Black Swamp Arts Festival

Volunteer Experience

Poster Artist
January 2026 - Present

The Black Swamp Arts Festival is the heart and soul of downtown Bowling Green, Ohio. Every year at the beginning of September, over 30,000 community members and visitors from around the country rock out to the killer music lineup, shop the booths of over 100 artists of all kinds of disciplines, and enjoy sampling a smattering of local food trucks and beers.

The greatest tradition of the festival is the yearly poster design. A select few artists are invited to apply for the honor of having their design selected to become that years poster. This year, I was selected to apply and was granted the opportunity to design this years poster and marketing!

Check out the poster and artists statement down below to learn more!

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The Poster

2026 Festival Poster

Throughout my life, I have always had a profound love for the outdoors and all things nature. I spent my weekends camping with my friends in high school, and during my time at BGSU, I made it my mission to hike whenever I could. Now, I am the Community and Communications Assistant at the Wood County Park District. This role has not only allowed me to grow as a graphic designer but also to deepen my love and fascination with the outdoors. I’ve gotten the privilege to explore the lives of birds; to learn from the many native plants that call Bowling Green home; and to marvel at every bug I pass by.

Nature is the simplest form of art and to celebrate it is a gift that I wish to share with the Black Swamp Arts Festival community. I chose to include the native plants featured on the poster (e.g., Butterfly Milkweed, New England Asters, and Ohio Spiderwort) because they represent how people experience the Black Swamp Arts Festival—an explosion of vibrancy, diversity, and importance for the community of Bowling Green and beyond.

The star of the show, seeing as they are Wood County’s only native lizard species, is the Common Five-Lined Skink. They are known for their vibrant blue tails as juveniles and bright orange heads as adult males; they, too, show how intentional and stunning Wood County’s natural art can be.

The font I chose for the “Black Swamp Arts Festival” is a direct shoutout to the active community of printmakers in Bowling Green, myself included! Learning to print was and continues to be my favorite form of creating art. For our poster reveal event, I was inspired to create a screen printed version of the poster art that people could take home as a souvenir—I printed over 75 editions on colorful paper that reflected the color palette of the original artwork.

Ever since I moved to Bowling Green six years ago, the Black Swamp Arts Festival has been a staple of my summer experience. From visiting my first year as a freshman at BGSU with my college roommate Hannah, and now as a community member with my partner Zach, I cannot believe that I get to contribute directly to the festival and help create the wonderful festival experience for the Bowling Green community and beyond. Thank you Black Swamp Arts Festival for this incredible honor!