Robert designed and illustrated this cover for a book on the history of Maritime folk music. Robert’s design mimics the look of a hand-stitched sampler. Samplers combine patterned borders, letters (often the alphabet), simple images, and frequently include elements of family history. Robert’s sister, Janet Pope worked as a seamstress and fabric artist for many years so Robert was familiar with this idiom.

In both commercial assignments, such as this, and in his more personal work, Robert pictured music and dance as a means of bringing people together to share stories and entertain themselves, an ideal form of community building.