Artist / Designer Ethel Kessler is our speaker this month.  For almost 30 years, Ethel has been an award-winning art director for US stamps for the US Postal Service.  Her talk, "Big Ideas on a Small Canvas," will explore topics as diverse as how do you fit the Grand Canyon on a stamp?  How many stamps does it take to show the 50 year history of the Civil Rights Movement? Or the 100^th Anniversary of the National Park Service?

How would you create a stamp that will raise money for an important cause…how many stamps would you have to print over 25 years and how much will it raise?  And would people be willing to pay more for the stamp, even though there has never been a stamp like it in the US?

These are just a few of the challenges that Ethel Kessler has faced during her 28 years as an art director for stamps for the US Postal Service. 

Speaker bio:  After graduating from MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) in 1971, and designing at the United States Information Agency (USIA), Ethel Kessler started her design firm. She was a consultant to professional organizations, non-profits, and divisions of the US government.   In 1996, she was asked to join the team of Art Directors for US stamps.  So far, she has been responsible for over 500 stamps. One of the most unique US stamp projects she has been involved with is the Breast Cancer Research Semi-postal which has been on sale for over 25 years. She regularly collaborates with some of the greatest illustrators and designers working today. On subjects as diverse as The Nature of America, Latin Dance, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lunar New Year, she has developed a most creative approach to the stamp design process.