Local graphic artists release children’s book
Published 12:00 am Sunday, October 10, 2010
- SubmittedPrint Mafia graphic artists Connie Collingsworth and Jim Madison will sign copies of their new book, “The ABCs of Rock,” at 5 p.m. Tuesday at The Great Escape, 2945 Scottsville Road.
You’re never too old – or young – to rock ’n’ roll, according to Print Mafia.
Print Mafia is the Bowling Green graphic artist team of Connie Collingsworth and Jim Madison, who have been creating rock ’n’ roll art since 1997.
Their list of clients includes Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson, The Raconteurs, The Smashing Pumpkins, Lucinda Williams, Mastodon, Andrew Dice Clay, Kiss, Poison, Motley Crue, The Melvins, Kings of Leon, Willie Nelson and others.
They’ve done work for major record labels and big promotion venues, but now they’re hitting the print big time with an illustrated book for little rockers ages 4 to 8. “The ABCs of Rock” hits the nation’s bookshelves Tuesday from Tricycle Press of San Francisco.
Collingsworth and Madison will be on hand at 5 p.m. Tuesday to sign copies of the book at The Great Escape, 2945 Scottsville Road in Bowling Green.
It is the culmination of three years’ work by the illustrators and friends of the author, Melissa Duke Mooney, a Los Angeles resident and music promoter who died last year before finishing the project.
The idea is to reference one artist for each letter of the alphabet: A is for AC/DC; B is for David Bowie; C is for The Clash, and so on. Some of the other artists featured in the book are Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, The Go-Gos, Heart, Joan Jett, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, Nirvana, Ozzy Osbourne and The Police.
Print Mafia’s work has been featured in other rock books – most recently “The AC/DC Coffee Table Book” – but “The ABCs of Rock” is the artists’ first independent book.
“There are no rock books for kids out there,” Collingsworth said. “They can go look at books but they may not be age-appropriate, so that’s one reason we did the book.”
Collingsworth and Madison also said that kids download digital music today and miss the art that has been such a big part of music culture in the past.
“When I was a kid I used to love to go into my brother’s room and look at his album covers,” Collingsworth said. “Kids don’t have those images to associate with music anymore. They could see their favorite artist in the Jr. Food Store and not even know who they are.”
The book “goes back to the art of the band,” Madison said. “That’s why we do what we do. It’s not for money.”
Among band art collectors, Print Mafia is a well-known name.
“People in Bowling Green don’t really know who we are but the name is recognized so many places,” said Collingsworth, who once walked into a San Francisco music store wearing a Print Mafia T-shirt, astonishing the clientele. “They said, ‘Oh, wow. Do you know the Print Mafia people? I said, ‘Well, yeah.’ ”
Madison and Collingsworth met while attending Western Kentucky University. Madison was an art major and Collingsworth was majoring in sociology, but the two shared a passion for pop and retro culture.
They also found they had a lot more in common, too. They are the same age, were born in the same month, both grew up in the South in the ’70s and ’80s (for better or worse, as they see it), and both enjoy movies, all types of music and tattoo art.
Print Mafia makes its posters the old-fashioned way – cut and paste using X-ACTO knives. They don’t use computers and hand pull each color of a silkscreen. They make silkscreen tour posters, retail and tour merchandise, skateboard graphics, and CD and DVD design and packaging.
There may be a second book forthcoming, Collingsworth said – an ABC book about The Beatles.
“The ABCs of Rock” is available through Amazon.com and will be sold at Barnes & Noble Booksellers beginning Tuesday.