About This Stamp
With the release of the four Winter Berries Forever® stamps, the U.S. Postal Service® celebrated four of winter’s small yet vibrant offerings: the winterberry (Ilex verticillata), the juniper berry (Juniperus communis), the beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), and the soapberry (Sapindus saponaria).
The stamp art features highly detailed botanical portraits of each plant that highlight the bold colors and rich textures of their berries.
The winter months may seem like a time when nature’s bold imagery gets muted by cold temperatures and snowfall — but if you take a closer look you may just find some of the most beautiful plant growth of any season. Coming in an array of shapes, sizes, and colors, winter berries provide bursts of life during the year’s coldest months.
Artist Steve Buchanan worked with art director Antonio Alcalá to create these stamps.
The Winter Berries stamps were issued as Forever® stamps in booklets of 20. These Forever stamps will always be equal to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.
Stamp Art Director, Designer, and Typographer
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
Steve Buchanan
Steve Buchanan was trained as a classical musician at Oberlin College in Ohio and earned his doctorate from the University of Texas in Austin. After eleven years as a university professor and concert pianist, he studied painting with Dennis Nolan at the Hartford Art School and, in 1988, began a successful second career as a freelance illustrator.
Buchanan specializes in natural science illustration and is best known for his botanical and entomological subjects. His clients have included Bayer Corporation, The United Stated Forest Service, The American Arachnological Society, The New York Times, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Scientific American, Houghton Mifflin, and Fine Gardening Magazine.
Among Buchanan’s projects for the U.S. Postal Service® are Tropical Flowers and the Insects & Spiders Classic Collection, both issued in 1999; Reptiles & Amphibians (2003); American Motorcycles (2006); La Florida (2013); and Winter Berries (2019).