Portland Flag Association 1

Portland Flag Association “Free, and Worth Every Penny!” Issue 58 June 2016

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: NZ, VT, and Albany

NZ, VT, and Albany 1 By Ted Kaye Thanks to all the contributors who May 2016 Flutterings 2 As predicted, the second-round make it possible to produce one of Roundup 4 the most frequent and consistent A Flag for the Other Portland 5 New Zealand referendum, which flag-related serials in the world of Czech Municipal Flags 6 concluded 23 March, failed to Redesigning the U.S. Flag 8 change the national flag. Although vexillology. The quiz, the roundup New Flags for Australia’s States? 10 it may be politically-incorrect to items, and the features all rely on The Flag Quiz 11 say, I attribute that failure to the PFA members and VT readers. 12 Portland Flag Miscellany decision to put the issue to a vote Next Meeting 12 of the people. In vexillological www.portlandflag.org memory, no other country has done that, relying instead on the government to make such deci- sions for a country. The mere- exposure effect (see VT #56) likely assured that the NZ public would favor keeping the current flag. Our colleagues in Albany, Oregon With this issue I match John (90 minutes south of Portland), Hood’s production of Vexilloid have formed a new flag group, Tabloids. That is, he published the GUAVA (see p. 3), to enjoy the first 29 (see VT #1 below) and I study of flags and pursue the de- the next 29. Here’s to many more! sign and adoption of a flag for their city. They have the support of the

mayor and have launched a compe- tition: cityofalbany.net/flag.

A delegation of five attended our most recent PFA meeting, all wear- ing t-shirts with the GUAVA flag (above). The group is based out of …Commonwealth graves West Albany High School and of Kiwi soldiers are draped maintains its own growing website: with the silver fern, not the vexillalbany.pw. Union Jack.

— John Key, prime minister, NZ If you wish to compliment the editor, or to contribute in the future, contact Ted Kaye at 503-223-4660 or [email protected]. If you wish to complain, call your mother.

2 The Vexilloid Tabloid May 2016 Flutterings You Need to Know In our May meeting, hosted by Patrick Genna, 20 PFA members and guests enjoyed a lively 3+hour evening of flags. It was the largest PFA meeting ever.

David Ferriday brought more artwork with secret flag-related David Ferriday shares his latest messages and several other items secret-message art. bearing flags. Ted Kaye led a discussion of the Ken Dale returned from Astoria recent outcome of the failed at- with a postcard bearing the equiva- tempt to change the flag in New lent of Alpha-Bravo-Charlie in Zealand, based on his assertion German (see p. 4). In response, that the fatal error was putting the John Schilke described the various issue up for popular vote. He also Ted Kaye previews Milwaukee’s international alphabet signals. described his role in the effort to finalist designs, to debut 14 May. Max Liberman presented the pro- change the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jerry Fest, attending his second posed designs for Australian states flag and shared a sneak preview meeting, told the story of the Sons and territories created by Brendan of the five finalist designs to be of Liberty Flag and its origin in the Jones (http://bc.id.au/flags) in unveiled two days later. protests against the British Stamp 2000, describing his mixed feelings Michael Orelove celebrated com- Act of 1756. about them. (See p. 10) bining households by downsizing David Koski, a graphic design John Niggley brought a large flag and generously giving away a large professional, delivered an excellent from Bangladesh gifted by a friend. amount of flags, publications, and other flag-related items. technical discussion about color, complete with multiple illustrations and a color cube that he’d fabricated. He is developing his thoughts on its application to understanding flags and their design.

A real Bangladeshi flag is shown by Michael Orelove gives a “shorts” The topic of color comes alive when John Niggley. presentation—he’d downsizing. described by David Koski. June 2016 Portland Flag Association 3

Nate Strader-Sprague asks the group to help date this Japanese war ensign. We welcomed a delegation from Patrick Genna examines the the newly-formed Greater Unified independentist flag of Catalunya. Albany Vexillological Association Patrick Genna, our genial host, (GUAVA): teachers Cole Pouliot again gave away several flags he’d and Derek Duman and students acquired at Goodwill, where he is Nathan Elliott, Tanner Mills, and Jerry Fest explains the nine vertical stripes of the Sons of Liberty Flag. now known as “Mr. Flag”. Nate Strader-Sprague, all from West Albany High School. They Keryn Anchel brought a flag gifted shared their efforts to spur the city which brought the total to ten! He her from Afghanistan and an unu- of Albany to adopt a well-designed also shared the results of our U.S. sual custom flag created for an flag, and just launched https:// flag redesign challenge (see p. 8). Elmer’s customer—an obscene www.cityofalbany.net/flag. Leo Gardella displayed one of the hand gesture in skeletal form in many historical flags from his col- white on a black field. Scott Mainwaring reported on his efforts to enlist other flag groups lection, which he flies at his home to adopt World Vexillology Day, from seven flag poles. 1 October, as an international day Our next meeting will be at the to celebrate flags and their study: home of Ted Kaye on 14 July. vexiday.org. Nine groups are on He took the Portland Flag Associa- board…then GUAVA joined, tion flag with him—the customary task of the next host.

Keryn Anchel shows off her Derek Duman and Cole Pouliot wear Leo Gardella shows a replica Tsarist new favorite flag. t-shirts bearing the GUAVA flag. personal flag (1858–1917).

4 The Vexilloid Tabloid Roundup Das Flaggen ABC Anton, Bruno, Cäsar, Dora, Emil, Fritz, Gustav, Hans, Ida, Jota, Karl, Lucie, Max, Nanni, Otto, Paula, Quatsch, Richard, Sophie, Toni, Ulrich, Viktor, Wilhelm, Xanthippe, Ysop, Zeppelin.

These are the German names given to flags on this postcard found by NAVA 50 Ken Dale. It’s the International Make your plans now to attend the Code of Signals with the phonetic 50th annual meeting of the North alphabet as “Anton, Bruno, Cäsar” American Vexillological Associa- replacing “Alpha, Bravo, Charlie”. tion., October 14–16 in San Jose, http://www.w2aee.columbia.edu/ California. phonetic.html gives phonetic See www.nava.org for more info. alphabets in dozens of languages. Ken Dale and the German alphabet.

A U.S. Canton Honoring Alaska

By Michael Orelove As a long-time resident of Alaska and an enthusiastic astronomer, I have a special appreciation for the stars on the Alaska state flag.

Among many mementoes of my life in the 49th state is a U.S. flag that I altered to create a version of the state flag in the canton.

Using a yellow marker, I changed the color of eight stars to convert them as closely as possible into the arrangement of Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) and Polaris (the North Star).

The result is a meaningful and unique Alaska-only version of the Stars and Stripes, which I’ve placed in the collection of another PFA member, since moving to Trout- Alaska’s flag is cleverly recapitulated in the canton of the U.S. flag, dale and down-sizing. in a design by former Alaska resident Michael Orelove.

June 2016 Portland Flag Association 5 A Flag for the Other Portland (Maine)

The current flag of “Guiding Flag of Portland, Maine” by “Portland Liberty” by the city of Portland, Maine Vince Facchiano of Wilmington, Del. Jeremy Hammond of South Portland

By Ted Kaye One of the more advanced of the many current efforts to update a city flag is under way in our city’s namesake—Portland, Maine.

The Bangor Daily News joined “The Buoy” (Revised) by “North Star Pennant” by forces with a Ben Coursey, a high Laura Clapp of Kittery Nicolas Roose of Belgium schooler doing his senior project, to create a process that received 85 submissions from 40 designers. In April, Ben, Dave Martucci (Mainer and past NAVA president), and I narrowed the entries down to a final ten (right). The public is now rating them (on a scale of 1–10); “Resurgam Flag 2″ by “Portland: The Phoenix Rising” by the three with the highest average Jeremy Hammond of South Portland Kirk Simpson of York rating will go on to a final vote.

As a maritime city, Portland’s symbols include anchors, buoys, and a lighthouse. It also suffered four catastrophic fires in its histo- ry. The adoption date and official status of the current flag is not “Jewel of Casco Bay” by known, per American City Flags. “Sunny Bird” by Natalia Lefebvre of Portland Jeff Woodbury of South Portland

A humorous alternative by “Portland Beacon” by “Portland Flag” by Tim Masterson—not a finalist! Matthew Moray of South Portland Megan Young of Portland

6 The Vexilloid Tabloid Czech Municipal Flags

By Scott Mainwaring 1. The colors of the flag are based Petr Exner runs FLADAC, on the colors of the arms. the Flag Data Center (SVI, Priority should be given to primary colors (white, yellow, the Středisko vexilologických informací) red, blue, green, and black) and in the Czech Republic. The Center the adjacent fields should have maintains the website vexi.info, colors of contrasting shade. which includes a giant online database of thousands of Czech 2. The flag should conform to the municipal flags. In 2005 the Petr Exner with the FLADAC flag at principle of flying, they should International Federation of Vexil- ICV 25 in 2015 in Sydney, Australia. be simple and expressive. lological Associations (FIAV), of Yes, each flag belongs to one par- 3. Only figures of the arms or which both the PFA and the FDC ticular municipality; no other flags their derivatives and/or attrib- are members, gave Ing. Exner its are in the database. Each flag is utes may be used on the flag. Vexillon award and in 2015 made included only after the Speaker of If there is no figure on the him a Fellow of the Federation, Chamber of Deputies of the Parlia- arms used, vexillological figures to honor his contributions to ment of the Czech Republic has (e.g. bar, wedge, chevron, vexillology. granted it to its municipality. Until cross, circular disc, etc.) are In March 2016 I interviewed him 1990, only towns were authorized recommended. Vexillological for the PFA’s online blog to have a flag, later each municipal- figures should be related to the at portlandflag.org: ity got the same right (there are arms (for example, knotty almost 6,500 municipalities are in branches and crossed hammers Q1. The many thousands of flags in the Czech Republic). emblem can be simplified to the vexi.info Czech Communal Flag the saltire, the plough-share Database are all beautifully designed In fact, some towns which have can be simplified to the wedge (unlike so many city and town flags we a historic flag (i.e. in use before or chevron, etc.). Arbitrary have here in the US). Am I correct in 1990) have their flag in the data- geometrical shapes cannot be understanding that each represents a base as well. But there are only used. particular city, town, village, or other around 30 such flags. For com- 4. No inscriptions, realistic pic- place in the Czech Republic? Are there pleteness of the database these tures, or anything that reduces other kinds of flags in the database as district town flags (okresní mesta) transparency of the flag is al- well? How do you decide which flags to are included. lowed. The arms cannot include in the database? Q2. Who designed these flags, and how charge the flag´s surface. In fact, there are 4,745 flags in the did they come to be? They all appear to 5. The newly proposed flag must database now: flags of villages, follow a single set of design principles— not be the same as an already townships (městys), towns (město), is there a document explaining these? existing flag. and statutory towns or cities Anyone can propose a flag and 6. The new flag should not be (statutární město). Districts coat of arms to their municipality. confused with the existing na- (obvod or část) of statutární There are ten basic requirements tional flag. město may also have flags. All of for flag design set by the Czech 7. The width-to-length ratio of these places are considered munici- Parliament’s Sub-Committee for municipal flags is 2:3. palities (obci). Heraldry and Vexillology:

June 2016 Portland Flag Association 7 8. The obverse and reverse of the Republic. In the Parliament, the source. How did it come about? How flag must be identical. When Sub-Committee for Heraldry and many people have contributed to its con- the flag is charged with a heral- Vexillology assesses proposals and struction and maintenance? dic beast, the position of the if they do not conform to the he- head should be mentioned in raldic and vexillological require- vexi.info is a one-man project. the description, if not turned ments the Sub-Committee rejects Site design, html code, program- to the hoist. them. ming of the database in php and MySQL, drawing flags in a data- 9. The surface of the banner is I’m involved as the member of the base—that all I do myself. always the same as that of the vexillological experts group of the flag. Its proportions can be Parliament’s Sub-Committee. Q6. Last, can you tell me, how did you different but geometry of the first become interested in flags and vexil- surface must be retained. Make a simple and distinctive flag! lology? And what are your hopes for the field of vexillology in the future? 10. The flag should be able to be Q4. Can visitors to the Czech Republic clearly described verbally so see these flying or otherwise in use as they My first encounter with the flags that it can be made without visit these places? Where in a town would was when I received the Small Atlas reference to a graphic pattern. one find them? Are there places or events of the World from my father, where at which one could see many of them fly- the national flags of all countries Q3. Have the flags been officially adopt- ing all at once? were shown. That was in 1957. ed by the places they represent? Were you involved in the adoption process? If Communal flags can be seen in the Together we are—with colleagues so, what advice could you share to people city halls of towns or villages, from the Sub-Committee— who want their city, town, or neighbor- mostly during the national holi- preparing the Codex of Coats of hood to adopt a well-designed flag? days. However, in many places Arms and Flags of the Towns and they are flying all year and in the Villages in the Czech Republic. The flag proposal must be approv- cities usually in more places. With It will be published in several ed by the municipal council and the exception of exhibits devoted volumes. I hope that the work can the council has to send a formal to flags, several different municipal succeed. request for its granting to the flags are not usually used together. Speaker of the Chamber of Depu- Below is a sampling of the many ties of the Parliament of the Czech Q5. vexi.info is a wonderful online re- thousands of flags in the database.

8 The Vexilloid Tabloid Redesigning the U.S. Flag By Scott Mainwaring sents unity and the “vigour of civic In the previous issue, we brazenly values” and the 5 points on each of announced a challenge: Ignoring the the 10 stars the 50 states. political near-impossibility of change… simply from a DESIGN perspective, how could the U.S. flag be improved? We heard from a number of you rising white stripe symbolizing online and at our last meeting. American strength. Here is a quick run-down of the Reorganizations designs. (For more about them, Ted Kaye suggested returning to see the blog posts “Improving the a 13-star, 13-stripe flag based on Design of the U.S. Flag” and the original “Francis Hopkinson” “More U.S. Flag Improvements” 3-2-3-2-3 star arrangement. at http://portlandflag.org.)

Simplifications

Several readers suggested looking to historical U.S. flags that arranged their stars into “Great Stars” or circles (like the “Betsy David Koski’s ingenious design Ross” flag). Nick Artimovich, of eliminates the stripes but keeps a the Chesapeake Bay Flag Associa- 13-star canton, all 50 stars, and the tion, posted this unusual early 20th- Mathieu P. decided to honor the six iconic overall structure and color century 50-star Great Star flag original states that “never permitted scheme. from his personal collection. slavery” (by his reckoning, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, & RI) and to represent Diversifications the 50 current states by the 10 angles on each of 5 stars.

Zoli Truskova suggested merging Scott Mainwaring proposed replac- the stars into one big star and re- ing the notion of “the” American placing the canton with a blue bar. flag with a diverse and changing collection of 50-star flags, each Tony Burton envisioned the U.S. Coincidentally, this design is used by the Texas Navy Association. with its own pattern of stars. “returning to its founding matrix” As an example, he re-presented and joining the European Union, Matthew Brawn radically simplified his design in which star sizes and adopting a design inspired by the design to a single 13-pointed correspond to state populations the EU flag. The gold bar repre- star for the original colonies, and a (see VT #54). continued next page

June 2016 Portland Flag Association 9

Earlier Work Although Ted Kaye found Lin’s Flagging Ireland proposal amusing at the time, his At ICV 22 in Berlin in 2007, Dong talk inspired Ted’s assertion that Our sister organi- Lin (originally from China, resid- the best re-design of the U.S. flag zation, Vexillology ing in the U.K.) presented “Twenty would be a return to 13 stars in the Ireland (VIBE) Principles for the National Flag canton. This addresses the issue released Flagging Design”. Relying heavily on Good that Lin identified as “too many Ireland last August. Flag, Bad Flag and narrowing down stars” for recognition at a dis- Like so many of a list of 35 principles put forward tance—the 50-star canton looks the society’s other in his 2006 book How the Design of “mushy”; with just 13 stars they initiatives, it is Ireland’s first guide- the National Flag Affects a National can be larger and more distinctive. book on flags. The 52-page full- Destiny, he enumerated the 20 as: color volume was edited by Stan “Serious, Proportionate, Unique, Zamyatin and includes contribu- Simple, Clear, Abstract, Symboli- tions by several vexillologists. cal, Subjective, Central, Symmetric, Balanced, Harmonious, Integrated, It explores the cultural meaning Contrasting, Flowing, Handsome, and heritage associated with flags Smooth, Relaxing, Pleasing, and and emblems in Ireland, north and Light.” south. The price of the book is €10 + €2 postage. It can be To demonstrate his principles, he ordered from familyhistory.ie. pointed out the design defects of six national flags and proposed VIBE, whose full name is Vexillol- new versions of them, including Scott Mainwaring shares ogy Ireland Brateolaíocht Éireann, that of the United States. re-designs of the U.S. flag. publishes an excellent newsletter (ISBN 2009-6437). To join its mailing list, contact VIBE at [email protected].

The PFA has a special connection to VIBE, as Ireland’s St. Brigid’s cross appears (unintentionally) on the flag of the City of Portland (see VT #56).

Flag Design Questions In the last issue, Max Pickering (from Adelaide, Australia) posed a series of questions to help answer To what extent does the design of a flag influence its importance?

He has posted the product of his school research as a video: Excerpt from Dong Lin, “Twenty Principles for the National Flag Design”, Pro- https://www.youtube.com/ ceedings of 22. International Congress of Vexillology, FlagBerlin 2007, vol. 2, p. 648. http://www.flaggenkunde.de/neues/2009-proceedings.html watch?v=pS4yhqiSCO0

10 The Vexilloid Tabloid New Flags for Australia’s States? By Max Liberman dark blue; the gold fly (which For Tasmania, both the state’s unofficial sporting color (green) In 2001, Australian vexillographer represents the state’s sunshine and and its heraldic colors (red and Brendan Jones produced a series golden beaches) is charged with a white) are used. The hoist is red of intriguing proposals for new stylized Cooktown orchid (the and the fly white, charged with a Australian state flags. The designs state’s floral emblem) in maroon, map of the state in green; the green follow the pattern established by the state color. The orchid’s six also symbolizes Tasmania’s natural the flags of the Northern Territory petals represent Queensland as the heritage. and Australian Capital Territory: sixth and last of Australia’s states to have been established as a Brit- the southern cross from the On the whole, the proposed ish colony. national flag in a panel at the hoist, designs are clear and distinctive, and an emblem representative of South Australia’s heraldic colors and the unifying pattern of the the state in the fly. of blue, gold, and red all appear in hoist panel with the southern cross makes them unmistakably Australi- For New South Wales, the hoist its proposed flag. The blue hoist an. All of them would be a consid- is dark blue and the fly sky blue represents the Southern Ocean and erable improvement over the Brit- (the state color), bearing a red the red fly the desert of the Out- ish colonial ensigns currently serv- waratah (the state flower). Jones back; a narrow gold fimbriation ing as state flags. But it might also notes that the waratah “is also of separates the two and the fly is be felt that the use of the NT/ significance to many local Aborigi- charged with the piping shrike ACT model inappropriately blurs nal peoples and hence serves as an from the existing state flag and the constitutional distinction be- important symbol of Aboriginal coat of arms. tween Australia’s states and territo- recognition and reconciliation”. The design for Western Australia ries, and that for the states’ flags to The proposal for Victoria is in uses the state’s heraldic and sport- adhere to a uniform template does dark blue and white. In the fly, an ing colors of black (hoist) and gold not serve to represent their individ- eight-pointed star, taken from the (fly); the gold also represents the ual identities and their status as historic Eureka flag of 1854, is state’s mineral wealth and expan- sovereign entities within the Aus- counterchanged and combined sive desert. The fly bears the state tralian federation. with an inverted triangle to form emblem, the black swan, which Jones’s website featuring the the shape of the state’s initial “V”. appears in the current flag and badge and evokes the state’s for- designs can be found at For Queensland, the hoist again is mer name, the Swan River Colony. http://bc.id.au/flags/.

New South Wales (proposed) Queensland (proposed) Western Australia (proposed)

Victoria (proposed) South Australia (proposed) Tasmania (proposed) June 2016 Portland Flag Association 11 What’s that Flag? What Was that Flag? Answers to the last quiz

By David Ferriday By Tony Burton

Which same three colors can make These seven flags all represent all these outlines into actual flag forms of counterchanging. designs? Name the colors and flags. See VT #56, p. 4, as well as Answers in the next issue… Vexillogistics: An Illustrated and Practical Guide to Flag Design. Congrats to John Cartledge of the Obwalden canton, Switzerland U.K., who ID’d them first.

Ix-Xewkija, Malta (similar to Villars- Maryland, USA Sainte-Croix, Vaud, Switzerland)

Valais (Wallis) canton, Switzerland Arnhem, Netherlands

Dominican Republic Greenland

12 The Vexilloid Tabloid Portland Flag Miscellany

A local dog-walking service uses the Cascadia flag motif very effectively. www.doggonewalking.us

Grafletics.com, a Portland-based sport and life-style brand founded by graphic designer Rick Gilbert, sells t-shirts, sweatshirts, headwear, and accessories…among them this flag-themed sticker based on the Cascadia flag but also incorporating the flags of Portland, Oregon, & USA. Portland is a bicycle town, and a very This interesting rotating sculpture, busy bike shop is at N.W. 21st Ave. about 9 feet high, combines U.S. flag and Lovejoy St. (www.21stbikes.com) motifs with a Christian cross. 21st Avenue Bicycles uses this This section of the Vexilloid Tabloid It is on a home’s lawn, east of Corbett, U.S. flag variant image on a sticker— has evolved to highlight flag usage on the Columbia River Highway just count the stars and stripes! in Portland and the many uses of before the Larch Mountain turnoff, A former manager, Nick Wood, Portland’s city flag. Contributions and visible from Google Earth! designed the symbol last year. from readers are very welcome. (45°31’53.03”N 122°15’12.26W)

July Meeting

The next meeting of the Portland Flag Association will be at 7 PM, Thursday, 14 July 2016, in the community space at the home of Ted Kaye: 2235 NW Aspen Ave., Portland, OR 97210.

See the map at right.

We look forward to seeing those of you who have missed recent meetings and engaging in provoca- tive flag-related discussion. Newcomers are welcome!

If you can’t get to the meeting, perhaps you can give the editor something to share with readers. The Vexilloid Tabloid , founded in 1999 by the late John Hood, is published bi-monthly by and for the Portland Flag Association—Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. Find back issues at www.portlandflag.org.

June 2016