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BIO

Alexandra Zsigmond is a New York-based art director and curator working at the intersection of fine art, illustration and editorial design.  

Her core interest lies in the use of metaphor and symbolism in visual art, as a tool to represent complex ideas and visualize the invisible realms of mind, thought, and emotion. Since writing her honors thesis on visual metaphor at Stanford University in 2004, she has explored this interest through multiple roles and media: as art director, curator, and designer of metaphoric imagery for newspapers, books and exhibitions. 

From 2010-17 she was an art director for the New York Times’ Opinion section, commissioning original illustration for articles, curating art-driven features, and designing for both print and digital. She has collaborated with a roster of over 1000 artists worldwide and art directed over 4000 editorial illustrations. She is known for greatly expanding the range of visual contributors to the Times, drawing equally from the worlds of contemporary illustration, fine art, animation, and comics. From 2021-24 she was Senior Art Director at The New Yorker. She currently commissions art for Hammer&Hope magazine, and teaches in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program at SVA in New York.  
 
She is a frequent public speaker and has given talks at universities, conferences, and museums throughout Europe, South America, Canada and the United States. Originally from San Francisco, Alexandra has a background in classical and modern dance, and has worked for a variety of notable art organizations, including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Cabinet Magazine, Jazz at Lincoln Center and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is open to new collaborations and opportunities, so please get in touch!

EDUCATION

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Stanford, CA, 2000-04

BA, Philosophy and the Visual Arts

PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN

New York, NY, 2007-09 

Postgraduate studies, Graphic Design

FELLOWSHIPS

HUMANITIES NEW YORK 
Public Scholars Fellow

New York, NY, 2015-17

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS 

Art Education Fellow

Washington, DC, 2006

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 

Arts for Youth Fellow

San Francisco, 2004
 

JUDGING

AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION

American Illustration 43, 2024

American Illustration 32, 2013

ART DIRECTOR'S CLUB AWARDS

ADC 102 Illustration Jury, 2023

SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS

Student Scholarships, 2020

Zankel Scholarship, 2016

Comic and Cartoon Art Annual, 2014

Student Scholarships, 2014

Illustrators 55, Advertising, 2013

 

ASSOCIATION OF ILLUSTRATORS 

World Illustration Awards, 2016-17

MOCCA ARTS FESTIVAL

Award of Excellence, 2015

AWARDS

SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS

Richard Gangel Art Director Award

Excellence in Art Direction, 2018

 

SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS

Gold Medals, Art Direction

Where Have All the Insects Gone?, 2022

The End, 2016

A Conversation at the Edge of Human Perception, 2016

Cancer Monster, 2014

SOCIETY FOR NEWS DESIGN

Award of Excellence, Art Direction

Sunday Review, 2015-17

 

SOCIETY FOR NEWS DESIGN

Gold Medal, Design

The Year in Pictures, 2015

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Publisher’s Awards, 2012 & 2014

Excellence in Editorial/Opinion

CURATED EXHIBITIONS

FIT TO PRINT

Musée Tomi Ungerer

Strasbourg, France, 2016

DRAWING WITH WORDS

The New York Times’ Gallery 7

New York, NY, 2014

ANXIETY

The New York Times’ Gallery 7

New York, NY, 2013-14

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