Local Artist Celebrates Quiet Waters in 30th Anniversary Poster
Bay Weekly Article, Vol. XXVII, No. 32, August 6-13, 2020
By Krista Pfunder (Read Online article here)
Local artist Joe Barsin highlights the delights of what he calls “the playground of Annapolis” in a new poster to honor the 30th anniversary of (and raise funds for) Quiet Waters Park.
Making sure to capture all the elements the park offers was a challenge, but Barsin pulled from his personal connection to showcase what he loves.
“I walked the trails of Quiet Waters on dates with my future wife, Eva,” Barsin says. “We have played, skated and kayaked with our boys while they were growing up. This poster is a celebration of Quiet Waters Park and what it has given to me.”
The park—which opened in September of 1990—attracts more than one million visitors a year. Its 300-plus acres are open year-round and feature a concert stage, wedding and event facilities, an ice-skating rink in the winter, paddlesports and even a dog beach in the warmer months.
Barsin’s designs may look familiar. He is the artist behind Maryland’s popular Treasure the Chesapeake license plate, the logos for the Annapolis Film Festival, Anne Arundel Medical Center’s Fish for a Cure and more.
“Working with Quiet Waters art director Bill Martin, we decided we wanted to capture three things in the poster,” Barsin says. “The four seasons, a celebration of nature and the community as well as the activities people enjoy.”
Barsin chose the blue heron as the central element in the design. “Its natural beauty, soaring above the park is a celebration of nature,” Barsin says. “The heron defines the composition of the quadrants of the four seasons.”
The poster is available for purchase in two sizes, an 11×17 is $5 and the larger 18×24 is $15. There are a limited number of posters signed by Barsin available for $30. All sales benefit Quiet Waters Park. Posters can be purchased at the Visitor’s Center Monday through Friday from 10am-3pm. Ring the bell for service.
Flying High ...
By Sandra Olivetti Martin, Editor
In recognition of that high-stepping occasion, Bay Weekly covers this week’s paper with the Blue Angels imagery of artist Joe Barsin. You may not know that graphic illustrator’s name, but you know his work. Barsin is the designer of the current Treasure the Chesapeake Maryland license plate and a finalist for what could be the new plate. You’ve seen his Citizen Pride’s Maryland-themed work in magnets, garden flags, stickers and doormats. This design, our second Barsin Blue Angels cover, features three planes soaring over the Fouled Anchor, with cable passing over and around it, a naval insignia worn by midshipmen.
Joe Barsin’s Blue Angels: Local artist takes you 15,000 feet for this Commissioning Week highlight
By Sandra Olivetti Martin, Editor
Using the Illustrator program, Barsin adds color and its gradation, piling up more layers than a Smith Island Cake.
“I’ve spent years doing this,” Joe says, “to try to tell a story all in one image, as one moment in time.”
In his third decade since taking computer graphics to hand as an art student at Kent State University, Barsin still gets a kick out of rearranging the world.
“I use fun visual tricks to bring it together, the covers thrown in the air, imagining the vortex of the jets sucking them up, making it whimsical and symbolic,” he said. ...
