Students Mean Business in Creating Art for Ludlow Avenue Window Displays

University of Cincinnati design and art students recently found new venues for their work – the windows of ten businesses located along Ludlow Avenue in Clifton.   

Their efforts to create art for the business district, called the Pop-Up Ludlow Project, was the brainchild of Catherine Richards, adjunct professor in UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. Assisting with the effort were other faculty including

Emily Verba

, assistant professor of design;

Matt Lynch

, associate professor of fine arts; and

Ryan Mulligan

, assistant professor of fine arts; as well as students in leadership roles, including graphic communication design student Sarah Porter.

In all, about 120 students participated in the project, representing fine arts majors, graphic communication design, fashion design and industrial design. Some students worked on the project as part of their course projects, while it was an extracurricular project for others.

Their art, put in place in early December, will remain through the end of the month, with a number of the window displays referencing the holidays in some way.

According to Richards, “The students gained a new and unusual venue for their works within the community and where the community would serve as the critic. A lot of different voices would react to the work vs. just the voice of fellow students or a professor. So, it’s creating additional engagement between the community and our students that’s very real world. At the same time, the businesses and those who patronize them get to participate in a one-of-a-kind experience due to the individual art works now there.”

She hopes this year’s “Pop-Up Ludlow” will become an annual event, especially due to interest from the business community: “One thing I found remarkable was how much the local businesses enjoyed working with the students on the designs. They were excited by the energy, ideas and excitement from the students. Our overall goal was to enliven the street, encourage more local business and new traffic to Ludlow, and I believe our displays do just that.”