Featured Student: Elizabeth Hall

Year: Senior

Major: Graphic Design

Hometown: Grand Rivers, KY

Quirky Fact: My dreams are always like video games.

Favorite thing to get (food/drink) on campus: Sashimi

Best movie you’ve seen recently: The Shape of Water by Guillermo Del Toro

Favorite movie:  Birdman, or, The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance by Alejandro Iñárritu

Best book you’ve read recently: Watership Down by Richard Adams

Favorite book: Watership Down by Richard Adams

What you like to do on campus: Draw in my studio.

 

Tell us about yourself:

I am a Graphic Design major who lives only about forty-five minutes from Murray State, so I commute. I love drawing and incorporate it into a lot of my work. I like video games and watching movies with my boyfriend. We just make a habit to engage in the media of our culture—we love to intake things that are intelligent and well made.

Why did you choose Murray State?

One of the things was obviously proximity. Another was that the art department came with high recommendation. I transferred here initially, and the community college I was attending had very high praise for the Graphic Design program.

Who have you enjoyed working with?

I have really loved working with the sculptor professor, Chris Lavery. He has got a lot of intelligent things to talk about when it comes to art history and the contemporary goings on of art and sculpture, so I glean a lot from his classes. Also, Jim Bryant: he is the best professor I have ever had. He is always so on-the-ball with everything, and you can see him thinking so quickly. He is managing all of these classes and students, yet somehow manages to get to know each and every one of the students. He is so engaged with everyone in his classes, which I adore. He’s kind of like a dad.

Who inspires you in life?

Definitely Jim Bryant, again. He does so much to inspire and push his students, which did a lot for me while I was trying to figure out my place in my career field. Also, just the obvious people: my significant other and parents. They give so much support to me, especially in the difficult parts of the semester.

Why did you choose your major?

I actually wasn’t always interested in the current field I’m in: I was still in the realm of 2D when I came, and was actually wanting to start getting into painting. Not to discourage future artists, but most of the graduated painters I had spoken to had side jobs, like, that wasn’t what they did mainly. I wanted my art to be my main focus, and Graphic Design is something you can take out into the world and find a full-time job doing. When I heard you can do design and have this plush office to work in, I thought, “Wow, that’s crazy!” Graphics can open up all sorts of options, like character design, but what I have noticed about the program here is that it focuses mostly on Print Media, like posters, flyers, anything that has typography on it. What’s really cool, though, is that I can do anything. Designers touch everything, from architecture, to furniture, and beyond. Everything we see has been designed by someone, aside from nature.

Work/projects related to your major?

Right now, I’m trying to combine drawings with design. If I could have a minor in drawing, I would, but I don’t think I’ll stick around for that. I love illustration, and so something I’m pushing towards is incorporating illustration into my designs. First, though, I have to get better at typography, which is what we’re working on now. I’m mid-way through the graphic design program. Layout design is what we’re working on now.

Recent awards/ honors?

I have gotten a few scholarships I didn’t expect to get. That was really exciting. As far as awards, nothing super recently. I haven’t been in the last student art show, so nothing from that; but, I have received awards in the past from other events. “Best in 3D” for a sculpture I made, and honors like that.

Future plans:

I have no companies in particular in mind right now, but that can always change—especially as I get close to graduation time and begin doing more research on them. After graduation, I plan to stick around for at least a year while my significant other and I work out what our future plans are. I’ll work here during that, and then the plan is to move to a big city.