KRISTIN DUDLEY, DESIGN
Kristin Dudley came to Portfolio Center from Bend, Ore., after her stint as a national-caliber distance runner. She spent her tender years training for the Olympics and traveling the world, but when the time came to give up that career, Dudley began looking for a way to put her fine arts undergrad education to work for her. She suspected design might be a good channel for her painting, drawing, sculpting, and her intense sense of discipline and order. Some knowledgeable friends pointed her toward Portfolio Center, so she packed up and headed cross-country.

Dudley’s chair was born out of Richardson’s History of Design class: Students were charged with combining the inspiration from a randomly selected artistic movement and a personal experience to create a piece that would function as a modern metaphor for the movement, as well as a personal message to the world. She thoroughly researched her assigned movement, Dadaism, and immersed herself into a time when she felt a severe lack of personal freedom but eventually triumphed over those circumstances. The result of Dudley’s journey was Alis Volat Propis, the chair’s title, meaning “she flies with her own wings.” Built of mahogany, the chair resembles both a bird, representing independent freedom, and a flower, symbolizing growth and change.

MARK SIKES, ADVERTISING ART DIRECTION
Mark Sikes migrated to Atlanta from West Hollywood and claims he still has a bit of a culture-shock hangover. He attended the California Institute of the Arts, where he majored in performing arts. Underwhelmed by the opportunities his particular degree afforded him, Sikes was clever enough to figure out that Portfolio Center could help him spin his flair for the dramatic into an actual legitimate livelihood.

When he was assigned to promote a closeout retailer in his Ad Concepts class, Sikes’ response was a fully integrated branding campaign for Big Lots. He and partner Anja Duering wanted to tap into the rush shoppers get from finding a great deal—to associate excitement, thrill, and surprise with Big Lots. “Even if the customers don’t hunt,” Sikes believes, “everyone can relate to the primal survival instinct—the lioness feeding her cubs, the mother providing for her kids.”

He carried the idea through magazine and newspaper spreads, buses, billboards, bags, store windows, T-shirts, and TV spots. “That’s the benchmark of a good concept: Once you discover it, the ideas for execution come fast and easy,” Sikes notes. “Portfolio Center has taught me there is no design without a concept. Without a concept, designing is decorating.”