Pinnacles (1987)

The famous roofline of Saratoga’s clubhouse and grandstand with its distinctive golden pinnacles graces the 1987 Travers poster. Saratoga is the oldest thoroughbred race course in the United States — and is certainly one of the most beautiful. The original studies for this poster were done out of cut paper. I loved the bold clean solid colors and hard edges that paper gave me; but I wanted an edition of more than one. So, I moved to silkscreen printing. Based on the earlier paper study, I hand-pulled this serigraph or silk-screen print. My studio was tiny — only part of a small shed — there was not enough room for more than about 25 prints to dry at one time. I actually hung them on a clothesline with wooden clips. Later, I moved my screen printing activity to a much larger facility at the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY where I was an adjunct professor in Graphic Design. The words “The Travers” are actually screen-printed on the paper along with the artwork. In all later posters the