The E-Sylum:  Volume 11, Number 10, March 9, 2008, Article 27

SUBSCRIBER PROFILE: JOE FITZGERALD

Most of our readers collect coins and other numismatic
items, but few get to actually design them.  One such
subscriber is Joe Fitzgerald, designer of the recent
Thomas Jefferson nickel portrait and Ocean in View reverse.
I got to know Joe a couple years ago when I arranged for
him to speak at a Coins4Kids session at a PAN show in
Pittsburgh, at which time I signed him up for an E-Sylum
subscription.  He writes: "I've been enjoying The E-Sylum
that ever since and will forever be grateful. As a certified
Anglophile and devotee of London theater, I especially
enjoyed reading about your London adventures."

Joe has both collected coins and done artwork for most of
his life. It was that combination which first drew him to
the U.S. Mint's Artistic Infusion Program. Upon retiring
from his full-time day job as Art Director for the National
Library of Medicine two years ago, he was thrilled to be
able to devote more time to both of those interests.

Over the years, his primary collecting interest has been
Roman coins, particularly those of Caracalla.  He writes:
"What particularly fascinates me is his that metamorphosis
from a sweet looking little boy to a cruel and vengeful
tyrant is so beautifully portrayed on his coinage."

"My retirement has also allowed more time for reading,
particularly about the French Revolution, another area
of interest. This has, perhaps predictably, gotten me
interested in related coinage. It's a shame that the
income narrows down as the interests widen.  Since doing
some genealogical research decades ago I have also been
in love with the west of Ireland and have made several
recent trips."

Retirement has also allowed Joe to spend more time on
his primary interest, painting. Landscapes have always
been Joe's favorite subject since, as he puts it, "no
tree has ever bitched about its likeness."

Joe is having a one-man show of paintings of the west
of Ireland at a Washington, D.C. gallery (Foxhall Gallery,
near American University) from March 3 - 31.  For more
information, see:
Full Story

 INTERVIEW WITH NEW NICKEL DESIGNER
 esylum_v07n39a17.html

 INTERVIEW: JOE FITZGERALD, NICKEL DESIGNER
 esylum_v08n13a18.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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