Mississippi University for Women student Michael Booth is $300 richer today thanks to winning the Market Street Festival art contest for 2010.
“It was a really big deal and a big shock to find out I won,” said the junior graphic design major from Caledonia.
This is the second year that Main Street Columbus has partnered with students in the advanced graphic design program at MUW.
“This was one of the toughest designs I came up with. I had to do some research and knew this would be the 15th annual Market Street Festival,” Booth said.
He said he wanted to emphasize the qualities of the event, which is scheduled for May 7-8.
“It has food, music, and arts, and I wanted to use that in my design,” he said.
Booth said he has always had an interest in drawing and decided to pursue graphic design as his college major.
“I wanted to use things to sell art. So many businesses use logos to sell their products, so it helps to give it a good design. When it has a good design, it makes the product look better,” he said.
When asked what he plans to do with the $300 he won, Booth joked,” I”m going to Disneyland!”
“It will probably be used for rent,” he said.
Kari Mancil was the second place winner and Alanna Gladney won third place.
Mancil was not present for the announcement, but Gladney said she was pleased her work was recognized.
“I finished second last year, so I am excited to place again. I was happy for Michael, because he had such a good design,” she said.
MUW Art Department chairman and graphic design instructor Robert Gibbon said his department worked with Main Street before on similar projects.
“We worked with Ben Paulding and Jan Miller in the mid-1990s, and it has evolved into our current relationship with Main Street. It is a win-win situation for them and for us,” he said.
Gibson said students were given three weeks to put together their ideas for their project and submit them to be judged.
“There were seven students who took part, and each had to come up with three designs. They had to create a poster design, a T-shirt design, and other applications including ads,” he said.
Gibbon said this contest gives students a chance to gain work experience in design to help them prepare for a job in the real world.
“This gives them a chance to work with people, to interact with clients, things they will do when they get a job,” he said.
Main Street Columbus Director Amber Murphree Brislin said the works were judged by six people, including herself and her assistant Jean Goley. The other four judges included Rachel Hurt and Kristen Thomas of the Columbus Arts Council, and Christina Riddle and Susan Bell of WCBI-TV.
“Susan is the chairman of Market Street Festival and has been involved with it for more than 10 years,” she said.
Brislin said the judges were looking for designs that would work well with several applications raging from posters to postcards.
“They also wanted something that would appeal to the Market Street Festival audience, because that is what this is for,” she said.
Brislin said she has wanted to work with art students from The W on other projects since the time some students painted a mural depicting scenes of Columbus located near the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center.
“We have a lot of talent in this department, and we want to use it as much as possible. I think we have a great relationship, and I hope the students from this department can do more for us in the future,” she said.
Allen Baswell was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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