New MSU exhibition shows graduating graphic design seniors are ready to ‘Break the Grid’

Seventeen art majors specializing in graphic design at Mississippi State sit on and stand near white blocks while smiling for the camera.

Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Seventeen Mississippi State art majors specializing in graphic design are the creative minds behind a new exhibition on display April 11-17 at the university’s Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery.

“Break the Grid” celebrates the seniors’ completion of studio work in MSU’s Department of Art, the state’s largest undergraduate studio art program. The spring semester graphic design thesis students are under the instruction of Assistant Professor Claire Gipson.

“A grid is a structure that is usually two-dimensional and made up of a series of intersecting straight (vertical, horizontal and angular) or curved guidelines used to structure content. Not meant to be broken,” said student exhibitor Joanna Bauer of Huntsville, Alabama. “These 17 seniors of the BFA graphic design concentration have learned the rules and now must go out and break them, but first, they will showcase a variety of skills in the 2019 Break the Grid Graphic Design Senior Exhibition.”

In addition to physical displays including web design, posters, editorial and advertising design, and illustration, the students’ portfolio books and self-promotional pieces will be available for viewing on opening night. For a preview, visit www.breakthegrid2019.com and follow on Instagram @breakthegrid2019.

A 5 p.m. public reception in the students’ honor takes place Thursday [April 11] at the Cullis gallery, where complimentary refreshments will be available.

Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday.

“Break the Grid” exhibitors include (by hometown):

ACKERMAN—Trent P. Furr.

BALDWYN—Calli Nelson.

BRANDON—Darby G. Taylor.

CLARKSDALE—Taylor E. Knight.

COLUMBUS—Sarah K. Ferguson.

FLORENCE—Ryne K. Riebock.

HERNANDO—Olivia B. Ketchum.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama—Joanna P. Bauer.

JACKSON—Imani J. Smith.

PADUCAH, Kentucky—Kennedy J. Caldwell.

PASCAGOULA—Carly D. Bond.

RIDGELAND—Mary Emily Moore.

SIERRA VISTA, Arizona—Josie Goodman.

STEENS—Laura Leigh Hicks.

TUPELO—Catherine D. “Kate” Webb and Katherine Huang.

YORKTOWN, Virginia—Daeja C. Thomas.

For more on the College of Architecture, Art and Design and its Department of Art, visit www.caad.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.