Jon Key, 2020 Emerging Leader Award Recipient
The Emerging Leader Award recognizes alumni who have graduated within the past 10 years, made significant achievements and contributions to their profession and/or community, think boldly, mindfully and creatively, and act with honor and moral courage.
Jon Key is an artist, designer and writer originally from Seale, Alabama. He began his career at Grey Advertising before moving on to work with HBO, Nickelodeon, The Public Theater and the Whitney Museum. Key has taught at Maryland Institute College of Art, Parsons School of Design, California College of the Arts and currently teaches at Cooper Union, where he served as the Frank Staton Chair in Graphic Design in 2018-19. He is Co-Founder and Design Director at Codify Art, a multidisciplinary collective that creates, produces, supports and showcases work by artists of color, particularly women, queer and trans artists of color. Key was selected for Forbes’ 2020 30 Under 30 list. His work has been featured at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery NYC and the Armory Show, as well as in the New York Times, Washington Post and The Atlantic.
