Anecdote about Joe Martin in this book, Rex Ingram: Hollywood's Rebel of the Silver Screen repeats Baby Peggy's version but offers another version of Joe's tragic end.
1920 feature in Popular Science features animal trainers and their stage ready creatures. This article shows not only an image of Curly Stecker, but also of Joe Martin as an orangutan and the infamous Charlie the elephant who would later cause the death of Curly Stecker.
Emma-Lindsay Squier's article "Joe Martin, Gentleman" gives an inside look at animal training and Joe's behavior onset. A notoriously difficult creature to work with Joe is shown in this article to be of great intellect and compassion.
In 2010, The Museum of Islamic Art invited eL Seed to do a weeklong residence during which he would create multiple pieces of Calligraffiti art for the museum as well as conducting graffiti workshops for local high school students. The workshops taught the various techniques used by graffiti artists and allowed the students to contribute the pieces eL Seed was creating for the Museum (eL Seed Art)
The invitation extended by The Museum of Islamic Art towards eL Seed was an acknowledgment of Calligraffiti as an Islamic art form by the Museum. Graffiti has often been recognized as lesser genre of art, in the past couple decades as artists have taken their artistic talent off the street and into art galleries, the art form has gained much recognition. This acceptance by a conservative museum like the Museum of Islamic Art was another large step forward for Calligraffiti as well as Graffiti in general. eL Seed described his feelings about the experience, saying, “I felt that the Museum was striving to both carry the traditions of Islamic Art and keep a vision oriented toward the future,” (eL Seed Art).
Love you Mum was one of the several paintings created by eL Seed during the short residency. On a pink background eL Seed taped out the English phrase “Love you Mum,” and asked students to practice the graffiti techniques he had taught them on the piece. Once the students had completed their work, eL Seed removed the tape, revealing the phrase in pink letters. This composition was used as the background to the focus of the painting. In the middle, in solid black, in a heart shape, is Arabic Calligraffiti, which translates to “I love you Mom.” The use of multiple languages, as well as students from different faiths and backgrounds in this painting is another example of Calligraffiti’s ability to fuse different cultures and religions into a stunning work of art.
