Just got back from Sentient City’s illustrious designer Laura Varacchi’s office near Union Square. May I just say that Laura couldn’t have been more of a godsend to our humble publication if a litter of angels had hauled her in on a sedan.
I mean, before her, we were using this uniform masthead image for all genres (poetry, fiction, visual arts, music, etc.):
Sentient City Vol. 1 Masthead
Then Laura showed up out of thin air and we get this for a Home Page Masthead:
Sentient City Vol. 2 Home Page Masthead
This for a Fiction masthead (pix she took herself, no less):
Sentient City Vol. 2 Fiction
This for an Essays Masthead (again, photography hers):
Sentient City Vol. 2 Essays Masthead
This for an Interviews Masthead (again, her photography):
Sentient City Vol. 2 Interviews Masthead
Then, for Visual Arts, we made a Triptych out of my brilliant painter friend Jennifer Harris’ submissions:
Sentient City Vol. 2 Visual Arts Masthead - A Jennifer Harris Triptych
Then, she got some gorgeous street-scene shots and fused them together to create a Music Masthead:
Sentient City Vol. 2 Music Masthead
So, the words “vast improvement” are a gross understatement as you can see. And this isn’t even the half of it! So, Laura Varacchi is a design goddess and I could not recommend her more (lvaracchi@yahoo.com).
Anyhow, today, we were working on mastheads for Volume 3. I want to leave some surprises, so I won’t announce the whole schema. But I will tell you that, even without my nepotistic leanings, my partner Julius’ photos of South East Asia ended up comprising a good portion of the new masthead designs.
For instance:
Julius found this man smoking opium in a hut in Laos. I tell you he gets around. You should hear the stories he tells. It’s like I’m sleeping with J. Peterman.
And, after visiting this sinner, Julius took a junket over to Angkor Wat and stumbled upon these Buddhist nuns. So, his travels certainly run the gamut, don’t they?
Then, as part of a triptych on the Home Page, we’re using one of Julius’ photos of our living room:
At least, I wish that were our living room.
In any event, a long-awaited third edition of Sentient City: The Art of Urban Dharma will be due out in August/September. I know I’m excited and so should you be!
Tags: Angkor Watt, Buddhism, Cambodia, Jennifer Harris, Julius Leiman-Carbia, Laos, Laura Varacchi, Sentient City
