Daily meditation on death becomes a celebration of creative life

It all started with an orange piece of paper and a pair of scissors. It grew into an artistic obsession, an award-winning blog with an international following, a book, speaking engagements, solo art shows, a gig on "The Martha Stewart Show," and merchandising opportunities.

The day was June 4, 2007. Sitting in his office, local artist/activist Noah Scalin acted on a casual idea he'd had a couple of days earlier. He grabbed some scissors, cut a skull into a piece of paper and gave birth to a project based on death. For an entire year, he decided, he would create a skull a day.

"I think that inevitably when you make a skull every day, it's a daily reflection on death and a reminder of it," said the 37-year-old Scalin. Trouble was, the daily reflection and accompanying artistic output started getting decidedly harder about 100 skulls into the project. "I was making something new and unique every day," creating skulls out of everything from organic vegetables, shoes, keyboard keys and bubble wrap to condoms, Band-Aids, a bed sheet and holiday lights strung in his yard. "I burned through all of my skills and resources very quickly, so I started collaborating with friends."

He also started posting his skulls on a blog at http://www.SkullADay.com. Overnight, people from around the world started submitting ideas for skulls, as well as creating their own and sharing the images.

"I got this interaction with an international audience that became very engaged and was encouraging me. There was this continual back and forth that created a lot of positive energy and really exciting creativity," he said.

Eventually, the publishing industry came calling. "At a certain point in the project, I realized that it had the potential to be something bigger," said Scalin, who thought a picture book would be a natural evolution. He didn't know how to go about getting one published, so he put a note on his blog asking readers for help. Around the same time, he got an e-mail from a New York City publishing agent. The book, titled "Skulls," hit bookshelves in October.

Next came an appearance on "The Martha Stewart Show." Scalin did a studio interview, showed some of his skulls and led Stewart in creating her own skull carved from a potato. Since then, Scalin's also partnered with businesses to license official Skull-A-Day products including a T-shirt, notebooks and Skull-A-Day wallpaper.

When it comes to his artistic talent, it appears Scalin came by it naturally. His dad, Richmond artist Chuck Scalin, taught graphic illustration and design at Virginia Commonwealth University for 36 years. His mother, Mim Golub, is also an artist. They nurtured activism in Noah since before he could walk.

"Because of our proximity to D.C., I was there for many protest marches -- everything from women's rights to anti-war protests -- first in a stroller and then on roller skates," Scalin said. "I learned at a young age to make your voice heard and to stand up for the things you believe in. That's continued throughout my life."

Scalin's propensity for activism also extends to his company, socially conscious design and consulting firm Another Limited Rebellion (ALR). He incorporated ALR in 2001 after earning a degree in technical theater from New York University in 1994 and working in New York as a graphic designer for a few years. For Scalin, owning a socially conscious company is about "working from an ethical perspective."

He discovered after college that while he loved doing graphic design there were some issues -- the industry's impact on the environment, for instance -- that conflicted with his values. He formed ALR as an "experiment" to see if he could make a living doing what he enjoys in a way that allowed him to feel good about himself.

Scalin also teaches "Design Rebels," a socially conscious design class at VCU.

Quirk Gallery recently opened a solo exhibition featuring some of Scalin's skulls.

"It's amazing to see all of the different innovations with the skull theme -- everything from an actual pill he carved to a guitar pick with a beautiful rendition of a skull -- my daughter's favorite," said Quirk Gallery director Katie Ukrop. "There's also a wonderful Etch A Sketch skull that everybody's terrified to get near.

"Noah's so wonderful to work with and he's got so much buzz right now," Ukrop said. "He's like a rock star, he really is. Everybody that knows about this project is so intrigued."