2023

 

The bold artwork on a skateboard deck is often as eye-catching and individualistic as a skater’s most breathtaking moves. These four stamps celebrate the Art of the Skateboard with vibrant designs that capture skateboarding’s excitement. Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp issuance using photographs of skateboards created by artist Crystal Worl, an Alaskan whose blue and indigo salmon formline design expresses her Tlingit/Athabascan heritage; self-taught artist William James Taylor Jr. of Virginia, who created an energetic red and orange graphic abstraction; Di’Orr Greenwood of Arizona who represents her Navajo culture with a turquoise-inlaid skateboard that features eagle feathers and colors of the rising or setting sun and Colombian-born, Washington, DC-raised muralist MazPaz (Federico Frum), who painted a stylized jaguar.

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Four new Presorted First-Class Mail stamps will be available for purchase by bulk mail users in coils of 3,000 and 10,000. The stamps feature existing photographs of four different bridges that range from modern to historic, pedestrian to car-carrying, but all are important landmarks in their communities. They are the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown, CT; the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge in Omaha, NE; the Skydance Bridge in Oklahoma City; and the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge in Bettendorf, IA, and Moline, IL. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamps with existing photographs.

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Spanning some 2 million acres in southern Florida, from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, the Everglades is one of the largest wetlands in the world and the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America. This new Priority Mail stamp celebrates the Florida Everglades with stamp art that shows a sawgrass marsh as seen at sunset from the edge of a cypress dome. Designed by art director Greg Breeding, the stamp showcases a digital illustration by Dan Cosgrove. The Florida Everglades Priority Mail stamp will be issued in Homestead, FL, on Jan. 22 without a ceremony.

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This stamp celebrates the life and legacy of civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis (1940-2020) of Georgia. Devoted to equality and justice for all Americans, Lewis spent more than 30 years in Congress steadfastly defending and building on key civil rights gains that he had helped achieve in the 1960s. Even in the face of hatred and violence, as well as some 45 arrests, Lewis remained resolute in his commitment to what he liked to call “good trouble.” The stamp features a photograph of Lewis taken by Marco Grob on assignment for the Aug. 26, 2013, issue of Time magazine. The selvage showcases a photograph of Lewis taken by Steve Schapiro in 1963 outside a workshop about nonviolent protest in Clarksdale, MS. Derry Noyes served as art director for this project.

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These stamps reveal life on Earth like many have never seen it. Twenty stamps feature 20 different images taken with microscopes and highly specialized photographic techniques that capture details of life undetectable by the human eye. The images show the phenomena of life in exquisitely fine detail. While stunning on their own as works of art, these images also hold scientific significance. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps using existing photographs.

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This stamp honors prolific children’s book author and illustrator Tomie dePaola (1934-2020), whose extraordinarily varied body of work encompasses folktales and legends, informational books, religious and holiday stories, and touching autobiographical tales. The stamp art features a detail from the cover of “Strega Nona” (1975), the Caldecott Honor winning first book in the series. Set in southern Italy, the gently humorous story focuses on Strega Nona, “Grandma Witch,” who uses magic to help with matters of the heart and to cure her neighbors’ ills. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp with Tomie dePaola’s original art.

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Lunar New Year - Year of the Rabbit

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 From youth leagues to the elite world champion U.S. national team, millions of girls and women throughout the country participate in this fast-paced, competitive sport. The graphic stamp artwork depicts a female soccer player in action, walloping a ball with a side volley.

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Connect to the natural beauty of the winter season and celebrate four species that make their homes in the woodlands of North America. Among the most familiar of wildlife, deer, rabbits, owls and foxes are found across much of the American landscape.

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Among nature’s most beautiful wonders, waterfalls come in all shapes and sizes, from serene cascades to mighty cataracts. The Postal Service celebrates the variety and beauty of American waterfalls with 12 new stamps.

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“FREEDOM” in gray and, below it, “FOREVER/USA.” 

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Close-up photographs of 10 beautiful tulips in a rainbow of colors grace this new booklet of 20 stamps. One blossom fills almost the entire frame of each stamp, with just the top of a stem peeking out from underneath. Since Dutch immigrants brought tulip bulbs to North America hundreds of years ago,

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Author Toni Morrison (1931-2019) is honored in this stamp issuance. Her artfully crafted novels explored the diverse voices and multifaceted experiences of African Americans. Known for such books as “The Bluest Eye,” “Song of Solomon” and “Beloved,” Morrison was the rare author who achieved both bestseller status and critical success. In 1993, she made history as the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

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Each stamp is designed in fun colors with different whimsical images, including flowers, balloons, cute animals, sweet treats and symbols of good luck. Words of encouragement and thoughtful affirmations surround the stamps on the pane. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps with original artwork by Ellen Surrey.

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Beloved by children and adults alike, snow globes can be miniature works of art, kitschy souvenirs or anything in between. Celebrating the spirit of the holidays, the Postal Service captures the playful pleasure of Christmas snow globes on four new stamps.

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The issuance celebrates the iconic yellow school bus and its role in ensuring that millions of children get to school and home again every day.

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 They feature abstract illustrations that capture the joyful sensation of being on the water on a beautiful day. The graphic art was designed and created by artist Libby VanderPloeg, who also created the lettering for the word “postcard,” freehand on a digital tablet. Antonio Alcalá was art director for the project.

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This stamp honors Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020), the 107th Supreme Court Justice of the United States. After beginning her career as an activist lawyer fighting gender discrimination, Justice Ginsburg became a respected jurist whose important majority opinions advancing equality and strong dissents on socially controversial rulings made her a passionate proponent of equal justice and an icon of American culture.

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The work of the iconic American artist of the pop art movement, Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) is celebrated with a stamp issuance in his honor. Each of the five stamps in this pane of 20 features one work of art by Lichtenstein: “Standing Explosion (Red)” (porcelain enamel on steel sculpture, 1965); “Modern Painting I” (oil and magna on canvas, 1966); “Still Life with Crystal Bowl” (oil and magna on canvas, 1972); “Still Life with Goldfish” (oil and magna on canvas, 1972); and “Portrait of a Woman” (oil and magna on linen, 1979). The selvage features a photograph of Lichtenstein by Bob Adelman with the artist’s face framed by a model of his 1983 sculpture Brushstrokes in Flight. Derry Noyes served as art director and designer for this issuance.

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The handsome face of a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) graces this new 40-cent stamp.

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Noteworthy railroad stations began brightening the American landscape by the 1870s and, although many were torn down once they had outlived their original purpose, hundreds survived. This issuance of 20 stamps features five architectural gems that continue to play important roles in their communities: Tamaqua Station in Pennsylvania; Point of Rocks Station in Maryland; Main Street Station in Richmond, VA; Santa Fe Station in San Bernardino, CA; and Union Terminal in Cincinnati, OH.

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The stamp art features four lively, digital illustrations of two traditional piñata designs — a donkey and a seven-point star. The bright, saturated color palette was inspired by Mexican culture, including the vibrant colors of small-town houses, traditional hand-sewn dresses, handmade toys and flowers, and classic piñatas themselves. Víctor Meléndez created the original art and designed the stamps. Antonio Alcalá was the art director.

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Patriotic Block will be a new nondenominated, nonprofit-price stamp intended for bulk mailings by authorized nonprofit organizations and will be sold in self-adhesive coils of 3,000 and 10,000. This stamp displays the components of the American flag — the stars and stripes — arranged in a four-quadrant block on a white background. Carol Beehler designed the stamp with art direction by Antonio Alcalá.

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Celebrate 50 years since the first Love stamp was issued with two new Love stamps, one featuring a kitten and the other a puppy with their front paws resting atop a big heart. The word “LOVE” is featured in all caps behind each animal

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Home to the most visited national park in the United States, the Great Smoky Mountains boast extensive national forests and a vast array of native plants and animals. Equally rich in history, folkways and culture, they are an American treasure, which the Postal Service celebrates with this new Priority Mail Express stamp. The stamp art captures an iconic mountain scene located near Newfound Gap between Gatlinburg, TN, and Cherokee, NC. In the foreground, a red-tailed hawk flies over the landscape. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamp with original art by Dan Cosgrove.

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A new Floral Geometry stamp, denominated at $10, will be available for purchase,

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The 46th stamp in the Black Heritage series honors Ernest J. Gaines (1933-2019). Best known for such novels as “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and “A Lesson Before Dying,” Gaines drew from his childhood as the son of sharecroppers on a Louisiana plantation to explore the untold stories of rural African Americans, adding a vital voice to American literature. The stamp features an oil painting of Gaines, based on a 2001 photograph.

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Under the Endangered Species Act, which marks its 50th anniversary in 2023, more than 1,300 imperiled plant and animal species are safeguarded to increase their chances of survival. With this pane of 20 stamps, the Postal Service presents a photographic portfolio of 20 representative endangered animal species. Those featured are found within the 50 states and U.S. territories and possessions or living near U.S. borders. The images are among more than 13,000 in photographer Joel Sartore’s “Photo Ark,” his project to document as many animal species as possible. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps with Sartore’s existing photographs.

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This stamp issuance honors Chief Standing Bear (ca. 1829-1908), who won a landmark court ruling in 1879 that determined that Native Americans were persons under the law with inherent rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The stamp features a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by Thomas Blackshear II, based on a black-and-white photograph taken in 1877. The color of Standing Bear's attire was based mainly on contemporary descriptions. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp

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