Jan Fairbairn is an award-winning designer, artist and educator based in mid-coast Maine.
She is the Principal of Fairbairn & Company, a graphic design studio that has produced a range of print publications—identities, branding, books, posters, exhibition catalogs and invitations—over the past 30 years.
Ms Fairbairn has held academic positions at a number of universities, including Senior Critic at Rhode Island School of Design; Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; Assistant Professor at SUNY Fredonia; Visiting Lecturer at Rhode Island College and at Yale University School of Art.
The design process begins with inspiration, with curiosity. I am continually moved by the natural world in this regard. Consideration of diverse audiences and their cultural and historical contexts shape the approach to and content of my design work, honed in over 30 years of teaching thousands of US and international students to see and think differently. The important and careful choices I make with typography, color, form and space lead to persuasive, memorable and successful solutions for clients and their communities.
About
Education
Ms Fairbairn earned an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University School of Art and a BFA in Graphic Design from Maine College of Art. She additionally studied Advertising for two years at the School of Visual Arts, received an AA in Fine Arts from the University of Maine, and participated in Yale’s Summer Graphic Design Program in Brissago, Switzerland. Ms Fairbairn’s critical work has been published internationally and in leading design journals, and her artwork has been exhibited in multiple galleries across the Northeast.
Lectures
She has lectured nationally & internationally, most recently at: Higher Education Press, Beijing, China; The 4th International Conference on Arts in Society, Stream: Arts Theory and Criticism, Venice, Italy; DesignInquiry, Pass•Port: Identity in the Information Age, Vinalhaven, Maine.
Exhibitions
Juried Exhibitions
American Institute of Graphic Arts ‘Designers Explore Literacy 50 Books/50 Covers’, New
York, New York
American Institute of Graphic Arts ‘Design of Understanding 2’, New York, New York
‘New York Is Book Country festival’, New York, New York
‘The International Platform Association’, Washington D C
Tiverton Four Corners Art Center, Tiverton, Rhode Island
Gallery at Grapheteria, ‘New England MECA Alumni Exhibition’, Portland, Maine
Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine
Other Exhibitions include numerous Faculty Shows
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
The College of Visual & Performing Arts, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Yale University, ‘Faculty Show’ New Haven, Connecticut
Additional Exhibitions
Yale University School of Art, ‘Sharing Our Work Exhibition’, New Haven, Connecticut
Creative Arts Workshop, Celebrates Yale’s Tercentennial: Yale School of Art Graduates,’ New Haven, Connecticut
Complete list of exhibitions can be viewed on résumé
Publications and Citations
A full list of publications and citations can be found on résumé. Here are some of the highlights.
Publications
- ‘Methodology: Teaching of Visual Arts and Design in the US’
Essay: Degree Projects, Part 3, pages 119–134
Higher Education Press, Beijing, China, 2010 - ‘The International Journal of the Arts in Society’
Volume 4, Number 3, 2009
Essay: Reimagining Identity in the Design Classroom
Peer-reviewed, pages 269–275
Common Ground Publishing, Champaign, Illinois, 2009 - ‘DesignInquiry Journal 2007’
Essay: Identity as a self portrait: as it relates to a sense
of self—who we are to ourselves, our students, our clients,
our lovers, the world
DesignInquiry, Portland, Maine, 2008 - ‘Design Culture: An Anthology of Writing from the AIGA Journal’
Section: Love, Money, Power
Essay: The Gendered Self, pages 223–237
Allworth Press, New York, 1997 - ‘AIGA Journal of Graphic Design’
Volume 10, Number 1, 1992
Article: Gender as Cultural Construction
The gendered self in graphic design:
Interviews with 15 women
AIGA, New York City, New York, 1997 - ‘The Arts of the Book Collection’
Yale University
The gendered self in graphic design: interviews with 15 women
New Haven, Connecticut, 1991
Citations
- ‘Muriel Cooper’
Edited by David Reinfurt and Robert Wiesenberger
The MIT Press
Robert Wiesenberger essay reference pages: #12, 63, 66, 77
Cambridge, Massuchusetts, London, England, 2017 - ‘American Craft’ Magazine
Rosanne Somerson and the President’s House
February/March 2016 - The ‘New York Times’
It’s Empty at the Top: Furnishing the RISD President’s House
February 11, 2015 - ‘FutureHistory 2004: AIGA National Design Education Conference’
Randall Eugene Hoyt
Hindsight: fifty years of the Yale Graphic Design Thesis, 2004 - ‘Feminist Visual Culture’
Edited by Fiona Carson, Claire Pajaczkowska
Graphic Design, Teal Triggs
Chapter 7, pages 155–156
Routledge, New York, 2001
Client List
- Academic Management Services
- Agritec Americas Corp
- Barry Goralnick Architects
- Brockton Symphony Orchestra
- Cork Wine & Tapas Bar
- European Auto Specialists
- Faxon Animal Rescue League
- Friends of Reed Library, SUNY Fredoina
- Fulbright International
- Gist Yarn, color and content consultant
- Halim Habib
- Independence Jazz Reunion
- Jonathan’s Organic
- Lakeside Precision
- ‘More Water Less Land New Architecture’
- Newbridge Architecture
- Norman Ives: Constructions & Reconstructions
- Old Main Inn
- Pampa Imports
- ‘Passion: A Parallel Collaboration Between Artist & Poet’
- Pegasus Art & Frame
- Philip Gillin
- Raffle’s Martini Bar
- Rhode Island Philharmonic & Music School
- State of Maine, Department of Economic and Community Development
- State University of New York, Theatre Department
- State University of New York
- Summer Time Dream
- ‘The Presence of Absence (a Cuban nocturne)’
- The Women’s Fund
- UMASS Dartmouth, Design Department
- UMASS Dartmouth, Women’s Studies Program
- Voice and Speech Trainers Association
- Yale University School of Art
- Yale University School of Architecture
- .999 Films