Re:
Donation to Remington
Note:
Revised second notice a year later --after first notice went unacknowledged
Background:
Terry Ward, an artist, visited in Remington in 2017 and found much of the town charming. The town's emblem, however, struck a jarring note. It shows both bad design and an element inviting an ACLU lawsuit: the flag used as a segregationist rallying symbol --on a taxpayer-supported property in the 21st century? Ward sometimes offers to redesign municipal seals. Ward also dislikes taxpayer money disappearing into legal costs from lawsuits --all the more reason to offer Remington the donation of a new emblem.
The current Remington seal shows a Confederate Navy flag (popularly called a "Confederate battle flag," also used by some Army of Northern Virginia groups) to symbolize the town's important Civil War history. This flag's use in the mid 20th century by segregationists during the Jim Crow era of "massive resistance" to racial equality has forever tainted this particular flag. While its use on actual battlefields and war graves is historically acceptable, use on any municipal emblem implies government approval of the segregationist uses. This is likely not the intended message and also is unwelcoming to some potential tourists or visitors. It would be best to keep the history and *lose* the albatross: do say "Civil War history," but simply use a different symbol.
The current seal has other issues: both the Confederate and the US are shown apparently in the river water --disrespectful to both flags. Further, use of a national flag within a municipal emblem is just considered heraldic bad form --lazy design. The mix of an abstract form (just a line) to represent the bridge, with a more realistic depiction of a locomotive doesn't work visually --such is usually the case with abstract/realism mixes. The dominance of the horizontal line dividing the shape in half leads to a rather boring overall composition. In short: the current emblem has issues.
Ward created a replacement emblem and tested to see that it can work both in color and in grayscale (letting some officials use grayscale stationary and cards can save taxpayer money). Ward rendered the imagery in Scaled Vector Graphic (SVG) software so the images may be exported as PNG images of any size (including on signs and vehicles) without loss of fidelity.
Changing municipal logos all at once can be pricey; however, rotating a new design in by attrition (as existing signs, patches, stationary, vehicle doors, etc, end their service lives naturally and need to be replaced) is not meaningfully more expensive than replacing items with an existing emblem. Ward's design uses just two colors and also is grayscale/Xerox-friendly, thus saving somewhat in production costs. The one emblem could be used as a shoulder patch or vehicle seal for all town departments: police, ambulance, public works.* (Other details of uniforms, work shirts, badges, stationary, or vehicle lettering will serve to indicate the specific branch of service.) The unified design gives further cost-savings.
The new emblem's elements are:
~ A diamond shape made of the four sections of the rail bridge. The actual bridge has a beautiful geometry of repeating basic shapes --let's use it. It need not be represented as a horizontal though; with "artistic license" it becomes an interesting diamond shape unique to Remington. (A horizontal bridge would obscure the locomotive anyway.) The central diamond can also evoke a baseball diamond because not many towns can claim to be the birthplace of a Hall of Fame ballplayer, as Remington can.
~ An anchor, as already used in the current emblem. It conjoins the year-date "1890" (the specific day-date of incorporation need not be shown on a town's seal, as it currently is in some versions).
~ A locomotive, as already used in the current emblem. Unlike the current generic locomotive, the new one is (a simplified version of) a known Orange & Alexandria RR locomotive.
~ Crossed swords: the widely-known map symbol meaning "battlefield" and also the Cavalry emblem used by both warring sides. The Remington-area fights were, after all, cavalry battles mostly rather than sieges or infantry skirmishes.
~ Two "battle stars" for the two battles of Rappahannock Station.
~ The word, in an old fashioned font, "REMINGTON" --twice cut-into by the sabres, representing again the two battles.
The whole is within a shield.
Orange dominates the color scheme --for the ORANGE & Alexandria Railroad which is of such historical importance to the town. For contrast, the other color is orange's visual opposite: blue.
Ward hopes the town council will put forth a motion to consider phasing-in the donated emblem. Ward will supply a SVG file. Ward can also supply some PNG images and can facilitate certain printing. The graphic art would normally come at a cost, but Ward decided to donate the design and support services to the town for its use without charge. The artist's advice is to print/create new items only as existing items reach their service life limits and they need to be replaced. A flag design using the new emblem can also be arranged.
Artist contact info [ redacted on web ]
Via email: "Mayor of Remington, VA"
Also published to: http://grumpyvisualartist.blogspot.com/2018/09/open-letter-to-remington-va-leadership.html
UPDATES
No reply to the 2018 emails to the mayor and other leaders.
No reply to a 2019 reminder.
No reply to a 2020 reminder email to the mayor.
In the post George Floyd era, Remington stands out as among the last holdouts in the whole county still using Confederate imagery in its seal
