Abby McHenry

With a passion for art at a young age, taking a graphic design class her senior year of high school solidified Kali Siegel’s decision to pursue art as a career.

Now in her senior year of college, Siegel is currently working on her senior thesis project which showcases each artist’s “brand” that they create. Students paint a wall in the school’s Melvin and Burks Gallery, and design other brand items such as t-shirts or hats. 

Throughout her college career, she has enjoyed working with flowers and understanding their meanings as well as their connection to the human body. This inspired her senior thesis project, ACANTHUS. Siegel says the acanthus flower represents fine art and healing and contains medicinal properties which is why she felt it fit her brand.  

“ACANTHUS is a floral tea brand that is centered around showing consumers the beauty of flowers from the surface but also their roots,” Siegel said. “[This includes] their symbolism and herbalist properties.”

Siegel is inspired by her grandmother who passed away a few years ago, and creates pieces in her memory. She had a close relationship with her grandmother-she would tell Siegel to embrace who she was and embrace her passion for art.

“Being a perfectionist makes it hard sometimes [to create pieces], but that’s normal I feel like,” Siegel said. “Creative block is also a huge one that’s pretty common in my field. Personally [my] biggest challenge would be my impatience.”

Siegel has worked on pieces for commission, but has not gotten the chance to create many lately due to busy course load. Ideally The graphic design major would love to have a job working with a creative design firm where she could work on new projects all the time. She recently discovered an interest in package design and trade show industry design.

With graduation being in May, Siegel said she will miss being able to communicate daily with her professors as she has grown close with them over her time at Florida Southern. She grew up in the sunshine state, but she said she might want a change of seasons. Siegel would love to live in a city like Austin or Atlanta, but is open to other cities as well.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here