Wednesday, June 4, 2025 at 12:15 P.M. @grolierclub LETTERS FOR LETTERS TYPOGRAPHY FOR POSTAGE STAMPS at The Grolier Club, 47 East 60th St., New York City Tickets: $45 -> alcala.eventbrite.com When commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation, Woodstock, Hip Hop, or the Solar System, what typography or lettering should one use? Antonio Alcalá, art director for the USPS Stamp Development program, will discuss choices he made for these and other contemporary stamps. Antonio Alcalá is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. He also art directs and designs postage stamps for the United States Postal Service, and lectures at schools including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA. Alcalá’s work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged competitions including AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers, the Society of Illustrators 61, American Illustration 40, and Graphis Design. He also serves on Poster House museum’s CMYK Council, and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s advisory council. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design. Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia. (fb)

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at 12:15 P.M. @grolierclub REISSUING A MODERN CLASSIC THE HEBREW LETTER SHANI AVNI on ISMAR DAVID’S 1990 WRITING MANUAL Ismar David (1910–1996) was a prolific calligrapher, type designer, graphic designer, illustrator, architectural designer and educator. From the 1930s until the 1990s, he lived and worked in Berlin, Jerusalem and New York. With the richness of Latin type in mind, he conceived the first Hebrew typeface family. The design process spread over two decades, during which David researched the origin of the Hebrew script and writing traditions, and experimented in search of innovative letterforms. In 1990, toward the end of his prolific career, David authored a Hebrew writing manual titled The Hebrew Letter: Calligraphic Variations. In it, he shared a lifetime of knowledge, skill, and experience. Shani Avni will share the treasures this book holds and tell the story of its creation. She will highlight David’s artistic approach to historical Hebrew letterforms and demonstrate how he provided a meaningful educational tool, celebrating the richness and versatility of Jewish writing traditions across time and geography. (fb)