HISTORY
A number of people, including some of our Guild chapter's Members who have joined the group in more recent years, have understandably asked, "What does the 'SPGA' in this Guild chapter's name stand for?" Hopefully, the following overview will clear up some of the questions.
A Very Unique Guild Chapter
The way the SPGA/Seattle Chapter came to be was quite different from that of the other chapters in the Graphic Artists Guild. Normally, a Guild chapter is formed when a large enough number of individual Guild Members in a city or region decide they want to organize into a local group. The SPGA/Seattle Chapter, however, had already been in existence as an independent organization for 39 years when it formally became a part of the Guild in early 1994. Because of this strange twist of history, the SPGA/Seattle Chapter of the Guild is 12 years older than the Guild itself!
The "SPGA" letters in the chapter's name are simply the initials from the group's former name, the "Society of Professional Graphic Artists." Officially, the full name of this Guild chapter is "The SPGA/Seattle Chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild." This name was unanimously decided upon by the SPGA's Membership when they voted in Oct. 1993 to transform the SPGA into the SPGA/Seattle Chapter of the Guild. In Jan. 1994, the chapter's name was approved by the National Guild's Board of Directors in New York. At the time, it was the only Guild chapter on the West Coast.
The Society of Professional Graphic Artists (SPGA)
The decision to change the SPGA into a Guild chapter did not come easily. Having been founded in 1955, the SPGA had seen a lot of people and events come and go during the almost 4 decades of its existence. It was (and is) Seattle's oldest commercial arts organization. Most importantly, the SPGA had played a very significant role in improving the appallingly unfair and unethical conditions that graphic artists had to work under in post-WWII Seattle.
Early SPGA Milestones and Achievements
1955: Nicknamed the "Underground Artists" by ad agency art directors, the SPGA was founded by 5 of Seattle's major art studio owners (see Founder's and President's link below).
Late-50's thru Late-60's: The SPGA's Founders and other top freelancers met monthly over lunch, to discuss and plan the many battles they fought and won, against unfair and unethical business practices, that were then the 'norm':
-Refused the mandatory "layouts on 'spec'" policy imposed by most clients back then.
-Stopped the ad agencies' practice of requiring freelancers to 'pad' their billing with a 'hidden' 15-25% commission for the agency ('gross billing').
-Curtailed unfair competition ('moonlighting') from Boeing's unlicensed staff artists, who had no overhead, and were undercutting the industry.
-Campaigned to stop local printers, billboard companies, newspapers, and Yellow Pages from offering clients free artwork to get their business.
-Gained industry acceptance for $5/hr. min. rate.
1967: The SPGA successfully won passage of a Washington State law, authored by the SPGA's own lawyer, exempting graphic art services from State Sales Tax. The law is still in effect to this day.
1988: The SPGA organized locally as part of "Artists for Tax Equity," (co-founded by the Guild) to successfully gain repeal of the "Uniform Tax Capitalization" provision of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which had threatened to drive thousands of artists out of business, nationwide.
This historical legacy of the SPGA, along with some other concerns, caused a number of the SPGA's Members to initially be very much opposed to the idea of joining the Graphic Artists Guild. This was despite the deep respect that the SPGA had for the Guild, its frequent ally. One of the biggest objections was that becoming a Guild chapter and changing the group's name would erase forever the SPGA and its history... that its Members would eventually forget those who founded the group (and their successors), and forget what they had achieved.
To address this problem, the SPGA's leaders proposed keeping the group's initials within the new chapter's name, as a very visible way of preserving the historical link to those who had preceded them, and to all of the previous decades of activity. Apparently this removed most of the opposition to joining the Guild, and on Oct. 27, 1993, the SPGA voted to become a Graphic Artists Guild chapter, by a 2-to-1 margin. The SPGA/Seattle Chapter was officially presented it's Guild charter on March 30, 1994 by National Guild Executive Director Paul Basista.
Who Were The SPGA's Founders?
In this era of large, high-powered design firms, and multitudes of freelancers roaming the streets of Seattle, it's hard to imagine what the local graphic art scene was like in the 50's, 60's and early 70's. There was a relatively small number of graphic artists working in Seattle then, with just a handful of people leading the industry. It was this small group of Seattle's top designers and illustrators, who were the people that founded the SPGA in 1955, and officially chartered it a couple of years later, in early 1958.
A few examples of those who started it all: Founding Member Bill Werrbach was the main principal of Studio Art, Seattle's largest "art studio (later known as Wm. Werrbach Studios, Inc.). Charter Member Bob Cram was a renowned humorous illustrator, and also was a local KING-TV television personality. Founding Member Bob Wandesforde, and Charter Members Irwin Caplan, Mits Katayama, and Dick Brown were among Seattle's hottest illustrators. Brown and his wife, Cherry Brown, also founded the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle in 1971.
Today, many (maybe most) of the Founding and Charter Members are retired, and a few have passed away. This is why they are rarely seen attending the meetings nowadays, although some still do occasionally drop by for one.
Founders and Presidents List
To see a complete list of the founders and presidents of the SPGA/Seattle Chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild, click here.
SPGA Founders Biographies
To read about the five men who founded the SPGA in 1955, click here.
What Does One Call This Chapter?
Now that the SPGA has been a Guild chapter for a few years, it has become evident that there is a certain amount of confusion over how one should refer to the organization, either in verbal conversation or in writing. The all-too-numerous variations on the chapter's name used by some of its Members, have not helped to clarify things.
One simplified solution for 'streamlining' what Members might call this chapter would be to just refer to it as "The Guild" or "The Graphic Artists Guild" when talking about the organization in general, especially when conversing with people outside the Guild. Saying "The SPGA/Seattle Chapter" could then be reserved just for when one is referring to this specific chapter, or when one is typing the chapter's full, formal name in a document or publication.
Example:
SPGA/Seattle Chapter
Graphic Artists Guild
PO Box 4306
Seattle, WA 98104-0306
If you have questions regarding any of the above information, please feel free to ask one of the SPGA/Seattle Chapter Board Members (at this writing, a complete history of the SPGA/Seattle Chapter is currently in production...it will be made available to chapter Members upon its completion).
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