The subway posters, created by the late artist and SVA faculty member Marshall Arisman and his widow, writer Dee Ito, feature previously unseen drawings of monkeys, one of Arisman’s favorite subjects.
One of the three winter/spring 2023 SVA subway posters, featuring art by the late MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Chair Marshall Arisman and writing by Dee Ito.
SVA’s latest posters, on view in New York City subway stations since February, honor the late MFA Illustration as Visual Essay founder and chair Marshall Arisman, who died last year at the age of 83 and was one of the longest-serving and most influential educators at the College. In his nearly 60 years as a faculty member and program chair at SVA, Arisman served as a mentor and inspiration for several generations of creative professionals while also carrying on his own inimitable career as an artist and storyteller.
Each of the three posters in the series features a previously unpublished Arisman drawing of a monkey, one of his favorite subjects. Each also features a unique tagline that meditates on the labor and rewards of artmaking. All were written by Dee Ito, Arisman’s widow and the writer of some of SVA’s most well-remembered poster slogans, such as “Having a talent isn’t worth much unless you know what to do with it” (1974 – 1978) and “To be good is not enough when you dream of being great” (1978 – 1987).
One of the three winter/spring 2023 SVA subway posters, featuring art by the late MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Chair Marshall Arisman and writing by Dee Ito.
"The expression of words and phrases changes with the decades, but there is always an underlying truth that a writer wants to get to," Ito told us in 2018 when she and Arismann were inducted into SVA’s Subway Hall of Fame.
In 2018, Arisman and Ito talked about their differing creative processes for a video profile and online Q+A.
One of the three winter/spring 2023 SVA subway posters, featuring art by the late MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Chair Marshall Arisman and writing by Dee Ito.
“The expression of words and phrases changes with the decades, but there is always an underlying truth that a writer wants to get to,” Ito said, while Arisman admitted that though he preferred to work alone, his collaborations with Ito had been notably rewarding. “I don’t think we had one argument,” he said. “Experience has taught me that having an editor can be a very positive thing.”
Last year, in memory of Arisman’s legacy at SVA, Ito established the Marshall Arisman Scholarship Fund, dedicated to supporting selected students in the program; to donate, visit visualartsfoundation.org. And on Wednesday, March 22, Unlocking the Creative Self With Marshall Arisman, a documentary directed by BFA Design faculty member Nada Ray, will premiere at the SVA Theatre; stay tuned for details. Below, watch the aforementioned SVA Subway Series Hall of Fame video featuring Marshall Arisman and Dee Ito.