Despite being isolated in quarantine due to the coronavirus, art has still managed to flourish within the Spokane community. Recently, both graphic design students and instructors of SFCC participated and took home awards from the Spokane Advertising Awards.
The Spokane Advertising Awards is “the first level of a three-tiered national competition conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF),” according to the Spokane Advertising Awards’ website.
Overall, two instructors, John Mujica and June Roys, both received awards for their artwork. In addition to this, SFCC graphic design students and club members took home seven gold, 16 silver, and one Best-in-Show award, totaling 23 out of the 27 available awards.
Mujica has been at SFCC for two years now, and Roys is one of the advisors for the Graphic Design Club. Mujica’s gold-winning entry was a poster designed for the Spokane Print Fest, another annual, local competition that features art done via the process of printmaking, including methods such as screen printing, relief, and letterpress, as stated on Spokane Print Festival’s Facebook page.
Mujica said that he drew inspiration for his design through the festival’s acronym, SPF. Mujica said he “played off the acronym for sunscreen.” As such, the art prominently features the acronym over a bottle of sunscreen, with a brightly shining sun behind the bottle.
Mujica said that he tries to stay “as active as (he) can within (the Spokane graphic design and art) community and industry,” especially “within the local AAF,” in order to set an example for aspiring designers.
Graphic design student Ashley Bolin won gold for her loose leaf tea packaging design, which she said aimed to stress “environmental safety as well as interactivity and functionality.” Her simple, boxed packaging “aims to reduce environmental waste,” she said, as a lot of tea bag packaging often can’t be recycled very well, due to it containing plastic mixed with recyclable materials.
Bolin is currently in her third year of schooling at SFCC, but in her second year of the graphic design program. She said she “definitely plans on entering (her) designs into future competitions” but noted that she doesn’t know when that will be, due to the coronavirus. Bolin hopes to pursue a career in graphic design after graduating from SFCC with a degree in said field.
Bolin also gave praise to the graphic design instructors at SFCC as well, saying they provide lots of help to students to help them “get through it.” For those interested in supporting or showing interest in Bolin’s work, her Instagram is @allsmiles_overhere.
Instructor Mujica offered some advice to aspiring graphic designers and artists, encouraging those striving for careers in those fields to stay humble, lest you be humbled by the world, but also reminding that your failures don’t define who you are and that perseverance is key to success.