Here is the US flag as it appears on (left) shoulder patches. (The flag is often reversed on the right shoulder, so that it faces "into the wind" as the person walks forward.) Most of these variations were created to be part of camoflage uniforms. Together they illustrate some of the many ways the US flag… Continue reading US Flag Patches
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What’s that Flag? (from VexTab #36)
Instagram #vexillology
Instagram is infamous for selfies and photos of food. But there is a lot of great content, too, including postings about flags and vexillology. See for yourself, for example by searching on #vexillology. Or just scroll through some examples below.
Flags in the Hierarchy of Pride
Michael Green is a designer, self-proclaimed Flag Geek, and author of the excellent Branding the Nations blog on Medium.com. In his posting on (the sad state of) US state flags, The Good, the "Meh" and the Ugly, he asks a fundamental question that is too often taken for granted in discussions, debates, and contests about… Continue reading Flags in the Hierarchy of Pride
Self-Contradictory Flags
We recently featured artist Josh Thorpe's Ambivalent Flag, that signaled white, or black, or a bit of each, depending on how the wind was tossing it around. Here are a couple of other examples of flags that contradict themselves, courtesy of Ted Kaye. One was a novelty flag produced at one time by Jim Ferrigan,… Continue reading Self-Contradictory Flags
The Clatsop-Nehalem Flag
The Clatsop-Nehalem are an unrecognized confederation of Native Americans in Oregon with a truly striking flag. According to its designer, Mark Scovell (son of tribal chief Joe Scovell): The circular design of the yellow touches all of the other colors because it represents the Creator whose presence relates to all of life. The red represents blood… Continue reading The Clatsop-Nehalem Flag
An Early Attempt at a Portland Flag
Anyone interested in American city flags should have a copy of the book of that title: American City Flags: 150 Flags from Akron to Yonkers, by John M. Purcell with James A. Croft and Rich Monahan, published in 2003 as a special issue of Raven: A Journal of Vexillology by the North American Vexillological Association (ISBN 0-9747728-0-1;… Continue reading An Early Attempt at a Portland Flag
Hidden Beauty in Flag Icons
The internet is awash in flag icons -- tiny representations of flags, in dimensions of a few pixels per side. Here are some 11-by-16 examples in the public domain, from http://www.famfamfam.com: Here's what happens when you blow them up. (Technically, these were enlarged to 413-by-600 size with the resize/resample function of IrfanView, using the… Continue reading Hidden Beauty in Flag Icons
What’s that Flag? (from VexTab #35)
Josh Thorpe – Heavy Ambivalent Flag
In 2010 Canadian artist Josh Thorpe created a flag that contradicted itself -- white on one side, black on the other -- and flew it from a pole at the entrance to the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery on the University of Toronto campus, which had commissioned the work. About this work, the artist writes: With its… Continue reading Josh Thorpe – Heavy Ambivalent Flag
Portland Flag Association 