Gail Burwen (December 14, 1945–June 17, 2017) was an American illustrator best known for her work in

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

and the

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

genre of the 1970s. She illustrated the original cover of the controversial plant perception book ''

The Secret Life of Plants ''The Secret Life of Plants'' (1973) is a book by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, which documents controversial experiments that claim to reveal unusual phenomena associated with plants, such as plant sentience and the ability of plants ...

'' published in 1973.

Biography

Gail Burwen was born on December 14, 1945, in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. She was the oldest of five children, the only daughter born to Robert and June Burwen. As a teenager she was a member of the

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized cocurricular student organizations in American high schools, with 1.4 million members. The purpose of the NHS is to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to ...

and was credited with writing the school song. She graduated from

Danvers High School Danvers High School (DHS) is a public high school in Danvers, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Danvers Public Schools school district. Demographics Student enrolment for the 2022-23 school year (Grades 9-12) was 777. The school ...

in 1963, enrolling in the

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation's oldest art schools, and the only publicly funded independent art sch ...

shortly after. While studying at MCAD in 1966 Gail became the editor of the

student newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station Graduate student journal, produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related new ...

. On June 17, 2017, Gail Burwen's died at the age of 71 in a fatal hit-and-run accident as she walked outside of her home in

Somersworth, New Hampshire Somersworth is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,855 at the 2020 census. Somersworth has the smallest area and third-lowest population of New Hampshire's 13 cities. History Prior to European settle ...

. The driver hid out for 4 days before being caught and arrested, served 6 months without remorse.

Career

Gail Burwen served as an early

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

for '' National Lampoon'' magazine in addition to providing them with numerous comics and illustrations. Her illustrations are mentioned in the 2010 book '' Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the National Lampoon Insanely Great'' written by

Rick Meyerowitz Rick Meyerowitz (born November 29, 1943) is an American artist, and author. He is best known for his work for '' National Lampoon'' magazine and its spin-offs, including his posters for the comedy film ''Animal House''. Early life Meyerowitz w ...

. In 1969, Burwen illustrated two

record album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

covers: ''The Astral Projection'' by The Astral Scene and ''Classical Smoke'' by The Kasenetz-Katz Orchestral Cirkus.

Underground comix

In 1967, Gail co-founded Cloud Studios in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with Peter Bramley and Bill Skurski. The studio offered underground printing and design services for a variety of clients including those involved in theater in addition to creating

comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

of their own like ''Drool Magazine'' and ''Cloud Comix''. The studio was well known for its

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

art, montage

novellas A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

, and photographic comic strips known as fumettis. For several years until 1972, Gail provided scripts, sketches,

lettering Lettering or Lettering design is an act or result of artfully drawing letters, instead of writing them simply. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attent ...

, and inking for many of their comics. She is credited as one of the artists of the cover of the first issue of ''Cloud Comix'' published by

Kitchen Sink Press Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcov ...

. A collection of the "best and worst underground comix" written by Bill Sherman was published in the 44th issue of ''The Comics Journal'' in 1979. The following was said in regards to ''Cloud Comix #2'': Burwen's "Manhattan Madness: City Slicker Bob"

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is cal ...

was given a five-page special feature in ''Apple Pie #1,'' published by Lopez in March 1975. A selection of Gail Burwen's work in

includes the following: * '' National Lampoon: Blight'', June 1970. * '' National Lampoon'', July 1970. * ''Cloud Comix #1'',

, June 1971. * ''Cloud Comix #2'', Head Imports, 1972. * ''Drool Magazine #1'',

Company & Sons Company & Sons was an early underground comix publisher based in San Francisco, ran by John Bagley. The company operated from 1970 to 1973, publishing a total of 15 titles, all but one of them consisting of a single issue. Company & Sons was the ...

, 1972. * ''Apple Pie #1'', Lopez, March 1975.

Book covers

Burwen illustrated dozens of book covers in the 1970s, primarily in the

genre. In addition to design, Gail also handled the

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

for most of her covers, utilizing classic science fiction

typefaces A typeface (or font family) is a design of letters, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, bold), slope (e.g., italic), width ...

like Mierop Ginger Snap, Airport Black, and Davison Arabesque. One of her more notable covers was for ''

'' by

Peter Tompkins Peter Tompkins (April 19, 1919 – January 23, 2007) was an American journalist, World War II Office of Strategic Services (OSS) spy in Rome, and best-selling author. Biography Tompkins was born in Athens, Georgia, and later travelled to Rome, ...

and Christopher Bird published in 1973. The book caused immediate

controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

amidst scientists for claiming, among other things, that the authors had discovered proof of plant sentience. ''The Secret Life of Plants'' became a

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

that was eventually released as '' Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants"'' with an accompanying

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

in 1978. A selection of Gail Burwen's

dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book ...

and

book cover A book cover is any protective covering used to bind together the pages of a book. Beyond the familiar distinction between hardcovers and paperbacks, there are further alternatives and additions, such as dust jackets, ring-binding, and older f ...

illustration credits: * '' The Spell of Seven'',

L. Sprague de Camp Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American author of science fiction, Fantasy literature, fantasy and non-fiction literature. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, both novels and works of ...

Pyramid Books Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American paperback and eBook publishing imprint, founded as an independent paperback house in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers (also known as Almat Publishing Corporation) (Alfred R. Plaine an ...

, 1969. ** Also published in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

as ''Skriket'', B. Wahlstrom, 1975. * ''The Singing Citadel'',

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...

Berkley Medallion Berkley Books is an American imprint founded in 1955 by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein owned by the Penguin Group unit of Penguin Random House. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Compa ...

, 1970. * ''Futures to Infinity'', ed.

Sam Moskowitz Sam Moskowitz (June 30, 1920 – April 15, 1997) was an American writer, critic, and historian of science fiction. Biography As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized a branch of ...

, 1970. * ''The Dreaming Earth'',

John Brunner John Brunner may refer to: * Sir John Brunner, 1st Baronet (1842–1919), British industrialist and Liberal Member of Parliament * John L. Brunner (1929–1980), Pennsylvania politician * Sir John Brunner, 2nd Baronet (1865–1929), British Libe ...

, 1970. * ''Other Worlds, Other Seas: Science-Fiction Stories from Socialist Countries'', ed.

Darko Suvin Darko Ronald Suvin (born Darko Šlesinger) is a Canadian academic, writer and critic who became a professor (now emeritusDavid JohnstonConvocation: Honorary degrees and emeritus professorships McGill Reporter, Volume 33, No. 05, November 2, 2000 ...

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, 1970. * ''Destiny Doll'', Clifford D. Simak, Putnam, 1971. * ''...And All the Stars a Stage'',

James Blish James Benjamin “Jimmy” Blish () was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is best known for his ''Cities in Flight'' novels and his series of ''Star Trek'' novelizations written with his wife, J. A. Lawrence. His novel ''A Case ...

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

, 1971. * ''

Dance Hall of The Dead ''Dance Hall Of The Dead'' is a crime novel by American writer Tony Hillerman, the second in the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series, first published in 1973. It features police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn. It is set primarily in Ra ...

'',

Tony Hillerman Anthony Grove Hillerman (May 27, 1925 – October 26, 2008) was an American author of detective novels and nonfiction works, best known for his mystery novels featuring Navajo Nation Police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Several of his w ...

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper and his brother John, the company operated as J. & J. Harper until 1833, when ...

, 1973. * ''

'',

and Christopher Bird,

, 1973. * ''The Tanelorn Archives: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography of The Works of

1949-1979'', Richard Bilyeu, Pandora's Books, 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burwen, Gail 1945 births 2017 deaths American women illustrators Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts