The Studio Museum in Harlem is a global leader in researching and promoting Black artistic culture. Since its founding in 1968, the museum has championed artists of African descent and provided a cultural hub for the Harlem community. When Champions was founded in 2010, our working relationship with the Studio Museum began almost immediately and has continued through today.

We started by partnering on individual projects and grew to be close collaborators. At the time, the museum had a logo, but not a system. With each project, we challenged ourselves to build the brand and a legacy by implementing consistent and meaningful logo placement, typeface selection, and layout. Our role became almost that of an in-house design team, responding to the needs of curatorial, communications, and development departments.

We have chosen Harlem as the place for this more experimental, less institutionalized Museum.

The Studio Museum in Harlem Founders, 1968.

“Ellison at 100: Reading Invisible Man” commemorated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Ellison with an abridged reading of Invisible Man at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

The job of a curator is to make exhibitions that both ask and answer questions about art and artists.

Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator

September 2, 2011 marked the centennial of Romare Bearden’s birth; it was also the beginning of a year of international celebration. “The Bearden Project” collected one hundred pieces of art inspired by his life and legacy. One of our first collaborations for The Studio Museum, “The Bearden Project” included an overall visual identity for the exhibition, a website, and a catalog.

“Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art” explores how artists today use the once leading African American magazines as a resource and an inspiration. Champions created the visual identity for the exhibition, communications materials, and a catalog.

Stanley Whitney: Dance the Orange was the artist’s first New York City solo museum exhibition. Organized by Lauren Haynes, the show included twenty-eight of his almost-architectural, intensely color-based, abstract paintings and works on paper that explore the space between structure and improvisation.

In addition to exhibitions and catalogues, The Studio Museum in Harlem produces two fundraising events a year: the annual Gala and Spring Luncheon. We created invitations that both celebrated and unified these events under the Studio Museum brand while creating space for individual expression to build excitement each year.

Archive: 10 Years of The Studio Museum in Harlem

Championing Black Art.

We have chosen Harlem as the place for this more experimental, less institutionalized Museum.

The job of a curator is to make exhibitions that both ask and answer questions about art and artists.