WideAwakes

Some of you may have noticed that the pace of listings has dropped fairly dramatically these past couple weeks. The reason for that is simple: I got so many new ideas, so quickly, that I decided to bank them. The collection got so large, that I took to referring to this new generation of listings as "Season 2"

I am pleased to announce that "Wide-Awakes Season 2" has begun! I've learned so much since I started the shop, and I've gradually developed what I think is a unique voice and design language that is quintessentially my own. And if you're not a big fan of my original work, don't worry: I'll still be uploading restored, historical prints and the like to the shop!

We're kicking things off with a batch of listings that explore two themes that I just can't get enough of: anachronism, and cultural interplay.

Anachronism - the juxtaposing of things from different time periods - can be a powerful tool. By taking something familiar and putting it in a completely different socio-historical setting, it allows the beholder a new vantage point on well-worn concepts and motifs. Cultural interplay is an important theme for me as well, because it is my firm conviction that the interplay of cultures - contrary to what The Enemy may have us believe - makes this country great: through an paradoxical, iterative process, they retain their distinctiveness, and yet form something new.

To that end, I've come up with something that I think is very special and unique. A set of items that combine symbols and motifs from the American Civil War era, but with the elegant, clean aesthetics of late Edo/Meiji-era Japan.

I've also begun working on some modernized logo lockups, for the Wide Awakes, as well as other organizations from around the time of the Civil War. Our first is in keeping with our Japanese theme, but with a more modern flair. A sleek, modern lockup on the front, but with the Railsplitter symbols associated with Abraham Lincoln, favorite motifs of the historical Wide Awakes.

And finally, departing from this set of Japanese-inspired listings: part shirt, part thrown gauntlet. The original Wide-Awakes were, as you might imagine, Republicans. But we all know that the Republicans very long ago left this radical, progressive, abolitionist heritage in the gutter. The "Under New Management" shirt proclaims that the Wide-Awakes are back: we have taken the Republicans' forsaken patrimony from that gutter, and claimed it for ourselves. They want to wave the Confederate flag in the halls of the Capitol building? Then let's remind them who the real Party of Lincoln is.

New listings every day! We've only just scratched the surface!