By TAHREE LANE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Article published Sunday, December 7, 2008
Dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of. — Benjamin Franklin
Franklin was well aware that the calendar is a fine tool for preventing us from squandering time. In use for thousands of years, they keep us focused, organized, and alert. And then some, as a slew of local calendars demonstrate. The Maumee Valley Growers’ photo-rich calendar is a fine gift for customers (and for a politician to give away to 1,000 constituents).
Featuring the town’s historic architecture, the Bowling Green calendar fosters civic pride.
The Toledo Ice Yacht Club’s calendar is a reminder of the joys and camaraderie of their hardy sport.
And for artists, calendars are a showcase of their creativity and sometimes, a bit of an income.
A lively artist’s group, Prizm Creative Community, features its members’ work, selected at an exhibition by jurors, in its 16-month calendar and set of note cards. The nonprofit group’s calendar, sold at a handful of shops, online, and by phone, helps achieve its goal of encouraging and promoting artists, says Annette Jensen, Prizm’s president.
Indeed, calendars have long added art to our refrigerator doors and desk areas. Sylvanian Tom Durnford loves that hundreds of people will gaze at 12 of his pastoral watercolors throughout the year.
"If I break even, I’m happy. And you like to have people appreciate your work," says Mr. Durnford, who has produced a calendar for 19 years. He prints 450 copies of the 7-by-11-inch calendar that features lovely regional paintings, pricing them, along with packages of eight note cards, at a modest $8. He mails out 300 a year, including 100 to a single customer.
Kathy Palmer Genzman, a retired teacher, also sells about 450 of the Toledo Landmark Calendar she originally made for her family. Starting with pen and ink drawings, she adds a watercolor wash to images from the Toledo Zoo, University of Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, local schools, Metroparks, Fifth Third Field, the Labor Day parade, and ethnic festivals. The price: $16.
Al Rieck belongs to the Monday Morning Painters, a long-standing group that meets for breakfast before heading out to the Maumee River, Lake Erie, or the Toledo Botanical Garden for a few hours of easel work.
A retired machine designer for Owens Illinois, Mr. Rieck photographs his 12 best paintings, loads them on a computer, and uses a software program to print the calendars, which include holidays and inspirational quotes. He makes about 15, mostly for family, but he sells a half dozen to cover the cost of paper and ink cartridges.
"I thought it would be a nice touch and show people my paintings," he says.
It was a bet with a friend that nudged James Repass to print 1,000 large desk calendars geared toward helping salespeople become more productive.
"It’s to prove that people will buy American over Chinese when it’s a quality product," says Mr. Repass of Perrysburg. "He [his friend] said the economy is so bad that people are going to spend $3 to buy big box stuff. I said, ‘I’m going to prove you wrong by selling a quality product that’s made in America.’"
Mr. Repass added an American flag to the upper left corner of each month’s page, which bumped up the cost of printing by $1 per calendar. Pages startle a bit by beginning with the end of the month and concluding, in descending order, with the first.
"Your glass is half full," he says, noting that moving up the page is similar to filling a glass.
He also added three check-off boxes at the start of each week with instructions to note the preparation, priorities, and presentation needed to achieve one’s goal.
Led by high school students, the Springfield Holland Assets Partnership for Excellence (SHAPE), produces a calendar that‘s distributed free via Springfield schools and public entities. Students gather dates for events and meetings from schools, government, the library, and the YMCA, and collaborate with Kristina White, the school district’s community liaison, whose photographs include scores of students and residents. An emphasis is placed on character traits that lead to success.
It’s hard to beat flowers for beauty, and the Maumee Valley Growers’ calendar is replete with 12-by-12-inch photographs shot in local greenhouses and fields. It’s the third year for this winning venture that’s distributed at no cost to the 60 member-greenhouse growers, mostly family operations in Lucas, Wood, Fulton, Erie, Ottawa, and Sandusky counties.
The group is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and managed by UT and others. The calendar’s best customer? U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a passionate proponent of family farming, who recently purchased 1,000 of the growers’ calendar.
Contact Tahree Lane at: tlane@theblade.com or 419-724-6075.