Emeritus Professor Austin Lowrey passed away on February 20, 2026. Austin was hired by the College of Design to develop “visual design” offerings in the Bachelor of Product Design program in the 1970s and continued as a pivotal member of the graphic design faculty from the department’s inception in 1991 until his retirement in 1999.

Austin and his artist/designer wife Lida (who died in 2020) moved to Los Angeles after his retirement and established dual studios in a 6000 square foot commercial building in the port of San Pedro. They later built a remarkable house in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico — featured in Dwell Magazine — where Austin continued to work until his death.

Austin was a prolific artist for whom making was second only to breathing. His body of work is a fulsome record of mature artistic sensibility, active imagination, and personal sense of humor. Austin’s website documents a recent exhibition of more than 300 works produced across six years, curated by his daughter Sheridan.

For many College of Design graduates, study under Austin defined their NC State experience. He shrugged off ordinary expectations of accomplishment and asked students to dig deep. Despite eclectic professional experiences that bridged the international worlds of art and design, his roots allowed him to understand the Southern student in ways that other faculty never could.

And Austin’s commitment to opening minds and to questioning the obvious extended to faculty colleagues. He was a provocateur. The Graphic Design program could not have had a better founder.