For more than 30 years starting in 1925, Stanford football fans were treated to art while they sat in the stands. The covers of programs for football games against long-time rivals such as Cal and USC were illustrated with paintings by the artists at Patterson & Sullivan. The company, now called P&H Creative Group, was the largest illustrative service firm on the West Coast at the time.
“Maybe someone had a Stanford connection,” says Bruce Hettema, the company's current owner. Or maybe the firm's artists sought out a way to take a break from illustrating corporate brochures.
Hettema scours eBay looking for these vintage covers to add to the firm's collection. He even discovered one of the original paintings, which the seller had found at a swap meet. “Sadly, there wasn't much value placed on them at the time, so lots of them were thrown away.” Hettema says P&H's current artists often find inspiration in these relics. “We've been able to put flavors of the past in our current work.”
—CHRISTINA YOON, MA '08
