The UNI Gallery of Art will presents “Convergence and Creation of Design: Elena Diane Curris Design Exhibition” display from October 10th to November 9th 2022 in the Kamerick Art building.The Gallery is located at the South side of Kameick’s main floor. It’s free and open to all via regular hours, Monday through Friday 10am – 3 pm or appointments. A mask and social distancing is encouraged while in the gallery. 

The opening reception will begin at 6 pm in the Kamerick Art Building on the Main floor. James R. Ewald, assistant professor of Graphic Design at Oklahoma State University, will follow up with his public lecture “Triple Double: Independent Publishing, Sensory Experiences, and Visual Narratives.” The lecture will be held in Kamerick Art Building’s room 111. 

The exhibitors are very diverse in the areas of graphic design they cover as well as accomplished educators. The exhibitors are James Ewald, Soo Hostetler, Riva Nayaju, Dr. Sang-Duck Seo and Jessica Barness.  

Ewald teaches undergraduate Graphic and Interaction Design and Graduate Design Research courses. He is a former alumni of Iowa State University where he earned his BFA, Bachelor of Fine Arts and MFA, Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design. He researches graphic novels, sensory designs and visual narratives. He is a partner at a risograph printing press, Cauldron Press in Oklahoma City. Recently, his work has been exhibited around the world including China, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. 

Co-curaters, Soo Hostetler and Riva Nayaju are both UNI associate professors in Graphic Design. Soo Hostetler designs are inspired by South Korean Minhwa art from the Josean era which lasted from the 17th to 19th centuries. She is passionate about cultural connections by blending social bonding with visual asethetics. She exhibits her culture while increasing the cultural diversity of the viewer. Her work has an emphasis on motion graphics and uses math proportions, music and motion integration with digital technology. 

Riva Nayaju is an architect and graphic designer who specializes in watercolor, typography, motion and print design. She is from Nepal and earned her MFA at Oklahoma State University in 2021. Her work on tactile hand crafted designs, blended with digital technology is motivated by her interest in fine art and illustration. 

Togher, they first presented the third iteration of the exhibit in 2018. 

Dr. Sang-Duck Seo is a professor at the University of Nevada in graphic design and media. They use Gestalt Theory to represent visual form and space. Symbolic abstraction is experimented on to improve the “visual balance between complexity and simplicity”. Their research is centered around humans and collecting data from empirical studies on human behaviors by using user experience and user interface or UX/UI design. 

Jessica Barness is a UNI alumni who is now an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Kent State University. Her work is based on participatory projects and scholarship design. She uses visual, interactive and sound based items to show how media plays an important role in the practice of media itself. Barness’s two current works relates to the how the issues of power and representation relates to critical practices of design. 

The exhibition is in honor of Elena Diane Curris. She is a former alumni of UNI and the daughter of former UNI president Constantine Deno Curris and Jo Hern Curris. She studied at the UNI Price Lab school and attend school the same time her father was holding office. She was very passionate about graphic design. The first exhibition in her honor was presented in 2018. Contributions and long term support of this display come from her family, friends and other individuals who wish to promote excellent graphic design education here at UNI.