Source cards
Did you know that —with the exception of our mini-prints—each of our prints comes with a list of the original historical public domain imagery we utilized to create that piece of art? Some of them are short and may only reference one or two sources (either because that’s all of the PD imagery utilized or because we simply couldn’t track down accurate source info for one or more of the elements), and some, like this one, are rife with sources. It can certainly be tedious and adds quite a bit more time to our process (the internet is packed full of public domain artwork if you know where to look, but when it comes to finding accurate artist, medium and year info for each piece utilized, that’s when it can often be challenging…especially for pieces like this: one completed art piece made from 9 separate historical pieces of art.) Just packaging this info with each of our prints adds ample time to our creation timeline!
It was never my intention at the start of this business to include this info and at first, we didn’t. But then I shared a post on Insta a few years ago in which I included the source information for the works I utilized stating how exciting it is for me when I locate imagery that works so well together, and I got positive feedback from followers as a result of sharing this info. Honestly, one of the most rewarding and fun aspects of what I create is the fact that I get to breathe new life into really old work…gorgeous work that many possibly have never been seen before. Undoubtedly, our collective history as humanity is just absolutely saturated with awe-inspiring talent, skill and passion and I feel so lucky to have this work at my disposal.
Lastly, with the recent rise of AI generated art I feel the inclusion of this source info is now of paramount importance. It helps prove to y’all that the art you’re seeing or holding in your hands was created by a human using artwork creating by other humans who lived and died centuries earlier. In a way, the AI revolution has made human-created art so much more valuable and important, and this my friends, is what makes Strong and Hardy unique and something I’m pretty damn proud of.
Example of a source card from our Birdcage print
