Art and Design Career Day will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on Feb. 28 in the lower level of the David L. Rice Library.
Originally titled Design Day, the name was changed to Art and Design Career Day this year. “We wanted to expand it beyond just being about design,” said Greg Blair, assistant professor of art and design. “We wanted it to be more applicable for all art and design students, so we rebranded it.”
“The idea is to invite local creative professionals who make their living working in some kind of creative industry, to come and share some of their ideas and experiences with our students,” said Blair.
The event will begin at 1 p.m. in Rice Library room 0017 with a welcome ceremony and introductions. Afterward, Kristen Tucker will deliver the keynote address.
After the break, the first breakout session will begin at 2 p.m. and will last 30 minutes. The second will begin at 2:30 p.m. During each breakout session, students will have the opportunity to attend one of four artist talks. At 3:15 p.m., a question and answer session will be held in Rice Library room 0017. All guest speakers will be present.
USI Art and Design students are encouraged to bring their Art Experience Passports, which they can complete at this event. Students will be able to collect signatures on their passports during the breaks.
Visiting Artists:
Kristen Tucker – Keynote speaker
Kristen Tucker is an editor and publisher with over 25 years of experience. She is also the co-founder of Tucker Publishing Group, which is behind the magazines Evansville Living and Evansville Business.
Mark Brendel – “Idea Toolkit – Prototyping, Process & Play”
Mark Brendel is the senior graphic designer at Lochmueller Group, a civil engineering firm that readers might know from their work on the Indiana University School of Medicine campus in downtown Evansville. In the past, Brendel has worked as an Adjunct Design Instructor at USI, taught visual communications at Henderson County High School and worked as a graphic designer for ERA First Advantage Realty, Inc.
Emily Gartner – “Indiana Is Not Just Basketball & Corn”
Emily Gartner is a fashion designer and a USI alumna. Although she majored in business administration with a marketing concentration, she has been interested in art for a long time. She worked at the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation, Allentown Art Museum as an Assistant Curator of Textiles and Art Educator, as a freelancer, sales assistant and more. Her work has been in Indiana Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week. Before becoming a design consultant for West Elm, she also owned an artist cooperative in Indianapolis called Art Threads Studio.
Amanda Fehr – “When the Worky Gets Quirky: Handling Unexpected Clients and Their Requests”
Amanda Fehr is a graphic designer at Gray Loon, a marketing and website agency based in Evansville. Fehr graduated Cum laude from USI in 2014 with a BS in graphic design and has well over a decade’s worth of design and marketing experience.
Chris Weatherly – “Career in the Video Industry” and “Life as a Freelancer”
Chris Weatherly is a filmmaker and the head photographer at Plotline Media. After earning degrees in history and visual communication, Weatherly worked as a photojournalist for the Vero Beach Press Journal. Afterward, he went on to work as a creative art director and freelance commercial director. His film “Fragile Strength” won an Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Award in 2023. It was also an official selection in the Victory International, Full Bloom and Wyoming International film festivals. His short film “Left Turn II” was a semi-finalist in the Los Angeles Cinefest and was nominated for Best Regional Film at the Victory International Film Festival. It was also an official selection in the 2018 Directors Circle Festival of Shorts, Bare Bones International Film Festival, 2019 Film Festival of Columbus, 2019 MayDay Film Festival and 2019 Full Bloom Film Festival.
