When you’re invited to display your work among some of the industry’s best design associations and artists, you take it. For artists and designers, having your name recognized on a global scale is an incomparable experience. A group of faculty and students in design from Missouri State’s Art + Design Department had the opportunity after receiving an invitation to display work in the 11th Asia Graphic Design Triennale, held in Seoul Arts Center in South Korea.

Missouri State’s Graphic Design faculty and students continue their international presence displaying their work among some of the industry’s best design associations and artists for the 11th Asia Graphic Design Triennale. The world-wide exhibition was held in Seoul Arts Center in South Korea and included the 316 entries from 23 different countries.

The Asia Graphic Design Triennale is hosted by the Korea Ensemble of Contemporary Design (KECD). Since 1992, the Triennale has been held every three years as a way for artists and design organizations from around the world to share their work. Missouri State MFA student and artist Nadia Issa had previous contact with Professor Jay Choi, Secretary-General of the KECD, and Dr. Mohamed Zakaria Soltan of “O6U” University in Egypt. Her contact led Missouri State’s invitation to participate in the exhibition. Department of Art + Design students and faculty were featured among 316 works from 23 countries for the Triennale’s 11th installment in November 2021, which focused on the theme of “The Collective.”

Eight artists from Missouri State were featured: two faculty members, Balazs Faa and Maria Gerasimchuk-Djordjevic, MFA students Nadia Issa, Anton Pleshka, and Erin Sedra, and undergraduate students Daniella Gonzalez, Ashlyn Hendrickson, and Curtis Lenssen. “This was my very first global exhibition, and a very big milestone for me as an artist. It was a lot of fun to finally be able to add an ‘International Exhibition’ section on my resume! I’m so grateful to be part of a department that creates opportunities like this for students,” shares MFA student Erin Sedra.

The theme was open to interpretation by the artists, but focused on the impact of the world-wide pandemic, “My poster . . . acknowledged the loss of physical touch and remembering how things used to be before this deadly virus. The theme is extremely important today due to finding new means of collaboration, even in an age where face to face interactions are so limited,” explains Daniella Gonzalez.

Artist-in-Residence Balazs Faa was recognized with the Excellent Design Award for his entry in the exhibition. For Balazs, this honor had it’s own sense of feeling “collective,”