Photo: Ras Rasmussen

ART CHANTRY is a Tacoma, Washington based graphic designer whose work began to make waves during his college years at Western Washington University.

He spent many years thereafter in Seattle where, if you lived there, you most likely encountered his work on the walls and telephone poles of seedy Belltown and surrounding areas before it all became Californicated and outlawed. Yes, I said outlawed! It became illegal to post on telephone poles in the early nineties! Somehow amidst all the tidying up he managed to get a one man show at the famed Seattle Art Museum as proof positive his work belonged there as much as on the streets.

With all that as far behind him as the moniker “godfather of grunge“ (and enough design awards to wallpaper a house) in 2017 he was bestowed the coveted AIGA Medal, one of the highest awards one can receive in the business.

While ‘The Establishment’ has always had a love/hate relationship with the man there is no denying his influence on (and his love of) American Culture.