It’s Typographic Tuesday, and today’s post is from Mary Oliver’s popular new book Dog Songs. This would be another fantastic gift for someone, it’s here on Amazon. My copy just arrived, so here’s the sweet cover:
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Erica Preo is CEO & Creative Director of Pantofola, pure luxury Italian goods for dogs.
Once again it’s Typographic Tuesday and in honor of Election Day here in the United States, today’s quote is by Susan B. Anthony. Love this comparison of stray dogs describing the most important moments in life. Of course I completely agree!
And if you’re curious about the sweet pup at the top, I chose her because she’s such a sweetheart with those sparkly eyes and yes, she’s a stray. Her name is Fern and she is currently at the animal shelter in Rutherfordton, North Carolina (between Charlotte and Asheville). Fern is a female Redbone Coonhound, around 7 months old, ID#A027478. Unfortunately, although she only arrived at the shelter on Halloween, her time is very short. If you or someone you know is interested in adopting her, please contact the shelter right away:
Rutherford County Animal Shelter
Community Pet Center
828 287 7738
578 Laurel Hill Drive, Rutherfordton, North Carolina
It’s Typographic Tuesday, and today it’s words with an opposite image of sorts. Edith Wharton’s quote about her little dog is certainly sweet, but to honor dogs of all sizes I’m putting it with this photo of dear George the world record holding 7-foot-tall Great Dane from Tucson that passed away this week just one day shy of his 8th birthday. What a beautiful and special boy. I suppose he could say “My little old owner: a heart-beat at my feet.” Rest in peace, sweetheart.
Photo: copyright Dave Nasser and Hachett Book Group
Today’s quote is by Thomas Campbell, but it is dedicated to Gwen Huneck who passed away unexpectedly on Sunday. Although I never met her in person, through email correspondence she was very kind and helpful to me when I requested information for a post I did about her late husband’s work and their beautiful Dog Mountain in Vermont. You can see that post here.
I learned of Gwen’s death on Facebook because I follow their gallery page. This is what was shared:
“It is with heavy hearts that we share with our Dog Mountain community that our dear leader and friend, Gwendolyn Ide Huneck has passed away. Gwen never got over the loss of Stephen and missed him terribly every day. As you all know, after Stephen’s death, she devoted her life to continuing his legacy as a great artist. She continued to manage the gallery and she kept active in community affairs. She vowed to help turn St. Johnsbury into one of the most dog-friendly places in Vermont. Gwen became a beacon for people who had lost loved ones and pets and we think she absorbed a lot of that emotion and she may have had difficulty in releasing it.
Many of you knew her as Gwen, Gwendolyn, and Mrs. Stephen Huneck. To us, she was “Gwennie.” Emails sent to the Gallery may not get checked regularly, but please post your condolences on the new Memorial Facebook page for Gwennie. This is a great, great loss and she will be sorely missed. We love you so much Gwennie and we will do everything we can to keep Dog Mountain going.”
So I chose this quote in honor of Gwen, because with all of the comfort and love she shared through Dog Mountain and Dog Chapel she will always shine. And I added the iconic black lab with angel wings created by her husband Stephen, because well, I think it might just be the most perfect circumstance for its use. Rest in peace, Gwen.
Photo courtesy and copyright Stephen Huneck Gallery.
If you would like to support the future of the Huneck’s Dog Mountain by donation or purchasing some wonderful artwork or other items, visit the gallery site here.
Today’s Typographic Tuesday honors National Poetry Month here in America and it’s brought to you by big dose of serendipity (which, I love): this morning I asked my yoga instructor Shannon after class if she could recommend a great dog poem and her eyes lit up. The book she was holding in her hands is by one of her favorite poets, Mary Oliver, and she quickly found this one for me. I knew it would be perfect, a little bit sad but mostly uplifting and tender. Shannon is a very talented artist, and I’ve wanted to feature her work here for a while and as it turns out, one of the three watercolors of hers that I own is this one titled “Dog on Beach”. That makes me want to say “spoooooky…” but I’m just going to say “ommmmmmmm!” Thanks, Shannon!
“The First Time Percy Came Back” is from A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver. A great bio—and a lovely photo with her dog—can be found here.
Artist Shannon Bueker’s work can be found on her website here.
This week’s episode of Typographic Tuesday is brought to us by Vienna-based design studio grafisches Büro with their playful exploration of dogs as fonts. Kind of a fun project, this limited edition poster makes you look at your own dogs and wonder where they might fit in the wild and wacky world of typography. But please, whatever you do…please don’t assign your pup to the horrors of Comic Sans! Why, that would just be cruel.
Happy typesetting!
Image courtesy of grafisches Büro.
For Typographic Tuesday I chose this quote by Milan Kundera because, well, it’s wonderful. But also because for me it conjures up thoughts and sensations of pleasant springtime weather, which I must say is a little slow showing up this year. So if you’re somewhere that’s a little too chilly for the end of March, read the quote and close your eyes, and escape to Eden with a dog at your side for a few peaceful minutes. And breathe.
Boy that’s the truth! But I will add that time and nurturing given to any dog will work miracles. Every single one of them deserves that.
Here’s E.B. White and his dog Minnie, a dog he saved from a research facility. Looks like she might have became an editor.
Now don’t get huffy, she’s got a good point. Here is a bit of an excerpt, including and beginning with the quote above, from Elizabeth von Arnim’s book, All the Dogs of My Life:
“I would like, to begin with, to say that although parents, husbands, children, lovers, and friends are all very well, they are not dogs. In my day and turn having been each of the above,—except that instead of husbands I was wives,—I know what I am talking about, and am well acquainted with the ups and downs, the daily ups and downs, the sometimes hourly ones in the thin-skinned, which seem inevitably to accompany human loves.
Dogs are free from these fluctuations. Once they love, they love steadily, unchangingly, till their last breath.
That is how I like to be loved.
Therefore I will write of dogs.
Up to now I have had fourteen, but they weren’t spread over my life equally, and for years and years at a time I had none. This, when first I began considering my dogs, astonished me; I mean, that for years and years I had none. What was I about, I wondered, to allow myself to be dogless? How was it that there were such long periods during which I wasn’t making some good dog happy?”
Great picture, and sounds like a pretty good book to me! If you agree, here is a link to it on Amazon.
Dogs Make Everything Better 