Moore College of Art & Design's 2012 Visionary Woman Awards will honor two exceptional women who have made significant contributions to the arts: interior designer Victoria Hagan and graphic designer, writer, curator and critic Ellen Lupton. The awards gala will be held on Thursday, October 18, 2012 from 6 to 9 pm at Moore College of Art & Design.

Since 2003, the Visionary Woman Awards has become a widely recognized event that honors women whose work and leadership have had a powerful influence on the visual arts. In 2005, the College designated proceeds from the Visionary Woman Awards to benefit Visionary Woman Scholarships. Since then, 40 four-year scholarships have been awarded. 

The 2012 Visionary Woman Award gala will be held at Moore College of Art & Design, located at 20th Street and The Parkway. The Elizabeth Greenfield Zeidman Lecture featuring the two honorees will be held earlier that day at 2 pm in the Stewart Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The festivities will also include individual Visionary Woman Award exhibitions of the work of both honorees: 

Victoria Hagan is an interior designer and entrepreneur known for integrating architecture and interior design. Since founding her firm over 20 years ago, Hagan has designed private residences, residential developments, and corporate interiors. She is continually featured in publications such as Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, W, Town & Country, Harper's Bazaar, Traditional Home, In Style and Interior Design. In 2002, she launched a line of furniture and fabric sold through designer showrooms in New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, DC and in 2006 designed a line for Target.

Hagan has been honored in Architectural Digest's "Top 100," was named Furniture Designer of the Year by Elle Décor in 2006 and was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 2004. Hagan graduated from and currently serves on the board of Parsons School of Design. She recently published her first book, Victoria Hagan: Interior Portraits.

Ellen Lupton is the director of the Center for Design Thinking and the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art. She also serves as a curator of contemporary design at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Honored in 2007 with an AIGA Medal, Lupton lectures on design around the world and has produced numerous exhibitions and books, including Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office (1993), Mixing Messages: Graphic Design and Contemporary Culture (1996), and Skin: Surface, Substance + Design (2002). Her book Thinking with Type (2004) is used by students, designers, and educators worldwide. She has published essays and illustrations in The New York Times and contributed to various publications, including Print, Eye, I.D., and Metropolis.

Lupton received her BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1985 and her Doctorate in Communication Design (DCD) from the University of Baltimore in 2008.