meandering statements

Well hello,

I just realized that I haven't really explained this alphabet project properly so I am going to quickly write a statement in the way that that I have thus failed to do - I never got around to putting up an artist statement and I probably should today.

This alphabet is phonetic. You could use it to teach someone to read through the sounds of letters. My little sister, Angela, is a Kindergarten teacher in Kansas. One day last summer she complained to me about her ugly phonetic alphabet while I was brainstorming for a new project. We decided that I should make one by drawing all the pictures and then print it on the letterpress. She would help by approving all the objects phonetically. Meanwhile, I read an article about bats. Bats eat an absurd amount of bugs and are flying mammals. They sleep upside down, bite people only when rabid and look neat flying around at dusk. At present they are threatened by white fungus disease and the demise of habitat. I started drawing bats and the alphabet started with the letter b.

Slowly, flora and fauna for each letter materialized. Ever so slowly I made drawings for each letter and talked to my sister. I printed every letter on Smoky- our big old Chandler and Price Press at Lark Press and rounded the corners by hand.

FIN