Love 2023

Illustrator Chris Buzelli was born and grew up in South Chicago Heights. Grandfather Armondo Buzelli influenced the budding artist during childhood visits to the senior Buzelli’s television repair shop, where the two oil painted side-by-side. 

Buzelli graduated from Rhode Island School of Design and began his illustration career in New York City. His conceptual illustrations are published in newspapers, magazines, books, and advertising campaigns. Among his numerous clients are The New York Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone Magazine, Penguin Random House, Macmillan, ESPN, and The Tropenmuseum of Amsterdam. Buzelli also exhibits his original oil paintings in galleries worldwide.

Spotlighted in an article “The Artist Behind the Biggest Illustration The New York Times Has Ever Run,” Buzelli has also won the Cube Award from The Art Directors Club and multiple medals from the Society of illustrators.

Buzelli teaches at Rhode Island School of Design and the School of Visual Arts and gives lectures, workshops, and demos at universities and conferences throughout the world.

Working from his studio in the East Village, Buzelli lives in New York with his wife, SooJin, and studio partner Sota, who happens to be a very discerning and opinionated miniature pinscher.

The 2023 Love stamp issuance–two graphic illustrations, one featuring a cat and another a dog–is Buzelli's first project for the U.S. Postal Service.

Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director working with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, and professional service organizations. For more than 20 years she has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program. In 1981, Kessler established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton/Gore White House; the Smithsonian Institution; various art publishers; National Geographic Television; the National Park Service; and the American Institute of Architects. After earning a BFA in Visual Communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer for an architectural and planning firm. She then became graphic designer and exhibits project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency.