Bear Witness Exhibit
Bear Witness is a project that was designed as my exit show from the BFA program at East Tennessee State University. The aim of this project was to inform viewers of the several species of bears worldwide. In doing so, the hope was to encourage more participation in helping bear conservation efforts. The project included an interactive height chart, posters outlining specific species traits, package designs of products to be sold as donations, and a commercial outlining a phone game app that promotes thought about bears.
In 2018, This show received a Student Silver Addy Award in the local competition in Johnson City Tennessee.
Process Stage: Print Materials
Months of research, hours of reworking digital files, countless reviews with peers and teachers to reach the final show designs. I poured my heart into this project because I had found myself drawn to bears throughout all of my undergrad, and even when I looked back to my childhood favorite animations.
The data gathering was the most exciting portion because I loved learning so much about the life habits of these various species, and trying to translate conservation efforts into an easily accessible format.
Process Stage: App Design
I didn’t have the money at the time to purchase the pro version of the program I used for app. So, this became more of an App concept that I developed using the Clickteam Fusion developing program purchased through a HumbleBundle deal. I had to not only learn the program, and find various tutorials for how to build the game (Credit to the various https://www.clickteam.com/tutorials I utilized to learn the program and the based game setup).
That all being said, I loved exploring a new program and working through the technical difficulties that came along with displaying the app in the show. Ultimately, the piece I was able to show was a commercial featuring the gameplay I had coded with all of the graphics that came along with that.
Final Show
I had never been more proud of a single body of work up to this point, and somewhat even now. I was able to put together a cohesive show that helped educate others about bears, got to create some fun illustrations, learned a new program, and earned my BFA degree. Even now, bear conservation is a passion for me, so if you feel like it the folks at these conservation groups are doing amazing work rescuing bears every day:
