About This Stamp
Illinois became the 21st state in the Union on December 3, 1818, and celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2018.
The stamp art is a graphic illustration commemorating Illinois statehood. An outline of the state map contains a series of yellow beams radiating upward like the rays of a rising sun. The colors on the map begin at the bottom with a deep yellow, which represents the sun. The color fades upwards to pale yellow and then into pale blue, with increasingly deeper blues rising to the top of the map; the yellows and blues reflect the dawning of a new day as the state joins the Union. At the top of the stamp twenty stars, ten on each side of the map, are arranged in triangular patterns, reminiscent of the state's centennial flag. The stars represent the first 20 states in the Union; the rising sun symbolizes the new state's place on the American flag as the 21st star.
Nicknamed the Prairie State, a good part of Illinois is flat. The southernmost area has a gently sloping landscape, and the rolling hills in the northwestern corner include the state’s highest point, Charles Mound, at 1,235 feet above sea level. Springfield is the state capital.
Chicago, the state's largest city — the third largest in the U.S. — is a cultural and financial center with museums and architecture, music and theater that are internationally renowned. Other Illinois communities boast their own cultural and historic institutions. Oak Park, home of the pioneering architect Frank Lloyd Wright, contains much of his early work. Other landmarks and historic sites dot the state. The restored village of New Salem, where President Abraham Lincoln lived from 1831 to 1837, the home of President Ulysses S. Grant in Galena, and the Lincoln Home in Springfield are notable historic sites.
Tourism is an important part of the Illinois economy. Forest preserves, wildlife areas, museums, historic sites, gardens, architecture tours, professional and amateur sports, theater, and much more await visitors to Illinois. In addition to these attractions, the state is home to a thriving arts-and-crafts community.
The state was the birthplace of some of America’s most important cultural figures, including Miles Davis, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jane Addams, Ronald Reagan, Jack Benny, Wild Bill Hickok, Walt Disney, Ernest Hemingway, Lorraine Hansberry, Carl Sandburg, and Native American leader Black Hawk.
Illinois artist Michael Konetzka designed the stamp and created the artwork. Antonio Alcalá was the project's art director.
Stamp Art Director
Antonio Alcalá
Antonio Alcalá served on the Postmaster General’s Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2011, when he left to become an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program.
He is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. His clients include: the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian Institution. He also lectures at colleges including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA.
In 2008, his work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged international competitions for the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, AIGA, and Graphis. Alcalá also serves on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Poster House Museum’s advisory councils. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design.
Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia.
Stamp Artist, Designer, and Typographer
Michael Konetzka
A midwestern native and long-time Illinois resident, Michael Konetzka has been a practicing designer for more than thirty years. He earned a BFA degree from Indiana University and an MFA from Yale. Currently a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he has also taught at the University of Illinois-Chicago and the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C.
Konetza served as design manager for AIGA’s Design for Democracy initiative, a project commissioned by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission that produced design standards for election ballots and voter information materials. His firm, Dennis/Konetzka/Design Group, worked with both the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in revising their graphic identities, winning from USGS the John Wesly Powell Award for this work.
Recent clients include the Library of Congress, the U.S. Postal Service®, the National Gallery of Art, the U.S. Department of State, the Urban Land Institute, the White House Historical Association, Georgetown University, the Meyer Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In recognition of his work, Konetzka has received a Sappi Ideas that Matter grant and awards from AIGA-DC, AIGA-Baltimore, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Graphis, and Print Magazine.
Konetzka resides with his wife and daughter on the south side of Chicago.
The 2018 Illinois Statehood stamp is his first project for the Postal Service™.