Students view posters from the “Type Hike” exhibit, created in 2016 to commemorate the National Park Service Centennial celebration last week at Gallery FAB (Photos by August Jennewein)
“Type Hike,” a typographic exploration of America’s national parks, shorelines and some notable endangered wildlife, has been displayed in galleries across the United States over the past two years and has been added to the permanent collection of the Library of Congress.
It recently found its way to the University of Missouri–St. Louis campus, wrapping up a six-week run at Gallery FAB in the Fine Arts Building on Saturday.
“The show was designed for the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, so it’s a reimagining of those original WPA/national parks posters by contemporary designers,” said Jennifer McKnight, an associate professor in the Department of Art and Design.
The first series was focused on 59 national parks while a second series, “Shores,” served to highlight 16 national shorelines and a third, “Alphabeast,” celebrated 26 endangered species – one for each letter of the alphabet – across North America.
McKnight helped bring all three series to UMSL.
She ran into one of its creators, her friend James Louis Walker, as the two were presenting at the international type conference Type Con. She was impressed with the work and thought it would make great programming for Gallery FAB, so she raised the idea of displaying it there.
Posters from the “Type Hike” Alphabeast series hang on the wall at Gallery FAB. The UMSL alumnus Daniel Clark designed the Virginia Big-Eared Bat poster (top right).
The Department of Art and Design was already connected to the exhibition. Alumnus Matt Marchini and senior Hayden Loos both served as interns to Walker and David Rygiol when they were putting the “Type Hike” show together, beginning with the first series commemorating the National Park Service Centennial in 2016.
Loos and Marchini, along with fellow UMSL alumni Laura Coggins, Daniel Clark and Ryan Doggendorf and adjunct faculty member Ben Proell, all contributed work to the exhibition.
Graphic design students hung the show and got to interact with the work ahead of the show’s Oct. 1 opening. Walker was on hand that night to deliver a lecture.
“It was a great event for students,” McKnight said. “It’s one of the favorite shows that the art kids have seen.”
All of the profits from “Type Hike” have been donated to the National Park Foundation and Defenders of Wildlife.
