After a campus-wide vote, a winner has been selected in IUPUI’s T-shirt design contest. Three finalists were put on the ballot via IUPUI’s Instagram, and Cadee Thompson’s design received the most votes.
“This is the first in what we hope will be an annual design competition,” said Greg Hull, dean of the Herron School of Art and Design. “I was thrilled to see the enthusiasm and creativity that students from across our campus demonstrated through their designs for the new IUPUI T-shirt.
“I have always been impressed by our students’ skills and creativity, and I was excited to see their interest and commitment in contributing to the identity of our campus. I thought the winning design effectively illustrated the breadth of teaching and learning that occurs across our campus.”
Thompson, a Herron School art education major, will receive a $250 gift card, and her T-shirt design will be sold in the IUPUI Bookstore.
Herron students Jacob Rice, a visual communication major, took second place, and Cara David, an integrative studio practice-drawing and illustration and printmaking major, was third. They will also receive bookstore gift cards as finalists.
For Thompson, this is a dream come true. She has a passion for teaching art but has also found a love for screen printing; she hopes to own her own small business designing clothing some day. She said it will be surreal seeing her T-shirt design in the bookstore and worn by others.
“I’ve only ever made one T-shirt or one print on a sweatshirt, so it will be crazy to see a bunch of them, and a bunch of my family members want some, so it will be really funny to see them wearing them too,” Thompson said.
In her design, she wanted to make something that many people could connect to. The red letters of IUPUI are filled with images of a DNA strand, a camera, a stethoscope and athletic equipment.
“I just kind of picked five major subjects for each letter,” she said. “They’re all hand drawn, so each one had different images to represent as many parts of campus as I could.”
Thompson shows more of her artistic process and creativity on Instagram with sweatshirt prints, sculptures, pottery and more. Her love for art is something that started at a young age, and she wants to continue to share with others as a teacher after graduation.
“Growing up around my creative parents and sisters, we always loved painting and drawing as kids, and I looked up to my older sister’s talent,” Thompson said.
“My love for it was really amplified in high school though. I took nearly every art class my school offered, and I loved every minute of it. I found that I was able to express myself in a new way. I knew in my senior year that I wanted to continue making art, and I decided to teach so I could provide a safe space for kids to find the same passion.”
Thompson’s IUPUI T-shirt design is on sale now at the bookstore and on the bookstore’s website. Each shirt is $24.
“The contest is a wonderful opportunity for our students to engage with the bookstore and share their creative design ideas and passion for IUPUI,” said Valerie Gill, associate vice president of the Office of Business Partnerships, which partnered with the IUPUI Bookstore and Herron School on the contest. “Congratulations to Cadee, Jacob and Cara!”
