Warren Dayton

Profile

Warren Dayton is an American illustrator, artist and graphic designer best known for his posters from the psychedelic art era, a pioneer of the use of T-shirts as an art medium, creator of logos such as Kinkaid’s Lightpost Publishing, Peet’s Coffee, plus an award-winning book, Felt Smelt; editorial, commercial illustration and typography. Dayton’s work ranges from funny and whimsical drawings used in magazines and books,to corporate branding and logos that have been honored by selection in design competitions and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. He continues to illustrate murals, posters and books in the studio Artifact, Ink founded in 2001, in the Sierras, California. Biography: Warren Lloyd Dayton was born in Sacramento, California as the fourth generation of an early California pioneering art family. He won a scholarship to Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles (now known CalArts) where he studied illustration and advertising design. After working in agencies in southern California, he began a freelance career in 1965. In 1967, he pioneered art on T-shirts, unique enough at the time to warrant a feature in The Los Angeles Times’ West Magazine. Upon the emergence of the Hippies and explosion of counterculture art, Dayton’s posters such as “Quack” and “Now” came to be highly collected from 1967–1973 and were featured on the cover and lead article on the psychedelic art phenomenon in Life magazine. Warren Dayton’s posters can be seen in lms and documentaries of the Height- Ashbury era, such as American Experience: Summer of Love (PBS, June 2007). After discovering the meaning of life in 1974, Dayton founded Prints of Peace, publishing the works of 12 Christian artists including fellow Chouinard alumni and psychedelic poster artist, Rick Grif n. In 1985. Awards include a poster for the 2009 & 2008 Society of Illustrators, L.A. national competition Illustration West. He does work for charities, such as logos and mastheads for Focus on the Family and Habitat for Humanity, murals for an orphanage in Mexico and other worthy causes, and continues to publish limited-edition prints. His poster for the ballet Coppélia, created for Stages: Northern California Performing Arts has been selected as an example of modern poster design in the Wikipedia article about the History of Graphic Design Awards: Dayton’s work was selected for competitions including annual pub. Illustration West (3 inclusions: 2009 certi cate and gallery for “Illustration West 47”, 2008 “Illustration West 46” and Illustration West 26”, Graphis, The International Journal of Visual Communication (5 inclusions magazine and annual, 1966–1972), Communication Arts and Annual (2 times inclusion), and the L.A. Art Director’s Show.