FEDERAL SCHOOL OF COMMERCIAL DESIGNING

Commercial Art. Visual Communications. Graphic Design. All of the previous phrases were ones I juggled in college and years after.

Being called a commercial artist in the late '60s and into the '70s was a negative. It meant you worked for corrupt corporate America. You worked for "the man." I remember having a "discussion" with someone in line at registration. She was a fine arts major and couldn't fathom how I was going to make a living doing commercial art. If I were to take a wild guess I'm betting I'm the one who has been working in my field since leaving college and she probably never got a show in a gallery. I could be wrong.

Visual communications was the title for a series of core classes designers had to take. At the time I thought it just sounded hokey, but I can't tell you how many times I've used the phrase to explain what good design is about.

Then there's graphic designer. These days the phrase is so common I could scream. Every moron with an Adobe product hangs out a shingle. Knowing InDesign and Photoshop does not a designer make. Life, a good eye, an understanding of far reaching subject matter, AND the ability to use InDesign and Photoshop start to get you into the neighborhood. Once saying you had a degree in graphic design drew blank stares and, "Oh, that sounds interesting." These days it's, "Oh yeah, I do that too. I did some business cards for a motorcycle shop and a poster for a poetry slam at the senior center." It usually takes awhile for my eyes to uncross.

Sometimes when I'm working on a book I think back to Gutenberg and how he is the forefather of what I do. Imagine him seeing a computer and one person typesetting an entire book while listening to NPR then changing their mind in the middle of the night and reformatting the entire book by simply changing some style sheets. The fella's head might explode.

Here is a vintage magazine ad from July 1918 extolling the possible benefits of being a commercial artist simply by studying with the Federal School of Commercial Designing correspondence school.


(SOURCE: The Delineator, July 1918) Click on image to see it larger.

No, this is not the "Draw Me!" school. You can read about the school and the other art correspondence schools here.

During the late teens and early twenties, when advertising began a meteoric rise and commercial artists and letterers were in demand, correspondence schools were founded to train illustrators and designers. The most notable included The International Correspondence Schools in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Washington School of Art in Washington, D.C., The Lockwood Art Lessons in Kalamazoo, Michigan, The New York School of Design in New York City, Art Instruction, Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota and The Frank Holme School of Illustration in Chicago, Illinois. The leader, however, was The Federal School of Commercial Designing founded in 1919. The Federal School's headquarters occupied a three story high, block long building in Minneapolis; had branch offices in New York City and Chicago; boasted over seventy-five advisors and full-time faculty members, was larger than any of the other schools; claimed over 3000 home study students annually enrolled and offered "a well-rounded, practical preparation for a profession" that was recognized by the Home Study Institute and the Midland National Bank of Minneapolis. (SOURCE: Draw Me Schools of Commercial Art by Steven Heller at The Designer Observer Group, December 3, 2008)

TIME TRAVELING CELEBRITY Hall of Fame

If you follow my vernacular photography blog you'll know I have a fascination with what I call Time Traveling Celebrities. I occasionally find an old photo of a person who looks like someone famous. My theory is that the famous have special powers the rest of us are not privilege to. They can go back in time and the only evidence is if they are accidentally photographed. Usually they go way back in time, not just a few decades.

I'm thinking Will Ferrell has powers beyond even the regular celebrity. He's bold, willing to be right up front about his time travel. Even possibly willing to be in an ad? Nah, it can't be. Was there ever a man so daring? This is the second time I have caught him in his travels, the first can be seen here. Pretty amazing fella. I nominate him to the Time Traveling Celebrity Hall of Fame.


(SOURCE: Life, August 18, 1972) Click on image to see it larger.

To see other Time Traveling Celebrities visit Will in my grandmother's album and click on the label "Time-Traveling-Celebrity."

The low ENO'S FRUIT SALT diet

Honestly, until I saw this ad in the July 1918 issue of Delineator magazine I'd never heard of this product. Surprisingly I guess it's still being made. You can read about it here and here. Not really interesting enough to post any information other than it was "invented in the 1850s by James Crossley Eno of Newcastle, the Fruit Salt sold like hotcakes to sailors looking for something to keep them healthy on long journeys." However, I love the illustration, which sadly has no signature.

Click on image to see it larger.

And what is an aperient? Not a word I recall ever hearing. Well, it's a drug used to relieve constipation. So, there you go. Learned something new today. Not a total waste.

Take it or leave it WITH A JEEP

From the July 1969 Sunset magazine I give you Jeep camping. Frankly, I didn’t even know you could put a camper on a Jeep, nor do I recall ever seeing one. Here’s proof they existed.


(SOURCE: Sunset, July 1969)

Now the question is was this possibly the stupidest camping spot ever? Cross a stream then camp at the base of a rocky hill on a tiny spec of open space. Of course he drove away leaving her to fend with the falling rocks and wildlife. Or perhaps he was washed downstream.

I’m beginning to think the “Take it or leave it” is referring to his wife. Not a good sign.

To those familiar with Ernie from my photography blog visit Ernie’s wife and daughter with their camper.

Celebrating LIBERTY

This image by William Balfour-Ker is from the July 1918 Delineator magazine.



We were at war on July 4, 1918. Now, 94 years later we're still at war with people on the other side of the globe. It never ends and probably never will.

Liberty seems so logical to most of us, but it's not a universal language. It's too often fighting religion, greed, and political dominance. We're really always on the tipping point. So try to not go shopping for sales to celebrate the founding of this country or wave a flag mindlessly without really thinking about what it means. Don't be a good consumer. Be a good American which means respect people, stop listening to those who yell the loudest, and don't follow every fool who claims liberty is simple if you just think like they do.

As to the illustrator, an avowed Socialist, which means he dreamt of liberty for all, not just the few:

William Balfour Ker was born in Dunville, Ontario, Canada on July 25, 1877 of Scottish heritage. His mother, Lily Florence Bell, was a first cousin of Alexander Graham Bell. The Ker family immigrated to the U.S. in 1880. His early education and training are unknown. As a young man, Ker was an avowed Socialist, his art often reflecting his political beliefs. In the 1890's, he became a naturalized citizen and a student of the great illustrator Howard Pyle.

During this time he met a fellow student of Pyle's, Mary Ellen Sigsbee, daughter of Charles D. Sigsbee, captain of the USS Maine [Spanish-American War]. Politically, Mary Ellen was as far to the left as he was to the right. She and Ker fell in love, and despite her father's vigorous objections, the couple eloped in 1898. After their marriage they lived in Greenwich Village, where they worked out of a small art studio. A son, David, was born in 1906. The following year, they packed up their infant son and went to Paris to paint.

Ker's style was influenced by other Social Realists of the time, particularly Diego Rivera, who was in Paris at the same time. By the time they returned to New York a couple of years later, the marriage was failing, ending in divorce in 1910. Ker married model Josephine Phillips, with whom he had one daughter and three sons. The daughter, Yosene Ker, grew up to marry Lathrop Weld and bore him three children. The youngest was Susan Ker Weld, known to moviegoers as Tuesday Weld. The teen idol of the 1950s and '60s is the granddaughter of William Balfour Ker and Josephine Phillips. (SOURCE: Fine Old Art)