Joe Lewis

THEN / NOW  The Security Blanket project began with discovering a political cartoon by Herb Block titled “National Security Blanket,” which depicts Richard Nixon wrapped in the US flag surrounded by his Watergate misdeeds.  I found the piece, by chance, deep within the mysterious dark recesses of the library’s Special Collections room – a secure environment, unlike cyberspace, where I usually conduct my research. That investigation resulted in three flag pieces: “2nd Amendment,” “Freedom and Hope,” and “Your Tired, Your Poor,” respectively.

Joe Lewis, a nationally known artist, arts administrator, educator, and author, is Dean of The Claire Trevor School of the Arts, University of California, Irvine.  He has also served as Dean of the School of Art and Design at Alfred University, New York, on the faculty of California Institute of the Arts (Calarts), and was a co-founding director of Fashion Moda.