Appreciating the Art of Communication

Katy Sebers and Wyatt Sebers unveil the new name and logo for their Marion, Iowa martial arts studio at an open house March 31. Katy, my daughter, designed the logo.

Drew Evans, a Marion, Iowa, artist, checks one of his sculptures brought to Lowe Park for image-making purposes.

As March turned into April, I recently ran into two interesting examples of art used in communication.

Before becoming a college professor, I was a print journalist. Art is outside my area of expertise, but it’s something I enjoy. On March 31, I attended a ceremony where my daughter and son-in-law had a renaming open house at a martial arts studio in Marion Iowa that they had purchased. They unveiled the new logo of the school.The next day, while on a walk in a Marion, Iowa, park, my wife and I by chance ran into a artist who was using the park as a backdrop to photograph several of his sculptures.

I’m going to write more about the logo—since it has a family connection to me and because I just have more to say about it. Besides being an object of art, it’s a commercial piece that has more literal meaning, too.

Logo from Facebook page of martial arts studio.

Pictures (above and below) of logo displayed at March 31 open house.

My daughter, Katy Sebers, designed the logo. I like the subtle use of ying and yang in it. The symbol is, I assume, a Korean character, maybe the word for “guardian,” although it could also mean “four busy kids.”

Anyway, the dragons use colors from the Korean flag, used to represent taeknwondo. The yellow color of the character echoes the colors of the Bruce Taekwondo logo, and this studio is a continuation of the Bruce Taekwondo legacy—Katy and Wyatt Sebers purchased the business from Master Bruce.

I like the logo in black and white, too.

Grandson wears logo on new headband at March 31 open house.

Logo in black and white on T shirt.

The day after that March 31 open house, I and my wife encountered Drew Evans, who runs “Chainbreaker Welding” in Marion. We were walking April 1 on the trail at Lowe Park, and Evans was there to photograph a couple of his sculptures, human figures constructed of metal objects welded together. Both sculptures were female figures, one made of nuts, the other of bicycle chains.

Both the martial arts studio logo and the figures in the park appealed to me, for different reasons. As a person who most often expresses himself via words, I respect those who can do visual communication that is evocative. I liked the contrast between a clever two-dimensional logo and the three-dimensional nature of sculpture.

I don’t always understand what an artist is trying to say. Then again, any creative expression partly belongs to the audience—it means not just what the creator intended, but what the viewer or listener extracts.

Drew Evans with one of his figures.

Female figure make of bike chains.

Sculpture by hiking-biking trail at Lowe Park.