Shani Avni Headshot

Shani Avni

Ismar David Visiting Assistant Curator

RIT Libraries - Cary Library
Academic Affairs
Adjunct Faculty

Office Location

Shani Avni

Ismar David Visiting Assistant Curator

RIT Libraries - Cary Library
Academic Affairs
Adjunct Faculty

Bio

Shani Avni is the Ismar David Assistant Curator in RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection since 2020. She designs, researches, teaches, consults, writes and lectures on Hebrew type design and typography. Avni holds a BA in Graphic Design from Shenkar College, Israel, and an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK. For her MA thesis she researched the David Hebrew typeface family and, since receiving her degree, continues to do so. In 2017, she was chosen for The Cary Research Fellowship, where David's work is archived. Her work in The Cary includes facilitating the access, arrangement, description, preservation, and enhancement of the Ismar David papers, as well as processing and researching the printing realia collection of historic Hebrew and Yiddish wood type. In addition to her focus on Hebrew typography, she holds various classes on the history and practice of Latin typography and type design using the Cary Collection's rare holdings. 

Currently Teaching

GRDE-322
3 Credits
This course will center on the contributions made by Modernist women designers. Emphasis will be placed on their unheralded pioneering efforts. Exemplars from the field will be presented, set in a historical context. Lectures are complemented by guest speakers, videos, participatory exercises, discussion, and critical essay writing.

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