Pomegranate Blog

S.W.A.K. (Sealed With A Kiss): Valentine’s Day Cards

2012-02-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

By Stephanie, Associate Publisher

Those who know me best know that I’m an absolute sucker for Valentine’s Day. Maybe it’s my weakness for cards and stationery (it’s not a coincidence, after all, that I work for Pomegranate), or my appreciation for a handwritten letter in this age of instantaneous, plugged-in communication. For just the price of a card and postage stamp, you can give someone the thrill of opening their mailbox to discover a real letter—signed, sealed, and delivered. It’s a rare treat these days.

And despite what they say about Valentine’s Day being a “made-up holiday” crafted by the greeting card industry (it actually dates back to 496 AD, when a pope designated the day in honor of Saint Valentine), I see it as a welcome reminder to take a moment to appreciate the friends and loved ones in my life.

But you don’t need to buy cards with fluttering cupids or cheesy declarations. And who says it has to be only on February 14? Below are some suggestions for nontraditional Valentine’s cards. They are perfect for sending sweet notes of appreciation this Valentine’s Day...or any other day of the year!

For the modern art fan:

No. 5 by Mark Rothko notecard

For the ladies in your life:

Ladybugs by Charley Harper boxed notecards

For the cynic:

“Are you unhappy, Darling?” “Oh, yes, yes! Completely.”
Addams Family notecard by Charles Addams

For the foodie:


Cake Window by Wayne Thiebaud notecard

For the ocean lover:

Romance on the Richter Scale by Charley Harper notecard

For the trailblazer:

Slot Canyons boxed notecards (Sierra Club)

For those with a green thumb:

Soul of the Rose by John William Waterhouse notecard

For the Arts and Crafts collector:

Hill House Wall Stencil by Charles Rennie Mackintosh postcard

For a new mom (or your own):

Mothers boxed notecards (Sierra Club)

For your partner in crime:

The Owl and the Pussycat by David Sheskin notecard

For the Asian art admirer:

Three Crows Flying at Sunset by Shibata Zeshin notecard

For those who adore cats (or a good catnap):

Cat on a Cushion (Winter) by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen notecard

For the architecture aficionado:

Frank Lloyd Wright:Graphic Designs for
The House Beautiful embossed boxed cards

For someone who loves a good sunset:

The Red Hills with Sun by Georgia O'Keeffe small boxed cards

For the nature lover, our Sierra Club notecards:

Cottontail Bunnies notecard

Galapagos Sea Lion Pups notecard

Koala with Young in Tree notecard

Tundra Vole notecard

Albatross Pair notecard

And for that special someone:

Neck and Neck by Charley Harper notecard

Don’t forget to write in red ink and inscribe S.W.A.K. on the outside of the envelope! ❤

Happy Valentine’s Day!

What We Do in Museums

2012-01-12T16:47:00.000-08:00

By Sam G., editor at Pomegranate

If I concentrate, I can hear how my footsteps sounded on the floor of any museum I’ve ever visited. Not that there’s been so many. Forty? The Cluny has old and rather creaky wooden floors, much like those in the less frequented upper storeys of the Louvre. Taipei’s Palace Museum has shiny cool floors, deep and dark yet lit from within like a good jade. (Let me mention that the Palace Museum is often deserted, and its couches are perfect for a snooze on a muggy day, and Taipei has many, many muggy days.) For a few years I worked at the Getty Research Institute, across the way from the Getty Museum, and it was rare for me to go a month without visiting the art galleries—very good floors that somehow manage to refrain from clatter and echo even when troops of schoolkids are careening through.


Wooden floors at the Cluny, Paris © Sacred Destinations

Young Girl Reading, 1776 by

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

National Gallery of Art

I went to look at art—often it’s enough just to gaze at a single beloved Fragonard—and I ended up as bewitched by the building itself as by any of its long-term residents. It’s easier, we all know, to love an old building than a new—the stone steps at Versailles were eroded by the high-heeled shoes of Louis XIV long before the German teenagers ahead of you started scuffing their Uggs, and that thought lends enchantment. I don’t mind a building that puts on a show, and I’d never fault Frank Gehry for plating the Bilbao, but he and Hadid and Herzog/DeMeuron and Wright stand at a disadvantage: we love differently the museums that arrived at a modus vivendi with their eclectic contents over a century or two—they seem somehow more of a piece, more the work of many hands (and feet), mine and yours, than of a single genius.

Reception of the Grand Condé at Versailles by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1878)

At the museum I spend my time wandering, looking at people, at furniture, at a fountain, the view from a high window. Museums coax us to slow, to stare, to compare, to respond to just about anything. Some say it’s shameful to move works of art out of homes and churches and everyday locations, putting them in museums where they change into something to be silently revered instead of included in life. I’m unconvinced, since The Museum State of Mind is something I enjoy, a mood that can stick with me for days after I leave the Palace of the Legion of Honor or the Museum of Jurassic Technology. The mood adheres to the art,and the art is part of the mood, but so are you every time you enter, buy your ticket, and start staring, talking, walking, dreaming. —Sam G.

On Hanukkah: Miracles Big and Small

2011-12-16T17:14:00.000-08:00

Tabernacle Menorah: detail from
the Book of Exodus,Parashah T’rumah
© Ilene Winn-Lederer

We are pleased to welcome guest blogger Ilene Winn-Lederer, artist, illustrator, and author of Between Heaven and Earth: An Illuminated Torah Commentary. In today’s post she provides a brief history of Hanukkah and explains the symbolism of the menorah. Hanukkah begins this year at sunset on December 20.

The holiday of Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, commemorates the historical events that showed the Jewish people’s resilience during the enforced prohibition of their faith and religious culture.

In the writings of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, the story begins in 175 BC, when Judea, then part of the Syrian Seleucid Empire under the benevolent rule of King Antiochus III, was invaded by the armies of his son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, goaded by special interests dedicated to imposing Greek culture on the Jews.

After the invasion that resulted in the looting and desecration of the Second Temple at Jerusalem, all practices associated with Judaism were outlawed.

One legend relates how children of that era, forbidden to study Torah, would go out to the gardens or fields with their study materials and toy dreidels, or wooden spinning tops. If they were confronted by soldiers who accused them of religious study, they innocently spun their dreidels as a decoy. Below is an illustration of this legend:

In 167 BC, when Antiochus IV installed an altar to the Greek god Zeus in the Temple, he provoked the bloody Maccabean revolt for Jewish independence. The leaders of this rebellion were Mattityahu, a Jewish priest, and his five sons Jochanan, Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah, who later became known as Judah the Hammer (Judah Maccabee). After the death of his father in 166 BC, Judah inherited the mantle of leadership and under his watch, in 165 BC, the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was completed.

The Temple was then rededicated with a new altar, a restored menorah (candelabrum), and new holy vessels required for proper religious observance. According to Jewish law, the lights of the menorah must be tended for continuous illumination. The Talmud (a core text of Judaism) explains that after the Temple was desecrated, only enough pure (undesecrated) olive oil remained to keep the menorah’s eternal flame burning for one day.

Hanukkah Menorah (Hanukiya):
detail from the Book of Numbers,
ParashahShelakh-Lekha
© Ilene Winn-Lederer

Miraculously, however, the oil continued to burn for eight days, allowing sufficient time for a new supply to be obtained. The holiday is observed by lighting an additional candle on each of eight nights, recalling the time the oil remained alight in the Temple. Outside of Israel, this miracle is recalled by four Hebrew letters traditionally written or carved on the dreidels we use today. The letters nes, gadol, hayah, and sham stand for “A great miracle was there.” Inside Israel, the dreidels carry the letter po instead of sham, meaning, “A great miracle was here.”

The Talmud also states (in Menachot 28b) that the Jerusalem menorah, which has seven branches, may not be used outside the Temple. So the menorahs used for Hanukkah observance are called hanukiya. They have eight branches plus a ninth (called the shamash or servant), set off from the others, that is used for lighting them.

In Between Heaven and Earth, Ilene Winn-Lederer illustrates the Torah reading for Hanukkah, Parashah VaYeishev from the Book of Genesis. Her commentary about this illustration provides further insight into the structure of the menorah and its symbolism:

Torah Reading for Hanukkah: from the Book of Genesis, Parashah VaYeishev.© Ilene Winn-Lederer

The steadfast spirit of Hanukkah is also reflected in the concurrent weekly Torah portion, Parashah VaYeishev, found in the Book of Genesis. It recounts the story of Joseph and his brothers, sons of the patriarch Jacob, his two wives Leah and Rachel and their handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph, Jacob’s youngest son, was the offspring of Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife. He flaunted his intelligence and prophetic abilities, and his father prized him above all of his other children. Great dislike and jealousy festered among Joseph’s brothers, who plotted to kidnap Joseph and murder him. Whether or not they wished to claim his portion of their father’s inheritance is not clear. Though he was cast into a pit full of snakes and scorpions, the young man survived, setting into motion the story of his journey to Egypt. Initially sold into slavery by unscrupulous captors passing the pit, Joseph was able to use his skill at dream interpretation to rise from servant of the palace guard captain Potiphar to become Pharaoh’s grand vizier, credited with saving Egypt from dire famine. Joseph’s subsequent reunion with his father and brothers dramatically illustrates the workings of divine providence.

If we posit a common thread tying the stories of Hanukkah and Parashah VaYeishev together, it might be the dual natures of blessings and adversity, where each occurrence is seeded with the other so that the outcome often manifests as a miracle, teaching us to appreciate the importance of both.

—Ilene Winn-Lederer

* * *

The images and related commentaries featured here may be found in Between Heaven and Earth: An Illuminated Torah Commentary by Ilene Winn-Lederer. You can find more by Ilene by visiting her own blog, Imaginarius, and you can view her portfolio at Ilene Winn-Lederer Fine Arts.

Christmas Trees for Booklovers

2011-12-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

Aside from making great presents under the Christmas tree, it turns out books also make excellent trees themselves! Take for example this round-up of our favorite literary evergreens. Grab a stack of books, pop a star on the top, and voila: you’ve got yourself one smart, affordable, and eco-friendly Christmas tree!

via Ideas Modern


via Real Simple

photo: Aga Ines, via Twig & Thistle

via Pandora's Box

photo: Shawn P. Calhoun, via Curbly

And when all else fails...

why not try a shelf tree!

via swissmiss

via Empty My Mind

H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S

from our bookshelf to yours!

Pomegranate Staff Picks: 2012 Calendars

2011-12-07T15:32:00.001-08:00

With over 100 Pomegranate calendars to choose from this year, you may find it hard to narrow your search. Luckily, we’re here to help! We asked our staff to select a 2012 calendar that they plan to use, give as a gift, or recommend to someone like you—our wonderful customers!

*If the calendar you’d like to purchase is labeled “sold out” on pomegranate.com, please feel welcome to call us at (800) 227-1428, and we’ll try our best to direct you to a retailer that may still have it in stock.

I can never have just one calendar in my house, so for next year it will be two wall calendars: B. Kliban’s CatCalendar (W575) to add humor to my life and William Morris: Arts & Crafts Designs (W572) to add beauty. —Judy, editorial

The Charley Harper postcard calendar (W710) is an excellent planner for my upcoming travels. It fits in my backpack pocket, and the postcards can be used to inform friends and family of my traveling experiences. —Oky, design

When you live in Sonoma County, where Pomegranate’s offices are, the year is measured out by grapes. Just about now the vineyards look terrific: reds and oranges lick the hillsides. Soon all those dying leaves will fall and the vines will stand unclothed in the chill of winter for a few months. (Not that it ever gets terribly cold here in coastal California.) A favorite calendar of mine is What Do You Know About Wine? (W127), and I look forward to learning lots about Grüner Veltliner, stylar scars, noble rot, and peduncles in 2012. —Sam, editorial

I have a two-year-old granddaughter who is crazy about cats. So B. Kliban’s CatCalendars (W110, W234, W575, W633) are a huge hit with her. Once we’ve gone through all the colorful, fanciful plate images, she says “Again!” —Susan, production

I’ve chosen our Georgia O’Keeffe engagement calendar (W212) for 2012, because the painting on the cover reminds me of my grandmother’s amazing flower gardens. She always grew the plant in O’Keeffe’s painting—Dicentra spectabilis, which is commonly called the bleeding heart plant. —Rachel, editorial

Among the six or so calendars I will hang on my wall and use at my desk in the coming year, the 2012 Kawase Hasui wall calendar (W524) has the group of images I am most excited about. The turquoises and blues found in these twelve gorgeous block prints are so beautiful to me, and so soothing. It will be front and center at my desk. —Lory, contracts & royalties

I always hang a mini-wall calendar in my kitchen with important dates noted on it, as an extra reminder of annual events. This year I think I will choose the Motawi Tileworks Arts & Crafts Tiles (W619) again, but a few others are very tempting, too! —Pamela, customer service

My pick for a wall calendar this coming year is The Addams Family (W516). Yes, I was one of those wide-eyed children glued to the tube (black-and-white), wondering if there really was a family as kooky as Gomez, Morticia, and their two children, Wednesday and Pugsley. Not to mention the electrifying Uncle Fester and the gloomy household butler, Lurch. Well, this not-so-conventional family will grace my office wall, and every time I glance at the calendar, it will bring back a little bit of youthful memories and possibly even make me think of some of the everyday craziness that goes on in my own home, heehee! —Monica, production

I cannot pick only one! I’ll have to get three wall calendars for myself, and maybe if family or friends are worthy, they'll receive one as a gift as well. First: Gauguin: Maker of Myth (W415). The selection is exceptional and varied. Can’t beat that! Next: Susan Friedman’s Equus (W449). These photographs are amazing. Full of movement and grace—plus, it reminds me of the love affair I had with horses when I was a little cowgirl. Finally: Van Gogh (W542). Another master, and once again the selection is outstanding. Some I’ve never seen before. Truly beautiful images. —Ronni, design

I plan to get for myself and for gifts the Inuit Art: Cape Dorset mini calendar (W639). I love the simplicity of line and design of the prints. And how the compositions isolate one piece of the vastness of nature for us to contemplate. For more purely decorative reasons, the full-bleed images of the William Morris: Arts & Crafts Designs wall calendar (W572) are always a winner. —Patrice, design

My pick is Nature’s Peace: Words of John Muir, Watercolors by Molly Hashimoto wall calendar (W431). I love all the watercolor images in this calendar, soft and peaceful. —Helena, customer service

Faerie Houses (W538) is a wall calendar I would gift to someone else and use myself for the 2012 year. I love how you can have a mini escape to another land when viewing the calendar. They’re just so fun and adorable to look at. —Tina, customer service

Paintings of the Hudson River School wall calendar (W543). Having seen a few in person, I am always amazed at the size and detail of these landscape paintings. They are breathtaking, and the calendar reproductions are superb. Looking at each image makes you feel like you are in these wonderful places, and it gives you an amazing glimpse of what they were like before any development. —Darius, sales

It is very difficult to choose just one, but I love the bold colors in Eyvind Earle: Landscapes wall calendar (W446). I needlepoint, and if Eyvind ever produced patterns for my hobby I would really enjoy working on them! —Ellen, customer service

I’m obsessed with all the colors and textures in Moments in Time: A 2012 Postcard Calendar from Japan (W702). I have a few women in my life who work with textiles, and I think they’ll appreciate the patterns and inspiration in these postcards as much as I do. Plus, anything I can do to help get other people excited to continue using “snail mail” . . . all the better. Maybe they’ll send me a thank you note using one of these postcards (a girl can dream). —Stephanie O., design

The art in the Jack Stuppin: Songs of the Earth wall calendar (W466) just makes you smile. The colors are vibrant and fun, and the perspective is cozy. —Josh, sales

I choose the Group of Seven engagement calendar (W240) because I like paint. It took me a while to appreciate the Group of Seven—for me it was a different way of seeing that I was not used to. Then I took a trip to the great north (Victoria), and there on the ferry, looking out across the bay, I saw the shapes and the light that I had been looking at in the calendars. —Gina, design

One of my New Year’s resolutions this year is: Read More Books! I have plenty to read—it’s just a matter of making the time. The Reading Woman wall calendar (W405) is the perfect inspiration. Seeing these paintings of women enthralled by a good book reminds me to turn off my computer and dive into my reading list! —Stephanie K., production

Notes from the Publisher: Dard Hunter and the Holidays

2011-11-29T12:15:00.001-08:00

Notecard design adapted from Dard Hunter's
Viennese Double Peacock Window, 1908
© Dard Hunter Studios

Two years ago, my husband Tom and I visited Dard Hunter III in Chillocothe, Ohio. I had never heard of the town before, but it is noted for many reasons—not least of which is its inclusion in the lyrics of the second verse of the song “Hooray for Hollywood” (1937). Apparently, it also was the site of the first bakery in the US to offer sliced bread for sale. In case you don’t know, it’s pronounced chill-uh-caw-thy. The name is a Shawnee term meaning “Big Town,” but it’s not all that big by today’s standards, with a population of about 20,000, I believe.

The old section of town is charming, and that’s where Dard oversees the Dard Hunter Studios. He is the grandson of William Joseph “Dard” Hunter (1883–1966), the foremost progenitor of the American Arts and Crafts movement. Under the mentorship of Roycroft founder Elbert Hubbard, Hunter forged his own unique design path, one that initially found inspiration in William Morris’s Arts and Crafts publications and later in the European design trends of his time. Today, his distinctive typography and elegant forms are icons of the American Arts and Crafts style. During the last fifty-five years of his life, he devoted himself to making paper and became the reigning expert on the subject; his books on the subject remain the standard works today. He eventually settled in Chillicothe, where his father had been a newspaperman, and purchased a lovely house overlooking the town. He published eighteen books on papermaking, eight of them under Hunter’s own imprint, Mountain House Press.

Hunter II, a graphic designer and furniture maker himself, ensured that his father’s legacy would be indelibly recorded and spent much of his life producing and printing The Life Work of Dard Hunter, a two-volume masterpiece of handpress work.

Today, Dard III carries on in the family tradition. The Studio creates finely honed wooden frames, hand-printed stationery on handmade paper, artful jewelry, and elegant pottery—all true to the designs originally created by Dard I. The entryway to the lovely old building displays the Studio’s own creations as well as publications and products produced by other companies—such as Pomegranate. It’s a marvelously enticing space, filled with pristine, beautiful objects.

Dard invited Tom and me up to Mountain House, where his grandfather and father had toiled in a small room that barely accommodated their handpress. As we stepped in, Dard II’s handmade furniture and the old photographs on the walls greeted us warmly. We looked through handsome old books, including The Life Work of Dard Hunter, turning each page like a caress. It was a singular experience, to be surrounded by such a magnificent library in such a magnificent house, containing the history of one of America’s most important designers. It’s a museum, but it’s still a home, too. We were immersed in the spirit of the Hunters.

So, why am I thinking about all of this at holiday time? It has to do with tradition. Not just the tradition of family, carrying on the ideals and trades of generations, but the tradition of craft, of making objects that are both useful and lovely to behold. I’m thinking about what’s precious during the holidays, and it has very little to do with items stocked at Walmart. In today’s digital world—which is a magnificent world, full of wonder and magic—I worry that we forget how to touch. The feel of lovely paper, the heft of an art book, the smooth surface of a handmade wooden frame, the edges of a silver brooch—we can sense the artist when we hold such art and craft. In the case of Dard Hunter’s designs, we can sense the generations of sensitive, thoughtful care that have borne such a wealth of graceful images and objects. I think it’s important to know things through our hands.

So, I raise my hot toddy in a toast to Dard Hunters I, II, and III, and invite you to learn more about them. Happy holidays—may they be filled with song, serenity, and sublime art and craft!

Pomegranate publishes a full line of Dard Hunter products to brighten your holiday season, including:

Dard Hunter Christmas Cards Assortment

Dard Hunter Gift Wrap

Dard Hunter Gift Enclosures

Dard Hunter Thank You Notes

And coming this spring: Dard Hunter: The Graphic Works, a 112-page hardcover book featuring more than 80 of Hunter’s designs for book covers and title pages, booklets, bookplates, brochures, letterhead, and stained glass windows. To learn more about this book and our other upcoming releases, view Pomegranate's Spring 2012 Book Catalog.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-10-10T17:33:00.000-07:00


As the Halloween decorations go up, there's one thing you don't want to forget! Image [via]

Halloween is just a couple weeks away, and if you’re like me, the front-porch decorations are already going up in preparation for all the little spooks that will be making the rounds in search of sweet treats. But, you don’t want to forget the most important Halloween preparation for your doorstep!

Consider this question from Pomegranate’s Knowledge Cards deck, Superstitions: A Quiz Deck on Obscure Beliefs and Long-Lost Lore:

Q: How can you prevent witches from entering your house?

We’re talking about the wicked, spell-inducing, broomstick-riding witches here (wee little witches in costume are okay). So just how do you keep the pesky evildoers at bay?

Want more quiz questions? Click here

A: Hang a horseshoe above your doorway.

In this quiz deck, each card’s question is answered on the card back with a selection of quotations that reveal the origin and development of each belief. In this case, the superstition about hanging a horseshoe at the entry of your home goes back to the sixteenth century:

1584: To prevent and cure all mischeefes wrought by these charmes & witchcrafts...naile a horse shoo at the inside of the outmost threshold of your house, and so you shall be sure no witch shall have power to enter...You shall find that rule observed in manie countrie houses.

(From Discoverie of Witchcraft XII)

Image [via]

1753: To secure yourself within doors against the enchantment of witches, especially if you are a person of fashion, and have never been taught the Lord’s Prayer, the only method I know of is, to nail a horseshoe upon the threshold. This I can affirm to be of the greatest efficacy; insomuch that I have taken notice of many a little cottage in the country, with a horseshoe at its door, where gaming, extravagance, routs, adultery, jacobitism, and the catalogue of witchcrafts have been totally unknown.

(From the 18th century weekly, The World, Aug 23, 1753 issue)

Some of us will want to pay particular attention to the caveat “especially if you are a person of fashion.” Forget new shoes, find me a horseshoe!

Pomegranate Staff Picks: Fall 2011

2011-09-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

Back to school, autumn leaves, and pumpkin pie, oh my! In the spirit of the fall season, we asked our staff to recommend a product for this festive time of year:

Fall colors bring to mind our Octoberama Mousepad (P162). I just love the amber, pumpkin orange, and rich shade of red Charley Harper uses in this piece featuring a mallard duck, mirrored in the water so skillfully. The falling autumn leaves remind me of growing up on the East Coast—I always enjoyed playfully tumbling around outside with my brothers and stumbling upon a freshly racked pile. It sure was lots of fun scattering those leaves around again! —Monica, production

I’m very excited to give the new magnetic journals as holiday gifts this year. I’m a list kind of gal and so are most of my family members. I know they will love having paper and pen in a nifty journal format to keep lists organized and on hand. —Kristen, customer service

I grow pumpkins—deep red French types, ocher and grey types—all through the summer and deep into fall. By All Hallow's Eve, I have a great parade of luminous squash traipsing down my front steps. Then up the steps come streams of supplicants, meekly seeking sweets. Some get sweets, but many get cards—I tend to think that Gustave Baumann suits the season. —Sam, editorial

I recommend Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer (A197)—the warmth and wit in these letters and drawings will brighten the chilliest fall day. —Pat, editorial

I can't wait to cozy up on the couch to read Floating Worlds (A197). It's a collection of correspondence between Edward Gorey and Peter Neumeyer that began in September 1968 and lasted just one year, and I happen to know that, among other things, it's a crash course in culture from that time. The writers share their opinions on books, movies, theater, and world events in their ultra-smart and witty way. —Patrice, design

As the weather turns cooler and the days grow shorter, autumn is a great time to renew pen-pal relationships, and that reminds me of Floating Worlds (A197). The book is a strikingly brilliant collection of letters from two friends who were passionate about literature, art, and the art of writing. —Lory, contracts & royalties

This fall, I plan to put together the Jungle Beasts 300-piece Jigsaw Puzzle (JK003). I put this together once, several months ago, with the help of my nephew CJ. But after a couple weeks, we placed the pieces back in the box. My reason for wanting to put this together again is to have it officially framed and use it as wall décor for my soon-to-arrive baby’s room. —Tina, customer service

I’m really happy to see the magnetic journals—so cool, so irresistible—and I will mention here the Pimpernel and Orange design (AA694), what with pimpernels still flowering into autumn. —Paul, shipping

As summer winds down, the cool days of fall can’t be far off, and I picture myself viewing autumn’s vibrant display through the window of a train winding its way through the Scottish countryside. One of our latest jigsaw puzzles, Scotland by Rail: The Trossachs (AA687), takes me there in my mind. Oh, to actually be there! —Judy, editorial

The new Charley Harper Magnetic Journal (AA691) reminds me of autumn with the rich colors of fall. Not to mention the cute squirrel piling up his acorns for the winter. —Josh, sales

October Edibles Magnetic Journal (AA691): Oh little squirrel nutkin! Fall is here, and the new journals have come out ... cafe, coffee, and a journal! —Gina, design

Puzzles are great gifts! I will be purchasing England by Rail: Harrogate (AA689) to work over the Thanksgiving weekend. —Helena, customer service

I think of a jigsaw puzzle, because the days are getting shorter and there's more time for indoor activities. This one has some beautiful fall colors, even though it has nothing to do with the fall season: The Coral Reef by Charley Harper (AA680). —Ronni, design

As I rake the falling leaves in my front yard, I’m reminded of “Treehorn’s Treasure,” one of stories in The Treehorn Trilogy (A200), in which little Treehorn discovers a money tree, complete with dollar bills for leaves. If only that could be MY tree! The stories in this boxed set are so funny, and coupled with Edward Gorey’s illustrations, they are just as much of a treat for adults as they are for children. —Stephanie, production

Environmental Artist, Sally J. Smith: The Artist’s Studio

2011-09-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

The following is the last installment of my three-part interview with "Faerie Houses" artist Sally J. Smith. I hope this series has been inspirational, as well as, enjoyable and interesting. And that we all continue to dream a little, even if those dreams include fairies.

—Monica, Publishing and Approvals Coordinator

In addition to faerie houses, Sally's
studio is decorated with her paintings.
Detail of "Flower Fairy Birthday,"
(c) Sally J. Smith

Yes, Sally J. Smith has an indoor studio where she creates houses and stores the many treasures she collects during her hikes. (It’s also a place where the fairies can keep warm in the winter.) I know this because I asked…

Are all your creations made outside and then left in the elements of nature?

Some houses are made completely in my studio with materials I have gathered on my many walks in the woods. It takes a lot of time to scout locations and I'm always on the lookout for good bark, twigs, stones, and the like to bring back for my studio projects. My rucksack is always heavier on the return trip home!

Here is a quick example of a studio-built house at the beginning of the process.

Hollowed-out Birch Branch

This house will be an over-the-top creation with two removable roofs and finished interiors (with miniature battery-powered Faerie lights!) Sometimes I begin by having a quick sketch but usually I just design as I go because the materials themselves inform so much of the design. In this photo, I'm testing out my selection of the hollowed-out birch branch to see if it is the right size for the little tower I want on the side. The wood from the original tree branch has rotted out and has left a tube of bark to work with. I collect these, clean them, and dry them out for a year before I use them. After two or three weeks of highly detailed work with hundreds of problems to solve along the way, the house is finished.

I shot this out in the snow so we could really see the details. I've mounted the whole thing on a large slab of thick birch bark. The twigs around the doorway are cedar twigs peeled by the river itself that I collected very near to the Shire House site. I do use silk leaves and flowers in these sculptures to bring a bit of a natural look to them. Since they are designed to remain indoor pieces, it is nice to add a bit of color this way. For the windows, I've discovered a very magical product that is called "Faerie film." It makes it so that you cannot see into the house until the lights are on inside; then you can glimpse the playful interior through the lighted windows.

With this particular house, you can open the front door, remove the tower roof and the main roof to reveal the delightful world within.

Wow, that is so neat!

I am going to be building matching furniture for the above house before I put it up for sale. Sometimes, I am lucky and can use these studio creations in an outdoor installation, which I then photograph.

Azalea Tree House

Here we have the same house in my rock garden when the miniature rhododendron was in full bloom. Look for this image in the 2013 calendar! Yes, Pomegranate plans that far ahead!

We do, so our customers can order in advance before the new year. Here's a link to Sally's 2012 Faerie's Houses wall calendar, and a few other products we have produced featuring her fanciful creations.

Sometimes the location that is just perfect for a studio-built house is not so easy to access as my garden was in this example. One time I had to put a house in a tote bag and carry it to the top of a mountain.

I had not designed that house to be so portable, but the location was so perfect I knew I just had to try and haul it up there. In the end it was worth it. Since the studio-built houses are made with hot glue, I do not leave them out in the elements after a shoot. I will only do that if the house is 100% biodegradable. I have one house that is currently in my studio that is designed to be a lakeside cottage. I've been searching for the right location, and I think I've found the perfect mountain lake this week. I'll have to load everything in the canoe, however, because you can't walk to the spot. Can't wait for some sunny days to do this installation!!

Adirondack Mountain House

What name did you end up giving that house and what mountain did you carry it to the top of? Just curious, how long was the hike?

The Ausable River

I named it Adirondack Mountain House. The house to the above left was carried up a mountain called Little Crow. It's a very steep little knob with a commanding view of the Ausable River Valley below, which is what we see in the photo. I think the hike was a little over a mile, but I'm not positive. It wasn't too far.

It must be fun creating such mystical masterpieces, always constructing something new and exciting!

I've begun experimenting with hand-dyed wool and needle-felting the roofs of some of my studio creations. This allows me to make even more playful houses that the Faeries will feel right at home in, and humans seem to like them, too!

Felted Roof

This house was a special-order project for a very sweet little girl who adored Faeries, and the roof was removable so she could leave treasures inside the house for her Faerie friends.

One last question: What would you like people to walk away with after viewing your artwork?

Of course I want to bring a bit of fun and whimsy into people's lives with these creations. But the Faerie houses have a deeper message, too. We humans need to protect this beautiful planet and we need to respect all the creatures that need a healthy planet in order to thrive, including the "magical" beings that every child will tell you they can see. The houses are all built with nature leading the design process and with respect to the landscape which they will inhabit, even if only just long enough for me to take the photos. This is my attempt to inspire and encourage people to remember that the earth is our home too, and we've made a big mess and we have to clean up the way we live here. It IS possible to live harmoniously with nature, but we have to simplify and we have to be respectful and we have to stop stripping the earth of her resources and polluting it.

Sally J. Smith

Just about everyone who sees my work says the same thing: "I want to live there!" I think this shows how deeply people resonate with the longing to get back into harmony with the earth and to reconnect with our natural, childlike instincts. If there is any way my houses can inspire people to honor this beautiful earth in the small, everyday choices that they make, then I will be pleased. I look forward to the day when more houses that humans choose to build and live in will look like these miniature creations...won't that be fun?

–Sally J. Smith, Greenspirit Art

I enjoyed learning more about Sally, her art, and her views on the environment and our planet—all while fantasizing of tiny dancing fairies in the forest. Let’s celebrate nature and all things natural, our world and humanity. We should never forget how fragile it ALL can be.

Below is the enchanting production "One," featuring images of Faerie Houses and other Environmental sculptures by Sally J. Smith set to the lyrical music of Canadian composer-musician Bradfield. Arranged in 8 chapters flowing from one season to the next, it's a magical journey, enjoy.

Thanks and take care Sally, it really has been magical!

If you would like to learn more about Sally J. Smith and her artwork or purchase a DVD of the video above, visit her website at: www.greenspiritarts.com. Or view her inspirational PBS interview with Derek Muirden by Mountain Lake Journal EXTRA. And, in case you missed it, read the first and second installments of Sally's interview with Pomegranate.

Photographs courtesy of Sally J. Smith, Greenspirit Arts © all rights reserved

Notes from the Publisher: Why Jigsaw?

2011-09-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

Uncomfortable in large-group social situations?
Put a jigsaw puzzle out on a big table at a family reunion, and suddenly you’re not worried about what to say to Uncle Herb. Instead, you’re both intently looking for pieces while chatting amiably. The playing field is even. It doesn’t matter that he’s an astrophysicist and you’re unemployed. You might even end up liking each other.

Love art?
Put together one thousand pieces of a Jackson Pollock painting or a Frank Lloyd Wright symmetrical design or a medieval illumination of the Tower of Babel, and suddenly you’re learning how an artist approaches colors and uses shapes, and you’re studying what people wore centuries ago and how they moved stones to erect beautiful buildings. (I know, I know, the Tower of Babel is not a real building, but the artist didn’t invent those pulleys and ropes, or the pants, for that matter.)

Sick of thinking about whatever you’re thinking about?
It’s hard to keep thinking about it when you’re searching for the piece that has a little bit of green on its nub and a big white spot in the middle and a notch at its bottom.

Don’t know where to begin after the edge pieces are all found?
Pick a color. But stay away from your neighbor’s pile of the dark blue pieces with yellow stripes running through them. She got those first; you don’t get to horn in on them. Find your own color field, dammit. (Sorry—memories come up.)

Do you like to sing?
Well, now’s your chance to come out of the shower and hum along to music while you hunt for pieces; pretty soon you’ll be belting out a Bruce Springsteen or Eddie Vedder or Brandi Carlile or Aretha Franklin song. Stand up and dance a little, too. The puzzle won’t mind. It’ll wait for as long as it takes. Sometimes weeks...

Like to compete?
When you fit a piece in, make sure to tap on it lightly once it’s in place. That way everyone working on the puzzle with you knows you got one in. Pretty soon there’ll be a lot of tapping going on, unless you’ve enlisted the help of pitiful puzzle-doers who couldn’t tell a nub from a notch or a corner piece from a cracker—in which case you can feel superior.

Are you a trickster?
When it’s getting near the end, with not a lot of pieces left to go, slip one in your pocket. Then you can be the one to put in the last piece! Aaaah! (Just remember that it’s in your pocket.)

Environmental Artist, Sally J. Smith: Photography

2011-08-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

Faerie Houses boxed notecards

Below is the second of three monthly installments with "Faerie Houses" artist Sally J. Smith. Interview by Monica, Pomegranate's Publishing and Approvals Coordinator

A lot of patience and experience goes into a good photograph—mastering the art, science, and practice of creating images. You must be sensitive and patient; having the photographer’s eye per se (looking for the ideal light, shadows, and elements in nature) sometimes can take a few hours or even several days to produce the right image. Sally explains her process below...

So Sally, once the house is complete you take a photograph of it?

Yes, the sun was now filtering into the forest at the right angle, and I quickly got to work "decorating" the house. I used flowers that I had found along the path to the river. I took some test photos to see how everything looked in the frame.

[At that point] I decided it needed just a bit more excitement so I found some red flowers nearby and added them. Now all was perfect and the sun was hitting the house in just the way I had hoped, with little spotlights here and there. I had to shoot quickly because the sun moves so fast and the "spotlights" can disappear in a matter of seconds.

Because there is a high range of light quality in the forest it is virtually impossible to capture in one shot all the details that our eyes can see, from the details in the deep shadows to the brightly lit areas, unless you have a very expensive camera, which I do not. The way around this problem is to shoot multiple exposures of the exact same image, very quickly, and recompose the image: layering the frames together so you get all the highlights and shadow details into one image.

So, for this house I shot eight frames in quick succession, from a very dark exposure that shows the details in the highlighted areas, then up to the middle exposures, and on to some overexposed shots, which bring up all the details in the shadowed areas.

Then, when I get home, I take all eight frames and process them together to create a single image that has rich details in the shadows as well as bright highlighted areas that are not "blown out" with overexposing. I then clean up the image here and there, making some adjustments to improve the composition, but never changing the shape or design of the actual sculpture in the photo.

Then it is cropped to the right dimensions, and below is the image used for the 2012 wall calendar.

W538: Faerie Houses, 2012 Wall Calendar

What about naming a house?

Since I had always felt that this house was based on something like the Hobbits, it was easy to name it Shire House. I sometimes have trouble coming up with names for the houses. When that happens, I usually try to include something about the materials or the location in the naming of the house. Sometimes I ask friends and they come up with good suggestions.

This is very interesting, Sally, I never knew how much work went into each project. Can you tell me the names of the mountain and stream where the Shire House [above] rests?

The stream has a very unglamorous name...it is just called the "South fork" on maps, but technically, it officially would be "the south fork of the south branch of the Boquet River" (pronounced “Bow,” as in a ribbon on a package, + “qwet”). There are several mountains of the "High Peaks" region of the Adirondacks that feed into the south fork, so I couldn't really name just one...the closest one is called "Giant." Some of the others are "Gothics" and "(Upper and Lower) Wolf Jaw."

And where do the Faerie houses end up after the shoot? Do some stay in the forest or do you have a studio filled with your favorites?

Many of my houses are made on location, after I've taken the photos, I walk away and just leave them be. Some houses survive the rest of the season; some even manage to get through our brutal winters. But most often, they are taken back by the elements that helped create them in the first place. A mossy stump house was overgrown with moss again in a year and just looked like a strangely lumpy stump once again. A stone tower that had been built in the middle of a river was washed away when we had a flash flood a few weeks later. And, sadly, sometimes animals get curious. That is what happened to Shire House. I went back a few weeks later to check on it and was heartbroken to find this.

The house had been ripped open and the whole thing was scattered and torn apart. I found very large canine prints in the sandy "beach" area—so it was either a big dog with some campers or it was some very large coyotes or perhaps a wolf (there have been sightings of wolves here, though no official confirmations yet). Whatever it was may have thought there was something inside to eat and so took it apart.

It is sad to see a creation reduced to its pieces once again, but once the shock is over, one realizes that this is all part of the natural process. Everything, and I mean EVERY THING, including our own bodies, comes from this earth and is on loan to us. Eventually it all must go back to the earth. So, I took the remaining bits of door, window, bay window, and fungi home and I scattered the rest of the stones back into the river. Because I use all natural materials it could all go back to the forest once more. All was swept clean again and the Faeries, who were glad to have had the fun of the wee house to play in for awhile, do continue to play in the forest as they know and love it now that it is restored to its own natural beauty. It is an honor for me to have been a part of that circle of co-creativity, even for just a moment in their perception of time.

I thought it was sad to see the house like this, too, and told Sally my feelings…her answer to me was:

Sally J. Smith

It is important to acknowledge that these things happen in nature and I, as an artist, have learned how to embrace this cyclical aspect of the work. I know it is sad, but it is also real...and it is an essential part of my process...learning how to not be attached to the work out in the landscape. This is what makes the photography so vital to my work...for in a way, the house survives, because we can still enjoy the photos.

I thank you for taking those photos—if you didn’t, we wouldn’t have the pleasure of enjoying your artwork! I have always been drawn to all things miniature, fairies and dollhouses alike. I enjoy petite treasures and your art makes me remember some of my childhood memories; collecting small items that I was attracted to and hiding them in my bedroom. I used to create sculptures out of clay, I even made a few fairy houses of my own using those items, but they all ended up looking more like a clump of green or red Play-Doh, nothing at all like you have created for all of us to admire. Your home studio must be a magical place?

Look for Sally's reply in our discussion about "The Artist's Studio" next month. And, in case you missed it, read the first installment of Sally's interview here.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-08-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today's trivia question comes from our deck Who Am I? A Name Game of Literary Stars.

Q: I was born Theodor Geisel on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts. After being expelled from college for drinking alcohol (during Prohibition), I continued to write for the college magazine using my middle name, which later became synonymous with children’s books. Who am I?

A: The son of a zoo superintendent, Theodor spent many childhood hours sketching the zoo’s animals. After grafting “Dr.” to his middle name, he wrote and illustrated And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, during a 1936 boat trip. The book was rejected by 27 publishers before seeing print in 1937. Success and four more Dr. Seuss books followed before World War II intervened. Geisel then went to work for the US Army in its animation department, writing the film Design for Death, which won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

After the war, Geisel (who had no children) returned to children’s books, eventually writing 47. His books have been translated into 20 languages, have sold more than 200 million copies, and have been made into numerous films, television specials, and a Broadway musical.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-07-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Today's trivia question is a quick one. It comes from How Much Silk Can a Spider Spin in a Day? A Quiz Deck on Amazing Things That Happen in 24 Hours, which is one of the many items we publish in conjunction with the wonderful folks at Sierra Club:

Q: How much coffee is consumed in the United States in a day?

A: Around 19 million gallons (over 300 million cups).

Notes from the Publisher: Zuwalling*

2011-07-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

I’ve been hearing the word “discombobulated” a lot recently. It seems that lots of people I know are experiencing some degree of turmoil and change, making it hard to concentrate, get things done, think clearly.

Then the other day, someone told me that she was happy to be feeling “combobulated.”

Wow! I thought. What a great word!

It’s not in the dictionary. So I looked up “discombobulated” and learned that it probably derives from “discompose.” It didn’t come from “combobulated.”

Who cares? Let’s all strive for combobulation.

Dictionaries are always in flux. They have to reflect changes in language and in usage, as well as nonwords becoming real words. We all have a say, eventually. Enough of us use a word enough... Webster’s will include it.

I don’t mean to say that we can ignore the rules of language—true meanings of words and correct syntax, verb tenses, punctuation, spelling, etc. Those rules allow us to understand one another better, to communicate more effectively.

But making up words is fun, so I spent some time in the “dis-“ pages of my Webster’s. I came up with “aster” as the opposite of “disaster.” (Jonas, that birthday party was such an aster! Thank you!)

That idea led me to read the etymology for the word. “Disaster” came to us from the Latin “dis,” meaning “from or apart”; “aster” comes from “astro,” or “star.” The first definition in my dictionary lists the word’s now obscure meaning, “an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star,” followed by its current definition, “a sudden calamitous event bringing great damage...a sudden or great misfortune or failure.” Intriguing stuff!

But I still like “aster” as a good thing. And I’m thinking that “rupt” could mean “come together” (as opposed to “disrupt”).

“Tance”? That means “side by side, touching.”

Check out The Unwords Dictionary and PseudoDictionary for more new nonwords!

*zuwalling: v. the act of making up words. [Urban Dictionary]

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-07-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

It's trivia time again. Today's entry comes from Don’t Touch That Remote! A Quiz Deck on 1970s and 1980s TV Sitcoms, written by Jeff Burkhart, a local bartender, columnist, and writer who has penned several decks of Pomegranate's Knowledge Cards as well as our What Do You Know About Wine? calendar for 2012.

Q: The house that an architect designs for his eight-member family has ten rooms, of which only three are bedrooms. Incompetent? You be the judge. Name this campy early 1970s show.

A: The Brady Bunch harked back to simpler shows, short on social commentary and long on camp. From 1969 to 1974 the lighthearted stories of a family with three girls and three boys aired on ABC. It never reached the top 30 in the Nielsens, and it never won an award, but somehow the family refused to go away. A fixture in syndication, it spawned brief singing careers for its young stars, several made-for-TV movies, an animated show, a variety show, and a drama series, all of which featured various incarnations of the original cast. Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, Eve Plumb, Mike Lookinland, Susan Olsen, and Ann B. Davis never escaped from the trap of moderate success. McCormick would sum it all up in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003), when she sang, “If one more person calls me Marcia, I’ll bust his f— head.”

This week’s question is in honor of Sherwood Schwartz, who died this Tuesday at age 94. He created The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island, also penning the theme song for The Brady Bunch and co-writing the Gilligan’s Island theme song with George Wyle. Schwartz, a longtime producer, broke into show business by writing jokes for Bob Hope’s radio show. He went on to write for Armed Forces Radio and for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which was on radio, too. He then made the leap into television, writing for I Married Joan and The Red Skelton Show, for which he became the head writer and won an Emmy Award.

Environmental Artist, Sally J. Smith: My Creative Office

2011-07-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

Interview by Monica,
Publishing and Approvals Coordinator

Below is the first of three monthly installments with "Faerie Houses" artist Sally J. Smith. Look for our discussion on "Photography" and "The Artist's Studio" in the coming months...

Do you ever think back to your childhood, reminiscing about when you believed in tiny dancing fairies with wings or short, feisty, grumpy-looking trolls and greedy green leprechauns? For centuries, these mystical creatures have lived within hundreds of fairy tales, myths, legends, and folklore.

I grew up watching Walt Disney bring imaginary, mythical characters to life—sitting on the floor in front of the television, eyes wide as can be, daydreaming of being surrounded by princes and fairies. These legends had us all imagining being a REAL part of those fairy tales. I remember wanting to FLY just like Tinker Bell and Peter Pan: didn’t we all?

Yet we all mature and realize that although myths and legends are very interesting, there is no evidence to prove that these fantastic creatures really exist. Or is there?

Imagine walking through the woods by a stream and finding what looks like a very small house, built in a hidden place—a miniature house that a fairy could live in! What would you think?

Autumn Faerie Cottage

Artist Sally J. Smith creates these houses year-round, in all weather conditions, alone in nature with the sensation of the world of imaginary creatures all around her. Her creative office (picture below), as she calls it, is the natural world; she produces most of her work on location in the Adirondack Mountains. Most of us can only dream about having an office like that!

Sally's Creative Office

I have been working with Sally recently, producing publications for Pomegranate, and I found the time to ask her a few questions about her art.

I'm curious, where does your inspiration and passion come from?

Sally and her dad, Clyde H. Smith

I guess you could say it’s in my blood. I have always been deeply connected to and in love with Nature. My father was an outdoor adventure photographer before it was fashionable, so we were always out in the woods in all seasons as a family. He and my mother always encouraged us to be observant, creative, and independent. I lived like many children do in a world of myth, magic, and fantasy…I suppose part of me just never "grew up”! Here I am with my dad on the top of the first mountain I ever hiked up. I was 5 years old…and I'm sure I didn't hike the whole way up and down!

What was the name of the mountain you hiked with your father?
The name of the mountain is Camel's Hump, in Vermont. For locals, it is a very recognizable silhouette and is used on many Vermont logos.

Camel's Hump, Vermont

How did the concept of your artwork start, was it something in your childhood that captivated you to create “Faerie houses”?

Yes, my two sisters and I always made Faerie houses when we were kids. I always liked architecture as a child and was always curious about how things were put together. I guess I've got a bit of an engineering mind as well as an artistic eye. But I love fantasy, too. The myths and stories from England especially captured my imagination. I had a long and successful career as a painter/illustrator for the past 23 years. When I hit a creative roadblock five years ago, I was blessed to work with an art coach and I decided it was time to take a big leap and explore three-dimensional work. I had always admired the work of Andy Goldsworthy but wanted to do something different, something with a bit more whimsy and fantasy. The Faerie houses seemed like a good place to start. My first Faerie house was done with icicles. It was huge, over six feet tall, and it was so much fun. I was hooked!

Sally's first Faerie house

Which myths and stories from England? Were there children's books that inspired you, or any one in particular? Which ones did you read (or did your parents read them to you)?

I think the first thing I remember was The Sword in the Stone, but I can't remember if it was a movie or a book that we were introduced to first. I know I read The Once and Future King when I was probably 12 or 13. Of course all the Narnia books. My dad had a passion for Robin Hood, so I know we heard some of those stories, and used to play "Robin" out in our own little Sherwood Forest, behind my house.


Robin Shoots with Sire Guy

When I was 13 I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy…and while it is not "English" in the strict sense, it still is in that genre, to me. Later I read anything I could get my hands on regarding the Merlin/Arthurian legends (Le Morte d'Arthur, Taliesin, Avalon, etc). I have also done a lot of personal research regarding the historical periods between the 7th and 12th centuries in and around the North Sea area (Northern England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland as well as the Scandinavian countries). There was a tremendous mixing of arts and cultures during that era, as the Norse cultures were making their way into the British Isles. They brought a lot of their art and myths with them and they (the people and their culture) became part of the landscape as well. The "Celtic" traditions that moved up and over from central Europe in the early part of this era were at the height of their flowering in Ireland and in northern England (Book of Kells era). And finally, the Picts, the native people of Scotland, were at the peak of their stone-carving prowess, so all these influences show up in the art, architecture, and myths of the time. The Welsh book called The Mabinogion was also of great interest to me, and of course, "Beowolf."

When I was very, very little my dad used to read stories to us that were based on Nature/animals: Wind in the WIllows, Old Mother West Wind stories, and I also remember The Secret Garden. One of my absolute favorite books was called the The Teenie Weenies, and while they were not Faeries, per se, the illustrations were magical and showed how the tiny human-type people adapted items of our scale and repurposed them to fit their needs. I don't know who wrote or illustrated the book, but I was mesmerized by this book and I know it influenced my engineering curiosity.

That’s so great to know, those authors would be enormously happy to discover how their stories encouraged you to create your environmental art. How long does it take to build one house?

It really depends. Some houses take a few hours, some a day, some many days. Two of the biggest projects took two to three weeks. These were both stone constructions. Stonework, even on such a small scale, is slow work. I use no mortar, so it all has to fit together really well to stand up.

Here is an example from Shire House, which is on the cover of the 2012 calendar. I found the location along the edge of a mountain stream. There was a cluster of very old white cedar trees, and the moss was thick along the banks. I sat for a full day just trying to envision what sort of house would go well here. I gathered some dead cedar branches from the area, as well as some birch bark and some tree mushrooms, and brought them home. In the studio, I pre-built a door and some windows, then headed up to the site for the next few days to build.

Here you can see the beginning of the project. It takes a long time to collect all the right-scale stones and other materials. I did not make a sketch; I just visualized what I wanted and began building. Here the doorway is put in place and the spaces for the windows are being created.

Here the walls of the house are rising, and the windows, with their mushroom shades, have been put in place. I have to make sure everything is very solid and will not move as I go up. If stones can wiggle, then there is instability and the whole thing can fall as more weight is added on.

Since this house was modeled a bit after a Hobbit house concept, I wanted it to be squat and close to the earth. It took me six days to finish the work. Here we see the house completed with the stone walkway installed. I like putting walkways in if it adds to the design...something to lead the eye into the image and right up to the front door! As you can see, the house is lovely but it needed a bit more color. Also, I could tell that the angle of the sun was not right for the best photos, so I needed to come back the next morning for the final shoot.

That must be hard—to walk away not knowing if what you started will be there when you return!

Part of the tension and fun with my work is that I am sometimes out in areas where people might find these creations. As I was tidying up the landscape for the next morning’s shoot, a bunch of young boys, teenagers, showed up to do a bit of camping. I'll admit I was very worried. I could only hope that they would not find the house, since it was a bit removed from their campsite.

When I returned the next morning for the shoot, the boys were gone and the house was still there, thank goodness. But even more amazing was this...someone had taken the time to write a message with some pebbles on the "beach" below the house...

I was deeply touched and humbled...and I felt a bit foolish for pre-judging these boys. They had been very respectful and at least one of them seemed to enjoy the magical find.

Stay tuned for how Sally prepares the final shoot of her creations in our next interview…

Photographs courtesy of Sally J. Smith, Greenspirit Arts © all rights reserved

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-07-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! For today's entry, we return to Extraordinary Youth: Prodigies of Music, Science, Literature, Art & Sports, a Quiz Deck, which was produced in conjunction with the Library of Congress and arrived to our warehouse in late May.

Q: This prodigious 20th-century artist once said, “When I was the age of these children, I could draw like Raphael. It took me many years to learn how to draw like these children.” Who was he?

Before the answer: A few days ago, in San Francisco, a man walked into the Weinstein Gallery, removed a framed drawing from the wall, and quickly walked right back outside with the purloined artwork under his arm and ducked into a cab. The pencil drawing, Tete de Femme (1965), is valued at $275,000. Footage of the man was shown on the Internet and on TV news. Yesterday an arrest was made. Congratulations to the SFPD for making a quick collar. And congratulations to the artist, whose art, almost 40 years after his death, remains a hot commodity. There's also a current exhibition of much more of his work at San Francisco's de Young Museum, for which Pomegranate produced an item or two.

A: When Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) started speaking, his first word was “piz”—for lapiz, “pencil.” At the age of 7 the eager boy started taking art lessons from his father, who was a painter and a professor of art. Legend has it that eventually the young Picasso’s work so impressed his father that he put aside his own brushes, overwhelmed by his son’s talent. When Picasso was just 13, he entered Barcelona’s School of Fine Arts. He also hosted his first exhibition. After winning an honorable mention at Madrid’s Fine Arts Exhibition at 16, Picasso moved to the city to attend the Royal Academy of San Fernando. Yet he quickly became bored with his classes, and in his late teens he left Madrid to move to Paris, the heart of the art world. Daring and inventive, he became one of the foremost artists of his era, creating such masterworks as Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Guernica, a searing condemnation of fascism and war. Despite the technical skill evident in his youth, in later years Picasso would regret never having “the genius of childhood.”

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-07-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to the United States of America! A fun and safe holiday weekend to all. And to honor the USA, today’s entry comes from What Really Happened? A Quiz Deck on Myths of American History.

Although it is indeed a quiz deck, these Knowledge Cards are formatted a bit differently than our usual format of questions on the fronts & answers on the backs. In What Really Happened?, a pervasive myth is printed on the card front and then the facts are chronicled on the back.

Here's a front:

The Liberty Bell, housed in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, was rung on July 4, 1776, signaling the birth of “liberty throughout the land.”

And here's the back:

The three-foot-tall, 2,055-pound “Liberty Bell” was installed at Independence Hall in 1753, though it did not acquire that name until adopted by the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1839. While the tin-and-copper-alloy bell was rung to open the First Continental Congress in 1774 and after the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775, Richard Shenkman notes, “There is no evidence the bell was rung when independence was declared . . . It might have been rung on July 8, when Congress publicly celebrated independence for the first time.” The claim that it was rung 100 times on July 4, 1776, by an old man at the signal of a blue-eyed boy was made up by George Lippard, whose Legends of the American Revolution (1847) was chock full of such patriotic myths. The bell’s inscription, from Leviticus 25:10, was prescient: “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto the Inhabitants Thereof.” The bell was made in England, ironically. Its enormous crack appeared in 1846.

Pomegranate Staff Picks: Happy Summer!

2011-06-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here in Northern California we have been hit by a recent dose of sunshine—a revitalizing and welcome change from a gloomy, chilly spring. In celebration of this wonderful warm weather, we asked our staff to recommend a product that they feel captures the spirit of summer:

The gardens depicted in the woodblocks of Gustave Baumann always spur me to plant some vibrant flowers in the yard. This summer I am inspired by the images in A Quiet Corner: The Woodblock Prints of Gustave Baumann boxed notecards (0361). The light, the flowers, the spaces...it all brings to mind quiet moments in nature. For me that's the hope, dream, and memory of summertime past and present. And don't forget...if you have travel plans this summer, a postcard book you can take on your vacation (like, The Woodblock Prints of Gustave Baumann book of postcards: A984) to send greetings to friends and family along the way is a wonderful way to keep in touch and share your travels. —Stephanie O., design

Summer is a great time to get together with all those friends who've hibernated their way through the winter. Once you've got the outdoor sunshine, you can double the number of people you'd invite any other time of the year. For me the hardest part of having a party is committing to throwing one. Pomegranate invitations are a wonderful way to announce a party, and once the invitations have gone out, the rest seems to fall into place. My favorites are Dard Hunter (BI008) and Darwin's Finches (BI010). —Susan, production

Well summer is FINALLY here. I look forward to spending a lot of time boating during the hot summer months with my family. So when I look at this image Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir which is on one of our jigsaw puzzles (AA623), it gets me wondering when my next trip to the lake is going to be. And when I'll be enjoying a cocktail, floating under the sun. —Monica, production

Waves boxed notecards (SC1044) bring to mind warm days at the shore, playing in the surf and also simply watching the waves roll in. —Matthew, editorial

Our Spirit of San Francisco puzzle (AA677) reminds me of summer. In summertime friends and family come to the Bay Area to visit and see the sights. This puzzle shows a lot of the exciting attractions we visit while they are here. —Kristen, customer service

The gift wrap Pomegranate publishes is so diverse, it works for all the occasions summer has to offer: birthday parties, pool parties, weddings, baby showers, and just fun reasons to give gifts. Summer is such a happy time, and giving little gifts in great paper is just the cherry on top! —Denise, customer service

The first thing that comes to mind that has summer written all over it is the Sierra Club notecard, Ladybugs on Sunflower (SC1316). Sunflowers equal summertime to me, and this card says it all. —Ronni, design

When the sun beats down, I rest beneath a leafy tree. Summer is captured for me by Pomegranate's Anatomy of a Tree (SC0900), a poster that explains how a tiny shoot comes to be a magnificent mossy leviathan dividing its life between air and earth. —Sam, editorial

Kids puzzles! On my recent vacation in Sacramento, one afternoon it was too hot to play outside so the three kids each chose a puzzle to work on and I got to help some: PoolCat (JK001), Jungle Beasts (JK003), and the Sea Otter (SC0405). It was a contest and I declared the winner. Lots of lemonade and ice tea were consumed that day. It was a ton of fun. —Ellen, customer service

When I think of summer, I remember all of the wacky family road trips I took when I was young and the car games we’d play to keep ourselves entertained. Along these lines, I recently gave my dad the What Kind of Car Did the Little Old Lady from Pasadena Drive? quiz deck on oldies lyrics (K316) and From Peculiar to Oddville quiz deck of bizarre place names (K322) for a road trip he was taking with his brother. I think any of our knowledge card decks would be good for this type of car-ride amusement—as long as the person reading the trivia questions isn’t the driver! —Stephanie K., production

Block puzzles—a great hostess gift for summer BBQ parties! —Helena, customer service

Any of the lovely products featuring arts and crafts images from Arthur and Lucia Mathews put me in the mood for summer. Their iconic images of golden poppies and lush rolling hillsides remind me to enjoy the beauty of the season. I also take inspiration from the furniture they created, for my own summer woodworking projects. —Lory, contracts & royalties

The Art of Arthur and Lucia Mathews (A117) reminds me the most of summer in California. —Pamela, customer service

Calendars, definitely! For us in the warehouse, the new year begins in June. —Paul, shipping

I choose our new Walter J. Phillips Woodblock Prints boxed notecards (0633), because the four woodcuts of flower arrangements remind me of the glories of the summer flower garden. —Rachel, editorial

The images in Monet's Gardens at Giverny book of postcards (A556) have inspired me to start a small project in my rose garden. Some really good types of summer flowers, such as blackfoot daisies, four o'clocks, and zinnias, are on my list. —Oky, design

I think any of our gardening publications can get anyone in the mood for summer. Whether it’s The Kitchen Garden (K305) or The Potted Garden (K306) knowledge cards, those can be a fun and helpful resource to look through right before the start of summer. —Tina, customer service

The image on Carl Larsson’s Crayfishing puzzle (AA409) captures everything I look forward to in the summer: fishing, camping, and enjoying the great outdoors. —Marshall, design

Dreaming of places to adventure to...Earth’s Powerful Places: From Stonehenge to Easter Island knowledge cards (K349). I am interested in geomancy and observing and experiencing the earth through different means. Beauty is a must, my eyes drink it in, but experiencing the subtle energies that the earth holds is something I need help with. This deck is a gateway. —Gina, design

The raccoons featured in Kathy DeZarn’s Mischievous Menagerie (0626) boxed notecards (and kids puzzle, JK013) remind me of sitting on the back porch on warm summer nights and spotting all the neighborhood critters lurking around for tasty leftovers from the BBQ. —Stephanie K., production

I plan to spend some quality time this summer poring over my treasured copy of Elizabeth Murray’s wonderful book, Monet’s Passion: Ideas, Inspiration & Insights from the Painter’s Garden (A181), which was beautifully updated just last year. Several areas of my garden need renovation, and in the vegetable garden my intention is to incorporate some of the ideas from The Paint Box Plantings: A Kitchen Garden section of the Bringing Giverny Home chapter. I expect the results will be delicious and fabulous to look at as well! —Judy, editorial

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-06-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hooray for summertime! Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, a short-lived heatwave arrived in time to produce sizzling temperatures on the summer solstice. With both the heat and the seasonal shift fresh in mind, today’s trivia entry is a card from The Natural Year: A Quiz Deck on ECOlogical Phenomena.

This deck of Knowledge Cards was written by Chris Hardman, who also created the popular and innovative ECOlogical Calendar, which Pomegranate produces in wall and engagement versions.

The selected card features two questions on the front:

Q: What does “equinox” mean? Q: What does “solstice” mean?

A: Equinox means “equal night.” Solstice means “to stand still.” The equinoxes, one in spring and one in fall, are the points in Earth’s annual orbit when the lengths of day and night are equal; the Sun shines directly at the equator (0° latitude) at noon, and the Northern and Southern hemispheres receive equivalent exposure to sunlight. As Earth’s orbit progresses from the spring equinox to the summer solstice, its tilt results in the Northern Hemisphere receiving an ever greater share of the sunlight. At noon on the summer solstice, the Sun’s rays reach their northernmost latitude, shining directly down on the Tropic of Cancer (23.5°N). For a few days thereafter, the rays rise to the same latitude, or “stand still,” before retreating south. The same pause in the cycle takes place at the winter solstice, when the Sun reaches its southernmost latitude, over the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5°S).

Getting to Know Ronni, Graphic Designer Extraordinaire!

2011-06-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

Interview by Stephanie, associate publisher

Ever wondered who designed the Pomegranate calendar or boxed notecard set that you enjoy so much? Meet Ronni, one of Pomegranate’s talented graphic designers. With her playful spirit and witty humor, Ronni always has a joke tucked in her back pocket and a positive take on any dilemma. I asked fellow co-workers to describe Ronni in one word, and this is what was said: ebullient, sweet, upbeat, quixotic, determined, helpful, motherly, fun, dedicated, and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

After 15 years (and counting) at Pomegranate, it’s time to put our beloved Ronni in the spotlight and share just a bit of her sparkling personality with all of you…

How did you get your name?
My real name is Veronica. But at home, from the time I was born, I’ve been called Ronni (after my father I assume, since his name was Ronald). In school they called me Veronica until high school when I changed schools. I decided then that I was tired of Veronica…it was the new me!

What is your favorite word?
Red wine. Ooops, that’s two words! I love the word “shenanigans.”

What is your motto? Live and let live. I heard someone say once “none of us are perfect people,” and I think it’s a good thing to remember. It really does help me sometimes when I feel judgment coming on.

Fill in the blank: I am a deer-proof, low-water perennials AND local music aficionado.


artwork by Carole Hand

What is your favorite object in your office?
I have a piece of original art by Carole Hand. It’s an abstract, mixed-media piece—lively, colorful, crazy…I just love it.

What book(s) are you currently reading?
I love to read and usually have a couple books going at one time. For my book club, I’m reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the story of a poor black woman who died of cancer in 1951, and of cells from her tumor that were taken without her knowledge or consent, that changed modern science. A truly amazing book! I’m also currently reading one called Live a Little! Breaking the Rules Won’t Break Your Health by Susan M. Love, a positive health book for women. It’s about not getting stressed over getting the perfect amount of exercise, perfect amount of sleep, etc., and rather, to try to swing to the middle of things and not stress about getting it all right. You might as well enjoy your life, you know!

What was the last thing that made you laugh? My granddaughter Taluelah was doing yoga with her mom and she called it her “yogurt.” And most recently, my coworker, Monica (affectionately known as Mommy-ca)—she always makes me laugh.

When you were 5, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A cowboy. Absolutely, a cowboy! I wore my [toy] six-shooters, my boots, my hat.

And what was your first job?
A waitress at the Helen Grace ice cream and candy store in Lynwood, CA.

When did you decide you wanted to be a graphic designer?
I was taking a drawing class in my early thirties and one of the other students came in and showed me stationery that she’d made with her own logo. I was so impressed, I decided I wanted to learn how to do that. I started out with an ROP program in typesetting and graphic arts and then went to study graphic design at the [Santa Rosa] JC.

You’ve been working at Pomegranate for 15 years; do you remember what was the first project you ever worked on at Pomegranate?
It was production work on an engagement calendar. The art director at the time was a friend of mine and she went on vacation. She asked me if I’d fill in and finish the project for her. Pomegranate had an extra desk, and when she returned, I ended up staying on and eventually became a regular employee.

Where do you find inspiration for your work?
A trip to the museum, looking through magazines, browsing book covers at bookstores. I subscribe to the e-mails from Before & After magazine, which has great ideas.

Do you listen to music while you work?
Yes, but depending on the project, it varies. I very recently went to an Ozomatli concert, so that’s fun and energetic, but I love blues and all kinds of music. I have a mix that has Bruce Springsteen, Dylan, Edie Brickell, Taj Mahal, Prince...

If you could do a different job for a day, what would it be?
I always thought a newspaper reporter or journalist—some type of investigative person—would be interesting. I love to find out stuff. Somebody behind the scenes.

Ronni's dream dinner date: Mr. Lincoln

If you had 48 hours to hang out with anyone living or dead in the history of the world, who would you pick and what would you do?
I love and admire Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln—I almost feel like they are both my uncles. They are real, they inspire me, both of them. With Mark Twain, I’d share a bottle of wine and hear some stories. With Abraham Lincoln, I would be very fascinated to know, in light of what was going on in those days, why and how he was willing to challenge the status quo. I have a quote from him in my office: “I have always thought that all men should be free . . . Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” What a man!

What was the last Pomegranate product you gave as a gift?
I gave bookmarks to a group of friends at a lunch. I took an assortment of spring-themed bookmarks (9340, 9819, 9883, 9885, 9914) for everyone.

What is the best part of your job?
Designers have a lot of leeway here. We work directly with the client, sometimes an artist or museum, and it’s a really fun process; it makes it so much more interesting. Also seeing the finished product when it comes in from the printer. We huddle around and everyone “Oohs” and “Ahhs.” I take a lot of pride in seeing our work.

Tell us something surprising about you:
I’m trying to find a ukulele teacher and I haven’t given up trying to learn to play the drums. I may turn out to be the oldest living drum and/or ukulele student.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-06-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

Here’s another deck of Knowledge Cards from our May release: What Animal Am I? Like the previous two decks (The Wild West and the Old Frontier and Extraordinary Youth) featured here from the May release, this quiz deck was published in cooperation with the Library of Congress. On the front sides of these cards are clues describing a specific animal. On the backs are the names of the animals and interesting information about them. (This deck is not in Q&A format, but we're setting up the sample that way to be consistent with previous postings.)

Q: I am an ocean-dwelling mammal that was venerated in medieval times for special powers that supposedly came from my “magic” horn.
A: A medium-sized whale that lives in the Arctic Ocean, the narwhal may be a part of the legend of the unicorn; males grow one long, spiral tusk (which can reach ten feet in length) in the middle of their forehead. They use these appendages in a nonviolent ritual called “tusking,” during which they cross tusks with each other and make a whistling noise. No one knows precisely what this ritual means, but it is thought to help determine ranking within the narwhal’s social group. During the medieval era and the Renaissance, pieces of broken-off tusks that washed up on European shores were thought to be lost unicorn horns, and thus to have magical powers. When sold, they fetched handsome prices. Queen Elizabeth I of England even bought a tusk and had it placed among her crown jewels.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-06-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

Here's another deck of Knowledge Cards from our May release:

The Wild West and the Old Frontier.

Like last week’s newbie, this deck was published in cahoots with the ol’ Library of Congress gang. Here’s a sample card:

Q: What did the Wyoming territorial legislature do in 1869 that encouraged women to settle in the area?

A: Women were granted the right to vote.
Among 19th-century white Westerners, men outnumbered women by a significant amount—in some locales, such as forts, mining districts, logging camps, and cattle ranches, there were 10, 20, or more men for every woman. Meanwhile, women had engaged in organized efforts to win the vote since 1848, when a suffrage conference was held in Seneca Falls, New York. The quest to populate the US territories, the work of crusading women’s rights leaders, such as Susan B. Anthony, and the independent nature of those drawn West made the region ripe for universal suffrage. In 1890 Wyoming was the first state to enter the Union with equal voting rights; women soon had the vote in Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. By the time Congress approved the 19th Amendment in 1920—which guaranteed American women the right to vote—women had already won the franchise everywhere in the country but for a bloc of Southern states, and the women of Wyoming had been voting for 50 years.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-05-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

Here at Pomegranate, we're celebrating not just Memorial Day, but also the arrival of our May 2011 products! Among them is a deck of Knowledge Cards entitled Extraordinary Youth: Prodigies of Music, Science, Literature, Art & Sports. This fun and fact-packed quiz deck is a fine addition to our line of products published in conjunction with the Library of Congress. Here's a sample question.

Q: This modern Chinese prodigy became the youngest artist ever to have an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution. Who is this precocious painter?

*If you need a diversion while this question rolls around inside your head, or you'd simply like to do a little browsing, please take a peek at the rest of the beautiful items in our May 2011 release.*

A: Wang Yani (b. 1975) started painting when she was two-and-a-half years old, using the ancient method of painting with ink on rice paper. By the time she was six, she had completed 4,000 pictures, had been honored with exhibitions throughout China, and was giving painting demonstrations, sometimes before thousands of spectators. Nature is a favorite subject: early visits to the zoo with her family sparked paintings of animals, particularly monkeys; as she grew up, she added depictions of flowers and birds. As word of Yani’s talent crossed China’s borders, there were exhibitions of her work in Japan, Germany, and England. In 1989, when she was 14 and had completed 10,000 paintings, the exhibition Yani: The Brush of Innocence opened at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC. One of the most affecting of the works displayed was titled simply Kitty. Yani created this portrait of a black kitten with only seven or eight confident brushstrokes.

It’s Not Impossible: A Pomegranate Fan Takes on the Ultimate Jigsaw Puzzle Challenge

2011-05-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in a recent Staff Picks, the Pomegranate staff has been on a puzzle frenzy lately. About every other week a new puzzle is brought into our break room and with each trip to the coffeepot or lunch table, we pause to collectively piece it together.

We’ve got quite a few under our belt now, including The Tower of Babel (lots of color and lines=a breezy, fun treat) and Robert Bissell’s The Embrace (quite a challenge; so... much... sky), but there’s one puzzle that we have yet to brave: our notorious Jackson Pollock: Convergence 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

In 1964 Springbok Editions issued Convergence as a 340-piece jigsaw puzzle that was touted as “the world’s most difficult puzzle.” Now consider our 1,000-piece version, which nearly triples this challenge, and you’ll understand why we consider this puzzle to be the crème de la crème, the ultimate…and dare we say “the impossible”? As the bottom of the box says, “Best of luck to all aspiring solvers!”

You can imagine my shock when I received a note from Lynn Bell, a freelance graphic designer who has designed some beautiful books for Pomegranate (like this one and this one), telling me she had done the unthinkable—she and her husband, Richard, had completed our Jackson Pollock puzzle! Curious to know just how Lynn went about putting this puzzle together, I asked this expert for the inside scoop:

So, what made you choose this Pomegranate puzzle?

Richard and I have done several beautiful Pomegranate puzzles. We enjoy the process of doing the puzzle more than seeing it complete because that means that the fun is over. We thought this puzzle would be more difficult, take us longer to complete, and therefore provide us with more entertainment. We have also seen many Jackson Pollock canvasses and looked forward to the close-up view that working on this puzzle would provide.

I have heard that this puzzle is a puzzle lover’s dream, but to a novice like me, the question is “Wahhh?! Where do I even start?!”

We always start by finding all of the edge pieces and putting them together first to create a "frame" for the finished puzzle. From there we sort the pieces into types by specific noticeable patterns or colors. (This is tedious, but really pays off when building the puzzle.) Sometimes color and pattern do not help. At those times we sort the puzzle pieces by shapes.

On this specific puzzle, the hardest part was after the frame was complete and we were faced with hundreds of pieces that all looked so much alike. We decided that the area closest to the frame would be easiest because it was mostly black and beige and had fewer other colors involved. This phase was the slowest, but as we worked, eliminating more and more pieces, it got easier and went much more rapidly.

Describe the moment you placed the last piece.

Finishing a puzzle is always bittersweet: We are pleased at the accomplishment, but sorry the fun and challenge is over!

What did you do with the completed puzzle?

We put it back in the box to do again sometime!

You’ve completed a bunch of our puzzles. Which have been your favorites so far?

I think we have done about 13 Pomegranate puzzles. Some of our favorites have been Van Gogh's Irises, Gustav Klimt’s Emilie Flöge, Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry, and this recent Jackson Pollock puzzle. Pomegranate puzzles are the best. They are the most beautiful and very high quality. We love getting such a close-up look at the artists' brush strokes and techniques. It changes our relationship with the art.

Like a true pro, Lynn documented her puzzle process. Get a peek at her puzzle-building strategy in action with these wonderful step-by-step photos:

Thank you, Lynn, for sharing your story! Now that we have proof that it can be done, who else is ready to take on the Ultimate Jigsaw Puzzle Challenge? ☺

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-05-13T11:45:00.000-07:00

A happy and safe Friday the 13th to everyone. Today's trivia question was selected from Superstitions: A Quiz Deck on Obscure Beliefs and Long-Lost Lore.

Q: True or false? It is bad luck to start anything on a Friday.

The backs of the cards in this quiz deck provide a selection of chronologically ordered quotations that document the history and development of the beliefs mentioned on the fronts of the cards. It's all

written and published in this deck. So while my boss may be out of the office today, and I might be more casually dressed than usual and listening to music a little louder than on most workdays—but I am getting my work done. It's this Knowledge Card that's telling you to put off your new projects until next week, not me.

A: True.

1830: Never begin any piece of work on a Friday. 1885: Fisherman would have great misgivings about laying the keel of a new boat on Friday. as well as launching one on that day. 1909: It is unlucky to start a new piece of work on Friday: 'A crow would not carry a straw to its nest on Friday.' 1933: My father once decided to start harvest on a Friday, and the men went out on the Thursday evening, and, unpaid, cut along one side of the first field with their scythes, in order to dodge the malign fate which a Friday start would begin. 1968: Never cast on knittin' on Fridays or you'll not finish it.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-05-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

A local blogger mentioned that May 5—besides being a widely misunderstood holiday—is Cartoonists Day, celebrated on the date that a cartoon was first published in color (in 1895). He also states that this week is known as Cartoon Art Appreciation Week. Both of these facts bring to mind one of the decks in our January 2011 release: Classic Comic Strips: A Quiz Deck.  

Researched and written by Don Root (a longtime contributing writer for Pomegranate as well as a former Pomegranate editor), Classic Comic Strips offers an almost academic look at the world of the comic strip, albeit through the eyes of a professor who's equal parts wise man and wise guy. As with many Pomegranate decks, the fronts of the cards list clues to someone's identity (in this case, a character from a comic strip).

Today’s example:

He’s a striped animal. 

He’s named after an English philosopher. 

He’s either animate or inanimate, depending upon who’s viewing him.  

Which comic-strip character is he? [1985–1995]  

The backs of the cards first name the comic strip and its author/artist and then identify the character and provide a whole lot more info.  

The answer: 

Calvin and Hobbes, created by Bill Watterson.

 He’s Hobbes, a stuffed tiger named after Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), and he’s animate when seen by six-year-old Calvin (named after French theologian John Calvin, 1509–1564) and inanimate when seen by others. This pair became one of history’s indelible comic-strip duos as together they illuminated the absurdities of life and the unbridled imagination of childhood with both laugh-out-loud humor and eye-welling poignancy. The strip’s only other major characters were Calvin’s parents, whose patience he often tested; besides Hobbes, Calvin had no real friends, but he lived a grand and glorious existence within his own creative mind. The strip’s huge popularity—it was syndicated in over 2,000 newspapers—led to constant calls for the production of commercial merchandise, which Watterson consistently fought. He also fought, with limited success, the reduction in space allotted to individual comic strips in newspapers, believing that comics were art that needed space to realize its potential.

Yo Mama!

2011-05-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

By Susan, production manager

American bison mother and calf at play
Photo © Suzi Eszterhas / Minden Pictures

As production manager, I have the pleasure of selecting the images for Pomegranate’s Sierra Club publications. I spend a lot of time before each release looking through the online archives of some of the world’s best wilderness and wildlife photographers. It’s always a great feeling to encounter photographs that capture animals in a truly intimate way.

I find these wonderful images through a process of culling from hundreds of submissions and sleuthing on my own. Either way, it’s so rewarding to come across images that I think would make a great notecard or themed notecard assortment. Take, for example, Pomegranate’s Mothers boxed notecard assortment.

Snowy plover mother and her chicks
Photo © Alfred and Fabiola Forns

If you think people tend to anthropomorphize our fellow members of the animal kingdom, maybe you’ll think again when you see the images in this Sierra Club notecard assortment. You’re likely to be reminded of your relationship with your own mom when you see these photos of moms with their young.

Mothers boxed notecards cover
Photo © Graham Love

It was a delightful experience reviewing many wonderful wildlife family portraits to come up with the four images selected for this collection.

I still smile each time I see the picture of the devoted lion cub embracing its wincing mother. This photograph won awards for British photographer Graham Love. One look and you’ll see why. Graham is more than a gifted photographer from across the pond—he’s a funny, warm person, like so many of the people who are drawn to wildlife photography.

Barbary macaque mother and infant
Photo © Cyril Ruoso / JH Editorial / Minden Pictures

Please don’t mention to my mother that she’s getting this notecard assortment for Mother’s Day! Check out all of our Sierra Club notecard assortments for the mothers you’d like to honor this year.

Happy Mother's Day!
~Susan

Knowledge Card Trivia: The Royal Wedding Edition

2011-04-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

By Stephanie, Associate Publisher

I recently took a trip to England, spending a wee bit of time in London with friends, followed by a beautiful stay in the Cotswolds and Bath, and ending the trip with more friends (and a pub crawl) in Colchester. But no matter where I was in the country, I couldn’t avoid the excitement surrounding Will & Kate. Exhibit A:

I tried to imagine a couple in the U.S. that would garner the same breaking-news attention about their cake baker (which admittedly, at first glance I thought it said “cake batter”…even more ridiculous!).

And then, exhibit B:

My goodness, I thought, they’ve put their picture on everything!

But then, it happened…I caved! As an avid tea-lover, I couldn’t resist this special edition Royal Wedding tea tin:

And once I gave in, there was no going back. Now that the day is finally here, you better believe that I have Tivo’d the entire thing to watch over the weekend while sipping my English breakfast tea (from my special edition tea tin, of course).

In honor of the royal nuptials, I present to you a special edition of our Knowledge Card Trivia, from Pomegranate’s The Queen’s English: A Smattering of Seemingly Nonsensical British Words and Phrases. Each of the 48 cards in the deck features a bewildering British colloquialism on one side, with its definition, origin, and equivalent in American slang on the backside. In this case, I have provided you with some example sentences pertaining to today’s big event:

diamond geezer (noun), as in:
Wow, Prince William is a diamond geezer!

U.S. translation: He’s a primo guy, number one in my book.
Definition: An excellent fellow, a sterling chap, a good man (1880s): in east London, the term applies to an especially stalwart or reliable person. Geezer may originate from the fifteenth-century word guiser, meaning mummer, or from the Basque giza, for man or fellow. As the gem of gems, diamond, when used as an adjective, connotes the best, something first rate.

*

clobber (also klobber) (noun), as in:
Get your clobber on; Will and Kate’s big day is finally here!

U.S. translation: Put on your best duds (or threads).
Definition: Clothes or belongings (c. 1850). Since 1870, the term has referred to new or quality clothes, dressing up in one’s finest—as in the phrase “dressed up to the nine’s” (i.e., to perfection), perhaps owing to nine’s status as a mystical number. Clobber’s etymology is unknown, but it may derive from the Hebrew klbr (which has been anglicized without vowels). Note that as a verb, the word means something entirely different: to clobber means to defeat or to attack verbally, as in “clobbered by the press” (c. 1955).

*

kerfuffle (noun), as in:
Royal smoyal…what’s all the kerfuffle?

U.S. translation: What’s all the whoop-de-doo?
Definition: A fuss, a row, a to-do, a commotion (c. 1939). The word is a variant of the Scottish curfuffle: cur–, perhaps from the Gaelic car (to twist or bend), and fuffle (to throw into chaos), presumably an onomatopoeic term suggesting disarray.

*

motley (noun), as in:
Ok, enough of the royal wedding commentary, on with the motley!

U.S. translation: Let’s get on with the show!
Definition: The varicolored costume of the jester, from the Middle English motteley. Thus, to “wear the motley” is to play the fool. “On with the motley” means to get on with the whole thing, to keep going despite difficulties or interruptions. The expression comes from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s 1892 opera I Pagliacci, uttered by the clown Canio, who feels his duty is to keep on amusing people even though his heart is broken. It is often said in mild desperation or resignation, as in “Oh well, I may as well get on with it.”

Me and Monet

2011-04-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

By Judy, editor

More than anything I must have flowers, always, always.

—Claude Monet

My Petaluma garden

Monet's Giverny garden (photo © Elizabeth Murray)

Sometimes it’s a nice flight of fancy to imagine you have something in common with one of your heroes. That’s the way it is with me and Monet. If you ignore our being born over a century apart on two different continents and Monet being an incomparable artist and me not much of a painter (a fine arts degree certainly doesn’t guarantee that!), you are left with—gardening! While I had always appreciated Monet’s art, I really came to feel a connection to the man when I learned about his passion for gardens and nature. Especially when I read that he considered his Giverny garden to be his greatest masterpiece.

Just like Monet, I love big
flowers like these hollyhocks.

Gardening has been a passion of mine since I was a little girl and would go with my dad to the nursery to buy flowers for our small yard. But since I became aware of Monet’s love of flowers, even the tiniest flower bed or container I design is done with his eye for color and texture in mind.

Imagine my delight a couple of years ago to be part of the team that produced our 20th anniversary edition of Elizabeth Murray’s book Monet’s Passion: Ideas, Inspiration & Insights from the Painter's Gardens. I spent months immersed in the project, imagining myself walking the paths of Monet’s Giverny gardens, the warm summer sun on my back, and luxuriating in the riot of flowers at every turn.

While editing the text, I was happily amused to learn that Monet, who so carefully planned his garden beds, choosing just the right combination of flower colors to create whatever themes he had in mind, nonetheless took great pleasure in the surprises that nature provided when plants would reseed in their haphazard way.

The ill-fated olive tree in happier days.

I, too, love to meticulously plot out color themes, but I can’t resist welcoming just about any plant that makes its way to my garden. That’s how I wound up with an olive tree that sprang up one year between an arbor and the fence. I knew it couldn’t stay in that tight space forever, and by the time I realized it was there it wasn’t possible to successfully transplant it, but I enjoyed it immensely over the years until the trunk grew so large that it began pushing the fence boards into the neighbors’ yard! I like to think that Monet would have kept that tree as long as possible, too.

Whether or not you’ve been tilling the soil all your life, you won’t find better inspiration for creating colorful gardens of timeless beauty than in Monet’s Passion. Now, if I only had a few acres . . . !

Although many birds visit my garden, this one never leaves
and seems happy next to this brilliantly hued penstemon.

Kaila, my garden's biggest fan!

Here are some great sites to learn more about gardening:

Organic Gardening (After all, Monet was an organic gardener.)

National Gardening Association

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Seed Savers Exchange

Happy gardening!
Judy

Our Friendly Customer Service Team

2011-04-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

Meet Tina, one of Pomegranate’s friendly voices in Customer Service. If you phone in and reach Tina, I guarantee that your experience will be a pleasurable one! Along with Pomegranate’s other Customer Service employees—Helena, Kristen, Denise, Jennifer, Delores, Karma, Esther, Pam, and Ellen—Tina can field an array of questions about product availability, shipping and handling, and wholesale inquiries.

In order to give Pomegranate customers the opportunity to get to know someone in Customer Service, I thought, “Why not interview one of our fabulous team members?” I picked Tina and I was pleased that she agreed to answer a few of my questions.

How would you describe yourself?

Tina: I’ve been told I’m a loving, personable, sweet lil’ gal with a big heart. I’ve noticed though that I’m a bit of a perfectionist (a true Virgo). I know I’m also reserved and conservative when it comes to certain things; laid back but somewhat of a worrywart, too.

All right, I have to ask, what types of issues worry you?

Tina: I know I shouldn’t worry or sweat the small stuff, but I’m like anyone else. I try not to think about where this world is going and if I’ll be able to raise my family in it. I know I have to regain my faith that all will turn out fine if I continue to work hard at doing my part. Like they say, “Live life to the fullest!”

Do you like talking on the phone?

Tina: Sometimes after work I don’t feel like talking on the phone after having my headset on most of the day. Depending on the situation and with whom I’m communicating, I’ll text or email if it’s not urgent.

Do you have any hobbies?

Tina: Last year, I started my own wedding planning venture with a good friend of mine. We’re finding so much joy in helping engaged couples’ dreams become reality. Some other hobbies include collecting shot glasses from all places and exploring my crafty side by scrapbooking and doing other projects. I also enjoy reading motivational books and articles that inspire me to be and do my best. There’s nothing like a good pick-me-up to encourage me to step out of my comfort zone and look toward achieving my goals.

Are you reading anything interesting now, or could you recommend something?

Tina: I’m reading a couple different books right now that are at my bedside. One that I can recommend that may change your whole life perspective is Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life. A great read!

Can you tell me what you find interesting, be it art, culture, space, etc.?

Tina: I find a lot of things interesting in this world . . . but music is what stands out for me, because it’s so diverse. You tune everything out to listen to a beat or lyrics . . . and the beauty of it is that it can take you to another level of awareness.

Do you have a favorite musician, band, or song?

Tina: No, I don’t play favorites. I can be listening to reggae, R&B, pop, rock, or some audio CD. I guess it depends what I’m in the mood for at that moment.

What about fine art: Can you tell me who your favorite artists are?

Tina: I’ve always liked Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings. And I saw them in restaurants and on a TV show before I even started working for Pomegranate. No one can depict an image of a flower better than Georgia O’Keeffe. There’s something so calming about her paintings.

Tell me how you find a solution to a difficult situation?

Tina: To make something simple from something difficult, brush it off and start over again. ☺

I love that answer! Let’s talk about Customer Service: How do you define going the extra mile for a customer? Can you give me an example of when you have done that?

Tina: We do our best to understand a customer’s situation and will go to great lengths to make sure an issue is resolved promptly or to ensure that the customer gets their product in a timely manner.

For example, we had a customer who did not receive her product in time due to an issue with one of our carriers. This customer desperately needed the items for an event that was happening that coming weekend. We normally wouldn’t ship an order out the same day, but she pleaded that she needed it even if she had to pay for expedited shipping. I got approval to go ahead. I took the small order, printed it, made sure all the info was correct, took it to the warehouse to pick it myself because our warehouse staff was super busy, and had one of the guys box it up for me. The customer called a couple days later to thank us for our excellent service . . . and she ordered again the following year for another event!

Can you describe what a customer can expect when calling Pomegranate’s Customer Service Department?

Tina: We know to treat our customers with respect and patience, because we represent a great company. We not only perform our day-to-day duties by assisting with calls and orders, but we make sure to manage accounts properly for our customers and sales representatives. It’s interesting to hear where they’re calling from and for them to find out they’re calling us here in northern California. Our Customer Service Department goes above and beyond what I’ve seen and heard at other places. And I can only hope we’ve done our part to make our customers satisfied. They know that they’ll be able to speak to a warm, friendly person who’s willing to serve . . . not an automated system!

Pomegranate's Customer Service Department

A few words from our Office Manager:

“Pomegranate’s Customer Service team thrives on making our customers happy and helping them out with all their needs. Tina and the rest of our Customer Service team enjoy connecting with our customers from all over the United States and the world. We get calls every day from our customers about how much they love Pomegranate and how well our products are selling at their stores. Our best feedback is, “Thank you for taking my call. I am so happy that I am talking to a real person!”

—Helena, Office Manager

Well, I feel like I know Tina and the Customer Service Department a little better now. I like knowing the people I work with, just as I’m sure you like to know something about the people you’re speaking with when you call us. You will always find a friendly voice on the other end of the line, as we like to think of our customers as part of the Pomegranate family!

Pomegranate publishes over 25 high-quality products—including art books, journals, notepads, jigsaw puzzles, and boxed notecards—that showcase many distinguished artists. I love working here; not just because of the friendly employees (that’s a given), but because of the art I’m surrounded with day in and day out. I like that Pomegranate publishes artwork by renowned artists from around the world and makes products that are affordable by the general public. What really matters to me most is that children get a glimpse of the artwork! If you have a minute, visit our online website and browse Pomegranate’s attractive line of publications.

Thanks, Tina, for giving me this interview. And a big thanks to our customers; Pomegranate couldn’t do it without you!

~ Monica

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-04-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Since today's date is usually synonymous with Tax Day, we fished the following quote from Words We Live By: A Quiz Deck on American Historical Documents, which Pomegranate published last year in cooperation with the National Archives.

“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

The front side of each card in this quiz deck contains a quote from an American historical document. The backs of the cards provide the sources plus well-researched and concise accounts of their origins.

Sixteenth Amendment: When conservatives in Congress proposed a constitutional amendment enacting a graduated federal income tax in 1909, their aim was to kill the idea of taxing the wealthy, believing that three-fourths of the states would never ratify an amendment to tax themselves. But Congress approved the bill in 1909, and the states ratified it by February 1915. In that year less than one percent of the population paid income tax, which the government assessed at just one percent of net income.

The Color of Memory

2011-04-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

Landscape of Taiwan

Sometimes a few years of your life take on a single color. Taiwan, that former province of China where I spent a few years after college, may well be as much grey cities as it is verdant mountains, but for me it will never be anything save green. That’s the green of moist forest that covers like a tablecloth all of the island’s wild parts from stony shore to lofty peaks. Three inches from the edge of any city—and often, unexpectedly, in the most forbiddingly concreted parts of downtown—the green erupts, occupying drains, rooftops, fields, slopes, riverbanks. A moment’s inattention and a three-story farmhouse gets swallowed up. Ferns, palms, vertiginous grasses, trees bearing mangos and papayas and bananas: so rich is the soil, so torrential the rains, that new leaves and shoots poke out as you watch.

That is why jade is for me the most Taiwanese, the most Chinese of stones, its liquid deep green depths conjuring the cool of forest. When Mao Zedong and the People’s Liberation Army drove the Nationalist forces out of mainland China, a stunning collection of imperial treasures in nearly twenty thousand crates, formerly in Beijing’s Forbidden City, ended up on a mountain just outside of Taipei. The National Palace Museum was where I first came to love jade; in the United States, one can hardly do better than visit San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, which has an excellent display of jades, ancient and modern.

One piece that manages to convey the marvelous sense of botanical calm is an eight-by-ten-inch carving made in the Qing dynasty (1644–1911): riders and porters move along mountain paths, in the shade of jade trees. The stone’s soft curves, the steep slope of the paths, the bends and efflorescences of shading trees merge in an equipoise of frozen motion. There’s a photograph of this piece in Pomegranate’s book of postcards The Art of China (shown above).

Jade occurs in a range of shades, from celadon to a Seven-Up bottle. There is even, I learned during a recent visit to Hong Kong, a yellow jade, just as seductive as its green sibling but not considered as well suited to adorning Chinese wrists, fingers, ears, throats. Some prefer the very pale jades, but I like something close to the color of deep forest, cool and bottomless.

Though I now live in Petaluma, California, and work at Pomegranate as an editor, my thoughts often stray to Taiwan, and my fascination with East Asian culture draws me to projects at work related to Japan and China.

Sam

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-04-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

April is National Poetry Month, so today’s trivia entry is a quotation from Poet’s Corner: A Quiz Deck of Eloquent Excerpts. The front of one card carries this excerpt:

I see only a summer’s
transparency, I sing nothing but wind,
while history creaks on its carnival floats
hoarding medals and shrouds
and passes me by, and I stand by myself
in the spring, knowing nothing but rivers.

The backs of the cards in this quiz deck reveal the title of the poem, the name of the poet, and a brief biographical sketch:

Source of quote: “Pastoral” (1961), translated by Ben Belitt
Name of poet: Pablo Neruda (Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto)Years of life: 1904–1973
Life sketch: The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda created an immense, heroic, prophetic, romantic, and moving universe of words. He alientaed some with his radical socialist politics—including the Chilean government, which expelled and exiled him between 1936 and 1952—but the essential strength and humanity of his poetry, especially in such masterworks as Residencia en la tierra (Residence on Earth) (1933) and Canto general (1950), were unquestionable. Accepting the Nobel Prize in literature in 1971, Neruda said, “All roads lead to the same point: to the communication of who we are.”

Notes from the Publisher: Bricks and Mortar: Good Stuff

2011-04-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

The New Yorker 6/9/2008 cover by Adrian Tomine [via]

Friends visited from out of town recently, and the subject of e-tail and e-books came up, in regard to the diminishing retail landscape and specifically, what happens when there are no more bookstores?

It’s not a future I want, though I have nothing against e-tail or e-books. But the experience of visiting a good shop, and browsing, and coming across things you would otherwise never come across, cannot be duplicated online.

Lots of people visit their local shops, make notes, and order things online because they can get them cheaper. Stores are serving as showrooms, and—guess what?—they can’t stay in business that way.

So, here are my two cents on the subject: if you have to have something right away, and you know exactly what it is (like a book on the arrangement of molecules in prairie grass species), sure, get it online. But if you can afford to pay full price—which gets you the pleasure of being out in your community, being turned on to new things, and supporting your local businesses which in turn ensure a thriving community—do.

To locate bookstores in your area, visit the Indie Store Finder.

Pomegranate Staff Picks: Puzzles!

2011-04-04T12:58:00.000-07:00


Our current lunchroom challenge: Maxfield Parrish Jigsaw Puzzle (AA314)

It’s puzzle mania at the Pomegranate headquarters! It all started when someone set out Christopher Marley’s Beautiful Beetles 300-piece puzzle (JK004) in our lunchroom, and it wasn’t long before we graduated to our more challenging 1,000-piece puzzles, like Norman Rockwell’s The Connoisseur (AA651). Now staff members always have a jigsaw puzzle in process. In January, we also published our first four block puzzles.

With all the recent puzzle excitement, we asked our staff to recommend their favorite Pomegranate puzzle or one they hope to complete soon:

As a big fan of Chuck Close, I've tried the Chuck Close block puzzle (PB003), and it is wonderfully challenging. The assortment contains six of his fascinating self-portraits painted over nearly thirty years. —Susan, production

Jackson Pollock’s Convergence (AA558): Not that I would ever attempt it, but a friend who is a puzzle maniac said it is the best puzzle he's ever done and I believe him. My grandsons and I prefer PomegranateKids 300-piece puzzles, and the next one on our list is Kathy DeZarn Beynette’s Lions (JK010). —Ronni, design

Robert Bissell’s The Kiss (JK002): I plan on buying this for Easter Sunday to keep the teenagers busy while the adults are chatting around the dinner table. Puzzles are great for family holiday gatherings. I bought Charley Harper’s Biodiversity in the Burbs (JK006) for Christmas, and the kids (9–17 years old) loved working on it! —Helena, customer service

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pencils (AA253): Pencils have so much character, even without a canvas. —Marshall, design

I have so many favorites, I don’t know where to start! Looking through our titles, I have to mention B. Kliban’s PoolCat (JK001). It reminds me of the time my family went boating and we discovered our cat, Rocky, hiding on our boat. At the time, we were on the middle of the lake. Once he realized where he was, he wasn't relaxed like the cat in this jigsaw puzzle! —Monica, production

After our long rainy season, Beth Van Hoesen's Bouquet with Iris (AA620) looks really appealing: a welcome reminder of spring. I also love the colors in Van Gogh's Irises (AA331) and Tiffany's Butterfly Window (AA316). How to choose? —Pat, editorial

I really enjoyed taking part in putting together Charley Harper’s Glacier Bay, Alaska (AA639). There are so many little details in the puzzle, with animals and creatures popping out from all sides! —Tina, customer service

Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire: Consummation (AA667): The detail on this painting is just amazing to me, and I can’t wait to try and put it together. I cannot imagine how cool it would be to see the real thing in person. —Darius, sales

Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire: Consummation (AA667) is definitely my favorite. The colors are fun and uplifting, and the picture is happy. I need to stay happy when I am doing a puzzle. Admittedly, it is an image I don’t understand. I am not sure if my attraction to this image is a result of my hedonic nature, but I have to say I like the pink and gold a lot. —Gina, design

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel Peacock Carpet (AA674) is a beautiful design and looks really fun to put together with all the different colors and shapes. —Karma, customer service

David Sheskin's Jungle Beasts (JK003): Speckled parrots, purple elephants, and Kool-Aid colored fish . . . what’s not to like?! I've a kiddos birthday party to attend next week, and I'm pretty sure this puzzle will be attending! —Stephanie, design

I can’t seem to get away from our puzzles! Last weekend I finished Carl Larsson’s Crayfishing (AA409), which depicts an idyllic scene of his family beside a pond, or perhaps a slow-moving river. The painting takes one back to what I like to think of as a simpler time. Besides, Larsson is one of my all-time favorite artists. I just love his use of color. —Judy, editorial

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Close’s portraits in person a number of times and the detail in his work is a lesson in patience! This Chuck Close puzzle (AA673) requires a lot of patience too, but what a joy to examine all the little squares up close (no pun indented!). —Stephanie, production

There are so many that I love. But the next two I will probably purchase as gifts will be Charles Russell’s In Without Knocking (AA621) for my brother-in-law, who always has a puzzle going and is a huge fan of the Old West. The other will be Giovanni Paolo Panini’s Interior of St. Peter’s, Rome (AA640) for my brother, James F. Lorigan, who is the director of an art school and an artist. He visited Rome many years ago and has never forgotten St. Peter’s. —Ellen, customer service

I like the Arcimboldo block puzzle (PB002), because the artwork is fascinating and really challenging to piece together if you don’t look at the finished pictures first. —Pamela, customer service

I can't wait to work on Alexis Rockman’s Biosphere: Hydrographers Canyon (AA663), because Rockman's painting is so unusual. It is a view to the bottom of a deep undersea canyon—which resembles an interstellar galaxy—through the translucent bodies of many otherworldly sea creatures. —Rachel, editorial

I’m knocked out by Alexis Rockman’s Biosphere: Hydrographers Canyon (AA663), because it reminds me of the great psychedelic art we used to enjoy about forty years ago. But with its solid basis in science and environmental studies—and the marvelous artwork—this painting is as contemporary as can be. —Paul, shipping

Sierra Club’s Sea Otter (SC0405) is a delight! —Matthew, editorial

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-03-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

Birds are singing, trees are budding with new growth, and recently bloomed bottlebrush flowers are abuzz with hummingbirds and bees. Ahh, to paraphrase Alfred, Lord Tennyson: In the spring a middle-aged man's fancy turns lightly to baseball.

To mark Opening Day of the 2011 season of Major League Baseball, this week's question comes from our quiz deck What Do You Know About Baseball?

In how many different ways can a batter reach base?

A. Eight

B. Seven

C. Six

D. Ten

E. None of the above

Answer:

D. The ten ways of getting on base include four hits—single, double, triple, and home run. A batter may also reach base on a walk or a dropped third strike; by catcher interference, fielder error, or fielder’s choice; or by being hit with a pitch.

En Plein Air: Landscapes by Jack Stuppin

2011-03-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

Jack Stuppin is represented by ACA Galleries, est. 1932, 529 West 20th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011 Tel: 212.206.8080

The landscape paintings of Jack Stuppin (American, b. 1933) balance a respect for nature with an equal regard for creativity. Though often endowed with graceful curves beneath skies of blue, Stuppin’s compositions are no idyllic odes. Within them, nature is beautiful yet unusual: brilliant hues blaze across hillsides, waves and cliffs may mimic each other, and occasionally clouds seem to have minds of their own.

—Excerpt from the insert for Pomegranate’s Songs of the Earth: Jack Stuppin boxed notecard set

When viewing Jack Stuppin’s artwork, I get the sense that the colors he chooses make the paintings come alive. To me, his scenery seems like a magical place where treasures are hidden. I get an urge to step inside the painting and explore the landscape to find those riches, knowing all along that they are right there before my eyes.

Below is a photograph Jack took of a hill at Pepperwood Preserve, where he has set up his easel to paint many times. These hills are located in a nature preserve at the southern end of California’s North Coast Ranges, between the world-renowned Sonoma and Napa valleys.

Photograph courtesy Jack Stuppin

I’ve seen this type of hill often during family outings in different seasons and on trips to Lake Sonoma in the summer. I’ll tell you! From now on when I look at these mountains, I’ll think of Jack’s paintings and how wonderful they really are.

I recently heard Jack say, “Paint what you see in yourself.” That comment made me want to know more about what Jack saw in himself. What emotions does Jack have when painting? What brings him back to those hills again and again? What inspired him to begin his passionate journey as a painter?

So I contacted Jack to ask these questions:

Jack’s response: My paintings are an emotional and subconscious response to nature; they are also a plea for environmental awareness. Instead of the usual understanding of reality, I use a poetical interpretation of the landscape to achieve an emotional veracity.

Other than experiencing the joy of the process, what I hope to achieve is to have those who look at my work experience a surprise in which my emotional reality replaces their previous view of the landscape, and in doing so they experience, with pleasure, a new way of seeing. I attempt to achieve this reaction by creating an unexpected tension between both colors and forms.

How old were you when you started to paint?

Jack: I started as a child with drawing lessons when I was around 11 years old. I received a set of oil paints. I then copied six paintings my grandfather had brought back from Cuba. They were marine scenes with sailboats. All the subsequent art instruction I received did not teach “how to do it”; however, it did make sure that I learned the nature of the materials. Most importantly, I was always challenged to be creative and unique.

Were you fascinated with nature at an early age?

Jack: I grew up where there were unspoiled forests, open fields, and some dramatic views of a river or lakes. I spent many days of my childhood exploring and playing in the woods.

It seems to me you have a vast connection to your surroundings when painting.

Jack: When painting, I feel very connected to and a part of nature. Having studied some geology, I think of the landscape as being kinetic. My paintings are instilled with a sense of movement.

Do you find that there are better times to paint during the day?

Jack: The time of day is not something I try to capture; most of my paintings are as if it were high noon. Sometimes, I have shadows going in different directions. My colors may or may not actually be there; if they are not there, they should be.

Can you tell me what en plein air means and a little bit about the Sonoma Four?

Jack: The term is French and means, “in the open air.” The Sonoma Four—Bill Morehouse, Tony King, Bill Wheeler, and myself—started to paint outdoors with each other in 1989. After several years of painting together, . . . we all looked at each other's work. [We had] very different styles of painting the same scene. This difference helped to create an interest in our work. We began to get shows in very prestigious galleries. In 1992 we painted our way across America; the work from this trip was exhibited in New York. Morehouse passed on before that exhibition. Then, Jerry Ballaine painted with the group for several years. [Each one of] the new group of four . . . spent a week painting on the Farallon Islands. The paintings produced there were shown in a San Francisco museum. [Since] that show in 1997, we rarely and only on occasion paint together.

Photograph courtesy Jack Stuppin

Jack has painted many landscapes in Sonoma County, New Mexico, and the northeastern United States. Just as the landscape changes before his eyes, so does the painting in progress, and so do the emotions within. Painting en plein air—outdoors in the natural light, “in the open air”—marries what the artist perceives with how he or she feels.

Frequently Jack paints outdoors and then brings the work into his studio, where he recreates the painting on a much larger scale and adds brilliant color to bring the scene to life once again.

Photograph courtesy Diane Tajuddin

Visit Jack’s website to view several very interesting videos and interviews (http://www.jackstuppin.com) and to indulge in the fanciful colors of his landscape art. I can guarantee you’ll enjoy your visit to his online gallery.

2012 Jack Stuppin Wall Calendar available mid-July 2011

Noted Public Collections:

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, San Francisco, CA 
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA 
Fine Arts Museums of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM 
United States Department of State, Art in Embassies Program 
Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christie, TX 
Sonoma County Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, CA 
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA 
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH 
Luther Burbank Center (now known as Wells Fargo Center of the Arts), Santa Rosa, CA 
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA 
Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Stinson Beach, CA 
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT 
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, CA 
New Britain Museum of Art, New Britain, CN 
de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA

Photograph courtesy Jack Stuppin

These paintings are now in the collection of the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA. (Photograph taken at the Los Angeles Art Show, 2006.)

Thank you, Jack, for sharing your experience of being a painter with me and with fans of Pomegranate. I especially enjoyed learning how you mix emotions together with skillful painting technique to produce your richly textured and colorful landscapes. It really was a pleasure to interview you!
~ Monica

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-03-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

In celebration of all things Irish, this week's trivia entry comes from our deck What Happened Here? Ireland with text by Jack Van Zandt.

Q: What Happened Here?: Saul, Downpatrick, County Down, March 17, 461

A: St. Patrick, Ireland’s primary patron paint, died in his hideaway near the County Down monastery he founded.

Born in Wales around 389, a native of Roman Britain, Patrick was abducted at the age of sixteen and taken to Ireland, where he worked as a shepherd in County Antrim. He escaped after six years and made his way to Europe, where he became a pupil of St. Germanus. Made bishop in 431, Patrick was charged with the conversion of all Ireland to Christianity. Patrick established monasteries all over the island. The shamrock became the symbol of Ireland in later years owing to Patrick’s use of its three leaves to illustrate the concept of the Trinity. As for ridding the island of snakes, there is no evidence to suggest that they ever existed in Ireland.

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held on March 17, 1762, in New York by Irish soldiers in the British Army, leading the way to the modern world’s celebratory day.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-03-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

Q: Why do women wear engagement rings on the third finger of the left hand?

RSVP: Etiquette Through the Ages, one of our newest decks of Knowledge Cards (from the January 2011 release), was produced in cooperation with the Library of Congress. This entertaining collection of helpful hints addresses social mores and behavioral niceties from ancient Egyptian times to the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century.

A: The theory is that before humans understood the circulatory system, the ancient Greeks and Romans believed that a vein in the left finger next to the pinky led directly to the heart (this fictional vein was later dubbed the “vena amoris”). Thus, wearing a ring on this finger symbolized the wearer’s love and heartfelt commitment to her partner. Many materials have been used for engagement rings, including grasses, leather, and stone. Shaping materials into a circle suggested an unending, eternal connection. In Roman times, iron was often used for betrothal rings, but preference has gradually shifted to gold, silver, and precious gemstones—particularly diamonds. After marriage, many women also wear wedding rings on this finger, and it has become common for men to wear a wedding band as well. Although in some countries wedding rings are worn on the right hand, in many others, including the United States, it is still customary to wear them on the left hand.

Memory Games

2011-03-03T16:36:00.000-08:00

Kids and adults love our Memory Games! But don't take our word for it–consult an expert. . .

Art & Intellect for Kids Intersect With This New Twist on the Memory Game

Educational Games

My Triplet Teens Play Hieroglyphs A to Z, A New Memory Card Game from Pomegranate Communications
iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

Don't Miss the Pomegranate Game

GIVEAWAY Contest Link Below This Post

Since the 1960s, when the Original Memory Game was first introduced by the Milton Bradley Company -- a brand now under the Hasbro umbrella -- generations of kids have experienced this popular past time published by various companies. As a Baby Boomer myself, I’d be willing to bet that more often than not, other American kids of my age group also remember playing the original version of this game with their family and friends.

Fast forward to today. Pomegranate, one of the most respected museum publishers in the world, is successfully marketing a wonderful twist on the classic with the Pomegranate Kids Memory Game line. Currently there are 4 products in this category – varying widely on subject matter, with more in production and scheduled for release in May. Yet, all their games have one thing in common: that they are both educational and entertaining.

My kids and I were thrilled to have the opportunity to try not one, but two games from the eclectic Pomegranate Memory Game collection for this review. Both are pictured here: Hieroglyphs from A to Z and Christopher Marley’s Incredible Insects.

iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

Like the original concept, the object of each Pomegranate memory game is to turn over pairs of matching cards, with the person ending up with the most pairs as the winner. Part of the appeal of this sort of card game is that it can be played both with any number of players or alone. Also, it’s well suited to children as young as 3 years old through adult – making it a wonderful activity for multiple generations to play together.

In addition to playing the standard memory game as described above, you can also play this quite a few different other ways.

A few ideas for game variations:

Spaghetti: Same rules as the standard memory game, except that cards are not laid out in neat rows. This makes it much harder to remember which card is where.
Match by Color: Instead of making pairs with two cards that have the same exact image, any two cards that include the same color count as a match. This isn’t as easy as it sounds because you really need to pay attention to details.
Two Decks: For a much longer game, use two boxes of the same set of memory game cards and shuffle them. Then, play like the card game Go Fish, with the object being to get 4 of a kind.

My Family, Lower Front Corner Foreground at the British Museum in London last summer

iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

Before the Pomegranate shipment arrived, I predicted that our kids (triplets, almost 14, and their big brother 15) would probably like the hieroglyphs game better than the insects one. I based this on the assumption that they’re teens and are already familiar with Egyptian hieroglyphs as well as ancient Native American rock art known as petroglyphs and pictograms, having seen examples of each at museums and/or in National Parks.

Actually, our family has viewed quite a few fine examples of hieroglyphs, in particular, at such world-class museums as the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the British Museum. In fact, I remember seeing some Pomegranate products in both of these museum gift shops on recent visits.

A Selection of Cards from Hieroglyphs from A to Z Memory Game

iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

The Hieroglyphs A to Z Memory Game ($13.95) includes 52 Egyptian-motif illustrated alphabet cards plus a 40-page booklet. The latter was quite informative, going into some detail encouraging kids to compare the picture they see on the card with what the actual hieroglyph looks like in the booklet. This game is based on the best selling book by the same name, authored by Peter Der Manuelian, Ph.D. (Pomegranate 2009). According to The Harvard Crimson, Dr. Der Manuelian -- Harvard’s first Egyptology professor in over 60 years – originally grew intrigued by the splendor of ancient Egypt in a fourth grade history class.

Christopher Marley’s Incredible Insects Memory Game (also $13.95) features 72 cards and a 40-page booklet to go with it. Working in 36 of designer Marley’s exotic insect photos from his book Pheromone (Pomegranate 2008), it includes the most colorful display of beetles, butterflies, moths, damselflies, weevils, and other bugs I have ever seen in one collection. According to Marley, who works out of The Pheromone Gallery in Salem, Oregon, pheromones are chemical stimulants that insects in nature release to attract one another. The story of how the designer's fascination with bugs as his life work began seems amazing, considering how much he feared creepy crawlies as a kid.

After playing this pair of games and learning more about the great minds that inspired them, I could easily see why intellectually curious kids and adults might enjoy these cultural gems. Clearly, both Pomegranate products improve memory skills, but they also will lead anyone who plays with them to acquire knowledge in a really fun way.

The other thing I really like as a parent is that both games I reviewed are really ideal for traveling because they are compact and portable. The rectangular prism-shaped box measures just 4-1/4" x 3" making them a great muse for our family vacations, both road trips and travel abroad. But when pressed to choose a favorite between the two, the consensus at our house was that Incredible Insects had the greater appeal to us.

iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

Then, I asked why. Our youngest triplet – the most articulate of my kids -- says, “I liked Christopher Marley’s game better because the photos of the insects almost seem to come to life since they are so colorful.”

He continues, “Until now, I’d never seen most of these awesome insects, nor did I know that they even existed. For example, it was so interesting to learn about the Jewel Beetle. When we looked that one up in the little book that comes in the game's box, I was blown away to find out that there are 15,000 different species of just this one bug that live in such far away places as Indonesia, Australia, and New Guinea.”

“The Walking Leaves bugs also seem almost unreal,” he adds. “It’s hard to believe there’s an insect like that which could easily be mistaken for a leaf!”

I guess my kids are just more interested in things they've had little exposure to -- rather than something they know quite a bit about already. For sure, Christopher Marley's images have really gotten the kids all excited about entomology (and world geography), inspiring them to seek out more facts about these exotic bugs at both the library and online.

Pomegranate Memory Game

GIVEAWAY Contest

About Pomegranate

Pomegranate Communications is a leading museum publisher, producing fine art, contemporary illustration, and photography in a vast array of high-quality, affordable products. In addition to the Pomegranate Kids Memory Games collection, offerings include 4,500 other published art and educational items, such as calendars, puzzles, cards, books, posters, and more. Products may be purchased online direct from Pomegranate; select items are also available elsewhere online and at book, better gift, and museum shops around the world.

FTC Disclosure: Pomegranate Communications provided the two games in this product review as well as providing the prize for the associated giveaway that links to this post. MommyBlogExpert did not receive any payment or other compensation related to this post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.

Dont forget to visit Mommyblogexpert.com and leave a comment for a chance to win one of our four Memory Games. Just click on the word GIVEAWAY.

Thanks Janis!

Notes from the Publisher: Architecture

2011-02-22T10:49:00.000-08:00

I have a 45-minute commute to work each morning. It’s a pleasant drive, heading in the opposite direction of the major traffic flow, taking me through pretty vistas of homes, hillsides, fields, cows, and plenty of sky. This morning while I was driving I suddenly noticed what I thought was a brand-new crop of condominiums. I wondered, When did they get there?, while noticing how well they fit into the surrounding landscape. Tastefully done.

This brought to mind the very basic fact that well-designed, creative, beautiful, and useful architecture is vital to our culture, and how I wish it was talked about more in junior high and high schools, let alone universities. It is easy to notice the eyesores and the structures that are trying too hard to be unique. But we need to be taught how to appreciate artfully designed buildings that provide shelter in pleasing, enriching ways.

I’ll be in New York a couple of times this year, and I’m looking forward to walking around with my face tilted up, trying not to bump into other pedestrians as I discover more extraordinary buildings and try to articulate to myself what makes them extraordinary. It’s a natural thing to do in the big city; I need to do more of it in my home environs.

Image from Vestie Davis: New York City Boxed Notecards

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-02-18T10:41:00.000-08:00

In recognition of Black History Month, this week's entry comes from our Black Film quiz deck.

Q: In the decades before Barack Obama made history in 2008, Hollywood had produced a number of films in which a black actor played the president of the United States. Can you name any?

A: Head of State (2003). Comedian Chris Rock wrote, directed, and stars as Mays Gilliam, the D.C. alderman with street “cred” tossed into the presidential race as a sacrificial lamb.

Deep Impact (1998). Morgan Freeman stars as Tom Beck, a sound and calming commander in chief with an outer-space mission to save the world.

The Fifth Element (1997). A professional wrestler turned actor, Tommy “Tiny” Lister stars as Galactic President Lindberg in a 23rd-century sci-fi fantasy.

The Man (1972). When a series of tragedies occurs, James Earl Jones moves from senator to president in an unlikely fluke of succession.

Rufus Jones for President (1933). A fantasy satire on politics, starring the pint-sized, seven-year-old Sammy Davis Jr. in his first screen appearance.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-02-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

Today is the initial day of SF Beer Week! To get the sudsy celebration started, here’s a question from our What’s On Tap? quiz deck:

Why is Russian imperial stout perfect for Northern California?

What’s On Tap? was written by Jeff Burkhart, a wine & spirits writer as well as a top-notch local bartender. Here's his answer to the question:

Imperial Russia maintained fur-trading outposts along California’s North Coast until 1841. (A surviving fort, Fort Ross, is about an hour north of San Francisco.) When California’s tiny North Coast Brewing Company in Fort Bragg decided to start making stout, they paid homage to this connection. First, they named the stout after the monk Rasputin, whose erratic foibles contributed to the fall of the last Russian tsar. Second, they made it in a style popularized by Tsarina Catherine the Great. She developed a taste for an English barleywine-type ale and had it imported for court consumption; it became known as Russian imperial stout. It differs from traditional stout in that it has a much higher alcohol content, is matured in wood, and can keep up to 7 years. Old Rasputin stout—with a whopping 9 percent alcohol—is rich and complex and has won several gold medals and awards throughout the United States.

Valentine Treats

2011-02-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

Image via bigelowteablog

Truth be told, two of my favorite things are Valentine’s Day and a good cup of tea. I love the excuse to celebrate my loved ones, and to me, there’s just nothing better on a chilly day than a big cup of English Breakfast tea with generous helpings of cream and sugar.

So when I picked up our Taking Tea with Mackintosh boxed notecards the other day, they gave me an idea. The notecards feature designs created by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928) and his wife, artist and designer Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, for Catherine Cranston’s late-nineteenth-century tea rooms in Scotland. The back of each card includes a traditional tea room recipe (oatcakes, Scotch pancakes, perkins, and shortbread) from Perilla Kinchin’s book Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston’s Tea Rooms.

This Valentine’s Day, why not plan a cozy tea-for-two (or more), complete with this recipe for perkins—plump gingery biscuits (cookies) with a bit of oatmeal in them. It’s hard to resist homemade Valentine treats, especially when they fill your home with that just-baked cookie aroma and you’re enjoying them with that special someone!

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Scottish, 1868–1928)

The Wassail (detail), 1900
One of three panels for the Ladies Luncheon Room,

PERKINS (also known as parkins)

2 c. all-purpose flour
1⅓ c. oatmeal
1 (scant) c. sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
2½ tsp. ginger
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. allspice
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ c. butter (1 stick)
1 egg, beaten
6 T light corn syrup
almonds, whole or halved

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a baking sheet. Combine the dry ingredients. With your fingers, work in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs, or mix in a food processor. Add the beaten egg and syrup and mix to form a dough. Roll the dough into balls the size of golf balls. Put an almond on each and flatten slightly. Bake about 15 minutes on prepared baking sheet. Makes about 30 biscuits.

❤

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-02-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

Q: What is a blizzard?

With sympathy and best wishes to all of you currently affected by wintry weather, this week’s entry comes from Weather, a quiz deck we published in cooperation with the knowledgeable folks at Scientific American.

A: A blizzard is a storm characterized by extreme cold, winds 35 mph or greater, and enough falling and/or blowing snow in the air to reduce visibility to a quarter-mile or less, for a duration of at least three hours.

A “severe” blizzard will have temperatures near or below 10 F°, winds that exceed 45 mph, and visibility reduced to near zero.

Introducing PomegranateKid’s Newest Product: Block Puzzles

2011-02-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

Here in the Pomegranate offices, we get very excited anytime a new category is added to our ever-expanding list of publications. With the arrival of our brand-new block puzzles this month, I found myself not being able to resist the urge to put them all together.

Each puzzle comprises twelve 2” square blocks that can be turned and flipped to create six different paintings. Our first four block puzzles feature the artwork of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Gene Davis, Vincent van Gogh, and Chuck Close.

Putting the Giuseppe Arcimboldo block puzzle together was hilarious! Arcimboldo (Italian, 1527–1593) made portraits of fanciful human-like heads composed of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other objects. His combinations of plant elements always yield startling results, whether or not the blocks are correctly lined up.

The Gene Davis block puzzle is all about multicolor stripes, which makes sense because Davis (American, 1920–1985) is best known for his acrylic paintings of sharply contrasting vertical color. Repeated across the puzzle blocks, the dark- and light-colored stripes create a sense of rhythm. This puzzle seemed harder to put together than the others, because the artwork is abstract. There are no representational images to help you along.

Because the paintings used in the Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890) and Chuck Close (American, b. 1940) block puzzles are self-portraits, you can watch these artists change clothing (in Van Gogh’s case) or change age (in Chuck Close’s case) before your eyes as you turn the puzzle blocks. Both Van Gogh and Close painted themselves numerous times in very similar poses, so completing their puzzles is largely about figuring out which clothing and painting strokes belong to which self-portraits.

As managing editor, working on these new block puzzles was lots of fun and yielded some very unexpected results. For example, while editing the text for the Chuck Close puzzle, I learned something astounding about this artist.

Although most humans are hardwired to recognize faces, Chuck Close has an impairment called prosopagnosia, or “face blindness,” and was born without that capability. Ironically, Close is best known for his many large and meticulously painted portraits and self-portraits. Close’s portraits are made up of small square paintings that, on their own, resemble abstract shapes. However, when the viewer pulls back from the painting the whole face is revealed.

Chuck Close’s disability was described on the National Public Radio show Fresh Air. In an interview with the show’s host, Terry Gross, neurologist and author Oliver Sacks—who also was born with prosopagnosia—explained:

“Chuck Close has face blindness very severely . . . and he says that he never knows whom he is with. This . . . incites his extraordinary art, or plays a part here, because for him a face is only recognizable when it is as flat and fixed as a photograph in two dimensions and when it can then be isolated into little portions or pixels.”

I find this detail about Chuck Close’s life both shocking and fascinating . . . and it shines a light on his artistic technique and choice of subjects.

But back to the task at hand: Putting together our new block puzzles was a delightful challenge—one that I imagine art lovers of all ages would enjoy. PomegranateKids plans to publish more block puzzles this spring, and we’re designing other kid-friendly products for future releases.

Knowledge Card Trivia

2011-01-27T16:23:00.000-08:00

Today is the birthday of a very celebrated author who once said, “There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.” To find out who, here’s a clue from our just-released Who Am I? A Name Game of Literary Stars KC deck:

I was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson on January 27, 1832, in Daresbury, Cheshire, England.

In addition to being an author, I was a mathematician and an Anglican deacon. I am most famous for a story about a girl to whom I may, or may not have, had an unusual attachment.

See the answer after the jump . . .

And the answer is:

Lewis Carroll

Alice Liddell would come to dominate Lewis Carroll’s life. Aside from his masterpiece, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its 1871 sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, few could name any of his other works. But sometimes one story is enough.

Alice’s story began in 1862 when Carroll took a boat trip with the three young daughters (including Alice) of Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. Carroll was then an Anglican deacon (sworn to never marry) and for young Alice he designed a fabulous tale about a little girl’s fantastic journey underground. It was an immediate hit.

Today some controversy surrounds Carroll, thanks to a life seemingly devoid of adult female relationships and his penchant for arguably semi-erotic child photography. But Carroll was a complicated man, evidenced by his choice of pen name. In Latin his first two given names would read: “Ludovicas Carolus”, or, in anglicized form: Lewis Carroll.

Notes from the Publisher: New in the Old

2011-01-26T16:57:00.000-08:00

I was looking through Pheromone by Christopher Marley the other day. We published this coffee-table book in 2008, chock-full of the amazing designs Chris creates using bugs, butterflies, and moths. I’ve looked through this book countless times since we published it, because I have chosen many of its images for other Pomegranate publications (notecards, notepads, puzzles, etc.).

So how is it that I came across several designs that I had no memory of seeing before? Easy: with this many visual treats in one place, one can take in only so much.

I think the same is true of great literature; one read doesn’t reveal everything. It’s a joy to go back to favorite books, whether to feast on images or delight in language. It’s not all about what happens at the end; it’s about the new discoveries you make getting there. We travel back to favorite places all the time; old books are other favorite places, filled with familiar comforts and new perceptions.

I was given a framed needlepoint as a child, which still hangs in my home today:

Bon voyage!