Interlude - Amy Sherald at the SFMOMA

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

From November 16th, 2024, to March 9th, 2025, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is hosting the largest-ever collection of Amy Sherald oil-on-canvas paintings. The exhibit, titled Amy Sherald: American Sublime, displays nearly 50 portraits, from 2007 to 2024, of mostly everyday black Americans, consistent with her desire to engage viewers in a more complex understanding of American identity. Best known for her 2018 portrait of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, which usually hangs at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, Amy Sherald directly addresses the notorious absence of black men, women, and children, in American portraiture. Her portraits are radiant, and only temporal in the way her subjects are dressed and positioned to tell a story.

A video of her work, included in the exhibit, shows the elaborate photoshoots and staging of her portraits, using actors. For example, the show’s poster--Any Sherald’s 2022 painting For love and for country, depicting two queer sailors kissing-- is directly reminiscent of the world-famous (1945) photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, titled V-J Day in Times Square. A portrait where, in fact, the 1945 kissing subjects were simply swapped and replaced by the two kissing queer black men, on a brilliant turquoise background. In Any Sherald's take, the two subjects, in the exact same position, are also completely oblivious of the world, as they claim their love. Love also, in 2022, of a more tolerant, red, white and blue country, shown with the blue striped shirt, red bandana and white sailor hat.

Amy Sherald identifies with a tradition of American realism represented by Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth. But her realism celebrates the sublime individual, vibrantly cloaked. Plus, Amy Sherald quotes extensively from such black literary geniuses as Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison for the titles* complementing her portraits. For example, from Morrison’s Beloved, she titles two of her 2015 portraits: Freeing herself was one thing, taking ownership of that freed self was another and Fact was she knew more about them than she knew about herself, having never had the map to discover what she was like.

After the San Francisco MOMA, the show moves on to the Whitney Museum, in New York City. 

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*Portrait titles from top to bottom: Grand Dame Queenie (2013), Precious jewels by the sea (2019), For love and for country (2022), Kingdom (2023), Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (2018), The bathers (2015), A god blessed land (Empire of Dirt) (2022), They call me Redbone but I'd rather be Strawberry Shortcake (2009), Untitled (2018), Breonna Taylor (2020), The boy with no past (2014), When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be (Self-imagined atlas)(2018).

References
Amy Sherald: American Sublime.
Exhibit at the SF MOMA, November 16 to March 9, 2024.
Chan, C. (Sept. 2024). Quiet Beauty: Amy Sherald’s American Art.  SF MOMA.  
https://www.sfmoma.org/read/quiet-beauty-amy-sheralds-american-art/ 

More from the scene of That Famous V-J Day Kiss in Times Square. Life Magazine. 
https://www.life.com/history/v-j-day-kiss-times-square/

Smith, R. (Sept. 12, 2019). Amy Sherald's shining second act. NYTimes. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/arts/design/amy-sherald-michelle-obama-hauser-wirth.html 

Wordmarked - Illustrated Patagonia®

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Patagonia®'s familiar and illustrated wordmark is described at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). The Patagonia® wordmark description specifies: 'Illustration drawing which includes words', 'Mountains (landscapes); Scenery with mountains', 'Rectangles that are completely or partially shaded' and 'lined with the colors blue, purple, and orange'. This illustrated wordmark was first filed on May 20, 1983, and registered on June 19, 1984 as No.1294523, with the US Serial No.73426881. Most recently, the registration was renewed on March 22, 2024.

Below, the black and white drawing on file at the USPTO's TESS, together with a color version, and a picture of the real, breathtaking, patagonia landscape (on the Chilean side). An untouched landscape of mountains, lakes, and glaciers that inspired the trademark illustration, as well as the company’s stewardship.

As a reminder, Patagonia® Inc., was founded in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard, an expert mountain climber, who invented a mountain climbing chock, in 1976. This invention was granted the US patent, US3948485A, titled Irregular, polygonal mountaineering chock. The patented mountain climbing chock was specifically designed to address the issue of rock scarring, caused by the previous sorts of mountain-climbing equipment.

References

Patagonia® Outdoor Clothing and Gear

www.Patagonia.com  

Patagonia® Works

https://www.patagoniaworks.com

Patagonia® Provisions

https://www.patagoniaprovisions.com  

Terminology - Merriam Webster WOTY 2024

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Merriam-Webster, the largest American dictionary, selected the term 'polarization' as the 2024 Word Of The Year (WOTY). A term that spiked in the dictionary’s record of online searches. A term arising in a presidential election year in the United States. Although oddly enough, according to Merriam-Webster, this was a term that both political parties used, and agreed on, despite the sharp divergences of their campaigns.

Merriam-Webster's definition of the term 'polarization' is the following:

“division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.”

Originally, however, the term came into the English language via science. The science of electricity, as early as the 1800s.

The term 'polarization' competed with other 2024 terms, such as totality, demure, fortnight, pander, resonate, allision, weird, cognitive and democracy. Terms that also arose in the US presidential campaign, or Taylor Swift’s spectacular concert tours, and when the container ship Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing the bridge to collapse.

Reference

Merriam-Webster Word of the Year 2024

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year

Terminology - Oxford Dictionary WOTY 2024 - by popular vote

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

And the winner is... brain rot! Shortlisted together with the terms dynamic pricing, demure, lore, slop and romantasy, the people have spoken.

As a reminder, the Oxford definition for brain rot is:  

Supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also something characterized as leading to such deterioration.

Reference

Oxford Word of the Year 2024

https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/

Terminology - Allbirds®

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

If you are wondering where the name 'Allbirds®' comes from, here is the myth of its origins.  Tim Brown, one the company founders, and no longer CEO, is from New Zealand. The name  Allbirds® is a nod to New Zealand, and the fact that when the island was first discovered, no land mammals lived there. New Zealand was “all birds”. All birds including some species that do not fly, such as the kiwi, New Zealand’s national bird. Other flightless birds inhabiting the island include penguins and the kakapo. The mao, also flightless, became extinct.

Reference

Allbirds® (website)
https://www.allbirds.com/

Oh, patents! Tree Breezers® design

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The Allbirds® Tree Breezers® pump was also granted a US design patent. The US design patent, USD891073S, titled Footwear, was awarded on July 28, 2020, to eight inventors: Dennice Quijano Barerra, Timothy Brown, Lisa Halbower-Fenton, James Romero, Talia Rapier, April Gourdie, Jad Finck and Jamie S. McLellan. The patent was assigned to Allbirds® Inc.

As a reminder, per the provisions of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Manual of Patent Examination Procedure (MPEP), a US design patent protects the ornamental properties of an invention, or how the invention looks. In contrast, a US utility patent protects the functional properties of an invention, or how the invention works, and/or is manufactured.

Below, the patent Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the inventive design, together with an image of a marketed Allbirds® Tree Breezers® pump. The dashed lines, marking the sole and the heel tab, indicate portions of the shoe that are unprotected by this design patent.

References
Allbirds®
www.allbirds.com

USPTO Manual of Patent Examination Procedure (MPEP) – Chapt. 1502-01) – Distinction between design and utility patent.
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html

Oh, patents! Allbirds® (shoes)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Allbirds® are all about sustainability with a net zero Mo.onshot set for 2025. A Mo.onshot that will make Allbirds® the first ever net zero shoes of the industry. As Allbirds puts it: “one small footprint for a shoe, one giant leap for the shoe industry."

With uppers made of New Zealand merino wool, or TENCEL™ Lyocell tree fiber, shoelaces made from recycled plastic bottles, eyelets made from Bio TPU (bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane), SweetFoam® soles made from sugar cane, and midsoles made with castor oil, each pair of Allbirds® uses natural materials to replace the high-carbon footprint of petroleum-based synthetics. The Allbirds® natural materials are also sourced from nature, using multiple best practices in sustainability. 

Best practices in sustainability, such as certification from the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC), to ensure that the trees harvested meet the strictest standards to protect forests, the animal habitat, and the people who depend on them. Likewise, the company works with organizations such as ZQ that monitor farming, land management, and animal welfare, when harvesting sheep wool in New Zealand. The Allbirds® company is also B-certified®, which means that it is a Business for Good, a for-profit company that meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

Allbirds® are also designed to be “the most comfortable shoes in your closet” with optimized fit, cushioning, and breathability. Patented comfort with a stellar portfolio of testimonials, both from the press and individual customers.

For example, the women’s Tree Breezers®  (a knitted pump) has a patented elastic region all around the perimeter of an opening, designed to receive the user’s foot. This elastic region ensures comfort, support, and durability,  replacing laces or other means of securing the shoe on the user's foot. The US utility patent US11206899B2, titled Knit shoes with elastic region, recites the details of this invention. Assigned to Allbirds® Inc, the patent was awarded on December 28, 2021, to a group of eight inventors: Jamie McLellan, Thomas Jad Finck, Lisa Halbower-Fenton, James Romero, Timothy Brown, Dennice Quijano Barerra, Talia Rapier and April Gourdie.

Specifically, in light of the below-extracted patent Figures 2A, 2C, and 2D, the shoe 100, comprises a structural region 106 forming a cavity, an elastic region 104 at the border of the structural region 106, and a sole 108. In the unworn configuration depicted in Figure 2A, the elastic region 104 elevates both the front 222 and rear 224 sections of the tread surface 220 from the planar surface 228. Thus, the tensile force of the elastic region 104 pulls both the front 230 and rear 232 tips of the sole 108 inwards, causing them to curve towards the center of the shoe.

Conversely, in the worn configuration, depicted in Figure 2C with a wearer’s foot 110 inside the shoe, the intermediate 224, front 222 and rear 226 sections of the tread 220 become coplanar with the surface 228. In the worn configuration, depicted in Figure 2C, the elastic region 104 extends to the metatarsal bones, exerting a tensile force that supports the user's foot 110, while maintaining a wide opening. A tensile force, also exerted on the structural region 106 and the sole 108, different from that which is exerted in the unworn configuration. 

 

Figure 2D depicts the Detail 1-1 marked on Figure 1C. The Detail 1-1, shown in Figure 2D, illustrates the knitted ribs 236 and depressions 238, of the elastic region 104, on a border 234 with the structural region 106. Figure 2D also indexes the perimeter 116 of the elastic region 104, through which the wearer’s foot will enter the cavity of the shoe 100.

The patent further describes the features of the Tree Breezers® that improve performance, increase manufacturing efficiency, and provide environmental benefits, compared to traditional shoemaking. 

Below, the abstract of the invention.

A shoe may include an upper portion constructed from a continuous textile (e.g., a knit textile) that includes an elastic region and a structural region. The elastic region may be positioned about a perimeter of an opening into a cavity configured to receive a wearer's foot, and the elastic region may be configured to secure the shoe to a wearer's foot. The elastic region may have a first elasticity that is greater than a second elasticity of the structural region. In an unworn configuration, the elastic region may cause a tread surface of a sole of the shoe to have a continuous curvature. In a worn configuration, substantially all of an intermediate section of the tread surface may contact a surface on which the shoe is placed. The elastic region may improve the performance of the shoe, including the comfort and durability. [Abstract US11206899B2]

References

Allbirds® (website)

www.allbirds.com
B Corporation® Business for Good
https://usca.bcorporation.net/
Forest Stewardship Council®
https://fsc.org/en
Mo.onshot Recipe Book
https://tinyurl.com/3zwatxav
ZQ - The New Zealand Merino Company. Ltd.

https://www.discoverzq.com/