Above: Ann Lemon in Schiaparelli / Dali “Shoehat” costume, when teaching Graphic Design history course.

Published: September 7, 2024

SS: Hello, Ann! It’s wonderful to slow down and take some time to get to know you better over this interview. So you’re the Executive Director of The Amos Lemon Burkhart Foundation which is how we met. It’s been wonderful working for you as a freelancer. But I’m curious what your life was like before we get into talking about the ALBF. What places have you lived and what work did you do before settling in Mohnton?


AL: Well! It’s been a long and winding road. I grew up in cosmopolitan Richmond, Indiana, with a mom who was a homemaker, educator, and museum director, three super smart older siblings, and an engineer dad. I fell into heavy drug and alcohol use in high school, but was luckily able to exit that scene by skipping my senior year and going straight to college. At the University of Delaware I was torn between psychology, writing, and art, and I stumbled into a high-energy, very challenging program studying advertising and graphic design (go VC/UD!) where I got to combine all of those things. That led me to a career as an art director in the wild world of advertising in NYC in the 1980s (yes, it was exactly like “Mad Men.”) I loved making posters, magazine ads, and eventually, tv commercials, and got a whole education in digital design, strategy, branding, writing, animation, and filmmaking on the job. My eventual title was “creative director” and I worked on big campaigns for large, sometimes evil, corporate overlords, for every kind of product from diapers to champagne to mobile phones. Along the way I started teaching design classes at my alma mater.

Above: Ad for Family Circle magazine. Ad Agency: Kirshenbaum & Bond. Photographer: Albert Watson. Copywriter: Andy Spade. Art Director: Ann Lemon

Above: Ad for Steuben glass. Ad agency: Doyle Graf Mabley. Photographer: Craig Cutler. Copywriter: Suejong Shin. Art Director: Ann Lemon.




Commercial for Marriott Renaissance Hotels. Ad Agency: Mcgarry Bowen. Director: James Gartner. Copywriter: Best Petropolous.


When my son reached school age, I wanted an alternative to the immense hours and travel of corporate America, and went back to school myself to become a professional teacher. I taught high school and college English, then landed a great job teaching advertising and design at a state University, and earned an MFA in design in order to get tenure. In grad school (in my 50’s) I had the chance to explore personal art-making for the first time in over thirty years - I was like “who is the client?” “You are.” “What is the assignment?” “Whatever you want.” Panic! I got to explore all kinds of art-making that had been on my bucket list for years - I have always been interested in fashion, fiber, and printmaking, and got to explore a lot of 3D materials and time-based media. I love animation and filmmaking. And I still love to draw, draw draw.

Above: Reading Film Festival poster. Illustration by Ann Lemon.

Above: Illustrator Tools Dress. Model: Summer Doll-Myers. Photograph, fabric and dress design: Ann Lemon.

Above: Lost in Sharadin print, digital print on fabric. Ann Lemon.

My whole life changed in 2018, when my son tragically drowned at the age of 19. I went into deep shock and dealt with the loss and grief by searching for meaning and purpose. We formed a nonprofit in 2019 with the mission of inspiring teens to stay alive and make art. Like many nonprofit founders, I think I am trying to provide something I would have wanted in my own life (and my son’s life) - both of us were struggling, overwhelmed teens who sought release and community with alcohol and drugs.


SS: So tell us about The Amos Lemon Burkhart Foundation. When was it founded and why? Tell us about Amos, who was he to you and why do you feel compelled to carry on his memory? What inspiration and work does the ALBF have for the community? And which communities do you serve most?


AL: We initially created the Foundation to maintain and preserve the legacy of Amos’s artwork - he left behind about 500 works, 23 sketchbooks, a handful of animated shorts, photographs, writing and music. Although I’m biased, the response we have gotten from curators and other professionals is that his work is “world class”. Our first job is to get the artwork in front of as many people as possible. Our related social mission is to inspire teens to stay alive and make art, and we do that by using his artwork as a way to open conversations about mental health, substance use, and other issues that put teens at risk. Amos struggled with a number of issues including social and generalized anxiety, depression, gender dysphoria, self-harm, and consequences from the use of cannibinoids (pot and derivatives including “butter” or “shatter”), Benzodiazepines (Xanax and Valium), and alcohol. His work is extremely complex, dense and layered, and refers to all of those issues very transparently. He was an incredibly smart and sensitive person, and was worried about big issues like racism, misogyny, overpopulation, pollution and climate changes as well as his personal issues with relationships, love and sex, animals, machines, and fantasy worlds. His death is a loss not just for our family, but for the world.

Above: Maneater. Multimedia work by Amos Lemon Burkhart. © 2024 Amos Lemon Burkhart Foundation.


Our most successful projects have been eight large exhibitions in museums and galleries that are accessible to teens and young adults. We have a turnkey exhibit that includes both Amos’s work and a number of activity stations that allow visitors to engage with topics by writing, making art, learning, sharing reflections, playing games, and working on collaborative projects like large murals and other installations. Along with the exhibits we have organized a variety of lectures, workshops, and internships for teens and young adults. All our exhibits and activities are teen-driven and based on conversations and data collected from young people. We usually have a posse of about three to five high school artists engaged with the day to day work of the Foundation. We also have established college and treatment scholarship funds for young artists.

Above: “Against the Wind” exhibit installed at Goggleworks Center for the Arts, 2021.

SS: Please tell us about upcoming events for the ALBF. How can we participate and get involved? What are your major plans for the organization in the coming three to five years?


AL: This year is an intense one for me personally as I am finishing another degree in Counseling and completing my own clinical internship at an inpatient substance use treatment center. In the meantime, the Foundation is a partner in a local program for at-risk high school students, called THRIVE, where we deliver monthly arts-based workshops that teach various skills. We’re finishing up two mural installations by our young artists. We are installing an exhibit and programs for LGBTQ+ youth and families in Buffalo, NY for the month of February, 2025. We will be holding a series of professional development programs for artists in collaboration with the Goggleworks Center for the Arts, hopefully starting in 2025. We always man tables at places like Soberstock, local parks and recreation and family events, etc. And we are having our annual FUN-raiser and art auction at our headquarters in Mohnton, PA, in November - we’re calling for contributions of small works to be donated by artists of all levels. And we’re having several conversations with large museums for dates further out. To get involved, reach out to me at my email. We are doing different programs at different places all the time.

Above: Banner image for 2024 ALBF Fundraiser, based on Amos Lemon Burkhart painting “Alternate Planet Part 2”

SS: So you’re in school studying to be a Mental Health Practitioner. What brought you to study this? What passion do you have behind your education? What goals do you have with your degree?


AL: I have always been interested in the mysteries of the mind, and have been really fascinated by the development of the NeuroArts field (studying the effect of aesthetic experiences on the brain). As a person who has lifelong experience with clinical depression, and is in long-term recovery, I have a lot of faith in the therapeutic process. Even though Amos died before he was able to find lasting recovery from the disease of addiction, I saw how treatment benefitted him and how it has transformed the lives of his peers. I love the miracles that happen in group therapy and I love bringing creativity and hands-on work into the mental health space. Research and common sense both validate that engaging our hands, ears, eyes and senses particularly helps in the treatment of trauma, which is held in the body. Talk therapy is great, but not everyone is an oral / audio learner.


I started school with the intention of bringing more evidence-based, current research into the work we do at museums and galleries, but our vision now is to offer a number of activities and modes of healing at our brick-and-mortar headquarters (still being renovated!!!), as well as continuing to deliver services to teens “where they’re at.” The more I learn, the more I believe in creativity as a tool for healing.

Above: Student at school mental health workshop.

SS: What is your favorite place you’ve traveled to and why? If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be and what would you do there?


AL: My favorite place to be is on a plane, a boat, a train, or a bus, on my way to someplace new. I love being “en route”. Some of the places in the world where I have had an overwhelming feeling of belonging (and desire to immediately settle) are Edinburgh, Scotland (the Fringe!), Nelson, New Zealand (the ice cream!), Cairo, Egypt (horseback ride around the pyramids at Giza) and Molokai, Hawaii (it feels like the end of the Earth). I love oceans and cities. I still want to visit Mongolia (for the horses and the fiber), India (the fabric and printmaking traditions), Japan (printmaking), and Indonesia (puppetry and fiber arts). I love sitting in the sun, staring at waves and gluing little scraps of paper in my sketchbook. When possible, I try to take an art class or workshop wherever I go.



SS: This brings our interview to a close! Do you have any final sentiments you would like to leave our audience with?


AL: Don’t give up! And remember rule #62 - don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s hard for me to remember to play, but when I get out some art supplies and give myself permission to just mess around, I can still get lost in that magical “flow” state, time flies, and my troubles melt away. Art is not an elective, it’s a requirement!

Ann Lemon is the Executive Director of the Amos Lemon Burkhart Foundation and is an internationally recognized multidisciplinary designer. Ann has taught writing, design, and design history at the university, high school, and middle school levels. She holds an MFA in design, an MS in Secondary Education, and is currently earning an MA in Counseling. Ann has worked in many of New York’s best creative agencies as an Art Director and Creative Director for Fortune 500 companies, and has written two books about advertising. Ann is a native of Richmond, Indiana and a graduate of the University of Delaware’s Visual Communications Department. She lives in a former knitting factory in Mohnton, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Dane and their pup, Huckleberry. She is the mother of the artist Amos Lemon Burkhart (1998 - 2018).

@heartbeat.bouquet