When the Washington Estonian Society began planning its 60th Anniversary Celebration, the work group realized the program needed to appeal to all age groups, specifically young professionals beginning their careers and establishing their independent lives.
It is critical that the Estonian-American community embrace these young people and ensure that their voice is heard as they represent the future of the numerous Estonian Societies throughout the United States.
In addition to the Washington Estonian Society’s newest board member, young professional Aliisa Altau, the group invited 23-year-old artist Rein Deaton of Oakton, Virginia, to join the work group as well. Rein reflected on his interest in exploring his Estonian heritage and becoming more active in the community. The conversation among the Board concluded, as prompted by Rein, that the society lacked a single unifying symbol which would be readily identifiable as representative of Estonians in the Washington, DC area.
Rein volunteered to provide the WES Board with some prototype imagery that might be considered toward creating a uniquely identifiable symbol for the organization. After presenting an initial draft and receiving constructive feedback, Rein refined his initial concept and developed a logo which was unanimously adopted by the WES Board. The introduction of the new WES logo happily coincides with its 60th anniversary celebration! The resulting logo is pictured here along with this narrative and visually conveys that it represents an Estonian organization, represented by the blue cornflower motif, geographically grounded in the nation’s capital of Washington, DC with the silhouette of the US Capitol building dome.
The creation of this logo was Rein’s first foray into logo design, with his background being much more firmly grounded in traditional art such as drawing and painting. His process began with pen-and-paper drafting, then selecting the appropriate software to allow him to draw the image, and finally casting it as a lasting symbol. The WES Board believes he was quite successful! We congratulate him and thank him for his contribution to the Washington Estonian Society.
Rein Deaton is a 2021 graduate of Gettysburg College with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. He is currently pursuing grants to launch a research initiative that would take him to Estonia to study the regional variations of rahvariided and, armed with this knowledge, develop a new pattern to represent the Estonian-American community. Rein stated, “I believe this will aid the community in participating in cultural events in Estonia, such as Tantsupidu, as well as contributing to the legitimization of our community as a real population of Estonians.”
All are invited to come and meet Rein at the joint WES and Pillerkaar celebration on Saturday, March 4th at the Latvian Lutheran Church Community Hall, 400 Hurley Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850.
To learn more about the overall program planned, including the special performance of “Dawn Till Dusk,” and to purchase tickets, please visit www.washingtonestoniansociety.com.
We hope to see you all there!
Peter Kopperman
In Memory of the Former Political Prisoner Mart Niklus, Viewed Through the Hopes and Fears of Modern-Day Central and Eastern Europe