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Kit Hughes has shown
his conceptual art projects at venues throughout the southeast
region since 1998, including the Fugitive Art Center in Nashville
and the Murfreesboro Art Center, also in Tennessee. He is
also a net artist who has received a grant from the UGA Center
for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) for his Tagging
project, an online tool for covering downtown Athens
in virtual graffiti.
Expected
Graduation: May 2005
Degree
Objective: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Media
University
highlights, achievements and awards:
Hughes
has won numerous awards and recognition including being named
a 2003 CURO Summer Research Fellow, ICE (Ideas for Creative
Exploration) Project Grant Recipient, and 2004 VIGRE Program
Participant (Mathematics and Visualization Seminar). He is
also a Presidential Scholar and on the Dean's List.
Current
employment:
I work as a design
consultant for a high profile design firm in Atlanta. Our
clients include the brands of Budweiser, Bud Light, Gillette,
Lipton, and BPAmoco. In Athens, I work for a different firm
that designs sports collateral for UGA and many other schools
with successful sports programs. I also have freelance clients
throughout the country.
High
School: Lone Oak High School
Hometown:
Paducah,
Kentucky
I
choose to attend UGA because…
…when
I decided to return to art school I began by visiting the
top art schools in New
England. They all overwhelmingly
suggested UGA because of its reputation with digital media.
After I visited the newly formed Digital Media program, I
knew immediately that UGA was where I belonged.
My
favorite things to do on campus are…
1)
Experience the Student
Learning
Center.
Since I am a transfer student and have first hand experience
at another school, I am especially sensitive to the university's
investment in its students. To me, the Student
Learning
Center
reinforces UGA's investment
in the student experience. When a building of this magnitude—interior
and exterior—sits in the landscape of a campus like
the SLC does, we have something we can touch and say, "This
is our university."
2)
Visit the galleries on campus. There are numerous gallery
spaces on campus, not to mention the Georgia
Museum
of Art, that rotate exhibits,
sometimes weekly. A lot of the work is from students so it
is great to see a few fresh ideas as some of the artists are
working through aesthetic issues for the first time.
3)
Walk around campus at the busiest times. My first semester
at UGA was abroad, so I didn't go through a real orientation.
During my second semester, I had class only on Tuesdays and
Thursdays from 8 a.m.
until 8 p.m.
in the same room. For one full year as a UGA student, I essentially
had no idea what the on-campus experience was like. Now I
walk around and ride packed buses as much as possible.
The
craziest thing I've done is…
…grow
my hair out to donate it to Locks of Love. I'm about 3 inches
away from having a 10 inch pony-tail. Two years ago I decided
that I wouldn't have much time to do volunteer work since
I was trying to juggle a career, spend time with my wife and
go back to school. So I decided to grow my hair out to donate
it to children with cancer. I knew this was something that
might make me a little uncomfortable but would bring joy to
someone faced with so much more than me. It has been very
tough dealing with long hair, but it has been worth it.
My
favorite professor is…
…Mark
Callahan, Laleh Mehran, and Michael Oliveri. I know I've listed
three people here. However, I asked them to wrestle each other
for the title of "Kit's Favorite Professor" and
they all declined. So then I told them I was going to nominate
Woody Beck or John Morrow instead since I knew that they'd
be willing to wrestle. Needless to say, these three are my
primary professors and each has helped me out immensely. Word
to Beck and Morrow, though.
If
I could share an afternoon with anyone, I would love to share
it with…
…Malcolm
X. To have undergone such a dramatic transformation through
one's life is absolutely amazing; I want to know what that
is like. I read his autobiography in high school and became
fascinated with his tact and disposition.
If
money was not a consideration, I would love to…
…create
a Rural/Urban Design Initiative very similar to Dennis Ruth
and Samuel Mockbee's Rural Studio at the Auburn University
School of Architecture. This initiative would connect architecture,
design, and art students with communities in low-income urban
and rural areas. These students would be able to offer low
cost architectural and graphic design solutions to emerging
businesses as well as enrich the community identity through
aesthetics. Take this same idea and apply it to public policy
and there is a chance that communities would flourish based
on common principles united in a common direction.
After
graduation, I plan to…
…attend
graduate school for architecture.
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