It took a few months, and a few thousand dollars and maybe even a sacrifice (my work fish Simon died today), but Pacman LIVES!
Check out the video. The quality isn’t the greatest because I took it with my cell phone, and we had a little snafu, but he works. Now we just have to print something on it.
With the P-I gone, so was the King and Snohomish County Regional Spelling Bee. But the folks at the altrooist have organized a drunken bee to help raise money and save the event, which is part of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I was lucky enough to do the poster. So start studying the dictionary while sipping a martini and prepare yourself to be one of the seven audience members selected to compete. With celebrity spellers, comedy, and music, it should make for a fun evening– all with the added benefit of raising money for a good cause. You can purchase tickets here.
It’s been a year since the last physical edition of the P-I rolled off the presses and the subsequent formation of tHE ART dept. as a separate entity. While Veronica and I are surviving without our former employer, SeattlePI.com apparently can’t live without us. Or at least, we’ve been doing some work for them. The latest of which is this ad for their first birthday party that happened last night.
We intended to, but …we had to order new bulbs for the platemaker; Inky didn’t want to cooperate; we had to see Wilco; it was Al’s birthday. Excuses, excuses. The net result is we ran out of time to print Valentine’s this year, but it gave us a chance to send our first e-cards. If you didn’t get one or you’d like to receive future updates from tHE ART dept., sign up below. And hopefully we’ll have real Valentine’s for next year.
Friend of tHE ART dept. studio, Scott Lewis of Scott Lewis Images, just launched his new blog, SNAP! We are excited for him and more excited that we got to be a part of the process.
When Andrew and I worked in journalism, today would be the day we would have to look back on the noteworthy events of the year. So here’s a look back at tHE ART dept.’s 2009.
In the beginning of 2009, Andrew and I worked in the art department of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The office had a great staff and a great view.
So Jan. 8, I was happily watching pregame coverage of the BCS National Championship game when a news editor came around and said a local news station was reporting that the Seattle P-I was up for sale.
The Gators won the National Championship, but I couldn’t celebrate because I was too busy cursing in the general direction of the Hearst Corporation offices in New York.
In March, the last paper edition of the P-I was on the newstand. We had a great party. Andrew got drunk. After he sobered up, we decided to form tHE ART dept.
In late October, Andrew and I took a class on printing on letterpress with photopolymer plates, which we both enjoyed. I went a little nuts and furnished a part of my basement with a Chandler & Price Pilot from craigslist and a photopolymer plate exposure unit. Al’s been pretty understanding with the takeover of the basement and he can sense I’m mentally renovating the garage to accomodate a Vandercook or Heidelburg press.
We are still figuring out a few things – like bookkeeping and filing taxes, but for the most part, we are happy with the way things are turning out.
And most of all, we are glad 2009 is over.
