The Mangroves of Masters Bayou

CLIENTJay Youngdahl

CREDITS
Jay Youngdahl

YEAR2023

Exhibition design, production, and project management for the artist Jay Youngdahl. This exhibition was an investigation into the history and sociopolitical aspects in mangrove forests at Ringling College of Art + Design, Brizdle-Schoenberg Special Collections Center.

Jay and I worked together on turning motifs on pottery shards found in the area into vibrant colorful abstract drawings. We used the car sun-visor (a nod to Florida’s sun) and the tables within the reading room of the library as a format for Jay’s photographs of life in the bayou. To document the exhibition we created an artists’ book that worked as an exhibition catalog and a work of art in and of itself.

PRESS Communications, Office of Marketing and. “Exploring Mangroves and the Human Existence.” Ringling College, 17 Mar. 2023, www.ringling.edu/news/031723-spcollections-mangroves/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.

Kline, Wes. “Jay Youngdahl: The Mangroves of Masters Bayou.” Cultbytes, 10 May 2023, cultbytes.com/jay-youngdahl-the-mangroves-of-masters-bayou/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.

Abstract designs translated from the pottery shards found at Weedon Island Preserve (see the b&w stones in the .gif above for reference

Vinyl wraps featuring Jay’s photographs on the reading room tables

car sun-visor as canvas for Jay’s photographs (a nod to Florida’s sun)

For the exhibition Jay and I wanted to make a book that was a piece of art in and of itself. We took stock of all of the exhibition components (photographs, abstracted pottery shards, pottery shards, etc.) in the show and made a book that acted doubly an exhibition catalog and an artists’ book.

ABOUT
I’m a designer with a background in photography, publishing, and librarianship.

Most recently, I was an in-house Designer at Harvard Innovation Labs. Freelance clients include Hindman Auctions (Freeman’s | Hindman), Pillar VC, First to Knock, Jay Youngdahl, and more.

Before my career in design I was an academic librarian at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

In my spare time I maintain a personal art practice that is based in photography. Since 2017, I have published and edited Challenger, a BMX magazine that takes multiple forms. Its current form is a monthly subscriber only newsletter.

ELSEWHERE

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