Jessica Morphew '96 | Art Director for Penguin Random House

Excerpt from "Setting the Path for Passion" | O'Neal Magazine 2021

"My journey didn’t start with O’Neal, however throughout the 13 years I attended the school, I was supported and nurtured to follow my natural talents. I grew up with art all around me, and what my upbringing lacked in consistency and focus, the teachers at O’Neal provided. When I was in the lower school Cheryl Stuckey was the art teacher and she exposed me to many ways of making and expressing. She gave me language and structure to begin to see I wanted to make things in the world. I also learned of ancient Sumer and how they used cuneiform cylinders for written communications. My fascination for creating messages and meaning in the world began at this moment. How do we connect with others through an art form? How do you take an abstract idea and make it into something that can be understood by an audience?

As I grew up in the O’Neal community, I was recognized as being into art and was given time and space to pursue my explorations. When Beth Garrison became the art teacher, a whole new world opened up to me. We explored art history and its correlations to today’s world. We analyzed and discussed artworks from all over. And we made work, a lot of work. Painting, drawing, sculpture, furniture, we touched on it all. There was also a freedom to explore what interested us individually. I was afforded the opportunity to spend my study halls in the art room creating self-generated work. That freedom opened me up and allowed me to break out beyond the didactic cycle of facts. I began to understand how I could make a career out of making things. It wasn’t only in the art room that my classmates and I were encouraged to use our minds and think abstractly. Hank Brandt who taught English and Philosophy challenged our ways of thinking and exposed us to concepts so rich and magical. Sometimes these esoteric concepts went over our heads, but he remained diligent and invested in us growing. Chris Hart, who taught us International Relations, gave us a sense of the global community, our history as people, and our responsibilities to the world. Mr. Mauser and Mrs. Whitman taught us math and that may seem like a bland world of numbers, but they both in their own ways used compassion to show us that there are answers and we can find them even if it seems hard. What I am trying to say here is that O’Neal is about the people and the way we all came together to achieve what was possible in each of us. Coming out of O’Neal, I knew I wanted to make meaning in the world, to touch others, and to continue to grow as I had over those years.

By the time I was ready to apply for college, I had such a rich and holistic education. I had a portfolio of personal artwork that was diverse and illustrated that I had developed a lot of skills. In addition, I understood the existential philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard, was a finalist in the Model UN competition with Eric Gilchrist, went to Spain and toured the Alhambra with Mr. Mauser, and so much more—all because I was supported and encouraged every step of the way at O’Neal. I got into every college I applied to including The School of Visual Arts, Duke University, The Art Institute of Boston, Savannah College of Art and Design, and a few others. After all the years of being at O’Neal, I wasn’t ready to move to a big city, so I settled on the school that was close to home, North Carolina State University, School of Design. During my first year, I was able to explore all the different disciplines in my foundations classes. I thought I wanted to try architecture because it would allow me to do good in the world and help to contribute to solving the problem of homelessness. It didn’t click, so on a whim I followed some classmates into a graphic design studio one semester and everything I had ever learned and believed clicked for me. I could make meaning. I could find ways to do good with my skills and passion. I not only could express through form, but through words as well. Never had I felt so at home. And all those lessons I learned at O’Neal came back and were expanded further and further. I came out of NC State knowing that I wanted to move to New York and design books. It had always been in me even back in lower school when we did the cuneiform. Upon graduation, I moved to New York and began working at Penguin Books as a junior designer for book covers. I spent 5 years there designing covers for fiction and nonfiction books. I left to pursue a graduate degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, a school that is built on self-generated work. I wanted to inspire and educate, so I pursued my MFA with the intention of becoming a teacher. Having a studio and the pressure to create work expanded me more and I left Michigan a different designer. My thesis was about connection and how design can create awareness and community rather than feed the consumption of capitalism. All these nascent ideas I had growing up at O’Neal came together. I went back to New York and instead of teaching worked for cultural institutions as a designer. I needed my work to transcend advertising and inspire people. I loved supporting the culture of NY and helping people to learn and grow, but I missed books. In 2008, I moved back into publishing at Random House and have been art directing practical non-fiction ever since. I design packages of books that inspire, heal, and help people. O’Neal gave me the foundation to pursue my interests and to extend beyond myself. Because of the teachers, students, friends, and the institution of O'Neal, I was able to find my path."