This week was spring break and the end of the quarter for my students at the residential treatment center. I didn’t go there this week because there was no school but on Friday of this upcoming week the students are having something called, Friday Gathering. Friday gathering is a bit of a tradition where students get together and basically do a talent show. For this upcoming Friday gathering, students will be showcasing their stop motion pieces to the class. Even though I don’t typically go on Fridays because I have my internship at Light Grey Art Lab but I think I will go late so that I can attend the Friday gathering. My placement at the residency is coming to an end soon and I am trying to savor every moment. I feel really connected to my students and I am going to be so sad to leave.
As for this journal I am going to talk a bit about my internship and some of the work I have been doing outside of teaching. I feel that all of my work relates to teaching and so it is important to share.
I am currently an intern at Light Grey Art Lab. Light Grey is an illustration gallery that really focuses on artistic connection and the importance of community in the art world. Not only are there shows awesome and take in international art but they have a podcast, host workshops and do travel programs that brings artists from all around the world to a different location, like Iceland or Yellowstone, to learn from each other. I work pretty directly alongside the gallery manager there on preparation for shows, social media, sponsorships and artist outreach. It has been an amazing opportunity for me because I never really thought about gallery duties as an area of art work that I would be interested in. I love community and highly believe in the importance of outreach and bringing people together. There is so much to learn from others who have a completely different life from you and it has been amazing to be a part of this.
Recently at the gallery, I have been working on a illustrated map of Minneapolis for a show and reunion trip coming up. My main task has been about the sponsorships for these upcoming shows and travel residencies.
As for my work, I have been working on an illustration that combines clay, collage and digital elements. The illustration is for a company that focuses on diversity and community. I am not sure if I am allowed to actually discuss the details of the company quite yet so I will leave them out for now. I have never done anything like this before but it has been so fun. I don’t think I could ever do an illustration not like this ever again. Here is my sketch for the original illustration:
I started off by crafting 9 heads of characters that will be in the illustration. I then painted the heads and arranged them how I would want them to be in the illustration.
I used this picture to draw digitally on top of. I made a yellow background, I collaged some clothes out of some pictures of fabric and added speech bubbles.
After adding the speech bubbles I decided that instead of drawing in elements, I would sculpt them out of clay and add them on. Here is what everything is looking like now!
Can’t wait to add some finishing touches!