Transit Authority Figures

Here's a new poster we put together for David Evans Morris' class project fully entitled: Messrs. Minard & Wood's Cartografickal Circus of, by & for the Lost. Created, written, and performed by his students, the Cartografickal Circus "enthusiastically unites the ragtag performers of Minard & Wood's circus with the audience in a journey through the Adams Memorial Theater to the uncharted regions of the self." It's always an adventure to tackle a poster with this much copy. Thanks goodness the internet is filled with thousands of examples of 19th century circus posters for guidance.

Nothing like seeing it on the marquee to make the name change feel official...

Every year we make a poster for Damia's mother's Nutcracker production. This year James drew this wonderful illustration of the children emerging from Mother Ginger's dress. My 6-year-old is endlessly interested in this scene as any opportunity to see somebody's underwear is high entertainment.

For the past two years, Transit Authority Figures has designed subway maps for unlikely locations. It started with an absurdist rendering of our hometown of Northampton, Massachusetts and, after fantastic response, turned to sites like Cape Cod, The Hamptons, and other places that would never, for obvious reasons, have a subway.

Now we’re paying more attention to places that perhaps should have a subway. Cities all over the country are choked with traffic and existing public transportation is often pretty spotty. So now we engage in the whimsical fantasy of designing a city’s ultimate subway system in a universe where budget, bureaucratic entanglement, environmental considerations, and easements are no object.

This is our first draft of the Providence Subway. Our hometown was easy to map because we knew where the stops should be and where the lines should run (and it’s small). For Providence (big), we’ve been studying maps and traffic patterns and consulting friends. See more here...