April Greiman, USA

AGI member since 1985

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Designer whose trans-disciplinary ideas, multi-media projects have been influential. Explorations grounded in the fusion of art & technology, the basis for her multi-media, multi-scaled body of work.  Recognized for revolutionary digital imaging work, she has been instrumental in acceptance & use of advanced technology in creative processes since early 1980s.

2014 featured in Apple’s documentary, ‘Mac @ 30’ recognizing 30 creative individuals contributions to the creative fields. 

Works in permanent collections; Museum of Modern Art; (SF MoMA)San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Pompidou Center, Paris; Museum Gestaltung Hamburg; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian; Denver Art Museum;

Greiman, educator, former Director, Visual Communications Program, California Institute of the Arts; former faculty, Southern California Institute of Architecture; Woodbury University School of Architecture, currently tenured professor, USC Roski School of Art and Design. 

Published- WhiteSpace, Greiman Photography (2021); Hybrid Imagery (1990); Something from Nothing (2002); It'sNotWhatYouAprilThinkItGreimanIs.

She has 4 honorary doctorates and a big garden. 

Design work by April Greiman


    April Greiman, USA (1985)

    Designer whose trans-disciplinary ideas, multi-media projects have been influential. Explorations grounded in the fusion of art & technology, the basis for her multi-media, multi-scaled body of work. Recognized for revolutionary...

    Read full biography
    April Greiman, USA (1985)

    Designer whose trans-disciplinary ideas, multi-media projects have been influential. Explorations grounded in the fusion of art & technology, the basis for her multi-media, multi-scaled body of work.  Recognized for revolutionary digital imaging work, she has been instrumental in acceptance & use of advanced technology in creative processes since early 1980s.

    2014 featured in Apple’s documentary, ‘Mac @ 30’ recognizing 30 creative individuals contributions to the creative fields. 

    Works in permanent collections; Museum of Modern Art; (SF MoMA)San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Pompidou Center, Paris; Museum Gestaltung Hamburg; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian; Denver Art Museum;

    Greiman, educator, former Director, Visual Communications Program, California Institute of the Arts; former faculty, Southern California Institute of Architecture; Woodbury University School of Architecture, currently tenured professor, USC Roski School of Art and Design. 

    Published- WhiteSpace, Greiman Photography (2021); Hybrid Imagery (1990); Something from Nothing (2002); It'sNotWhatYouAprilThinkItGreimanIs.

    She has 4 honorary doctorates and a big garden. 

    Publications

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    Hybrid Imagery; The Fusion of Graphic Design and Technology

    (1989)

    • april Greiman

    Watson-Guptill New York

    This book chronicles Greiman's pioneering of "hybrid imagery," a design process that merges formal, traditional design elements with computer-generated imagery. In an illuminating project-by-project format, Greiman outlines the evolution of her technique, from her earlier layered work with conventional media to her studio's fully developed hybrid approach of today.

    Ce n'est pas ce que vous croyez, It'sNotWhatAprilYouThinkItGreimanIs

    (1994)

    • april greiman,
    • rick poynor (essay),
    • janet abrams

    Artemis Publisher, Zurich, and Arc en Reve, Centre d'architecture, Bordeaux, France

    Published to mark an exhibition at Arc en Reve Centre d'Architecture, this book offers a portrait of graphic designer April Greiman, as well as a reflection on the status of contemporary graphic design. The book served as a catalog as well as monograph.

    Something from Nothing

    (2001)

    • april greiman,
    • aris Janigian

    RotoVision, UK

    Something from nothing explores the digital design processes as pioneered by Greiman. Her bold, kinetic explorations of typography and color as objects in time-space are grounded in the brilliant fusion of technology and graphics. Designed by Greiman, written together with design critic, psychologist Aris Janigian, this book is an intimate insight into Greiman's design philosophies and the many projects she has executed. Greiman remains at the helm of integrated design.

    Exhibitions

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    Elle@Centre Pompidou

    2010

    Pompidou Centre, Paris

    Designing Women, 1890-1990, MOMA

    2014

    Museum of Modern Art, New York

    20th-century design was profoundly shaped and enhanced by the creativity of women—as muses of modernity and shapers of new ways of living, and as designers, patrons, performers, and educators. This installation, drawn entirely from MoMA's collection, celebrates the diversity and vitality of individual artists’ approach to the modern world, from Loïe Fuller’s pulsating turn-of-the-century performances to April Greiman's 1980s computer-generated graphics, at the vanguard of early digital design.

    California's Designing Women: 1896-1986

    2012

    Autry National Center, Los Angeles

    This unprecedented exhibition focused on the work of 46 of the many exceptional women who, working state-wide from San Francisco to San Diego, helped make California a preeminent center of American commercial design and fine craft. Among them are: Esther Bruton, Edith Heath, Dorothy Thorpe, Gertrud Natzler, Beatrice Wood, Ray Eames, Marilyn Kay Austin, Jade Snow Wong, Gere Kavanaugh, Deborah Sussman, Judith Hendler and April Greiman.

    Farbe/Color: Armin Hofmann

    2013

    Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles

    The exhibition showcased one of Hofmann’s portfolios, as well as 16 studies of the prints as a part of Farbe / Color. The legendary Swiss graphic designer and educator has described his silkscreens as an account of his pedagogical activities. As an educator for 44 years, Hofmann has had immeasurable influence on generations of designers and shaped the world’s perception and understanding of color and design.

    Driveby Shooting: April Greiman Digital Photography

    2006

    Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena

    images captured by April Greiman over 15 years in various parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Although Greiman is one of the first women to be recognized as a leader in the graphic arts world, her fine art production stands apart, reflecting her personal travels and unique worldview. Greiman presents her images on a monumental scale so that the idiosyncrasies of digital technology combine with chance encounter, produce striking images.

    Agencies

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    Awards

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    • 1998

    AIGA Medal
    • 2003

    AIGA Fellow Award

    Other Professional Activities

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    • AiGA National Board Member

    • AIGA Los Angeles, President

    • AGI Executive Committee

    • International Women's Foundation, The Trusteeship

      2010 – present