VISIT Mcminnville playing cards
THE NOT-REALLY STORY OF MCMINNVILLE, OREGON
In 2023, I was commissioned to illustrate a custom deck of playing cards by Visit McMinnville. I took that as a chance to expand on an idea which I had used previously in another project. The idea was that each suit in the 52 card deck could be its own little story. Part flip-book, part unanimated animation, if you will. First I made a list of interesting things about McMinnville and then narrowed that down to a few facts that were interesting enough to expand on in the suits, and, lucky me, McMinnville happens to have a pretty odd, pretty interesting story.
THE CONCEPT, ONE SPRUCE GOOSE JOKE TOO MANY
The suits concentrate on the Ben Franklin statue at the center of town, the stories of Beverly Cleary (a former resident), UFO sightings in the area, the Spruce Goose, and William Newby, the town founder. Beginning with the 2 card, a short, fictional story would evolve as the card numbers grew, and there is always one item that is as many in number as the number of the card, for example: in the Hearts or “Spruce Goose” suit a beaver begins whittling away at a log of spruce while a second beaver observes. Gradually, the first beaver’s audience grows until in the 10th card there are nine beavers watching the unveiling of a true work of art, a spruce Goose. A bust of Goose (from Top Gun) chiseled out of spruce.
