The Work of Art Chantry

Art Chantry

The Work of

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Chan t Ar try

isphic

Gra

a

signer e D that is well know for building

his record, poster, and magazine designs completely by

hand. His design work is often associated with the posters and album

covers he did for bands from the Pacific Northwest

such as Hole, The Sonics, and Nirvana.

He isn’t just recognizable for the

layouts he did for bands, but Chantry

is very notable for his logo design.

Because of Chantry’s unique and aesthetically

pleasing hand made layouts he has been exhibiting in many

museums such as Rock and Roll

Hall of Fame, Museum of Modern Art, and Seattle

Museum

of art.

Art

Chantry

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Chan t all hi ry’s uniq u s comp layouts e style co a m u facto ter for h re hand m es from is rs tha th a t ma designs. de. Chan e fact th ke hi a s lay If he did try rarely t outs h so un e would ever use s loose ique. the the

The t or missi n edges a ng rou and t ink patch nd the ph es o ext oto see t ure to Ch n the tex s and su hat o b a ften ntry’s w t adds un tle o with i other rks that queness yo grap hic d u don’t esign ers.

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Layouts

A.

A. Chantry’s Ready For War poster seems as if it was made on the computer, but there are very subtle characteristics that set it apart from layouts that are done digitally. The ink that is used in the face has certain patches where the ink has come off of the paper. This does not mean that the layout is done sloppy, it just shows how creating layouts by hand can create new sense of texture and pattern rather than if you did them digitally. (“Ready for War,” Client: Alonzo Critini Salon Politique, 1982).

B.

C. The album cover created for the band Thee Head Coats was created by using broken press type and stuffing it into the chamber of the revolver. The unique placement of the text and slight amounts of ink that have been removed from parts of the text show how he hand placed each letter into the layout. (“Thee Head coats Conundrum: Influencing the Stars of Tomorrow...Ripping off the Nonentities of Yesterday,” client: Super Electro Sound Recordings, 1994).

D.

C.

B. The Annual Fremont Fair poster Chantry designed in 1998 shows how cleanly you can cut and place images onto a poster. If you inspect closely along the red bars in the background of the layout you can see jagged edges and certain parts of each bar extending past the yellow backdrop. This shows that chantry cut each individual bar out by hand and successful made a aesthetically pleasing poster for the Fremont Fair. (“Fremont Fair,” 1998).

D. This promo poster created for Art Chantry’s one man poster show and was displayed in the Seattle Museum of Art. The layout is completely made out of clip art describing 20 years of being a professional graphic designer. Most of the influences allude to family, friends, and professionals. To put into perspective of how much work was tied behind this piece, each image you see behind the text is hand cut clip art that Chantry specifically chose to overlay on each other in this layout. (Poster for one-man retrospective of Chantry’s posters at the seattle Art Museum, incorporating twenty years of personal history in clip art, 1993).

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Art Chantry was born in Seattle, Washington, on April 9th, 1954. Before becoming an established graphic designer, chantry had attended Western Washington University to receive his bachelors degree in communication arts in 1978. After college chantry went on to establish himself as a graphic designer in the Pacific Northwest. A lot of Chantry’s work has been influenced by the region he grew up in. Making posters and album covers for bands who hale from the northwest such as Nirvana, The Sonics, and Hole.

It is because of Chantry’s unique hand made layouts, that got this recognition from major name bands. Chantry builds his record, magazine, and poster layouts, by cutting out his imagery with x-acto knifes, then he uses laster printers and xerox machines to combine the imagery together, and adds text in by using photo set type.

Because of this work method it has given Chantry a unique style all his own and well deserved recognition with places such as Seattle Museum of Art, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Museum of Modern Art. Because he gained so much recognition form bands and musuems Chactry has established himself as one of the greater contemporary graphic designers of our time.

BACK GRO

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Other

Works

Chantry does not strictly confine himself to creating layouts for band posters and album covers.

He has also done a lot of work creating logos for companies and businesses such as Urban Outfitters and Artist’s Products. His work also is seen in recreational sports as well.

For example the image on the left was a collaboration Chantry did with Ride Snowboards in 2009.

Becoming a designer that doesn’t confine yourself to one certain field of design is what separates the greats from the mediocre and Art Chantry is the prime example of this type of designer.

(RIDE DH 2.2 Snowboard Limited Edition Art Chantry).

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Layouts and book designed Gunnar Johnson

by

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Sources: - Some People Can’t Surf The Graphic Design Work of Art Chantry by Julie Lasky.

- www.Nytimes.com