This collaborative project was formulated over 6 months by Meena Khalili and Brent Dedas and was given in three parts. To see examples of the process, see THE PROCESS part of this website.
To begin, Graphic Design students at Virginia State University were each asked to create a serif and sans serif letterform—the 27th letter of the alphabet—by combining existing roman characters in the English alphabet. This was treated as its own project, and graded thusly. Once this process was completed, VSU Graphic Design students created posters diagramming the new letterform. This was an expression of their work from a design perspective and worked to teach basic principles of graphic design including printing basics, working with digital imagery, concepting and setting body copy, and of course typographic legibility. Finally, the collaborative process with Intermediate Painting students at Western Kentucky University began. VSU students each made two stencils: one for their sans serif and one for their serif letterforms. Armed with Montana Gold brand spray paint and over 50 16x20” sheets of Strathmore paper, VSU students used 30% grey spray paint to mark one stencil per page following this recipe: _Touch two sides of the page with the first mark _Mark must be 75% of the page size _Refrain from straight up/down or middle of the page _Two passes with the stencils, which must overlap _Use 30% grey spray paint to create a mid-tone upon which to begin these paintings _Keep all scraps! Send both negative bits and positive shape when mailing to WKU Upon receipt, WKU students were allowed to cut into each stencil in order to transform it themselves. They followed these guidelines: _Destruction of the stencil must be measured: You are allowed to cut three times _Leave hints of previous architecture behind when making new form _Only 50% of the picture plane may be covered by spray paint _Use color to provide the next layer of interest in these paintings The pieces were returned to VSU and the collaboration continued: _Working with form: Learn from breaking the rules previously instated _Use all negative shapes sent to you from collaborators _Only 50% of the picture plane may be covered by spray paint _Use extra paper for masking to create strait edges where needed _Black spray paint only to provide darkest areas of contrast The final round of collaboration ended with WKU students who refined each piece, providing highlights with white spray paint only. |