As an alumni of the Idyllwild Arts Academy I was honored when the school hired me to design the branding for “Past to Present,” the Visual Arts Alumni Exhibition at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. The exhibition includes work by artist such as Shepard Fairey, Nate Lowman, and many others who were once students at this prestigious arts school and have gone on to achieve success in the visual arts.
The Idyllwild Arts Academy is an arts school located in a secluded mountain town, so for the exhibition branding I created a “typographic mountain” which also includes the school’s iconic tree logomark on the left side “growing” out of this formation. The primary typeface is a proprietary typeface design which I started while at the Cooper Union postgraduate typeface design program. It is a revival typeface design based on the work of Morris Fuller Benton from the 1920s.
In addition to the original design, I created a custom display version of the typeface with extra thin hairlines which was used for the vinyl lettering on the gallery wall.
In conjunction with the exhibition there were lectures given by alumni including Shepard Fairey and myself, CJ Dunn.
Screenprints from the exhibition by Shepard Fairey
Painting by Monica Lundy
Screenprinted Canvas by Nate Lowman
Sculpture by Hawkeye Glenn
Original Typeface Design Specimen, Letterpress Print by CJ Dunn