Runners Training for the Peachtree Wear UWG Art Student's Design

The AJC Peachtree Road Race is a few weeks away and several hundred people training for it throughout metro Atlanta are wearing T-shirts bearing a UWG’s student design.

Mary Schanzle-Stack’s T-shirt design – a red, white and blue running shoe in motion – was chosen by the Atlanta Track Club for participants of its In-Training for Peachtree program.

“They had already picked [the finalists] for the road race. I didn’t realize that there would be other opportunities. So it was a pleasant surprise,” said Schanzle-Stack, who lives in Douglasville. “All the hard work paid off.”

The 11-week program gets runners ready for the annual Fourth of July 10K, said Tracy Lott, the club’s director of marketing and communications. The program is designed for novice and intermediate runners who want to improve their times. About 500 T-shirts for the runners and their coaches have been printed.

Schanzle-Stack, an interior design major, is the latest UWG art student whose work was picked up by the club. A design by Lisa Bailey, an art education major, was chosen for the Peachtree Health & Fitness Expo. Bailey’s T-shirts will be on sale at the expo at the AmericasMart in downtown Atlanta on July 2 and 3.

Both were students in a “Digital Media for Artists” course this year taught by UWG Assistant Professor of Art Clint Samples. As part of the class, students submitted designs for the AJC Peachtree Road Race T-shirt Design Contest. Three of the five finalists – Jessica Ferguson, Alyssa Chitwood and Barbie Klimaszewski – came from the class. The winning design will be announced the day of the race. A second design submitted by Chitwood was chosen for the volunteer T-shirts.

“The class has done such amazing things for us,” Lott said.

This was the third consecutive year that Samples’ were finalists in the design contest. Allison Bennett, another one of Samples’ students, was the winner of the Peachtree design contest in 2010. Also last year, the track club picked Samples’ design for the volunteer T-shirts.

“Between him and students, they have done wonderful things,” Lott said.

For more information on the Atlanta Track Club: http://www.atlantatrackclub.org/

In Focus: UWG Art Student Alyssa Chitwood

Alyssa Chitwood is among the finalists in the 2011 AJC Peachtree Road Race T-shirt Design Contest. Two of her classmates are also finalists. Here's a snapshot of Alyssa and her design.

Follow the link to hear her talk about her work on YouTube.

Also, follow the link below to see all of the designs and to vote for your favorite.

The last day to vote is Saturday, April 30.

http://ajc.upickem.net/engine/Welcome.aspx?contestid=27651.

You will have to register with the site before you can vote, but you will be able to vote more than once.

Alyssa Chitwood, 23.

Hometown: Newnan

High School: East Coweta High School, 2006.

Major: Art Education, senior.

Design: An Independence Day theme with blue stars, red and white stripes and the word “Peachtree” in bold, black letters.

Quote: “I wanted the stars and stripes, like the American flag. The words, I wanted them to be really readable.…Kind of funky and fun, but still readable.”

To hear Alyssa talk about her design: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La2ovFZCg64

Three for Three

Clint Samples beamed when he walked into his “Digital Media for Artists” course just after spring break. The classroom was packed with students. Some chatted; others were already working on their projects.

Samples came with good news. But a few already knew: three of their classmates were among the five finalists in the 2011 AJC Peachtree Road Race T-shirt Design Contest.

Alyssa Chitwood, Jessica Ferguson and Barbie Klimaszewski sat quietly as the students whooped, clapped and cheered their approval.

“I’m proud of you guys,” Samples said. “This is great. It’s a big achievement.”

Big achievement indeed: this is the third straight year Samples’ students have placed in the contest.

In 2010, four of Samples’ students were among the five finalists. The winner was Allison Bennett, who is now a senior. Two of Samples students were finalists in 2009.

Twenty of the students in the class submitted 30 designs for this year’s contest.

“It makes us all look good. It makes you as a student look good. It makes this class look good,” Samples said.

“It makes West Georgia look good. It makes the department look good. It says a lot about you guys.”

Samples, who describes his teaching style as “friendly yet firm,” uses the Peachtree assignment to give the students a taste of the real world.

“They have to compete with professionals in the Atlanta area,” Samples said.

The design contest is the first assignment he gives and he uses it to teach his students how to use Adobe Illustrator.

He also wants them to understand the creative process. “One of the things I really try to stress is process and understanding – that students can’t just settle for the first idea that they come up with,” he said.

The students critiqued each other’s work. Several revisions and final touches followed.

There were 122 entries in the contest this year, said Tracy Lott, the director of marketing and communications for the Atlanta Track Club, the organizer of the Independence Day race.

The race is a premier event and a July 4th tradition in Atlanta. The winning designer receives $1,000. The victor will be unveiled the day of the race, when some 60,000 t-shirts will bear the design, Lott said. Another 2,500 to 3,000 t-shirts will be given out at the overseas editions of the Peachtree in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, where most of the runners are U.S. military personnel.

The other finalists are: Matt Ankerich, 33, a graphic designer from Atlanta; and Adam Houston, 35, a graphic designer and marketing consultant from Cumming.

The Peachtree Road Race draws the most entrants among running events of any distance in the United States and is among the most prestigious events in the sport.

Members of the public have until April 30th to vote for their favorite designs.

To view all of the designs and to vote go to: http://ajc.upickem.net/engine/Welcome.aspx?contestid=27651.

You will have to register with the site before you can vote, but you will be able to vote more than once.

Hear Clint Samples talk about his class:
http://www.youtube.com/user/uwgucm?feature=mhum#p/u/10/OwNkW1SDcrU

A new Peachtree T-shirt legacy

From the Buckhead headquarters of the Atlanta Track Club, Director Tracy Russell retells a story she's shared dozens of times: "In the early days of the Peachtree Road race, they didn't order enough T-shirts, so it became this badge of 'I finished and I finished fast because I got a shirt."

The legacy of the Peachtree T-shirt is well-documented.

The recent domination by a small classroom is less well-known.

"I've joked with them; they should rename the design competition the Clint Samples design competition because he's dominated it for the last three years. The students have -- all credit to the students," said University of West Georgia President Beheruz N. Sethna.

Read more:

http://www.11alive.com/news/article/188198/40/A-new-Peachtree-T-shirt-legacy