New Poster Takes a Look at Providence Pizza “By the Slice”
GoLocalProv Lifestyle Team and GoLocal News Editor Kate Nagle
New Poster Takes a Look at Providence Pizza “By the Slice”
“Cities by the Slice” — the brainchild of Dan Bransfield — features 18 crusty creations of Rhode Island’s capital city.
The small, “bite-sized” images encapsulate the distinct nature of each pie into a tiny work of art.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAccording to Bransfield, the demand for the Providence poster -- as well as those of other cities around the country — has been growing.
GoLocal caught up with Bransfield to get the scoop on the slices.
Midwest, to Northeast, to West Coast — and Everywhere In-Between
Originally from Chicago, Bransfield went to Boston College — where he majored in English — before moving to California over twenty years ago to pursue a career in art.
“I worked in animation for a while and video games and eased my way into illustration over some years, “ said Bransfield, who earned his MFA from the Academy of Art in San Francisco. “I still do animation but now it’s freelance illustration for editorial or commercial or commissions or the like.”
Bransfield said he then started toying with the idea of doing an illustrated book of something “not already out there and what he would like to see.”
“Something I could sink my teeth into,” said Bransfield. “I thought, there aren’t a lot of books on pizza — so I pitched the idea on ‘Pizzapedia.’”
“I started selling the New York ones,” said Bransfield. “It was here and there at first then it was a deluge. Then someone hit me on Philly, that did well, then I did Boston, Chicago, Detroit — I kept rolling with it and set up an appropriate store to handle the orders and shipping to make it more official.”
Now up to dozens of cities (and states), Bransfield explained how he chooses the “slices” of each location.
“It’s a hodge-podge of methods in terms of researching,” said Bransfield. “In terms of Chicago and San Francisco, I’m more familiar, and there’s a lot of famous places in New York.”
For other cities, Bransfield says he has to “dig a little deeper.”
“I see what people are saying on Eater, in food mags, Reddit,” said Bransfield. “Obviously, I’ll miss some — the local chains, the old school, the new hot places — I’m going to miss someone. There’ll be the neighborhood place no one knows about. I get lots of recommendations for cities and poll here and there and amass intel online.”
Bransfield says he then goes to the pizzeria websites and social media for inspiration for each “slice.”
“I do them in watercolor on paper to begin with. They’re painted by hand and then scanned in,” said Bransfield.
And he gets feedback. Lots of feedback.
“Oftentimes, I’m the outsider looking in,” said Bransfield. “It’s like an astronomer looking at Mars — I can see the peaks and valleys but I need to talk with the Martians. Usually after the first round, I’ll do another. Right now, I’m revisiting to do second rounds in Houston and Miami.”
Bransfield said the popularity of the Providence poster has been surging since its release.
“It’s already in the top ten,” he said of his posters.
“Some people think they’re officially sanctioned,” said Bransfield of his artistic discretion as to which slices to include. “There’s no lukewarm responses. It’s either ‘this is awesome’ or ‘there’s no validity to this’ — it’s funny."
"They’re impassioned responses, but I’m counting on that passion," he said. "I’ve got to take the good with the bad. I try to be inclusive but by definition I can only fit so much on a page.”