COMM 2000 Profile Piece | March 2018

Professor Carrie Dyer has been teaching at Augusta University for three years, but her

life in the art world extends far past the role of an educator.

She is the owner and principle designer of Cloudwhale Design, an award winning design

firm she began with her family in 2002. She has exhibited in more than 50 national and

international exhibitions, and won multiple awards from American Institute of Graphic Arts

(AIGA), Creative Quarterly and American Advertising Association (AAF).

Dyer was born in Salem, Va. but moved to Johnson City, Tenn., at a young age where

she eventually attended college at East Tennessee State University. Here, Dyer achieved her

B.F.A. in Graphic Design in 2004. In 2006, she graduated from a nationally renowned art school,

School of the Arts Institute of Chicago, with a M.F.A. in visual communication.

Dyer’s passion for art and design took her to Arkansas, where she began her career as

an educator. She taught at the University of Central Arkansas where she was head of the Graphic

Design program for six years.

“The thing I love about teaching is helping people succeed and translating their ideas into

realities,” Dyer said.

A tragic motorcycle accident resulted in the death of Dyer’s brother. Therefore, she

returned home to the Appalachian region of Eastern Tenn. to be with family.

During her time back in Tennessee, Dyer and her family began The FL3TCH3R

Exhibit. The FL3TCH3R Exhibit is an annual international exhibit that features famous artists

and designers as jurors like Anita Kunz, Elliot Earls, and Eric Avery. Dyer and her family began

this exhibit to create a $10,000 scholarship for students at East Tennessee State University in
honor and remembrance of her deceased younger brother, Fletcher. The threes in the title of the

exhibit are reminiscent of the way Fletcher spelled his name on social media accounts, Dyer said.

In 2014, Dyer began teaching at the Kentucky School of Art at Spalding University,

where she was the lead graphic design professor for a year. However, the challenge of creating a

graphic design program from scratch accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art

and Design (NASAD) brought Dyer to Augusta University in 2015. The brochure Dyer created

for NASAD was selected as the best 25 graphic designers for Creative Quarterly's 100 Best

Book, an international art and design book.

Dyer says her passion is graphic design; she likes to experience and work with all areas

of art. Despite her continuing work with Cloudwhale Design and The FL3TCH3R Exhibit, she is

currently working on two series’ that involve creating different digital and analog pieces every

day. Dyer is also writing a book about graphic design pedagogy, the method and practice of

teaching graphic design. A third project Dyer is working on is a site specific instillation piece.

She hopes to create an experience that her audience can interact with, she said.

Dyer is the mother of her rescue dog, Luca, and her two cats, Loro and Kabouse.

During her free time from teaching and design work, she says she enjoys reading books about

pedagogy and catching up on her favorite television shows such as “Westworld” and “Game of

Thrones.”

Although her time at Augusta University was short, Dyer confirms she has accepted a

position at an internationally ranked North Carolina university where she will be part of a large

artistic community with access to many resources. She says she is excited for this new

opportunity and to continue helping students experience art and design.

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