About This Stamp
In 2018, the U.S. Postal Service® celebrated magic, an art form that has entertained America for centuries. This pane of 20 stamps featured digital illustrations of five classic illusions: a rabbit in a top hat (production), a fortune teller using a crystal ball (prediction), a woman floating in the air (levitation), an empty bird cage (vanishing), and a bird emerging from a flower (transformation).
The act of creating seemingly impossible illusions, magic has likely been practiced since ancient Egyptian and Roman times. An early recorded illusion is the cups and balls, in which the performer uses sleight of hand and a stack of cups to make balls disappear, appear, and change position.
Magic has long held a special place in the nation’s history. American magicians perform in arenas, theaters, and even backyards. No matter how big or small, a magic show will always inspire wonder.
The stamp pane features four of each design. “The Art of Magic” and “Forever” and “USA” appear along the bottom of each stamp. “The Art of Magic” also runs across the top of the pane.
Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps and Jay Fletcher created the illustrations and served as the typographer.
The Art of Magic stamps were issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.
Stamp Artist and Typographer
Jay Fletcher
Originally from Enfield, Connecticut, Jay Fletcher has been living and working in Charleston, South Carolina, since 2001 as a graphic designer and illustrator. In 2004 he started J Fletcher Design, which has flourished into a full-time business with a stable of successful clients and international recognition from some of the design world’s most prominent voices. With a focus on logo and brand identity design, his portfolio spans more two decades and smartly straddles the line between contemporary and timeless.
Fletcher has created illustrations and logos for the National Football League Foundation, the Family Circle Cup, Nickelodeon, the Charleston Food + Wine Festival, and the College of Charleston.
The Art of Magic (2018), Fletcher's first project for the U.S. Postal Service, was followed by the “Peace” artwork for Pinback Buttons (2024).