Saturday, July 2, 2011

After nearly a hundred years of serving children, an opportunity to weave, in fresh colors, the story of the Crossnore School.

Two booklets: one aimed at parents and educational consultants, the other at individuals who can change the trajectory of a child's life by offering scholarship funds for a girl or boy in need. The Crossnore School began in 1913, primarily as a result of Eustace and Mary Martin Sloop, both doctors, taking a dedicated interest in mountain children bettering their lives through education. Marching through bouts with moonshiners, wars, depressions, floods, fires and myriad tragedies, the school has persevered to become one of the finest of its kind, a resilient beacon of hope and healing. Writer/art director: Jay Fields/Connie Aridas. Inspiration: Dr. Phyllis Crain, executive director.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

A site for the Crossnore School.


An in-progress glimpse at a refreshed web site for the school with completion set for mid-August. Many thanks for the enthusiastic support of Executive Director Phyllis Crain, Melynda Pepple's ongoing resourcefulness (especially with photography, past and present), and the affirming helpfulness of everyone on campus. Shown here: the home page template. It's been, and continues to be, a tremendous honor to work with a school with so much compassion at its heart. Page design: Connie Aridas. Mapping and coding and web work: Heidi Lusk.

A sweeping resource for caregivers.


This not-for-profit foundation, called "APPEL" (or Avery Partnership for People at the End of Life), weaves a support system for caregivers, including grants for hospice care when other means of support aren't available. Part of its mission, too, is helping the caregiving community with spot-on information about services that can help medically, financially, legally and spiritually. This web site encompasses those resources and sets up a platform for sharing stories and ideas within a community that is often overwhelmed with too many duties and too little time.

We interviewed leaders in key caregiver organizations, helped structure the site, wrote and gathered the content. Partner Connie Aridas, working with board member Ann Baker, shaped the logo, based on an Avery County apple tree, and designed the site's templates which she handed off to web master Steffi Rausch. I am grateful to Ann, to Coy Franklin and to all the members of the APPEL board for pitching in and making this project sing with good information. As a WordPress site, content management will shift to the APPEL team with the launch of appelnetwork.org.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Studio portrait of a Kenilworth neighbor.


Colin Richmond, fashioner of over 60 breeds of porcelain sheep, plus an occasional lion, llama, donkey, alpaca, Highland Coo and Belted Galloway.

The swimming pool as sustainable architecture.

A creative assignment from Mark Bastin of JDM Strategies: How do we tell parallel stories of graceful design, detailed engineering and sustainability? Here's the result--a journalistic-style ad for a magazine read by homeowners and architects. Jay Fields, writer; Michael Ashmore, art director.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

An economic development folder for the geologically ripped little town of Chimney Rock.

It's a joy to write about a place I've often visited and always loved. At one time or another, I've watched my daughters rock-jumping the Rocky Broad and painted the river across a large canvas where I threw down watercolors in great splashes of color. I like the opening to this lovely piece, worked out by Bryan Hughes, following Sharon Harms' original design template: No bigger than a minute, the town of Chimney Rock nevertheless presides over a timeless scene--of falling water, sheer rock face and evergreen forest. Even the names of its neighboring towns—Bat Cave and Lake Lure—suggest the inherent fairy tale quality of this place, a gravitational draw for naturalists and sightseers for well over a century.

An enjoyable project for friends at HandMade and in Chimney Rock.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

An ad for this historic school's first summer day camp.

Many thanks to Phyllis Crain, executive director for the school, and to Connie Aridas, my design partner.