UWG + the Peachtree = :-)

The AJC Peachtree Road Race and UWG are becoming synonymous.

For the fourth consecutive year, Clint Samples’ students have placed as finalists in the AJC Peachtree Road Race T-shirt Design Contest. Two UWG art students have been winners. In all, a dozen have been in the running since 2009.

The finalists were in Samples’ graphic design class last fall: Caitlyn Weathers, 22, a senior, of Temple; Clarissa Robinson, 24, a junior, of Suwanee; and Mallory Royal, 22, of Stockbridge, who graduated last year.

It’s no easy feat; the contest draws professional artists as well as students. A panel of judges made up of representatives of the Atlanta Track Club, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and local graphic artists picked the five finalists. The public chooses the winner via an online contest.

Samples also taught the class this spring and students in that class submitted designs as well.

Despite success in the past, Samples does not take anything for granted. He tells his students there is a chance they will not be in it.

“It’s like entering an art exhibition,” said Samples, an associate professor of art. “There’s always a chance of rejection. That’s something you have to live with as an artist.”

But he does not waver in what he asks of his students: revise your work. And, as in past years, his students have taken his counsel.

They reworked their designs, placed the text in different places, experimented with the colors and changed the orientation of the images.

Even before she started Royal, whose concentration was in photography, went through “stacks of ink drawings and paintings of different aspects of the Peachtree Road Race, such as shoes, peaches, ribbons, runners and cityscapes.”

In the end Royal picked a peach, “to emphasize the name of the event, which provided me with a natural color scheme. I also incorporated the stars and splashes to tie in the facets of the 4th of July…. I had around 15 different versions. I eventually chose my final design because of the color scheme I created.”

Weathers, whose concentration is also photography, looked to the flag at the opening of the race for inspiration.

“I wanted to include that. But I didn’t want it to be just an image of the flag,” said Weathers, who graduated from Temple High School in 2008.

She dipped several pairs of sneakers in black paint, then photographed them and used Adobe Illustrator to change the colors and create the image.

“I was really surprised that mine was chosen as a finalist,” Weathers said. “I think a lot of the other designs in the class were a lot better than mine. I was really honored that they chose mine.”

Robinson went through her sketchbook to get started.

“I had a lot of different colors,” said Robinson, whose concentration is in graphic design. “I cut them out into little shapes…. I used them as an idea. I scanned them, but the colors were not bright. They didn’t go with the overall theme of the race.”

But with the idea in mind, Robinson used the software to create the brightly colored patches in the shape of a peach.

“I’m really surprised,” said Robinson, who graduated from Collins Hill High School in Suwanee in 2006. “This is my first time doing something like this.”

The winner will be announced on July 4, the day of the Atlanta Track Club’s premier road race. This will be the 43rd year of the race. The design will be printed on 60,000 t-shirts. The winner will receive $1,000. The four runner-ups will get $100.

The two other finalists are: Rachel Campbell, a graphic designer and co-founder of the branding and creative design firm, Logos Atlanta; and Jared Swafford, a graphic designer.

Voting for the 2012 AJC Peachtree RoadRace T-shirt design is open until April 30. You can vote once per day.

To see all of the designs and to vote go to
http://ajc.upickem.net/engine/Votes.aspx?PageType=VOTING&contestid=50735.

Meet the 2012 UWG Finalists:

Caitlyn Weathers, 22, senior.
Concentration: Photography.
Hometown: Temple.
High School: Temple High School, 2008.
Design: Flag with the bars and blue field made up of sneaker prints.
Quote: “I think a lot of the other designs in the class were a lot better than mine. I was really honored that they chose mine.”

Clarissa Robinson, 24, junior.
Concentration: Graphic Design.
Hometown: Montgomery, Ala.
High School: Collins Hill High School, 2006.
Design: Brightly-colored patches in the shape of a peach.
Quote: “I’m really surprised….This is my first time doing something like this.”

Mallory Royal, 22, graduated in 2011.
Hometown: Stockbridge.
High School: Dutchtown High School, 2007.
Design: A painted peach. Stars in some of the letters evoke an Independence Day theme.
Quote: “I feel privileged to be a finalist….I feel thrilled because I worked extremely hard and spent many hours sketching, scanning and designing.”

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