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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
JULY 20 - JULY 26, 2005
INTERNSHIPS
Advertising artists given awards
BY ASHLEY MICHAELS
amichaels@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
The Kansas City Ad Club honored two University of Kansas fine arts students for their marketing designs.
The organization honored senior design students, Jake Steele and Bryan Hale, with their annual Omni Awards. A luncheon was held July 19 to honor the two students.
Kuhn and Wittenborn Advertising hosted the luncheon to celebrate a partnership between itself, Coterie Theatre and KU fine arts students that has led to awardwinning marketing material for the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. While the collaboration benefits the Coterie Theatre, it also gives the students an opportunity to gain practical, hands-on experience.
Steele said.
Steele said it offered real world experience.
Steele, winner of the bronze Omni award for his Jekyll and Hyde poster he made during the class, said the class provided him with a great learning experience.
Hale did not attend the luncheon, but won the Gold Omni for his Stinky Cheese Man posters.
"It was kind of a crash course on working with a client for the first time and it taught us how to work quickly and efficiently."
Whitey Kuhn, CEO and president of Kuhn and Wittenborn Advertising, began the partnership between his agency and Coterie Theatre in 1999. Coterie Theatre is a non-profit organization children's theatre. Kuhn graduated from the KU School of Fine Arts in 1971 and said he had always wished for an opportunity like this to be available to him when he was in school.
Contributed art
"In 2002 I got the idea to set up a collaboration with Coterie, ourselves and KU because we had an annual project ideal for this situation," Kuhn said.
Senior design students Jake Steele and Bryan Hale won awards from the Kansas City Ad Club for their posters for Kansas City's Coterie Theatre.
Kuhn and Wittenborn Advertising approached the School of Fine Arts and Coterie Theatre and both were excited about it.
The students selected for the class get the opportunity to sit down with Kuhn and Wittenborn and discuss ideas for promotional posters for the Coterie Theatre plays. Over 30 students have participated in the last four years, Kuhn said.
Throughout the entire process, George Kauffman, design director at Kuhn and Wittenborn, makes trips to the University to meet with faculty and students. He helps students with ideas and once approved, they are designed and some of
the projects are entered in the Omni Award Show, Kuhn said.
- Edited by Erin M. Droste