Primary Client: The Pritzker Architecture Prize

In 1981, Walker began his work with The Hyatt Foundation on the Pritzker Architecture Prize, just two years after the prize had been founded. In 1983, he relinquished all other consulting positions so that Jensen & Walker, Inc. (J&W) could devote full time to the Pritzker Prize.

Since that time, working in close coordination with the Pritzker family and the late J. Carter Brown, who was the founding chairman of the Pritzker Prize Jury until his death in 2002, J&W has provided all the public relations services to announce the Laureate each year, scheduling of the announcement and the formal ceremony, as well as the support in terms of published materials, including media kits, invitations, ceremony programs, and an annual monograph on the Laureate's work. In addition, all of the coordination of the actual ceremonial events is handled by J&W. The ceremonies have been held all over the world: Todai-ji Buddhist Temple in Nara, Japan; Goldsmith's Hall in London, England; major museums in the U.S. and Berlin, Germany. The complete list is available at www.PritzkerPrize.com.

It was J&W's initiative that saw a ten-year world-touring exhibition of the Laureates' works planned, designed and executed. Titled The Art of Architecture, the exhibition traveled museums, libraries and universities all over the world during the decade.

The Art of Architecture had its world premiere at the Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago in 1992. The European debut was in Berlin at the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum in in 1995. It was also shown at the Karntens Haus der Architektur in Klagenfurt, Austria in 1996, and in 1997, in South America, at the Architecture Biennale in Saġ Paulo, Brazil. In the U.S. it has been shown at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College in Ft. Myers, Florida; the Fine Arts Gallery at Texas A&M University; the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.; The J. B. Speed Museum in Louisville, Kentucky; the Canton Art Institute, Ohio; the Indianapolis Museum of Art Columbus Gallery, Indiana; the Washington State University Museum of Art in Pullman, Washington; the University of Nebraska, and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Its most recent showings were in Costa Mesa, California; and museums in Poland and Turkey.

Another exhibition, designed by Pritzker Juror, Carlos Jimenez, titled, The Pritzker Architecture Prize 1979-1999, which was organized by The Art Institute of Chicago and celebrated the first twenty years of the prize and the works of the laureates, was shown in Chicago in 1999 and in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum in 2000. It provided, through drawings, original sketches, photographs, plans and models, an opportunity to view some of the most important architects that have shaped the architecture of this century.

A book with texts by Pritzker jury chairman J. Carter Brown, prize executive director Bill Lacy, British journalist Colin Amery, and William J. R. Curtis, was produced to accompany the exhibition, and is still available. Co-published by Abrams of New York and The Art Institute of Chicago, the 206 page book was edited by co-curator Martha Thorne. It presents an analytical history of the prize along with examples of buildings by the laureates illustrated in full color. The book celebrates the first twenty years of the prize and the works of the laureates, providing an opportunity to analyze the significance of the prize and its evolution.

In 1988, the tenth anniversary of the prize, a symposium was organized as part of the celebratory ceremony for the two Laureates chosen that year, titled Architecture and the City: Friends or Foes?

"Architecture has long been considered the mother of all the arts," is how the distinguished journalist Edwin Newman, serving as moderator, opened the symposium, "Building and decorating shelter was one of the first expressions of man's creativity, but we take for granted most of the places in which we work or live," he continued. "Architecture has become both the least and the most conspicuous of art forms."

With a panel that included three architects, a critic, a city planner, a developer, a mayor, a lawyer, a museum director, an industrialist, an educator, an administrator, the symposium explored problems facing everyone - not just those who live in big cities, but anyone involved in community life. Some of the questions discussed: what should be built, how much, where, when, what will it look like, what controls should be allowed, and who should impose them?

For complete details on the symposium please go the www.PritzkerPrize.com web site, where you can also view the video tape of the symposium. There are other video tapes on the site from several of the award ceremonies including The White House, Michelangelo's Campidoglio in Rome, and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

The PritzkerPrize.com web site was yet another of the services initiated by J&W. Today, it is an encyclopedic reference for anyone wishing to know anything about the prize and its laureates over the past twenty three years. It is now being used as the primary distribution method, in lieu of mailing media kits, for all the activities of the prize.

Other Activities of the Public Relations Division

Occasionally, J&W has been able to devote some its time to other organizations. For example, The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California retained the firm for campaigns on several exhibits including Dutch Paintings of the Golden Era from the Collections of the National Gallery of Ireland, and another titled Colombia Before Columbus.

In 1995, J&W contributed services to the Trojan Marching Band of the University of Southern California, to produce a commemorative book on 25th anniversary of the band's director, Dr. Arthur C. Bartner.

For three years, from 1994-95, J&W produced the annual Publicists Guild of America Directory which incorporated the Hollywood Guild's awards to major film and television industry executives.

J&W frequently contributes note papers and books derived from Jensen's paintings to charities such as Los Angeles Beautiful Foundation, the Footlighters, Sonance, the Los Angeles Philanthropic Foundation, the National Arts Association, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.