January 2009
Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Associate Professor and artist, Kam Mak, will have his postal stamp design for the coming Lunar New Year unveiled this Thursday, 8 January at 11am by U.S. Postal Services (USPS).
This event will be open to the public and held at the FIT’s Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, D Building, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street.
This design is the second in a series of twelve Lunar New Year stamps by Mak, which will be issued annually through to 2019.
Mak was recently honored with the Asian American Dynamic Achiever Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans, Westchester and Hudson Valley Chapter, for his work in designing the series for USPS.
The Lunar New Year project began in 2005, when USPS art director Ethel Kessler, impressed with Mak's "exquisite" work in a Society of Illustrators' exhibition, offered him the commission.
"Personally, this is my most significant assignment," says Mak, who was born in Hong Kong and raised in New York City's Chinatown. "It's a great opportunity to showcase my culture, and a great responsibility. These stamps are sent not just throughout the country, but all over the world."
Each stamp in the series portrays one of the holiday's traditional objects or rituals. "Many of the objects are important symbols rooted in my Chinese cultural tradition," Mak says. "Growing up in New York's Chinatown, the Lunar New Year was the holiday that reminded me most of the home I left behind in Hong Kong. My mother would prepare traditional New Year's foods and decorate our apartment with flowers and red paper inscribed with lucky words. I want these stamps to reveal the beautiful richness of my culture."
Mak worked with Ethel Kessler to commemorate The Year of the Ox, celebrated from January 26, 2009, to February 13, 2010. They chose the design of a lion's head, since dancers often wear such heads, made of papier-mache and bamboo, to perform at New Year's festivities.
The design also incorporates elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps, using an intricate paper-cut design of an ox and the Chinese character for ox, drawn in grass-style calligraphy. The illustration was originally created using oil paint on a fiberboard panel.
Mak has taught at FIT since 1993. Presently, he is working on a series of paintings inspired by images in Chinatown. He lives in Brooklyn with his family.
Want to see what 24 hours of creative awesomeness look like? Click here.
This news message is supported by The Creative Finder, an online platform for photographers, illustrators, designers, and art directors to promote their portfolios towards new clients and collaborators. Creatives who wish to sign up for an account can save 10% off annual fees with promo code 'designtaxi'.
