All Access

Job no:81378-5 Title : RP_All Access (New PB Verdions) Client : Pro-vision

Scn :

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175 Size : 203.2(w)254(h)mm Co : M6 (mac J)

Dept : DTP D/O : 22.10.05 (Job no:000000 D/O : 00.00.04 Co: CM0)

5th Black

p35

35

I

don’t know if I would call it a mission exactly, but I do feel that the work I do as a graphic designer

is important. It is what I have chosen to do with most of my time, but it is also the primary way

I express myself. It is a job. It is a hobby. It is probably the closest thing I have to religion. It is

something that defines me. It is a lifelong pursuit. I feel very lucky that, most of the time, I can work very

hard and not feel like I am working at all.”

Born in upstate New York in 1964, Paul Sahre was the third of four children. “I was obsessed with sports

as a kid. I played them, watched them, and talked about them. Baseball was my favorite. I got as far

a Division III baseball in college before I realized that I wasn’t good enough to go any further with it.”

Luckily, Sahre had a parallel passion for art. “From as far back as I remember, I liked to draw. By high

school I had progressed to pencil drawings of cars, athletes, and band logos. I also drew a cartoon strip.”

This early interest eventually led Sahre to study graphic design. He chose his alma mater for its political

history. “I went to Kent State University in Ohio, because I thought it would be a radical place to go to

college. It wasn’t.” Still, Sahre enjoyed immersing himself in graphic design. As part of his undergraduate

studies, he participated in a summer design workshop in Switzerland. “Through the programs developed

by j. Charles Walker at Kent State, I was able to study with Rudy Ruegg and Fritz Gottschalk and was

exposed to so much in a short period of time. The experience is still with me.”

U

NDERGROUND ENERGY Sahre also vividly recalls discovering the work of Seattle designer Art

Chantry. “It totally changed the direction I was going in with my work while I was an undergrad.

For the next few years at school I saw as much of his work as I could and ripped him off a lot,

trying to figure out what he was doing and why I responded to it so strongly. I eventually bugged those

responsible at Kent State to bring Art in for a workshop and was able to study with him for a few weeks

as a graduate student.” The bold underground energy of Chantry’s work inspired in Sahre a love for the

medium of poster art and showed him the potential for artistic expression in graphic design. Both seeds

would flower years later in his personal and professional work.

“

Escaping from a series of uninspiring jobs, Paul Sahre used a small

silk-screen setup in his basement to gain his artistic freedom.

Soon art directors and editors took note and brought his work into the light.

PAUL

SAHRE

E

1987 1996

NOW

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