For Winner John Mahorney, Design Comes Naturally

In his award-winning poster for the September Art Fair at Mellwood, graphic designer John Mahorney conveys the festival’s celebration of art and the coming of fall through his choice of imagery and color. The poster’s golden-yellow background brings to mind the changing of the leaves. The idea is reinforced by a large mitten-shaped sassafras leaf holding a paintbrush that hovers over a burnt orange rendering of the arts center on Mellwood Avenue. The concept is based on imagery that Mahorney has carried around with him since elementary school. 

“When I was a kid, I remember learning that the sassafras tree had three different kinds of leaves and one of them kind of looked like a mitten,” Mahorney says. “When I decided to enter the poster contest, I knew I wanted to do something connected to the fall, and that had fall colors ... I couldn’t find a picture of the kind of sassafras leaf I had in mind, so I manipulated a photo to make it look like the leaf I wanted.”

Mahorney’s design was chosen from 48 entries in a poster contest for the inaugural art fair at the Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center, September 12-13. The new festival is replacing the Ursuline Art Fair, which was discontinued by the Sisters of Ursuline after 22 years, due to rising costs. Scooter Davidson, Leasing/Marketing Director at the Mellwood center, says the five-person jury that judged the design contest felt Mahorney’s poster embodied the message the organization wanted to convey for its first fall festival.

“Mahorney’s poster was clearly miles ahead of the other entries,” Davidson says. “He used autumn colors and he understood that it was about daytime and family fun. A lot of the entries made it feel like it was a nighttime event. John had two entries, but I think the one we picked was the most powerful.”    

Mahorney has been melding images and messages for a long time. He worked at Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) for several years, designing ads and the weekly’s covers. After that came a stint at the prestigious advertising agency, Doe Anderson. Today, Mahorney works as a freelancer from his home in Paristown Pointe under the name JEM Creative. He has done logos for the Highland Lofts Condominiums, the Coalition for the Advancement of Regional Transportation (CART), and the New Albanian Brewing Company in Southern Indiana. Mahorney has also designed numerous jerseys for the Louisville Bicycle Club, as well as T-shirts, store displays and ads for other businesses and organizations.

“If given the opportunity, I try to bring nature into whatever I’m working on, like I did with the Mellwood poster or the logo for the Westport Woods Condominiums, where I used a tree in the design. Every piece is unique,” Mahorney says. “I’m inspired by architecture and nature. The rest is just imagination.”

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