HAS Sophomore Publishes a Unique Book

Not many college sophomores can say that they published a book during their summer vacation. But that's exactly what Hartford Art School student Ethan Bodnar '12 did.

Bodnar's book, Creative Grab Bag: Inspiring Challenges for Designers, Illustrators and Artists, is being published this month by graphic design publishing industry leader F+W Media HOW Books.

Creative Grab Bag is an exploration of creativity by a wide range of artists. Bodnar assigned each artist a creative task to complete, to be featured in the book; the only rule was that the task could not be from their normal area of expertise. The book contains images of each artist's creative task, along with a piece of their more typical work, a biography, and an artist statement regarding their exploration of creativity through their assigned task.

The artists involved were selected from all over the world, and represent a wide range of ages. Some are well known and some are up and coming artists, each specializing in different styles of work in a variety of mediums. The creative tasks came in the form of architecture, art, graphic design, illustration, mixed media, packaging design, photography, product design, typography, and visual storytelling.

Among the artists featured in the book are Debbie Millman from New York City, president of AIGA/the professional association for design, who designed a typeface; filmmaker and graphic designer Lanre Lawal from Nigeria, who illustrated a memory; illustrator Juliana Pedemonte from Argentina, who designed a building; graphic designer Esen Karol from Turkey, who created a series of paintings; animator and illustrator Mark Verhaagen from the Netherlands, who created hand-drawn type; illustrator Chris Judge from Ireland, who designed a poster; and photographer Paul Paper from Lithuania, who created a painting.

All together, the 230-page book features 101 contributors. Creative Grab Bag is available for sale through Amazon.com and a number of other online and traditional retailers.

Bodnar spent a year and a half working on Creative Grab Bag. He also founded and publishes two blogs, including Synthesis, the Hartford Art School's blog. He is an Eagle Scout, the online director of The Informer (the University of Hartford's student newspaper), and the president of the school's Student Art Council. Bodnar is also the leader of the Hartford Art School's AIGA Connecticut student chapter.

Bodnar is the recipient of the Henry Wolf Award in 2008 and the Mohawk Fine Papers Award in 2009, both Worldstudio AIGA Scholarships. Bodnar will be speaking on the mainstage at the biennial AIGA National Design Conference in October with Charles Harrison, Lifetime Achievement Award Winner from the Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design, part of the Smithsonian Institute.