What: Jude & Alex: An Exhibition, featuring the design work of Jude Landry and Alex Egner, both assistant professors of communication design in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas.
When: April 7 (Thursday) – May 14 (Saturday). The reception takes place 5:30 – 7 p.m. April 8 (Friday).
Where: UNT on the Square, 109 N. Elm St., Denton.
Hours: 9 a.m. - noon and 1 - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday, with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays, and 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturdays.
Cost: Free.
What else: The event is sponsored by the Institute of the Advancement of the Arts, the arm of UNT that promotes artistic and creative expression.
DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Visitors can view the quirky designs – ranging from Christmas tree ornaments to dressed-up animals – of two University of North Texas design professors at a free exhibition at UNT on the Square.
Jude & Alex: An Exhibition, running April 7 (Thursday) – May 14 (Saturday), will feature the work of Jude Landry and Alex Egner. Landry is an assistant professor and Egner is an associate professor of communication design in the College of Visual Arts and Design.
Their work also includes the typography and lettering they love to create because it requires order and detail.
"There's a craft we both really appreciate," Egner said. "It's technical but also beautiful."
Landry said he likes the challenge of typography because of its restraint.
"You can express the letter 'A' in so many ways," he said. "It is a piece of art but can also communicate messages. I hope people can come to appreciate the alphabet as a work of art."
Landry's typography has been featured on ornaments and teacups for Crate and Barrel and the "I Am ProHeart" Facebook campaign for Bayer Aspirin. A native of Louisiana, he has been teaching at UNT since 2014. He also makes silkscreened art prints T-shirts and posters.
Egner is a 2003 UNT graduate who worked as an advertising art director and graphic designer in Dallas-Fort Worth before he began teaching at UNT in 2009. He also wrote the book Experience Passport: 45 Ways to Broaden Your Horizons, a guide to creativity.
Egner also creates illustrations, seen on mainlyanimals.com, that feature animals and other inanimate objects out of their normal elements – such as a giraffe wearing many bowties down its long neck and a Christmas tree that saws itself from its trunk and flies into the air.
Both Egner and Landry share the same studio at UNT for screenprinting. The two also have more in common than design – their bald heads, similar eyeglass frames and penchant for wearing cardigans often get confused looks from students. They even dressed up as each other for Halloween.
Their common interests in design made it a good fit to have an exhibition together.
"While we each have our own creative process, skill set and stylistic approaches, we share an interest in typography, illustration and concept," Egner said. "Our separate design practices frequently arrive at similar outcomes."