Take a chance on me: Freshman creates artwork for BHS "Mamma Mia! "

Collaboration of the arts is a fine-tuned instrument at Burlington High School, coming to life each year with the design and implementation of the poster artwork for the annual spring musical. 

With Burlington High School’s spring musical Mamma Mia! on its way to record ticket sales, several BHS art students in Keith March Mistler’s Digital Publishing course have worked with anticipation and excitement on a competitive assignment to become the designer of this year’s poster.

Freshman Benjamin Kirabo’s artwork has been chosen for this year’s Mamma Mia! poster. Eleven students competed for the honor by watching the movie version of the musical, analyzing thematic elements, and creating sketches and inspiration boards with imagery, fonts and color schemes. 

The client (producers of BHS’ Mamma Mia!) provided guidance and critiques for the students who then refined their original concepts. Final designs were submitted and the one best suited to the production was chosen. Following a few tweaks to the design, Kirabo produced eight different formats of the poster for printing in a variety of sizes and applications. This is the first year a freshman has won the competition.

Students in Mistler’s course create graphics and logos for the school and the community on Mac desktops with Adobe Illustrator software, a real-world application of the skills they learn in the classroom. The poster assignment is a favorite of the students. It has a competitive edge because the chosen design has public visibility.

“I try to teach my students how to be skillful learners who inquisitively seek knowledge and want to learn,” comments Mistler. “Working with the music department is a wonderful experience for students, as this project allows them to interact with real-world clients, learn how to give and receive constructive criticism and apply that knowledge to their own designs, refining and reflecting.”

Benjamin Kirabo’s winning poster graphics will soon be seen around town in signage, at a variety of local retailers and in all digital publicity. It will also appear on the playbill cover and t-shirts for the cast and crew. All eleven poster designs from the digital publishing competition will be on display in the lower library of the high school during the Burlington High School 46th Art and Fashion Show.

Performances of Mamma Mia! will take place March 22-31, 2019, in the Fogelberg Performing Arts Center of Burlington High School. For information and tickets visit BurlingtonTheatre.com and 781-A-FUN-TIC.

Freshman Benjamin Karibo, poster artist