Hasta La Ideas

Ed Nacional visited UPPERCASE earlier this year and I was impressed with his intelligence and thoughtfulness. He showed me his temporary website and as soon as I saw the first few letters of his “Tiepography” project, I had to see more! Ed completed the alphabet made from ties and it is featured in issue 1 of our magazine. His newly launched website is worth a visit and I look forward to seeing more posts in his blog, humourously entitled, “Talking to Myself.”

A very talented graphic designer, Ed is completing his studies at Parsons and he has just been chosen as this year’s design intern at the New York Times! Yay Ed!

My hands are shaking and my heart is fluttering.

The idea of publishing a magazine has been floating in my mind for many years, but I didn’t make the decision to proceed with it until this past Christmas. Deidre and I began working on it in earnest in January. I still can’t quite believe that we accomplished so much in just three months. UPPERCASE magazine is really the culmination of a dozen years of freelance graphic design experience and four years of this creative entrepreneurial adventure called UPPERCASE. All the skills I have acquired over the years have been put to use… and then some! It has been an amazing learning experience and so creatively satisfying.

Blanca Gomez provided the perfect cover image. Blanca, I am so grateful for your generosity. Thank you.

Deidre, thank you for your inexhaustable flow of ideas. And for truly putting your heart into it.

Thank you, Glen, for writing some terrific articles and for listening to me talk about the minutiae of the magazine’s progression.

The shipment of magazines is on its way from Winnipeg and we expect them tomorrow. Everything’s on schedule for the launch celebration this Thursday from 5pm – 9pm. In the meantime, I’m transforming the gallery space for the treehouse show, adding new subscribers (thank you!), filling our biggest Eclectonote order ever, and sending out Jen11 orders. I’m going to leave this post up for a while, to bask in the moment… and I’ve got a lot more work to do!

See you on Thursday!

Here’s the image from issue 1’s table of contents (above), and some outtakes (below) in which I experimented with ink and rubber stamps on balloons.

This amazing list has grown. Thank you to all the fabulous people who have subscribed over the past few days. I just heard from the printer in Winnipeg and the magazine is just finishing up in the bindery and should be on a truck this afternoon. All systems are go — we’re on track for the launch this Thursday!

{ This image is a matchbox label depicting Belka and Strelka, the Soviet astrodogs, via Dan Mogford and his collection of labels. The dogs were sent into space in 1960, accompanied by a rabbit, dozens of mice, a couple of rats as well as an assortment of plants and fungi. They were the first earthlings to be sent into orbit and return alive. }

Jen11 from UPPERCASE gallery on Vimeo.

Order the Jen11 book in our shop (or receive it as part of our book and magazine subscription)
For more information about the show, visit the Jen11 website. We’ll start shipping the book next week!