Students’ designs part of national competition, public can vote for People’s Choice Award

College of Arts + Architecture students Rob Bates, Kellie Funderburk, Kaitlin McCluskey and Jemima Omalay are semifinalists for the official poster competition to promote the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Championship being held in Greensboro. This national contest is being coordinated by Greensboro arts organization Greenhill.

Bates’ work is “America in Motion.” He said his poster “encapsulates the diversity and American spirit of 21st-century athletics. The Greensboro skyline, home of the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Championship, traces the background. In the foreground, there is a single African American female figure skater gliding in motion while simultaneously donning our nation’s colors. Connecting these two components is a single swooping line that implies the grace, strength and fluidity of U.S. figure skating.”

“Leap Through the Ice Sky” is the title of Funderburk’s work. The artist stated, “While the ultimate goal was to create a poster for a figure skating competition, I wanted to embrace the whimsy and fantasy that ice skating can create to the viewer. The poster contains a small figure skating mascot leaping over a city on the moon. The moon is covered in ice within a snow globe.”

McCluskey’s “Victorious Delight” is meant to parallel the physical rigidity and flexibility displayed by the athletes competing within the sport.

Omalay has two entries among the 44 semifinalists. “The Crescendo” is meant to represent that moment when a person has put his or her all into the routine and all that’s left is to accept the well-earned applause of the audience. “The Humble Bow” is more of a push for humility and energy. According to Omalay, “I wanted to capture the moment where everything is just beginning to settle down for the skaters after their routine. I thought there had to still be a lot of tense energy humming through them as they bow. Capturing the gesture was the most important part of this piece.”

The competition jurors will select the top three submissions by Dec. 15 with the first-place entry to be the official poster design. The public can vote for the People’s Choice Award winner online, which comes with a $750 award.

Illustration: Student posters (clockwise from upper left) “America in Motion,” “Leap Through the Ice Sky,” “Victorious Delight,” “The Humble Bow” and “The Crescendo.”