Graphic Design

Cameron King is the exhibition’s graphic designer. He is vice-president Creative at CASE, an advertising agency in New York City. A graduate of Brigham Young University, he is the son of Michelle King, a well-known television newscaster (KUTV2). He lives in New York City with his wife and three children.

The following is a transcript of the presentation King made to Center leadership and the three exhibition curators with his graphic design ideas for the exhibition. Visitors to the museum may want to learn more about the look and feel of the show itself.

[Graphic design presentation for Work and Wonder: Two Centuries of Latter-day Saint Art, led by Cameron King via Zoom on November 8, 2023. Three separate design ideas were presented. In attendance were: King, the exhibition curators: Heather Belnap, Ashlee Whitaker, and Brontë Hebdon: and representing the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, Mykal Urbina (Executive Director), Stanley Hainsworth (incoming president of the Board of Directors), and Glen Nelson, (Director of Special Projects.) Edited for length and to highlight the selected design.]

Cameron King: First of all, I feel so lucky to be able to share this with you. I grew up in Bountiful, Utah, and so going to the Church History Museum was really fun for me as a kid, because that was where my mom would take us on field trips in the summer. So I was like, "I know, this place," this is really fun. And I love doing all these different pieces for the Center and for the Center Gallery. So that's just been such a fun thing for me. Let me walk you through my thought process as to how we got to where we are today.

The brief, as I understand it, is to create a look and feel for the Church History Museum's Work and Wonder: 200 Years of Latter-Day Saint Art exhibition to engage and challenge our audience in a new way. And I brought in “to challenge" because I feel like, as I looked at the breadth of the work, we have a great opportunity to really stimulate some conversation with the people that are going to be attending the Church History Museum. That being said, I was looking for inspiration in a lot of different places. One of the first things that I came to was this idea that this is all a work in progress, that this is not a culmination of just 200 years, but it really starts to feel like this is the beginning. And it's almost like we're looking towards the future. We are inviting more people into the conversation of creating more artwork, in this context, so it is engaging in that way.

Over the summer, I was in Paris, which I love. And I was at the Musee d' Orsay. I really enjoy that museum for multiple reasons. One of which is that it's in an old train station, which is just super fun. It was built in 1900. And they have such great pieces from the mid-1800s, to the mid-1900s. From France, they've got all the classic works that people want to see, but there was something that kind of struck my eye in their collection that really got me thinking about the Church History Museum. And that's this piece. [insert] In all the breadth of all of these famous pieces that everybody knows, you also have this piece that is a little bit understated. And it's called Christ with the Peasants. Wow. In a contemporary setting, seeing Christ in a context that you wouldn't necessarily expect was really fascinating to me. I thought, That is exactly what this exhibition means to me. It's all of these different pieces. It's almost like bringing the spiritual aspects into pieces that you wouldn't necessarily expect. So I got really excited about that. The other thing that I love about that museum is the way that they've made contemporary all of these classic pieces from like the mid-1800s, and 1900s. And I feel like we have a great opportunity to do something very similar with this exhibition, that we can take these things that people have known and seen for years, and by pairing them with these newer pieces that are in a little bit different context, we will also help them reconsider them and modernize them in an interesting way. The other thing that was fascinating to me is that this museum was founded in 1986. Surprise: the Church History Museum was founded in 1984. So they're kind of contemporaries in an interesting way. I really love that. 

What we're going to talk about for the next little bit are concepts of juxtaposition. I have some questions at the end that we can consider as we think about what we want this to be. First and foremost, I love everything that you as a team are doing. Looking at these four thematic buckets within the context of Work and Wonder I thought was really interesting. There are a lot of opportunities for even juxtaposition within these four. But there was one thing that I thought. And I again, like this is just an idea. The first thing that came to mind when I started putting together the concepts was this idea of "yes...and." If you know improv, "yes...and" suggests that an improviser should accept what another improviser has stated. So that's the "yes," and then expand on that line of thinking. Taking that a little bit more into the art world, "yes...and" suggest that an artist should accept what another artist has created, that's the "yes." And then expand on those creations, which is what I kind of started to see a little bit of in a lot of the pieces that we're putting together for the show.

I also think from a religious context, it suggests that a believer should accept what another believer has testified, and then expand on that line of testimony. So it goes a little bit deeper into our spirit. When we hear something that resonates with us, that we're embracing that, and then as we live our lives, we're building on that line, as well. So, "yes...and" suggests that we receive the stories and experiences of others, and we add them to our own knowledge and our understanding. That gets me excited as a concept. "Yes...and" can then easily translate to "work and," and we are saying "it's this, and it's this." It's the pieces that you know, and love from your upbringing, and we're giving them new contexts, we're giving them new ways that people are building on this legacy of 200 years of work. You can see that in a lot of the different pieces. I think that was what really got me excited. It's not just this thing but also this, and it allows us to kind of explore a little bit more what that means.

Obviously, this one is so fantastic. Side by side comparisons just makes it so delineated and easy to see. People see things like this and say, Yes, I know, the prophets, I know General Conference and all these different things, but this is also art. This is also an expression of these things. It really starts to hit home these points for me. This piece on the right, called Mustard, I love because it's so expressive, and it is a way that communicates the artist’s feelings about all of these different things in a very similar way to this representational painting that people are familiar with in the Church. This ability to showcase the whole breadth of it all, I think is so fantastic. So that then becomes Work and Wonder. 

Now, as I've developed the identity systems for these, I think each of them has a little bit different flavor. This one uses the same typography. It feels a little bit more classical because of the serifs that are on it. But then turning it on its head and putting them in as these juxtapositions makes you engage with it in an interesting way that really excites me. I'm just kind of mocking that up on what that could look like on the building itself. 

When you see those two pieces together, and even in all the advertising—the huge blades that you have out in front of the building—it gives a great opportunity for people to really start to engage, like, Oh, what does this mean? And so when they start to say, Oh, it's this and it's this. I want to know more. Am I going to the Museum of Modern Art? Are they going to that type of museum while also still getting a lot of these spiritual experiences and inviting them in that way?

On some of the signage that's outside, we can have these pairings there that engage our audience in an interesting way to bring them in. Even when you're walking up the stairs, we can do this kind of pairing with all sorts of different pieces. I'm really excited about what that could potentially mean.

When you get to the space, looking at what I imagine is the way that the wall graphics can show up, I'm using this entry point as a way to engage and give people an introduction. On the wall text itself, you have the call out of the Center, with the logo down below. As I thought about this, I said, Well, if it's kind of this mirrored space, what if we were actually able to take the text off of the wall, and move that somewhere in that vicinity, and then what if we were to present some of these pairings actually onto the wall, and that could rotate through some kind of display or projection, so that it rotates through, and people are able to understand that it's this and it's this, and that we're showing the breadth of the work in this very easy-to-understand fashion.

And I think Brett Peterson is going to have a million other great ideas of things that we could do to kind of activate the space, but I did really get excited about the potential of bringing some kind of animation or some kind of education into the viewers' mind before they even walk through the doors of the exhibition. 

We're also very familiar with this idea of pass-along cards, but what if you can have the pieces of the art, you know, be something that people can take home from the experience? We've done this with the Center Gallery, where you have these cards of the artwork, maybe a quote from Elder Uchtdorf on the back or something with the names of the pieces on there. So when people go home, they can have this little collection, and they've expanded their mind about what LDS art can actually mean. And it's not just the pieces that everybody expects. 

Glen Nelson: Let's discuss it. The one thing that I will say about the exhibition is—and I've told the three curators this—the very first reaction I had to their selections, was that I was astounded at the pairings. I loved them so much. At that point, the title, Work and Wonder, wasn't in place. I think that came a little bit later. So I love this idea of “work and wonder” as being some sort of delineation. I think the design is a gorgeous fit for the museum, but is different from the way that they normally do it, that any viewer in there would be immediately engaged that this is something new to experience. So I think that that approach is really right on.

Heather Belnap: I just have to say, I too, am incredibly moved by this. Just to see the sophistication and beauty of it. I'm blown away. And it feels very rewarding to think that this show is going to have the kind of visual appeal in terms of its promotion and so on that we had hoped and that it would bring people in. Yeah, I'm just blown away. 

Cameron King: Thank you. 

Glen Nelson: An exhibition feels real when you add graphic design. Ashlee, I saw your head bobbing quite a lot during this presentation....

Ashlee Whitaker: Oh, I know. It almost blew off. I was so excited. Amen to what's been said. I was taking notes on how you were interpreting our larger concepts. I was like, Wow, that's beautiful. So thank you for being so thoughtful about your approach to this because honestly, I feel that I had strong reactions to all of this in a positive way, I felt like it really hit on so much of what we want to accomplish. I love the expansiveness that's built into these concepts that "and," the comparisons, and showing that this is so much more than just what you expect what's going to be on these walls. So I really appreciate that a lot.

I don't even know where to steer the conversation from there. I am still processing. So I'm just staring at them right now. But I love them. 

Brontë Hebdon: I want to echo everything that Heather and Ashley said. Cameron, I too, am blown away. You seem to be able to distill—even beyond those thematic categories—the real emotional part of the show. You've taken that and made it concrete in a beautiful way. We're at the moment now where we're starting to consider which artworks need to be on the walls next to each other, right? So your design presentation is coming at just the absolute perfect moment. In our first thematic section, we had a lot of those pairings already, but it wasn't concretized: Okay, yes, they're going to be on the wall that way. I see this symbiotic relationship happening between graphic design and the actual exhibition curation, which I wasn't anticipating, and that's exciting. 

Cameron King: It's an interesting challenge because I feel like if you do go the route of here's this and this, and you're seeing them right next to each other, I feel like that is kind of spoon feeding it just a little bit. And that's not a bad thing, you know. It's also like, what is the level of the audience? What are we hoping that people are going to take away after visiting the show? Do we want them to think a little bit deeper and think, Oh, I didn't realize that those both could be together? Or, I see how this one is building off of that one. I'm glad that we have this kind of intersection, if you will, to explore what that actually means for the pieces or for the exhibition itself. 

Glen Nelson: I'd love to hear from Mykal and Stanley. But before we do, I think that having a museum exhibition design like this sets up the viewer, almost like when you go to a restaurant and you have an amuse bouche. It's like, Here's what's coming. You're already into it. You're already thinking, Well, wait, why does that look like it does? And the one thing that I'm going to add to this conversation is the magic of this museum. The best thing about it, in my opinion, are these docents. So there are about 400 of these docents, four of them on every floor at all times. And one of the reasons we're recording this is we're going to transcribe it and edit it down. And the docents will have all this information. So as people come into the exhibition, they'll be able to talk just a little bit about why this design is as it is, even at the beginning. I think that's another layer that we can add. Everything is just stepping up the game just a little bit. 

Stanley Hainsworth: I'm assuming the audience for this will be more than 50% members or people familiar with the Church. In thinking of the problem that we're trying to solve and the opportunity that's ahead of us to expose that audience, that the art associated with our faith is more than what they're used to, your design does that, like you said Cameron, very directly. That's how we introduce what the Center is about, you know, we have to start from a familiarity standpoint. The design does it in such a strong, direct, and graphically interesting and beautiful way. 

Mykal Urbina: Cameron, when you first showed this concept, if I saw that walking down the street, it would stop me in my tracks, like I would stop and look at the design for this show as art itself, right? It makes you think. It makes you curious about what this is going to be about. You so beautifully weave design with visitor experience. You've just done such a wonderful job thinking about how the audience would interact with this exhibition, even before they step foot in the doors. So I'm also processing. I think it's stunning. It's really, really stunning work. Thank you.

Ashlee Whitaker: I think part of my inclination goes towards having something a little more visual to grab—maybe like Mykal was saying—to grab the passerby.

Stanley Hainsworth: “Work and wonder” is part of our lexicon. You might see that on the side of buildings and say, Oh, they're showing religious work. As expected. It's a Church museum. 

Heather Belnap: It goes really beautifully with your Great Awakening show. Cameron, were you the designer on that?

Cameron King: I was. Yeah. 

Heather Belnap: Okay. Yeah. It's beautiful, like a kind of follow up. But I have to say too, I think it does the work that we wanted to do. Although it doesn't signal the other two centuries of Latter Day Saint art.

Cameron King: We can bring that in. 

Heather Belnap: I mean, it's busy, right? There's a lot going on there. And maybe that isn't necessary. Maybe the art speaks for itself that this is an art exhibition. But I do think that juxtaposition of familiar image, and then one that we definitely don't see in the Ensign might pull that viewer in from the street, or if they see it on the internet or whatever, it might help get this is what the show is about. 

Brontë Hebdon: I think too, for an institution that treats art objects like artifacts, I think such an art-centered image there is just really affecting. 

Cameron King: It's almost like we're saying, We're gonna give you what you know, and what is safe, and we're gonna give you a little bit more, you know? You're gonna walk out of this getting even more than you expected. 

Stanley Hainsworth: Mykal and Glen, we just need to add this to our donor presentation. I mean, this is so good.  

Heather Belnap: It really is. One of the things I like about it is you can bring these works together as pairings which we can't always do on the wall because of the differences of scale. 

Glen Nelson: Well, that Harry Anderson's Christ image is the perfect example. It is gigantic. 

Heather Belnap: Exactly. And then Madeline's is quite small, we are going to juxtapose those two. But sometimes it gets difficult in terms of media, too. Those pairings I think will help the viewer come in and have that mindset of a comparative approach.

Stanley Hainsworth: I love even the way that "Wonder" is flipped. It's saying to the audience, This isn't your normal show. Be ready for something different. There are a lot of cues for that in this graphic design. 

Cameron King: It’s the build, you know? You're taking something that is familiar, and you're building on it. I really like what the pairings allow us to do because it feels like an invitation. I think a lot of artists are actually going to be exposed to this as well. And they can feel like, Hey, I have a place here. I have a talent that I can even bring into the mix for the future. So I think there's just something interesting about that. 

Heather Belnap: What’s so wonderful about it is the way that it foregrounds the art. This is making a statement to say, The art's the thing,

Glen Nelson: I think that all great art teaches the viewer or reader or listener how to interpret it. You're taught how to process it, what it's all about. Having a graphic design that is already saying, Okay, folks, this is not going to be the regular experience. We want you to start engaging with it and be part of the show, in the way that you're reacting to it is really swell, to me. I love the possibilities of the comparisons, and I want the viewer to be comparing in his or her own mind.

Brontë Hebdon: Well, there's a reason why every art history class is about comparisons. It's so effective. It's the perfect way to graduate from one type of art to another. So yeah, big fan.

Stanley Hainsworth: Think of the audience of everyone from the Bountiful youth groups, to the General Authorities stopping by, to tourists of Temple Square. Having that a little more direct relation, you can see them educating each other and themselves.

Mykal Urbina: What we're seeing with the Center and with some of our peer organizations is this appetite for what else is there? They say, We've seen Samuel the Lamanite. Are you telling me that there's a modern interpretation of Samuel the Lamanite? And I can swap out some of my go-tos with some more impactful things. That's the opportunity with this show. I remember from one of the early meetings with the Church History Museum, they said they expect over the course of our show, a quarter of a million people to walk through it. Most of those are Temple Square visitors walking in off the street. And so I think what's appealing to me about about the design, especially, is that it speaks to that appetite immediately: I can get something from this, that's more than I could get at any other art exhibition, and it's going to show me new options for things that I might be a little tired of. That's what we hear a lot from the folks that we're working with.

Stanley Hainsworth: I think what's being done on the entrance, and the banners, and everything is putting your mind in a space of familiar and maybe unfamiliar and that relationship. 

Glen Nelson: Cameron, hurray for you. Thank you so much.