Clifford Harvey, professor of art at West Virginia University and founder of the graphic design program in the Division of Art, retired earlier this year and will be honored with a special lecture and reception Wednesday, Dec. 7, at the Creative Arts Center.

The event will begin at 4 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (Room 200A) with a lecture by Harveys daughter, WVU art alumna Lisa Harvey Garcia, who is head of Harvey + Garcia Design in San Francisco. She will talk about her career and life, her working experiences as a graphic designer and her life with her father.

A reception for Harvey will follow at 5 p.m. in the Douglas O. Blaney Lobby of the CAC .

Both events are free and open to the public.

Cliffs contributions to our graphic design area have been immeasurable,said Dean Bernie Schultz of the College of Creative Arts.Along with his many achievements, he oversaw the integration of electronic media into the program and established standards which have fostered a near 100 percent placement rate for our graphic design students in the profession.

Harvey holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He established the graphic design program at WVU in the 1970s and led the program for three decades, setting up a modern graphic design studio using Macintosh computers at the CAC in the mid-1980s.

Even after the program began using computers, Harvey continued to teach students the art of fine printing and the book arts because he felt it was important for students not to lose touch with their heritage and sense of craft. Currently, the book arts are enjoying a rebirth in many institutions, even as much of the educational emphasis is placed on design for the World Wide Web.

Harvey is nationally known for his work with the GramLee Collection of Early American Commercial Wood Engravings, one of the largest single collections of 19 th century American wood engravings known in the United States today. The collection is owned by the WVU Division of Art.

After printing and researching the engravings, Harvey completed a private-press book about the GramLee CollectionB efore Rosebud Was a Sled: Commercial Wood Engraving in America Seen Through the GramLee Collection.The book examines the art of woodblock engraving in the United States and how it evolved during the 19 th and 20 th centuries. It has been in numerous exhibitions and is in the collections of major universities and museums across the United States.

In 2002, Harvey set up an exchange program with the Universdad de Guanajuato in Mexico. The three-week summer program gives graphic design students the opportunity to experience the art, design, architecture and culture of Mexico while completing photography and design projects.

For more information about the lecture and reception, call the WVU Division of Art at (304) 293-4841 ext. 3138 or 3139.