Joni

I didn't start listening to Joni Mitchell until I was about 23, when I found Blue on vinyl at a friends apartment.  I was expecting yellow taxicabs and childlike melodies, but her honesty and vulnerability made a memorable impression.  I think the documentaries about Joni Mitchell shed light on her journey from a small town in Canada and her life long struggle with the decision to give up her child for adoption as a young woman.  She always remains so elegant and impressively talented.
Joni Mitchell is one of those iconic faces, lovable and sincere.  That said, I believe her style and beauty are interesting to us because of her talent.

Norma Rae

I just re-watched Norma Rae from 1979.  I remember renting it as a kid because my mom looks like Sally Field and my grandmother once worked as a seamstress.  It’s such a stellar portrayal of the gusto, humor and heart of Southern women.   Sally Field won the Best Actress Oscar but more importantly, she perfectly depicts a small town factory worker without labor laws in 1978.  It’s a true story based on Crystal Lee Sutton from North Carolina and apparently the last scene of Sally Field in the factory (shown below) is verbatim to what actually happened.  It’s an all time favorite of mine; it’s perhaps one of the best portrayals of the diversity and independent spirit of this country. 

I have mixed feelings about labor unions now, and wonder where the manufacturing industry in the US would be if they had not been around to fight for high pay and fewer hours?  Would we have lost 2.5 million manufacturing jobs in the last decade to overseas workers? It's an impossible dilemma.

Crystal Lee Sutton

Paul Huxley

In the same spirit of graphic design, I came across Paul Huxley in my research for prints. After graduating in 1960 from the Royal Academy in London, Huxley progressed through the London art scene with his first exhibit in 1965.  After to moving to NYC, Huxley met and in some cases befriending many of his contemporaries, Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns, and Barnett Newman. While not reach the same level of fame as others in his generation, his paintings are hard to forget.

all images from www.paulhuxley.com

  

Scott Hanson: ISO50

Scott Hanson, presumable well know in the graphic design community, but is an exciting find for me.  I was searching for a vintage poster and came across his stellar blog and spot-on graphic posters at blog.ISO50.com.   He makes and sells these posters as well as others in San Francisco.

Dian Fossey

Other amazing females of past, Dian Fossey is extraordinary.  Sigourney Weaver played her in the 1988 film, Gorilllas in the Mist. I recently watched the National Geography original film of Dian Fossey studying the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Both movies are great, covering her struggle to defend gorillas against poachers from 1967-1983 while studying their behavior daily.  

Images from gorillas.org and gorillafund.org

nationalgeographic.com

Louise Dahl-Wolfe

Famed female photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe shot over 86 Harpers Bazaar covers between 1936-1958, as well as portraits of Carson McCullers, Orson Wells, and Christian Dior.  She favored portraitures over fashion photography and pioneered the use of natural light.  She practically invented "on location" fashion photography traveling to South America and Africa (back then called "environmental" photography), and influenced Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. She exhibits a quietness in her photos, an intimacy as the viewer witnesses an chance moment of solitude with the subject.

      

Images from Mocp.org and staleywise.com  

Vintage Handloom Linens

Cross stitch inevitable leads me to my minor obsession with vintage linens from Europe and Hungary.  The handloom textiles are always hearty and durable, but usually have delicate embroidery or cross stitch.  Notice some of the amazing fonts of the initials. 

from www.beyondfrance.co.uk

Ellsworth Kelly

I’ve recently revisited Ellsworth Kelly.  When he was a child living in NJ in the 1930s, he and his grandmother spent much time bird-watching.  It is said that this greatly informed his sense of color and form.   He was a loner as a kid with a slight stutter and gradually made his way to Brooklyn to study at Pratt Institute before enlisting in WWII.  After returning to the NY, his work was considered drastically different than his peers; however, he had his first show at Betty Parsons Gallery (“the den mother of modern Abstract Expressionism”) in 1957.  That exhibit was followed with painting selected for the Whitney’s “Young America 1957” in which he showed a painting consisting of 3 panels, something had never been done before.  Today he lives in Spensertown NY and is 88 years old.