University of Alabama at Birmingham student Katie Segars won first place in the UAB Honors College Retreat T-Shirt
Dean Blanton presented Katie Segars with a certificate for the Dean's Scholarship Award Art Contest and received the Dean’s Scholarship award.
As a first-year student majoring in materials engineering, Segars credits her experience and the invaluable lessons learned through the Honors College as inspiration for the contest. “I am thankful for this t-shirt design contest because it has allowed me to reflect deeper on my first year in college and what it meant to me,” Segars said. “The Honors College is built upon community, and it starts with people who have a drive to take their learning beyond the classroom, while expanding towards those who need it most.”
Segars’ winning design concept features text and imagery that are reflective of the Honors College’s mission and vision to support students through exploration and exposure to rigorous programming. According to Segars, she wanted to convey this sentiment through “symbols to represent growth, community, guidance, aspiration, and hominess” as common themes.
Every spring, honors students are encouraged to submit designs for an opportunity to display their artwork on materials for the Honors College New Student Retreat, a three-day event that welcomes incoming first-year honors students through different sessions and activities. The Student Mentor and Retreat Team (SMART) Leaders reviewed and selected her design from the student submissions.
“Our annual call for artwork submissions is more than a competition—it’s a catalyst for connection, imagination, and the Honors spirit,” says Shannon L. Blanton, Ph.D., dean of the UAB Honors College. “I congratulate Katie on her winning design and thank her for sharing her creative vision of the UAB Honors College and beautifully celebrating the Honors experience. Katie’s creativity and shared inspiration is a great example of how our honors students ‘Set Your World on Fire’!”
Katie Segars with her winning designTo bring her concept to life, Segars drew inspiration from artists such as Andy Warhol and Brian Reedy due to one of their famed techniques, linocut – a process that carves an image on linoleum and then inks and presses it on paper to print. She used Procreate to create the final digital design. “When creating my piece, I hoped to capture a similar magical feeling that their linocut pieces convey,” Segars said. “Linocut is all about using the material that’s there to turn it into something beautiful. The result is bold artwork with sharp contrast that highlights seemingly simple ideas.”
Segars is no stranger to the art world and has participated in various arts and crafts projects most of her life. However, she found her spark in high school when she took the advanced placement course, 2D Art. She further enhanced her skillset by designing t-shirts for multiple organizations at her school.
With hopes of continuing her winning streak, Segars plans to display art in the future, along with other UAB students, at the Symphony of Elements – a popular festival curated by Raymond Thompson, Ph.D., P.E., engineering professor at UAB, that exhibits metals, steel, cast iron, and alloys through exposed microscopic structures. “In the future, I plan to create more art so that I can learn more about my experiences and the impact they have,” Segars said. “The ‘Symphony of Elements’ display at Sloss Furnaces is a wonderful example of how materials engineering and art intersect. It uses the microstructure and properties of the different materials to create beautiful works of art.”
