NEW BRAUNFELS — You may not know who artist Susan Gamble is, but chances are you have one of her drawings.(from the Express-News)And you're carrying it in your pocket.
Gamble, who lives in New Braunfels, is one of five master designers in the country whose renderings are used as artwork on coins for the U.S. Mint.
She drew the leaping salmon in front of Mount Rainier for the Washington state quarter, the grizzly bear catching a salmon for the Alaska state quarter and the scissor-tailed flycatcher soaring over Indian blanket wildflowers for the Oklahoma state quarter.
That's right. These are her designs:
And here are the reviews I gave them:
Washington - 2 - Mediocre
Oklahoma - 2 - Mediocre
Alaska - 2 - Mediocre
I know these are just my personal opinions, but I hope Ms. Gamble stumbles across this blog sometime and takes a moment to read my reviews. Yes, they are just the views of a regular guy who carries these coins around every day, but they might prove useful to her in any future artwork she develops. Or maybe not.
Of course, what really boggles my mind is that Ms. Gamble -- and only a few other artists -- are the ones who got to determine what went on all fifty of the state quarters. I really and truly thought the states themselves had some say in these designs, but apparently not!
And why not?
Why would the U.S. Mint rely on just a few people to design all these coins that are supposed to be representative of the states they, well, represent? Convenience? Probably so, but I wonder now if any of the states' residents actually got a chance to voice their opinions on the state quarters. If not, I'm a bit disappointed in the whole program.
P.S.: Whoever designed the Texas quarter, you did good, though, even if you didn't check with any Texans first! I gave it a 5 - Best!
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