Ode to Carl Gives Sandburg A New (Type) Treatment

By Betsy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 17, 2011 8:20PM

We studied Carl Sandburg ad nauseum in elementary school. We’ve read and heard his poems recited enough to recite the lines ourselves. But to see Carl Sandburg’s work represented graphically; that’s something new.

Graphic artist Bud Rodecker took it upon himself to do exactly that. The project sprung out of his RicharDaily project last year in which he attempted to make something every single day to motivate himself to do artistic work outside of his 9-to-5. During RicharDaily Rodecker started using poetry and geometric typeface. His girlfriend, Emily Lange, had introduced him to Carl Sandburg’s Chicago, which Rodecker used as the basis for his typographic interpretation. After working on a few lines, he went back and studied the poem and expanded the work to a full Ode to Carl series.

Rodecker said the Midwest vibe of Chicago resonated with him when he first arrived to the city, just like Sandburg’s Chicago. “When reading the poem, I was struck by this image of Chicago that is not really a Chicago that exists anymore. That’s not the Chicago I have come to know, but there is a soul of Sandburg that still exists. I feel like I can relate to that.”

“Chicago has those amazing, short phrases that are so iconic,” Rodecker said. “They were just perfect for some imagery. There’s something about the way that he writes that’s very direct. It has the Chicago soul.” In playing with the words of Chicago, Rodecker said he was trying to create a visual expression that expresses the word of Sandburg in a new way and bring them to a different audience.

As he was working on Ode to Carl, Rodecker worked on simplifying his design to match the simple, direct language of the poem. “If there’s less on a page, everything that’s on that page better be perfect. I would start with the basic elements — circles, half circles, rectangles and triangles — and move them around until they came together.”

Once the series was complete, Rodecker went to Kickstarter to gauge interest in prints. If he could raise $2,000, he would print postcards and posters for all the backers, depending on how much they donated. He’s since met that goal and is now shooting for $4,000. If he meets that, Rodecker will send a complete set of postcards or the basic elements as a font to everyone who’s pledged $10 or more: “Just imagine — you could type-set your own poetry, whenever you want! You could make street art, or confuse your professors. Forget label-makers — cover your stuff using "Carl Sansburg," a unique font only available to "Ode to Carl" backers.” The Kickstarter project has three days left, so if you want some of these prints for yourself, get to it!