Claire Van Vliet

Claire Van Vliet is an artist, illustrator, printmaker, and typographer who founded Janus Press in San Diego, California in 1955. She received a MacArthur Genius Grant in 1989. She is known for her innovative use of dyed paper pulp to create illustrations. She is also known for her long career in artist's books.

She was teaching at the museum school in Philadelphia in 1961

Born in Canada, Van Vliet emigrated to the United States after the death of her parents. She arrived in California where she was raised by her aunt. Van Vliet graduated from San Diego High School in 1949, in 1952 she graduated from San Diego State College with a Bachelor of Arts, and in 1954 from Claremont Graduate School with a Master of Fine Arts. In 1955 she moved to Europe, shortly after her first publications, then returned to the United States in 1957. She worked for John Anderson of Lanston Monotype Company in Philadelphia before moving to Madison, Wisconsin. She made several trips back to Europe and continued her education in hand typesetting and compositing. She taught drawing and printmaking classes at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art and Philadelphia Museum College of Art from 1965 to 1966. In 1967 she established a typographic workshop in Madison, Wisconsin. The Janus Press has been based in Newark, Vermont since Van Vliet settled there in 1966. Van Vliet "pioneered a technique of using the colored-paper pulp to create illustrations."

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023