UPPERCASE #48

48

c reativ it y r ules

for the C R E A T I V E and C U R I O U S

B O O K S

A multi-volume book series released in whimsical (nonalphabetical) order on all manner of intriguing and creative topics.

COMING SOON

LOOK INSIDE AND DISCOVER MORE AT

encyclopediaofinspiration.com

P R I N T

ARTWORK BY

j en nifer fa rrell

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Dear Reader, Stationery is a wondrous thing! For us creatives, there’s just something magical about pens, notebooks, paperclips, staplers, greeting cards and other paper-related goodies. They hold the promise of discovery and help us manifest our ideas. You can never have e-nough stationery! (That’s my handy mnemonic device for remembering the correct spelling.)

You might best know UPPERCASE as a publisher of books and magazines “for the creative and curious” but I actually founded my company in 2005 as a retail space for design-related art, books and papergoods (and I did freelance graphic design for arts and culture clients from the back of the store). In the early days, I produced my own line of greeting cards, handmade notebooks and sewn paper pencil cases and folders.

With this first-hand experience of the challenges—and satisfaction—of making papergoods, it has been my pleasure to curate this special Guide to Stationery and Papergoods Designers & Makers and to highlight so many talented small businesses pursuing their paper-related passions.

Another theme running through this issue is the notion of grids, lines and rules. Some are there to guide us, some are meant to be followed closely and sometimes it is best to break the rules altogether!

Ja n i n e Vango ol P U B L I S H E R , E D I TO R , D ES I G N E R

Take good care of yourself and others.

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Contents 48

F R O N T C O V E R P R O D U C T D E TA I L S

Ja nua r y / Febr ua r y / M a rch 2021

PPHHOOTTOO BBYY NNEEAALL W WHHI ITTTTI INNGGTTOONN

PA Press/P&C Clip Art paperclips, Irojiten pencil crayons, Kaweco fountain pen, vintage ruler, Ellepi stapler, Hay brass scissors, Blackwing natural pencils, Seed gold eraser, Present & Correct label/list rubber stamps, Washi grid tape, Papierniczeni oak tray and grey planner.

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U P P E R C A S E

Welcome

Art & Design

Editor’s Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

COVER ARTIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

STITCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Stationery Is for Life Neal Whittington, Present & Correct

by Jane Audas

Willa Wanders

by Wendy Solganik

Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Snippets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Trend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Worthwhile / Stockist . . . . . . . . . 11

Fine Print LIBRARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

ARTIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Stationery and Papergoods Designers & Makers

SKETCHBOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Carmyne’s Journals

Recommended Reading

TOG ETHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

BEING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

We’re All in This Together

by Joy Deneen Calligraphy by Sue Greenseth

The Path Is Made by Walking

by Meera Lee Patel

BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Growing Your Business to a Comfortable Size

by Arianne Foulks illustration by Andrea D’Aquino

FRESH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Terry Murray Virginia Rougon Chavis

BEG INNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Secrets in Paper Places

by Cedric Victor

ORIG IN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The History of Ruled Paper

by Correy Baldwin

Craft

DISCOVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 The Bullet Journal Story

by Andrea Marván

Inspired by Wire Rodger Stevens

by Lydie Raschka

HOBBY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 My Personal Building Code

by Brendan Harrison

Misc.

SUBSCRIBER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Naomi Zouwer

SHARES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Instagrams from readers

LESSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Writing with the Lines

by Christopher Rouleau

CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 The UPPERCASE Circle: a free community for subscribers

PRINTMAKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 An Alphabet of Prints Emily Sutton and Penfold Press

by James Russell

COVET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Breaking the Rules

by Andrea Jenkins

ASK LILLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

PRINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

How to Figure Out What You Want to Do

by Lilla Rogers

Never Enough Stationery

by Jennifer Farrell

EPHEMERA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 The Rise of the Account Book Manufacturer

by Todd Pattison

ABECEDARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Stationery and Epistolary Luminaries

by Alyson Kuhn

PUBLISHED I N D E P E N D E N T LY SINCE

2009

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CREATIVE CAREER . . . . . . . . 34 Naché Snow

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U P P E R CAS E 201B – 908, 17th Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2T 0A3

Janine Vangool P U B L I S H E R , E D I TO R , D E S I G N E R

janine@uppercasemagazine.com C U STO M E R S E RV I C E

shop@uppercasemagazine.com

Correy Baldwin C O PY E D I TO R

Core Contributors Jane Audas Correy Baldwin Andrea D’Aquino Arianne Foulks Joy Deneen Glen Dresser Brendan Harrison Andrea Jenkins Linzee Kull McCray Andrea Marván Kerrie More Emily Orpin Meera Lee Patel Lydie Raschka Christopher Rouleau Laura Tarrish

THANK YOU Thank you to everyone who submitted to the open calls for this issue. Even if you weren’t featured within these printed pages, your effort was noticed and appreciated! UPPERCASE has the best readers in the world.

P RI NTE D I N CA N A DA BY T H E P R O L I F I C G R O U P.

Interior pages are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled Rolland Enviro 100.

C O N T R I B U TO R

Jennifer Farrell

Give this magazine a long life!

The content is evergreen, so we hope you’ll revisit it over and over again. If you’re done with it, please pass it on to a friend or colleague who might enjoy our content, or cut up the pages and create some art.

We plant a tree with every subscription. treeera.com

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U P P E R C A S E

Since 1999, Starshaped Press has stayed true to the original craft of letterpress, disregarding the naysayers who claim antique metal and wood type is too limiting for quality design. With solid presswork and hard-working Midwestern gumption, Jennifer Farrell likes to buck popular trends by showcasing the beauty and relevance of well-designed historical type. Starshaped focuses on reusing existing materials (some over 150 years old) for all projects, meaning no plastic is ever used in production.

Thank you to all of the talented writers, illustrators, creative collaborators and loyal readers who contributed their talents to this issue of UPPERCASE.

The “Never Enough Stationery” print will be part of Starshaped Press’ monthly Print Club subscription (January, Level 4). The Print Club focuses on creating thoughtful postcards, greeting cards, prints, notebooks and other items made in the studio or in collaboration with Midwestern vendors. It is centred on using recycled materials, fostering community and supporting other small businesses. starshaped.com/printclub

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Each issue is a labour of love: love for print as a medium and love of creativity as a way of life.

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This quarterly magazine is released in January, April, July and October.

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BACK ISSUES Get them while you can! Issues 1 through 28 are out of print. uppercasemagazine.com

STOCKISTS To view our list of stockists or to carry UPPERCASE in your shop: uppercasemagazine.com/ stockists

QUESTIONS? Have a question about your subscription or a change of address? Email us: shop@uppercasemagazine.com

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PARTICIPATE PUBLISHED I N D E P E N D E N T LY SINCE

2009

Share your ideas and art and enter the open calls! uppercasemagazine.com/ participate

Snippets

ADORNED

paper bags, with style

L

ocal Bags are reusable, sturdy paper bags decorated with unique artwork and upcycled handles. Created by Cindy Desmet and handmade in La Mesa, California, the bags are eco-friendly, stylish and practical. “In 2011, I found myself looking for an idea that would allow me to use my creativity, produce an object that is useful and eventually create employment for others besides myself,” recalls Cindy. “The concept for Local Bag arrived one day out of nowhere like a package dropped into my mind. At first, I saw the bags as being made from fabric but they have evolved over time to their present format, a design I really love and that I know to be unique—i.e., a very strong paper bag with real (almost always upcycled) handles.”

Each bag is created with an unusual mix of materials, and displays different decorative techniques, from painting to drawing, to collage and embroidery. “It’s a bag that’s easy to handle and use (grocery clerks generally gush with appreciation—the bags stand on their own), as well as durable and unique,” says Cindy.

“Bags are an everyday object that can somehow invade your heart. Since 2012 I’ve sold hundreds of Local Bags, and I am grateful and excited to know that they are loved for their usefulness and style. If I never invent anything else in my life, I’ll be pretty happy with being the inventor of Local Bag.” localbag.net

T H E PA P E R B A G P R I N C E S S Written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko, this book was first published in 1980 by Annick Press and is credited for launching Munsch’s career with its fearless, no-nonsense female protagonist.

Indeed, as it celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2020, over seven million copies have been sold and children are still enjoying this timeless tale of taking charge. annickpress.com

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COILED

STA P L E D

papermelon DEVI CHAND

Ellepi Klizia 97 Stapler Designed in 1984 by Oscar Lepre, these iconic Italian staplers are made from steel and enamel-powdered in an enticing array of colours. “They’re bright, smart and no-nonsense,” says our cover photographer Neal Whittington, who often features the stapler in his compositions. “The solid blocks of colour are just perfect for keeping paper neat or ravioli sealed.” presentandcorrect.com

From her little home studio in Chennai, India, paper artist Devi Chand creates sustainable jewellery and home decor from recycled paper. “My favourite medium to work with is newspapers and magazines,” she says. “I’ve fallen in love with working with paper, and the magic it creates.”

L E A R N H OW

With a design background but using techniques she has discovered and developed on her own, she creates unique items for her brand, Papermelon.

“My love for paper, and my eye for detail—I think they form the base for my work,” says Devi. papermelon.com

S U P R E M E RU L E R

Steel Ruler With its anti-slip cork backing, a steel ruler is an essential tool in the paper artist’s studio.

A Beginners’ Guide to Paper Flowers If you’ve ever wanted to make paper flowers but felt overwhelmed at their complexity, this book introduces the craft in an easy way that is both pretty and satisfying. luciabalcazar.com

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T R E N D

lines and ledgers

V I N TAG E There’s something so appealing about vintage ledgers, probably because we have no obligation to use them to keep track of cash balances! For us, the sum of these pages simply equals creative potential. FonsecaAntiques has a lovely assortment of Portuguese ledgers from the 1940s to the 1950s.

FonsecaAntiques.etsy.com

P O C K ET The Padrino Grid Fountain Pen is a compact three-quarter size that fits in your pocket. coloradopen.com G RIDDED With various grids, lines and patterns, Grids & Guides notebooks are for visual thinkers who want to go beyond simple lines or dots. papress.com

DA N I S H Danish paper brand Notem excels at making graphically appealing notebooks using classic motifs like grids and stripes. “We are inspired by human nature, by the way we keep track of things, by our sense of time and our memory,” the company states. “It is our mission to make paper add new value to your daily habits and your everyday tasks.” notem-studio.com

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LE ET TT TE ER R II N NG G B BY Y C CH HR R II S ST TO OP PH HE ER R R RO OU UL LE EA AU U L

S T O C K I S T

Using our creativity for good is one of the best ways we can make a difference.

Through design, art and craft—and with our hands and hearts—we can effect change.

However small it may seem at first, each incremental effort is still significant.

LO CA L S H O P LOV E

Highlighting independent brick-and-mortar shops who stock UPPERCASE publications and other lovely things.

Recess CA LG A RY, A L B E RTA , CA N A DA K Y L E C H OW

Disabled Artists Foundation (dAFi)

BY AMELIA WOODBRIDG E

Care Hart established the Disabled Artists Foundation (dAFi) in 2018 to energize the disabled through creative arts. Her mission was to reach out to others with disabilities to share her experience of using creative pursuits to cope with the constant pain of migraines. “Creating art helped through the hardest times,” Care says. “It energized me to set up a foundation to help others make art, while also giving new purpose to donations of unused art supplies.”

Care’s journey with dAFi (pronounced “defy,” as in to defy challenges) began with shipping donated art supplies to people with disabilities who could not afford them. Today, dAFi artists across the United States, affectionately referred to as Hartists, range in age from 14 to 104 and are a mix of first-time creatives and experienced artists.

“Hearing individuals describe art and new friendships as life-saving is very powerful,” says Care.

“What started as a simple act of sharing art supplies grew into a connected community of healing and inspiration for everyone involved.”

Over time, dAFi added a Happy Mail service for those in need of a pick-me-up, and training classes offering new creative skills for Hartists. All who contribute to the mission of the foundation are called angels, whether it’s monthly auction participants or those donating their time, money or supplies. You can find more information on how to donate to dAFi on their website.

At Recess, we know that a thoughtfully considered workspace is a productive workspace. Having things around you that are not only beautifully designed, but incredibly functional helps galvanize productivity, spark creative juices and streamline workflow.

Make play, not work.

We stock a wide range of creative tools, from notebooks, pens and pencils to toolboxes and art supplies to meet the needs of the corporate, creative and exploratory community. We love the tactility of our products and encourage people to come and try every writing tool and flip through every notebook to determine what best suits their needs. recessshop.ca @recessshop

disabledartists.org

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paper-related pleasures RECOMMENDED READING by janine vangool

PHOTOGR APHER: © CHRIS MIDDLETON A N D M I C H E L L E M A C K I N T O S H TA K E N F R O M S U S TA I N A B L E G I F T I N G B Y M ICH E LLE MACKI NTOSH PU BLISH E D

BY HARDIE GR ANT BOOKS.

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B E I N G

the path is made by walking

A

creative life is not linear—it’s full of swoops, curves and long stretches of confusion. For each step that moves us toward our chosen destination, there are many steps backwards, providing the perfect circumstances for frustration and discouragement to breed. In these times of disappointment, I find it helpful to remember that a good life doesn’t move stoically forward in a single direction—rather, it’s full of slow progress and tiny breakthroughs. A good life is full of unexpected change and destinations that continue to change, creating a map of crisscrossing paths and places that we would never have imagined.

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The path is made by walking.

The most common way we rob ourselves is by believing there is one correct path we must follow. As poet Antonio Machado illuminates in Campos de Castilla, the truth is that there is no path, the path is made by walking.

Within the creative life, there are innumerable ways we cheat ourselves from pursuing our dreams. Frequently, we believe we need a formal degree (or validation from others) before we can become true artists; we believe we need an agent before we can begin making money from our work; we believe we need a definitive style or aesthetic in order to be successful. These are all examples of procrastination in various forms—and the busier you are procrastinating, the less time you spend carving your path.

Take-away: The best thing you can do is embrace the positives from the situation you are in. My full-time job, as difficult and isolating as it was, gave me the ability to become disciplined and structured, which has helped me immensely in my career as a freelance writer and artist.

It also gave me knowledge of what financial stability I needed in order to live the creative life I desired, and how to shape a business that would support that life.

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F R E S H

Terry Murray S I D N EY, B R I T I S H C O LU M B I A , CA N A DA

I am a true Vancouver Islander, born and raised. As a kid I always wanted a career in the arts—which turned into a 40year career in television and film in Vancouver as a script supervisor (continuity), first with the CBC, then freelancing for major US production companies. For relaxation from this stressful and demanding job, I experimented with all kinds of art projects. I moved back home to the Island when I retired and now pursue my interest full time. For most of my adult life I have been developing ideas for how to create something new by repurposing materials that may otherwise be headed for the landfill. Now, I’m working with various types of paper, coiled and shaped.

Marine charts, sheet music, dictionary pages and road maps create quirky vessels.

Book folding, paper manipulation, upcycling—I’m always looking for that next great idea. I have been honoured with awards at the Sooke Fine Arts Show (2020) and the Sidney Fine Art Show (2019) for my coiled paper bowls.

fresh talent

W H ET H E R YO U ’ R E A F R E S H G R A D UAT E O R M AT U R E A RT I ST, I T I S O F T E N A D R E A M TO B E P U B L I S H E D F O R T H E F I RST T I M E !

You’re welcome to submit your work for consideration. uppercasemagazine.com/ participate

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Virginia Rougon Chavis OX F O R D, M I SS I SS I P P I , U SA

I am an artist, graphic designer and professor of art at the University of Mississippi, in Oxford, Mississippi, where I have been teaching for 18 years. I enjoy exploring new ideas with my students and making things with my hands. My works on paper typically include metaphors obtained from routine experiences, and the year 2020 has been anything but routine. A lighthearted play on words was replaced with the need to create small works about the emotions we have all been feeling since the spring. Each of these mixed-media works are printed on tea bags, as a metaphor for the fragile state of our emotions, our nation and our humanity.

I tend to incorporate letterpress printing, texture and images using relief processes and stitching. The red thread is meant to represent the lifeline and remind us that we are human. @virginiarougonchavis virginiarougonchavis.com

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B E G I N N I N G S

Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it. — M A RY O L I V E R

the secrets in paper places STO RY BY

c e d r ic v ic tor

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C A R E E R

Naché Snow maker, designer and podcaster

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U P P E R C A S E

I host the Studio 78 podcast, in which I interview everyday women doing extraordinary things. In particular, I highlight full-time and part-time creative women entrepreneurs.

I also create digital and paper products to help women discover their passion and smartly organize their time.

This includes the Life Cleanse Journal, which focuses on 10 areas of your life, and digital planners for use with PDFediting apps like GoodNotes.

What makes your job, profession or calling unique and interesting? Why are you drawn to this work?

I get to interview and work with amazing creative women.

The podcast allows me to understand how successful women think and become successful. This, along with my own productivity habits, help shape the digital and paper products I create. I’m drawn

to developing these products because it allows me to merge my love for design, business and productivity.

What training or education prepared you (or didn’t!) for this career?

I received a BA in mass communication with a concentration in graphic design. I also went back to school to get an MA in publication design. School taught me how to code websites, experiment with different art forms and connect with amazing creatives.

What advice do you have for someone trying to find their own creative career path?

Experiment with all the things to find what you love. Don’t be afraid to share all of your goodness with the world. Once you’ve identified your passion, determine if you want to be an entrepreneur or career woman.

Take action and go after what you want. Nothing to it, but to do it!

Anything else you’d like to share?

Journals, notebooks and planners are all great ways to stay organized and collect your thoughts. To make using them a habit, put them in a visible location, dedicate a specific time of day to update them and choose a design that resonates with you. My favourite app for my planners/ notebooks is GoodNotes. My favourite stationery items are TomBow markers, Staedtler triplus fineliners, Uni pins, Uni-ball signo white pens, Pilot Frixon erasable pens and the Leuchtturm1917 journal. nachesnow.com

dfinneyphoto.co

Please describe what you do!

PORTR AIT BY DAN I E LLE FI N N E Y

C R E A T I V E

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of historical paperclips and assorted envelopes.

A selection of greeting cards has just come out in partnership with Scout Editions—illustrations of stationery (what else?) with Scout’s trademark smiley faces on them. He also put together a book about Eastern Bloc matchbook graphics, Matchbloc, which came out last year and has already sold out.

Matchbloc was a labour of love that he co-authored with his friend, designer and collector Jane McDevitt.

“It was a lot of work but it was worth it,” Neal says. “It was a bit of a learning curve and quite stressful in the end. I like books that are a study of something that’s an everyday good but that comes in a million varieties.

Books like that please me.” His next project is with a bookmaker in Margate, on the South Coast. It will be a bound volume of envelopes for collecting things, something he has wanted to make happen for a while. “All the things on my list are short runs of fancy products that, if I made thousands of them, wouldn’t sell. But if I can ship a hundred of them, I can get it out of my system.

That’s the plan.”

Keeping things small and independent is important to Neal, and not just because delegation is a difficult word for him. He likes to think that it helps retain a feeling of “being special,” but at the same time he reflects that it is getting harder to maintain that point of difference as a stationery retailer. “It’s always nice to have things other people don’t have, but that’s getting so much harder because of the Internet and big brands saturating the market,” he says. “There was a time when you’d see a brand only in one place. Now you can go to a lot of small shops and everyone has the same stuff. They’re all independent but it’s almost like a chain because everyone has access to the same distributors.”

Going that little bit further to find stock has meant Neal tends to find odd things. He stocks a paper adhesive ruler used for CSI investigations to show scale in photographs: “They’re really lovely paper rulers. I like taking something out of context. If they said ‘murder investigation,’ I wouldn’t sell them, but they’re just lovely plain sticky rulers and I love them.”

Selling hand-picked vintage stock has always meant there are varied, wonderful things to be found in the P&C shop and website. Neal travels to flea markets abroad to source his finds. There the stock is often in better condition than vintage British stationery and the packaging is often as exciting as what is inside. “The advantage of selling vintage things is that you have a changing mix,” Neal says, “so amongst the brands you recognize are things you won’t see anywhere else.” He also likes to keep P&C stocked with international goods—currently there are at least 19 countries represented.

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S U B S C R I B E R

M ETA P H O RS

Naomi Zouwer CA N B E R R A , AU ST R A L I A

I am a visual artist, researcher, arts educator and project designer. I live and work in Canberra, Australia. My studio is in the middle of my small house; it’s the entrance, the dining table and a bit of the kitchen. I actually love working at home surrounded by my family (two kids, a husband and a dog!).

In the first month of isolation due to the pandemic I began a new ritual of making a painting in one sitting every day. I started picking things from my sewing box, which holds my collection of nostalgic remnants such as ricrac, Glomesh, sequins, beads and braid, and then adding the occasional leaf, rock or seed pod picked up from my daily walk with my family.

With each painting, I played with the composition to reflect the social distancing regulations as they were changing, from groups of ten people outside, then to five people, then to staying at home with your “cluster.�

These simple items can be seen as metaphors for these strange times of touching and not touching, staying at home, being inside and being separated from others. The paintings are organized in the order they were made. The final paintings include my hands, as touch was at the forefront of my mind.

Recently, I have started painting on vintage tins, transforming innocent biscuit box images into comments on the coronavirus using ricrac as a metaphor for the air we breathe. zouwer.com @naomi_zouwer

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S H A R E S

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@te q u i t i a _a n d rews

@ta nyaevera rd

@s i o b h a nwa tt i l l u s t ra t i on

@a l i tt l eg o o d n e s s

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C I R C L E

Circle

looking forward There’s a lot to look forward to at UPPERCASE—and many ways in which you can be involved or even get published!

Look for all the details and deadlines for the open calls on our website and be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter for behind-the-scenes updates!

Make connections, nurture your creative spirit and grow your business!

Yarn-Thread-String Volume Y in the Encyclopedia of Inspiration will be released in early 2021.

Fabric Breaking news: My fourth collection with Windham Fabrics will be available with fabric retailers in early 2021. View the look book and get project ideas at uppercasemagazine.com/fabric.

Share what you make @uppercasemag #uppercasefabric.

Little U: Volume 3 Little U is the offspring of UPPERCASE magazine—creativity for the young at heart! Volume 3 is in the works for early 2021. Look for open calls about how you can be published in Little U.

The UPPERCASE Circle is a vibrant community hub.

One that is a valuable source of motivation, inspiration and encouragement for like-minded and kind-hearted creative people from around the world.

Although the community is initially brought together by its support for and appreciation of UPPERCASE magazine, the Circle will enhance your experience of all things UPPERCASE while providing additional value to your creative life through conversation and sharing of knowledge.

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Connect with members of the UPPERCASE community— both near and far—who share your interests.

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Share your work with your peers, mentors and potential customers.

UPPERCASE magazine #49 April-May-June 2021 This issue will contain the fourth edition of the UPPERCASE Surface Pattern Design Guide, featuring 100 artists.

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Find inspiration, motivation and new perspectives.

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Move your creative business forward with tips, tools and support from peers and guest experts.

#50 July-August-September 2021 Help us celebrate this amazing milestone of independent publishing!

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Live video conferences and video chats.

#51 October-November-December 2021 Pitch your article ideas and theme suggestions anytime by emailing submissions@uppercasemagazine.com. uppercasemagazine.com

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Access to this community is FREE when you subscribe to UPPERCASE magazine! uppercasecircle.com

B O O K S

A multi-volume book series released in whimsical (non-alphabetical) order on all manner of intriguing and creative topics.

E A R LY 2021

Help fund the publication of this book by preordering your copy today!

This book gets up close and personal with fibre, telling the stories and processes from venerated traditional thread companies to individual artisans raising sheep to make their own wool. We look at natural fibres and how they are made, and how design plays a part in the visual appeal of fibre brands. We’ll also explore innovative fibres that repurpose and recycle our valuable resources.

Yarn-Thread-String also highlights artists, craftspeople and creative entrepreneurs who use these fibres in unique and inspiring ways. Through this book, you’ll gain a new and exciting perspective on what fibre is—and how we can use it to express our individuality, creativity and humanity.

encyclopediaofinspiration.com

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C O V E T

breaking the rules

STO RY A N D P H OTO S BY

and re a j enkin s

T

he impulse to break into the neighbourhood swimming pool was just the beginning. Like most of the world, our family has spent the better part of the past year at home, sheltering in place.

In the uncertain face of a global pandemic, we carved out for ourselves the most comforting cocoon we could manage. But with April came an abundance of sunshine, trees with buds set to explode and the first slivers of hope. I figured it was safe enough to venture out and walk the neighbourhood, as long as I stayed close to home and kept my distance from others.

I grabbed my camera on the way out (I realized I hadn’t picked it up in weeks) and started to walk towards the creek that winds between the subdivisions. Instead, I found myself at the old neighbourhood pool.

The swimming pool is a mess, has been for years.

Murky green water sits stagnant in the deep end, the cement cracked in a hundred different places. The lounge chairs are falling apart, loops of faded blue plastic, slowly unravelling. One diving board remains intact while the metal stump of another sits next to it. Each year, a small number of residents rally to restore it, but springtime always finds it looking like this. Like the end of the world. I was close enough to the creek to hear its soothing sounds, but still felt inexplicably drawn to the pool. I wandered along the sides of the chain-link fence until I found a weak spot and shimmied my way through. Once inside, I walked down the steps into the shallow end, the concrete floor like bone. I pointed my camera at the lines and light around me and, as strange

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as it was to stand in an empty swimming pool in the middle of April, realized it was the most normal (and alive) I’d felt in weeks.

Over the course of a spring and summer spent at home, I would learn to lean into these impulses, no matter how small or silly they seemed. The impulse to turn a cartwheel in the backyard. To make corn tortillas from scratch. To build a coffee table out of salvaged wood when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. The impulse to order a disco ball and spend an afternoon finding the best window light for it, to build a makeshift habitat for caterpillars I found living in the garden so I could watch them turn into butterflies. The impulse to transform the backyard tent into a tiny movie theatre, to ride my bike underneath the floodlights of the library parking lot late at night, to dream up new ideas for imaginary zines. Small, simple acts of joy in the face of so much unknown.

It felt as if something inside had shifted, as if somehow I was channelling the energy and creativity of my nine-year-old self. As a child, I spent hours in my room making and writing things, conjuring up imaginary people and places—creativity born out of limitation.

Now, as an adult, I was stuck in one proverbial room all over again, forced to see my small, immediate environment with new eyes, to find new ways to breathe life into what we now call our new normal. As it turned out, my impulses were really more like gut instincts.

And when I finally listened, they told me everything I needed to hear.

P R I NT

ARTWORK BY

j en n ifer fa rrell

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F RO NT C OVE R

n e a l w h i tt i ng ton BAC K C OVE R $ 1 8 CA D/ U S D P R I N T E D I N CA N A DA

j en n i fer fa r rel l

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