Milford student designs poster for Mispillion Art League show set April 11-21
Mispillion Art League's annual student show, titled WOW! will run from Tuesday, April 11, to Friday, April 21, at the art league gallery in Milford. The exhibit showcases the talents of students from Milford School District, home schools, private schools and other districts who study visual arts at Mispillion Art League.
This year's show has also opened a door for a unique collaboration between the art league and Milford High School. Under the guidance of teacher Karine Richards, students from Milford High School's Communication Technology program designed posters for this year's student show. The selected design was created by Taylor Allender. Her puzzle piece design is a playful and eye-catching way to entice people to the show.
The Milford School District embraces the value of the arts, within its curriculum and beyond. Director of Secondary Education Dr. Jason Peel says, "Milford School District is committed to ensuring that our students are ready to enter the workforce and become positive members of our community. This includes fostering an appreciation and understanding of how our nonprofit organizations and the arts uniquely help promote and define Milford. The more the school district can collaborate with arts organizations, the more opportunities there will be for our students to show their talents, and the more community spirit we can foster in our youth."
Art league organizers look forward to having the students design program covers and posters in the future. Principal Shawn Snyder is very supportive of this extension of the learning environment and sees Milford High School students taking their learning to other community organizations as well. The Communication Technology course introduces students to the world of graphic design and the basic skills necessary to begin working with that field. Richards sees an ongoing collaboration with the art league as a way for students to better understand how to apply what they are learning in class. "It is helping me become more computer literate, which is an obvious need in today's time," says student Christopher Brown.
Sheili Gamboa Martinez plans to apply what she's learning to her volunteer work. Completing posters and brochures for the art league adds an element of reality in that students will have to operate under conditions similar to an actual working environment, meet a deadline and satisfy the customer’s expectations. The purpose of the poster project is to convince people to go to the art show.
What is the secret to creating an enticing design? Already showing a mind for advertising, Taylor Allender says, "Choosing a good image that will make people want to look at the poster and want to go see other art work ... if the poster has a good image of an artist's work they will want to see more than just a poster."
Hannah Willey emphasizes the text in a poster design. She says, “The most important feature is color to make the words stand out and grab people's attention." Creating an attractive design also requires an artistic flair. Keyla Hernandez-Martinez says, "Colors are at the tip of our fingertips to let the brushes guide you and the colors brighten up your eyes."
It is one of the art league's goals to encourage the production of art and support art education. Working with the Communications Tech program is a good way to do both, and it has MAL looking forward to the future.
Mispillion Art League's Annual Student Show is open April 11-22, at the Mispillion Art League Gallery, 5 N. Walnut St., Milford. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday to Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday. For more information, go to www.mispillionarts.org.
