2021 Senior Exhibition Artists

Lisa Motta

Art + Design: Graphic Design

About Lisa Motta

After a 30 year long gap year, Lisa became a college student at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts, graduating with an Associate in Arts-Graphic Design Concentration in 2019. She will be graduating from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 2021 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and a Minor in Art History. Her work focus is in digital and print design, motion graphics and photo manipulation. She is an avid lover of travel, theme parks, rollercoasters, The Walking Dead, horror movies, and all things paranormal.

Statement

For my senior thesis, I combined my love of travel and the paranormal to design a destination guide for the paranormal enthusiast. This travel guide incorporates historical events as a possible connection to this activity. It has long been theorized within the paranormal community that tragedy, bloodshed, and emotional trauma fuels these manifestations. Volume one concentrates on the State of Massachusetts. I divided it into regions in order to focus on a specific historical event for each and to provide the locations and nature of the paranormal activity, folklore and urban legends within the surrounding area.

For my design, I chose a subtle and minimalistic approach from the usual motif for this type of genre. I extracted my color palette from a photo I took at a local cemetery. The combination of cool and warm blue tones emits a vibe of mystery. By manipulating the imagery with an aged appearance, I can allude to the aspect of time, loss and decay. I included a textured background made from a collage of gravestone rubbings to provide depth and a connection to my overall theme.