Leland Hill

Leland M. Hill was born in the United States in 1970. He completed his undergraduate degree at Columbia College Chicago while working on a limited addition book with Calhoun Private Press. After moving from Chicago, Illinois to Richmond, Virginia he began work on a Masters Degree in Visual Communications at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in 1997. During this time he and his fellow graduate students worked as co-authors with Professors Philip B. Meggs and Roy McKelvey on the book Revival of the Fittest, digital versions of classic typefaces.  After completeing his masters, he accepted a position as Assistant Professor at VCU's branch campus in Doha, Qatar in the summer of 2000. Still in Qatar, Leland's teaching focus is in Design History and Typography. Outside of teaching, he has been the curator of exhibitions including Pentagram's New York office, April Greiman, Tarek Atrissi and the 5th Color as a co-chairman member of the university's gallery.  Along with Graphic Designers, the gallery has exhibited works of Fashion Designers, Photographers, and Fine Artists from around the world. In 2004 Leland headed the organizing committee for Tasmeem Doha 05, a design conference which brought to Doha a company of international participants to speak about the potential of design in a growing society like Qatar. Still working closely with the organizing committee for Tasmeem Doha 06, Leland is currently researching graphic design history in the Middle East as well as curating exhibitions of graphic design work from the region.

In the Middle

Since 1998, teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar has been a learning experience for both faculty and students. Each year the institution grows in numbers and diversity, but it remains characterized largely as a western institution operating in a Middle Eastern country. This is a curious yet vibrant interaction between East and West and we are in a unique position to take advantage of what both cultures have to offer in the way of design theory and application. Teaching and learning styles have had to change in order for us to meet... somewhere in the middle.