Seniors Jordy Triana and Jacob Kuehl will be presenting their graphic design senior seminar project at the new art gallery in Howard Art Studio on April 22. 

The senior seminar gives graphic design students an opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge they’ve gathered within the major and present their work, according to Department Chair Justin Nostrala. 

Kuehl explained his project consists of linoleum carvings which are of different animals based all over the world.

“I have a block or a pad of the linoleum and then I take a chisel essentially and carve out my design to which I then put ink over the top of it and paper and put it through a press to get a print,” Kuehl said.

Triana said his project is based on two of the things that he loves most: photography and hand-drawing tied into one theme.

“My hand-drawn designs are mostly based on experiences that most people go through but I specifically chose love. For the photographic designs, I chose to base them on my travel experiences. These designs are also going to be on hoodies, stickers, backpacks and so much more,” Triana said.

Throughout the course of the semester, Nostrala explained how motivated and determined both seniors are when it comes to putting all the pieces together to present cohesive design work.

“They came in and understood what they needed to do. I can’t really think of a time when they let me down,” Nostrala said. “They actually came through and had everything done when it was supposed to be done, and that is such a joy, but their projects were also done really well.”

With the new gallery opening up this year, Kuehl and Triana will be the first people to present within that space. Triana said he looks forward to showing his work and seeing people’s reactions to it.

“I think my favorite part is going to be talking about the designs and showing them to anybody that comes to the exhibition,” Triana said.

Kuehl said his favorite thing about the seminar was being able to work on one big project over the course of the entire semester and actually being able to print it out on large scale instead of a tiny screen.

“What I like about it personally for me the most is getting to work on a project for the entire semester, and then getting to put it up on a grandiose scale, essentially,” Kuehl said. “That it’s not kind of just work on my computer that I turned in for an assignment. It’s a little bit more than that.”