Elliott Earls Selected Biographical Information

1989 – Designer Deharak and Poulin Associates NYC.
1995 – Received MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
1995 – Designer Elektra Records NYC.
1995 – Formed Apollo Program Studio.
1997 – Released Throwing Apples at the Sun – Critically acclaimed DVD-ROM of Music and New Media.
1999 – Awarded Wooster Group Emerging Artist Grant.
1999 – ExperimentaDesign ‘99 – C0-headline performer – Rave festival.
2000 – Featured Performer – Exit Festival – Maison des Arts et de la Culture Crétiel France.
2000 – Artist in Residence at Fabrica, Treviso, Italy. (Commute from NYC).
2001 – Appointed Designer-In-Residence Cranbrook Academy of Art.
2002 – Released Catfish – 55 minute documentary of Earls 1997 performance at HERE Soho.
2004 – Bull and Horse Exhibition of work opens at Cranbrook Art Museum.
2004 – Nominated for Blueprint Magazine(UK) Designer of the Year.
2006 – Music Hall debut of Bull and Wounded Horse performance.
2007 – Music Hall debut of The Saranay Motel performance.
2008 – Wolfsonian Museum / Art Basel Miami Beach debut of Thoughts on Democracy performance.
2009 – First public screening of The Saranay Motel – feature length narrative film.
2009 – AXA Installation / Featured in Art Basel Miami Beach Vernissage (piece acquired by Miami Art Museum).
2010 – Cranbrook Posters at Moravian Gallery in Czech Republic. Added to Permanent Collection.
2011 – Major Installation at Triennale Design Museum Milan.

2013 – 5 Posters for Cranbrook Featured in Walker Art Center Graphic Design Now in Production Exhibition.

2015 – Initiated Studio Practice YouTube Channel – 373,000 total lifetime views to date.

2015 – Founded Minislimited to release limited edition design and art objects.

2015 – One hundred fifteen editions of hand-pulled prints released through minislimited (to date).

2021 – 6 editions of limited edition figurines/sculptures released and sold through minislimited (to date).

Elliott Earls Bio – Short Form


Elliott Earls is a graphic designer, performance artist, and musician. Earls’ hybrid multimedia work blurs distinctions between high and low, performance and object, design and art. Since 2001 Earls has been Designer-In-Residence and Head of the graduate Graphic Design department at Cranbrook Academy of Art. In 2021, author Jared Fuller in an article entitled “How Cranbrook’s Design Program Redefined How We Make and Talk About Graphic Design” states “Under Earls’ leadership, the 2D Design department has blurred the lines between graphic design and art, with students working across traditional design, fine art, sculpture, and performance.” As a designer and artist, Earls work is part of numerous public and private permanent collections including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, The Wolfsonian Museum, The Miami Art Museum and Cranbrook Art Museum.

Elliott Earls Biographical Information – Long Form

In 1993 Elliott Earls received his M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Upon graduation, his experimentation with nonlinear digital video, spoken word poetry, music composition and design led him to form The Apollo Program. In 1999 Elliott served as Artist-in-Residence at Fabrica, Benetton’s studio/research center in Treviso, Italy where he worked with an interdisciplinary group of artist sand designers. As a performance artist, Elliott was awarded an Emerging Artist grant by New York’s Wooster Group. He was a featured performer at the Wooster Group’s Performing Garage from July 5th through 12th, 1999. Elliott has performed globally including; Music Hall Detroit 2007 and 2008,  the Exit Festival at Maison des Arts et De la Culture in Crètiel France, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Oak Street Theater in Portland Maine, Experimenta 99 in Lisbon, Portugal, six shows at “HERE” in Soho New York City, Living Surfaces in Park City, Utah, Opera Totale In Mestre/Venice, in a private performance at Fabrica, Benetton’s research center in Treviso, Italy. Elliott was a featured performer during the 1999 AND 2000 Culture Mart Festivals in Soho New York andhas perfromed at universities across America. On May 16th, 1999 Elliott was the commencement speaker at Maine College of Art’s graduation ceremony.

Elliott’s work is included in numerous public and private collections. His collaboration with Heather McGill, Beverly Fishman and William Massie for the Art Basel Miami Beach VIP Lounge is part of the permanent collection of the Miami Art Museum. Since 2015, Elliott has released and sold 115 print editions into private collections. As graphic designer, Elliott’s posters entitled The Conversion of Saint Paul, Throwing Apples at the Sun, The Temptation of Saint Wolfgang, and She a Capulet are part of the permanent collection of The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Smithsonian Institution. Elliott’s enhanced multi-media and poster package Throwing Apples at the Sun is part of the Cooper Hewitt’s permant collection. Elliott’s type designs are distributed world wide by Emigre inc. Elliott has taught, typography, design and multimedia at SUNY Purchase. Elliott’s serial examination of Spiritual Gangsters has been published by Emigre Inc. 

Elliott is founder (1995) of The Apollo Program. The Apollo Program’s commercial clients include; Elektra Entertainment, Nonesuch Records, Little Brown & Co., Scribner Publishing Co., Elemond Casabella (Italy), The Cartoon Network (U.K.), Polygram Classics and Jazz, The Voyager Company and Janus Films. As a typographer, Elliott’s type design is distributed world wide by Emigre Inc. Elliott’s commercial work includes, tv commercials for The Cartoon Network in the United Kingdom as well as an interactive documentary on the work of Frank Gehry for Casabella in Italy.

Elliott’s experimental music/media project Eye Sling Shot Lions premiered at the 1997 New York Video Festival At Lincoln Center. Eye Sling Shot Lions was also shown at; Plazzo Della Triennale Di Milano during Tratto di Continnuo, at Nightwave in Rimini, Italy, during the Remaking History symposium At The American Center For Design, at Fabrica in Treviso Italy, and at Siggraph in Los Angeles, California. Elliott’s 1995 CD Throwing Apples at the Sun, was reviewed in Emigre, ID, Urb, Heckler, Creative Review, Creativity, and Eye magazines. It was featured in May, 1996 in Venice Italy, during Digital Zuppe. It has won numerous awards and was included in ID Magazine’s 1996 Annual Design Review, the 1996 American Center for Design 100 Show and the 1996 New York Art Directors Club Show. Elliott’s work has been featured in the books, The Graphic Edge, Cool Type, Faces on the Edge, Type in the Digital Age, One and Two color Graphics and Cutting Edge Typography. Elliott’s essay, Wd40 a tool kit in a can. Or… the importance of David Holzman’s Diary appeared in Emigre No. 35 and his essay entitled Bone Fragments and Bits of Teeth was published in the American Center for Design’s Statements.

Elliott has also spent time as a visiting artist at universities world wide and he has given workshops on design, culture and new media in Europe, Asia and America.