Get ready for more bad designs in the future.

Conder101

In this weeks edition of the E-sylum the names and specialties of all of the Master and Associate artists for the Mints new outside artists program were given. ONE of the master artists is a medalist, and ONE of the associates has training in bas-relief. All of the rest of the artists are trained, or specialize in two dimentional graphic arts or computer art. Two do banknote design or engraving. What the mint has done is round up a group who work in NO relief design to design our coins.

JrGMan2004

So it turns into... they draw their designs in 2d... then they use a computer to raise up and distory it so there is some relief... and it turns out like the state quarters... blah, with no elegance or beauty...

ccex

<< <i>In this weeks edition of the E-sylum the names and specialties of all of the Master and Associate artists for the Mints new outside artists program were given. ONE of the master artists is a medalist, and ONE of the associates has training in bas-relief. All of the rest of the artists are trained, or specialize in two dimentional graphic arts or computer art. Two do banknote design or engraving. What the mint has done is round up a group who work in NO relief design to design our coins. >>



OK, so we'll get another round of flat, boring designs. I'm reminded of the mint's underfunded 1891 "competition" for new designs with Charles Barber as judge. The mint can stamp these out with few problems, and they'll be collected anyway, despite artistic objections. Will it take a new president with a flair for the outgrageous and a sculptor for a friend before we see an aesthetically pleasing design issued? My hunch is the current president's interest in coin designs invokes a line from Fats Waller's "Fat and Greasy": Talk about your lazy faire, /he's too inert to even care!

PutTogether

at least we're all optimistic, so we've got that going for us.

MatthewBabcock

I'm sure they'll do a better job at it than my best stick figure drawings... (I'm graphically challenged)

XpipedreamR

That's too bad. I've pretty much given up on moderns, though, so I guess I don't really care that much. It's been a while since they produced a worthwhile design, in my opinion.

291fifth

As I have said on previous posts, the mint "design renaissance" program is nothing more than PR. If you want top artists you have to pay for them. The mint's compensation program for these artists is a joke. The fact that they would even consider the work of computer graphic artists tells me everything I need to know about what we can expect from this program.