Reviving Hilda Calendars

SOLD OUT! Thank you to those of you all over the world who purchased my limited edition calendar over the course of five years, from 2018-2022!

It all started when...

Eight years ago people began sending me galleries of illustrations featuring this gal I resembled. She was Midwest artist Duane Bryers' Hilda - a curvy and cute calendar girl from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Hilda calendars were the most popular in the 1960s, surprisingly, but waned in the early 80s and were almost forgotten until someone recently dug them up from the archives and collective memories of Americans. I took on a fun and flirty selfie project in the summer of 2017 to re-create some of Hilda's images in and around Boise, Idaho. So using things I had around the house, my tripod, my iPhone timer, a few supplies I purchased at the Dollar Tree down the street, and a little more body positivity and feminism, I embarked on a fun art project reviving some of her most iconic images. The project was covered in a blog post with more historic information about the artist and my ideas behind the project and in the press. (Since then it’s gained international fame and media attention around the world! So much fun press articles in a variety of languages can be found here.)

Much like the art of Norman Rockwell, Duane Bryers' Hilda, the plump pinup calendar girl from the mid-century, reminds us of playful, sweet, and carefree days gone by. But she recalls more than that, too. Hilda shows us that at some time someone else found big girls' curves sensual, silliness sexy, softness endearing, confidence bold and bare skin beautiful. And that maybe, just maybe, we can find that in ourselves, too.

(see the whole series here - there are 69 Reviving Hildas to date!)

By popular demand, for the five years (click here to see the 2018 calendar and here to see the 2019 calendar and here to see the 2020 calendar and here for the 2021 calendar), I designed a limited edition size positive, radical and a little bit subversive 8.5 x 13" Hilda pin-up style calendar with proceeds going to fund my body image activism, including things like RADCAMP: A Body Positive Boot Camp For Feminist Teens and Be RAD! Be YOU! A Body Image Workshop For Girls aged 10-12!

Thanks so much for supporting me, my work as a body image activist and my classes and camps for girls!

*All Hilda images courtesy Brown & Bigelow; all others mine