Western Gallery gains national recognition for Vanderbyl exhibit

During Spring of 2009, San Francisco graphic designer Michael Vanderbyl was the featured exhibition in the Western Gallery on the campus of Western Washington University, and this exhibition was recently recognized by Communication Arts magazine in the rigorous competition to be included in its yearly Design Annual.

Vanderbyl’s design team created an unusual system that allowed large-scale images and publications to be suspended in space for the exhibition. The environmental graphics category was competitive, with only 12 winners; among these winners were Apple Computers, Supervalu, Formica and The International Society of Wireless Communications. Four institutional exhibitions were also featured; in addition to the Western Gallery, other winners were the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum of California, The Center for Architectural Foundation and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

The exhibition was designed by artist Michael Vanderbyl, project manager Peter Fishel and designers David Hard and Kellie McCool, a 2002 graphic design alumna of Western Washington University’s Art Department.

To learn more about The Western Gallery, contact Sarah Clark-Langager, director of the Western Gallery, at (360) 650-3963 or sarah.clark-langager@wwu.edu. To visit Western’s Design Program, contact Elsi Vassdal-Ellis, department chair, at (360) 650-3461 or elsi.vassdal-ellis@wwu.edu.