Marshall University Visual Art and Design students are helping Huntington show off its fall colors by displaying art around the city. The latest is a series of banners displayed up and down 4th and 3rd Avenues. The designs are a collaboration of students Hannah Saxton and Kaitlin Blatt.

The School of Art and Design had a contest for students to enter individually or as teams. Saxton and Blatt decided to put their talents together and submitted their work for the fall banners.

“We were just trying to capture fall without doing a specific Halloween or Thanksgiving design,” Saxton said.

Blatt said her and Saxton’s sketches changed throughout the process and the initial designs went through a series of critiques before they came up with their final product.

“Initially we had trees as our main focal point for the design,” Blatt said. “We decided from there to go a different route, maybe choose something specific to Huntington, something more identifiable.”

Saxton and Blatt chose four leaves to make up their designs: the maple, sugar maple, oak and dogwood leaves.

Blatt said they chose these to stand out to the people of Huntington.

“But then we wanted to keep things the same,” Saxton said. “That’s why they all kind of have similar design style. They all kind of have the same color scheme, that way they represent the cohesive set but still have a little individuality to them.”

The School of Art and Design opened the Visual Arts Center across from Pullman Square in Downtown Huntington last year.

Blatt said as students, they can do so much more at the VAC instead of at their old location in Smith Hall.

Abi Black can be contacted at [email protected].