Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, January 8, 2022: Archie Boston, an American art director, graphic designer (#1491)

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Artist of the Day, January 8, 2022: Archie Boston, an American art director, graphic designer (#1491)

Archie Boston (1943) was born in Clewiston, Florida. He was born right before major movements for the Civil Rights Act came into being which was during the 1950’s and 1960’s. He grew up, struggling to be treated equally, with his mother, a housewife; father, a sharecropper, and five other siblings including his brother Brad. His art work was so amazing he was accepted into what we know today as Cal Arts in 1961. He gained an internship during his senior year of collage at Carson/ Roberts. He joined the National Guard Reserves so he wouldn’t be deployed out of country but still would get a loan to finish his education while continuing his internship at Carson/ Roberts. His brother, Brad, started working as commercial artist and encouraged him to stay in school. A couple years after graduating Archie created a business with his brother even though the two of them had worked together before. In 1967 they created Boston and Boston Design. They knew they would work well together because of the many posters they made for the Council in 1963 just four years before. It was a struggle for them to get clients because of the African American principles, and very new equality rights.

People didn’t know what to make of their studio. After two years he separated from his brother and returned to Carson/Roberts which was the at the time the West Coast’s biggest independent agency. There one of his clients was Max Factor and Mattel, a cosmetic company. In 1969 he worked at Botsford Constantine and McCarthy for eight years. At the same time, he started his own company Archie Boston Graphic Design. He did design consulting and advertising, but he did not pursue clientele until 1973. While Archie pursued many different things in his career, he was one thing consistently through his adventure, a teacher. He began teaching at 23 at Chouinard. In 1977, he was 34, he became a full-time teacher in the Department of Art at California State University Long Beach (CSULB).

He helped make a Visual Communication Design program that made a significant impact on design education at the school. He was a huge role model to all his students. He retired from CSULB in 2009. He said, “I want to be remembered as a professor who cared about his students and did what he thought was best for them. I want to be remembered as someone who stood up against criticism and spoke out on controversial issues. And finally I want to be remembered as a designer and educator, someone who documented my experience as an African American.”

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