Dr Linda King
Publications
I write about Irish and graphic design as cultural history. Journals essays include Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Design and Culture, Design Issues, Eire-Ireland, Journal of Design History. I co-edited (with Elaine Sisson) Ireland, Design and Visual Culture: Negotiating Modernity (2011, CUP), the first in-depth analysis of Irish design.
| Year | |
|---|---|
| ‘(Re)imagining Communities: cara magazine and the negotiation of Irish identity, 1997-2017’, in Gisela Holfter and Bettina Migge (eds.), Ireland in the European Eye, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 2019 | |
| ‘”A Sense of Ireland”: reflecting and refracting modernity in Irish culture’, in Gerry Smyth and Deaglán Ó Donghaile (eds.), Marginal Irish Modernisms (special edition of the Irish Studies Review), Oxford | 2018 |
| Transdisciplinary Practice (editor), Oonagh Young Gallery, Dublin | 2017 |
| ‘Art + Industry = Design’, in Linda King (ed.) Transdisciplinary Practice, Oonagh Young Gallery, Dublin | 2017 |
| ‘”Particles of Meaning”: The Modernist Afterlife in Irish Design’, in Paige Reynolds (ed.) Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture, Anthem Press, London/New York | 2016 |
| ‘1953: Cloak & Gown, Sybil Connolly’ in Fintan O’Toole (ed.) Ireland in 100 Artworks, Royal Irish Academy/Irish Times | 2016 |
| ‘1955: Aer Lingus Summer Timetable, Guus Melai’ in Fintan O’Toole (ed.) Ireland in 100 Artworks, Royal Irish Academy/Irish Times | 2016 |
| Linda King, ‘I Am Liza Enebeis’, interview with Liza Enebeis (Studio Dumbar) for Ways and Means, Dublin | 2016 |
| Linda King, ‘”A Sense of Place”: Icons as Wayfinding’, in Adrian Shaughnessy, Lance Wyman: The Monograph, Unit Editions, London | 2015 |
| Linda King and Elaine Sisson, ‘Visual Shrapnel: Rethinking Irish Studies Through Visual Culture and Design Studies’, in The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies | 2015 |
| Linda King, ‘Lance Wyman: Visual Poet’, in Lance Wyman: Mexico, MUAC/UNAM, Mexico City | 2014 |
| Linda King, ‘Design professionalization, political economy and educational reform (1940–79)’ and ‘Evolving and emergent forms (1980–2000)’, in Design and Material Culture (an essay mapping the history of Irish design) in Twentieth Century, Vol. V, The Art and Architecture of Ireland, Yale University Press | 2014 |
Exhibitions
I am often asked to contribute content to exhibitions or to their accompanying catalogues and events.
| Year | |
|---|---|
| ‘This Place We Call Home’, Open House, Dublin, contributor to book and exhibition, October | 2015 |
| ‘Linda King, in Conversation with Lance Wyman’, public interview at the Sala Nezahualcóyotl (National Concert Hall), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), to accompany the retrospective exhibition: ‘Coming and Going – Lance Wyman: Urban Icons’, at The Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City, October | 2014 |
| ‘Pat Scott: Design and Industry’, speaker and panel chair to accompany the exhibition: Pat Scott-Image, Space, Light, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, March | 2014 |
| ‘Reform and Advocacy: The Legacy of the Kilkenny Design Workshops (1963-1988), essay to accompany the exhibition: Vernacular, at the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, Kilkenny September | 2013 |
| ‘Visual Rhetoric and the ‘Theatre of Persuasion’: Abbey and Peacock Posters in Context’, catalogue essay to accompany the exhibition: Playboys, Paycocks and Playbills, National Print Museum, Dublin, July | 2008 |
Research projects
My research interests focus on regional modernisms, design and political economy and design professionalisation. Specific national examples include the design activities of Aer Lingus and the Kilkenny Design Workshops, and the architectural activities of the Guinness/Iveagh Trusts. Specific international examples include the work of the American graphic designer Lance Wyman. I also have an on-going interest in mid-century modernism in American graphic and industrial design; this arose from working on the Henry Dreyfuss retrospective ‘Directing Design’ at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York. I have written, lectured, broadcast (television and radio) and organised conferences and symposia on these and other design-related issues.
I have been an advisor, researcher and contributor to a number of national organisations on design issues including:
| Year | |
|---|---|
| Esras Films for Building Ireland: Dublin Airport | 2020 |
| EZ Films, RTE1 and the National Museum of Ireland for National Treasures | 2017- 2018 |
| Newgrange Pictures for the four-part RTE television series, Designing Ireland | 2015 |
| The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland for Year of Irish Design | 2015 |
| Kilkenny Design Workshops Legacy Committee | 2015–present |
| 100 Archive, Inaugural Curatorial Panel | 2013–2015 |
| Dublin City Council/Dublin City Architects for Pivot: Dublin’s bid for World Design Capital designation | 2011 |
Lectures/Conferences
International keynote and invited talks include those at: The Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City; DCrit, School of Visual Arts, New York; Aalborg University, Denmark; Concordia University, Montreal. National talks include: DCU, IMMA, NGI, NMI, NPM, RIA, RIAI, TCD, TBSG, UCD.
| Year | |
|---|---|
| Irish Design Modernism: Negotiating a Post-Colonial Identity’, For The People, Modernist Society, Manchester | 2019 |
| ‘The Poetics of Print’, Long Room Hub, Trinity College, Dublin | 2019 |
| ‘National Treasures: Rethinking Irish Identity’, Irish Bodies and Irish Worlds, the Canadian Association for Irish Studies Annual Conference, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada | 2019 |
| ‘“Regrets, I’ve Had a Few…” Publishing in Irish Design/Studies: Creating Spaces, Making Opportunities’, Design History Publishing, National Museum of Ireland | 2019 |
| ‘“What Have the Irish Ever Done For Us?”: some thoughts on Irish design and innovation, Design West International Summer School, GMIT Furniture College, Letterfrack, Galway | 2019 |
| ‘“You’re The Best Girl-Designer in the Class”: some thoughts on women designers within the historiography of Irish graphic design’, Women In Design, National Museum of Ireland | 2019 |
| ‘Lance Wyman’, public interview, Offset Creative Festival | 2019 |
| ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Irish Design’, panel participant, public interview, Offset Creative Festival | 2019 |
| ‘”A Sense of Ireland”: Immigration, Decolonization and the Professionalization of Irish Graphic Design’ at, Design and Displacement, Design History Society Annual Conference, New York | 2018 |
| ‘Collecting the “Now’’’, panel participant at The Irish Museums Association Annual Conference, RDS, Dublin | 2018 |
| ‘“Particles of Meaning”: Re-evaluating Irish Modernism through Design’, Marginal Irish Modernisms Symposium, Trinity College, Dublin | 2016 |
| ‘Advertising Ireland: Dublin Airport, Aer Lingus and the Visualisation of the Nation Building Project’, at Airport Cultures, Institute for Modern Language Research, London | 2016 |
| ‘A Fuzzy Mixture of Accident and Design: The Design and Production of the 1916 Proclamation’, for RTE’s Reflecting the Rising, (Dublin-wide, public event), March 28, RIA | 2016 |
| ‘Art + Politics = Design: Visualising Cultural Identity in 20th Century Ireland’ and ‘The Future of the Book’, Temple Bar Studios and Galleries | 2015 |
| ‘A Sense of Ireland’: Graphic Design and Identity at the Kilkenny Design Workshops’, at Latitudes: Irish Studies in an International Context, ACIS/CAIS conference, UCD | 2014 |
Awards + Achievements
I have co/organised many events on design issues. These include the conferences: ‘Small Histories: Visual and Material Culture and Popular Experience, 1870‐1921’ (2012); Artefact Study Days (2010-12); On The Edge? Design and Material Culture In and Of Ireland (2003); and public lectures by Wolfgang Weingart, Rick Poynor and Art Spiegelman.
| Year | |
|---|---|
| Visiting Scholar in Design and Irish Studies, Concordia University, Montreal | 2018 |
| Canadian Association of Irish Studies, invited member of the International Editorial Board of the Canadian Journal of Irish Studies | 2015 |
| Institute of Designers in Ireland (IDI) Eye for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Irish Design’ as part of Pivot/Dublin City Council team that researched and formulated the bid for Dublin’s World Design Capital Designation | 2011 |
| Artefact: Journal of the Association of Irish Art Historians, invited member of editorial board, editor, mentor to contributors | 2010–2013 |
| Design History Society, Publications Award to support the publication of the book ‘Ireland, Design and Visual Culture: Negotiating Modernity, 1922-1992’ | 2010 |
| AICA: International Association of Art Critics (UNESCO affliated), invited member | 2002–present |
Other
I have been employed as an external examiner for a number of colleges and universities. These include:
| Year | |
|---|---|
| PhD, Design History, Royal College of Art and Design, London | 2017 |
| Graphic Design and Illustration, University of Brighton | 2014–2017 |
| Faculty of Visual Culture, National College of Art and Design | 2011–2014 |
| Design, Visual Communications, Digital Media, Athlone Institute of Technology | 2011–2014 |
| Visual Communications, Waterford Institute of Technology | 2007–2010 |
| Critical and Contextual Studies, Limerick Institute of Technology | 2002– 2005 |