“What Would Luther Burbank Do?", by artist Rebecca Hargrave Malamud, captures the essence of Americana through elegant design and imagery from the Smithsonian archives. Each museum-quality poster includes scans of artwork from the 19th century — highly prized seed catalogs — that were meticulously retouched, brightened and enhanced to restore their previous grandeur. The resulting art has been released into the public domain to improve our Nation’s Attic.

A 17" x 24" edition of "SEED ANNUAL" is now available to raise funds for US Wildfire Relief.

About The Artist

Rebecca Hargrave Malamud is a visual artist, information designer and media activist who has been working in and around print technologies for 25 years and weaving the web since there was one.

This series revisits earlier work for The 1996 Internet Exposition where she created a virtual World’s Fair in the Air by building a user interface and print campaign remixing vintage public domain postcards with modern digital imagery. Works from that period are also for sale through Point.B Studio.

A behind-the-scenes look at this project as well as other works by the artist will be available this summer at this website.

Triptych Ingredients

  • Poster One - Seed Annual - 30" x 43"
    48 seed packets restored
  • Poster Two - WWLBD? - 30" x 43"
    27 seed packets restored
  • Poster Three - New Creations - 30" x 43"
    48 seed packets restored and composited into the original two-page seed catalog format.
  • Contact the artist for pricing information.

    WWLBD?
    20-set limited edition triptych, signed by the artist.

About The Project

WWLBD? is a collaborative art project commissioned by Public.Resource.Org, enlisting the participation of an eclectic group of creative folk, including a team of home-brewers fashioning the nation’s first open-source beer, Our Nation's Attic. The artists agreed at the outset to improve the data and return the revitalized ingredients into the public domain for others to remix, re-use and enjoy.

Each seed packet used in the triptych was carefully restored and composited at high resolution to the artist’s vision. The poster art is then imaged with archival high dynamic range inks to capture the original detail in the seed catalogs, the full spectrum of color, and the precision of the vector art used in the restoration method.