APSU art students earn several awards and scholarships

Clarksville, TN – February turned out to be a good month for the Austin Peay State University Department of Art, with several students earning prestigious awards and scholarships.

Graphic design student Brooke Mckee was awarded a Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) scholarship for winning a Design Center student competition to design the visual identity for TBR’s Critical Conversations Initiative.

Chancellor John Morgan and Vice Chancellor Tristan Denley awarded her the scholarship during a presentation and awards ceremony in Nashville. The Design Center, taught by Professor Mark DeYoung, is a course where students work for real clients with opportunities to compete on design projects that get produced commercially.

In addition to McKee’s accomplishment, three APSU Bachelor of Fine Arts seniors recently won four gold awards at the 2014 Nashville Student Addy Competition.

• Chelsea Dixon won gold awards for two of her illustrations. Her unique, graphic style was developed using linocut techniques introduced by APSU Professor Jesse Shaw in the Printmaking I course.
• Taylor Rushing was awarded gold for her compelling animation, “I Give You a Hamburger,” produced in Professor Kell Black’s Digital Imaging III class.
• Oscar Quintanilla‘s letterpress book, “Pick-up Lines” (produced at the Goldsmith Press), also won gold, and the competition’s Master of Ceremony read a different pick-up line from the book as he introduced each award category.

All gold award winners automatically move on to the Southeastern Regional Student Addy Competition in April.

The award-winning work by these Austin Peay students represents the unique interdisciplinary possibilities available and encouraged by the art and design faculty at APSU.