Yesterday we asked: Who designed the Gadsden Flag? And just as we can't be certain of the designer, neither do we know what the original flag actually looked like. Nevertheless, the flag marketplace, and cyberspace, has converged on, basically, a single design. (This suggests a common origin, but we couldn't pin it down to an artist, enterprise,… Continue reading What Does a Gadsden Flag Look Like?
Author: SDM
Ethnography * Technology * Design
Who Designed the Gadsden Flag?
The "Gadsden" of "Gadsden Flag" fame is Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina (and not his grandson James Gadsden of Gadsden Purchase fame). In late 1775 the colonel was a member of the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress charged with outfitting the ships of the nascent Continental Navy. Part of that activity involved coming… Continue reading Who Designed the Gadsden Flag?
Flag Art at Art Basel
Art Basel is a series of international contemporary art fairs with a large online catalog. Their Miami Beach 2015 event is happening now, with 10,665 artworks by 3086 artists. Here are 15 works that feature flags. US Flag Bernstein, Judith: Union Jack-Off on US Policy in Vietnam, 1967 Ethridge, Roe: Louise with Flag, 2014 Horowitz,… Continue reading Flag Art at Art Basel
Flutterings (from VexTab #54)
from Vexilloid Tabloid #54 Note: “Flutterings” — notes from the editor on our last meeting — is a regular feature in The Vexilloid Tabloid. September 2015 Flutterings You Need to Know In our September meeting, hosted by Larry Snyder in a small theater—complete with fresh popcorn—at the Oswego Pointe development in Lake Oswego, 8 PFA members enjoyed a… Continue reading Flutterings (from VexTab #54)
The OKC Flag Project
You can add Oklahoma City to the list of cities in which flag design activists have taken up Roman Mars' call to arms to improve the municipal flag. They call themselves the OKC Flag Project, and are soliciting design proposals at their website, okcflag.org. Despite the nuclear bottlecap, the OKC project sees nothing wrong with the city… Continue reading The OKC Flag Project
What’s that Flag? (From VexTab #54)
RAIPON
The Flags of the World (FOTW) database recently added a new indigenous peoples' flag: the flag of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON). RAIPON was established in 1990 and participates on the Arctic Council. It represents 41 different indigenous groups across Russia. RAIPON was shut down unexpectedly in 2012 with the pretext that… Continue reading RAIPON
State Flag Pledges
Francis Bellamy's 1892 pledge of allegiance to the US national flag is well known. Less well known are the pledges US states have created to their own flags, seventeen in all. With the exception of Florida, all eleven states that seceded during the US Civil War have flag pledges -- though all of these were adopted… Continue reading State Flag Pledges
Hello, Hello Internet!
Hello Internet (hellointernet.fm, @HelloInternetFM) is a podcast by prolific YouTube celebrities C. G. P. Grey and Brady Haran. Vexillology appears to be a recurring theme. For example, the current episode, H.I. #51: Appropriately Thinking It, includes discussion of the Fiji flag referendum and a design contest they are running to create a Hello Internet flag. As… Continue reading Hello, Hello Internet!
Flag Making for Unity and Pride
Imperial County (California) Supervisor Ryan E. Kelley would like to redesign the little-known flag adopted by the county in 1996 but subsequently forgotten. But this is not another Roman Mars-inspired effort focused on applying principles of good flag design to improve a bad one. Rather, Kelley wants to use not just a new flag itself… Continue reading Flag Making for Unity and Pride
Portland Flag Association 