Associate Professor of Art Lisa Abendroth developed and curated “Substance: Diverse Practices from the Periphery,” the latest exhibit at the Center for Visual Art.

The term “great design” generally conjures images of a sleek sports car, haute couture or an edgy piece of visual art. To Lisa Abendroth, associate professor of art, it has an entirely different meaning.

Amid overseeing the bustling preparations for the opening of the exhibition she’s spent two years developing, “Substance: Diverse Practices from the Periphery,” on display Sept. 6 - Nov. 9 at the Center for Visual Art, Abendroth took a moment to explain her concept of great design.

“Design often, particularly in the print medium, becomes a sort of beauty contest, judged purely on aesthetics and not on depth, quality or how it creates change,” she says. “I’m interested in how design changes lives and meets unaddressed needs, not in an idealistic way” but very practically.

Abendroth developed “Substance: Diverse Practices from the Periphery,” which she curates, to showcase how design can be a dynamic force in transforming and, in some cases, actually saving lives. Objects on display range from the toothbrush that is designed to accommodate kids’ manual dexterity limitations to the ceramic water filter that makes bacterially contaminated water safe for drinking and is easily made with local materials in poor countries.

The 39 participants in the exhibit, from all over the globe, “think of themselves not as designers per se, but as trying to address problems through innovation and technology,” says Abendroth. To provide the viewer with the full story, “the show features a lot of contextual photography” as well as narrative on how and why the object or product was developed. Abendroth has developed an icon system for the exhibit that identifies the category addressed by each project, including education, access, shelter, wellness and community. The display of each project also features a written description of its cause, method and impact.

Abendroth’s interest in developing the “Substance” exhibit grew out of a career at Metro State and elsewhere that includes teaching community-based design. In the class by that name, her Metro State students “pick one problem to address through design, then conduct research and work with the affected community to understand it.” In a corollary to the CVA exhibit, which shows works from professionals, a juried exhibit highlighting student works in the same area will be on display at the Emmanuel Gallery from October 4-27.

One work on display in the student show, and which came from Abendroth’s community-based design class, is from recent graduate Jazmin Lopez. Working with a local human rights organization, Lopez created a communications solution to the problem of how illegal immigrants access information on the law and their rights.

Abendroth developed that class, and others in communication design, over the course of her seven years at Metro State. “When I started here, there were about 50 majors in communication design; now there are two or three times that,” she says, adding that she has rewritten all the coursework in that field (formerly advertising design) since she’s been here. She currently chairs the Art department’s curriculum committee and is the communication design coordinator.

With an undergraduate degree in fine art from Virginia Commonwealth University and a master’s from the Rhode Island School of Design, Abendorth also worked as a professional designer before coming to Metro State. An accomplished designer and researcher who has presented, exhibited and published work nationally and internationally, Abendorth also directs the design firm Culture/Language/Dialogue. “The design field is evolving so quickly,” she says, “the outside work helps me stay current,” which informs her teaching.

Abendroth says developing solutions that address basic needs for the vast majority of the world's population not traditionally serviced by professional designers is part of a growing trend. Over the summer she utilized a professional development grant from the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences to visit an exhibit at New York’s Cooper Hewitt Museum titled, “Design for the Other 90 Percent,” which focused on design solutions for the poor and marginalized around the world. The CVA exhibit includes these types of projects as well as designs for other subsets, such as sensory therapy objects for developmentally disabled people.

“Design has become extremely accessible in this country,” she says. “We really want for nothing. I recently saw a combination toaster/radio for sale. Someone designed that. I had to wonder, what problem is that solving?”

Editor’s note: There are three events related to the “Substance: Diverse Practices from the Periphery” exhibition. On Thursday, Sept. 13, from 6-7 p.m., Kenneth Jewell from the design firm Continuum will give a lecture at the CVA on the “One Laptop per Child” project, followed by an opening reception from 7-9 p.m. On Thursday, Oct. 11, exhibition participants Patricia Moore of MooreDesign Associates and Bryan Bell of Design Corps will give a lecture at 6 p.m. at CVA, and on Friday, Oct. 12 the Emmanuel Gallery will host a gala reception in conjunction with the American Institute of Graphic Arts national design conference. All events are free and open to the public. To read more go to http://www.mscd.edu/news/cva/