Newswise — On a small cocktail napkin strategically stained with coffee, an award-winning architect who teaches in The Florida State University interior design program produced a pen-and-ink drawing of a simple country church framed by a sepia-tinted sky.
For his artistic skill and resourcefulness, FSU Assistant Professor Jim Dawkins has earned an Entry of Merit nod in the 2010 Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest, sponsored by the venerable industry magazine Architectural Record.
The first-ever national competition of its kind was open to practicing U.S. architects and architecture students and “drew” a total of 1,322 pen-and-ink entries on the requisite 5” by 5” paper napkins. Only 16 entries earned accolades from Architectural Record’s jury of editors.
To view Dawkins’ cocktail napkin sketch, which depicts a small church similar to many of those found throughout the rural southeastern United States, visit the magazine’s website at http://archrecord.construction.com/features/cocktail_napkin_sketch_contest/merit/slide.asp?slide=4.
“While this competition may seem a bit bizarre –– cocktail napkins? –– it is based on the architecture and design habit of talking business over lunch or drinks and brainstorming ideas on napkins,” said Eric Wiedegreen, chairman of the interior design program in the FSU College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance. “The size restriction and paper quality would only fuel efforts for a good designer and sketcher. This was right up Jim Dawkins’ alley. He happens to be an amazing sketcher and renderer. Given his 20 years of professional experience as a licensed architect, his teaching approach in our drawing classes is one of leading by example. And from a student’s viewpoint, if your professor can draw that well on a napkin, think of what he could do on a whole piece of paper.”
Dawkins notes with a smile that the Entry of Merit designation from Architectural Record represents his very first honor for a building rendered on a coffee-stained cocktail napkin. He will add the quirky but prestigious honor to his formidable collection of top awards in architectural design, bestowed by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and other organizations.
Meanwhile, Dawkins is busy sketching the buildings that grace the Florida State University campus. Although the project isn’t yet complete, already it has attracted attention in faraway places.
“I will be exhibiting an ongoing series of hand sketches of FSU campus buildings this month at Montana State University,” he said. “I anticipate documenting the majority of the university’s buildings via hand sketching in the next few years.”
A faculty member at Florida State since 2009, Dawkins teaches hand-drawing graphic techniques and a studio course in interior design.
He received both his Bachelor of Arts in Design degree and Master of Architecture degree from Clemson University, and is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). His professional interests have centered on hospitality industry projects. While an architect at Slifer Designs in Edwards, Colo., from 2001 to 2009, a team of designers led by Dawkins won two Gold Awards in 2005 and a total of three Gold Awards and three Silver Awards in six categories in 2007 from the American Resort Development Association (ARDA). From ASID, Dawkins and team garnered a total of three 1st-place awards in 2004 and 2005 for their commercial and hospitality designs.
To learn more about Florida State University’s distinguished interior design program, featuring an emphasis on sustainable design principles, visit the website at http://interiordesign.fsu.edu/.
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