sierraclub.org - sierra magazine - march/april 2011 - spout

SPOUT | Rant, React, Chat, Blather

The Art of Persuasion

I don't mean to alarm you, but there's a good chance that a woman you don't know has set up camp in your brain. After 23 years as Sierra art director, Martha Geering is moving on to new adventures, but I'm willing to bet that someday you'll decide to hike through a certain meadow, or picket a coal company that wants to blow the top off a mountain, because of decisions Martha made about the illustrations, typography, and photos splashed across Sierra's pages. The colors tapping on your optic nerve right now, the typeface and design of this little blurb, affect you more than you may realize.

Fortunately, you've been in extremely good hands. It's hard for many of us to imagine what we'll do without Martha's creative brilliance and assertive wit to guide us, but rather than get too sappy, we thought we'd ask illustrator Victor Juhasz, whose work Martha often brought to these pages, to offer a visual tribute (right) and let a trio of Martha's own favorite Sierra covers (below) be our farewell. —Bob Sipchen, editor in chief