California native inspires activism through her art

California native and Missouri Western State University senior Lindsey Davis recently had her graphic design piece, "Save the Trees. Save Humanity" published in the Canadian-based online magazine, "The Goose."
California native and Missouri Western State University senior Lindsey Davis recently had her graphic design piece, "Save the Trees. Save Humanity" published in the Canadian-based online magazine, "The Goose."

One of the more worrisome aspects of being an artist is getting your name out into the world. This, however, is not something California native Lindsey Davis has to worry about.

That's because two of her graphic design pieces were selected to appear in an online magazine in Canada.

The Missouri Western State University senior always took a liking to art throughout her academic career.

"Being an artist has always been a path of mine," Davis said. "When I was in high school, I took all kinds of different classes in it to see what I could do. I found graphic design to be more appealing to me."

The self-proclaimed "practical" thinker had a purpose for this decision.

"I found graphic design offered a happy marriage between having a career and still doing art," she said. "So I went to school for it."

Not long ago, an environmental enthusiast in St. Joseph proposed a competition to Davis' instructors. The idea was to have students incorporate modern ecological issues into works of art, to grasp the attention of the general public. After looking through the list of possible topics, Davis decided to work on a project concerning deforestation.

"After I chose that topic, I had to figure out how best to convey the message that deforestation affects humanity, but I had to do it in a striking way," she said. "I do my best thinking when I'm laying in bed about to fall asleep, and that's where this idea came from."

Davis took a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought a few tree cuts for this idea. She took her purchases to school and scanned them, then noticed a link between tree rings and the human fingerprint.

"I looked at the tree rings and knew there are several different types of fingerprints," she said. "There's one called a whorl, where it's circular and I knew I could figure out how to kind of match the tree ring."

Once some magic was done with Photoshop, Davis masterfully incorporated a human fingerprint into the center of a tree ring, combining the two biological forms into one. She called the piece "Save the Trees. Save Humanity."

The woman who initiated the project told Davis of an online magazine, The Goose, who are always accepting visual art in relation to activism. So, Davis submitted her piece along with an accompanying work.

"A little while later, I got an email from the editor of The Goose and he asked 'If it was OK' for them to publish one of the pieces," Davis said laughing. "I told them, 'Well, I guess!'"

The work not only made the magazine, it made the cover.

The reveal came as an understandable surprise to Davis, but she knows this recognition will help boost her into the realm of professional art.

Davis plans to begin looking for employment in web design upon her May 2020 graduation.