Students showcase OU’s 生物保护 in sustainable design course

This semester, graphic design students showcased 十大菠菜台子’s 生物保护 通过原创艺术和诗歌, 编织保护的主题, 气候变化, 入侵物种等. 

Taught by Graphic Design Professor Maria Smith Bohannon, students in the DES 3900 Sustainable Design course created broadsides (posters) and zines (booklets) celebrating the preserve, 一片茂密的森林, 流, meadows and wetlands nestled along the southwest end of campus.

据博汉南说, the projects promote awareness of the preserve’s beauty, its abundance of life and the importance of healthy ecosystems. “They’re also meant to celebrate our good fortune of having a living laboratory on our campus,她补充道。.

Senior graphic design major Lauren Kotowski said the class broadened her perspective on the role of a graphic designer. 

“What's so interesting about this class is that while it’s a design class, and one that's shaping our entire futures in the field, it does something that not many others offer – it requires us to get out from behind the computer and into the world,科托斯基分享道. “当你完全数字化工作时, you forget to take that step outside away from the computer and into the world you're creating for, and I think this class does a really great job of allowing for that.”

在开始他们的项目之前, students toured the 生物保护 to learn about the diverse plant and animal species that call it home. Biology Professor Scott Tiegs led the tour, detailing the history of the preserve and its importance to OU’s campus.

“Walking through the preserve, everything feels so much larger than you. Not only in the physicality of the 树 and wildlife that stretch and sprawl high above your head, but in the much grander future and history of the land,科托夫斯基想道. “It instills a personal responsibility to help maintain it, 恭敬地与土地生活在一起, 不仅仅是在上面. I think there's a general understanding that nature preservation is important, but it isn't until you're standing in it that you feel the weight of that importance.”  

Kotowski’s project featured images from the preserve and a poem about the wonders of nature. 

“我画了一些岩石的草图, 植物, 草, 蝙蝠的房子, 桥梁, 树, 和青蛙, and scanned them in to make them digital renderings,她解释道. “Then I took those individual pieces and arranged them to create two 11x17 full-page landscapes of the preserve on Adobe Illustrator to later be printed on one page, double sided and folded in thirds to create a zine.” 

Senior graphic design major Kariann DeGhetto created a zine based on the different species of fish in the preserve’s creek.

“I think sustainable design is extremely important in our current environment,”她说。. “Climate change is a serious and pressing issue, and I think anything we can do to help the planet is so important.” 

帮助保护环境, students produced their projects with a special printer that uses soy inks and banana paper (made from discarded banana stems), 避免使用有害色素, 化学品和不可再生资源. 

The Sustainable Design course included collaboration with English Professor Katie Hartsock’s Workshop in Poetry class. 香农·韦特(Shannon Waite)是加州大学洛杉矶分校的学生. Hartsock’s class, featured a poem in graphic design student Heather Opperthauser’s project. 题目是“如何生存”,” the poem centers on the theme of survival in the face of invasion, with allusions to femininity and women’s rights. 

“As I was going through my notes to write the poem, one of the things that stood out to me was characteristics of femininity in the 植物 and bugs, 以及他们的经历,韦特说, 创意写作专业. “This piece was not originally going to be about women's rights, but as I was exploring ideas through writing, it turned into a poem about invasive species in nature, 也是关于女性的毅力.”

Waite also touted writing as a powerful tool to promote sustainability efforts. 

“Writing is a way to communicate and can effectively convey information about sustainability practices and why they are needed and important,”她说。. ”也, 诗歌能打动人, and with sustainability being such an important practice, poetry can help express this in ways that intrigue or speak to people on a more personal level.”