{"id":578582,"date":"2026-08-24T07:26:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/578582\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T07:26:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:26:47","slug":"lanny-sommese-graphic-art-and-when-to-stop-making-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/578582\/","title":{"rendered":"Lanny Sommese: Graphic Art and When to Stop Making It"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cKnow when your work is done, then just walk away before you F*ck it all up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Lanny Sommese<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Tsar has his Photo taken by Lanny Sommese, 1983. Prints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can see work by Lanny Sommese<\/a> (1943-2022) at the Library of Congress. The American graphic designer, poster maker<\/a>, painter, artist and educator was the founder and longest running member (1976-2022) of the Philadelphia chapter of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts); and a member in the prestigious Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).<\/p>\n

He got into graphic design by chance. In 1961, as a freshman at the University of Florida, Sommese was in a book store. \u201cI kicked over a book and the damn thing was about graphic design,\u201d he recalled. \u201cIt was called Gebrauschgraphik, one of the major publications for graphic design. I opened the book and I was looking at my future. I said, \u2018This is what I want to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"1982<\/p>\n

1982 charity ball \u2013 March 27 9 til 1 \u2013 Gatsby\u2019s Mr. C\u2019s by Lanny Sommese. Prints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"1982<\/p>\n

The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts (1980) poster by Lanny Sommese<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always worked across a variety of design venues. However, as my career has progressed I have gravitated toward poster design probably because of the large format and creative freedom that it provides. The advantage of the poster over other media is that a poster is more visceral. Because of its size it is immediate and confrontational\u2014communicating on an emotional as well as intellectual level. This is especially true when the audience is on foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Lanny Sommese (prints available<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Serjeant
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Serjeant Musgrave\u2019s dance by John Arden<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

National forces \u2013 recent work by Bill Mayer<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me making graphic design and graphic designers has always been joined together, one feeding off the other. I do my work at school as much as at home and I encourage the faculty to do the same. In fact I see the graphic design program as one big design office with art\/creative directors (faculty) and a gaggle of junior and senior-level designers\/image makers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Lanny Sommese, via Tom Wilder<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

CPFA 1979. The 13th Annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dairy Pride ice cream, nothing less than Bessie\u2019s best<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Take home a smile<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Call 344-8247 for help by Lanny Sommese<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A sharing of sculpture by Bill Mayer : fall, winter & spring 1983-1984<\/p>\n

\"Tin<\/p>\n

Tin pan alley \u2013 a revue of popular music<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Penn State glee club \u2013 spring concert<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perro del sol V<\/p>\n

Lanny Sommese Talks Graphic Design<\/p>\n

In a video created for the Penn State College of Arts & Architecture\u2019s 50th anniversary. In coversation with Tom Wilder, he explained his approach at Penn State:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur belief is that at the heart of each project should be an idea that is fueled by the unique aspects of the problem at hand. The first step in the process is to find out as much as I can about the subject to assure that an idea has specificity. The audience and budget are also considered, as are the functional aspects, such as readability etc. Once a relevant concept is in place it drives the rest of the creative process. In this way the concept, to a large extent, dictates the visual approach\u2026 Once a style has been selected, its inherent potentials and characteristics \u201ckick-in\u201d and temper the realization of the final product.<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally each project is the product of a perfectly relevant idea manifested by appropriate imagery. It\u2019s restrained\u2014all that is non-essential is eliminated and form appears to flow effortlessly from content. It communicates\u2014targeting an audience that is \u201ctuned-in\u201d to the nuances of meaning surrounding the visual and verbal aspects of the image. The message is, at once, literal and metaphoric and understandable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Work by Lanny Sommese is available in the shop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His work was the subject of the books Lanny Sommese: World Master and Lanny Sommese: X-Ray Vision.<\/p>\n

Via: Lanny Sommerse<\/a>, LoC<\/a>,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cKnow when your work is done, then just walk away before you F*ck it all up.\u201d \u2013 Lanny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-578582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}