Thursday, April 18, 2013

Countdown to Cheverly Day 2013: The T-Shirt!

Every day from now -- exactly one month out from Cheverly Day -- through May 18, we'll be highlighting something that celebrates an aspect of Cheverly Day. Visit every day and learn about all the things that go into this spectacular annual celebration. We love them all!

We are thrilled to unveil the Cheverly Day 2013 tee -- an homage to a favorite vintage New Yorker cover depicting Cheverly! Designed by Cheverly artist Pat Nelson, the shirts are white cotton and include "Cheverly -- the best place on Earth". They'll be available at the Midway on Cheverly Day...just $12!

We asked Pat a few questions about her t-shirt designs over the years...
What inspired your design this year? My inspiration this year came from a conversation at our table at the Sweetheart Dance on what a wonderful town we have. Tina Powell brought up the subject of Saul Steinberg's 1976 cover of the New Yorker magazine showing the insignificance of the rest of the world in reference to New York City and an idea was born. I decided to do my own version of it, looking west from Cheverly.

How many Cheverly Day tees have you designed?  I got involved in Cheverly Day the year I moved here from NJ in 2003 and have been creating the tee shirt designs starting in 2004 honoring our visitor that year, the cicada. Starting that year we decided to give each Cheverly Day a theme and I have tried to design the tees to represent the theme of the day. In 2005 it was "Wildlife in Cheverly" and the tee pictured a variation of our town seal with a beaver gnawing on a felled tree at One Cheverly Circle. 2006 was fireworks on our 75th Anniversary, 2007depicted our beautiful trees, 2008 highlighted our 36 organizations and social groups, 2009 a map of a historic walk thru Cheverly, 2010 the environment with Kermit the frog telling us "it IS easy being green", 2011 another anniversary shirt, 2012 honoring our many talented artists and crafters and this year, a way to show that Cheverly is indeed the best place on earth.

What's your favorite Cheverly Day tee so far?  I think from a design veiwpoint, my favorite shirt is 2007 picturing our trees and trail thru Woodworth Park. Our best seller was Kermit the Frog with a close second on the 75th anniversary shirt depicting our great fireworks. Both years totally sold out.

What goes into making a good design for a Cheverly Day tee? Anything you try to avoid or make sure you include? A good design graphically highlights the year's theme without having to state it in words. Choosing a shirt color to enhance the design is a consideration too, although most people seem to prefer black. This year's artwork will look best on white, I am hoping that will not discourage sales. I always include the year and somewhere on the shirt, a cicada, reminding us that brood X will return.

1 comment:

  1. I love all my Cheverly Day shirts and really enjoyed learning more about Pat's thought process. I'll definitely buy this year's, too!

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