Typography, in art, refers to the arrangement of characters in a visually pleasing way. This is a concept that most people on Monte Vista’s campus have likely never even heard of before. However, in the school’s most recent Intersection Gallery showing, students from its art classes had the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of it.
The art shows held at the Intersection Gallery occur a couple of times a year, and are run by Monte Vista’s Art Club. The displays are for the school, so the work comes solely from students who are in it.
“So, first, we display classwork, then…we meet, and we talk with the members to see what type of fun shows we want to have,” senior Maddie Chiang, the current manager of the Intersection Gallery, said. “Then also, in this spring, we’re going to have AP shows, so each AP student [will be]…showcasing their work.”
This time around, it was Computer Graphics 1 and 2’s turn to take center stage. Thus, the gallery included five sections that were each dedicated to a unique project that its students took part in. However, as was mentioned earlier, what they all had in common was the theme of typography.
“What most kids probably don’t think about when they think about digital art is that most of the design that is produced is graphic design,” said Annemarie McElhattan, the Computer Graphics teacher. “And it’s not just image[s], it’s also words. So typography plays a central role in that first year’s class that we do.”
To this point, the gallery’s “Their Words” project, featured portraits of famous figures, such as Lauryn Hill, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Steph Curry, made up entirely of text, while one called “Typeface Poster” had students make posters pertaining to certain fonts. Other projects included “Logo Design,” in which logos representative of students’ personalities were created, the “Font Design,” in which students generated their own unique font, and “Playing Cards,” where students designed a card deck.
“It’s just to display my artwork and show how much progress I made,” said sophomore Geethika Viji Nair of the gallery, in which some of her pieces were displayed. “I don’t like my projects from last year, so it’s a way to see how much I’ve improved over the year.”
Whether or not you’re an avid artist, one can find plenty of art pieces to enjoy at the Intersection Gallery. And although this one is over, Monte Vista has plenty of future ones to look forward to.
