By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A Fort Hays State University graduate student in graphic design has drawn inspiration from her family to create her master of fine arts exhibit, which is now on display at the Moss-Thorns Gallery of Art on the FHSU campus.
Hays native Chelsey Augustine's MFA thesis exhibition in graphic design, which is titled "Mettle," will be on display through Sept. 8.
Augustine, 25, who comes from a Volga German family, said her family collectively are hard-working people.
"That's something that has really shaped me as a person and had a lot to do with my life," she said. "I drew inspiration from specific people in my family, mostly my grandparents and my great-grandparents. "
Mettle refers to a person's innate ability to make it through difficult times, Augustine said.
"I picked that name because I felt that it encompassed the people that I was basing the brands off of. My grandparents and my great-grandparents went through a lot of very difficult situations. I think that mentality rubbed off on me," she said.
She said she thought it all matched her experience in grad school.
"... just making it through and doing what I enjoy doing, which is design," she said.
Her branding for Lewsids, a fictitious waterproof leather brand, was based on her great-grandfather Lewis Steinert, her grandfather Sid Steinert and her father Terry Augustine.
"They really know what it's like to get their hands dirty to get the job done," she said in her artist statement on the work. "I knew I wanted to create a masculine brand that encompassed this 'Do-It-Yourself' attitude with a splash of western swag and my dad's love of fishing."
Her distillery brand, Stiks, is based on her grandfather, Joe Dinkel. It is an umbrella brand with other labels under it like a family, she said.
Augustine completed her undergraduate degree in art at FHSU but never had the opportunity to study sculpture. She took the time during her graduate studies to experiment with metal casting. This took the form of cast llamas.
Augustine said she took inspiration from sculpture professor Toby Flores. She made a mold for the llamas out of a toy from a dollar store.
"It's just a piece of me," she said. "I just made them into these little beings. I made a lot of them because I couldn't stop. ... They were just kind of fun."
In the show, there are llamas with Care Bears, a punk rock llama and a three-headed Jesus llama.
Augustine finished her coursework in the spring but will officially receive her degree at the end of the fall semester.
She has taken a job as an assistant professor of design at Doane University in Nebraska.
Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.