Maryam Khaleghi Yazdi

The exquisite drawings in this issue are by graphic designer Maryam Khaleghi Yazdi, MFA ’19, from the School of Art + Design. Her work, God of Seigfred Hall, has adorned the walls of the school’s home since 2018. The building’s wheat paste signage, murals, and elevator art create a mythic structure with a different, medium-specific god overseeing and tormenting students on each floor.

“I wanted to add a sense of excitement to the School. The story is a little bit creepy and frightening,” Khaleghi Yazdi says.“The majority of young people are attracted to that.”  

Many of the school’s graduate and undergraduate students helped her bring it to completion. Other students worked with her to document the project, which was exhibited at the 2019 Association of Illustrators exhibition in London and was published in American Illustration 38, a premier, juried annual publication that showcases unpublished and student work created by established, emerging, and student illustrators and photographers.

Khaleghi Yazdi is assistant professor in Graphic Design at University of Minnesota-Duluth.

School of Art + Design Director Julie Dummermuth praises Khaleghi Yazdi for “the language of drawing” she incorporates into her designs. The momentum from God of Seigfred Hall has led to a mural project in Seigfred by students for the College’s CREATE_space interdisciplinary resource, Dummermuth says. 

“The goal is to continue this,” she says. “Exterior beautification for the building is the next step.”