The staff at the Anderson Gallery created a series of videos to help students photograph and light 2-D and 3-D works. Because a lot of students are working from home during Covid-19, the videos demonstrate how to take photographs with smartphones while at home or in a dorm room with materials that most already have on hand. This helps students showcase their works in class during critiques and prepare works for the Annual Juried Student Exhibition which is virtual during spring 2021. *Special shout outs go to Bryan Ortiz, Courtney McCuddin and Anh Nguyen for sharing their artworks for our demonstrations!
Videos produced with the help of Art Professor Emily Newman; Julia Franklin, the Anderson Gallery Manager; and Lydia White, Gallery Technology Assistant and Student Worker Extraordinaire.
Calling all Drake students who want to share your artwork! We invite you to enter works that will be selected as part of our 50th Annual Juried Student Exhibition. The exhibition will be virtual and will run from March 7 – April 16, 2021. Our juror will be Nikki Renee Anderson, a Drake Alum and Chicago-based artist and educator. She will select works to be included in the exhibition and award winners. Over $1000 in awards will be announced in addition to the Provost Award. The virtual exhibition and digital catalog will be debuted on Sunday, March 7 at 2pm as we live-stream the exhibition opening and awards ceremony.
CATEGORIES: Students can enter up to 4 works total in these categories: Drawing & Works on Paper, Graphic Design, Interactive Media, Painting, Performance, Printmaking, Sculpture, Installation, and Video. Videos are limited to 15 minutes, and we can only accept online entries. We allow entry files to be submitted as .jpg, .png, .gif, .mp3, .mp4. and .mov. Maximum file size is 500 mb and best resolution is preferred at 300dpi.
ELIGIBILITY: Entrants must be Drake students, and it is free to enter. All submissions must be original work produced by the student artist within the past two years and must have been produced while enrolled at Drake University.
DEADLINE: February 18, 2021 at midnight (That’s 11:59pm the night of Thursday, February 18, 2021).
TIMELINE:
Monday, February 1, 2021: Submissions open for the 50th Annual Juried Student Exhibition
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at midnight/11:59pm: Deadline for receipt of submissions
Friday, February 26, 2021: Email Notification sent out to all entrants to inform them of acceptance into the exhibition
Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 2pm: Live-streamed Exhibition Opening and Awards Ceremony on YouTube and Facebook. The Virtual Exhibition and digital catalog will also be launched and posted on our website and social media.
ENTRY PROCESS: We are using a professional service, Entrythingy, which is similar to CaFE, Submittable and Slideroom, to manage all the entries and make the entry and selection process easy. Click below to sign up and submit your entries. There is no cost to Drake students, and you should receive an email alert from us once you have submitted your work. If you have any questions, please email julia.franklin@drake.edu. Scroll down to see some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
NEEDED INFO TO ENTER: Have these items ready so your submission process goes smoothly:
You need to have professional images of your artworks. (View videos below to help you photograph your work at home with your phone). You can enter multiple views or details of each piece you submit. *Graphic designers, just upload a PDF or jpeg of your original designs. There’s no need to print and photograph them although mock-up views can also be added.
A list of the title, size, materials, and price of each piece. (Why price work? Because people want to buy it – like our Provost! What you create has value because it encompasses your idea, materials and time. Student works typically range from $50-250 and sometimes more for larger, one-of-a-kind pieces. Don’t want to sell your work? That’s okay. Just list NFS which means Not For Sale).
Your Drake ID Number (kept confidential and used to ensure only Drake students enter, to make cash awards easy to distribute, and to keep the selection process blind and fair.)
You are now ready to sign up and submit your entry! Click on the boxes below to enter:
Watch this video that goes step by step through the entry process. Be sure to turn on captioning for extra information and a richer experience. Contact Julia.franklin@drake.edu with any questions.
We’ve created a PDF of the instructions should you want to get your information this way:
FAQs and ANSWERS: Here are some answers to common questions.
Q: When I look at my image in jury view, it is enlarged and looks grainy/bitmapped. I’m worried about the quality of my image. A: Your image actually looks fine on our end. If it doesn’t, please rest assured Julia Franklin will email you about it to request another image so it can get swapped out.
Q: I have a work where the details are important. Can I submit other detail shots or other views? A: Yes! Once you upload your first image, you will be given the option to add up to 3 other related images that show details or other views.
Q: I don’t know how to categorize my work. A: That’s okay. We’ve taken the confusion out of the process and given you only one option: All Media Accepted.
Q: I need to re-do my submission! Or, I want to switch out a piece and enter something else instead. How do I do that? A: Email the Gallery Manager at julia.franklin@drake.edu as soon as possible. Let her know which piece (title) you want to change or delete, and she will mark it as Not Submitted. She will email you back so you can log back in to add additional views or submit another work.
VIDEO TUTORIALS: We’ve put together a series of short videos to help you set up and photograph your artwork at home with your phone. Take a look to make sure you are entering the most professional looking images as possible. All it takes is a little time and effort. It could mean the difference of having your work selected and winning cash prizes. You can’t win if you don’t enter, and you can’t get accepted without good images of your work!
Today we are proud to highlight the work of Nicole Krayneski James, Drake Alum, inspiring art teacher, mosaic artist, and chicken owner. Nicole is the last artist we are highlighting this winter as part of our series that showcases works and impacts by Drake Art + Design Alums. Thanks for tuning in!
BIOGRAPHY:
Nicole Krayneski James was born in Omaha, Nebraska and moved to Iowa to attend Drake University. She received a BFA in Sculpture and shortly after obtained a MAT in Secondary Art Teaching. During her student teaching experience, her mentor teacher asked her to teach a lesson on mosaics. She was quickly intrigued by the art form. This led to teaching a class on mosaics at the Des Moines Art Center, which lead to working full-time in the studio education department for several years. After staying home with her four boys, she has returned to teaching art and is currently teaching in Johnston. She lives in Beaverdale with her husband, boys, dog, and lots of chickens.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Mosaics have been my main art medium for several years now. With a busy life teaching and raising for boys, creating them can be the most practical as I can work on them for little bits at a time. When I was painting, I would try to capture small moments of life when the light was just right and everything is still. These are my favorite moments to capture in glass. Although these moments may just last a few minutes, the glass gives it permanence. I also like to have fun with the glass, exploring color theory and how it differs from other mediums.
SELECTED WORKS:
Polk County Diversity Mural Designed and Completed by Nicole’s students at Roosevelt High School in Spring 2019
Today we shine the spotlight on Drake Alum, Marty Hicks, sculptor and metal artist who owns HIXWERX Metal Arts Studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. Marty designs and creates furniture, sculpture, architectural elements, and public art. He’s active in showing art, making commissions, and teaching and conserving sculpture in central Minnesota.
Marty Hicks Feature for the Drake Art + Design Alumni Impact Series
BIO:
Marty Hicks is the owner of HIXWERX Metal Arts Studio in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he designs and creates furniture, sculpture, architectural elements and public art. Marty received his B.F.A. from Drake University and an M.F.A. from the University of Minnesota. Marty has served as the Exhibit Fabricator Science Museum of Minnesota, Sculpture & Object Conservator for Kristin Cheronis, Inc. and Art Director for Jack Morton Worldwide. He has taught sculpture and 3-D image making classes at the Teaching Guild of Metalsmiths, East Side Arts Council, and Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He recently designed and built the kinetic outdoor public sculpture “River Wind,” commissioned by Greening the Avenue, Inc. and funded by Saint Paul STAR program.
Professional and artistic highlights include participating in 50 Years of Iron Sculpture at the University of Minnesota and receiving an Artist Initiative Grant and the Minnesota State Arts Board support to set up foundry equipment to cast bronze artwork. Marty has also received numerous commissions for works while being selected for a host of exhibitions and awards. Marty can be found living and working in his two-story studio near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with his wife, Kelly.
STATEMENT:
I’m consumed with working metal. From decorative metal work to architectural-scaled public art, metalsmithing is my life. This work ranges from welding, to artist blacksmithing and bronze casting. My passion for metalsmithing is derived from organic materials found in the earth: iron, copper, silver, and bronze. I then work them by hand and fire to reveal a myriad of forms, textures and colors. Sculpting introduced me to a variety of materials and techniques that allow me to model, cut, bend, hammer, weld, and otherwise move the material and change its shape. The outcome includes fine art, decorative utilitarian objects, furniture, jewelry, and large outdoor public art installations. There is something primal at the core of this work that grows into something elegant and beautiful. My goal is to find myself in the “dance” with the tools and materials, which results in an object people appreciate and enjoy. It’s a never-ending process to go deeper, learn more, and get better.
537 56th is a topological sculpture of a place in Des Moines made of acrylic, steel, and halogen light
Today we shine the spotlight on Munya Avigail Upin, a Drake Alum and silversmith from Chatham, New York. Munya is best known for her exquisite metalwork that combines metal and fiber techniques. Munya makes functional and sculptural objects that serve as an unwritten memoir that encompasses dreams, pain, surprises and realizations. She’s taught at many prestigious schools across the US, and Munya and her works have been featured in top publications such as Metalsmith and American Craft. Read more to see her detailed pieces and to learn more about her process and motivation.
Munya Avigail Upin in her studio wearing her flower-inspired necklace.
BIOGRAPHY:
Munya Upin is a metalsmith and educator living in the living in Hudson Valley. Born in Faribault, Minnesota, she received a BFA from Drake University, an MA from San Diego State University, and an MFA from California State University, Fullerton. She was artist-in-residence at the Oregon College of Art and Craft and has taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas; Penland School of Crafts; and the Massachusetts College of Art.
Munya employs skills generally associated with fibers and textiles in the making of original jewelry and sculpture, and she is regarded by many as an authority on combining metal and fiber techniques. Photographs of her work have appeared in Metalsmith, Niche, American Craft, and Arline Fisch’s Textile Techniques in Metal. She is an award-winning metalsmith who has exhibited nationally and internationally for 45 years. Her exquisite metalwork is in private and public collections through the United States and Europe.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
The evolution of one’s work is like a memoir in progress. Narrative work coexists with functional work and both say something about the maker. The work may depict one’s childhood dreams, a circuitous journey through life, or serve to enhance a ceremony. Whatever the statement or purpose, the work is genuine and revealing.
My work is represented by both sculptural and functional objects. The sculptures portray aspects of my life from childhood to adulthood. The pieces are about dreams, pain, surprises and realizations. Though the imagery ranges from non-representational to figurative, all the sculpture, in one way or another, documents my memories. The work is both evocative and cathartic and serves as my unwritten memoir.
The Jewish ceremonial pieces evolved out of a desire to create beautiful objects for weekly and yearly ritual celebrations. I am intrigued by the history of these objects as well as the challenge to design pieces for use in a contemporary setting. Most of the Judaica contains woven elements which create a uniquely rich, textural surface. These surfaces, combined with clean simple forms, express my design sensibilities and my attempts to make ritual objects that elevate the ceremony with which they are associated.
SELECTED WORKS:
Fan Brooch. Argentium silver, copper, pearl. Private Collection. 6 x 5 x 1″.
Fan Brooch
Thanks Oskar. Pendant. 14k gold, Bakelite, pearl. 5 x 3 x .5″.
Thanks Oskar
Ruby Vine Pendant. Sterling and fine silver, ruby. 3 x 2 x .5″.
Ruby Vine
For RBG – Collar/Necklace. Sterling and fine silver, pearl. 14 x 8 x .5″.
For RBG
Bursting Forth Brooch. Argentium silver, copper, pearl. 8 x 3 x 1.5″.
Mark Hoppman, a Drake Alum who worked in the print industry, has spent the last 20 years making artists’ books and drawing and painting in the Puget Sound region. Take a look at his handmade books to fully recognize the artistry needed to illustrate and bind these one-of-a-kind works! Due to Covid-19, The Anderson Gallery and Drake University are closed until February 1, 2021. We are using this time to highlight Drake Alums who are making art and impacting their communities, and we are thankful for Mark for sharing his work with us.
BIOGRAPHY:
Mark Hoppmann, book artist and illustrator, is a board member of the Puget Sound Book Artists where he served as President from 2012-2017. His work has been featured on Youtube, Cityline Tacoma, and KUPS radio and exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions in the Puget Sound region. In addition to private collections, his work can be found in the Library of Congress, the archives and rare book collections of the University of Puget Sound, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, and the collections of the Ringling College of Art & Design, Emory University, Baylor University, the University of California at Bayside among others.
STATEMENT:
Mark Hoppmann is a recognized illustrator and book artist who lives and works in Tacoma, Washington. His paintings and drawings are influenced by his roots in the endless wheat fields of western Nebraska and his knowledge of the streets of Florence Italy to the beaches of the Pacific Northwest coast.
Armed with a camera, sketchbook, and his imagination, he captures the weatherworn textures of nature in ink and watercolor. His eclectic accumulation of bric-a-brac, memories, experiences, and books inspire his paintings and illustrations. His ideas begin as random thoughts and emotions conflicting with each other as they pass through his mind’s eye. Details unnoticed by most – a mood, moments captured by my camera or in the blink of an eye – all come into play. At some point, balance of color, shape, or line begin to sort themselves into one cohesive concept. Composition and texture form layers of meaning, resulting in a book woven by intuition and interpretation.
SELECTED WORKS:
Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crows = Colophon: 162 Illustrations: India ink, graphite, color pencil, conte, watercolor. Limited Edition and digitally printed on Canson 90# classic cream paper. Hand sewn and bound in hand dyed veg tanned leather. Receptacle: manila rope, rusted fence staples and nails, hand-stained distressed wood. Courtesy of the Archives and Special Collections of Collins Library, the University of Puget Sound.
Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crows Artist Book by Mark Hoppmann
Crowsette Window: Original Rendering from the artist’s book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crows = India ink on Strathmore Vellum Bristol, 7” x 10”
Crowsette Window Illustration by Mark Hoppmann
Playing Hide & Go Seek in the Dark = Colophon: Assorted tales by the artist, hand typed on papyrus using a 1946 Silent Smith Corona Typewriter, mounted on paper handmade by the artist. Illustrations: India ink and white pencil, Coptic style binding, Manila hemp, thread, barbed wire. From the collection of Cynthia Sears, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.
Playing Hide and Go Seek in the Dark – Artist Book by Mark Hoppmann
The Genie Within = Colophon: The Story of Prince Houssain and His Magic Carpet from The 1001 Arabian Nights. Defying the conventional wisdom of what constitutes a book, the bottle becomes the book cover. Typed with a 1952, 15” Underwood typewriter on Kozo paper, the lines of type were cut and spliced to create a page approximately 150 feet in length. The story is read as one extracts the continuous line of text connected to the stopper in the shape of an ink quill. Paper maché and Kozo.
The Genie Within – A book in a re-imagined form by Mark Hoppmann
Transitions: Original Drawing from the Artists’ Book titled The Imaginarium = A series of 64 illustrations comprised of two stories in a do-si-do book form, created to represent an enigma; Everything begins in the middle, the end is the beginning and the beginning is the end. Graphite and color pencil on 90# warm white Legion Stonehenge Paper.
Transitions Illustration by Mark Hoppmann
Learn more about Mark’s work by visiting his website below!
Darlys Ewoldt is a metalsmith and sculptor who lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. Darlys has had an impressive career in the visual arts, and her works are well-crafted, colorful, and inspired by the natural world. Due to Covid-19, The Anderson Gallery and Drake University are closed until February 1, 2021. We are using this time to highlight Drake Alums who are making art and impacting their communities, and we are thankful for Darlys for sharing her work and process with us.
Darlys Ewoldt in her studio in Chicago, Illinois
BIOGRAPHY:
Darlys Ewoldt was born and raised in rural Iowa. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University. Ewoldt lives and works in Chicago, and her work has been included in numerous exhibitions and collections. She has been the recipient of multiple grants and awards, including Ford Foundation Fellowship and Project Grants, three Fellowship Grants from the Illinois Arts Council, Projects Grants from the Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation, the George Sugarman Foundation, the city of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, and the Governor James R. Thompson Award for Excellence in Craft.
STATEMENT:
Fragments of memories, or words that resonate and stay within my mind converge with observations of the physical world during the course of my creative process. Poetic forms and mutations found in nature are sources of inspiration. I enjoy the visual experience of diverse landscapes and the transitions of the seasons. My work is intimate in both scale and intention. Interior spaces and being drawn visually and conceptually into the heart of a form is intriguing to me. I intend to subtly suggest images that might evoke a feeling of discovery, memory, or contemplation in the observer. By using metals including copper, brass, silver, steel, and bronze, 3-Dimensional forms can be realized through hammering and fabrication processes. Surface coloration is achieved via chemical patination procedures.
ARTWORKS:
I Still See You
Teapot Series
Falling Sky
Chrysalis Series
Bloom II
HERE ARE SOME QUICK LINKS SO YOU CAN FOLLOW DARLYS:
Cat Rocketship, 2007 Art and Design graduate, shares their work on social media and during a livestream Artist Talk on Thursday, January 7, 2021, at 7pm on our YouTube Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOQe952BjgQ
BIOGRAPHY:
Cat Rocketship (they/them) is a white artist and organizer and future ancestor who grew up in Nebraska and moved to Iowa like a million years ago. They’re using their radical imagination plus drawing and internet skills to help shape a world that doesn’t exist yet.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT:
Cat uses their work to lift up the history of working class people and the power of collective action. They explore methods of art making that make low-cost products and make ideas easy to spread, such as producing stickers, digital and linocut prints, and t shirts. These projects feature words and slogans, and common themes include nature, human interconnectedness with nature, queer identity, and concepts of solidarity and the power dynamics around race and class. Cat seeks to open up conversations about the politics of every day life, worker power, and capitalism. Cat also creates community-based projects in order to create strong connections between neighbors and build relationships. These include large art installations at events such as The People’s Presidential Forum, art builds with community groups, and projects like Portrait Studio and zine making teach-ins.
GENDER & SEXUALITY PROJECTS:Nature is Queer (and You Are Part of Nature)
Are You a Boy or a Girl?, 2020
Lord of the Butterflies, 2018
Nature is Queer, 2020
This collection explores one theme of my work: gender and sexuality. “Are You a Boy or a Girl?” (2020) is a mixed media drawing of a crow over a blue background. Above the crow is a dialogue bubble asking, “Are you a boy or a girl?” The crow responds, “Caw caw.” This illustration came out of reading Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. An early chapter of this book explores how as a young child Jess feels like she is “making everyone angry” because of the way she performs gender. For a moment, she is alone in nature. She questions a crow about the bird’s identity and reflects, “Nature held me close and seemed to find no fault with me.”
As a gender non-conforming person who performs both masculinity and femininity, often at the same time, I have been asked, “Are you a boy or a girl?” in many circumstances. When children in a classroom ask, it usually comes from a place of curiosity (though sometimes even children are attempting to replicate gender shaming they’ve seen or experienced). When men ask it in a bar it is a question with no safe answer. They are asking, “Should I want to fuck you or fight you?” They are asking me to quantify how much discomfort they should feel about me and my presentation, and what form of violence they should inflict. In a world where queerness is increasingly accepted, transness is still a dangerous place to live. I felt moved to put this metaphor to paper. The conversation between child and bird leaves an answer hanging in the air – that gender is a construct.
“Nature is Queer” (2020) is colorful illustration captures a few of the endless ways life manifests, the endless variety that means survival, including all the differences in gender, ability, sexuality, and bodies that exist in humanity. It was commissioned by One Iowa to celebrate the completion of their 2020 LGBTQ Leadership Institute.
“Lord of the Butterflies” (2018) was commissioned by Button Poetry to be the cover of Andrea/Andrew Gibson’s (they/them) 2018 release, “Lord of the Butterflies”, a collection of poems exploring gender and sexuality. On it, a silhouetted androgynous figure releases a flock of whirling butterflies, each carrying a symbol representing a different gender identity. The illustration is an exploration of the beauty of carrying many genders inside ourselves, and the confusion of sorting them through in a world where we are assigned one tightly defined range of gender characteristics.
POLITICAL AGITATION PROJECTS:
No Borders No Walls Bunny
Solidarity Not Charity
Fuck Shit Up Sticker
People’s Presidential Forum
A lot of my work features loud slogans. This comes both from my work as an organizer, and from the memetic power of slogans on shirts and stickers. People want them. They don’t always know why, but they like the sentiment, they identify with it, they put it on their bodies, and they strive to embody it. Then, through exposure to the new idea, they have conversations about it. They connect with others over it. These pieces are created to create cognitive dissonance or, sometimes just to foster an unruly spirit and a reminder of the power of the people to disobey in order to make change happen (like the FSU sticker).
In order to create great social change, we must believe that it is possible. Artists have a role to play in this. As Toni Cade Bambara, black feminist leader and writer said, “it is the role of the artist to make the revolution irresistible.” As communist poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht said, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”
Fuck Shit Up sticker (2018) – I drew this sticker after sitting in a meeting with organizers who were planning direct action over an anti-immigrant pro-ICE bill in Iowa. The folks in the room promised that we would gum up the gears of state power in order to slow or stop the bill. I made the sticker on a whim – it’s not an incisive or witty piece, but people respond to it. Even without the power of being connected to a drive for human rights, for livable wages, for trans rights, it’s a reminder to its holders of the power we have to cause a lot of trouble.
Solidarity Not Charity sticker (2020) – As much as I love the FSU sticker, I’m striving to illustrate the need for and power of collective action and practicing solidarity, not individualized action. The first step is putting the word on everyone’s tongue. The practice of mutual aid is natural to humans, but it’s one that we are educated against here in late stage capitalism. Instead we’re taught that it’s everyone for themselves, and the emphasis on individual responsibility and power infiltrates every aspect of our lives. This concept reinforces and is reinforced by ableism, racism, and sexism. Producing stickers like this one that end up on bags, water bottles, notebooks, and light poles helps spread the idea and concept of mutual aid. It’s part of a greater effort by countless artists, organizers, and agitators to strategically shift culture toward collectivism.
No Borders Bunny (2018) – I drew this during a discussion with organizers about decriminalizing migration. Powerful voices in the room spoke about the inequities of borders: “There are no borders if you’re rich enough.” We recognize that both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. uphold borders as not just necessary, but the most natural thing in the world. But who do those borders serve? In this image of a rabbit jumping a wall, we are reminded that borders are man-made. They are a tool of the oppressor. We are reminded that borders inflict violence not just on poor and dispossessed humans, but on our non-human relatives as well. We are reminded that we are wild, just like the rabbit, and we can be ungovernable. This is a straight-up anarchist image, and I’ve been surprised by the swathes of people who buy this shirt, sticker, or print. Many of them identify with right wing ideologies. This image has created space for many conversations about radical change.
People’s Presidential Forum art direction (2019) – In 2019, Iowa CCI Action Fund, a grassroots political organization working to build political power with working class Iowans, cohosted a forum where fast food workers, farmers, field workers, and nurses asked questions of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigeg. I was asked to create signs, bandanas, a stage, an entrance, and a soundscape that uplifted the people and our collective values that put our communities above profits and our planet over corporate power. Our team was struck by the corporate feel of the event’s location – in Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines. We wanted to dress the space in a way that made the 3,000 attendees feel powerful and welcomed. We covered the facade of the space – 45′ tall by 100′ wide – with a hand painted banner and mural on kraft paper. We dressed the stage in portraits of our community leaders and words reflecting our commitment to each other. We spent less than $500 to build it all and we transformed the space and covered it in messy, human art.
SKELETONS AND ANIMA PROJECTS
Bear Animus
Three Mugs
Rabbit Animus
Polyamorous Animus
The skeletons are a flexible character in my work. They’re fun, they’ve chill, and they’re a momento mori…in a cute way. To be honest I don’t know why I’m obsessed with death or why I collect bones. I’ve processed the major deaths in my life, but I like to carry a little death with me everywhere. Maybe it’s that any view of the world that doesn’t include death feels incomplete. Maybe it’s comforting to know that my bones and the elements that make me up are fleeting – that even in this very moment molecules are leaving me forever. The anima prints are fun and tie us to our non-human relatives. They also evolved as a big seller at craft shows where in The Before Times I made my circuit.
For a while I was attracted to using skeletons for a large body of work (including a full 78-card tarot completed in 2017) because they are non binary. They exist without race or sex, and I don’t give them gendered costumes. I struggle with this as well — am I attempted to create a world that doesn’t deal with race? What are the ramifications of that? The skeletons can also get away with more things than humans in drawings. The poly skeleton drawing is one of my favorites this year. It’s cheeky af. There’s a whole play party happening, complete with snacks, drugs, and oral sex. But it’s not all that obviously because these characters exist as scratchy skeleton drawings. I can (and have) draw fully fleshed-out humans engaged in sex, flirting, murder, betrayal, love…but there’s something Midwestern goth about only depicting these acts in skeleton form.
COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS:MARKET DAY
Market Day (2009 – 2020) is an Indie craft show and community of crafters, artists, makers, and especially women, queer, and femme makers. We’ve cultivated a place for artists to grow together, a place for young artists to get a toe-hold in the community, and a place to expand the audience for low-fi and accessible art in Central Iowa.
