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A group of design students recently completed projects that will help the Hunterdon Museum of Art’s future.
The Solving Communication Problems graphic design class led by Lew Minter, director of the media lab at the Williams Visual Arts Building, constructed posters for the Clinton, N.J. museum.
Jim Toia, director of the Grossman Gallery and art department’s community based teaching program and Hunterdon Museum board member, told Minter the museum had no posters celebrating new exhibits.
“It seemed like a very obvious and logical thing to include Lafayette students in a project that would not only allow them to possibly have their work on display, but also help the museum,” Minter says.
Toia visited the class to describe the museum’s current and upcoming exhibits and the types of posters it used in the past.
“Jim asked me if I would be able to have the students work on them,” Minter says. “I thought it was a wonderful idea and when he came to speak with the students, they thought so as well.”
Elizabeth Taylor ’06 (Orinda, Calif.), who graduated this May with an A.B. degree with majors in art and Spanish, says the project allowed her to apply creative solutions to a real-world professional assignment.
“The board at the museum wants to get its name out more and thought a poster to sell or give out would be a good way of doing that,” she says. “The project allowed for creativity and was exciting because it could be used by the museum.”
The projects had to meet time deadlines and certain standards.
“The students were aware that their work had the possibility of representing the museum,” Minter says.
“I think real projects are best because they teach you about the profession and make you think about more than just the design,” says Taylor. “They also make you think about the purpose of the project.”
Hunterdon Museum board members worked with the students and visited the class to review finished products. The board will ultimately decide on two or three posters, measuring approximately 22 by 30 inches.
“They thought it would be an easy pick,” Minter says. “After they were able to review the work of the students, however, they have had a hard time determining which ones they want to use.”
Taylor says it took some time to finalize her poster ideas.
“I went and took photos of the museum and started creating a bunch of options,” she says. “When I wasn’t thrilled with any of them, I started thinking of an image that would stick in people’s minds, so I created an image of the museum with flat color, which could be a poster and a sort of logo as well.”
Regardless of whose posters are selected, Minter is confident the experience enlightened all his students.
“The project was different because it included an outside presence,” he says. “I think the students understood that it would be a beneficial project because they were, in effect, working for a client.”
Taylor says Minter challenged his students while helping them reach a common goal.
“Lew Minter is a wonderful professor,” she says. “He goes out of his way to help students and is very understanding. He knows a lot about design as he has been working in the field for a long time.”
Other students in the design class were: Alisson Browne ’06 (Bronxville, N.Y.), Danielle Fried ’06 (Short Hills, N.J.), and Alison Sweeney ’06 (Wayne, Pa.), who all graduated with A.B. degrees in psychology; Elyse Garbus ’06 (Suffern, N.Y.), who graduated with an A.B. degree in government and law; Tommaso Marsella ’06 (Woonsocket, R.I.), who graduated with an A.B. degree in anthropology and sociology; and art majors Josephine Kurtz ’08 (Wilmington, Del.), Valerie Simone ’07 (Delran, N.J.), Danielle Weaver ’07 (Belle Mead, N.J.), and Samantha Witkes ’08 (Northborough, Mass.).
An award-winning designer, Minter was an artist-in-residence at the Taipei Culture Foundation, also known as Taipei Artist Village, in March. He exhibited nature-based digital images printed on watercolor paper, mounted on wood, and painted into with acrylics at the village and at the National Chengchi University in Taipei. Minter also worked with EXCEL Scholars Emily Gillespie ’07 (Hammonton, N.J.) and Kelly Murray ’06 (Shenandoah, Pa.) to digitally reconstruct damaged, centuries-old paintings for the sixth edition of The History of Italian Renaissance Art (Prentice-Hall) by renowned art historian David Wilkins. The digital reconstruction has been featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Minter’s work is included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Rome and dozens of private and corporate collections.
Taylor completed EXCEL Scholars research and studied abroad in Buenos Aires. She also volunteered with ProJeCT of Easton’s English as a Second Language program through the Landis Community Outreach Center.