The Huntington Museum of Art has unveiled a new logo designed by West Virginia artist Don Pendleton that is the centerpiece of a new branding campaign. As HMA approaches its 75th anniversary serving the Tri-State community and beyond, it plans to re-emphasize its art, nature and education mission and promote the many ways in which the Huntington Museum of Art serves its community.
“The nationally accredited Huntington Museum of Art will observe its 75th anniversary in November 2027, and we could choose to rest on our laurels and celebrate our past accomplishments, or we can focus on the many ways that we want to serve the Tri-State community as we move forward on our next 75 years,” said HMA Executive Director Elizabeth “Liz” Simmons. “Now through the end of this fiscal year on June 30, 2026, we will complete the process of incorporating the new logo by Don Pendelton into our website, our social media, our advertising and in all the ways that we visually communicate with our supporters.”
Internationally recognized artist Don Pendleton has been a true friend to the Huntington Museum of Art for years and was the natural choice to create the new logo, said HMA Director Emerita Margaret Mary Layne.
“Working with successful West Virginia artist Don Pendleton was the perfect partnership for this project,” Layne said. “Don’s artwork is full of color, movement and vibrancy and matches the enthusiasm of our dedicated HMA staff, Board of Trustees and volunteers as we prepare to observe the milestone of our 75th anniversary and position ourselves to be even more effective in promoting art, nature and education in our second seventy-five years as we have been since our doors opened to the public in November 1952.”
Situated on more than 50 acres with a nature trail system, HMA presents multiple art exhibits each year, operates the C. Fred Edwards Conservatory of tropical and subtropical plants, and through its Museum Making Connections education outreach programs serves thousands of Tri-State students and their teachers each year.
Working out of Dayton, Ohio, Don Pendleton is an American artist and Grammy Award-winning designer and illustrator. Growing up in Ravenswood, West Virginia, Pendleton became interested in skateboarding. After earning a BFA in Graphic Design from Marshall University, Pendleton began designing skateboard graphics professionally for Alien Workshop skateboards in 1998.
Pendleton has taken part in exhibits and solo shows in France, Britain, Italy, Belgium and Germany. The artist had a solo museum show titled Fine Lines in 2014 at the Huntington Museum of Art as a Walter Gropius Master Artist.
Artwork by Pendleton has appeared in dozens of art, skateboard and culture magazines, including the cover of Juxtapoz Magazine in 2013. Pendleton’s list of clients include Mountain Dew, Vans shoes, Logitech, Oakley, LG Electronics, Nike and Volcom. In 2014, Pendleton won a Grammy Award for his illustration and design work on Pearl Jam’s “Lightning Bolt” album.
“I’d say my design philosophy with any branding is to thread the needle between creating a feel that is classic enough to fit an organization such as a museum but also exciting enough to stand out within the community from a recognition standpoint,” Pendleton said. “It was also designed with the full scope of the Museum in mind in terms of what it offers to the city of Huntington and surrounding communities. It had to visually communicate the entirety of the programs offered for both young and old and to connect with and speak to every demographic.”
Pendleton explained the thinking and research that went into his design. “The aspect of this particular branding that I like most is that I feel it fits the personality of the Huntington Museum of Art and the surrounding community,” Pendleton said. “It is bold but still very classic and somewhat reserved. It incorporates elements of the original design, using the ‘shark fin’ shape that is also echoed on HMA’s Gropius architecture.”
The symbolism in the new logo is important to the message that HMA wants to share with the community. “The new logo visually represents the hill on which the Museum sits, invoking the natural surroundings of the Museum property as well as echoing the geography of West Virginia,” Pendleton said. “The rising sun shape is simple yet bold. It represents the Museum’s presence as bright and consistent as each new day. The color palette is also classic and simple, but the orange gives it a modern twist with some pop that stands out. The branding was designed from inception to be timeless so as to never feel dated or trendy, using classic fonts and elements without any contemporary influences injected into it. From the color palette to the logo itself all the way through the fonts used, it will not date itself nor look ‘dated’ as the years go by. My theory as a designer is that it should look and remain as relevant in 50 years as it does today.”
For more information about the Huntington Museum of Art or to become a Museum Member, call (304) 529-2701, visit hmoa.org or follow HMA on Facebook and Instagram. HMA is fully accessible.
West Virginia residents may obtain a summary of the registration and financial documents from the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305. Registration does not imply endorsement.