Roy Behrens
Emeritus Professor of Graphic Design and Distinguished Scholarat University of Northern Iowa
Until his retirement from teaching in 2018, Roy R. Behrens was Professor of Art and Distinguished Scholar at the University of Northern Iowa. He had taught graphic design and design history at UNI and other schools for more than 45 years. He is the author of seven books, and literally hundreds of articles in journals, books, and magazines, and has appeared in broadcast interviews on NOVA, National Public Radio, Australian Public Radio, BBC, and Iowa Public Television, as well as in documentary films. He has been a nominee for the Smithsonian Institution's National Design Awards, has received the Iowa Board of Regents Faculty Excellence Award, and has been described in Communication Arts magazine as "one of the most original thinkers in design."
Many of his publications focus on the involvement of artists, designers, and architects in the development of Modern-era camouflage. In addition, he is also greatly interested in gestalt theory, the life and laboratory set-ups of Adelbert Ames II, the creative process (including humor), and the practice of graphic design, especially as these topics pertain to vision and the visual arts. His most recent book is Frank Lloyd Wright and Mason City: Architectural Heart of the Prairie (2016).
In 1985, while teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he launched a “periodical commonplace book” called Ballast Quarterly Review (the title is an acronym for Books Art Language Logic Ambiguity Science and Teaching), which he continued to publish for twenty-one years. All back issues of BALLAST can now be accessed online (and downloaded as pdf files) at <https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ballast/>.
More information and a wide selection of his work can be accessed at <http://www.bobolinkbooks.com/BALLAST/>. In addition, he actively maintains two blogs at <https://thepoetryofsight.blogspot.com/> and <https://camoupedia.blogspot.com/>. Much of his published work is accessible online at <https://northerniowa.academia.edu/RoyBehrens>.
Envisioning Science: The Design and Craft of the Science Image
Hermitage-Niks: A Passion for the Hermitage directed by Aliona van der Horst. First Run/Icarus Films, New York, 2003. VHS, 5 x 25 min., col.
American Venus: The Extraordinary Life of Audrey Munson, Model and Muse
Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition
Klimt, Schiele, Moser, Kokoschka: Vienna 1900 edited by Karen Marie-Amélie zu Salm-Salm. Lund Humphries, Burlington, VT, U.S.A., 2005. 368 pp., illus. Trade. ISBN: 0-85331-934-0
Abbott H. Thayer's Anticipation of a Computer-Based Method of Working
Lipchitz and The Avantgarde: From Paris to New York
Shigeru Ban: An Architect for Emergencies Directed by Michel Quinejure. First Run/Icarus Films, Brooklyn NY, U.S.A., 2006. VHS/DVD. 52 min. Distributor's web site: 〈http://www.frif.com〉
Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering The Lost Techniques of the Old Masters
Forever Directed by Heddy Honigmann. First Run/Icarus Films, Brooklyn NY, U.S.A., 2006. VHS/DVD. 97 min. Distributor's web site: 〈http://www.frif.com〉
Merz to ÉMigré and Beyond: Avant-Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century
Merchant Prince and Master Builder: Edgar J. Kaufmann and Frank Lloyd Wright
The Color Revolution by Regina Lee Blaszczyk. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., 2012. 368 pp., illus. ISBN: 978-0-2620-1777-0
Problem Solved: A Primer in Design and Communication
Sullivan's City: The Meaning of Ornament for Louis Sullivan
Taliesin Diary: A Year with Frank Lloyd Wright by Priscilla J. Henken. W.W. Norton, New York, 2012. 272 pp., illus. Trade. ISBN: 978-0-393-73380-8
The Role of Artists in Ship Camouflage During World War I
Masterpieces of Japanese Prints: Ukiyo-e from the Victoria and Albert Museum
Graphic Design Process: From Problem to Solution by Nancy Skolos and Thomas Wedell. Laurence King Publishing, London, U.K., 2012. 192 pp., illus. Paper. ISBN: 978-1-85669-826-9
Composition: A Series of Exercises in Art Structure for the Use of Students and Teachers
A Typographic Workbook: A Primer to History, Techniques and Artistry
Seeing through Camouflage: Abbott Thayer, Background-Picturing and the Use of Cutout Silhouettes
Don't Touch the Poet: The Life and Times of Joel Oppenheimer
American Modernism: Graphic Design, 1920 TO 1960
Knowledge of Higher Worlds: Rudolf Steiner's Blackboard Drawings
Design Connoisseur: An Eclectic Collection of Imagery and Type
Against Fashion: Clothing as Art, 1850–1930
The Springboard in the Pond: An Intimate History of the Swimming Pool