Renowned graphic designer, artist and educator Sheila de Bretteville, who founded the first design program for women at CalArts in 1971, returns to the Institute tonight (Monday, Nov. 19) for the Graphic Design Visiting Designer Lecture Series.
De Bretteville compiled and designed the publication California Institute of the Arts: Prologue to a Community, which helped define CalArts at its origin and capture the social climate of 1970. Comprised of original letters, memos and other printed materials, Prologue documented the planning of the Institute.
While at CalArts, de Bretteville was active in the Feminist Art Program, but left in 1973 to co-found the Woman’s Building—an LA public center dedicated to women’s education and culture—and its Women’s Graphic Center and the Feminist Studio Workshop.
In 1980, she established the communication design program at Otis College of Art and Design, and since 1990 has been Yale University’s Director of Graduate Studies in Graphic Design. She was the first woman to receive tenure from the university’s School of Art.
Otis commissioned the video (below) with de Bretteville for its exhibition Doin’ It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman’s Building (1973-1991), which captured oral histories about the Woman’s Building.
Graphic Design Visiting Designer Lecture Series: Sheila De Bretteville
CalArts
Langley Hall
Tonight (Monday, Nov. 19) at 7 pm
Free