When Ryan Feerer received an email from the U.S. Postal Service asking him to design a series of Forever stamps with a western wear theme, he knew he had to seize the moment.
“This was a dream from a professional viewpoint,” said Feerer, professor of art and design at Abilene Christian University. But it wasn’t just another artistic commission – it had deep personal significance. Feerer’s grandfather, who died when he was just a few months old, had been the postmaster in Logan, New Mexico, for more than two decades and worked as a rancher.
“My dad told a ton of stories about my grandfather and about growing up on the ranch,” Feerer recalled. “One story says my grandfather could whip a rattlesnake so hard its head would snap off. I’m unsure how true that is, but I choose to believe it.”
Though Feerer never knew his grandfather, he felt a powerful connection through the project. “I know he would’ve been so proud,” Feerer said. “I felt closer to him every step of the way.”
Ryan Feerer (left) and his grandfather, Postmaster in Logan, New Mexico, Jack Feerer (right) | Photos Courtesy Ryan Feerer
Feerer’s journey has been paved with influential mentors, who helped shape his artistic voice and professional path. After graduating from ACU in 2005, he earned his Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2007, where he studied under design legends such as Milton Glaser – creator of the iconic “I Love NY” logo – and Gail Anderson, longtime art director for Rolling Stone.
Anderson, who served on the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee for the USPS, recommended Feerer for the project. When the offer came, Feerer didn’t hesitate. “I responded within about three minutes,” he said. “Creating stamp art was a dream opportunity I never thought I would be able to do, and I didn’t want it to slip through the cracks.”
The result: a four-stamp series celebrating the enduring legacy of western wear with iconic images of a boot, a pearl snap shirt, a belt buckle, and a cowboy hat.
While the selection of items was straightforward, deciding how to portray them and perfecting the design took months. The entire process—from USPS approvals every step of the way to the release of the stamps in July 2021—spanned two-and-a-half years and occupied much of Feerer’s mental attention and time.
“I had never created something so delicate and small,” he said. “I became obsessed with every detail. I tried to be strategic in the placement of every dot and stroke of each line. I would often find myself up late into the morning hours, not realizing how much time had passed.”
The painstaking process generated pages of stamp variations he studied and refined. “It was overwhelming at times but also a lot of fun,” he said. “This project is probably the most significant thing I will ever work on, and I wanted each stamp to live up to that.”
In addition to the primary images, Feerer incorporated intricate flourishes, tiny Texas-themed plants, sunbursts, rattlesnakes and other desert elements to frame each illustration. “I wanted to have these beautiful, ornate, western-inspired borders to help each stamp pop,” he said.
The project immersed him in the cowboy lifestyle he’s long admired. “When you meet a true cowboy, there’s no facade – just authenticity, grit and an incredible work ethic,” he said. “That whole world is fascinating to me.”
The cowboy spirit continues to fuel Feerer’s creative endeavors. His recent collaborations with Perini Ranch in Buffalo Gap for its 40th anniversary and Field School – his own apparel brand created with ACU colleague Mike Wiggins – showcase his mastery of western aesthetics.
With a staggering print run of 175 million, the western wear stamps may be his most widely circulated work, but Feerer’s artistic touch spans an impressive portfolio. His designs grace logos, album covers, and artwork for major brands including Fossil, Snapchat, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Target, Nickelodeon, and PBS Kids. Locally, his creative fingerprint can be seen across Abilene’s business landscape, including the Allen Ridge shopping village.
His talent caught the USPS’s eye again more recently, leading to a Forever stamp design released in August, this one for a whimsical series inspired by pinback buttons.
Yet nothing quite matches the personal significance of his western wear stamps. “I’ve joked around with a lot of people. It’s like, ‘Oh, I’ve peaked already. I’m in my late 30s and it’s all downhill from here,’ ” he said laughing. But his continuing success tells a different story – one of an artist whose career is still very much on the rise.
