by Ted Kaye, Vexilloid Tabloid #55 If you're in the Portland area this Thursday evening, come to our next bimonthly meeting to see and hear more from Ted Kaye. And others -- bring your own item or story to share! Attending the 26th International Congress of Vexillology (ICV 26) provided an opportunity for travel around… Continue reading Field Report — Australia
by Michael Orelove, Vexilloid Tabloid #55 Long-time PFA member Michael Orelove is recovering from a medical emergency. We will miss having his good-natured enthusiasm at our meetings, and wish him a full and expeditious return to health. Here is a photo essay he put together for our most recent newsletter. When I take a trip, I pack clean… Continue reading Field Report — New England & Canada Cruise
There are 14 Phoenixes and 5 Phenixes in the United States, but only one of these has a flag: to nobody's surprise, it's Phoenix, Arizona. And again, to nobody's surprise, the flag of Phoenix, Arizona has a phoenix on it. It's in the form of a highly stylized logo that won the Great Phoenix Bird Design Competition of 1987. More… Continue reading Phoenix Flags
Here's a design challenge for all you vexillographers out there: Design a flag that represents 2016. Or, if you think you can only properly represent a year once it is over, how about 2015? To get your creative juices going, here are two examples that represent the year as a number, using its prime factorization.… Continue reading Flags for the New (and Old) Year
Here are our 20 most-viewed* blog posts of the year. #20 - Andy Warhol and the American Flag (226 views) #19 - Fargo -- A Flag for the Flagless? (247 views) #18 - Heart Flags (257 views) #17 - American Flag Refreshed for 2015 (303 views) #16 - The Flag of HDYNATION (307 views) #15 -… Continue reading Our Most Popular Posts of 2015
The non-profit St. Nicholas Center (stnicholascenter.org) hosts material "to educate people of faith, and the wider public, about the true St. Nicholas, and why he is important in today's world". Of interest to vexillologists is their page and database St. Nicholas in Civic Heraldry, which lists coats of arms of dozens of "cities, villages, towns, districts, churches, and… Continue reading St Nicholas’ Three Gold Coins
Flags make a couple of brief appearances in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. One is in this scene that draws upon the Nuremberg rally imagery from Lene Riefenstahl's infamous Nazi propaganda film, 1935's Triumph of the Will: The flag in the background belongs to the First Order, featuring its emblem of 16 bars radially arranged within… Continue reading Flags in The Force Awakens
Scott Kelly isn't the only Star Wars fan who has been hard at work designing flags. This month's flag design contest in Reddit's /r/vexillology community had this prompt: It is a period of flag design. Aspiring vexillographers, illustrating from around the world, have won victories throughout the year. During this month, your task is to… Continue reading More Star Wars Fan Flags
Earlier in the year we wished May the Fourth Be With You, and now for some reason Star Wars flags are back on our minds... London-based New Zealander Scott Kelly's labor of love -- to design a flag for the “around 300 planets named over all of the Star Wars universe, from movies to comic… Continue reading Flags of the (Star Wars) Galaxy
The Gadsden Flag has been endlessly reinterpreted, modified, parodied, and generally played with, as the following examples show. The design violates a number of basic principles of good flag design, but its ability to capture the imagination and spur creativity shows it to have become a very effective flag nevertheless. Amplifications: Specific "rights": Porcupines: Simplifications: Parodies:… Continue reading Gadsdenoids
Portland Flag Association 