A is for ART: A Digital Restoration

Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth... I attended Pratt Institute (class of 1980) as a Illustration and Graphic
Design Major. And this was a little book project we did in one of My design classes in 1978. The design assignment was an Artist’s Alphabet book. "A is for ART" was fun to do and well received.

In 2001, our home in Brooklyn, NY suffered a house fire that destroyed my studio and most of my portfolio, all my gear and slides. But a few things were salvaged from the ruins.

I proposed the project on my Live Journal page, and got some encouragement. So went on to do the project in November and December of 2005, in-between paying studio Projects.

The image above is a scan of all that is left of the cover case of the book, recovered from a ruined flat file. But I kept the plates, with the original cartoons and text sealed and preserved in a plastic bag. I hoped that one of these days, I would scan and restore them digitally. Also replace the utterly horrid calligraphy with some decent type. Lefties are not the worlds greatest calligraphers. But the cartoons are cute, with a certain charm and student vitality, turns out I still like 'em after, good gods.. 27 years?

The project became very therapeutic, as I did the work essentially on the anniversary of my mother's death from Uterine Cancer. I conceived of the project as a print restoration, and have been producing one-offs in my studio for our family and close friends. However, I do now connect to a greater online community, and decided to build an online incarnation of the project. I have added some commentary to the plates to make this version a bit unique and partially overcome the limitations of print media.

Please surf on and enjoy!

Kurt E Griffith, Fantastic Realities Studio
Nanuet, NY, December 2005
 

[Edit: 1/1/06] Since I did this project essentially solo, It's a bitch being your own proofreader. If you should spot typos, glitches, or glaring informational errors, please zip me a note. –KG