Shaw receives 2022 Janice Peterson Anderson Medallion Award
05/04/22
AMES, Iowa — Darbi Shaw, an Iowa State University graduating senior in graphic design, is the recipient of the 2022 Janice Peterson Anderson Medallion Award.
Established in 1968 in memory of Janice Peterson Anderson, a 1960 ISU graduate in home economics education, this award is presented annually to an outstanding senior in graphic design, interior design or integrated studio arts who “shows the greatest potential for distinguished work in design.”
One student from each of these departments is first selected to receive the Janice Peterson Anderson Senior Award based on scholarship, creative ability, motivation and productivity throughout their studies at Iowa State. Finalists this year were Shaw, from Waukee; Laura Maschino, from Atkins, graduating senior in interior design; and Caitlyn Chellew, from Ames, who received her bachelor of fine arts in integrated studio arts from Iowa State in December 2021.
These three finalists then submit portfolios of work for review by an interdisciplinary faculty committee, which determines the medallion winner. Honorees receive a JPA Silver Medallion featuring Anderson’s continuous-line monogram and their names are added to a plaque displayed in the College of Design’s administrative office.
About the honoree
Shaw will graduate summa cum laude with a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design and will serve as the College of Design’s student marshal for the university’s undergraduate commencement ceremony Saturday, May 14, at Hilton Coliseum.
A George Washington Carver Scholar, Shaw was a member of the Dean’s List and the top 2 percent of her class every semester at Iowa State. She received scholarships from the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, ISU Design Ambassador Club, Conservation Districts of Iowa and National Merit Scholarship Program, and was selected by the ISU graphic design faculty to receive the ADAI (Art Directors Association of Iowa) Harry Watts Scholarship during her junior year.
While at Iowa State, Shaw served as the Graphic Design Social Club community outreach chair, a Destination Iowa State team leader, a Larch Hall resident advisor and a BUILD (Building Up Inclusive Leaders in Design) learning community peer mentor. She was honored as Resident Advisor of the Year for 2021-22 by the Iowa State Inter-Residence Hall Association.
With the Graphic Design Social Club, she was a team lead and the primary designer on an 20-foot-by-8-foot vinyl mural banner project in collaboration with the Ames History Museum. Displayed on the museum’s exterior, the “Know History. Serve a Better Future” mural highlights nine illustrious Black individuals and their significance in Ames’ history. It also incorporates an interactive augmented reality feature.
Shaw completed internships as a communications coordinator and graphic designer for the ISU Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity and as a creative marketer at Workiva in Ames. She also worked pro bono as a lead graphic designer for AmesBLM (the Ames Black Liberation Movement) and volunteered with the Overflow Thrift Store and Reiman Gardens. She won Student Best of Category and Student Best of Show awards in the 63rd ADAI Design Exhibition in 2021 and Board’s Choice – Student, Student Best of Category and eight Student Awards of Excellence in the 64th ADAI Design Exhibition in 2022.
Shaw “engages with graphic design and illustration as fundamental platforms to enact social change and further accessibility,” she said.
She is particularly grateful to graphic design assistant teaching professor Miriam Martincic for “challenging me to engage with projects as systems that can always be improved. She sees students as designers and treats us as such, encouraging us to apply for awards, explore additional opportunities for growth and offering endless valuable feedback.”
After graduation, Shaw will join 3M as a full-time graphic design intern and pursue pro bono opportunities with community organizations and mutual aid groups in central Iowa.
Contacts
Darbi Shaw, Graphic Design graduating senior, dnshaw@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Design Communications, 515-294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu
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May 4, 2022 8:29 am
Tags: Awards
