Sara Sowers studied English literature and Classics, devoting much time and brain to learning Latin and ancient Greek, as an undergraduate at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, then went on to earn an M.F.A. in poetry writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2001. Sower’s poems have been published here and there since then, hopefully coagulating toward a cogent book-length work of poetry.

VOYAGER is a Boston based melodic doom/post-metal band, arranged with past members of bands like Waking Judea and The Locomotive Espada. The band combines a wide variety of influences, creating a style of post-metal that fuses the melancholy and melody of bands like Cult of Luna and Katatonia with massive, crushing riffs and a sense of urgency hinting at their roots in hardcore and sludge (ala Crowbar, Will Haven, Helmet etc).

Fast becoming known for their dynamic and sometimes ‘trance-inducing’ live performances, the band released a well-received self-titled debut EP in 2008 on Forgotten Empire records, and currently have both a vinyl-only split and a proper full length record in the works, due to be released in 2010.

“Wearing Whitman’s Words; A Typographic Exploration” Closing Party is at Lucky Gallery, January 9th from 6-9 pm. Food and drink will be provided.

Sara Sowers

Her poems have been published here and there since then, hopefully coagulating toward a cogent book-length work of poetry.

The Monotype Foundry is a sponsor of “Wearing Whitman’s Words; A Typographic Exploration.” The typefaces featured in this show are Slate, a versatile humanist/grotesque sans serif and Egyptian Slate, its slab serif counterpart. Both typefaces were designed by Rod McDonald, the award-winning typeface designer and lettering artist and are available from Monotype Imaging.

Illustration by Portal Porfavor

This exhibition features new works created specifically for this show by; Friends of Type, Jennifer Heuer, Jessica Hische, Justin Thomas Kay, Pablo A. Medina, Ed Nacional, Meg Paradise, Pillow Fort, and Travis Simon.

These designers were asked to make selections from Leaves of Grass to visually explore letter forms. The designed words will be displayed on the front of t-shirts with the selected text written on the back in a font consistent across each of the shirts. This contrast will highlight how the shape of letters can add meaning to the words we read.

Everyone attending the opening will receive a free shirt from the show, extending the exhibition beyond the gallery walls.

This show is supported by generous donations from Monotype Imaging and Portal Porfavor.

The typefaces featured in this show are Slate, a versatile humanist/grotesque sans serif and Egyptian Slate, its slab serif counterpart. Both typefaces were designed by Rod McDonald, the award-winning typeface designer and lettering artist and are available from Monotype Imaging.

DJ Spacey Sissick will be spinning records, food and drink will be provided.

In September of 2009, after two and a half years of little sleep and a lot of hand-lettering, she left Louise Fili to pursue her freelance career further. Jessica has been featured in most major design and illustration publications including Communication Arts, Print Magazine, How Magazine, Graphis, American Illustration and the Society of Illustrators. She was featured as one of Step Magazine’s 25 Emerging Artists, Communication Arts “Fresh”, Print Magazine’s New Visual Artists 2009 (commonly referred to as Print’s 20 under 30), and The Art Director’s Club Young Guns. When not working, can be found enjoying heavy unhealthy meals, lusting after expensive furniture, playing with her two cats, and biking around Brooklyn.

Jessica Hische started drawing type in college because she was broke and couldn’t afford good fonts and didn’t have the time to dig through the “10,000 free fonts!” cds that were passed around school for the three good fonts they probably contained. She started integrating type as much as possible into her design and illustration and now does more hand lettering than anything else.

jhische.com

“To me drawing type is what, for myself (and ill let everyone else speak for themselves), differentiates graphic design from any other form of visual expression. for me it is the beginning and end to most of my solutions, and for me the ability to handle and communicate with type and type only represents the most pure form of my goal in design: to create an appropriate and visually pleasing solution to a communication problem. type is a visual expression of an audible language, and is open for interpretation and evolution for as long as the written word exists. I just hope to be able to put in my 2 cents.”

www.justinthomaskay.com

“I grew up admiring graffiti artists for their ability to duplicate their signature so extensively across a given environment. They were publishing their identity for as wide an audience as possible. Their goal was to be so ubiquitous that it aroused interest and envy in other artists. It is this same idea of aesthetic multiplication that has kept my interest in designing typefaces for almost 15 years. The typeface designer conceives of a visual language by manually and digitally creating form. By releasing their typeface to the public, it gets distributed to a population where it speaks to, interacts with and influences people. This influence can manifest in a new opinion or perception, a desire, or an overall expansion of knowledge. Like graffiti, the distributed font multiplies, and like graffiti, the typeface contributes to the typographic and artistic landscape of an environment. As long as there is this type of aesthetic and creative reward, I’ll keep drawing fonts.”

www.cubanica.com

A self professed type junkie, Meg draws type whenever her clients will allow it. Plus, drawing type is much more fun than clicking through the fonts in her font library.

megparadise.com

We founded Pillow Fort a few years ago, after becoming frustrated with some of the corporate work we were doing at the time. We envisioned an outlet where we could live out our graphic and typographic eccentricities without the pressures of corporate responsibility; a place where design, and not committees, focus groups and profits ruled. We would only work on projects that we thought were a good cause, and where we would have full creative autonomy. We knew this could not be how we made our living, nor did we want it to be, so we started it as a side venture and gave it a name that spoke to the creative sanctuary that it is for us.

“Custom typography has always been an integral part of Pillow Fort, because we believe it has more expressive potential than any possible combination of standard typefaces and imagery. It’s where language and art come together.”

www.pillowfort.us/