Design statement

Courtesy Yale University Art Gallery

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Sheila Levrant de Bretteville ’64MFA directed the graphic design program at the Yale School of Art from 1990 to 2022—but that is just part of the story of de Bretteville’s decades-long career in design. An exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery—Sheila Levrant de Bretteville: Community, Activism, and Design—traces the themes of feminism and public art in her work. In 1972, she fashioned necklaces from eyebolts as a play on the gender symbol for women; the symbol later appeared in a poster (above) for a 1975 conference on women in design. One of the necklaces appears in the exhibition, and de Bretteville was also spotted wearing one at the opening. The exhibit runs through June 23.