Tig and Urp is a digital collection of drawings on plates created by William Braden done over the course of many years beginning in the 80s. William was a husband to his wife Beatrice and a father to his two daughters Anne and Jenifer. Anne went on to have a daughter named Claire Hogan who is the curator of this project.
Each morning William would wake up and before leaving for his job, as a writer and reporter at the Chicago Sun of Times, he would draw a cartoon on a paper plate and leave it for Beatrice to find when she woke. The plates range from humorous cartoons, to love notes, to simple notes about things like their dog Sam being out of food or someone coming to clean the pool. Through out the collection two characters named Tig and Urp are ever present. Tig is and orange tiger that represents William and Urp was an odd yellow, red, and blue bird, based off a stuffed animal the couple loved, and she represents Beatrice.
As each of the plate states at the bottom these show real and honest love. Though most viewers will likely not be able to understand every joke or message on the plates they collectively represent a warmth and dedication at can be universally understood. These plates are essentially an extended private conversation between two people over a large chunk of their lives. Though they have both passed now they the plates still remain as documentation of their love. However, they are mad of paper so they too will be gone one day. By creating this website and producing a line of reusable plastic plates with some of the cartoons William drew printed on them then artist is a attempting to give their love the true permanence it deserves.