Laguardia Community College Exhibit

While I was waiting to apply for the ID NYC, I found myself waiting in the hallway of Laguardia Community College. I’ve been the college twice and it was only the second time did I notice the pictures on the wall.

The humble beginnings of Laguardia, the person who the school was named after.

Fiorelli H Laguardia.

I’m not sure why it never occurred to me that Laguardia is an Italian surname.

But what I was most intrigued and inspired by were the alphabet drawings from a book presented to Laguardia by school children who attended his school, which he had set up post WWII.

The letters and letterforms are so inspiring. Children used to actually know how to write! It’s a shame that the art of writing letters, the art of drawing letter shape and space has been relegated as antiquated when in fact, I find drawing and writing helps children to engage in imagination, inspiration, and interest in learning, growing, and becoming aware of their surrounding.

The drawings in the book inspire me to create beautiful pieces of work around type. Letters and type aren’t just characters we use to read. We use it to represent and record what we want to say. It’s a way to leave behind something that’s us. And who knows what happened to the school children in Rome who did these amazing almost manuscript-like book. But over 50 years later, I’m sitting at a college admiring them and being inspired at the most unexpected moment.