Showcasing four students in Coastal Carolina University’s Visual Communication Design BFA program, the senior graphic design exhibition opened on Monday in the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery.
Showcased student artists include Lena Jacobson, Zachary Oldaker, Kendall Boykin and Jaylin Pitt.Lena Jacobson, a senior visual communication design major, said the combination of two meaningful parts of her life served as the inspiration behind her art.
Depicting French bakeries and desserts through multiple shades of pink, her work is titled “Nelli’s.”
“It kind of started with wanting to do something that I enjoyed, and I really do love bakeries,” Jacobson said. “It’s my dog’s name, who passed away recently, and she was a French bulldog, so that’s why it’s a French bakery.”
Jacobson said she didn’t grow up as a typical art kid and that it took her a while to build confidence in her artwork; she didn’t even consider pursuing art until her senior year of high school, after designing tickets for her school prom.
Jacobson said she struggled at first while working through the fundamental art classes at CCU, but she’s glad that she pushed through and feels like she has found her place at Coastal as an artist.
“I did have some advisers tell me that most people struggle with this. Most graphic designers struggle with the art classes, the fundamental art classes,” Jacobson said. “And so that really gave me some comfort. But I also knew that this wasn’t just my forte, and I wanted to push through, to get through to the stuff I actually wanted to do.”
Zachary Oldaker, a senior visual communication design major, said his artwork is a art that is based on the game Inkwell, which features an older animation from the 1930s.
Oldaker said that the structure of this senior exhibition had very few restrictions, allowing him to freely express himself.
“This is probably the freest project that I’ve had; there was no direction from my professor or anything, I could just do what I wanted to do,” Oldaker said.
While this exhibit offered creative freedom, Oldaker said the pressure of deadlines was an aspect he had to deal with. Working on time management is something he encourages incoming art students to be aware of.
“Give yourself enough time to get everything done. Deadlines come up quick, you know. Just make sure you give yourself enough time to get everything done,” Oldaker said.
Kendall Boykin, a senior visual communication design major, said a musician served as the inspiration behind her art.
“I really liked the artist Djo … He was in Stranger Things, that’s where most people know him. But I’ve liked his music since before he was on Stranger Things, and he’s just always been really special to me,” Boykin said.
Boykin’s art is a mix of T-shirts and posters which was inspired by real band merch. Boykin said she wanted her project to represent a merch stand. “I was going for a merch stand vibe like at concerts. It’s walk up and you’ve got the T-shirts hanging and you’ve got CDs that you can buy. So hopefully I can get people to be like, ‘Oh, wow. It feels like I’m there,’” Boykin said.
Lastly, Jaylin Pitt, a senior visual communication design major, designed an app called “Barkr” for her project. The app is inspired by the way Tinder works, allowing users to swipe on dogs that are up for adoption. “It is basically like a dog tinder; if you were looking to adopt a dog, this would show you the dogs at your local humane society,” Pitt said. “And you can put in your preference, your age, and your activity level. And then dogs in your area from a humane society would come up. So that you were rescuing an animal instead of purchasing one.”
All four exhibitions are open on weekdays through April 17.
