Vent *%$%!!!

SeattleSlammer

I realize that this topic has been discussed many times, but I can't understand why all of the Statehood quarters look like they were designed by Junior High art students on their lunch breaks.

"Hey, anybody want my fries?....hey what are we doing in gym today?....oh, hey, check out this design I did for the Washington quarter. Check out that sweet fish and mountain!"

Yeah, great, so all composition and true design concepts go out the window in favor of freakin' State outlines and sketches that lack all pleasing details. Was the goal to have the first freakin' thing that popped into someone's head be what should appear on these damn things?

I suppose this thought crosses my mind because I was reappreciating all of the amazing early commem designs out there.........how far we've fallen!

Scioto

Blame politicians, design committees and Mint lifers trying to lay low and collect the pension.

Oh, and state sponsored design contests open to Junior High civics and art classes.

curly

It all boils down to taste, brother. The chain cent was hated too. Who knows, someday they may be looked at differently.

OneCent

I actually like that the majority of the designs. Go figure!

Montana is probably my favorite. Can't beat that Bison skull...sorta reminds me of the Spanish Trail Commem!

OPA

<< <i>I realize that this topic has been discussed many times, but I can't understand why all of the Statehood quarters look like they were designed by Junior High art students on their lunch breaks.

"Hey, anybody want my fries?....hey what are we doing in gym today?....oh, hey, check out this design I did for the Washington quarter. Check out that sweet fish and mountain!"

Yeah, great, so all composition and true design concepts go out the window in favor of freakin' State outlines and sketches that lack all pleasing details. Was the goal to have the first freakin' thing that popped into someone's head be what should appear on these damn things?

I suppose this thought crosses my mind because I was reappreciating all of the amazing early commem designs out there.........how far we've fallen! >>



I guess you haven't looked at the last 3....Montana, Washington & Idaho ... ( I like to meet the Jr H.S. artist who created these)

Montana

Washington

Idaho

SkyMan

Some s_ck and some are good. Generally any State coin with the State's outline sucks, although I must admit I like the Illinois one. IMO the Pacific Northwest has some of the best designs... the Oregon and Washington quarters float my boat, and Alaska looks like it might be pretty cool.

Being a resident of CA. I have to say that the CA. quarter s_cks. Too busy and too trite.

CalGold

Why did Idaho choose a parakeet? Why did Montana choose the remains of dead cattle--is it a barren wasteland and are they tryig to warn us to stay away?

CG

REALGATOR

Most of them are ok and some really hit the mark quite well. But the Wisconsin is so lame that they had to create 'error' coins. Cow, cheese and ... 'forward???'. Seriously lacking in thought and downright lame! Might as well put Brett Farve sporting a cheese head on the darn piece 'o crap.

Other stinkos:
CT: Is that a brain coral?
NC: The flying ladder. Good idea, but the artistry failed.

OPA

<< <i>

<< <i> am new to the board and grading but like these grading exercises. >>



Why did Idaho choose a parakeet? Why did Montana choose the remains of dead cattle--is it a barren wasteland and are they tryig to warn us to stay away?

CG >>



Now I understand why you don't like any ... Go & locate your spectacles ...

19Lyds

Well, I may be wrong but don't the states hold design competitions open to darn near anybody and then the designs getr narrowed down to a select few by either the governor (who knows nothing of coin design) or his designate and then they get voted on by anybody with access to the web?

These designs have little to do with coin design as much as they do a consensus of what the general population of the state wants.

Some of them are quite nice while others just blow chunks!

GrumpyEd

Having political folks spending time on coin designs keeps them busy, it's like giving your kids some crayons and a note pad to keep em busy so they won't get in trouble. With all the new coin designs they might even get a few nice ones that people in the future will like or in time they might even grow on us.

Artist

From winning entry to finished coin, each design takes this journey:

1.) Citizen enters state-sponsored SHQ design contest (which vary by state) & wins.
2.) State Governor's office translates winning drawing into a descriptive written paragraph.
3.) Artist (AIP or Mint Sculptor Engravors) reinterpret paragraph into a drawings.
4.) These drawings then get reviewed by CCAC (Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee) who select one and usually advise changes.*
5.) These drawings then get reviewed by CFA (Committe of Fine Arts) who select one usually advise changes.*
6.) These drawings, along with CCAC & CFA selects, are given back to the State's Governor's Office, who selects one, and can advise changes.
7.) Design gets reviewed by various Mint manufacturing departments who advise coinability-related changes.
8.) Design gets reviewed by Mint Director who can advise changes.
9.) Design gets reviewed by Sevretary of the Treasury who can advise changes.
10.) Design gets resubmitted to state's Governor's office can advise changes.
11.) Design gets interpreted 3-dimensionally by Mint Sculptor Engravors.
12.) Design gets reduced, reveresed into dies, and coins are minted.

* It is worth noting that these committees review drawings and NOT relief sculptures; it is an absolute fact that a gaping flaw with such a jury method, is that a careful rendering or life-like portrait would have a great advantage over a superior but more simply rendered submission, even though such drafting nuances would have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the three-dimensional translation. (In simpler English: the shadows on the sailboat or the human twinkle in John Smith's eye cannot be recreated on a coin, yet in this process they are in a position to eclipse a simple line design for what would make a better coin.)

Sadly, if great art ever comes from this process, it will have been despite it.

oildvr

I kinda like the Massachusetts quarter myself.

basestealer

Nevada is my favorite. For the most part the state quarter series sucks. The silver proofs are worth getting, for the better designs. Spaghetti-haired George bothers me more than simple silly state outlines, but both are bothersome. I think they got caught up in the "these coins must be EDUCATIONAL!" argument rather than trying to communicate that coins are a work of art. Maybe if children did more than kick a ball around the field and draw stupid things with crayons or blow wind into trumpets or play Oregon Trail in the computer lab--maybe if they were actually taught in public schools, maybe they wouldn't need quarters to tell them what shape their state looks like, or golden dollars to tell them which president came when. Or maybe that history lesson is for the adults that also didn't benefit from the public education system. Maybe next they'll do a "numbers" series with the pennies. Count to 100, with 100 Whitman plugs for each one.

Boom

I second that! Nevada is the best, IMHO.

ricko

Design by committee NEVER works...as Artist pointed out, these designs start (mostly) with non-artists and progress through pseudo-intellectuals who all contribute nothing (but feel they MUST contribute something) constructive to the initial feeble effort, thereby moving the design steadily away from art and toward crass commercialism. SeattleSlammer, I agree with you (and I live in Seattle), the Washington state quarter, as all SHQ's, panders to commercialism and a bid for tourism. Art, in the coin world, is either dead or on life support. Cheers, RickO

ChuckC

I think if the mint increased the relief of the design (think pre-1980's quarters), they'd look much nicer.

mayor1

IMHO all the designs are too cluttered to be on a quarter. If placed on a half dollar many would be knockouts!

Pentimento

<< <i>Design by committee NEVER works...as Artist pointed out, these designs start (mostly) with non-artists and progress through pseudo-intellectuals who all contribute nothing (but feel they MUST contribute something) constructive to the initial feeble effort, thereby moving the design steadily away from art and toward crass commercialism. SeattleSlammer, I agree with you (and I live in Seattle), the Washington state quarter, as all SHQ's, panders to commercialism and a bid for tourism. Art, in the coin world, is either dead or on life support. Cheers, RickO >>



Great post.