Adapted from a story written by Hilary Eason for the Cento, Centre College's student newspaper. Photo by Meg Fenton.

RELEASED: April 14, 2005

DANVILLE, KY—"Beauty," says Cher Reynolds, "can be wasted space if it's not used for a purpose." That's a philosophy that can be applied to both her Centre College career and her future trajectory. Reynolds, a senior art major with a focus on ceramics, specializes in things that are both attractive and functional—an idea that can be seen in her senior show, an elaborately carved porcelain sake set she refers to as "funky formalwear." But she also plans to use her art degree towards a job that combines purpose and appeal: advertising.

As a matter of fact, there's a lot of common ground between her current work and her prospective career, despite their seeming divergence. "My mind likes to wrap itself around ideas," she says, whether it's how to make a useful piece attractive or the best possible play on words. ("I'm part of the two percent of the world that actually enjoys a good pun," she admits ruefully.) And her Centre education, she feels, will continue to play the same major role that it has in her past work. "If there's one thing I've learned the most here," she declares, "it's the ability to think."

Reynolds, the daughter of what she describes as an "arty family," has, in fact, been preparing for this for most of her time at college. "I came in wanting to do an art and econ double major," she explains, "but then I decided to focus on the art. But I knew the whole time that I wanted to work in advertising." In addition to her art classes, Reynolds has managed to achieve the best of both worlds by combining real-life experience with her studies. She's written articles for the Cento, held an internship with Danville advertising firm The Idea Farm, and held the position of public relations chair for the Student Activities Council—a position she "loved," she says. "Coming up with campaigns and concepts was so much fun."

In the meantime, however, Reynolds has also focused on her art classes, especially her senior show. "What I really love are the technical aspects," she explains, "the thickness, the weight, the edges, what I guess you could call the industrial design part of it." But, she says, she also likes to juxtapose the beautiful with – you guessed it – utilitarianism. It's evident in the sake set she made. "Porcelain is something really precious," she says, "but I carved this with an elaborate paisley design and filled it with a stain, then covered it with a translucent glaze. I wanted it to be something beautiful that you would really want to use."

After college, though, Reynolds admits that instead of working with clay, she7s hoping to be writing copy, at least initially. "I'm quotable," she says, "and quippy." She professes a love for dry humor and a tendency to flip through the latest Cosmo looking for intelligent ads, citing a JC Penney page referencing Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" as a favorite.

It's not a bad way to use an education. "Hopefully," she says, "I'll be working in graphic design or advertising. I got a lot of exposure to the different sides of it when I did an internship with a small company [The Idea Farm], so I'm very excited." Her ideas of form unifying with function should serve her as well in the future as they have at Centre.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leadi~g loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.

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