreciation of transient beauty in the physical world that reflects the irreversible flow of life in the spiritual world. It is an understated beauty that exists in the modest, rustic, imperfect, or even decayed, an aesthetic sensibility that finds a melancholic beauty in the impermanence of all things."

Sojourners eco book illustration

I did this illustration (top) for Sojourners magazine for a special section on books about ecological issues.

I borrowed the image idea from myself: I had done this ex libris bookplate a few years earlier for Tricia Gates Brown (click to enlarge). It's done in scratchboard. The quote on it is "We are like dwarves on the shoulders of giants, by whose grace we see further than they. Our study of the works of the ancients enables us to give fresh fresh life to their finer ideas, and rescue them from time's oblivion and man's neglect." — Peter of Blois

Geez issue 5

This is the "guilt, grace and social change" issue of Geez. It included these "guilt and grace cycles" thought up and written by Karin Kliewer, with photography by Aiden Enns and retouching by me. Click for a larger view.

As it is in Heaven poster

A poster I did for George Fox University Theatre. The play is about a community of Shaker women in the 1800s and the conflict between the elders and young women who begin to see visions of angels.

118 Days book cover

A book cover for 118 Days about the Christian Peacemaker Teams hostage crisis in Iraq, edited by Tricia Gates Brown. Check it out. Endorsed by Desmond Tutu, Kathy Kelly, Daniel Berrigan and many others.

For the subtitle I used an old speech typewriter given to me by my friend David Brewer. It types in oversized text.

Inspiration

When I was a kid, I found this matchbook and it changed my life, inspiring me to pursue art, helping me end up where I am now.

Okay, that's a complete lie. I got this as an adult, and I know it's sexist and stupid, but it cracks me up. (And perhaps I'm secretly hoping scantily-clad women will someday start to lounge around on my desk, but it hasn't happened yet. Maybe it's because I don't have a pipe.)

Struggle

A drawing done for Geez Magazine.

Ear wall installation

This is a piece of art I did for Miller Brooks. It's created from old floppy disks they had saved up; I painted each one so when assembled, they'd create an eight-foot tall pixellated ear. The ear was installed at the end of a hall visible from the entryway to Miller Brooks.

NWYM logo

A couple of logos I did for Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers). The top one was my favorite. The addition of a global element was requested, resulting in the more rustic chosen version (bottom).

These tunes, this circle

Book cover I designed for a volume of poems by Bill Jolliff. The top one is the final version; the bottom one was based on a proposed title that was later changed. I like them both.

MarCom T shirt

T-shirt design for the marketing/communications department at George Fox University. It's supposed to show what we do in marcom: listen (take in information), then respond (communicate). The main thing is, we all got pink shirts.

Saving Women from the Church

A book cover design I did for Barclay Press.

From their website: Susan McLeod-Harrison exposes the cultural biases of Jesus' day that created a divide between women and men. And she shows Jesus' response: He shunned cultural or religious expectations when they denigrated or limited women, and acknowledged the full humanity and dignity of women.

Florentine door

A photo of an old door I took in Florence, Italy. I like shots like this that are somewhat abstract and have a simple, flat composition.

Graceful Resisters

In Geez issue four, there's a story on “graceful resisters.” I did illustrations around photos of four of them, including these of Martin Luther King Jr. and Dorothy Day.

Oregonian Living icons

A series of icons I designed for the daily Living section of the Oregonian. Done at Staccato Design. Click for a larger view.

Geez — the evangelical issue

Geez issue four featured a series of photos of an evangelical family (as portrayed by dolls) by Jen Williams, an artist in Whitehorse, Yukon. Her cover shot is shown here.

I created an "evangometer" for this issue to explain the evangelicalness of different groups, from fundamentalists to Christian leftists.