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MCCC will display student art in student space

MCCC graphic design and art students will compete to display their work in the new student space in the L Building.

Jack Burns, director of campus facilities, said Echo Etching is partnering with the Physical Plant department to bring student art to life.

“I talked to them on the phone about our design competition, and they were as excited about it as we were,” Burns said. “That is when I knew I had found the right partner for the project!”

Burns said he knew there were going to be transom windows above the vending machines to allow more light into the existing corridor outside of the lecture hall in the L Building.

He thought it would be interesting to have graphics that represent the major areas of study in the Science/Mathematics division etched into the windows.

“That is when I thought of our art and graphic design students and having them design the windows, and then from there the contest grew,” Burns said. “With the help of professors Brad Hesser and Therese O’Halloran, who were on board with the idea immediately, we developed the parameters for the contest.”

There are six windows. Each one will feature one area of study in the L Building.

The categories are Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Earth Science (Geology), and Psychology.

The windows are 2’-6” by 2’-6” with a 1” thick wood trim piece holding them in place.

Graphic design and art students will be creating half size mock-ups. They will be 15” by 15” paper designs mounted on foam core.

The windows will be etched on one side, but they could be etched on both sides depending on the design, Hesser said.

Students can submit as many entries as they want.

In Hesser’s Photoshop class, he assigned each student a category to design.

The window design is optional in his other classes.

“There are students working on it in, I think, every single one of my classes,” Hesser said.

The final day for submissions is Nov. 17.

Kevin Cooper, dean of Science/Mathematics, graphic design professor Hesser, art professor O’Halloran, graphic designer Douglas Richter, and Burns will judge all the entries from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22.

They will pick the three finalists for each category.

Burns said he cannot wait to see the designs because there are some incredibly talented students on campus.

Burns said the final three designs in each category will be displayed in the A Building. Staff and students are encouraged to vote for their favorite designs.

The voting process will be a blind ballot.

The designs with the most votes will be etched into glass windows and displayed in the student space in the L Building.

Burns and Joe Verkennes, director of Marketing and Communications, are still working on the details of the voting mechanism and how to promote voting.

Voting begins on Nov. 27 and ends Dec. 1.

The winning designs will be announced on Dec. 4.

The winning designers are invited to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Life Science Project.

All winning designers’ names will be placed on a commemorative plaque that will be hung next to the completed windows.

“It’s not very often you get to potentially design something that is going to sit in a space for fifty years,” Hesser said.