October 27, 2014 – Jim Thorpe, PA – After only a week of his 31 day KickStarter Campaign, artist Victor Stabin’s Word Lover’s Flashcards are already over 50% funded. Within this first week, the project was also selected by KickStarter as a Staff Pick and featured in their New & Noteworthy section. The campaign, which runs until November 18th, has a goal of $10,000, just enough to cover printing, collating and shipping 2,500 boxes of these educational, flashcard-sized pieces of art. The campaign has been propelled by donations from logophiles, artists and educators alike.
The Project
The Word Lover’s Flashcards are based on Stabin’s illustrated ABC book “Daedal Doodle”. The book is filled with improbable alliterative word combinations coupled with intricate and other-worldly illustrations created by Stabin over a ten-year span. In creating the book, Stabin read thousands of pages of numerous dictionaries searching for obscure words that lent themselves to illustration.
The book, released in 2010, was well received, especially by the Allentown Art Museum staff who, after seeing “Daedal Doodle”, asked Stabin to create a curriculum based on the making of the book and teach it in local high schools. The curriculum was widely adopted and Stabin has taught it to students throughout Pennsylvania, as well as at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and his alma mater, The High School of Art and Design.
The Campaign
“Inspired to find that schools and museum educational departments were using my alliterative ABC Book Daedal Doodle as a teaching curriculum, I transformed the book into a primary teaching tool – flashcards” said Stabin as to why he created the Word Lover’s Flashcards, a process that has taken over a year. Now the cards are ready for printing and it is up to KickStarter donors to make them a reality. The printer has been selected and the proofing process has been completed. All that is required now are the funds to make this happen. The $10,000 goal for the campaign will help produce 2,500 boxes of cards, more if the goal is exceeded. With over 50% of the goal having been raised in the first week, the campaign is well on its way to success.
ENDORSEMENTS FOR DAEDAL DOODLE
“When first viewing this work , I got a feeling I haven’t had since I visited the studio of M.C. Escher in the mid sixties. I knew Victor’s work was going to be known globally.” – Dr. Jeremy Siegel, Wharton Professor of Economics
“Stabin’s extraordinary Daedal Doodle project redefines the power of words over images. I’ve looked at this book every day since I first put my eyes on it.” – Marshall Arisman, Artist / Educator
“Victor Stabin is the most creative illustrator I know; the words in this book are mouth-wateringly counterintuitive with images delectable enough to eat.” – Leonard Lopate, WNYC Radio Host / Recipient of the James Beard Award
“Victor Stabin’s curriculum could do for education what Jacques Cousteau did for oceanic awareness.” – Carl Safina, Author / Preservationist
“I started reading it to my son the other night and we were really enjoying it. It’s so original and sly; and of course I love the drawing.” – Susan Orlean, Author / New Yorker-writer
“Connecting word skills and drawing skills addresses the basics, while at the same time students learn to visually conceptualize – bravo.” – Elma Reingold, Vice Principal, The High School of Art & Design
Contact
Victor Stabin
268 W. Broadway, Jim Thorpe, Pa. 18229
info@victorstabin.com
www.kickstarter.com
www.victorstabin.com