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President Donald Trump on a crowd at a campaign rally in Mississippi on Tuesday by mocking Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has been sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh decades ago. (Oct. 3)
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Artist John Mavroudis used Christine Blasey Ford's testimony to create a typographical illustration.(Photo: Time magazine)

San Francisco-based artist John Mavroudis had a sense of cover illustration he just produced for Time magazine might turn into the most prominent and controversial work of his career.

After all, Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault accusation against the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, using her own words.

What Mavroudis was not ready for an email he received. It was a woman who had a dinner conversation with her husband, who questioned Ford's credibility because she had waited decades to come away with her story.

It was at that time the woman revealed to her husband that she was also sexually assaulted several years ago in her youth.

The email shook up Mavroudis and put in perspective for him the value of a discussion that has gripped the nation.

"In a very bad situation, that's one of the best things since Christine Blasey Ford's case has come to light," Mavroudis said. "I was on the BART train coming into work when I read it and I was like, 'Oh my God.' ''

The online reaction to Mavroudis' striking typographical portrait, which depicts a Ford with her eyes closed and her right hand sword to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been predictably mixed.

more: Decades of research do not lie: Christine Blasey Ford is more credible than Brett Kavanaugh

At a time of extreme political polarization, Time's posting of its latest cover has more than 238,000 views on Twitter and 150,000 on Instagram by Thursday night.

The list of comments included this one: "Dr. Ford is a complete joke, and Time Magazine let me tell ya … You are an even bigger joke, '' from a user with the handle curransotomayor, and this one, "Congrats to @Time magazine for putting Christine Blasey Ford on their cover , '' from jgibsondem.

Mavroudis had gotten more than 900 notifications on his Twitter feed, but was too busy to check them. He was invited to come back to work on Wednesday, and he was hired to work on his job.

He's the editor's editors from the Ford's testimony, making a point to avoid him or her. was assaulted.

"I think it is a moment in our country's history. I'm conscious of that when I'm doing it, '' Mavroudis said. "We wanted the focus to be the trauma of whatever she went through and the courage it took for her to come up there."

Mavroudis, 56, referred to the process of creating a jigsaw puzzle. He had used the same technique for a previous illustration of Donald Trump, and one of the Hillary Clinton, but not attracted this kind of attention.

For the Time cover, Mavroudis based on the portrait of one of the photos of Ford taking the oath. He thing the picture with her eyes closed because it is more like it.

The message tries to be distinctly apolitical: "Just listen to what she's saying. Hear her out, '' Mavroudis said. "We can get back to the business of yelling at each other later. Please pay attention to her now. "

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