Founder’s Bio
Our 1955 SPGA Founders: A Distinguished Seattle Heritage
by Dan Ballard, Chapter Historian
Only a small handful of people within our current chapter membership have ever personally met any of our five retired local SPGA Founders. So, this article is intended to introduce all of you to our distinguished distant predecessors. These folks were the visionaries who created our local organization almost half a century ago, who once called it their own.
As most of you know, prior to its becoming the SPGA/Seattle Chapter of the Guild in 1994, our local group was named the “Society of Professional Graphic Artists” (SPGA). The SPGA was originally founded in 1955 by the owners of Seattle’s two major ‘art studios’ of that era… Studio Art and Harry Bonath & Associates. Those five leaders from the early days of Seattle’s graphic art industry were:
| Harry Bonath | (Principal, Harry Bonath & Associates) |
| Rudy Bundas | (Partner, Studio Art) |
| Ray Gerring | (Partner, Studio Art) |
| Bob Wandesforde | (Partner, Studio Art) |
| Bill Werrbach | (Partner, Studio Art) |
Studio Art had opened for business in 1953, and rapidly became the largest ‘art studio’ in the Northwest. During this period of the 1950’s and into the 1960’s, according to a number of sources, SPGA Founders Harry Bonath and Bill Werrbach were widely considered to be the top commercial/advertising artists in Seattle. Bonath’s renown actually dates all the way back into the 1940’s (there are literally pages upon pages of Seattle Times articles on him, on file in the archives of the downtown Seattle Public Library).
All five of our SPGA Founders had initially been members of another group, the Seattle Art Directors Society (SADS). They eventually concluded, however, that SADS did not address the interests and concerns of independent freelancers and studio owners. So, the five of them began meeting informally every month in 1955, over lunch at Vito’s Restaurant in Seattle. At these meetings, they discussed what to do about the unfair and unethical working conditions imposed upon graphic artists in Seattle back then, by ad agencies and other clients. Thus, the SPGA and its monthly luncheon meetings were born!
More background info, on our individual 1955 SPGA Founders:
Harry Bonath (b.1903 - d.1976)
1955 SPGA Founder
1958 SPGA Charter Member
First-ever SPGA President (1955-second half)
Was also a President of the Seattle Art Directors Society, and of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters. Seattle’s residents during the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s were very familar with Harry’s work, as he was a regular cover illustrator for The Seattle Times Sunday Magazine. In addition to his high-profile work as the Northwest’s premier commercial artist of the 1940’s and 50’s, he was also well-known for his fine art. His exhibitions were shown at the Seattle Art Museum, the Frye Art Museum, and several national American Watercolor Society exhibitions including New York, Sacramento, and San Francisco.
Rudolph “Rudy” Bundas
1955 SPGA Founder
1958 SPGA Charter Member
SPGA President (1963-second half)
A member of the American Watercolor Society, Northwest Watercolor Society and Life Member of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters. Taught art as a faculty member at Seattle University in the 1950’s. Well-known in the Northwest as a portrait and landscape painter, he held one-man shows at both the Seattle Art Museum and the Frye Museum, and his work was exhibited in shows throughout the United States.
Gained a reputation for painting campaign portraits of major national and regional political figures, primarily for use on billboards. Among those he did portraits of were: Presidential Candidates (and U.S. Senators) George McGovern, Henry “Scoop” Jackson (of Wash.), Edmund Muskie, and Morris Udall. He also painted for U.S. Senators Robert Byrd, Frank Church, Warren G. Magnuson (of Wash.), and for Wash. Governor Albert Rosellini.
Rudy Bundas online (click on his name at site below):
http://www.psgart.org/members.htm
Ray Gerring
1955 SPGA Founder
1958 SPGA Charter Member
SPGA President (1958-second half)
Was also a Board Member of the Seattle Art Directors Society, and a President of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters. Taught within the advertising art department at Seattle Central Community College for 25 years, and was also the Administrator of that department. Co-author of a nationally distributed book, “Exploring with Paint.” A recipient of the prestigious “Burlington-Northern” award in 1988 for “Outstanding Contribution to Education.” His work in fine art includes paintings in oil, watercolor and acrylic.
Ray Gerring online (click on his name at site below):
http://www.psgart.org/members.htm
Bob Wandesforde (b.1920 - d.1990)
1955 SPGA Founder
1958 SPGA Charter Member
SPGA President (1958-first half)
In addition to co-founding the SPGA, he was a Charter Member of the Seattle Art Directors Society (SADS), and was a Life Member of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters. Prior to his being a partner in Studio Art, he worked at the Wallace McKay Agency, and was Art Director at the Frederick E. Baker Agency. From 1960 to 1990 he maintained his own freelance business, except for a short stint at the Boeing Company.
Best known as a top illustrator, especially of black and white line art, his style was called ‘California Realistic.’ His major works included the series of ad illustrations that introduced Mazda cars into the United States market. He also teamed up in 1956 with his fellow SPGA Board Members Jess Cauthorn, Harry Bonath, and Gus Swanberg, to paint the cover art for all of the telephone directories in the State of Washington (each local community had its own unique phone book cover).
Bob Wandesforde worked hard for better conditions and more pay for artists, and initiated the bad client advisory list, that some of our more senior SPGA/Seattle Chapter Members may remember as “The Winner’s List.”
Bill Werrbach
1955 SPGA Founder
1958 SPGA Charter Member
SPGA President (1962-second half)
SPGA President (1985)
Longest-ever SPGA membership (38 years, 1955 through 1992)
One of his fellow SPGA Charter Members summed it up well: “Bill was always the driving force behind the SPGA.” From the group’s beginnings in 1955, all the way through to his retirement from it in 1992, Bill Werrbach was the SPGA’s most tireless advocate for artists’ rights and interests. For almost forty years, he was always there whenever our organization needed him.
He served for seven years on the Washington State Arts Commission, and for over ten years on the Art Advisory Board of the Seattle Community College. A President of the Seattle Art Directors Society, and a Life Member of both the Art Students League of New York, and the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters. Received the prestigious Adolphe Monticelli Award, from Seattle’s Frye Art Museum. Bill was nominated for the National Guild’s Walter Hortens Award for Distinguished Service in 1998, and was a very close second in the national balloting, behind the award’s recipient, graphic design legend Milton Glaser.
Always one of Seattle’s leading graphic designers, he worked on the promotional campaign for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Co-designed the regionally-famous Seafirst Bank logo and corporate identity system, in the mid-to-late-1960’s, with Bob Todd, of the McCann Erickson agency. An accomplished fine art painter, his work has been exhibited at many venues over the years, including the Frye Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, and the University of Washington’s Henry Art Gallery.
Bill Werrbach online:
http://www.wm-werrbach.com
(Or, click on his name at the site below):
http://www.psgart.org/members.htm
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