Joe Fitzgerald (born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

) is an American artist and graphic designer. He is one of two designers of the 2005

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

. His design, ''President Jefferson with Handwritten Liberty'', appears on the

obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

of that coin. Fitzgerald is a

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, who has had numerous one-man-shows. His work has also been exhibited in the U.S. State Department's Art in Embassies Program. He was one of twenty-four artists selected to create new designs under the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bull ...

's Artistic Infusion Program. Fitzgerald retired in 2005 as the chief of graphics at the

National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. I ...

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

. While with the Library, he led or participated artistically in numerous projects and exhibitions over the years, such as the ''Turning the Pages'' series of rare-book animations and the ''Visible Human Project''. He is also known as a public speaker. His wife, Jean Fitzgerald, has retired from her position as an

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

with the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. He is listed in ''Who's Who'' and ''Who's Who in American Art''.

External links

2005 Obverse Design, from the U.S. Mint

from The New York Times Year of birth missing (living people) Artists from Washington, D.C. United States Mint engravers American coin designers Living people 21st-century American male artists {{Graphic-designer-stub