Thursday, March 19, 2009

Hispanic artist on way to becoming famous

Local Artist Expresses His Hispanic Heritage
Only Chicago finalist in Kleenex tissue art competition
Extra News

Jaime Maldonado III is on his way to becoming an award-winning graphic designer. He is making a name for himself and building his credibility and reputation one graphic arts competition at a time.

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month this year, Kleenex tissue introduced the “Expresa Tu Hispanidad” contest, which allowed artists to submit original designs that expressed what Hispanic culture meant to them.

Maldonado, 27, a freelance graphic designer, was among 620 artists from around the U.S. that entered the national competition. He has been selected as one of the top 12 finalists and is the only finalist from Chicago.

“I am very shocked. It hasn’t hit me yet,” Maldonado said.

Three grand-prize winners will receive $5,000 and the three winning designs will decorate the cartons of Kleenex tissue. The Kleenex boxes will be sold at stores nationwide during Hispanic Heritage Month, in the months of September and October.

This is not, however, his first time participating in a contest. He entered the recent International Latino Cultural Center poster competition and created an image for the annual Chicago Latino Film Festival, but did not win. About a year ago, he was third runner up for Layers Magazine’s back page design contest and won second place for “Design our Book Cover,” a Wiley Design Challenge.

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