Skip to main content

CGOA Celebrates 20 Years ~ Part 4: Logo Evolution

Saturday, May 3, 2014




From the very early days of the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA), I depended on willing volunteers to give of their time and talents. For me, it was also so exciting to findvolunteers with artistic talents willing to work on such things as our first organization logo, the newsletter masthead and crochet-themed notecards!

This is our first logo, designed by Brian Muecke, a budding graphic designer and high school friend of my daughter's. It was presented at our Chain Link Conference in 1995 in Somerset, NJ. 



Also that year, another volunteer designed a new masthead for the Chain Link newsletter. It has had many incarnations, especially when Carol Moore was the editor and added color. It has, though, essentially remained the same for all these years.



During the first conference in 1994, participants were invited to design afghan squares that depicted their inspirations from that first amazing experience. By 1995 at our 2nd Chain Link Conference, we had a completed afghan put together by the members of the Northern IL Chapter. Notecards were also available with artwork from the afghan, divided into 3 designs from thirds of the afghan. Shown here is one of the set that shows the "Chicago" square where it all began.


Notecard: 1/3 of the "memory" afghan



Time flew by and our organization grew and grew to the point that we were able to hire a management companyto take the day-to-day burden off of the volunteers. Offinger Management Company updated our logo in 2003.














Members were also provided with a logo they could use on their blogs or signature lines.

For our 10th Anniversary celebration between 1993-1994, we designed yet another special logo.


Celebrating a Decade of Crochet
During our conference that year, 1993, we held a special "Learn to Crochet" program for Girl Scouts and thanks to Annie's and John Boggs, board member, we gifted each scout a patch.



In 2009, we reached our 15th Anniversary and modernized our logo.



As our 20th Anniversary approached, the CGOA tagline is "When You Think of Crochet, Think CGOA." The Past Presidents' Celebration Committee held a logo design contest for this very important milestone. Member Donna Wolfe from Scranton, PA entered the winning design and Crochetville sponsored her prize of $250.00!



Our celebration theme is "Proud Past, Brilliant Future." How will you volunteer your skills to ensure CGOA endures for another twenty years?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Craft vs. Fine Art: How is Crochet Blurring the Lines

I was awakening to the world of crochet in 1972,a time of immense artistic expression through fiber arts; and crochet was not the “ugly stepchild” at the time. In fact, Ferne Cone Gellar who I admire as a successful fiber artist said in “Knitting: The Stepchild of the Fiber Arts?” ( Fibercraft Newsletter 1978), “Has knitting been slighted among the areas of the fiber arts? The very word ‘knitting’ evokes images of the little old lady in tennis shoes. Over the years, I’ve learned to ignore all those jokes.” Cone Gellar went on to publish Crazy Crocheting in 1981 and encouraged her readers to create more than bedspreads, providing ideas such as “things to play with or to display on a shelf or hang on a wall.” A photo of single crochet from bread wrappers served as inspiration.  In 1972 in her book, Creating Art from Fibers & Fabrics , Dona Meilach wrote: “Why are fibers and fabrics becoming increasingly appealing to artists? Most artists ag...

Wartime Crochet With Attitude, Part I

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 Karen Ballard and I have a mutual love of free form crochet. We met for the first time in a class taught by Prudence Mapstone of Australia at the Chain Link Crochet Conference 2011. I admire Karen's vast knowledge of needle work history and am grateful for her willingness to share with us as my guest blogger this week. Karen wearing a World War II-era knitting hat with stubby needles on top Karen's Heritage Heart,  with flowers symbolic of her heritage, is currently on tour with Prudence Mapstone's traveling "Hearts & Flowers Exhibition" in Australia and New Zealand   World War 1 Attitudes About Crochet by Karen Ballard In 2008, I coined that term, "Workbasket Campaigns" to describe the organized efforts during World War I (WWI) and World War II (WWII) coordinated through the American Red Cross {ARC} and the Navy League to create needle crafted items.  These items were mostly knitted but also sewn, qu...

Crochet and Society: How Crochet has Contributed

Wednesday, September 4, 2013 Because I am passionate about crochet and because it plays such an important role in my life. I am constantly “thinking crochet.” I want to bring awareness about crochet to everyone in the world. They don’t necessarily need to achieve the level of passion that I have for the craft, but my dream is that our society in general would come to recognize crochet as a valuable art and craft.  I also want to see the entire genre of crochet planted firmly on a continuum with all the other needle arts as a valuable pastime and art, and for the day to come when society stops confusing it with knitting! I have often joked that I am “covering my world in crochet” and that’s because I think crochet can beautify nature as well as contribute to many aspects of my community. I have been covering rocks for years and I turn them into sculptures or decorative o bjects. Claire Zeisler:  Fragments & Dashes , Threads magazine, Oct/Nov 1985 My fi...