2002 Judges' Night

Thursday 17 January 2002 dawned with the metropolitan area dusted in the first snowfall of this winter, boding chills and spills. But that evening, the warm presence of Jill Bell and the sunny disposition of John Downer drove away the grimmeries just as well as they drew the eager overflow crowd of type lovers to their presentations at FIT.

Ars Longa
Jill Bell; Adobe Bruno typeface, from the sampler booklet.

The two, in town as judges for the TDC's annual typeface design competition, TDC2 2002, presented overviews of their work in the lettering arts and in type design. Ms. Bell, of California (or is that, Calligrafornia?) showed numerous examples of her lettering work for motion picture companies, packaging design, and major type foundries such as Adobe and ITC. Her lively and spontaneous types have a refreshing personal appeal.

Mr. Downer, of Iowa, began with a demostration of the signpainters' craft by lettering with brush and paint a large 'Font' advertising banner for a shop window. (People actually make those signs advertising eggs and butter!) He continued by showing slide examples of lettering from signs from all over the US, and from several historical periods; the post-bellum Midwest, the Postwar North, the contemporary Northwest; all evoked in many of his own historically-inspired typefaces.

G from Da Salla Majuscules (detail)
John Downer; enamel on copper, brass and packing wood.

Mr. Downer concluded by presenting several beautiful examples of his sign and lettering art to Gary Munch (see above), Rick Cusick, Dennis Pasternak, and Jonathan Hoefler.

Gary Munch 18 January 2002