Back issues are just $10 through Monday.

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Look at all the work I've done over the years! How time flies when you keep yourself passionately busy. 

All of my babies are available to enjoy while inventory lasts (issue 10 and 11 are running low at this point). On sale for just $10 apiece until end of day Monday, I'd suggest getting one of each. Subscribe starting with #23, the current issue, and you'll be all set for an inspired year ahead.

p.s. Use the code "thankyou" for another $15 off orders over $80.

Alberta Magazine Awards

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Thursday night was an exciting evening for the magazine industry in Alberta—the annual awards dinner celebrating the best in publishing, writing and design was held in Calgary. I had already been informed that I was the recipient the Alberta Magazine Awards' Editor of the Year. It was a surprise to also pick up a gold for Best Art Direction for a Single Issue (for collage-themed issue #18, cover by Sarah Bridgland) and the final award of the night Magazine of the Year! It is an honour to have UPPERCASE recognized in this way; there are so many quality publications being produced in this province. I'll paste my Editor of the Year acceptance speech below....

Thank you very much to Suzanne and Rebecca and the AMPA team for championing UPPERCASE and supporting me. 

As a graphic designer with no formal education in writing or editing, being an editor is a skill that I have picked up in practical ways over the years: first through observation and learning through book and magazine projects that I did as a freelancer. There, I picked up the techniques of editing manuscripts by being the person who had to input all those little revisions to grammar and punctuation. As the curator and designer of UPPERCASE magazine, I am honing my organizational, editorial and curatorial skills and learning by just diving head first into whatever task is at hand. 

If I were to edit the title “editor of the year” I would rename it to “multi-tasker of the year”. As publisher, editor, designer, subscription manager with a whole host of other responsibilities, it is nice that all this hard work is recognized my AMPA and my peers. Thank you to Nikki Sheppy and Sharon McIntyre for their wonderful letters of support following my nomination for this award.

I have the pleasure of collaborating with great writers, photographers and illustrators from around the world for each issue. Thanks to my core contributors and freelancers who always deliver beyond what I ask.

I’d like to acknowledge Erin Bacon, a vital part of the UPPERCASE family. She is a great support and handles marketing, publicity and whatever else that needs to get done.

I’d like to thank my family — my husband Glen Dresser for his continued support of everything that I do and being so understanding of how consuming UPPERCASE can be — and to my son Finley who is wonderful in all ways and inspires me every day.

featured stockist: Kinokinuya NYC

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A thrilling moment, to see UPPERCASE so prominently featured in Kinokinuya's New York store.

 Kinokinuya. For those of you who have been to one of their US locations, the name is enough to conjure visions of book heaven and washi-tape wishes. I go to their San Francisco store anytime I'm in that city and I've been to the Seattle location, too... but NYC is now top on my list... why? Because I got to see UPPERCASE magazine amongst all the amazing books that I admire and covet. A dream come true.

And here is The Suitcase Series: Camilla Engman translated into Japanese and published by Graphic-sha! It was nestled with all my favourite Japanese lifestyle books and looked right at home. The Suitcase Series was inspired by these sorts of Japanese books (that I can't read, mind you!) and so it has come full circle to see this book and Dottie Angel translated for a Japanese audience.

sequins & voodoo

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Guest Post by Manita Brug-Chmielenska

Have you ever tried to photograph sequins? Let me assure you .. it is HARD! Hard to capture the richness and colour spectrum.. hard to avoid glare.. like shooting into window panes! And hard to shoot over 50 items all the while documenting their every irregularity and still making them look good! But that is what you do when photographing for an Etsy shop.

My friend Dina Knapp, an artist featured in UPPERCASE issue # 18 and her late husband, a poet, were inveterate collectors, amassing an amazing array of outsider and Haitian art.

When Jeffery died in 2010, Dina set about making sense of life and their collections. She decided to say goodbye to the Haitian Voodoo Flags and Spirit Bottles they had collected and hello to Visionary Voodoo, her new Etsy shop.

Dina and Jeffery were first introduced to Haitian art through a show at Brooklyn Museum in 1978. It was a major exhibition that included paintings and sculpture by all the contemporary Haitian masters. Jeffrey, a poet and educator, connected to the pure authentic, primitive quality of the works. Dina, on the other hand, connected to the simple scenes of everyday life depicted in the paintings, and the materials the artists used to express themselves. The sewn pieces in particular resonated for her.

This show changed their life.

Dina Knapp's art and apparel shop is Golden Hands and her vintage shop is called GrandmaBerthas.

Read more about Dina Knapp in UPPERCASE issue 18. 

collage day: Martin O'Neill

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Martin O'Neill in his studio, photos by Jas Tang.

I've admired Martin O'Neill's collage illustrations for years so it was wonderful to feature his studio and great work in issue 18. Photojournalist Jas Tang made the trip to Martin's studio to shoot the feature. A few more photos that weren't published in print are included here. Pick up the latest issue to read the feature!

It's Collage Day in our shop! Use the code "collageday" for a surprise discount added upon checkout for orders over $50.

collage day: Michelle Eismann

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The Alphabet Snatchers by Michelle Eismann

The Alphabet Snatchers by Michelle Eismann

illustration by Michelle Eismann

Our current issue's collage theme is resulting in even more submissions from other collage artists who want to be involved in the magazine. Keep them coming—I'll share my favourites on the blog and archive them all in my idea file for future reference. These particular images are by illustrator Michelle Eismann.

It's Collage Day in our shop! Use the code "collageday" for a surprise discount added upon checkout for orders over $50.

 

collage day special

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I've always had a fondness for collage.  It's a democratizing form of illustration, yet it requires great skill to be really good at it. I had planned "collage" as a theme for an issue of UPPERCASE magazine for quite some time, but the topic is so large and there is so much inspiration that I didn't know how to handle it. A few years ago, with less experience as an editor, it was too challenging to tackle the topic. I'm glad I waited... I'm really proud of the current issue; it strikes the right balance between great written content and interesting articles and has just enough gallery pages that simply show off great collage work.

On the blog today, I'll share some more collage portfolios and content. And in honour of "collage day", I'd like to revisit The Elegant Cockroach—it is a hardcover storybook for sophisticated children and whimsical adults that I published in 2011. The story is written by Deidre Anne Martin and collage illustrations are by Stefanie Augustine. It tells the story of a lonely bachelor who eventually finds love in a bookstore. Deidre's words are poetic and precise while Stefanie's illustrations are playful and sophisticated. With the book design and typography, I balance the poetic and the playful by choosing a classic typeface and using the position, size and pacing of the words to enhance the mood of the story.

The Elegant Cockroach is available in our online shop at a special price today.  Use the code "collageday" for a surprise discount added upon checkout for orders over $50.

Castle in the Air

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Castle in the Air window display using enlarged Victorian paper cutouts. 

A number of people have recommended Castle in the Air, a paper shop located in Berkeley, California.  I haven't had the pleasure of roaming through their aisles in person, but a shop that "specializes in hard to find and European art supplies and treasures" sounds visually delicious. I was actually perusing their online shop while I was working on issue #18 and researching Victorian scraps.

Castle in the Air recently started offering Victorian paper toys as giclee prints and wrote in to share the news: "Owner Karima Cammell collects them (she has over 1,000!), and over the years has become recognized as a guardian of ephemera traditions. By celebrating the models and toys in her art, workshops and store, Karima helps to keep them alive. She has reproduced them for the masses as giclee prints that are similar in weight, size and colour of the originals for $15 each."

Karima has also kindly offered a free download to UPPERCASE readers. Click here for the file.

 

issue #18: creative challenge by Shelley Davies

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submission by Shelley Davies

This submission is by illustrator Shelley Davies. Shelley also created a collage for the current issue's content page and you will be able to read more about Shelley in the forthcoming edition of Work/Life. Thanks, Shelley, for being such a wonderfully active and generous UPPERCASE subscriber.

Would you like to participate in this issue's creative challenge? Read the details in issue #18 or right here.