Role:
Gallery Designer // Curator
Gallery Designer // Curator
CLIENT:
Linehan Artist Scholars Program
Linehan Artist Scholars Program
A Story of Growth
I began my work on the Linehan Artist Scholars Gallery as a volunteer service, eager to help the program director create a much-needed space on campus to exhibit student works. What started as a volunteer effort blossomed into an officially contracted position throughout the rest of my time at UMBC, and the result is a cycling exhibition space that has brought new life to a high-traffic hallway on campus. I executed the initial gallery design, adapted based on building restrictions and approvals, oversaw installation, collected and curated submissions, developed bold exhibition signage, and designed supergraphics for the exterior of a student study lounge located in the middle of the gallery space.
Exhibiting in a Transient Space
The goals for this project were to uplift the work of talented Linehan scholars, uphold the program’s core values of interdisciplinary exploration, and elevate UMBC’s reputation as an institution with high-quality arts programs. The space designated for the gallery was a main hallway in the Performing Arts Building, providing the unique challenge of transforming a transient space in a way that would encourage UMBC students, faculty, and passersby to stop and experience the artwork.
Adapting Possibilities
My initial concepts for this project employed the use of supergraphics to tie disparate sides of the hallway together and form a tangible gallery space. In the approval process, I found that building restrictions limited the application of certain materials in the space, and pivoted to a new goal: exhibiting the student works as big and bold as possible, while the supergraphics would be concentrated around the Linehan and Humanities Scholars Lounge right next to the gallery proper. I oversaw two rounds of submission collection, curation, and installation, working to refine the process for future exhibitions.
Bringing New Life, Color, and Light
At one end of the gallery sits the entrance to the Linehan and Humanities Scholars Lounge, a quiet space where students gather to study and recharge between classes. The lounge features four large windows that had long been covered by plain gray blinds to maintain privacy, leaving the area feeling dull and closed off. As an extension of my work within the gallery, I was tasked with designing a series of opaque window decals that would preserve privacy while bringing more color, energy, and visual interest to the space. The decals must also celebrate the arts and the humanities, and all of the disciplines housed within those umbrellas.
Embodying the Arts and Humanities
How can a design represent a wide array of disciplines across the arts and humanities without placing too much emphasis on any particular area? After meeting with Linehan Artist and Humanities Scholars program directors to learn more about the core values and goals of their programs, I came to the conclusion that instead of getting caught up in specific, representational forms, the design must instead focus on the creativity and inherent humanness that ties these disciplines together.
Tying the Disciplines Together
Between the Linehan and Humanities programs, we form a group of creative thinkers with simple superpowers: eyes that read visual language, hands that translate big ideas from our minds to reality, ears attuned to pitch and harmony, and mouths that communicate and bring stories to life. These metaphors serve as the throughline connecting all the disciplines, and the bright colors in the composition tie UMBC brand colors to a bright supplementary palette that serves the purpose of bringing life to the space.
TOOLS: Adobe Illustrator // Revit // Enscape
Program Director: Ann Sofie Clemmensen
