“GRAPHIC: Points, Pixels & Perception,” is on display May 11 through June 11, 2015. A reception will be held on Thursday, June 11 from 5-7 p.m. at the TMCC Main Art Gallery.
Truckee Meadows Community College will feature design art works by Graphic Communications students in the exhibition "GRAPHIC: Points, Pixels & Perception", on display May 11 through June 11, 2015. A closing reception will be held on Thursday, June 11 from 5-7 p.m. at the TMCC Main Art Gallery in the Student Center. Refreshments will be served, and the reception is free and open to the public.
“Award-winning examples from all levels of the program will be on display,” said Dan Bouweraerts, Chair of Visual and Performing Arts.
Three of the compositions have won silver and gold ADDY awards at the regional American Advertising Federation (AAF) competition and are currently progressing to nationals – winning designs will be announced by AAF on June 13.
Bouweraerts traces the interesting history of graphic design as being born from fine art.
Painting and sculpture has been around for centuries, and in the scope of human history, graphic design is a relatively new form of expression originating from printing arts and poster illustrations of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and other Post-Impressionists, Bouweraerts said.
With the Bauhaus School in 1920s Germany, graphic design became a profession. During the 1950s and 1960s, artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein began to use graphic images as fine art forms – Warhol with pop art created by colorful designs made up of repeating soup cans, and Lichtenstein with greatly enlarged cartoons where individual print pixels can be seen.
Candace Nicol, Interim Art Galleries Curator, said that fine art and graphic art each generate ideas creatively employed by the other.
“The history of visual communications is a story of cross pollination between fine arts and commercial processes,” Nicol said. “Graphic communication has always driven the workforce, and artists find themselves collaborating with designers, engineers, mathematicians, and businesses in order to stay competitive. Today, the fine art world embraces design as fundamental and necessary in order to embrace visual literacy. Our world is dominated by the visual world and graphic communications is at its center.”
Graphic Design Is Sometimes Referred to as a Technical Skill
The TMCC Graphic Communications Program includes affordable skill training and access for people interested in expressing their artistic side while solving a diverse set of design assignments for individual clients or working for small and large companies.
Employment in firms include design and advertising agencies, in-house sales and marketing departments of casinos and corporations, website development companies, marketing and communications offices of agencies or schools, page layout positions at publications, and file set-up preparation at printing houses.
There are a wide variety of sub-fields in the graphic communications industry. The program provides web and print-based classes that students may use to gain employment, or toward transfer requirements at a four-year degree-granting institution.
At TMCC, students are prepared for successful regional entry-level employment in the graphic communications industry. Courses culminate in a Certificate of Achievement and/or an Associate of Applied Science Degree (A.A.S.).
Applied skill updates and software seminars are offered for current graphics professionals practicing in Northern Nevada. This training benefits both the industry and the community by further developing a pool of highly skilled workers in the advanced technology sector.
For more information about Graphic Communications classes, please call 775-673-7291, and for upcoming exhibitions in the TMCC Art Galleries, call 775-674-7698.