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  9th Life Cat Café

  Bethany Burbage

  The 9th Life Cat Café is a cat-themed café based in Queens, New York. Featuring an app prototype with mobile ordering, four large-scale branding concept illustrations, social media ad campaigns, and a large-scale menu, the 9th Life Cat Café is sure to capture your attention with its attentiveness to detail and delicious treats. The color palette and logo are both inspired by a calico cat, which is a breed that is viewed as “good luck” in many cultures. The 9th Life Cat Café also features examples of cats that would be available in shelters to encourage cat adoption from shelters.

  I view design as a feast for the eyes, leaving viewers hungry for more knowledge and inspiration. I enjoy bringing food into my designs and illustrations because everyone can relate in some way. Incorporating elements of food into my illustrations mirrors the joy and satisfaction found in culinary creations, as each bold color, shape, and texture resonates with the same sensory experience as a well-crafted dish. Through my work, I aim to evoke not only visual satisfaction but also deeper emotional connections, tapping into the universal experience of eating. I wanted to find a way to combine my interests in food illustration and cat adoption, so I chose a cat café to seamlessly merge the two ideas together. In my designs, vibrant colors and enticing textures bring to life the atmosphere of a cozy café, while playful cats add a touch of whimsy and charm.

  My work centers around branding, illustration, and UI design to create playful and dynamic designs. Drawing upon my past experiences, I've meticulously crafted the café's logo, iconography, and typography to reflect its fun and cozy atmosphere. My illustration technique is drawn from how I create paintings. I start with a sketch, then I begin blocking colors in and painting over top to render each object, using my stylus like a paintbrush with different hand pressures. The process mostly consists of layering and blending until you've reached the layer limit. In paintings, I often use pinks and purples in the shading of objects and figures. I have translated that into my illustrations, using purple on a multiply layer to create more interesting shadows. I favor illustration and user interface design because I love to pay close attention to detail and create immersive experiences. The prototype for 9th Life Cat Café uses elements and techniques that are similar to my other pieces but allow for a more interactive experience with its mobile ordering features.

  I draw a lot of inspiration from artists like Ross Tran, Vivienne Medrano, and Studio Ghibli, taking note of their use of color, lighting and shadow, and different drawing styles. Studio Ghibli's immersive realism and lush environments influence my aim for a blend of realism and magic in my illustrations. Vivienne Medrano's dynamic lighting and bold colors, along with Ross Tran's detailed and painterly style, inspire my lighting and composition techniques. My food illustrations are inspired by Alai Ganuza, a contemporary oil painter. The different shades of teal and purple in her works always makes me come back for more, and I love how she uses texture and lighting in things such as berries and glass. The approach of different elements of design and illustration by these artists have helped pave the path for me to find my own style of illustration and design, which I have implemented into the work shown in the 9th Life Cat Café.

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  Self-ish

  Christine Cox

  Sonder is the realization that every stranger and passerby has a life and experience that is just as complex and vivid as your own. The elderly person beside you on the bus, the couple in the restaurant, the children on the playgrounds, we are all alive for the first time. A concept that seems obvious, but when the time is taken to truly understand it, you also begin to understand humanity as a whole. Every person desires to see the good in the world, and we often turn to grand gestures of hope and stories of human resilience, but we often forget to observe the blessing of humanity that passes by us every day, on the bus, in the restaurant, and on the playgrounds. Selfish is an homage to this phenomenon, and a thank you note to all of the strangers and passers-by in my own life who have helped me understand the simple beauty of being alive, and an acknowledgement of their effect on myself as an individual by selfishly living their own truth, just as I am with mine.

  I find that my concepts are most accurately represented in a muted grayscale with the occasional bold singular color to add contrast, with the majority of my pieces consisting of charcoal, both pencils and loose. I regularly push the size of the work to create three-dimensional installations or experiences of surrealist depictions of myself or other human figures, distorted in a way that emphasizes how a mental struggle may manifest itself physically. This often results in realistic depictions of gore, or other morbid concepts related to the subject matter. My works are self-portraits, not solely because I am drawing my physical body, but rather an expression of my experiences, ones that I hope viewers can place themselves within. Self-ish if you will.

  Throughout my time creating these works, I have been captivated by artists such as the illustrator Caroline Harrison and visual artist Catherine Chalmers. Both artists have an immaculate attention to detail, and a style that demands it at every point on the canvas. I replicate this level of craftsmanship as well as the amount of information presented on one artwork at a time. The dark, dreary environment they are able to create evokes a deeply visceral and emotional response I strive to achieve in my own artwork. These artists—in this twisted way—inspired me to depict mental health struggles with very physical and gut-wrenching depictions of gruesome scenarios, while allowing the craftsmanship of my pieces render them “beautiful”, thus creating an interesting juxtaposition for the audience. Most notably, the inclusion of insects as an homage to the natural world is often a more direct way to incorporate “beauty” into any one of my artworks. It allows for an easy connection and understandable motifs to allow my own artistic message to be easily digestible while remaining a supporting role in the overall artwork.

  “The human experience is what is really at the heart of all my work.”

  My hope is for the viewers of my show to feel seen in not only perhaps the uneasy experiences they have gone through, but also a realization of their effect on others simply by being alive. The works I make are uncomfortable, dark, and perhaps disgusting to some; but I feel they also exude comfort, for there is an innate human desire to express this hurt where others can witness and understand a situation where it is easy to feel alone. Human experience is never performed alone.

  I believe the ability to share knowledge, compassion, empathy, and understanding regarding experiencing painful circumstances and creating a shared level of consciousness is the paramount principle within the agonizingly beautiful human experience.

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  Fabula Mea

  Lindsey Duncan and Lindsey Duncan

  Through digital illustration, I intertwine my personal traumatic experiences with stories from both Greco-Roman and Norse mythology as a means to process and heal. My exhibition, titled Fabula Mea (which is Latin for “my myth”) aims to highlight the effects of abuse, and how I have taken steps to overcome my past experiences.

  Myths and folklore have been a special interest of mine for as long as I can remember, specifically of those I have a cultural connection to. These mythologies are laden with tales of struggle with a paternal figure, which is another reason I resonated with these stories. I use these retellings of history as a means of reclaiming my history, to make my own mythology of sorts.

  The illustrations featured within my exhibition combine both mythology and my past, in somewhat abstract ways. It may not be inherently clear on what sort of myth the work is based on or how certain works and imagery relate to my past experiences. This abstraction of the concepts and ideas within my work pushes the viewer in my story, making them dig deeper into the narrative in order to piece together the meaning. Considering the topics I focus on are quite intimate and emotional, I find that having my work be more obscure adds to the viewer’s connection, allowing their own emotions and experiences to be brought up and entwined to the work.

  Though I work in digital illustration, I draw a lot of my inspiration from painters, such as Hugh Steers. In his works, he uses subject matter and composition in a way I find quite interesting. Though not overly grotesque, the vulnerability and emotion he conveys is something that I do within my own work. His paintings feature heavy subjects such as sorrow and loss, which may or may not be perceived upon first glance. This level of intrigue and interaction is something that I embody within my own works, like in my Narcissus illustration. Though it is more gorey than Steers’s work, the piece is about self-sacrifice, and often having to give myself up in order to maintain perfection. I wanted this piece to have more intense imagery, but still represent the loss of one’s identity in a way that is not blatantly obvious.

  I also look at the work of Meredith Marsone. Though her work is very figure-heavy, I find that her use of texture and color are used in a way that compliments her work in a very unique way. She uses it in a way that marries the foreground and background, and sometimes even makes it look as if the figure and background are conjoined in a way. Marsone’s works also tend to lean into more melancholic and pensive imagery, but does it in a way that seems more intimate than Steers’s work. Marsone makes the viewer focus on the subject and its abstract surroundings, and doesn’t give us as much information to base our interpretation on. I find this emphasis on the subject really interesting, and is something I do within my own works to keep the viewer engaged.

  While each illustration has its own story behind it, this exhibition is meant to serve as a form of healing and processing. This show has been nearly a lifetime in the making, and has had its moments full of grief, anger, confusion, and sadness. Though these emotions feel all-consuming at some points, I strive to not let its roots take hold. This exhibition is proof of that; proof that I can overcome that which aims to control me.

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  Maxwell Place

  Leo Fischer

  Leo Fischer

  Artist Statement SP24

  Last summer, as I was packing my things to move, I found a stack of family photo albums in the attic. I spent hours sitting on the floor of my bedroom going through every single photograph. Many of my memories from the first decade of my life are foggy, as losing a parent at a young age is difficult, and blocking out unpleasant memories is an unconscious, yet common way to cope. There were some things I didn’t recall at all until I was holding pictures of them in my hands. Maxwell Place is a collection of work based on the nostalgia I hold around my childhood. These hazy memories and missing pieces of my childhood inspired me to create a series of prints dedicated to the things I can't quite remember clearly.

  I use my screenprints to allow the viewer to see my memories in the same way I do. Screen printing allows me to incorporate my graphic design work as well as photographic and hand drawn elements into my pieces to create a narrative of my memories. To express these concepts in my pieces I play with opacity, layering, and abstract textures. I enjoy color blocking figures or backgrounds in my pieces, overlaying multiple images with varying transparencies, and incorporating handwritten typography into my pieces.

  Recently I’ve been finding inspiration from Hollis Brown Thornton, a painter and printmaker who works with concepts of morality by using old photos and personal objects in a pigment transfer process. Another one of my inspirations is Geloy Concepcion, a photographer who works with color blocking and text in his photos. Seeing their works influenced me to use hand written text in my prints and gave me the idea to use puff ink to add more texture to my pieces. Printing in non-traditional ways allows me to explore my concept in ways I hadn’t discovered before. Printing on pillows, lamp shades, and furniture allows me to create an immersive view into my memories by allowing the visitor to experience a recreation of my childhood living room.

  This exhibition is not only a narrative of my childhood, but a narrative of who I am now as an adult. Through my prints and installations I aspire to reach an audience that not only identifies with my art but also interprets it in their own unique ways. I hope the memories that I share with others remind them of their own forgotten memories.

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  Springlot, USA

  Benson Greenwell

  Utilizing digital media, I design work that embraces the humor and playfulness found even in the darkest of situations and environments. The humor expresses liveliness and absurdity — reminiscent of my childhood — but is reinforced by a mature perspective. It is through designing art that I can explore my witty and sensitive side. My artistic purpose is to put a smile on people’s faces.

  This exhibition introduces the fictional town of Springlot, USA, The town acts as a central melting pot for many different tourist traps. The exhibition is inspired by a trip to South Dakota I took with friends back in 2020, particularly the iconic Wall Drug billboards along I-90. My friends and I saw so many that we just had to see what all the hype was about. We were definitely tourist trapped looking back on it.

  I believe that tourism branding is fundamentally different than commercial branding because tourist traps break all the rules of design so long as it gets people to the door. These brochure layouts adhere to the principles of design while also representing these traps in a amusing light. Each brochure on the rack was approached stylistically different. It is my hope that Springlot, USA cracks a smile on viewers faces and maybe the road will lead them there someday.

  My inspirations are David Hockney’s bold use of color and shapes to design multilayered layouts. Illustrator Kazuma Kaneko’s application of rhythm, sharp outlines, and grim aesthetics developed during his time in the video game industry made me consider narrative importance in my work. After reflecting upon this, I treat all of my design work like a pop-up storybook, telling stories with a dimensional and comical perspective.

  While my design work is primarily digital, I find that skills I have learned outside the computer have helped my graphic design work. Taking painting classes helped me better understand texture and color theory. Taking marketing courses helped me understand designing for an audience and brand consistency. These skills allow me to visualize work with more depth while also balancing the characteristics that make my work my own.

  The nature of my work is taking the ordinary — such as an informative brochure design — and making it extraordinary by playfully altering the layout and typography. When starting my work, I’ll look at the references I work from and take small details such as people and places and develop a comical narrative around them. Thinking of underlying narratives sometimes helps me when developing concepts for a piece. These narratives helped to lay the foundation for Springlot, USA.

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  Breaking Borders

  Savannah Leach and Savannah Paige Leach

  My exhibition, Breaking Borders, explores identity, belonging, and the complexities of adoption through various artworks. As a Korean adoptee, I seek to share my struggles and offer diverse perspectives that challenge stereotypes in the adoptee community. I hope to connect with others and confront misconceptions about adoption through showcasing my personal stories.

  My collection of illustrations reflects my personal journey as a Korean adoptee through an abstract lens. I opted for a minimalistic illustration style to highlight the themes rather than the aesthetics. I developed a set of posters that resemble those used to promote social awareness. These reinforce the two informative booklets by being reminiscent of informational posters even while only posing questions. The wall of adoptees seeking to reconnect with their families aims to replicate the inexpensive and overlooked style of missing person flyers. This element unites the exhibit by mimicking the desire to draw attention and the desperation that adoptees often feel while trying to reconnect with their loved ones. The exhibition's use of South Korea's national colors, red and blue, serves as an eye-catching focal point that represents the country's heritage.

  As a Korean adoptee, I draw inspiration from fellow adoptees like Meg O'Shea and Megan Rye. Their work, which explores the complex aspects of adoption and identity, has inspired me to create flyers and collages that convey a similar sense of longing and search for self. Through my writing and exhibitions, I hope to provide a platform for the adoptee community to share their voices and gain a deeper understanding of their inner selves. Despite the challenges, I am determined to forge my own unique identity and resist being reduced to a mere number in the Korean adoption system.

  “Your openness to embrace my experience embodies empathy, understanding, and a shared humanity. Your engagement as a viewer affirms the importance of each word, emotion, and revelation in these pages. Together, we can transcend barriers of distance and difference, uniting in the universal pursuit of belonging.”

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  Oh My Stars

  Abbi Moore

  I am of the opinion that everyone judges a book by its cover. Why else would books have covers? Visuals are the ultimate first impression. This concept has interested me for a long time. In my work, I try to make the viewer pay attention to information that might otherwise be overlooked by building a connection with the audience when words are the only thing to work with. This is where my love and appreciation of graphic design came from. The idea of organizing art is an interesting concept in itself, but seeing how effective it is when it's carried out well sparked passion. This is why I started designing, but seeing how my work has grown and evolved over time is why I keep designing.

  The combination of styles across generations with a modern twist is something that I really enjoy not only seeing but implementing into work. Selecting effective elements from the older styles is a fun challenge. This has made me reconsider the process of creating work, as much as the result. While researching the aesthetics of the 1950s the typography of Hanna Barbera in the title sequences of shows such as “Bewitched” has been inspiring. These sequences are very stylized and memorable. It feels as though their letters are dynamic and have personality rather than being static characters. When working on a computer it can be hard to get the effect of their hand drawn cells, but by manually building each word I’ve achieved the look of the style being emulated. Another artist that has been very influential has been William T. Hurtz. His combination of line work and color blocking to create a sort of offset look in his work such as “Gerald McBoing Boing” and especially in “A Unicorn in the Garden” inspired me. It is through both of these artists that the logo for a new coffee shop, Oh My Stars, came to be. This can be seen through the typography reminiscent of a sitcom intro as well as the offset design of the moon.

  The aesthetic of the coffee shop is fundamental to the viewer’s experience and creates an opportunity for the audience to be immersed in the environment. Oh My Stars is a coffee shop first and foremost and should therefore have collateral to support this. This includes a uniform for a barista, coffee sleeves, as well as bigger environmental details such as the hours posted and open/closed signage that would typically be seen in a shop. By supporting the design with items such as a booth, reupholstered to match the branding, or something as simple as punch card, Oh My Stars becomes a place the audience can occupy and engage in.

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  Clattergag

  Jamie Myres

  Clattergag is an immersive, interactive installation that breaks the white-wall gallery confines to explore childhood nostalgia and whimsy. Fun is the goal. Playing dress up with half a mannequin, or laying in a giant burger are activities you wouldn't usually find in a stuffy gallery. As the viewer interacts with each piece, I want them to sit with their nostalgia and wonder why it is that kids pretend to be adults.

  Nostalgia and adulthood are so intermingled, yet the mere presence of one means an absence of the other. Children yearn to be adults, yet it's taboo for an adult to keep their childlike wonder and interests. I use saturated colors, nostalgic imagery, clever concepts and, most importantly, humor to invoke a positive feeling in my audience. I want them to walk away with a memorable experience, so memorable they tell their friends and laugh together as a result of something I made.

  Clattergag is incredibly immersive. The gallery atmosphere changes when entering the space. The vertical space is filled with draped fabric to feel as though you are entering a fort, and handmade rugs to cover the gallery floor and add a more plush homey feel. Throughout the show, I use a lot of childrens craft supplies – googly eyes, pom poms, pipe cleaners, beads – to create the feel of an elementary art class or school project. The bright, saturated primary colors replicate the decor of a preschool classroom, or a children’s toy. I use a lot of textures within the show that you just can't help but touch, in an attempt to draw in the audience to interact with the show. So go ahead and put your grubby little fingers all over everything, I know you want to!

  My inspirations come from a number of places. Claes Oldenburg’s larger than life sculptures allow the viewer to take in the absurdity of everyday items at an impractical scale. The viewer can take this at face value or consider a deeper meaning. Digital artist Sam Lyon puts realistic, creepy human anatomy on everyday items, giving his work an unsettling appearance. The disturbingness is incredibly captivating for weirdos like me. Yayoi Kusama creates an intricate, immersive experience simply by covering a whole space with polka dots. The idea of transforming an entire atmosphere is incredibly intriguing to me. These artists inspire me to push the boundaries of what I know, and create to the best of my ability.

  For as long as I can remember, I have found safety in humor. Everyone loves to laugh, and they love people that can make them laugh consistently. It was a quality that came naturally to me, and one I didn't realize I had until much later. It is a part of me, just how it is a part of everything I make no matter how hard I try to be serious. My brain is constantly a chaotic battlefield, with so much going on it often feels like there is nothing going on at all. It feels like there is always a new diagnosis, a new medication, and a new problem to fix. With my art I want other people like me to be able to take off their armor, lace up their clown shoes, and just have fun.

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  Transcendence

  CJ Nance

  Have you ever experienced hate from those you love the most? From those in the media you admire? Hatred that tells you that your existence should not be allowed? This is my daily experience as a transgender man. Being transgender has given me experiences that I love and experiences that I would never wish upon my worst enemy. Unfortunately, coming out and being out is dangerous for my community, and many transgender people choose to stay hidden. As an artist, I focus on gender identity and transformation that aims to provide courage to other transgender individuals so that they too can become their authentic selves.

  Creating prints is a way to process my transformation while advocating for the transgender community. The graphic quality of screen printing works in conjunction with my figure and object-driven images. The prints are realistic and illustrative with line quality that is essential to my work. By using these elements as well as bold, bright colors, I emphasize the shapes and textures of the subject.

  Along with screen printing, embroidery is a technique that is implemented in my pieces. The patches of embroidery floss make certain areas of the image more distinctive than the others. It is used to highlight the parts of the body that are changing or being changed deliberately by the transgender person. This is to bring awareness to transgender people and what we go through, so that others can further understand who we are and not jump to conclusions when it comes to our bodies.

  Cathrine Opie uses lots of symbolism in their work as a queer person to show what others might be afraid to let those outside the community see. My community frequently uses symbolism as a more appealing way to show the harsh reality that comes with being ourselves. Because of this, I use symbolism as a powerful tool to talk about how being transgender is not all happiness. Being publicly out is harsh and not for the faint of heart. Despite this, those that came before me have inspired and encouraged hundreds of people to accept their identities. I hope my work can do the same.

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  Buried Treasure

  Maggie Quertermous

  One of my most cherished dreams as a child was to have a dog. This past year I was able to adopt a four legged friend that forever changed my life for the better. When walking into that shelter, I immediately wanted to take her home and away from that sad interior. Being able to rescue a dog that I so deeply connected with was something indescribable, but it was sad for the ones left behind. From that experience sprang the idea of Buried Treasure. A bright, exciting place that is full of possibilities for both dogs and people.

  Brand design is creating a voice for a company without having to say a word. It has the ability to bring a community together just by existing. My designs are made to be colorful and unique that stand out in a world of bland advertisements while enhancing a business’ purpose. Organic shapes, unique color pallet, playful typography, and layout help to create a unique identity through branding. This was considered when designing Buried Treasure Shelter and Store. Over all, dogs are happy creatures, full of love and playfulness. But often, shelters are dark and depressing spaces that do not embody the feeling that one can get with a canine companion. Everyone needs an animal in their life to enrich it but choosing the right one can be difficult, especially when the shelter has muted colors, and a depressing interior. By designing a bright and fun business system for Buried Treasure, it brings excitement within the building, helping prospective dog owners envision the joys of adopting a dog.

  Buried Treasure Shelter and Store envisions a dog shelter and pet store that stocks everything that a prospective owner would need to bring their new furry friend home. Within the store, the products, posters, and signage are designed to enhance excitement about bringing a dog home while the materials within the shelter provide the information needed to know about their current residents, and what to expect after bringing them home.

  While designing the products and packages, Robot Food inspired more vibrant uses of color and unique designs, full of color with loud typography to help create a fun and welcoming environment. William Wegman's use of his own dogs within his photography provides personal touch and the unique ability to capture every canine’s unique personality. Jessica Jones’ designs use bold patterns and a fun, engaging design while bold typography helps to create a sense of urgency to the work. All three designers show excellence in fun, colorful design, something that I incorporate into my work by using clear and unique fonts, a cohesive color palette, and playful shapes that communicate a warm feeling to remind people how life is better by being the guardian of a shelter animal.

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  Phylum Phantasma

  Hannah Robards

  In my work, I explore how comfort can be found in discomfort and harrowing situations and how we seek shelter in the world around us. My art takes the form of a ceramic world that is devoid of human life and explores the habitats of various unique creatures and species. My work evokes the feeling of searching for a sense of belonging and how this search can be a complicated one, filled with a variety of different relationships, including beneficial, parasitical, and more. These relationships are present in my ceramic creatures and exemplify the complexity of interaction within our species.

  I utilize blistered and gooey textures along with biomorphic forms in order to push my idea of eccentric creatures residing in another world. The incorporation of fiber elements evokes moss, mold or ground and helps define and deepen the environments the creatures inhabit. My work allows the viewers to immerse themselves in this other-worldy environment and possibly find themselves relating to the creatures and the relationships they are involved in. I hope the viewers will come away with a feeling of intrigue in the world around them and an appreciation for the people and relationships they find comfort in.

  Cynthia Consentino and Kathy Ruttenberg are two contemporary artists whose work is influential to my own. Consentino’s work focuses on manipulating familiar objects in life, molding them into a completely new set of imagery that sheds light on humanity and identity and how these relate to animalistic/natural ideals. Her work is inspired by mythology, religious imagery, and fairy tales.. Ruttenberg is also primarily a ceramicist but works in other media such as painting and animation. Her works focus on telling a story using humanoid mythical creatures that invoke a sense of wariness in the viewer. A lot of her works feature crossovers between human and animals/natural elements, which is a theme I explore in my own art.

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  It Builds Character

  Harlene Simmons

  In the depths of our minds, we carry fragments of our past, pieces of childhood experiences that shape our future selves. Memories, whether warm and joyful, unbearably bad, or insignificant, serve as the building blocks of our character. It is the give and take between these memories and the vices we often keep hidden. My work brings to light the vices that quietly shadow our journey from innocence to adulthood—through methods of printmaking, primarily lithography, I set my childlike self in an empty space to emphasize the idea of memory, however clear or faint it may be. Central to my artistic narrative is the symbolism of the bucket—a vessel ready to receive inspiration, knowledge, and, most profoundly, the core of our youth. This empty vessel represents the receptivity of childhood and our minds' malleability as we absorb the world around us. Through photographs and drawings drawn from my childhood, I develop my artistic narrative. I juxtapose these snapshots of innocence with the presence of the bucket, making a connection between the past and the present. The resulting combination challenges viewers to confront the obscured vices that have quietly guided our evolution. Two significant influences shape my artistic perspective. Karol Pomykala's distinctive approach to printmaking, particularly in his series 'Changes,' diverges from my techniques. Pomykala, a dedicated relief artist, employs dot matrices to construct hyper-realistic compositions, often deviating from traditional compositional norms by extending the edges of his boxes into the margins of his paper. His mastery of space and balance resonates deeply with my artistic aspirations, particularly within the realm of printmaking. Notably, his choice of subject matter, such as rendering an open cardboard box, adds an intriguing dimension to his work. In contrast, Paul Galang's innovative lithographic methods captivate me as a printmaker. Galang's experimental process involves silk-screening gum arabic images onto litho stones and applying asphaltum to the negative spaces. This approach, which incorporates photo references, mirrors many aspects of my work, fostering admiration and inspiration. In “It Builds Character” I invite the viewer to retrace their steps through memories, to recognize the unspoken vices that lie hidden beneath the surface of nostalgia. Through this exploration, we confront the paradox of childhood—the simultaneous embrace of wonder and the inheritance of unseen burdens. I hope that this visual representation sparks interest, illuminating the profound impact of our early experiences on our adult lives.

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  Camp Create

  Lyle Smith

  In life, there are certain feelings and emotions that are better conveyed through art than words alone. Using media such as graphic design and photography, I strive to organize information in a unique and thought-provoking way, and convey emotion through the elements of art and design. In art, I draw from my own experiences and create a time and place where I can ask questions without being interrupted. In design, I combine form and function, and organize elements in a way that is simultaneously logical and visually appealing. I am creating cohesion between photography and graphic design. In short, if I can give people a reason to look at my work in the first place, then I can provoke them to think and care about what I’m saying.

  Creating my first photo book required dissection of my photography to find the through line across the compositions. What I found, in this reflection, was a visual record of the times where I felt comfortable to frame life through my lens. Through elements such as leading lines, geometric shapes, and the juxtaposition of man-made and natural forms, I organize my compositions. Most of these photographs are created as I walk outdoors, which is a meditative time to reflect on my thoughts and feelings. Time and space are important elements in my work, and my subject matter reflects that. Man-made forms are controlled, and tied to a time and context, whereas nature is timeless and ultimately uncontrollable. Both are grounding in different ways. With the exception of my twin brother, there are no human figures in this photo book. I choose not to photograph human figures because my photographs are created in a private, solitary space. After gaining time and space from my compositions, I can share them with others. My artistic practice serves as a conduit for introspection, inviting viewers to embark on a visual journey where meaning intertwines with form, and emotion finds expression in the language of design and photography. I aspire to not only captivate but also provoke contemplation and resonance in those who engage with it.

  In my work, I’m attracted to bright and saturated colors, leading lines, bold use of negative space, creating symmetry and juxtaposing elements, creating balance and movement, finding and creating patterns, and creating texture and depth in digital works. I am fascinated with the way that the treatment of type in particular can affect the meaning of what is being said. In graphic design, drawing the eye of the viewer to the text in a composition is important to me. In my creative process, I’m inspired by the forms, colors, and other elements of design I see around me in everyday life, from the timeless organic forms found in nature, to architecture, interior design, automotive design, consumer electronics, music packaging, product packaging, print ads, and the work of photographers that I have found such as William Eggleston, Uta Barth, and Douglas McCulloh. William Eggleston uses color, type, and automobiles as subjects in a way that resonates with me. Uta Barth uses light and abstraction to create reflective pieces in a way I explore in my work. Douglas McCulloh’s formulaic way of creating chance occurrences to facilitate his work deeply resonates with me. In conclusion, I like to intertwine graphic design and photography to create work that captivates and provokes resonance in those who engage with it.

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  The Mart of 8th Ave

  jacob zhao

  1. Identity is extremely valuable but can be a broad category; and it never comes in a box but also with labels, addresses, materials, care, shapes, and sizes. Graphic design is everywhere and I believe its purpose is to create an identity and message but not all messages are for the greater good. Packaging in common food and other products includes labels of misleading or false information. The rules that enforce these labels and most of the time it’s pointless to label on. Words like “Natural” make some foods sound better than what the label implies. People are tricked into buying expensive products with the promise of a better product. I have created a satire based store around this idea expecting people to connect this experience to their own experience. The corner store I’ve created to attract people to view eye-catching products from afar, while holding the extreme absurdness up close. Bodegas usually provide cheap and everyday products in a tight compact space, I have recreated the look and feeling, with more expensive products. I want the viewer to pick up and look at the many products and realize how absurd it is and put it back and repeat. My artistic influences came from Kati Forner because of the product designs she has made with minimalism and clear hierarchy that pairs very well with her color choices. I am also inspired by Omega Mart because of the variety of odd products that would seem normal but out of place as a real product. I combine the styles of Kati Forner and Omega Mart to fit the show message with my experience on misleading products.

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  Seven Recipes to Save Yourself

  Megan Bachman

  Food is an undeniable constant. Food can be a declaration of love, gratitude, or wealth. It can be a reflection of individuals, as well as communities. The relationship between a person (or character) and food can speak volumes to the audience about who they are and how they interact with the artist's world. I am inspired by the works of Domee Shi (Director behind Bao and Turning Red) and Hayao Miyazaki (Director behind Studio Ghibli). They use food to further their narrative, and do so with enticing colors, textures, and sounds. That is why I chose to create posters and animations depicting food illustrations and their recipes. These foods not only appear on the wall, but in the original short story, as well, presented as chapter dividers. The recipes are not only essential to the narrative of the story, but they are also stand-alone artworks.

  Similar to Hayao Miyazaki, I also find beauty in making the animated experience sound beautiful. As well as writing, illustrating, and animating the foods, I also supply the flute music played in the background of the animations. To create the artworks, I begun with a recipe and sketches in Illustrator. During this phase, I focus on the composition and texture of the food. The recipes that I've selected for each of the foods each stem from a color I assigned to them before beginning work. When researching the seven deadly sins, I found colors that were most commonly associated with those sins and used those as a jumping-off point for my color exploration. I found myself using the movies these artists directed for inspiration of the textures and aesthetics behind the illustrative styles I present in the posters and animation. The scale of the posters is used to further the 'larger-than-life' quality of the recipes.

  In my animation, I use the opportunity to redraw doos in multiple angles to define my artistic style. I use dynamic lineart and interesting textures to relate back to the style used in the illustrated posters.

  When a chef (Ryan) and photographer (Landon) are thrust into the middle of the supernatural apocalypse, it is up to the two of them to work together not only to stop the end of the world but also to figure out which ingredients they will need to do so. Indulge in the delicious world of the seven deadly sins, the supernatural, and food with seven delicious posters, animation, and a short story sure to leave you sinning for more.

  MJ Bachman

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  Corporeal Forms

  Ella Curran

  The human body is the only tangible thing that connects us to the earth. So much is contained within it, at the same time so much happens around it - including ongoing attempts to politicize and regulate bodies in our contemporary climate. We are bound by forces outside of ourselves. Whether the limitation is self-inflicted, relational, or societal, it asks for reflection. My practice is a response to these forces, an assertion of my physical self onto materials that become a record of my presence. Through the labor and performance involved in creating this work, I perceive myself. It gives me permission to be in the liminal spaces of growth and to explore my place within them.

  This series embodies the evolution of self. Lived experiences, life cycles, and the properties of natural materials are the starting points. The sculptures reckon with the absence of the body. Whether pressed, contained, or recreated, each work is done to human scale. The inclusion of video allows creation and interaction to exist alongside the object. The works act as artifacts documenting moments through these cycles from confinement to the remains left behind from emergence/death. I offer up my vulnerability, frustration, and joy, making space for the shared experience of facing these cycles in the hope that we will not be still.

  Exploration of the limitations of the materials is essential to my process. I begin with the creation of a structure or framework; a rigid boundary to contain the fluid work. This could be the camera view, wood, steel, or hardened forms of ceramic, concrete, or plaster. These become analogs for the physical body. There is an opposition between the high level of attention to the container in comparison to the raw quality of the materials that fill the frame. The fluid elements include water, sand, earth, polyfill, wax, and light. To these there are minimal adjustments or interventions. The material speaks for itself. The manipulation of light, transparency, and visibility is used to conceptualize how our understanding of the world is constantly changing.

  Surrendering to the material's inherent properties pushes the work conceptually from a purely physical awareness of the body to a spiritual one. The relationship between the concrete and changeable echoes the need to engage and adapt as we try to know ourselves and our world. This mode of creating with materials allows the work to exist in a perpetual state of the in-between: the liminal state of the rigid, physical world/pressures and the fluid, abstract realm. We will gain the courage to be active participants in aligning with ourselves inwardly and our interconnected world externally.

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  Scavenging For Narrative

  Jesus Gallegos Moreno

  rowing up in a “rancho” (small farming village) in Durango, Mexico, I only learned one way to “live”: to move forward relentlessly, no matter how many barriers slow you down along the way. Some of the people in the village were stuck at a standstill in their life, with no clear ambition or trajectory on the horizon. With increasing stagnation surrounding me, the world I saw outside of that small village was so incredibly big and vibrant, with so many experiences just waiting to be lived.

  I strive to show my way of life as a scavenger, using everything that has ever been around me, even the otherwise discarded experiences, to propel me and my work forward. All of my work displays a passion for narrative that has continuously pushed me toward Cinema and filmmaking as an art form. The thematic elements in Vulture Pictures also acknowledges and exhibits my diversity and experiences as a first-generation Mexican immigrant. The layout and placement of this display attempts to enclose you within the world of Cinema inside the gallery space­—to facilitate an immersive visual experience.

  In Latin America, the things that you cherish the most are often inexpensive and ephemeral, but the wonderfully bright colors of these items is what gives them life. Using the traditional Hollywood movie poster style as a framing device, I strive to use color in a similar way to the items that might be found in a “puesto” (street vendor booth) to elevate my small-budget posters into something more memorable and meaningful than those of cinema’s new blockbusters. Vulture Pictures is the culmination of every skill and experience that I have had in my life, whether Typography, Photo Manipulation, Cinematography, Photography, Illustration, or Branding. I hope that through having my viewers question their knowledge of the foreign world by sincerely presenting rural Mexico I can aid in connecting them to another culture; Is your world anything like mine?

  Inspired by Rik Bracho’s use of a wide range of typography and unconventional pairing of Type, my static media explores the duality of feeling Mexican but being more American. Yolanda M. Lopez’s use of classic, culturally rich imagery found in Mexico inspired the approach I took to my subject matter. The dynamic media was primarily inspired by Adam Grabowski’s experimental techniques in motion graphics. I tried to subtly address important contemporary narratives affecting Mexicans, such as “Illegals,” some microaggressions, and ALMO’s “Hugs not Bullets” policy.

  While creating this exhibition I was able to explore my past, and the current situations affecting Mexicans and Chicanos alike. I am proud of the unorthodox combination of media I have explored, and the narratives that I am providing a platform for. My work tells a story—my story: my experiences, my viewpoints, my emotions—all to show you how I have viewed the world by way of original photography from my rancho. Through showcasing my perspective to broaden your cultural viewpoints, I want to spark your interest in the differences that culture can inform your interpretation of the world around you; The world right in front of you.

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  ARTISTICO

  Alma Garcia and Alma Angelica Garcia

  The word Artistico in Spanish references someone gifted with the arts, providing meaning to the name of this fictional self-branded stationary store. Artistico is a paper goods store that provides personalized items with unique and fun designs. The products are composed of elements like packaging, posters, illustrations, notebooks, pins, greeting cards and more. The body of work as weel as the logotype is unified by the bold and dynamic typeface, Comfortaa. Artistico embraces vivid colors, fun patterns and clean designs that create a strong brand identity.

  Recieving a piece of high-quality perzonalized stationary feels meaninful. As an artist I express myself better through my compositons and designs. With my work, I like to grab inspiration from the people and places around me. Developing an identity in graphic design has helped me create a style worth sharing with others. Throughout my work, I like to pair bright colors with playful pattern in hopes to get the audience’s attention and interest.

  Throughout the brand Artistico I want to provide meaningful pieces of art and through package design that incorporates a unique experience and composition that works with other pieces in display. The brand incorporates playful icons that are seen across the work tied together with fun colors and organic shapes. A big part of these compositions is the usage of sustainable French paper that provides the vintage aesthetic.

  For the visual of the storefront, I was inspired by many works of Dani Klaric. She takes on empty and dull spaces and fills them up with one-of-a-kind pieces that transform the space. In the same way, Lotta Nieminen’s work inspired me to work with different shapes and compositions. She incorporates patterns in her illustrations. In my designs, the overall use of typography was inspired by the style of bold sans serif fonts that Massimo Vignelli’s work has. Also, companies like Rifle Paper Co. and Papersmiths utilize bold colors and playful characters into their stationery. With my work, I want to provide the audience some of the joy that always comes from handmade stationary items.

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  Like Pulling Teeth

  Sam E. Haines

  Like Pulling Teeth’s album Living and Dying in a Bathtub captures every detail and the drive of a punk band except for the fact that they do not exist, its existence, however, does not negate the impact the lyrics, music, and imagery have in the same way real bands express our emotions and turmoils through their creations. For me, there has always been a strong connection to the grunge and punk music scene - the loud noise and screams about our world’s injustices or personal grievances echo and ring in a captivating manner. Former Dead Kennedys lead singer, Eric “ Jello Biafra” Boucher has stated “Punk rock will never die until something more dangerous replaces it” (1978 – 1986) and his impact on his followers, myself included, couldn’t agree more. However, rather than choosing to make music as an outlet for my advocacies and emotions, I have taken a predominantly visual route through distorted imagery with harsh lines and dark colors in an amplifying manner. With this show, there is cohesion in both art forms to produce the anger and aggression that makes a punk band what they are.

  With such a roaring sound, punk music will always have album artwork that wraps it together with an equally roaring aesthetic. I have always been fond of the way Barbara Kruger modifies found photography and turns them into cutthroat political commentary by Barbara Kruger, she works heavily with high-contrast black and white imagery but accents one other color, predominantly red, to create an eye-catching and grim appearance. Similarly, Bill Direen is a musician who will use heavily altered photographs and prints for album work to match the post-punk scene, which I have also come to reference in album work and band collateral. The imagery used is not meant to be ‘beautiful’ in any way, but rather bizarre and visceral. As for the typographic elements, I have found inspiration from Brent Ashe, who uses San Serif typography and a minimal color palette to bring a bold and sharp aesthetic to the advertised product: including album art and band logos.

  My media of choice are digital-based, including photography and illustration. However, through my merchandise, I have incorporated screen printing and relief printing to give a more traditional “Xerox” appearance while using modern digital art programs. I chose mediums that are commonly used when advertising tours and creating merchandise sold at the venue - large-scale photography and illustrations in posters, opaque designs printed into shirts, bags, and pins, as well as a full-length music video and interview to hone in on the music aspect of the exhibition. Everything from the large-scale album works to the design on ticket stubs all match the bold text and dark color palette, giving a more grunge style. The work I am bringing you today is all for a band that doesn't currently exist but has work and music that represents everything I stand for.

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  Murder & Merlot: An Interactive Mystery Experience

  madison johns

  As a maximalist specializing in illustration, I use common elements to visually connect my work and make the narrative and aesthetic more cohesive. Bold colors and patterns enhance detailed imagery, character design, and environmental design, along with monochromatic and complementary palettes. These elements are often paired with similar typography. All font choices are deliberately representative of the personality of each individual piece and its voice. Each suspect has their own signature font to help the viewer visually connect to the character, but the entirety of Murder & Merlot is branded in such a way that it has a specific heading font, Theories, a subheading font, Haarlem Deco, and a body font, Avenir Next Condensed.

  Work flow begins with visual research and references. Flat, crisp, vector illustrations with many vibrant colors are some of my favorite things about graphic design. The way that small organic shapes come together to produce a larger interesting image is something I am always working to achieve. Masking patterns over flat areas or blocks of color is a fun way to strategically add texture and dimension. I draw inspiration from Neethi, an illustrator who uses shape, perspective, and loud patterns and colors to grab viewers’ attention and their eyes around the piece. Lulu Debreuil is another illustrator from whom I take heavy inspiration. She uses all of the aforementioned elements, especially flat shapes with patterns, to create gorgeous, captivating imagery. To avoid visually overwhelming an audience with too many conflicting elements, I take breaks during my workflow to view my progress from afar. Working with software where layers can be hidden is essential when deciding how much is too much. Balancing white space and intricate detail is a crucial step in my process because it is important to give the viewer’s eyes a place to rest among so much visual stimulation. This is something I use to my advantage in Murder & Merlot. Manipulating where a viewer will go for rest after high amounts of visual intake allows room for hidden clues and messages that may not be otherwise interpreted.

  Growing up, I watched old mysteries with my family. Alfred Hitchcock, Agatha Christie, Clue, and other icons of the genre brought us together and gave us a common interest. In an attempt to share that bond with others, I have completely brought to life an interactive murder mystery exhibit where viewers can observe all of my designs which will help them solve the mystery. I have incorporated a variety of different skill sets such as layout, composition, typography, color, character design, and illustration. The aesthetic is vibrant, but mysterious, and immerses the viewer into the world of the characters making them feel as if they are involved. Each character has colors, patterns, and display fonts, as well as a poster detailing their role within the mystery. Clues are displayed throughout the exhibit, along with additional posters and artifacts from the story to aid the viewer in their investigation and the final solution.

  The ultimate goal is for the audience to come together and have a memorable connection, similar to what Agatha Christie did for my grandmother and me. Using illustration and graphics to make others feel excited and included is part of why design is important, and an interactive exhibit where the viewer becomes a fundamental part of the piece achieves this goal by providing an opportunity to unite an audience. Murder & Merlot is saturated with imagination and creativity in the hope that it will allow others to feel the same sense of excitement that I feel when designing.

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  Olive Branch

  Abigail Kyle

  Art has become a means for me to reflect on and understand myself and my surroundings. When I experience something beautiful, I want to keep that moment with me. When I feel joy or confusion or grief, I search for a way to both process and visualize those emotions. This desire to express and capture emotion drives my creative process through photography and design.

  Photography can only say so much about who someone is on the inside, but I have a desire to photograph in a way that connects a person’s outward and inward self—I want glimpses of their true personality to be felt through their portraits, and I think clothing design can accomplish this same goal. My goal with the apparel I’m designing is to spark conversation and reflection rather than explicitly state any specific ideas or values the wearer might hold. Not everyone will interpret each of my designs to have ties to biblical themes, but I hope the viewer wonders about the importance of the words and the nature imagery and how they connect. I chose to design these shirts with bright and optimistic colors, rather than adopting the neutral color palette that is often associated with nature, and I used forms that felt organic, relatively simple, and recognizable. These decisions came from my hope that the shirts will feel welcoming and will invite viewers into open discussion. Additionally, my goal is that they could be worn and appreciated by anyone, rather than having an exclusive demographic of just the people who understand the references. I want the promotion of my shirts to feel available to everyone through photo and video advertisement, while the supplemental booklet I’ve designed gives deeper insight into the inspiration and meaning behind my work.

  Much of my design process for this clothing brand has been influenced by the paper cutout designs from Henri Matisse, such as his piece Snow Flowers. This work and its flat, solid forms gave me inspiration specifically when designing my first shirt, titled “When the Waves Rise.” I was also influenced by the patterns in Jessica Walsh’s monochromatic work for Pet Plate when I was designing my “To Work and Keep It” t-shirt. As I photographed models wearing my shirts, photographers like Cass Bird served as my inspiration, especially Bird’s editorial work for Harper’s Bazaar.

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  Finding Solace

  Cassie Melcher and Cassie Victoria Melcher

  In a world filled with heavy overwhelmingness, the creatures I sculpt help root myself and the viewer in a lighter, gentler place. The creatures have diverse body shapes and sizes, colors, and an exploration of pattern and texture with a focus on tactility. I want viewers to feel compelled to touch or engage personally with my sculptures, and for the creatures to live through the viewers by interacting with them or their environment. This brings moments of curiosity, self-acceptance, or compassion. Though we are often overburdened with negative thoughts, our inner critics speaking louder than anyone in the room, my sculptures present the opportunity for a peaceful, comforting break.

  The wide range of creatures I sculpt is inspired by the variety and diversity of all living beings, but with a focus on animals. Identifiable features such as eyes, mouths, and noses are often left out to reject and remove labels from my sculptures. I seek to reduce their forms down to essential expressions of animal curiosity and unselfconsciousness. In dialogue with the way Chanakarn Semachai uses sometimes humorous animal imagery to talk about radical self-acceptance and belonging, my work also expresses self-acceptance and joyful freedom through the peace in my soft sculpted creatures. Semachai, or Punch as she is known, works to bring pieces that embrace all people through her color and shape choices. The shapes I choose to sculpt produce a gentle or friendly appearance, inviting positive interactions. The purpose of my sculptures is to give a sense of joy, curiosity, and acceptance. I find that I most enjoy working with more bulbous, smooth shapes because they are reminiscent of plush forms and best convey a sense of comfort and support. It is through their shapes, colors, and textures where differences are enforced and welcomed.

  Starting as nothing more than a mud mass, clay is a malleable tool able to take on any number of forms and aligns well with my desire to experiment and play. In contrast to my ideas of wonder, warmth, and gentleness, it is hard and cold to the touch despite the life poured into each sculpture. With this consideration, a dichotomy is created between the comfort these sculptures represent and the material; a soft presentation of a cold reality. Like the Velveteen Rabbit, these make believe creatures may not be alive, but they are real in the sense that they were made with love and care and that is enough for me. They are designed as companions and guides to self-acceptance and care. I find solace in how something so gentle, open-minded, and curious can be evoked by an inanimate sculpture. Through them, I am reminded to make time to find joy and reach for peace.

  Cassie Melcher

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  Clamor of a Catalyst

  Gretchen Ruth

  The beauty of change and time are found in cycles of destruction and rebirth. Time is active, spitting out transformed versions of everything in a constant cycle it remains as an ever present inevitability of existence. To adjust with this transformation can be stifling as much as relieving. This body of work focuses on repurposing found materials while pondering the inherent nature of change.

  Some objects are left to collect dust and remain as they are. Every object questions what is truly disposable. Do the things we throw away remain discarded forever? To challenge this, I cultivate an art practice that aims to enhance the potential of reclaimed objects by incorporating them into multimedia experiments. Paintings, metalworks, fiber, and textile objects shown are all composed of scraps that are usually left untouched.These materials experiencing the catharsis of renewal are able to exist intrinsically as artifacts. The outcome of these pieces is dependent on the intricacies of each object's individual creation.

  Every project starts with an initial tactile response. Simply being curious about the outcomes of putting two different things together.The constant problem solving, along with pure intuition, makes finding each solution a step further into a subconscious state. This feels like a haze that is mindless yet mindful. A frantic distortion of the self which leaves no indication of its existence aside from the work made. Actively taking the role of a catalyst to cause a metamorphosis of these materials. They become objects beyond their piles.The fleeting nature of creating these works mimics the transformative nature of ourselves. The same as all things in this world. This art practice attempts to memorialize the ephemeral qualities of this body of work: the artmaking process, the present self, and the remnants of what was left behind.

  Gretchen Ruth

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  honey, i'm home

  Kaley Shackelford

  Within my current work, I explore the tension between surface appearances and the complicating phenomena, emotions, and circumstances that lie underneath. The stories I tell are grounded in my everyday experiences as a woman, as well as familial, ancestral, and communal observations. My work utilizes motifs such as irons, laundry baskets, and kitchenware that are attached to traditional gender roles, examining the tension that these items emit and, at the forefront, how I have internalized it. This deeply contrasts with my love for the domestic and its ability to foster moments of intimate care and bonding, which also emerges within the work. I aim to navigate these home spaces that should, ideally, be our safe-havens, but have been tainted by social standards and expectations that are difficult to ignore or transcend.

  Psychological color is an integral element in my work, as I mesh natural color palettes with moments of bright, fiery oranges to imply that these accents are merely heightening something that already pervades the everyday. The process of painting is essential to my practice; intuitively building up and stripping away paint acts as a very literal way to reveal underlying layers and construct additional barriers, coverings, and second skins. Other ways of making have also played invaluable roles in exploring these feelings and concepts. Hand-building with terracotta has allowed me to venture into the uncanny with dishware that is irregular and heavy. There are also moments of embroidery, a medium through which I aim to pay homage to a long history of women artists who were not often celebrated as such.

  My paintings share some qualities with Lois Dodd’s, as her observational paintings utilize painterly, intuitive brushwork and vibrant, complementary colors. Dodd frequently returns to motifs such as windows, house exteriors, and clotheslines, but is able to create a variety of exciting outcomes based solely on familiar surroundings. My work also dialogues with Shannon Cartier Lucy’s, particularly paintings in her Our New Home series, as they are grounded in everyday spaces and often put women in vulnerable positions that can make the viewer feel alarmed and concerned for the figures involved. Her works are always framed in a way that is conscious of the aspects of viewership, ambiguous as to what degree the viewer is a voyeur. My paintings ask similar questions when dissecting the performative aspects of domestic life, creating compositions that force the viewer into situations like peeking through a cracked door or looking down on the figure.

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  Cosmic Displacement

  Meg Slatton

  In my work, I explore the concepts of humor, identity, and fiction. I have always had a desire to make others laugh and use humor to express broader concepts. I plant humor into my work through telling engaging stories. Being able to create fictional worlds and otherworldly experiences is something I have an interest in; and it’s something that I am continuing to pursue. Most importantly, I’m exploring issues of identity within my works. I am specifically focusing on the themes of ethnicity, race, sexuality, and self-acceptance in these current pieces. I am incorporating the unique elements of my identity into otherwise fictional settings in order to create more dynamic work, like that of my graphic novel, Interposed & Orbiting, for example. It is a collection of sci-fi novels that center around aliens and are a metaphor for my own struggle with my Mexican identity and my multicultural upbringing. Using aliens and outer space as metaphors allows me to create a more digestible story for my audience, while also allowing me to depict my experiences in a more comical way, which both pleases and frustrates me. I love that my multicultural experience will be able to be more easily understood by a wider audience, but it’s also frustrating to feel the need to simplify my experiences due to it being such a multifaceted subject.

  This is also expressed by other artists I am in dialogue with: Marjane Satrapi and Jose Posada. Marjane Satrapi creates art based upon her identity in reference to multiculturalism. Her work also touches upon the same feeling of frustration that I feel with my graphic novels, with her use of contrast and space. I am also in dialogue with Jose Posada and his use of line as value. Posada’s use of line was the inspiration behind the detailed shading within my graphic novels. This dialogue with Satrapi and Posada has allowed me to grow as an artist and be able to get out of my comfort zone when it comes to expressing my Mexican identity through my art.

  Being able to talk about my struggle with my ethnic identity has always been difficult for me, as I was often discouraged by my peers for doing so when I was growing up, so being able to express that experience through my art was the inspiration for creating this collection of works. I hope that when people view these pieces, they are able to empathize and relate to the struggle of feeling lost or trapped within one's own identity and the perception of that identity. This collection is asking two different questions: Can you accept your identity, faults and all? Can society change its perceptions of how people of a certain race or ethnicity ‘should’ look? While these questions have a very real weight in our contemporary world, within my graphic novels I depicted an optimistic and hopeful narrative because it is my wish to see that reflected in both society and myself.