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 Lloyd Schermer’s art career began
decades before he became an artist. As a newspaper publisher he was surrounded by the very material that would ultimately become his extraordinary sculptures. But it would take another 30
years before idea and material would join into the exceptional work we see today.
Like all newspapers in the 1960’s, Schermer’s paper in Montana was printed using typesetting technology. Thousands of wooden or metal letters had to be hand placed in trays, aligned, inked, then
printed. Schermer’s newspaper was one of the first in the U.S. to change to offset lithography, which uses photography to transfer an entire page onto a single metal plate.
This is then inked and printed onto the paper. Faster and less expensive, it wasn’t long before this technology spread to the entire publishing industry. Simultaneously, millions
and millions of blocks of type, many hand carved, others a century old, became obsolete. Seen as useless, virtually all of this material was discarded and destroyed.
Fortunately, Schermer saw the beauty in these little gems. He held onto his own private cache until it was time to form them into his unique sculpture. Type is part of history and
the story of communication. When Guttenberg invented movable type, how could he have envisioned the enormous change he had set in motion. In Schermer’s work, the impact of
this change is captured in man’s most lasting medium – art.
Selected Public and Private Collections:
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
- University of Montana, School of Journalism, Missoula, MT
- University of Iowa, School of Journalism, Iowa City, IA
- Lee Enterprises, Inc.
- The Knight Foundation, Board Room, Miami, FL
- The Washington Post (CEO’s Door), New York, NY
- Tom Friedman, NYT columnist, NY
- The Aspen Institute, Washington, DC
- The Aspen Institute, Aspen, CO
Public Commissions in Progress:
- The New York Times Lobby, New York, NY
- Luce Foundation Library of American Art
- Freedom Museum of the McCormick Foundation, Chicago, IL
Selected Exhibitions:
- Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO
- Aspen Institute, Aspen, CO
- Jewish Community Center, Tucson, AZ
- Tucson Public Library, Tucson, AZ
- Magidson Fine Art, Aspen, CO
Education:
- MA Amherst College
- MBA Harvard University
- Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass, CO
Awards:
- Joseph Henry Medal (Smithsonian’s highest award) from the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
- The Iowa Arts Council Outstanding Achievement Award
- Recipient (along with his wife, Betty) of the Anderson Ranch 2004 Service to the Arts Award. Aspen, CO
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