When I was a kid, my dad took me fishing and I caught a fish. While the fish was on a chain stringer in the water, I looked at it and felt such a strong connection to it, that I couldn’t eat it. Or any other animal. That fish prompted my path to veganism and is a symbol for my life choices.

What makes a person an icon? What contributions are considered iconic? Icon trading cards examine the answers to those questions through figures I find culturally significant.

Currently working on “Big Fish School of Fish” for the city of Havre de Grace, a 12’ long fish and 16’ off the ground, made of small stainless steel fish, welded together; fish have been on my mind.  “Fish in the Sky” and “Fish Out of Water” have been recurring themes in my work over the years, and is an icon for the ordinary becoming extraordinary.  “Holy Fish” is an exclamation that Robin might have said to Batman to emphasize the outrageousness of a situation. 

Gears and ferns are two of my favorite symbols. Twenty-some years ago, I made a sketch of an icon blending a gear with a fern. This icon represents the fusion of nature and machine as well as the union of primal with futurism, thus “Techno Primitive”. Wouldn’t it be nice if going forward new technologies and all manner of human existence reflected a true consideration of the natural world? Advanced technology and the natural world can complement one another.

How perverse these times we live in… when we value the right to possess automatic weaponry over the general safety and well-being of our fellow citizens… when we strike down even the most reasonable of restrictions meant to protect innocent lives… when we safeguard the profits of gun manufacturers at the expense of our most vulnerable. We indeed worship a false god.

How does a celebrity icon get created? What started out as a harmless practical joke is slowly becoming a 21st century cultural icon!

Taking advantage of the nice summer weather, 5×7 UNDERGROUND met once again at Thomas Sterner’s art studio, “Sterner Art Factory” in Silver Run, Maryland. The Sterner wood-fire pizza oven was roaring, so naturally, the group was compelled to eat some delicious wood-fire pizza. Being an artist is so hard in the middle of the summer!

Artists in attendance included: Jeff Sharp, Mary Beth Francis, Jim Roberts, Lauren Latané-Valis and Thomas Sterner.

Note that Jim Roberts currently has work in a show at NOMA in Frederick, Maryland until the end of August 2019.

Each artist presented their interpretation of icon. After each 5×7 UNDERGROUND artist presented their work in rotation, the work was displayed for a gallery photograph. Each work was also photographed individually and can be viewed in the isolated image gallery. We hope you enjoy the art and will visit us again!

Feel free to leave some comments below and visit and/or join our Facebook group as we invite all interested artists to create an interpretation of the next theme, “inversion” (5″x7″ or smaller please) and post it to our Facebook group page. 5×7 UNDERGROUND will then post their artworks on the Facebook group page after the next happening on September 20th, 2019. We continue to grow our online community and encourage dedicated artists everywhere to participate!

The image below depicts 5×7 UNDERGROUND interpretations of the theme, “icon” as displayed at Sterner Art Factory, Silver Run, MD.