Wonder Bread

Title: Wonder Bread.
Medium: Original print, HP ink on 8.5x11, 48 lb archival paper.
Style: Freehand drawing with handheld mouse.
Size: 5x5, 6x6 or 8"x8"
Date of origination: 5/23/18
Art by: Sandra Corey
For more information, please click HERE
 

I'm still in a retro mood.   And Wonder Bread is certainly a retro icon.  Although it is still on shelves today, I remember it from childhood in the 1950s.  It goes back a bit further though and actually made its debut on May 21, 1921;  97 years and 3 days ago.

When I began working on the idea for this print I didn't realize that my timing aligned with a Wonder Bread anniversary.   Nor did I realize that the colorful dots on the packaging represented the many colorful balloons at the Indianapolis Speedway International balloon race that year or that the name Wonder was inspired by the wonder of that spectacle.

My best friend even had a cotton shift sporting a fun Wonder Bread print on white fabric.   (Shift: a retro garment defined as "a short dress that hangs straight down from the shoulders with clean, simple lines that hangs loosely from the body without a fitted cut.")

Looking around online today I see the Wonder Bread balloon color pattern on all sorts of products.  I'm guessing the commercial artist, Drew Miller, who created the logo for the VP of the bakery at the time, Elmer Cline, had no idea how iconic it would become.