Lincoln Park Historical Museum Curator Jeff Day (left), with Lincoln Park native and comic book artist, writer and editor Bill Morrison, show the “Made in Lincoln Park” poster Dec. 11, which Morrison designed as a fundraiser for the Lincoln Park Historical Museum.
Made in Lincoln Park
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
LINCOLN PARK – Artist Bill Morrison’s poster of people, “Made in Lincoln Park,” famous folks who call the city home, is on sale to help raise money for the historical museum.
People featured on the poster include automotive pioneer Preston Tucker, actor Lyn Osborne, baseball player Mary Moore, custom auto designer Chuck Miller, alt-rock band MC5, artist Gary Grimshaw and Morrison.
Morrison, 62, whose work is on display and archived at the museum, said he and Museum Curator Jeff Day talked during the Lincoln Park Comic Con, held at the high school, and he pitched the poster idea as a fundraiser for the museum.
The museum’s expenses include utilities, maintenance and repairs; collection maintenance and preservation; archival preservation and cataloging; exhibits; and programming, activities and events.
“It celebrates and commemorates the famous people and things that have come out of Lincoln Park in one print,” he said. “Jeff thought it was a great idea and I started working on it.”
Morrison, who was raised in Lincoln Park, graduated in 1977 from Lincoln Park High School, and attended the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. He moved to California in 1983, when he started working as an illustrator for Disney.
During his career, he was an illustrator and creative director for “The Simpsons,” worked as art director for the “Futurama” series, drew the graphic novel adaptation of the Beatle’s “Yellow Submarine” for Titan Comics, and, from early 2018 through March 2019, was the executive editor of Mad Magazine.
Lincoln Park Mayor Tom Karnes (left), wearing his Simpsons tie, and Lincoln Park native and comic book artist, writer and editor Bill Morrison, show the “Made in Lincoln Park” poster Dec. 11, which he designed as a fundraiser for the Lincoln Park Historical Museum.
When Morrison began designing the “Made in Lincoln Park” poster, he rejected the idea of a movie montage type layout, because he didn’t want to make anyone seem more important than anyone else.
“I thought, ‘How do I make this interesting, and at the same time let everybody have the same level of importance?’” he said. “So, I came up with the ‘Made in Lincoln Park’ title as the central image, and built everybody else around that, and I think it worked.”
Morrison put each person’s name on the poster, and selected fonts that were a reflection of the person’s life.
He found a font like the logo for “Space Patrol” for Osborn, with Miller’s font suggesting speed. The Simpsons’ font was used for his name, and for Mary Moore he chose a font like one might see on a baseball jersey. He used the existing MC5 logo, while Grimshaw was given a psychedelic font and Tucker’s font looks like the metal trim on a car.
Morrison said he’s proud to be a Lincoln Parker.
“This is a great place to grow up, and Lincoln Park was always very good to me,” he said. “It feels good to be able to give something back to the community.”
Mayor Tom Karnes said he met Morrison at Mixter Elementary School, where their safety patrol posts were a block apart. He said they were also in Boy Scout Troop 1380, and became Eagle Scouts.
“In Scouts, they teach you about giving back, and doing a good deed daily and all of those things, so it’s ingrained,” he said. “So, he wanted to give back to where he got started.”
Lincoln Park natives Mary Moore (left), a onetime member of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and custom car creator Chuck Miller sign a “Made in Lincoln Park” poster Dec. 11, which artist and native son Bill Morrison designed as a fundraiser for the Lincoln Park Historical Museum.
Also signing posters was Moore, 89, now of White Lake Township, who played with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1950 to 1952, and who moved to Lincoln Park at age 6, and graduated in 1950 from Lincoln Park High School.
“It was something that was not ever heard of, with the women playing ball and traveling all over,” she said. “We got to play in Yankee Stadium before one of the Yankee games. That was a big thrill, and it was something that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.”
Miller, 79, now of New Boston, was also on hand to sign posters. He grew up in Lincoln Park, and graduated in 1961 from LPHS.
He said he has a lot of memories here.
“It was just a good place to grow up, and when you are into the cars, there was a lot of cruising to do,” Miller said. “Downriver in general was a good place to grow up.”
Posters are available at the Lincoln Park Historical Museum. Those signed by Morrison are $50 for an 11-inch-by-14-inch poster, and $75 for a 16-inch-by-20-inch poster.
Day said he is thrilled with the way the poster turned out, and said it makes a great holiday gift.
“This is one of the highlights of the year for us,” he said. “We were aiming to do it close to the holidays, so that was planned, and it worked out pretty well.”
The museum will be open 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays through Dec. 29 (except for Dec. 25), and will close for the month of January, with a Feb. 2 re-opening.
To contact museum staff, call 313-386-3137 or email them at [email protected]. For more information, go to its Facebook page or lphistorical.org.