Calendar showcases ESU students

Something new has come to the campus to help people keep track of the days this coming academic year.

Using pictures and numbers with personality, the ESU Fine Arts and Communication Academic Calendar was created. The calendar, which runs from August 2004 to July 2005, has photos of students and their accomplishments in the areas of theatre, communication, music and art at ESU.

“We in the Departments of Art, Music, Communication and Theatre are very proud of the work of our students,” said Elaine Henry, chair of the Department of Art. “We believe that this calendar is a great way to showcase their accomplishments and to show the strength of the areas of fine arts and communication.”

The design work was based on an Asian calendar style creating long, narrow pages for each week. Every page has three images which relates to one of those four areas. The categories then rotate within the calendar, showing various photos from musicals, theatre productions, operas, recitals, student art work, and other events that have taken place with the Department of Art, Department of Music, and the Department of Communication and Theatre.

Another artistic characteristic of the calendar is the design of the numbers for the days. Matthew Derezinski, the main graphic designer of the calendar, spent three and half weeks to insure that each number was one of a kind. The number for November the 6 took him two and a half hours alone to create.

“Each typeface is unique and has its own personality,” said Derezinski. “While one may be more gothic, another may be more rigid. I also tried to incorporate the meaning of the day into the number itself.”

In addition to the typefaces created by Derezinski, ESU students in his typographic class had a chance to take part in creating some of the numbers in the calendar.

“I thought it would be nice for them to use some of the type they created and work some numbers into it,” said Derezinski.

The calendar includes dates for theatre productions, art forums, student recitals, guest artist productions and many other events which occur at ESU during the next year. In addition to those dates, the ESU Fine Arts and Communication Academic Calendar lists holidays observed in the United States and holidays from around the world such as Ireland’s October Bank Holiday and Austria’s National Day.

The sales of the calendar are not for profit. Instead, the proceeds from the calendar are used to help perpetuate the calendar for the next year.

“The idea is that if this calendar does very well, we will do another academic calendar, said Derezinski. “While this year’s is an artistic calendar, next year’s would not be even in the same framework. We would like do something innovative and unique each year.”

The calendar was made possible by the support from President Kay Schallenkamp; Rodney Sobieski, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences; ESU Center for Innovation; ESU Printing Services; Department of Art; Department of Music; Department of Communication and Theatre; and ESU University Photography.

The Fine Arts calendar is on sale at the Memorial Union Bookstore for $10. For large quantities of the calendar, contact the Art Department at (620) 341-5246.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>