PSC students work with Pensacola Museum of Art for Mucha exhibit

By Kimberly Bogers

In December, six Pensacola State College students in the Graphic Design program teamed up with Dr. Patrick M. Rowe and the Pensacola Museum of Art to present a collateral campaign project that featured items created for promotional use, such as postcards, flyers and posters. The project was initiated by Rowe, a retired PSC visual arts professor, and the PMA’s Education Director, Cortlandt Glover. Instructor Linh O’Briant’s PSC graphic design students created the artwork for the project.

The PMA featured the student work in the museum exhibit Mucha: Master Artist of Art Nouveau. O’Briant’s graphic design students were instructed by Rowe to produce promotional material that represented Mucha’s style, while including their own design aesthetics into the work. The students had four weeks to complete their pieces.

The project encouraged college student participation with the PMA and raised awareness about the Mucha exhibit. It also gave PSC graphic design students a chance to create work for a client and gain recognition as graphic artists.

Once the pieces of art were completed, the students showcased them in a client presentation to Rowe and the PMA Director of Curatorial Affairs, Alexis Leader. Rowe and Leader chose a first place and second place winner, and work from four other students to display.

Rowe curated the Mucha exhibit of prints on loan from the collection of Jack Rennert, the Tampa Museum of Art and the Boca Raton Museum of Art, and works from Rowe’s private collection. Rowe, along with Christina Glover and Stacy Kendall, authored the catalog for the Mucha exhibit.

The PSC students’ collateral campaign project was on display in Pensacola Museum of Art from December 23, 2015 to January 2, 2016. The PSC students featured were Kyle Stamm (first place winner) and Katherine Wong (second place winner); Kelsi Adams, Garrett Hallbauer, Andrew Willis and Elerene Walters also had work exhibited.