
Warren Lehrer is a writer, designer, and multimedia artist known as a pioneer in the fields of visual literature and design authorship. His books, acclaimed for capturing the shape of thought and reuniting the traditions of storytelling with the printed page, include Crossing the BLVD: strangers, neighbors, aliens in a New America (with Judith Sloan); The Portrait Series: A Quartet of Men (four-book suite); GRRRHHHHH: A Study of Social Patterns (with Dennis Bernstein and Sandra Brownlee); French Fries (with Dennis Bernstein); i mean you know; and versations. His newest book (Fall 2013), A Life in Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley, is an illuminated novel with 101 books within it.
He has received many awards for his books and multimedia projects, including the Brendan Gill Prize, the IPPY Outstanding Book of the Year Award, the Innovative Use of Archives Award, The International Book Award for Best New Fiction, three AIGA Book Awards, two Type Directors Club Awards, the International Book Design Award, a Media That Matters Award, a NY Book Show Best of the Best Award, and a Prix Arts Electronica Award. He has received fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council and Foundation for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation, and others. He is a 2016 Honoree of the Center for Book Arts (NYC) for his “pioneering work” and for “extending the field of book arts to the broader worlds of contemporary art and literature.” His work has been exhibited widely and is in many collections, including MoMA, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Walker Arts Center, The Getty Museum, Georges Pompidou Centre, and Tate Gallery.
Lehrer is also a performer, and has co-written four plays and one opera, and co-composed two audio CDs. He co-produces public radio documentaries and audio works with his wife, Judith Sloan. Lehrer’s performances and plays have been performed at many venues, including La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Public Theatre, The Knitting Factory, Independent Art at Here, The Painted Bride, The Market Theatre (Johannesberg), and the Theatre Workshop (Edinburgh). More recently, Lehrer has been setting stories and text into animation, video, and interactive media. Animations include Globalization: Preventing the Sameness of the World, and panoramic projections for 1001 Voices: a Symphony for a new America. In addition to his collaborations with Judith Sloan, Lehrer has written several books with Dennis Bernstein and collaborated with many musicians and composers, including Frank London, BETTY, Gogol Bordello, Scott Johnson, David Krakauer, and artists Sandra Brownlee, Harvey Goldman, and Brandon Campbell.
Lehrer received his BA from Queens College, CUNY, and an MFA from Yale University. He is a full professor at the School of Art+Design at Purchase College, SUNY, and a founding faculty member of the Designer as Author graduate program at the School of Visual Arts. He is also a frequent lecturer, keynote speaker, and presenter at conferences, universities, festivals, bookstores, and art and literary centers throughout the U.S. and abroad. Together with Sloan, Lehrer founded EarSay, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to uncovering and portraying the lives of the uncelebrated in print, on stage, on radio, in exhibitions, electronic media, and through educational programs in public schools, community centers, and prisons.
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Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019
A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller
Teaching Graphic Design History
By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
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