Paul Showalter

Modern Abstract Red, Orange and White Collage by Paul Showalter

1970s

October 10, 1940 - May 24, 2019 Beloved Husband, Father, Grandfather Artist, Designer, Painter, Poet, Sculptor Paul Showalter was born in Pasadena, California in 1940. He attended Temple City High School, where he met and began dating Nolene Bricken, who was on the drill team, and who he later married in 1961. Paul studied art and design at Pasadena City College, and later received a full scholarship to study at the renowned Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts) and Otis Art Institute (now Otis-Parson) in Los Angeles, majoring in Advertising Design and Illustration. In 1966, Paul Showalter founded the Graphics and Communication Department at the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the first major art museum in Los Angeles, setting high standards of museum graphics throughout Southern California. At the 1970 World's Fair in Osaka, Japan, Paul was nominated for Best Animated Short Film for his film titled "The Moon Step." In 1974, Paul founded his own commercial graphic design firm, which specialized in the design of corporate identity programs, exhibition graphics, illustration, and print communications. He also designed floats for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade, with his Dr. Pepper float entitled "Backyard Barbeque" winning the "Most Humorous" award. Among his many projects, Paul designed over 30 movie posters for MGM, graphics and exhibits for Disneyland, California and Main Street USA Disney World, Florida. He also designed a new trademark logo for the City of Long Beach, California, chosen against 137 other concepts submitted by designers and design firms throughout the United States. In 1986, Paul was selected as the designer for the first U.S. trade exhibition of architectural decorative products from China. The event, opened by Dr. Armand Hammer, has been lauded as a symbol of the United States' entry into new trade relations with China. A member of the Westerners Los Angeles Corral since 1987, Paul produced imaginative mailers and posters for Corral events, along with his oil paintings, watercolors, pastels, and poems of the western era.