Hoplorra (hop lor uh) noun:
An honest, playful, organic, raw work of art
Kayla Aliemenious Graphic Design
kaylaliemenious.com
Statement
Through design, I explore different ways of expanding identity brands. My process of creating promotional materials such as logos, posters, brochures, postcards and websites requires me to draw inspiration from personal experiences. By using photographs and typography together, I can successfully catch the attention of my specified audience.
Above: Xerography, 18x24� 2-color screen print Right: Lewis Jewelers Ad, 7.5x7.5� black ink on paper
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Bio
Kayla Aliemenious is a Graphic Designer that focuses on brand identity and event publications. She was born in Toledo, Ohio and was later raised in the small village of Elmore, Ohio. Kayla spends her free time scrapbooking, playing the flute and achieving fitness goals. Kayla studied Fine Arts with a concentration in Graphic Design at Eastern Michigan University from August, 2011 - December, 2015. She had multiple works in the Showcase of Student Work for Accreditation at Eastern Michigan University in 2014. Her work was also included in The AIGA Popcorn Movie Posters series in Toledo, Ohio. In her last few years at Eastern Michigan University, Kayla was responsible for designing all materials needed in the Campus Life: Orientation and Transition Programs Office. Along with this experience, she was actively involved during the four-day-long orientation for new students. Her positive energy and outgoing personality added to the orientation experience for new students and helped her successfully create designs for these events.
Diann Bouri
Painting/ Photography diannbouri.com
Statement
The tension between external forces and an internal sense of self is narrated in my work. Whoever or whatever hands down the directives, our first instinct is often to fight, and this is terribly at odds with the simultaneous desire to surrender to something larger than ourselves, to belong. These contradictions are often capitalized upon; everywhere we look we are being sold our own individuality. Through installation, photography, performance, and painting, I delineate theses forces that shape us and those we reject, shining light on the (gray) areas of overlap.
Above: Digital Print, Photograpgy Right: Painting
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Bio
Diann Bouri was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1990. She now resides in the Greater Detroit Area. Her work is rooted in painting and photography, but also takes form in performance, installation, and time based media. Her work encourages viewers to think critically of social norms, cultural identity, stereotypes, and capitalism. In 2014 Diann was awarded the Adnee Palmer Pearson Scholarship and Bryan G. Bakalis Scholarship from the Eastern Michigan University Art Department. She will be receiving her Bachelors of Fine Art in Painting and Photography from Eastern Michigan University in 2015. Bouri’s work has been exhibited in Detroit and Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Sara Bowen Graphic Design noctuadesign.com
Statement
I am a Graphic Design artist with training in Illustration, Painting, Woodworking, Photography, Silk Painting, and Metalsmithing. I blend methods, materials, and styles to create my designs. Whether I am creating custom typography from real life objects or utilizing two dimensional designs in my three dimensional work, I am always throwing things into a figurative blender to create eye catching designs. This fusion is an important theme in my work as it allows me to put a wide range of skills to use. DETROIT DESIGN FESTIVAL september 23rd - 28th
Deeeeee Deeeee Feee eeeee detroitdesignfestival.com DDF.poster.indd 1
Above: Detroit Design Festival Poster, 24x36” Digital Collage Right: Targets, 28x28” Mixed Media
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12/16/14 11:52 AM
Bio
Sara Bowen was born in Michigan but has lived all over the country. Sara completed her foundations at Grand Valley State University and then graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in Graphic Design. Sara has had her artwork displayed in all throughout elementary, middle, and high school. After the September 11th attacks, Sara contributed her work to a charitable gallery, raising money to benefit the families who suffered losses from the attacks. Several of Sara’s pieces she created during her education at Eastern Michigan University were chosen to represent the Art Program’s best work as the school was being evaluated for accreditation with the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). Sara was one of the student designers for the 2015 Open Book Workshop publications, as part of Eastern Michigan University’s Graphic Design Practicum studio. As an accomplished musician; Sara plays several stringed instruments but she is most skilled at piano and guitar. She composes music in various styles from Traditional Irish music to Electronic music, to Classical and Jazz. She lives in Ann Arbor with her boyfriend and four amazing cats.
Mary Connelly Watercolor
maryrothleyconnelly.com
Statement
In the continual exploration of learning and discovering new methods and materials I have recently been experimenting with ice, freezing my wet paintings, creating interesting textures, that relate to the content of the work. The concept of freezing sprung from a series of winter scenes I was working on. The narrative type scenes are activities experienced while living in the Michigan area. I have also created panes of ice encapsulating items representative of life experiences that are fleeting moments frozen in our memories.
Above: Sledding, 11x15� Watercolor Right: Milkweed, 11x15� Mixed media - watercolor, gouache and acrylic
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Bio
A mixed medium artist born and raised rimarily in the Metro Detroit area earned her BFA from Eastern Michigan University in 2015. Now an empty nestershe is able to indulge in her art explorations. She earned a BS in Elementary Education from Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas in 1985, and completed a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certification in Sardinia, Italy in July of 2015. In addition to teaching and raising her children she also became a foster parent and worked with Oakland County courts as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for children that were wards of the State of Michigan.
Alex Day
Graphic Design alexday.co
Statement
Through design, I transform a world of unnecessary visual noise and annoying chaos into graphic clarity. I condense loaded information into organized aesthetically striking combinations of imagery and type. This is accomplished through hand-drawn screen-prints and illustrations, as well as digital designs for print and web that follow the idea that less is more. I believe that simplicity is the most effective way to create powerful, memorable promotional, products, and brand identities that will withstand the test of time. Above: TRUEMU Day at the DIA Giveaway Gift 4x4x2” screen-printed, laser-cut, paper, chipboard, pine wood Right: Wooden Beer Carrier 10x6x12” wood, glass
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Bio
Alex Day is a designer currently living in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He attended Eastern Michigan University to receive his BFA with a concentration in graphic design. His work is primarily created through a combination of digital and printed design methods. The main focus in his work is to rid his surroundings of unnecessary visual noise by creating organized aesthetic systems of imagery and type. His work has been shown in AIGA Toledo’s 2014 “Popcorn Posters” auction show, and EMU’s 35th Undergraduate Design Symposium in 2015. He has worked as the student assistant for EMU’s 2015 Open Book Workshop, and is currently an employed graphic designer for EMU’s marketing department. He has a strong passion for design, drawing, games, his dog, Dozer and his cat, “Lu”..
Molly Doak
Fibers/ Furniture lomocollective.com
Statement
Inspiration from the natural world is the common thread that connects all of my work. Buildingon the intrinsic quality of organic materials, the observed shapes and textures found in nature, narrates the direction of each design. Great care is given to defining forms, patterns, and texture of my furniture and home accessories to bring the beauty and harmony illuminated in nature to the intimate, habitual setting of a home. Using traditional woodworking and fiber ars practices each piece is handcrafted with an emphasis on quality to withstand the test of time, imprinted with the memories and experiences ofits viewer.
Above: Grandma’s Ellipse, 33x19x57� walnut, woven cotton and linen Right: Belle Isle, installation, reclaimed Spanish oak, screen-printed cotton, photography
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Bio
Molly Doak is a furniture and fiber arts designer. Born in Austin, TX and raised in Detroit, MI and currently works out of Ypsilanti, MI. Molly is a musician and avid backcountry backpacker and gathers artistic inspiration from her wilderness excursions.
Bronte Dupuis Painting
brontedupuis.com
Statement
I imagine a world where ferris wheels are outside my bedroom window and the sky is pink. The process of pinning down elusive day dreams becomes an escape. I draw inspiration from organic and structural elements to capture and enhance what I see. Structure takes form in found supports, such as a cast off window frame, and is built upon using traditional needlework and collage. These processes allow exploration of the mundane as means to discovering something extraordinary. The repetition of stitch becomes a meditative action, offered to the viewer as a place for the mind to rest, taking a pause from the clutter and chaos of life.
Above: Window Wheel, 52x19.5” found objects, embroidery floss, glass, acrylic Right: Surreal Wheel, 42.25x35” Acrylic and oil on canvas
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Bio
Bronte Dupuis, born in Ypsilanti MI, is a mixed media painter whose work focuses on bridging fantasy and reality. She studied at Eastern Michigan University, earning her Bachelors of Fine Arts with a concentration in painting. Her work was shown in the 34th Undergraduate Symposium Design Expo at EMU in 2014, where she is currently Treasurer of the 2015 Fiber’s Guild. She continues to develop her studio practice choosing found window frames as a support. Her use of combining an unconventional support with collage, found objects and embroidery has taken her paintings in a new direction.
James Hamilton Graphic Design
designedbyjimmy.com
Above: Targets, 24x32” poster, woodblock ink on construction paper Right: Ypsi Bits Serves, 11x17” book, photography
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Statement
As a designer, I exhaustively manipulate space to visually communicate my thoughts, ideas and emotions. I use design to help organize the thoughts and emotions I experience in my everyday life. I recognize unrealized potential. I believe design can have a great impact on how humanity perceives one another and can be used to evoke change and critical thinking. I am inspired through architecture and its complex organizational system of space, negative space, structure and hierarchies. Every step and decision of my design process has a purpose and a function, just like in successful architecture. I design works to visually and physically elicit a visceral response from the viewer. I consider how properties such as color, shape, texture and form can affect an inborn response. By creating handcrafted pieces, such as screen and woodcut print, I am able to add the element of touch, along with seeing, to further push my exploration on how certain properties influence the viewer.
Bio
Jimmy Hamilton is a graphic design with a vast skill set in various mediums. Some of which include screen and woodcut prints, digital prints, photography, branding and web designing. He was born and raised around the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Jimmy studied architecture for two years at South Dakota State University and earned his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in Graphic Design from Easter Michigan University. He recently designed an educational poster for the Washtenaw Area Council for Children in Ann Arbor. Some of Jimmy’s most recent work can be seen in the upcoming Senior Exhibition at Eastern Michigan University.
Lauren Mleczko Fibers/ Furniture lomocollective.com
Statement
Combining historic references with personal reflections, I create to better understand myself and the world around me. Using a variety of materials and processes, iconic references of the past are manifested and manipulated through the filter of contemporary design. I start my process by researching historic buildings, clothing, and patterns, and then translating key design elements to styles and trends of today. Working with exotic and urban wood, as well as natural and synthetic fibers, I push the structure of traditional techniques and practices within these mediums to design classic furniture, textiles, and jewelry.
Above: Booties, 3x6’ Silk noil, screen print, Right: Old Hollywood Altarpiece, 3x2’ Digitally printed polyester, plywood, hinges,
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Bio
Lauren Mleczko is a fiber artist and furniture designer who was born in Clinton Township, Michigan and currently lives and works in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She received her BFA from Eastern Michigan University where she was a board member for the Intermedia Gallery Group and fulfilled a one year internship with the art galleries located on campus. She also interned under Laura Mott for the joint EMU/ Stamps Faculty Exhibition, and is now currently co-curating the Detroit: Door of Opportunity traveling exhibition. She and artist Molly Doak are the founders of design team collaborative LOMO Collective.
Michelle Okagbue Drawing
MorteMichelle.com
Above: Red Worm, digital print Right: Madness, 48x36� colored pastel
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Statement
My love of horror, fantasy, nature, world myths, and religion coupled with a life long affliction of incredibly vivid dreams/nightmares has always been the fuel for my artistic flame. My drawings are a documentation of my life, a physical representation of my internal struggle to express my own human condition. I specialize in the human form, for what better way to express the struggles of man, but by the image of man himself? And from that form I then branch out, mutating or changing it in some fashion, in hopes of expressing whatever macabre, surreal theme the piece is focusing on. And, since I’m not bound to any one medium, I’ve created a variety of things from mixing traditional drawing and digital painting techniques, to sculpting masks and human heads out of clay and paper-mache. My art is a real life quest to find my truths of this world, and hopefully an answer to what it means for me to be human.
Bio
Michelle Okagbue is a 26 year old, Michigan based, student artist; soon to be a graduate of Eastern Michigan University. She has evolved from a shy dabbler in fan-fiction art using Microsoft paint, to a defined and determined artist who has created real works of art such as Girl Biting off the Chickens Head, and Laughing Skull. Having never committed herself to one form of art, her work varies from simple small colored pencil pieces, to life size watercolor paint and pastel works. Currently she is working on a 22 paneled piece based on Pagan tarot cards and Christian bible stories. She is probably, at this very moment, sipping hot blueberry tea and thinking of more projects.
Mackenzie Paul Printmaking
mackenziepaul.com
Statement
When are you having kids? How many kids are you having? As a woman these are questions I am posed constantly. My answer is always never and none. I find children, pregnancy and childbirth alienating. In my prints I processes such as intaglio, relief, and screen printing to create a world out of these emotions and turn them into something I can understand. My images, which portray an animal still in utero as a planet out in space, reflect the foreign, disconnected feelings I experience when I am asked these nagging questions. The environments I create are a way for me to find a connection with something I appreciate but have no desire to experience myself.
Above: Umbilical Cord in Space, 7.5x10� Intaglio Right: 669d/65d/63d/21d/273d/90d, 11.5x23� Screen Print
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Bio
Mackenzie Paul is a Michigan based artist working mainly with printmaking processes. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in printmaking from Eastern Michigan University. Her work has been exhibited at both the Ford Gallery and Student Gallery of Eastern. Her current body of work is a series of prints that revolves around animals in utero and her co nne cti o n to mo therhood as a woman. Mackenzie also immensely enjoys music, knowing how to play five different instruments and being involved in a local band called Moving Day.
Donna Prieskorn Metalsmithing
donnaprieskorn.com
Statement
Simple shapes and patterns – like atoms – are the building blocks of each piece I construct. As a jeweler, I like things clean and simple. The materials I choose to “build” with are metals: mostly copper, brass and silver. What sets these works apart is that they feature a high level of craftsmanship and quality. The craftsmanship grows from my extensive planning, drawing multiple schematics, making models and conducting studies. All of this preparation helps guide me to the final execution; knowing each piece intimately: every angle, curve, rivet, seam, link, setting and finish.
Above: Light House, 1/2x2” metal earrings, roller printed copper with patina Right: Desending Hollow Rectangular Necklace, 6x8” metal, brass and copper
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Bio
Donna Prieskorn is an artist living in Gregory, Michigan. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in metalsmithing from Eastern Michigan University in 2015. Metal’s durability has always appealed to her. It is meant to endure. Jewelry is often given as a gift of endearment, appreciation or achievement because of its enduring quality. On Saturday, November 7th 2015, she will be exhibiting in collaboration with a fellow jeweler, Bri Wickoff, in Chelsea, Michigan. She will be a participant in the Fine Arts Senior Gallery Show, Eastern Michigan University, November 23rd and 24th 2015.
Scott Rider Graphic Design scottlrider.com
A r t i s t s’ Responses to Space(s)
Above: Atmosphere Gallery Catalogue, 6x6” digital print Right: Album, 12x12” vinyl, digital print
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Statement
As a designer, I create order and organization in a typographic world that is often filled with disorder and mayhem. I enjoy typography as an art as well as a means of communication and I draw inspiration for my designs from real life experiences. Through the use of strong visual and geometric patterns and bold color schemes, I create visually appealing designs that evoke a response from the viewer. I use bold colors to liven my designs and show my personality, which should be able to shine through the typography and reflect me as a designer.
Bio
Scott Rider is a Michigan based graphic designer currently residing in the Metro Detroit Area. He attended Eastern Michigan University to receive his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in graphic design. He primarily creates his work digitally and has recently taken to designing catalogues and books. Scott uses lots of geometric shapes and patterns and has a strong sense of visual organization and structure to his work. He recently designed the gallery catalogue for the Atmosphere: Artists’ Responses to Space(s) exhibition that is currently on display at Eastern Michigan University’s Student Center Gallery.
Taylor Stewart Graphic Design t-ssign.com
Statement
In todays visually driven pop culture, the identities of African American Women have continued to be marginalized and hidden behind eurocentric id e a s o f t h e human expe ri e nce. In many ways, the dehumanizing character of exotic sexual deviant, served as my source of false empowerment as a young women. Sexuality has become a centralized anchor of my artistic explorations. I choose to use sexuality as a entry point for exploring complex social issues such as systematic racism, identity, and colonization of the mind and body. This allows the presentation of these intimate exploration’s to become a weapon for fighting white washing within a white supremacist society.
Above: Vulva, Mirror, Landscape: Study Four, 8.5x33” Mixed-Media Digital Collage Right: Notes hit. Melt Baby, 30x40” digital print
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Thought patterns, due to anxiety, help to critically navigating my sexuality, in hopes of reclaiming ownership of my enslaved body. New medias, such as, video, installation, social media, digital collage and sound, allow for a visual representation of personal analysis. Similar to my anxiety driven thought process, when making work, I deconstruction and reconstruct information until materials become visual language. Abstraction rooted in the realism of social crisis, help to present an broken identity due to patriarchal supremacy. Finding inspiration in afro-futuristic abstractions of reality and surrealism help me
to continue building a platform for a humanistic image of my marginalized experience.
Bio
Taylor Stewart is a graphic artist currently residing in the Metro Detroit Area. Working with themes of sexuality and colonization, Stewart draws inspiration from movements, such as, Afro-Futurism. It is her mission to create a platform that normalizes diversity within the African-American woman’s community. In December 2015, Stewart will be receiving her Bachelors of Fine Arts from Eastern Michigan University with a concentration in graphic design Knowledge of excecuting exhibitions was gained from December 2013 through December 2014, while working under Eastern Michigan University’s Gallery Director. Today she continues working within the gallery setting, producing visual branding for exhibitions, while furthering her artistic practices.
Briana Wickoff Metalsmithing
brianawickoff.com
Above: Throat Chakra, Pendant 3”H x 2”W, Chain 20” length, 3” W at the front, Copper and Argentium Silver Right: Collarbone Necklace, 10” L x 7” W, Back 7” W x 14” L , Argentium Silver, Copper, Cubic Zirconia stones, and Silver Leaf Jasper Stones
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Statement
Simplifying the complex systems of the living body and nature is what I use as an underlining theme. I bring focus to the smaller connections and interworking’s within these systems that are usually overlooked. From the zoomed in views is where I get inspiration for my designs. My desire to have a micro view on things comes from my unusually high stress level. The way I handle or control this is by focusing on one piece at a time. Most of my jewelry is wearable and some are made for solely decorative purposes that are worn on places like the ankles, forearms, collarbone, and wrists. I also create small wall hangings and metal vessels using the same inspiration. My process involves fitting multiple pieces together like a puzzle to create work that has an emphasis on contrasting metals, textures, and finishes.
Bio
Briana Wickoff is a metalsmith from Las Vegas, Nevada that currently lives and works in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She completed her Bachelors of Fine Arts degree at Eastern Michigan University where her main focus has been on making jewelry. Her work was on display at Eastern in a small metals exhibition in 2011 and participated in the Undergraduate Symposium in the spring of 2015. Recently her work was on display as a featured artist at Orin Jewelry in Northville, Michigan on September 4th, 2015. Briana plans on extending her education with the Master’s of Fine Arts program at Eastern Michigan University in the fall of 2016.
art.emich.edu