Skip to content
  • Home
  • Geezers Roll Call
  • Not Forgotten
  • Gatherings
  • Contact

Geezers’ Gallery

San Francisco's Golden Age of Advertising and the people who created it.

  • Home
    • Privacy Policy
  • Pages
    • Geezers Roll Call
    • Not Forgotten
  • Who was Where
    • Agencies
    • Copywriters
    • Photographic
    • Reps
    • Staff Creatives
    • Studios & Freelancers
    • Publications
  • Gatherings
    • Gathering 2024
    • Gathering 2022
    • Gathering 2021
    • Gathering 2020
    • Gathering 2019
    • Gathering 2018
    • Gathering 2017
    • Gathering 2016
    • Gathering 2015
    • Gathering 2014
    • Gathering 2013
    • Gathering 2012
    • Gathering 2011
    • Gathering 2010
    • Gathering 2009
    • Gathering 2008
    • Gathering 2007
    • Gathering 2006
    • Gathering 2005
    • Gathering 2004
    • Gathering 2003
    • Gathering 2002
    • Gathering 2001
    • Gathering 2000
    • Gathering 1999
    • Gathering 1993
  • Contact Us

Flash from the Past

Posted on February 20, 2025 By Hey You

This was the subject line from an email from Vanya Akraboff. (We had lost touch since the early ​‘90s when I ended my free­lancing as a layout artist for Vicm/FCB, where Vanya was an art director.)

I had found her address and I reached her by snail-mail and gave her a link to Geezers’ Gallery.

1/29/25, 6:40 PM
Subject: flash from the past
How lovely to receive your letter! Yes, still in Sausalito. I just spent lots of time on your very enter­taining blog. I am so fortu­nate to have had a truly fun, satis­fying career with so many creative – in all ways — people.

It brought back many memo­ries. People, pranks, atti­tude, campaigns. I saw several that I worked on – Aleve. The Neutro­gena layout on your site is one that gave me a scare when it was up on my wall and Lester was in my office and asked ​‘Did you do that’ – anyway, a longer story.

SOOO cool that you’re doing this. If you’d like I could send a photo and brief message as to what I’ve been doing since retire­ment in 2018 from Giant (world travel, yoga, hiking, yada yada).

Hello to Dick as well.
Vanya

1−30−25 4:01pm
I wrote:

On the one day, that I didn’t open up my email!
I was just prep­ping lunch and Richard read your letter aloud.
The Geezers started, as you might have seen in the site, in 1993 at Bob
Buechert’s ranch. The members were mostly from the ADASF and Commu­ni­cating Arts member­ships. It was a huge member­ship list. But it is not drop­ping too fast now, as ​“young­sters” are joining.

What was the Neutro­gena scare? I would love it if you could tell a lot of your career, as well as, what you are doing now. Do you have printed samples or other visuals to show?
So glad to have reached you,
Vanya,

If you don’t have the orig­inal of the photo of “‘you and your pedestal” you should have my copy. Maybe we could add it to your story.
Annie

1−31−25, 7:15pm
From Vanya:

Well, this is fun! I fondly remember your theme parties. For a ​‘wild west’(?) party, a friend loaned me much of his black leather Folsom Street Fair outfit – chaps, tie, cowboy hat, long gloves. The next year’s theme was Greek? Roman? – the all white one.

I’ve attached various things below, do with them what­ever you wish.

Here’s mate­rial for my ​‘what I’m doing now’:

Loca­tion Sausalito

Retired from Giant Creative Strategy, which now has a different name, as SVP Creative Director in 2018. In 2002 a few ad guys that I’d worked with ages ago at Vicom (where I met Ann Thompson!) and FCB Health­care started their own agency.

I’d taken a few years off while I painted and exhib­ited in a few juried shows, but joined them at their fledg­ling agency when they called. I spent 15-years there and am grateful for having a very enjoy­able creative career and working with great people.

I retired a bit early to see what else I was.

Now I hike, prac­tice yoga, volun­teer at an art center, hang with friends, but my true passion is travel. A couple of trips to north and south India, twice to Africa (Morocco and sub-Saharan), and several to South­east Asia, plus Oceania and Japan, South America (Chile, Argentina, northern Patag­onia), and recently Peru and Ecuador (Machu Picchu and the Gala­pagos). In the spring I’ll be rafting, hiking and camping under the stars in the Grand Canyon for the third time – the first two trips were accom­pa­nied by a string quartet.

And yes, I have a cat.

Here’s a recent photo, in the Sahara last spring.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -

Here is my first painting that I sold.

Lester story:

Lester Barnett was alway very gracious to me and I consid­ered him my mentor. He did scare me once. I had taped a layout for a Neutro­gena ad I’d come up with to my office wall. I entered my office to find Lester standing there with his hands clasped behind his back closely exam­ining it. When I greeted him he was quiet. When he finally turned around he said ​‘did you do this?’ in a serious voice. I nervously copped to it. He said some­thing like ​‘it’s good’ and left.

Annie I’m pretty sure that you did this illus­tra­tion for me when I was the Art Director for the launch of Aleve. We photographed the kayaker, in a brand-color yellow on the brand-color blue bay just down the hill from my house.

2−7−25 5:29pm
I wrote: Hi Vanya,
I have been distracted from this project, but I wanted to say that I love your painting and could you have more to show?

I think for this post — - I will show the 4 parties in our back­yard, with maybe a ​“Where’s Vanya?” challenge.
Annie

2/10/25, 7:02pm
Vanya wrote:

Sure, I’ll send a few more paint­ings in the next couple of days–
Haha ​‘Where’s Vanya?’

2/10/25, 7:04 pm
Vanya wrote:

Oh yes and there was the Indian theme party! I attempted to make Indian food and wear some­thing Indian-ish and I think I even applied a bindi. Such great parties you had!

2−12−25
Hi Annie!
Thank you for liking my paintings.

I was surprised when I first exhib­ited at the Sausalito Art Festival at the urging of my realtor and people actu­ally bought them. I was espe­cially pleased that most of the buyers were women.

Here are a few more.

Opium
Opium 
draped
draped 
hug
hug 
Janet blue glove
Janet blue glove 

When I retired I bought all new painting supplies thinking I would take it up again. (I’d lost every­thing when my house burned down in 2011). I tried painting for a few days but real­ized that I’d rather be out in the world.

2−13−25
Hi Vanya,
These painting are great! We just saw the closing show at the deYoung of Tamara de Lempicka, where ( know it was Art Deco, but…) arms and legs looked like stuffed sausage! Your paint­ings show lovely shad­owing on real human anatomy.

Who knew of this talent of yours? Were you painting while you worked as an art director. What years? Timeline?

When we read the last line of your previous email, we said, ​”Good for her.” in our very envious way.

Your talent can be there, after your travels, waiting for you.
Annie

2/17/25 5:23 PM,
Vanya wrote:
Thank you! You’re very kind. I enjoyed the Lempicka exhi­bi­tion and learning of her avant garde char­acter. I took a few evening classes at the SF Art Insti­tute in the 80’s, then in 2000 took more classes there and seri­ously painted and exhib­ited for two years while I didn’t work after marrying my stock­broker (a mistake) and while designing and building a house (now sold). More than you prob­ably need to know! Life is good now.

Dick Moore and I offered these parties for our graphic friends with August and September birth­days (and their friends) who applied their creative skills to their costumes!

—-1986 ​“The British Raj Bash”
—-1988 “ The Wild West Party”
—- 1989 ​“The Mediter­ranean Montage”
—-1993 ​“The Orient Excess”.

So, Where’s Vanya?

Vanya is In each of these group shots, below.
Vanya has already written above describing her costume for three of the parties.
There are 3 small inset photos as clues: (Note, Vanya’s pedestal dangling from Vanya’s wrist !)

Raj Bash
Raj Bash 
Wild West party
Wild West party 
Mediterrian Montage
Mediter­rian Montage 
The Orient Express
The Orient Express 

These Birthday Parties were successful because everyone, like Vanya, contributed to them with their own creativeness.

Ann Thompson

Geezerpedia, Now Showing

Posts pagination

1 2 … 4 Next

Artist's Sites

  • Bill and Nina Stewart
  • Bill Cone
  • Bill Schwob art
  • Bob Bausch
  • Bruce Lauritzen
  • Bruce Wolfe
  • Bryn Craig
  • Caleb Whitbeck
  • Charles Pyle
  • Chris Blum
  • Chuck Eckart
  • Darren Hanshaw
  • Dave Broad
  • Fred Lyon
  • Gale McKee
  • Hans Halberstadt
  • Jack Allen
  • James Propp
  • Janet Jones
  • Jeff Leedy
  • Jerry Huff
  • Jim Stitt
  • John Mattos
  • Kirk Henderson
  • Larry Keenan
  • Lowell Herrero
  • Marc Ericksen
  • Mark Keller
  • Mark Schroeder
  • Mik Kitagawa
  • Robert Arnold
  • Robert Evans
  • Robert Gantt Steele
  • Roger Shelly
  • Stan Dann
  • Stephen Rutherford
  • Tom Whitworth
  • Ward Schumaker

Artist Galleries

  • Tom Watson
  • Keehn Gray
  • John Pratt
  • Chuck Eckart
  • Jerry Huff
  • Al Davidson
  • Bill Nellor
  • Jim Stitt Designs

Copy Writers

  • Joel Fugazzotto
  • Samm Coombs
  • Todd Miller

Still In The Game

  • Bill and Nina Stewart
  • Bill Schwob work
  • Chris Blum
  • Darren Hanshaw
  • David Johnson
  • Fred Lyon
  • Hans Halberstadt
  • Jack Tom
  • James Propp
  • Jeff Leedy
  • Jim Stitt
  • John Mattos
  • Kirk Henderson
  • Lars Melander
  • Marc Ericksen
  • Mark Keller
  • Mark Schroeder
  • Peter Thompson
  • Robert Arnold
  • Robert Holmes
  • Rory Phoenix
  • Scott Simpkin
  • Stephen Rutherford
  • Steve Rustad
  • Tom Whitworth
  • Ward Schumaker

Places We Like

  • Patterson Hall Early History
  • Piet Halberstadt
  • Printing Films
  • The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies

Copyright © 2025 Geezers’ Gallery.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme

Geezers’ Gallery
Privacy Policy / Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: PressBook Premium.