The Illuminati. Skull & Bones. The Freemasons. As secret societies go, they’re fine. But I prefer a more productive one. I prefer one with prodigiously great design output. I prefer the United States Postal Service’s Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee, which artist and member Ivan Cash once dubbed a “quasi-secret society.”
It is this barely known, humble group of 12 that guides the nation’s entire stamp output with a steady hand—and the collective we have to thank for getting the ball rolling on the USPS’s current series of Lunar New Year stamps, the latest delightful installment of which rolls out today to honor the Year of the Snake.
The story of this year’s Lunar New Year stamp begins in 2019, when the committee held a quarterly meeting to review submissions from the public (which, it should be noted, must be sent in writing, mailed with a . . . stamp) and to discuss timely business. The USPS’s current Lunar New Year series was wrapping up its 12-year run, and another needed to be commissioned.
Hawaiian artist Clarence Lee designed the first Lunar New Year stamp series, which debuted in 1992 and concluded in 2004, showcasing a rainbow of the ornamental cut-paper designs that are often used to celebrate the holiday. Kam Mak took on the next iteration (2008–2019), featuring straightforward takes on hallmarks of the holiday like firecrackers, kumquats, and lanterns. USPS art director and former Advisory Committee member Antonio Alcalá says that for the new series that began in 2020, “the committee at that point was interested in pursuing something that was perhaps a little less traditional.”
So Alcalá set out to find an artist who might be able do just that. He spotted some energetic, colorful pieces by Camille Chew, and was intrigued by her style. “I started looking more into her work, and found that in college, she had done this series of large masks [of] animals that were really terrific,” Alcalá says.
The Providence, RI–based Chew had previously branded her work under Lord of Masks, through which she explored characters from mythology and folklore she had developed. When Alcalá approached her about taking on the Year of the Rat—and the rest of the series, essentially amounting to a 12-year commission—she said yes.
“I was quite taken with the idea of these being actual masks—three-dimensional objects—as opposed to just a flat vector illustration,” Alcalá says. “But other than that, I was pretty hands-off as an art director. I mostly trusted her intuition.”
Chew did 12 years of proposed sketches up front, and eventually delivered her Year of the Rat artwork—a vibrant, charming, detailed visual celebration that was, like all of her contributions, turned in “face-sized” on a thicker watercolor stock. But given that this was the first of a new 12-year series, Alcalá was admittedly nervous about the launch, though he didn’t need to be. Chew’s work was well-received—so much so that someone reached out and asked if they could get a tattoo of it.
“That’s a pretty exciting, successful stamp when somebody wants to tattoo it on their body,” Alcalá says.
The new stamp commemorating the Year of the Snake (which begins January 29 and ends on February 16, 2026) marks the halfway point in the 12-year cycle and the first in the series to deviate from that mask format—simply because, well, snakes don’t exactly lend themselves to mask form. Had they gone with just the face of the snake, it would have been a much less dynamic stamp (though Alcalá admits to holding it up to see if it might work as a mask).
The USPS works about three years out on a stamp, so how does Alcalá keep any piece of art looking fresh?
“That’s a good question, and I wish I always succeeded on that,” Alcalá says with a laugh. “You just hope that the culture doesn’t outpace you or go on somewhere to some new direction. As an art director, we’re always hoping to find artists that are solid enough that it’s not yesterday’s news by the time it comes out.”
On the philately horizon this year: a Keith Haring “Love” stamp. An Appalachian Trail series. As 21 million Year of the Snake stamps roll off the press, I ask Alcalá about the importance of bringing a series like this into the lives of Americans through such a tiny—but potent—form factor.
“There are very few ways that the United States brands itself visually,” he says, citing the U.S. flag and currency. “What [stamps] do is they say to the rest of the country that these are the people, the pieces of American life and culture and accomplishments that we feel are important to celebrate and represent who we are. And the Lunar New Year series is just another piece of that. The Asian American community—what it represents here in our country, the contributions it makes to who we are—is extremely important. This celebration is an important aspect of many Americans’ lives, and so it’s important to commemorate in a postage stamp.”
Name a better secret society. I’ll wait.
