Department Of Design

Virginia Dall, or Ginger as she is most commonly known, grew up thinking it was normal to have artwork hanging everywhere in the home. Her mother, a professional artist who influenced Dall’s artistic inclination, encouraged her desire to draw constantly as a child. She spent much of her childhood looking through her mother’s art books, cultivating her own artistic voice. Today, Dall is a senior in the BFA Illustration program at Brigham Young University who has worked on several high profile projects throughout her time as a student. One of Dall’s pieces was chosen as the poster for the BYU 2015 Fall Opera, Manon. Dall’s hard work and dedication are paying off. Recently, she was selected as the winner of the Visual Arts category of the 2016 Phi Kappa Phi Arts Competition, sponsored by the national honor society, Phi Kappa Phi. Nominated by her professor, David Dibble, she is invited to attend a banquet where she will receive her award. “We as area faculty nominated Ginger because of her dedication and personal passion for her work,” Dibble said. “She is unique in how she has crossed the bridge mentally into the professional world and is highly motivated to both improve as well as help others around her to do the same.” Initially, Dall was unaware of the competition, stunned at her nomination and the opportunity to showcase her work. “I have been working closely for the past several months with David Dibble on my BFA show and professional portfolio,” Dall said. “I was especially grateful for his role in being nominated.” Dall has also started working as a studio assistant for LDS artist, J. Kirk Richards, an important stepping-stone in reaching graduation and her future career as an artist.

The lens of a camera does an incredible job of capturing the most nuanced detail within the scope of its frame. However, even the most sophisticated lens has limitations when compared to the human eye. BYU Professor Paul Adams found the same is true when taking on a seemingly straight forward photography assignment: there is often more than what you had expected to see through the lens. - See more at: http://news.byu.edu/news/capturing-coronation-photography-professors-unexpected-trip-tonga

Seduction, deceit, wild living, death. No, not the latest HBO Drama–these themes are just a few that the 11 student illustrators from BYU’s Senior Studio Design class attempted to capture for BYU’s upcoming performance of Manon, an opera about how the desire for fleeting pleasures results in one young woman’s regretful choices. Guiding the students through the process of creating the concert poster is Professor Robert Barrett. Barrett explained that his class is one of the last chances students will have before graduation to create commissioned pieces with a mentor. “It raises the level of expectation for the students. They work pretty hard on it,” said Barrett. “I think they put their best foot forward.” While not exactly a professional commission, the project gives students the experience of meeting a client’s expectations. Students consulted with opera director Lawrence Vincent and then researched the opera more themselves to best understand and portray its essence. More>>>>

A group of BYU graphic design students visited Monument Valley High (MVH) as part of a pro bono rebranding campaign for the struggling Navajo Nation school. The goal? Help boost students’ pride and investment in both their school and their heritage.

PROVO – While most students at Brigham Young University were studying for final exams and readying themselves for the winter break, a team of students was busy producing comic pratfalls and double-takes.

A BYU illustration student’s work is helping to showcase the program as one that challenges, strengthens, and provides students with a context that allows them to develop a personal voice. Miranda Meeks credits her soon-to-be alma mater as the springboard for her recent success. Since coming to BYU, she has worked with clients like Popshot Magazine, Spirituality & Heath Magazine, Diesel Apparel and Issimo Productions. “The art program here at BYU is so inspiring! It gives us more to work with than what traditional art schools offer because of the interactions with other majors and programs,” Meeks said. “The spiritual aspect of the school has also helped me view my art differently.” Meeks’ art has been featured and honored in a number of different exhibitions over the past two years. In fall 2014 she participated in Light Grey Art Lab’s Skate or Die exhibition in Minneapolis, MN. At the same time, two of her works were included in Gauntlet Gallery's Digital Renaissance exhibit, and another piece featured in a front-page linked article on ConceptArtWorld.com in April 2014. In 2013 her piece, The Gardener was selected by a panel to be printed in American Illustration 32, a national competition selecting only 369 of 8,742 entries to be included in the hardcover annual published worldwide, with winning works also appearing on The Archive at ai-ap.com. When asked how she balances school, work and being a mom, Meeks encouraged persistence. “It gets hard trying to balance work and life, but if you just keep working at it things will pick up,” Meeks said. “For me, it helps not trying to be all things at the same time. When I’m working, that’s what I’m doing. When my girl’s awake, then I’m being a mom.” Meeks’ work contains soft and detailed drawings, beautiful images, and subjects of mystery, growth, and transformation. Owing much of her inspiration to the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Chris Van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, she hopes that others will be able to recognize the beauty behind mystery. After graduation Meeks plans to continue her career as an illustrator, in addition to being a wife and mother.

The Board of Trustees approved a change in the Visual Arts Department that includes the art history faculty moving to the College of Humanities and the remaining faculty and staff in the department being split into the Art Department and the Design Department.

BYU animation students learned firsthand from the director of the highest grossing animated movie of all time in a lecture on campus.

PROVO, Utah – Taylor Holt dreams of telling stories with pictures. She thought she might like to be a writer, 'but I ended up spending more time drawing out my stories than actually writing them,' she said.