The Sum of All Arts

by Heather Finley

By simply scanning Thomas Meimarides' online portfolio, you get a sense of a driven, accomplished young man who is able to explore and channel himself through the medium or aft. Black and white photos of Paris at night reveal his insightful mind and artistic flair, while textured intaglio portraits show a deeply intelligent person with a wild sense of creativity that most could only dream of having. Whether you look at works that took him weeks to perfect or simple class projects, it is obvious that Meimarides is one truly exceptional student.

The 21-year-old senior from Augusta, Ga., is majoring in graphic design, but his accomplishments, both artistic and personal, span far beyond his field of study. Aside from his obligations as a student here at the University, Meimarides also works as a lab technician in the art department, where he has gained respect from both the faculty and his peers. He is also considered a role model for others in the graphic design program and often has other students ask him for advice.

"He's a delight to work with," says Lanny Webb, the area head of graphic design and associate director of technology for the Lamar Dodd School of Art, as well as Meimarides' boss, advisor and former teacher. "He's the person we like new students coming in to meet."

Webb sees or speaks to Meimarides on a daily basis and also describes him as "bright, conscientious, proactive and steadfast." He says all of these qualities make Meimarides an excellent student and employee.

Meimarides says his interest in art started at a young age, but that he did not take it seriously until he reached high school.

"I've learned that I am a visual thinker," he says. "Art is both my expression of myself and also getting others to share in that expression."

Meimarides enjoys several different areas of art, such as fine art, print-making and photography, and he excels at all of them.

"He is strong all around," Webb says. "He is strong conceptually and good at his craft."

Even with is vast array of artistic gifts, Meimarides' main focus now is graphic design.

"The essence of graphic design is communicating visually," he says. "I feel [it] is overlooked as an art form. Critics call designers sell outs and so forth because we're doing diluted artwork for other people. I disagree because the nature of graphic design is no different from fine art. It communicates something to the audience."

Meimarides has received several honors including exhibits in the Graphic Design Faculty Show and a private showing of his photos at a restaurant in Augusta.

He counts Russian constructionist El Lizzitsky and modern graphic designer David Carlson among his artistic influences and says he draws his inspiration from his everyday surroundings. Street scenes, buildings and advertisements, as well as his extensive travel experience are common themes in his work. In recent years Meimarides has traveled to New York City, Mexico and Paris, to name a few, but found particular inspiration during his study abroad trip to Cortona, Italy.

"There's this texture in everything - old buildings, old trees," Meimarides said. "You're surrounded by these things that have 1,000 years of history."

During his time in Italy, Meimarides even created his favorite piece of work: a portrait of the human back titled "the sum of my parts," made by putting his own modern spin on a classic process called intaglio. To create the portrait, he first weathered a metal plate by scratching and smudging it, and then coated the plate with a thin layer of wax. He then scratched a drawing, based on sketches from Gray's Anatomy, into the wax, exposing lines on the metal. Then he submerged the metal plate into an acid which ate away only the exposed metal and gave him a smooth plate with recessed lines. Next, he smeared at thick ink all over the plate, allowing it to seep into the recessed lines. The final step was simply putting the plate into a printing press that transferred the sketch onto a sheet of paper.

Meimarides considers this his favorite work because of the estimated three to four weeks that went into creating the image. He says he wanted to use intaglio because he wanted to use an older, more classic form of art that made him feel connected to the artistic tradition of Italy.

"It just felt so appropriate for the setting," he said. "I combined everything I learned and experienced in Italy into that piece."

In addition to Meimarides' impressive list of artistic skills, he also says he enjoys helping people. He even says helping others in the graphic design program at UGA has been his greatest personal achievement.

As for the future, Meimarides plans to move to either New York or California and work for a graphic design agency while building his connections and his portfolio so that he can eventually own an agency. He also said that when he retires from working in an agency he would like to return to his love of philanthropy and become a teacher.

In his three and a half years at UGA, Meimarides has met and made an impression on countless students and faculty with his incredibly knowledge, outstanding talent, caring personality and positive attitude. Although he is sad to see his time at UGA coming to an end, he feels Athens was the best place for him to spend his college years.

"I wish I could stay longer," Meimarides says. "Coming to UGA was the best decision I could have made."