Staff Picks

With over 100 Pomegranate calendars to choose from this year, you may find it hard to narrow your search. Luckily, we’re here to help! We asked our staff to select a 2012 calendar that they plan to use, give as a gift, or recommend to someone like you—our wonderful customers! *If the calendar you’d like to purchase is labeled “sold out” on pomegranate.com, please feel welcome to call us at (800) 227-1428, and we’ll try our best to direct you to a retailer that may still have it in stock.

I can never have just one calendar in my house, so for next year it will be two wall calendars: B. Kliban’s CatCalendar (W575) to add humor to my life and William Morris: Arts & Crafts Designs (W572) to add beauty. —Judy, editorial





The Charley Harper postcard calendar (W710) is an excellent planner for my upcoming travels. It fits in my backpack pocket, and the postcards can be used to inform friends and family of my traveling experiences. —Oky, design



When you live in Sonoma County, where Pomegranate’s offices are, the year is measured out by grapes. Just about now the vineyards look terrific: reds and oranges lick the hillsides. Soon all those dying leaves will fall and the vines will stand unclothed in the chill of winter for a few months. (Not that it ever gets terribly cold here in coastal California.) A favorite calendar of mine is What Do You Know About Wine? (W127), and I look forward to learning lots about Grüner Veltliner, stylar scars, noble rot, and peduncles in 2012. —Sam, editorial I have a two-year-old granddaughter who is crazy about cats. So B. Kliban’s CatCalendars (W110, W234, W575, W633) are a huge hit with her. Once we’ve gone through all the colorful, fanciful plate images, she says “Again!” —Susan, production



I’ve chosen our Georgia O’Keeffe engagement calendar (W212) for 2012, because the painting on the cover reminds me of my grandmother’s amazing flower gardens. She always grew the plant in O’Keeffe’s painting—Dicentra spectabilis, which is commonly called the bleeding heart plant. —Rachel, editorial



Among the six or so calendars I will hang on my wall and use at my desk in the coming year, the 2012 Kawase Hasui wall calendar (W524) has the group of images I am most excited about. The turquoises and blues found in these twelve gorgeous block prints are so beautiful to me, and so soothing. It will be front and center at my desk. —Lory, contracts & royalties

I always hang a mini-wall calendar in my kitchen with important dates noted on it, as an extra reminder of annual events. This year I think I will choose the Motawi Tileworks Arts & Crafts Tiles (W619) again, but a few others are very tempting, too! —Pamela, customer service



My pick for a wall calendar this coming year is The Addams Family (W516). Yes, I was one of those wide-eyed children glued to the tube (black-and-white), wondering if there really was a family as kooky as Gomez, Morticia, and their two children, Wednesday and Pugsley. Not to mention the electrifying Uncle Fester and the gloomy household butler, Lurch. Well, this not-so-conventional family will grace my office wall, and every time I glance at the calendar, it will bring back a little bit of youthful memories and possibly even make me think of some of the everyday craziness that goes on in my own home, heehee! —Monica, production I cannot pick only one! I’ll have to get three wall calendars for myself, and maybe if family or friends are worthy, they'll receive one as a gift as well. First: Gauguin: Maker of Myth (W415). The selection is exceptional and varied. Can’t beat that! Next: Susan Friedman’s Equus (W449). These photographs are amazing. Full of movement and grace—plus, it reminds me of the love affair I had with horses when I was a little cowgirl. Finally: Van Gogh (W542). Another master, and once again the selection is outstanding. Some I’ve never seen before. Truly beautiful images. —Ronni, design I plan to get for myself and for gifts the Inuit Art: Cape Dorset mini calendar (W639). I love the simplicity of line and design of the prints. And how the compositions isolate one piece of the vastness of nature for us to contemplate. For more purely decorative reasons, the full-bleed images of the William Morris: Arts & Crafts Designs wall calendar (W572) are always a winner. —Patrice, design

My pick is Nature’s Peace: Words of John Muir, Watercolors by Molly Hashimoto wall calendar (W431). I love all the watercolor images in this calendar, soft and peaceful. —Helena, customer service

Faerie Houses (W538) is a wall calendar I would gift to someone else and use myself for the 2012 year. I love how you can have a mini escape to another land when viewing the calendar. They’re just so fun and adorable to look at. —Tina, customer service



Paintings of the Hudson River School wall calendar (W543). Having seen a few in person, I am always amazed at the size and detail of these landscape paintings. They are breathtaking, and the calendar reproductions are superb. Looking at each image makes you feel like you are in these wonderful places, and it gives you an amazing glimpse of what they were like before any development. —Darius, sales

It is very difficult to choose just one, but I love the bold colors in Eyvind Earle: Landscapes wall calendar (W446). I needlepoint, and if Eyvind ever produced patterns for my hobby I would really enjoy working on them! —Ellen, customer service





I’m obsessed with all the colors and textures in Moments in Time: A 2012 Postcard Calendar from Japan (W702). I have a few women in my life who work with textiles, and I think they’ll appreciate the patterns and inspiration in these postcards as much as I do. Plus, anything I can do to help get other people excited to continue using “snail mail” . . . all the better. Maybe they’ll send me a thank you note using one of these postcards (a girl can dream). —Stephanie O., design

The art in the Jack Stuppin: Songs of the Earth wall calendar (W466) just makes you smile. The colors are vibrant and fun, and the perspective is cozy. —Josh, sales





I choose the Group of Seven engagement calendar (W240) because I like paint. It took me a while to appreciate the Group of Seven—for me it was a different way of seeing that I was not used to. Then I took a trip to the great north (Victoria), and there on the ferry, looking out across the bay, I saw the shapes and the light that I had been looking at in the calendars. —Gina, design



One of my New Year’s resolutions this year is: Read More Books! I have plenty to read—it’s just a matter of making the time. The Reading Woman wall calendar (W405) is the perfect inspiration. Seeing these paintings of women enthralled by a good book reminds me to turn off my computer and dive into my reading list! —Stephanie K., production