UM-St. Louis students (from left) Derick Allison, senior, Louis Nahlik, senior, and Kyle Mueller, senior, collaborated to design the cover page of the Bellerive 10th Anniversary Edition at Provincial House on South Campus on Friday afternoon. (Photo by Riki Tanaka for The Current)
The Pierre Laclede Honors College of the University of Missouri St. Louis presented the 10th anniversary issue of their student literary publication “Bellerive” last Friday. In recognition, the college hosted a launch party to celebrate the monumental achievement of the publication.
Nancy Gleason, Associate Dean of the Honors College, is one of the faculty advisors for “Bellerive.” She, along with the Dean of the Honors College, Robert Bliss, came up with the idea to start a literary publication for students 10 years ago. Back then, faculty advisors and students worked on “Bellerive” during their free time. It was not until the third issue that a Bellerive Honors Seminar class was formed which allowed students enrolled to work on the publication for credit. Since then the publication has grown tremendously. This year they had over 360 submissions for the book and about 60 students who helped with the project.
“Readers can expect some really wonderful poetry, short stories, an essay that won the essay contest here in the Honors College and just a nicely laid-out book that has interesting pieces,” said Gleason. “There are also some humorous pieces.” In the 10th anniversary issue, readers will see more diverse submissions in general.
“I think more than any other issue we’ve done in the past, we’ve got a very interesting mix of several different types of works,” Geri Friedline, faculty advisor for the publication, said. “I think that there’s something for just about everybody this time around, and it adds a very nice sense to the book.
“In fact, the class sort of feels that way too, and that’s one of the reasons why we chose the title ‘Archipelago’ because several things can stand on their own, but are much better when they’re put together as a group.”
The 10th anniversary also marks the first time “Bellerive” has used a painting as its cover art. The cover was painted by Louis Nahlik, senior, liberal studies, and the layout was collaborated with Kyle Mueller, senior, music performance, and Derick Allison, senior, studio art. “We decided on it, and I just kind of took it and ran with it from there and came up with the layout for the cover,” Mueller said. “We found something that fit with his artwork and didn’t overshadow it. It’s very complimentary.”
Nahlik was inspired by a photo from a trip to Hawaii for his painting titled “Hawai’i at Night.”
“I’d visited Hawaii last December and January, and we were out on a cruise and it was a picture looking back on the shore,” Nahlik said. “I just extrapolated from that picture, and made my own style with it.” Nahlik was surprised that his painting was chosen as the cover. “It felt pretty awesome getting that email.”
Senator Wayne Goode was in attendance for the launch and was very impressed with the cover art.
“The cover is really nice,” Goode said. “I’m a bit of a photographer and my wife is a colorist, so I have a bit of appreciation for what goes into this sort of thing.”
Senator Goode is also a sponsor of several scholarships that aid students in the Honors College and hopes to be in attendance next year. “I’ve just kind of gotten a little bit attached to things over here, so I come over from time to time.”
The launch of “Archipelago” was the biggest launch the publication has ever had. “This was the best-organized launch in some time, possibly the best-attended ever, and certainly raised more money in direct sales than any previous launch,” Dean Bliss wrote in an email.