November 2008 Newsletter

Minutes of the October 2008 Meeting

The October meeting of the BCDC which was held at the Penn Bistro on August the 7^th was called to order at 7:10pm by the club President Red Craft.

 There were 11 members present.

The minutes of the previous meeting were read by Secretary Harry Niemeyer and approved as read.

 Gary Waddell read the Treasurers Report which has a balance of $344.00 and the report was approved as read by Boobie and seconded by Nancy Beres.

 There was a 50/50 donation raffle which was won by guest Mark Vidra. He promptly joined the club and his dues will cover from this October meeting thru 2009.

 We discussed the planting of the coins for the fall hunt. Boobie said feel free to come up and plant at any time.  Hopefully there will be donations at the hut site also.  They need not be hobby related.

 Boobie will be unable to manage the website for a short while so harry Niemeyer will take over and work with him.

It was suggested that we submit recipes for cooking and place them in the newsletter. Please send your favorites to Harry for listing in the paper.

 Christmas Party; there was a lengthy discussion about the meal arrangement and about how to decide what we will be eating.  We also need to know how many will be attending. The votes must be in by October 17^th. and we must know how many are attending by November 1^st.

 (Editors note) These arrangements have been changed at the writing of this newsletter and an insert will be posted elsewhere in this newsletter at a later date.

 Harry Vanriper volunteered to take over the duties as chair of the Membership Committee.

 Ralph made a motion to adjourn and everyone jumped up too fast to notice if there was a second.

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MASTERING THE PENNY

A UW-Oshkosh art professor updates the look of the longest minted coin in U.S. history

Every American is familiar with the penny. The little copper coin bearing a bust of President Lincoln resides in many a wallet and penny jar across the country.

Most Americans use coins every day, but they probably don’t think about the process of designing and minting the coins.

Richard Masters, an art professor at UW-Oshkosh, was the same way for a long time. He said, “You know, when we were kids collecting coins, you never thought about the artist behind the design on there. You thought the coin gods are doing this, or somebody you never heard of. And when you see your own work on something like that it just seems to make the world smaller.”

Masters is a master designer for the U.S. Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program. Since 2004, he’s been designing art for the faces on U.S. coins, and next year his work will grace the iconic penny.

On Sept. 22, the Mint unveiled the designs for the 2009 penny, which will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln as well as the 100th anniversary of the penny’s inception into U.S. currency. The presentation, held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., revealed the four different designs for the reverse of the penny that chronicle the stages of Lincoln’s life.

A large replica of the first design, symbolizing Lincoln’s birth, depicts a log cabin and the year 1809, along with the initials of the artist who designed it: “R M” for Richard Masters.

Since his childhood in Iowa, Masters has been doing two things: collecting coins and drawing.

“I seemed to have a special talent for drawing,” he said. “And it’s just something I continued with, all the way through grade school, middle school and high school.”

As a kid he picked up the hobby of coin collecting, or numismatics, and it stayed with him through the years.

He went to college at the University of Iowa, but not to study his passion for art. “I went the practical route,” he said, but after two years of studying engineering he dropped out.

He didn’t return to school until he was almost 30, but he came back with a vengeance, earning his bachelor’s degree in studio art and a master of fine arts degree in design.

A job opportunity for his wife brought Masters to Oshkosh in 1990, and he was a self-professed “Mr. Mom” for their children until his wife, who was working for the Oshkosh art department, was hired at Kimberly-Clark and Masters filled her position.

“It sort of evolved into something more than that,” he said. Now he has taught most illustration and design courses for the art department and has been on tenure track since 1998.

His artistic talent found a new outlet in 2003 while reading a publication called “Numismatic News.”

“There was this little article about the U.S. Mint and how they were going to open up a call for artists,” he said. “I thought, ‘Well, I like art, I’ll give it a try.’”

He printed the application, sent it in and promptly forgot about it. He said he never thought the federal government would accept him as a coin designer, but a few months later, the call came in.

“That was really incredible,” he said. “That was probably the biggest high I’ve had since I’ve been a part of this. Just finding out I was accepted was unbelievable.”

Masters became part of the Mint’s new Artistic Infusion Program, which currently consists of 16 artists from all over America. According to the U.S. Mint Web site, the program aims to provide “the Nation’s artists the opportunity to contribute beautiful designs to coins that will be enjoyed by all Americans.”

He immediately started working on assignments, following exact procedures laid out by the Mint. Assignments vary from changes to traditional coinage to special editions commemorating events and organizations. All the artists in the program are sent packets outlining the assignment. A narrative outlining the desired effect is included as well.

“Sometimes it can be very straightforward, like a portrait of somebody,” Masters said. “Sometimes it’s more open-ended where it’s more abstract and unfinished.”

Masters said the designers usually get about three to four weeks to work on a particular assignment.

“We draw our image by hand; we’re all traditional artists in that sense, using pencil,” he said. He draws on a sheet of plain paper inside a circle eight inches in diameter, scans it into the computer and adds text to the coin.

All the designers assigned to a particular coin are in competition to have their design accepted and eventually minted.

“Since the beginning it’s always been the same; we’re given the assignments and we all work independently of each other,” he said. “So it’s like somewhat of a friendly design competition.”

After completing four designs, Masters created a “winning” look with his design for the reverse of the Nebraska state quarter in 2006.

It depicts a covered wagon driving past Chimney Rock. Masters attended the commemorative ceremony in Lincoln, Nebr., but he wasn’t the guest of honor. In fact, he didn’t even get free quarters.

“I’m like anyone else,” he said.

Masters received the assignment for the 2009 penny back in April 2007. There will be four reverses released every three months or so, and Masters was assigned to the first design symbolizing Lincoln’s roots. He said the narrative hinted at the use of a log cabin.

“Of course it’s been American lore for a long time that Lincoln was our log cabin president, born of very humble beginnings in a log cabin who rose up to become not only a president, but one of our greatest presidents, considering the time period in which this country was at war with itself,” he said.

He decided to work from a late-19th century photo of a log cabin that had long been considered to be the place where Lincoln was born.

Although that was disproved fairly recently, “It’s sort of the one that everyone thinks of as his cabin,” he said.

He submitted his design in early summer, and it went through various revisions. Masters pointed out that many people don’t know the complex process of creating a new coin design.

“It’s all mandated through Congress and signed into law by the president,” Masters said of the schedule for creating new coins and special editions.

Then the various designs go to different advisory committees for suggestions, and the designs selected have to be approved by the mint and the treasury secretary. Then the design is sent to the Mint’s sculptor-engravers to be made into a coin.

Masters’ simple log cabin design went through all those steps before he got the call in May of this year confirming that his design would grace millions of pennies that will circulate throughout the U.S.

“And of course I couldn’t tell anybody,” Masters said with a laugh. “Only immediate family, anyone that I knew would not talk to the press,” since the mint is very cautious about information getting out before they reveal it to the public.

Masters said people have been asking him about it, but the local newspapers haven’t covered it and a lot of people still haven’t heard.

“It trickles out slowly,” he said. “You can kind of find out who reads the papers and stuff, because I don’t say anything.”

His humility is common among coin designers. He considers coins to be in the realm of public art; the object is recognizable but the creator is not.

“If I told you, ‘Felix Schlag, what does that name mean to you?’” he said, pointing out that it’s not a household name. “Well, you’ve been carrying his nickel around for the last 70 years.”

But Masters has no desire for fame, and the extra $2000 he gets paid for an accepted design isn’t exactly a fortune.

“It’s kind of fun to be sort of anonymous, just be incognito, just be a member of the public and enjoy it.,” he said. “It’s not about us, it’s about the designs.”

So far this year the Mint has produced more than 4 billion pennies, and last year it reported producing more than 7 billion.

Masters said the Mint is predicting a large demand for the special pennies, so it may be producing more and cutting down on nickels, dimes and quarters.

Director of the U.S. Mint Edward Moy said, “This is a momentous occasion in the history of our Nation’s coinage because these designs represent the first change in the Lincoln cent in half a century.”

Masters’ designs will be released into circulation Feb. 12, 2009. Masters said he plans to continue designing for the Mint “as long as I’m invited back.”

While his art is carried in pockets and purses across America, he’ll be on campus teaching class and in his office, working on the next coin design.

B.C.D.C. RECIPE OF THE MONTH

From the kitchen of Susan Vanriper

TJ FINGER COOKIES 

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C white sugar

1 C butter, not margarine

1 tsp vanilla

About 1 sleeve saltine crackers

12 oz. chocolate chips

1 C toasted, chopped nuts

 In a heavy 3- quart saucepan, dissolve the sugars in the butter and bring to a boil. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes longer, then remove from the heat and add the vanilla.

 While the sugar and butter are cooking, line a 10X15- inch jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick spray. Completely cover the bottom of the pan with a layer of saltines. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 Carefully pour the sugar mixture over the crackers, trying to moisten them all. Put into the oven for 10 minutes.

 Take the tray out of the oven, and sprinkle with the chocolate chips. Wait a minute for the chocolate to soften, and then spread evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle with the chopped nuts and refrigerate until firm.

 Remove from pan and peel away the foil. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

 I was skeptical when I first received this recipe. After I made them and got Harry's... "Mmmmmmm". I knew they were a hit.

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The idea of a recipe section in the newsletter was suggested at the October meeting.

 Thank you Susan for this first entree   It sounds delicious.

 I wonder if we will see some at the BCDC Christmas Party.

Harry Niemeyer

73 McGovern Blvd

Crescent,Pa

15046

If you tell the truth you never have to remember exactly what you said and you can tell people without stopping to remember what you said before.