U.S. Flags 2022
Series: U.S. Flags
First Day of Issue Date: January 9, 2022
First Day of Issue Location: Findlay, OH
Image Assets
Stamp Brief
The U.S. Postal Service continues its tradition of celebrating the U.S. flag with this new stamp in panes of 20, booklets of 20, and coils of 100, 3,000, and 10,000.
Reminiscent of the 50 flags encircling the Washington Monument, these three U.S. flags are shown as if on poles arranged in a circular formation. The flags, shown from a low-angle perspective, billowing in the wind, evoke a sense of reverence and honor.
The American flag has long symbolized the strength and spirit of our nation. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation establishing June 14 as Flag Day, which Congress officially designated in August 1949. Today, the American flag remains a powerful symbol.
The American flag has many nicknames, including the “Stars and Stripes,” the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and “Old Glory,” and has seen many variations during the history of the United States. The current flag has 13 alternating red and white stripes, symbolizing the 13 British colonies that declared independence from Great Britain and became the first states in the country. Fifty white stars, one for each state in the Union, lie in a field of blue.
Laura Stutzman was the stamp designer and illustrator. Ethel Kessler was the art director.
The U.S. Flags stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
First Day of Issue Ceremony
First Day of Issue Date: January 9, 2022
First Day of Issue Location: Findlay, OH
Stamp Art Director
Ethel Kessler
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.
Stamp Designer
Laura Stutzman
Laura Stutzman graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a degree in Visual Communications. Her career began as a staff illustrator with the Pittsburgh Press in their promotion department. After moving to Washington, D.C., she worked as an illustrator in advertising and design until forming an illustration studio in 1984 with her husband Mark Stutzman, the artist of the Elvis Presley stamp (1993). Laura Stutzman's work has appeared in varied applications from print advertising for clients like National Geographic and CBS to a television animation for PBS. During her forty-year career, Stutzman's work has been featured in newspaper and magazine editorial publications for USA Today, the Washington Post, and an array of trade publications. With Random House, McMillan Publishing, Simon & Schuster, and Thompson/Gale, she has collaborated on book covers and fully-illustrated children's books. Stutzman has provided art for several U.S. Postal Service® stamps painted in her signature medium, gouache on board. Her first designs for the Postal Service, Flags 24/7 (2008), were followed by A Flag for All Seasons (2013). Most recently Stutzman designed and illustrated the stamp U.S. Flags (2022).
Products
Sheet of 20 Stamps
The U.S. Postal Service continues its tradition of celebrating the U.S. flag with this new stamp in panes of 20, booklets of 20, and coils of 100, 3,000, and 10,000.
First Day Cover
Enjoy an enduring symbol of national pride with this new U.S. Flags First Day Cover. The #6 ¾ envelope bears an affixed Forever® stamp cancelled with an official First Day of Issue postmark.
Digital Color Postmark
Enjoy an enduring symbol of national pride with this new U.S. Flags First Day Cover. The #6 ¾ envelope bears an affixed Forever® stamp cancelled with an official First Day of Issue postmark.
Stamp Pins with Cancellation Card
Enjoy an enduring symbol of national pride with this new 7.5" (W) x 4.5" (H) U.S. Flags 2022 Stamp Pin with Cancellation Card.