Harold Lohner
Encyclopedia
Harold Lohner is a printmaker and designer of freeware
and shareware
fonts
. Lohner has been a significant aspect of the cultural life of the New York State Capital Region since his artwork first appeared in The Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region exhibition in 1978. His works have been subsequently featured or included in over 80 exhibitions, receiving a dozen honors and awards. Lohner is a native of the region and earned BA, MA, and MFA degrees from the University at Albany. In 1982 he accepted a faculty position at Russell Sage College
and was Gallery Director there from 1985-1997. In 2002, Lohner transferred to Sage College of Albany
. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi
and was named Professor of the Year in 2006. He currently teaches printmaking, artists’ books, and the freshman Visualization course. He is Coordinator of the Fine Arts program and is the faculty advisor for the Little Gallery. Lohner is a rare individual who has made significant contributions as an artist, mentor, and gallerist.
Lohner has designed over 100 typefaces, and has licensed some of his shareware designs to the non-profit organization
Autumn Leaves. He has also digitised some analog Letraset
fonts such as Block-Up.
The ideas
and themes behind Lohner's work come from historical art and typography found in books, magazines, classic and nostalgic films titles, flea markets and online sources, which he interprets and puts his own unique stamp on. He has drawn several revivals of 20th century classics by Rudolf Koch
, including Bride of the Monster (an interpretation of Koch's Neuland
), Koch Dingbats, Koch Quadrat and Koch Rivoli.
Lohner has designed many three dimensional, geometric and decorative optical typefaces such as Good Vibes, Atlas Solid, Joggle, Fortuna Dot, Le Film Classic, Pop Stars, Onion and Red Circle
. In an alternative vein, Captain Howdy, Mystic Prophet and Sideshow are a unique trio of typefaces based on type found on Ouija
game boards.
All but one of Harold Lohner's free downloadable fonts are TrueType
format. He also offers his fonts in 4 collections on CD. Each contains over 60 fonts for Mac and Windows in TrueType and Postscript
Type 1
formats.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
and shareware
Shareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
fonts
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
. Lohner has been a significant aspect of the cultural life of the New York State Capital Region since his artwork first appeared in The Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region exhibition in 1978. His works have been subsequently featured or included in over 80 exhibitions, receiving a dozen honors and awards. Lohner is a native of the region and earned BA, MA, and MFA degrees from the University at Albany. In 1982 he accepted a faculty position at Russell Sage College
Russell Sage College
Russell Sage College is a women's college located in Troy, New York, approximately north of New York City in the Capital District. It is one of the three colleges that make up The Sage Colleges...
and was Gallery Director there from 1985-1997. In 2002, Lohner transferred to Sage College of Albany
Sage College of Albany
Sage College of Albany, SCA for short, is located at 140 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, New York, 12208. Along with Russell Sage College and the Sage Graduate School, it is one of the three colleges that make up The Sage Colleges. It is also home to Sage After Work, which offers a variety of...
. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi
Phi Kappa Phi
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society established 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study and to promote the "unity and democracy of education"...
and was named Professor of the Year in 2006. He currently teaches printmaking, artists’ books, and the freshman Visualization course. He is Coordinator of the Fine Arts program and is the faculty advisor for the Little Gallery. Lohner is a rare individual who has made significant contributions as an artist, mentor, and gallerist.
Lohner has designed over 100 typefaces, and has licensed some of his shareware designs to the non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
Autumn Leaves. He has also digitised some analog Letraset
Letraset
Letraset is a company based in the Kingsnorth Industrial Estate in Ashford, Kent, UK.It is known mainly for manufacturing sheets of artwork elements which can be transferred to artwork being prepared. The name Letraset was often used to refer generically to sheets of dry transferrable lettering of...
fonts such as Block-Up.
The ideas
Idea
In the most narrow sense, an idea is just whatever is before the mind when one thinks. Very often, ideas are construed as representational images; i.e. images of some object. In other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images...
and themes behind Lohner's work come from historical art and typography found in books, magazines, classic and nostalgic films titles, flea markets and online sources, which he interprets and puts his own unique stamp on. He has drawn several revivals of 20th century classics by Rudolf Koch
Rudolf Koch
thumb|250px|[[Fraktur]] fonts by Rudolf KochRudolf Koch was a leading German calligrapher, typographic artist and teacher, born in Nuremberg. He was primarily a calligrapher with the Gebr. Klingspor foundry. He created several typefaces, in both fraktur and roman styles...
, including Bride of the Monster (an interpretation of Koch's Neuland
Neuland
Neuland is a German typeface that was designed in 1923 by Rudolf Koch.Koch designed it by directly carving the type into metal. The original typeface thus had a great deal of variance between the sizes...
), Koch Dingbats, Koch Quadrat and Koch Rivoli.
Lohner has designed many three dimensional, geometric and decorative optical typefaces such as Good Vibes, Atlas Solid, Joggle, Fortuna Dot, Le Film Classic, Pop Stars, Onion and Red Circle
Red Circle (typeface)
Red Circle is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Harold Lohner and based upon the c. 1930 lettering used in packaging and advertising for the range of A&P's Eight O'Clock, Red Circle, and Bokar brands of whole bean arabica coffees....
. In an alternative vein, Captain Howdy, Mystic Prophet and Sideshow are a unique trio of typefaces based on type found on Ouija
Ouija
The Ouija board also known as a spirit/fire key board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, the words "yes", "no", "hello" and "goodbye", and other symbols and words are sometimes also added to help personalize the board...
game boards.
All but one of Harold Lohner's free downloadable fonts are TrueType
TrueType
TrueType is an outline font standard originally developed by Apple Computer in the late 1980s as a competitor to Adobe's Type 1 fonts used in PostScript...
format. He also offers his fonts in 4 collections on CD. Each contains over 60 fonts for Mac and Windows in TrueType and Postscript
Postscript
A postscript, abbreviated P.S., is writing added after the main body of a letter . The term comes from the Latin post scriptum, an expression meaning "written after" .A postscript may be a sentence, a paragraph, or occasionally many paragraphs added, often hastily and...
Type 1
Type 1
Type 1 or Type I may refer to:*US F1 Type 1, 2010 F1 Car*Bugatti Type 1, an automobile*Diabetes mellitus type 1 , insulin-dependent diabetes*Type 1 37 mm Anti-Tank Gun*Type 1 47 mm Anti-Tank Gun...
formats.
External links
- Harold Lohner, Drawin' men by Joseph Dalton
- Harold Lohner: Gathering at Opalka Gallery by David Brickman
- Catalogue from Harold Lohner: Gathering exhibition
- Planete Typographie Article about Harold's National Archive font
- Planete Typographie Article about Harold's Dominican font
- Gallery of monoprints by Harold Lohner