KSU School of VCD

The School of VCD will be well represented in the international design community in the coming year! Professor David Middleton recently learned from the Education Programme Committee of the ICSID Design Education Conference 2009, that he will be presenting his paper “Interdisciplinary Design and Development for Senior Housing: Architecture, Communications Design and Real Estate.” ICSID is the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. The conference will be held November 22 in Singapore.

Professor Valora Renicker had two proposals accepted for conferences in 2010. The topic will be the Traveling Stanzas “Peace Stanzas” project which is in the process of being created with Glyphix students and the KSU Wick Poetry Center. The paper and visual examples titled “The Design Student as Practitioner: An Interdisciplinary Collaboration of Poetry and Design” will be presented at the 4th International Conference on Design Principles and Practices at the University of Illinois at Chicago in February.

Professor Renicker will also be collaborating with David Hassler of the Wick Poetry center on a virtual presentation for the 5th International Conference on the Arts in Society held next summer at the University of Sydney in Australia. The focus of this paper will be on the “Peace Stanzas” project in the community.

Traveling Stanzas is a unique collaborative project between the School of Visual Communication Design's Glyphix design studio and the KSU Wick Poetry Center. It combines the creative talents of VCD students with area student writers (grades 3–12) senior citizens, and veterans to promote poetry and design within the community. Poetry is selected from the Wick Poetry Center's outreach program and illustrated by Glyphix student staff members. 

During the 2009 spring semester, eight posters were created for display on area buses and businesses. The project was well-received in the community and supported by Akron Metro Transit Authority, the PARTA bus system, City Bank Antiques, and Family & Community Services in Portage County. The project has received some local publicity: the Record Courier ran an article during the summer and the Daily Kent Stater featured a full-page article about the project this fall.

This academic year brings plans for the second edition of Traveling Stanzas with an expanded format. With writing by students, seniors and published authors Dr. Edward Tick and Naomi Shihab Nye on the theme of “peace,” the designs will be produced on posters and greeting cards. This group of “Peace Stanzas” will again be displayed  in area buses as well as in businesses and public libraries in northeast Ohio. Plans to further evolve the project include animated e-cards and a multimedia video presentation. The e-cards, which will be distributed from a web site at no charge, can easily be sent anywhere in the world and are part of the ongoing mission of the Traveling Stanzas project to promote literacy, appreciation for design and a positive message to the local community and beyond. The posters and greeting cards will be sold to help sustain the initiative in the future. The College of CCI's new integrated marketing agency, the Tannery (article), will be employed to expand the marketing plan for the sales and distribution of Peace Stanzas products. This will offer the opportunity for further collaboration between KSU students and expand the University's connection to the community. 

With this year’s theme of “peace,” Traveling Stanzas seeks to reach a world-wide audience. To increase awareness, displays are planned during Kent State University’s commemorative events of the 40th anniversary of May 4, 1970. In the fall of 2010, the Peace Stanzas project will be displayed at Case Western Reserve University for an International Conference on Peace and War sponsored by the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence.

Event Notice:
Monday December 7th, 2009

12pm Edward Tick will give a talk and slide show on his work with veterans and PTSD and the yearly reconciliation trips he leads to Viet Nam. Peace Stanzas posters and greeting cards will be offered for sale at the event.

Kiva Auditorium, Kent Student Center

7:30pm Reading
Room 306 ABC, Kent Student Center
For more information: Wick Poetry Center Events

Seniors Alex Rodgers and Anthony Arms won multiple awards in the Flux '09 AIGA Blue Ridge Student Design Competition. This national competition is open to all graphic design students in the United States. Anthony won for his Fly Rod Casting process poster. Alex was honored for his Beckwith Orchards packaging, a Homecoming poster, and his portfolio website.

The winners were formally announced October 24, 2009 at an event in Maryland, and images of the work will be posted on the Flux web site soon. http://flux.aigablueridge.org/selectedentries.html It is wonderful exposure for the KSU School of VCD to be listed among other top-notch design schools. Congratulations to both students!

VCD students Carli Dottore and Shawn Ritzenthaler were recognized with awards in the 2009 AIGA Cleveland Design Competition for their work entered in the Student Category. Carli won two of only five awards in this category for her Letterpress Valentine greeting and her packaging design for Jack's Coffee. Shawn's three designs for Shipyard Brewing beer were illustrated labels with hand lettering.

Alumni winners in the competition in Professional Categories continue to indicate that Kent State design graduates are at the top of the design field. Out of 39 awards in three categories, KSU VCD alumni and students were listed on 25 awards. The winning entries were on display May 8–23, 2009 in the Arts Collinwood district in Cleveland. Independent judges from around the country who are standouts in the industry were Jim Ales, Barbara deWilde and Jeffery Keyton.

Christine Wisnieski co-desiged the new Identity System (logo and collateral print materials) for Oliver Printing of Twinsburg. The project received a Judges Choice award and a separate award in the Print category. Christine also won as Art Director for a holiday gift package design for Oliver Printing. Christopher Oldham and Mark Nisinski won an award for their Cleveland International Film Festival print campaign which included posters, banners, environmental graphics, passes, buttons and more. Christine, Christopher and Mark work for Twist Creative, Inc. in Cleveland, and designed the firm's winning holiday card.

Sean Higgins and Nicholas Rezabek won a Print award for their BB King poster promoting his appearance at the House of Blues in Cleveland. Ann Toomey of Epstein Design Partners won an award for the Cleveland Clinic 2006 Annual Report which she co-designed and art directed. Mikey Burton, Ken Hejduk and Susan Rich won several awards for logo designs and a poster. Mike and Ken are principals of Little Jacket. Mikey also won for a direct mail campaign (that looked nothing like typical direct mail pieces!) for the Cranky Pressman.

Jerad Lavey co-created a logo and identity system for Them, Inc. which received an award in the Print category. Jerad works at designRoom Creative. Irwin Krieger, who works on the Cleveland Clinic In-House design team, received an award for their Clinical Achievements booklet. Janice Troutman and John Morrison, alumni of our graduate program, who now teach at the University of Akron, won as Art Directors for a poster for the University of Akron's Theater Department which was designed by their students in the designx9 studio.

In the Interactive Category, winners were Anne Toomey and David Roll of Epstein Design Partners for their company's Website. Christine Wisnieski and Christopher Oldham were Art Directors for the Twist Film Festival Retrospective Website Feature, and Christine was also a designer on the winning Writers Center Stage Website. John-Paul Walton and Matt Mercer won an award for their iPhone app, Seek 'n Spell.

Professors Gretchen Rinnert and Marty Lane were accepted to present their research and teaching at the International Digital Media and Art Association’s (iDMAa) 7th annual conference at Ball State University in Muncie Indiana. The conference takes place November 5–7, 2009. Professor Rinnert will present a paper on our Kinetic 1 curriculum. Professor Lane will present her research on "Teen Independent Learning Online: Visual Literacy Tools for Assessing Credibility.” Link to iDMAa http://www.idmaa.org/

Open Gallery: Tuesday April 21 – Friday 24
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
School of Art Gallery

Reception: Friday April 24
Time to be announced
School of Art Gallery

In an update to the recent story about awards received by Glyphix, the studio was recently notified that two projects have received Silver awards at the District level. The Moving Minds Bus Posters and the Hudson Montessori School Brochure were selected for awards against 525 local winners from Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.

Glyphix, the student-staffed design studio within the School of Visual Communication Design at Kent State University was honored with four ADDY awards at The Advertising Federation of Greater Akron 2009 ADDY competition. “Our student designers have consistently created a very high level of design work and have been recognized with significant awards in the past several years,” said Creative Director Valora Renicker, Creative Director. The students’ work competed against professionals’ and other students’ work.  read more »

Book: One and Three Books by Shawn Kathleen Simmons
Exhibit: Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books
Location: Columbia College Exhibition Space, 1006 S. Michigan Ave.
Dates: March 6–28
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday Noon–5 pm
Reception: March 27, 6–9 pm

A new series of collaborative works with Artist Kelly Urquhart will be on exhibit in several gallery venues in 2009. Currently, the works are on display at SPACES Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio for the exhibition Flash Forward. This exhibition will be on display until April 3, 2009 with a closing Q&A reception that evening. Professor Kennedy was also invited to participate in the Miami University Department of Art 2009 Bicentennial exhibition on display until June 21, 2009, the Texas National 2009, juried by Mel Chin, from April 4 through May 17, 2009, and was selected to exhibit at the Dayton Visual Arts Center this upcoming Fall 2009. Recently, Professor Kennedy participated in the Kentucky National 2009 exhibition from January 16, 2009 through February 18, 2009.

Flash Forward

Miami University Department of Art 2009 Bicentennial

Texas National 2009

Dayton Visual Arts Center

Kentucky National 2009