Nathan Garland LLC

Origins:

I was born and raised in Chicago. That accident of birth was profound. Many of my earliest memories are about the city and how it engaged me. Music flowed from my mother’s jazz piano, blues and jazz clubs and Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts. Sights like the Art Institute, the Lincoln Park Zoo, Wrigley Field, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum and more all generated an endless sense of wonder.

My boyhood was enriched by looking at architecture by Wright, Sullivan and Mies along with the work of artists like Rembrandt and Mondrian. Before I knew the words “art, architecture or design,” I was thinking about what I eventually learned those words meant.

One remarkable memory was the enchantment I felt whenever I visited a particular aunt and uncle. Their building was magical, but I didn't know why. Years later, as a teenager, I learned that it, the Promontory, was the first high-rise designed by Mies van der Rohe after he left Berlin.

I considered becoming a painter. Yet once I discovered graphic design, I was fascinated by Its combination of art with meaning and the challenge to communicate. How should words and/or images be used to solve problems, tell stories, inform, teach and explain? These demanding mysteries still intrigue me.

Education:

James Nelson Raymond Scholarship
Junior School, Art Institute, Chicago

International Design Conference
Student Scholarship, Aspen

Washington University, St. Louis
BFA 1967

Fulbright Scholarship to The Netherlands
Amsterdam 1967—68

Yale University, New Haven
MFA 1970

Nathan Garland LLC

Graphic Design Selections

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