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WC Artist Illustrates "Poetry In Motion"
Kate Sheahan, a senior majoring in art and business, submitted winning designs for Poetry in Motion, a program sponsored by the Poetry Society of America that gives commuters a daily dose of art and poetry. Of the 20 designs selected to appear on Baltimore buses and light rail cars, two were hers.
Sheahan's designs are interpretations of poems by well-known poets Denise Levertov and Michael Waters. She developed her concepts, she says, to communicate messages on themes to which everyone can relate, such as love, dreams and lessons learned. In each of her submissions, she sought to strike an emotional chord.
In illustrating Waters' poem "First Lesson: Winter Trees," Sheahan focused on the idea that first lessons are the hardest to learn. She says, "Less is more was the vision for this solution," which uses simple, bold lines to create a feeling of starkness.
"The poem teaches that the wise old masters had a passion for simplicity," Sheahan explains. "Only through decades of experience could they understand this important virtue. This message parallels the work of any designer. The key to any design solution is to keep simplifying. Only through years of practice can a mature artist paint a tree with a few brush strokes."
Sheahan, who is considering careers in advertising or law, spent her junior year on academic exchange at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, where she took courses in graphic design and photography.
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