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Department of Art and Design
The University of Southern Mississippi

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Southern Miss Graphic Design Students Win ADDY Award 2008
The University of Southern Mississippi
Marketing and Public Relations
News Release (4/2/09)

HATTIESBURG, Miss -- Department of Art and Design students studying graphic design at The University of Southern Mississippi took top honors recently at the Mississippi Gulf Coast 2008 ADDY Awards competition, sponsored by the American Advertising Federation.

The awards ceremony of the competition, held March 7, 2009, at the Imperial Palace Casino in Biloxi, awarded student Best in Show to Joshua Parker from Hattiesburg, while Kyle Hilton from Jackson won the Judges Special Award.

The department also received notice Monday that Millie Worthington, a native of Hawaii, received a Gold, and Hilton and Parker earned a Silver from the regional ADDY competition. All will receive their award at a special awards presentation April 17 in Baton Rouge, La.

Southern Miss students earning gold awards at the Gulf Coast competition include Parker, Hilton, Blayne Ward of New Orleans, Elizabeth Maloy of Long Beach, Sophia Benn of New Augusta and, as a group entry, Bill Anderson of Natchez, Rachel Ross of Vicksburg, Jessie Sims of Florence and Kelly Snelson of Diamondhead.

Silver Award winners at the state competition included Worthington, Hillary Lovinggood and Stuart Lovinggood of New Orleans; Brenna Aplin of Hattiesburg; Rachel Ross of Vicksburg; Kelly Snelson of Diamondhead; Jackie Sullivan of Brandon and as a group, Michael Maruszake of Brandon, Kate Stanley of Slaughter, Ky.; Quincy Morris of Jackson and Sara Gonzales of New Orleans.

These students study with Southern Miss graphic design professors John House, Bill Baggett, DeAnna Douglas and Ping Xu.

> The American Advertising Federation, headquartered in Washington, D.C., represents 50,000 professionals in the advertising industry. The AAF has a national network of 210 advertising clubs and connects the industry with an academic base through its 210 college chapters.

> For more information on the Graphic Design program at Southern Miss, call the Department of Art and Design at 601.266.4972.

ADDY Award 2008 - Award Winning List :

Millie Worthington_"Attic Magazine"
> Gold ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF District Seven
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Joshua Parker_"Boster's Specialty Branding Campaign"
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF District Seven
> Gold ADDY & Best of Show - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Kyle Hilton_"Abacus Magazine"
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF District Seven
> Gold ADDY & Judges Choice (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Blayne Ward_"Monster Map"
> Gold ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Elizabeth Maloy_"Southerner Yearbook"
> Gold ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Sophia Benn_"Yuletide Prnaments - Branding Campaign"
> Gold ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Rachel Ross, Kelly Snelson, Bill Anderson, Jessi Sims_"Art and Design Open House '09 Poster"
> Gold ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Hillary Lovinggood_"American Lighthouse Poster"
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Brenna Aplin_"Apsara Coffee Poster"
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Rachel Ross_"Mime Time Magazine"
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Kelly Snelson_"Stained Magazine"
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Jackie Sullivan_"Radiopium Branding Campaign"
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Elizabeth Maloy_"Eaglepalooza Series"
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Michael Maruszake, Kate Stanley, Sarah Gonzales, Quincy Morris,_"Art and Design Open House '09 Poster"
> Sliver ADDY (Student ADDY) - ADDY AWARDS 2008 - AAF MS Gulf-coast

Art Students to Leave Their Mark in Southern Miss Union
The University of Southern Mississippi
Marketing and Public Relations
News Release (7/23/08)

Hattiesburg, Miss. – Visitors to RC’s Lounge in the University of Southern Mississippi’s University Union will get any eyeful when they see the colorful mural gracing the lounge’s east side windows, the handiwork of art students Elizabeth Maloy and Eric Huckabee.

Huckabee, a senior from Waveland, and Maloy, a junior from Long Beach, are creating a multi-hued composition that includes the lounge’s orange, green and purple colors, along with shapes from some of its architectural elements. Once completed, it will cover 250 square feet of window space, greeting passersby in the adjoining east corridor.

The students took on the project at the request of the Union Advisory Board and its adviser, associate director of Union and Programs Fran Jones, as part of a plan to accentuate the lounge with artwork.

“We wanted something contemporary, something that went along with the feel of the room,” Jones said.

RC’s Lounge is used as a student gathering center and for events and private functions. It is located next to the Union’s game room.

Huckabee, a photojournalism and painting major, said the project is not without its challenges, the biggest being its glass canvas. “It’s not porous, so that makes it technically more challenging, especially trying to make crisp edges. But without the challenges it would be boring,” he said.

“We had an original plan, but it doesn’t always work out exactly as you imagined it in the beginning,” he said. “You have to let the work control itself. The work will tell you where it needs to go.”

Maloy, a Presidential Scholar who serves as editor of the university’s yearbook, was part of a team from Southern Miss that won a Student Gold ADDY Award in May. Huckabee is the recipient of the department’s Roger Brinegar Endowed Scholarship and his work has been featured at student art shows at the university.

“They’re both outstanding students,” said Susan Fitzsimmons, chair of the Southern Miss Department of Art and Design.

Maloy and Huckabee relish the opportunity to give back to the university, which they credit for giving them opportunities and direction for the future. “There’s not many places where you would get this kind of opportunity as a student,” Huckabee said of the project.

Both hope the mural will liven up the lounge and make it a popular University Union landmark. “I just want people to enjoy it,” Maloy said. “Hopefully everyone who sees it will smile.”

Southern Miss Student Receives Prominent Sculpture Award
The University of Southern Mississippi
Marketing and Public Relations
News Release (7/21/08)

Hattiesburg, Miss. -- A University of Southern Mississippi student recently received the 2008 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center (ISC).

Bernadette Birzer, a senior fine arts major and native of the Philippines, was recognized by the ISC for her mixed media installation, “Portrait of U.S.” Birzer says the sculpture, composed primarily of store receipts, paper-maché and packaging material, depicts her concept of consumer culture in America.

The backdrop of the installation is a 30-foot by 8-foot wall covered in receipts that Birzer had collected over several months from friends and slips saved from her own purchases.

In front of the massive rippling hedge of receipts, several large deformed figures, which Birzer calls “consumers,” stand, slouch and loll in grotesque positions — a pungent message that illustrates the perils of people who are consumed by consuming.

“I wanted the piece to show how consumerism has become this cultural phenomenon that has literally changed who we are,” Birzer explained. “So the whole installation is essentially a metaphor. The wall of receipts and the devolved, brash-like figures standing in front of it are metaphors for the consumerist society in which we live.”

Birzer originally created “Portrait of U.S.” last spring as part of her senior project, a component of the Southern Miss fine arts curriculum that requires students to create a substantial body of art, which is displayed in a senior art exhibit at the end of the semester.

Art and design professor Laura Prange, who served as chair of Birzer’s senior project faculty committee, watched the installation gradually unfold throughout the semester, offering guidance throughout the four-month-long project.

As she mused at the final product during the senior art exhibition, Prange said she was engaged by the sculpture’s setting and design and found its metaphorical elements to be quite intriguing.

“By the end of the semester, I was very familiar with all the parts of Bernadette’s project, and my colleagues and I felt it had tremendous potential to be expressive in all the ways she intended,” Prange said. “Yet, when I saw it fully installed, I was caught up in it not as a teacher or critic, but like anyone else — I was moved by its haunting beauty and disturbing, but important, message.”

After reviewing the complete installation of “Portrait of U.S.,” Prange nominated Birzer for the 2008 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. Birzer was among 401 nominees representing more than 160 colleges and universities across the world.

The ISC jury, paneled by leading art figures Mary Ceruti, Dennis Oppenheim and Robert Roesch, selected Birzer’s “Portrait of U.S.” as one of 12 sculptures to be recognized with the award.

In addition to the award, Birzer will receive several perks from ISC, including a biographic profile and photograph of her work featured in Sculpture magazine; inclusion of her sculpture in the yearly exhibition at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, N.J.; and a free one-year membership with the ISC.

“Obviously, the most immediate benefit that I thought of when I was named for this award was what it would do for my resumé,” Birzer said. “But it’s also very gratifying to me to be able to actually have my work featured at one of the preeminent art venues in the world and to receive a one-year membership with the ISC, which provides me with a subscription to its Sculpture magazine.”

After graduation, Birzer said she plans to attend graduate school, continuing to create sculptures and hopes to open her own gallery one day.

“I would like to bring the type of sculpture that I do into the community and make people understand it … make them understand that art doesn’t always have to be a commodity — its commodity can be its message,” Birzer said.

Southern Miss Students Win Gold Student ADDY Award 2007 at Regional Competition
The University of Southern Mississippi
Marketing and Public Relations
News Release (5/15/08)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- A team of students in The University of Southern Mississippi Department of Art and Design recently received a Student Gold ADDY Award 2007 from the seventh “Deep South” District of the American Advertising Federation.

The team, which received the award for its design of a promotional poster for the department’s open house event April 4, 2008, was composed of three students: Elizabeth Maloy of Long Beach; Bradley Jackson of Mobile, Ala.; and Laura Morgan of Hattiesburg.

Maloy, who coordinated the team, says she was filled with a mixture of surprise and excitement when she heard the judges had awarded the poster.

“We believed that we had a great piece, but I don’t think anyone really expected that it would win a Gold ADDY,” said Maloy, a Southern Miss presidential scholar. “This is definitely an exhilarating experience that we will carry with us forever.”

Like a diamond in the rough, the team’s poster was the result of hours of designing and refining as the group continuously tweaked the graphics and type until its aesthetic distinction was finally discovered.

The team had originally designed the poster as a class project in Page Layout, a graphic design course taught by faculty member Ping Xu. After working exhaustively on the project until 4 a.m. on the day of the final draft, the fatigued young artists were taken aback by Xu’s critique.

“After all the work we had put into it, we just knew that Mr. Xu was going to love it,” said Jackson. “But his response to our poster was, ‘This is a D-level work … it’s terrible.’”

Motivated by their professor’s sharp critique, the students trashed their original concept and started a new poster from scratch just days before the final art was due.

The new poster, according to Maloy, employed a simpler design style, making better use of elements such as texture, shape, white space and typography to create a strong alluring image that melded harmoniously with the poster’s informational objective.

Xu obviously agreed with this assessment as the poster was chosen to be the official open house poster for the department and was sent to several hundred high schools in the southeastern United States to promote the open house and invite prospective art students to the Southern Miss campus.

“A successful poster will attack you, then attracts you,” said Xu about the quality of the piece. “This poster could be a unique signature piece for our Department of Art and Design and a stamp or a footprint on our year of the 2008 calendar. It won because it delivered an immediate impact.”

After winning the class competition locally at Southern Miss, the group decided to take it to another level by entering the poster into the Mississippi Gulf Coast Advertising Federation’s Student ADDY Award 2007 Competition, where it garnered a Silver ADDY.

From there, the students entered it into the regional ADDY competition of the “Deep South” District of the American Advertising Association, where it was awarded a Gold Student ADDY. The students plan to enter the poster in the national ADDY competition later this year.

> For more information on the Graphic Design program at Southern Miss, call the Department of Art and Design at 601.266.4972.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Advertising Federation - Student ADDY Award 2007
The University of Southern Mississippi
Marketing and Public Relations
News Release (2/27/08)

Southern Miss students earning gold awards at the Gulf Coast competition included May Molina of Gulf-port for a cover design series: Brittney Westbrook of Ellisville for newspaper ads and Sophia Benn of New Augusta in editorial design. Silver Award winners included Whitney Miller of Olive Branch in packaging; Blayne Ward of New Orleans in poster design; Elizabeth Maloy of Long Beach, Bradley Jackson of Mobile and Laura Morgan of Hattiesburg for a group in poster design; and May Molina of Gulfport, Blayne Ward, Ahsheuqe Brooks of Chicago and Johnny Hesselberg of Vicksburg for a group in trade magazine advertising.

Other Silver Award winners were Kristin Breneman of Jackson in editorial spread; Michael Rucker of Meridian in two categories, campaigns and illustration; May Molina in trade magazine ad; and Jennifer Ernest in storyboard illustration.

These students study with Southern Miss Graphic Design professors John House, Bill Baggett, DeAnna Douglas and Ping Xu.

Cece Shabazz, education chair of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Ad Club said, “the student entries submitted this year by The University of Southern Mississippi were extraordinary. Each piece was so strong and well-designed that the ADDY judges admitted that choosing winners was tough. It is a definite representation of the solid graphics program at Southern Miss.”

Jennifer Ernest _"Antique Toy Show Direct Mailers"
> Best of Show - Student ADDY 2007

Jennifer Ernest_"Antique Toy Show Direct Mailers"
> Gold ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Jennifer Ernest_"Brown Paper Bag"_Packaging Series
> Student Special Judges Award - Student ADDY 2007

Jennifer Ernest_"Brown Paper Bag"_Packaging Series
> Gold ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Sophia Benn_"Fashion Victims"_Newspaper Design
> Gold ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Brittney Westbrook_"Farm Depot Ad Campaign"
> Gold ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Blayne Ward_"Fashion Victims"_DAF Poster
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

May Molina_"The Burger"_Cover Series
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Elizabeth Maloy (Entrant)
Laura Morgan (Entrant)
Bradley Jackson (Co-Designer)
"USM Art and Design Open House '08 Poster"
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Whitney Miller (Entrant)
Desiree Smith (Co-Designer)
Jessica Lang (Co-Designer)
"Broke A$$ College Kid Music Festival"_CD and Ticket Package
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

May Molina (Entrant)
Blayne Ward (Co-Designer)
Ahsheuqe Brooks (Co-Designer)
Johnny Hesselberg (Co-Designer)
"Orion Belt"_Magazine Ad
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Kristin Brenemen_"Southern Miss Anime Club"_Magazine Spread
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Michael Rucker_"Random Robot Heads"
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Michael Rucker_"Greeting Card for Him"
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Amanda Myers_"Zom-B-Gone"_Logo Design
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

Jennifer Ernest_"Rub-a-dub-dub" Storyboard Illustration
> Sliver ADDY - Student ADDY 2007

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