Earlier this month I completed a package design for a music CD for Tina Bergmann. Titled “Retrospective,” the disc is a re-issue of selected tunes from the first two LP recordings by “Strings & Things,” which began as the Bergmann family band and went on to become the most fun and accomplished folk band in northern Ohio.

The disc was conceived as a tribute to Tina’s mother, Diana Bergmann, who established the band in 1980, and passed away at the young age of 61 in 2006.

The cover photograph is a still life that I created showing Diana’s banjo-ukulele next to a heart-shaped wreath. The rest of the photographs in the layout are vintage snapshots of the band members taken in the early eighties. We chose the “soft-spot” package from Oasis for it’s resemblance to the old LP album covers and because it afforded a six-panel layout without the need for a separate insert booklet.

The music on this disc is, of course, outstanding. For those of us who have been fans of Strings & Things since the early days, this will be a “must have” as most of us have long since retired our turntables and haven’t heard these recordings in many years. Anyone interested in traditional folk music will appreciate the energy and passion of the performance. The disc is available on Tina’s website at www.allroadsleadhome.com.

This is really old news, but I thought some might be interested in reading a review of the solo exhibit of my work that took place at Hiram College some time ago.

I recently produced the design and layout for a 40-page book of Polaroid emulsion transfer images titled Fluid Images, by Bruce Cline.

Dr. Bruce Cline is the chairman of the Photography Department at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio. I have assisted him with a number of his recent projects including a series of giclée prints of his black and white photographs of Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France and a series of giclée prints of black and white Holga images of the Mayan ruins near Tulum, Mexico.

The book of Polaroid emulsion transfer images is an oversize 12 x 12 page, hardcover edition which includes thirty images of architectural and urban landscape subjects. Printing and binding was done at PIKTO in Toronto, Canada.

We’re in the midst of a two-day ice storm here in northern Ohio and reports are that there is more to come. Many people say they don’t like the Ohio winters because the weather is so cold. The cold is not usually the biggest problem. When the temperature is 32 degrees and it starts to rain—that’s when it can get rather interesting.

We spent the last two nights in the dark as the coating of ice stretched the local power lines to the breaking point. Luckily the power failures occurred well into the evening with a 14-hour stretch of normal service in between. Today the power returned shortly before noon, which was none too soon as the expansion tank for our well water was drained dry, and with no electricity to power the pump, it was just going to stay that way.

The good part about an ice storm is, of course, that the landscape takes on a magical, glass-like appearance that can be breathtaking in the right light. It’s an event that happens very rarely, and it’s a real visual treat when it does. But watch out for the falling tree limbs!