The Alchemist’s Notebook: The Satire, Remixes, and Haunts of Black Kirby was an art exhibit on display in the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library from September 2019 to December 2020. As the sole designer for the exhibit, I led the creation of all the branding and marketing material, which included: custom typeface, color palette, various-sized banners, flyers, art labels,
and collectible coasters.
The exhibit displays the powerful, afro-futuristic artwork of the art duo, Black Kirby, which consists of Stacey Robinson and John Jennings. What is on display is a representation of another universe filled with black superheroes, created by these alchemists, Black Kirby. In the same sense that Jack Kirby created the Marvel Universe, Black Kirby created the black version of that.
Although I was in charge of all design, this exhibit was a collaborative effort. The Assistant Director of Planning and Communications (Carolyn Hart), the Assistant Director of Engagement and Scholarship (Clinton Fluker, Exhibit Curator), as well as various outside sources, handled the curation of the exhibit, copywriting, promotion, exhibit tours, and more, all while approving and reviewing all
work that I developed.
The Atlanta University Center previously outsourced its annually held art exhibits inside its exhibition hall. They sought to eliminate the cost and time that it took to produce these art exhibits, thus hiring me as the graphic designer for my first job after graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design.
Create a brand identity for the artist duo Black Kirby that best represents the artwork that they will have on display. Afrofuturism and space seemed to be the biggest themes across their work, so we want to align with this and the mysteriousness that makes up outer space and play on the word "Alchemist's Notebook" in the exhibit title.
The main inspiration for the direction of the branding for the exhibit was the colorful yet dark worlds that the Black Kirby duo portrayed in their artwork. Carolyn and Clinton both loved my idea of using the art exhibit's branding to act as the opening into this universe, A closed, front-facing chemist book of spells and spaceship travel into this universe was where we started foundationally for this project.
The color palette's origin lies in the common color palette associated with the vividness of comic books, and also, some of the common colors used in Black Kirby's artwork.
After searching far and wide on the internet for the perfect comic book-like font, I landed on the idea of taking on a new challenge and creating a font from scratch just for this exhibit. Taking in a few inspirations from a handful of anime and comic book action fonts, I sketched a perfect blend of the two while introducing paintbrush strokes to exaggerate the suspense as you enter the exhibit.
The logo is made up of the custom font that was made above. Pretty simple letter mark lockup with a horizontal paintbrush stroke containing the subtitle for the art exhibit.
While closely communicating with a local print shop in Atlanta, West End Print Shop, for the production of all the signage created below, continuing with the idea of creating suspense as you're led into the exhibition hall was the goal with the signage. The large sign to the left was made with a flexible material to wrap around the curve of the wall that is the entrance to the exhibition hall. This set the foundation for the aesthetic of the rest of the signage, with the
reveal of the Alchemist's Book that contains the spells used to create the Black Kirby universe, with planets and outer space in the background.
The large sign to the right was made with plexiglass dipped in purple, where Clinton Fluker went to work on the copywriting for the curator's statement before entering the art exhibit hall
The main inspiration for the direction of the branding for the exhibit was the colorful yet dark worlds that the Black Kirby duo portrayed in their artwork. Carolyn and Clinton both loved my idea of using the art exhibit's branding to act as the opening into this universe, A closed, front-facing chemist book of spells and spaceship travel into this universe was where we started foundationally for this project.
The section puts on display the flyers used for the exhibit. The main flyer used to market around the entire campus of HBCUs in the community was the flyer overlooking the planet of Black Kirby. Thinking that this may be the 1st interaction with the art exhibit that most people will encounter, the view from inside of a spaceship symbolizes the furthest distance away from this art experience.
The next flyer includes the information for the VIP tours that were held, with the curator's statement listed on the back of it. Along with flyer designs, I created all of the labels that were made on matte black photo paper with mountboard backing.
As we were coming to the completion of all of our deliverables for the Black Kirby art exhibit, I had some last-minute thoughts for a collectible item that could be given to stakeholders and those who attended the VIP Tours. Using a similar material used to create the art labels, I had thoughts of creating a coaster that highlights the historical figures that Black Kirby highlighted in some of their artwork. Staying aligned with the style of art that they produce, I reveal this historical finish through a burst of paint splatter in the color palette used, with a notable quote from them included underneath. This collectible item was loved highly and contributed to the extension of the display dates for the art exhibit.
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