April Greiman is a thinker, designer, and artist whose transmedia projects, which address all areas and scales of design from communications to textiles and from architecture to new media, together with her innovative use of advanced digital technology, have made her a leader in the design world.
Originally from New York, April studied design and painting at the Allgemeine Kuntgewerbeschule in Basel, Switzerland, and the Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri. In 1976, she moved to LA where she established her practice, Made in Space. Her radical visual identity and publication projects for such progressive schools as Cal Arts — where she was chair of Visual Communications program 1992 – 1994 — and SCI-Arc are notable for their pioneering use of Macintosh computers and software, as well as their emphasis on novel video and digital exploration.
April Greiman actively challenges interdisciplinary boundaries, investigating the parallels and intersections between art and design in all aspects of her work, which
has appeared in print in Newsweek, Time, The New York Times and USA Today, among
others; on television networks including CNN, PBS, and ESPN; in the monographs April Greiman: Floating Ideas into Time and Space and It'snotwhatAprilyouthinkitGreimanis,
Hybrid Imagery: The Fusion of Technology and Graphic Arts, and Something from Nothing, among others. April's work has long had a relationship to architecture and
she has collaborated with such renowned architects as Frank Gehry and RoTo architects to produce signage, exhibitions, and color palettes for both interiors and entire
building complexes. Her interest in both print and virtual space has led to projects for furniture manufacturer Vitra's Workspirit Magazine, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, and fashion label Dosa, among others.
Greiman's work has been recognized with numerous awards including the Medal of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the prestigious Chrysler Award for Innovation and is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art; Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; Pompidou Center and Library of Congress.
Greiman's digital photography and transmedia work have been the subject of solo exhibitions at Visual Arts Museum, School of Visual Arts, NY (2008) and the Pasadena Museum of California Art (2006) and more recently included in 'Designing Modern Women' at MoMA (2013). In 2007, Greiman completed her largest single work to date: a public art mural, Hand Holding a Bowl of Rice, that spans 7 stories of two building facades marking the entrance to the Wilshire Vermont Metro Station in LA. In 2011, she had her video-still/offset-lithographed journal, Does it Make Sense, Design Quarterly #133 on display in the 'Elle@Centre Pompidou' Exhibition. Does it Make Sense, Design Quarterly #133 is currently on display at LACMA's exhibition, 'Physical: Sex and the Body in the 1980s.'
professional organizations
2011 The Trusteeship, International Women's Foundation, member
2003 American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Fellowship
1998 American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Medalist
1986 Alliance Graphique Internationale, (AGI) member, former executive committee member
American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) member, former National Board, President Los Angeles Chapter
honorary doctorates
2012 Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
2003 Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA
2002 Lesley University, Boston College of Art, MA
2001 Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO