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 (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

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. The book documents controversial experiments that claim to reveal unusual phenomena regarding plants such as plant sentience, discovered through experimenta ...

'' 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. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. 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 a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...

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 2017-2018 School year (Grades 9-12) was 941. The school ...

in 1963, enrolling in the Massachusetts College of Art and Design 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 produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repor ...

. On June 17, 2017, Gail Burwen's died at the age of 71 in a fatal

hit-and-run accident In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there may be an ...

as she walked outside of her home in Somersworth, New Hampshire. 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 the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

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. In 1969, Burwen illustrated two

record album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

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 or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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

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

art, montage novellas, and photographic comic strips known as fumettis. For several years until 1972, Gail provided

scripts Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

, sketches, lettering, and

inking Inking may refer to: * Inking (attack), act of throwing ink on other person *Inking, a defensive activity of certain cephalopods and sea hares The clade Anaspidea, commonly known as sea hares (''Aplysia'' species and related genera), are medi ...

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. 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 calle ...

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'', Kitchen Sink Press, 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 t ...

, 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 arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...

for most of her covers, utilizing classic science fiction typefaces 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 He was a war correspondent for the ''New York Herald Tribune'' an ...

and Chrisopher 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 opposite d ...

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 or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

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

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

in 1978. A selection of Gail Burwen's dust jacket and book cover illustration credits: * ''

The Spell of Seven ''The Spell of Seven'' is an anthology of fantasy short stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by L. Sprague de Camp and illustrated by Virgil Finlay. It was first published in paperback by Pyramid Books in June 1965, and reprinted in De ...

'',

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

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 (Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner). The company was sold to ...

, 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,

Berkley Medallion Berkley Books is an imprint of the Penguin Group. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Company" by Charles Byrne and Frederick Klein, who had worked for Avon; they quickly renamed it Berkl ...

, 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 Libera ...

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

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

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 1970. * ''Destiny Doll'',

Clifford D. Simak Clifford Donald Simak (; August 3, 1904 – April 25, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master, and the Horror Wr ...

, Putnam, 1971. * ''...And All the Stars a Stage'', James Blish, Doubleday, 1971. * ''

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

'', Tony Hillerman, Harper & Row, 1973. * ''

'',

and Christopher Bird, Harper & Row, 1973. * ''The Tanelorn Archives: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography of The Works of Michael Moorcock 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