This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
06/24/2023 05:52 AMThe squirrel runs again, that is the iconic Chester Squirrel originally designed by the late Peter Good.
It appears, as ever, on the T-shirts designed every year for Four on the Fourth, the road race sponsored by Chester Rotary. Runners who cannot do the race in person on July 4 can register for a virtual race to be completed between July 4 and 10. The race starts at 9 a.m. in downtown Chester.
This year, the T-shirt, always designed by a local artist, was done by a team, Drew Archer of Blackkat Leather in Chester and Danielle Fortier, a graphic artist and leather artisan who works with Archer at Blackkat.
This is the 45th running of the race, which raises money for Chester Rotary’s contributions to a host of local organizations, among them Bikes for Kids, Chester Food Pantry, Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries, Tri-Town Youth Services, and Chester Hose Company.
Last year, according to Deborah Vilchek of Chester Rotary, there were some 800 participants. Last year’s winning time for the 4-mile run was 20 minutes, 49 seconds.
Danielle’s part in the T-shirt project was taking Archer’s initial hand-drawn design and digitizing it. As the pair transferred the design to the computer, a chance coincidence created exactly what the designers wanted. The text on the shirt was, in the initial design, in solid black letters. There is a key in the computer program Danielle was using that changes solid block letters to outlined text.
“We hit it by accident and said, ‘That’s it,’” she recalls.
This year, the T-shirt has a first. It is in color, a vibrant blue and green.
“Drew loved an 80s feel,” Danielle says, “like sports shirts, bright colors instead of more muted. We wanted it to pop.”
The pair had another goal, Danielle adds. They wanted the road race T-shirt to be something people would wear afterward.
“Not just another T-shirt but something bright enough that people would want to wear,” she says.
There are requirements for designing the road race shirt. It must include not only the traditional squirrel but also, for this year, the phrase “45th annual Chester Rotary Four on the Fourth,” as well as the Chester Rotary logo. The design team also added an outline of Chester’s downtown roofline.
Danielle says the requirements, rather than a constraint, were helpful in creating the design.
“Sometimes more rules can be easier,” she says. “The antithesis of blank canvas anxiety.”
In addition to her work at Blackkat, Danielle has her own workshop in Deep River. She does graphic design and also makes leather wallets and credit card cases. Blackkat sells Danielle’s leather crafts.
Danielle has noticed some interesting differences in purchasing habits for her merchandise.
When women buy a wallet or card case for a man, they usually choose a traditional neutral color. When men purchase them for themselves, they are much more adventurous, often choosing colors like red, orange, or yellow.
“They can be expressive, but not all the time. They can just put it in their pocket,” Danielle says
Danielle studied graphics at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), but she learned how to do the leather work on her own, first experimenting with leather by making leather-covered notebooks and journals for herself and for friends.
In her first project, she tried to make the small holes necessary to sew leather pieces together with a fork. Now she has a workshop full of leather-working tools, including those that make holes.
Danielle has some general advice for anyone working with sharp knives, like the blades she uses to cut leather.
“Pull your arm back from your elbow. That gives you much more control,” she explains. “That should really be a public service announcement.”
Danielle originally met Archer when she was doing a student project for RISD, an assignment that involved creating a graphic to mark an anniversary. She chose the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad running through the Sierra Nevada to create a single path across America. Danielle found a period newspaper article, typed out paragraphs on small cards, and fastened them to background paper, but done to illustrate the passageway of the train, with cards going up and coming down.
Danielle wanted an effective stitch to sew the papers together and asked Archer, familiar with stitching leather, how to do it. He recommended the same stitch used to sew the seams on baseballs. Danielle did well on the project.
“Definitely got an A on that one,” she says.
Danielle, who grew up in Madison and graduated from Daniel Hand High School in 2013, loves hiking and camping in her free time. She is also now doing photography, but not with a digital camera.
“I like buying a roll of film for the right sensitivity and not simply push a button on the camera she says.
Danielle sees her future in graphics with her leatherwork becoming a continuing hobby. Her style as a graphic artist is always evolving.
“Maybe I will always be chasing my style. I don’t want to be bored and settle on one style,” she says. “It is about looking at what the client needs. There has to be a reason for everything.”
The reason for the T-shirt is obvious: the upcoming Four on the Fourth. But getting those T-shirts takes some work: They are only for those who register to run the race.
For information about Four on the Fourth and to register, visit chesterrotary.org. All registration is online. Registration is open until 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 4.