Every year it feels like the gray skies and rain will never end in Portland. Then one morning I awake to a blue, cloudless sky. We're finally having some warm spring weather this week and suddenly everything feels hopeful and renewed, in bloom as if for the first time.
The beginning of my 2023 has been busy with teaching at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, fun assignments for Real Simple, and (finally) finishing a zine I've had in the works for quite awhile now.
Focus Week at PNCA
In addition to teaching my illustration class Word & Image at PNCA, I also mentored a student working on her BFA thesis this semester. Every student spends the final year of their time at PNCA first proposing and then completing a large scale project. The scope and specifics of the project are up to them, but the completed body of work and successful defense of it is a requirement for their BFA.
Each semester the process culminates with Focus Week - a full week when regular classes are cancelled and the seniors present and defend their work. It's a fun and exciting time on campus - plenty of anxiety and nerves but also lots of excitement, joy, and relief.
My mentee, Anna, worked on a dummy of her wordless graphic novel Uprooted. She was wonderful to mentor - always enthusiastic about her work and on top of it at every turn. She worked hard all semester and did a great job presenting and defending the project. It was very inspiring to see how hard she and the other seniors worked - so much so that it pushed me to finally complete a project of my own…
The Circle of Eternal Return
For awhile I've felt caught in the loop (as I know many artists can relate to) of making an illustration simply to post online. Even as I've come to rely on/care less about Instagram, there's still been the urge to feed it. So I found myself making images purely for the sake of having something to post. This way of creating felt shallow and fleeting, disconnected from context and narrative, hollow. This pushed me toward the need of making a larger body of work that could live physically, separate from likes and comments online. I wanted to spend more time with a concept and to convey something larger than what an image and caption launched into the digital ether could say. The result is my 20 page zine - The Circle of Eternal Return.
The Circle of Eternal Return is a collection of observations, fixations, and meditations in both visual and text form. The early concept originated at the beginning of 2022 and took several forms along the way. Planning to share more about that process in my next newsletter.
I have a release party in the works (hopefully) for June here in Portland. There's also a rumor that one of my best friends and very talented tattoo artist, Kristen Best, will be collaborating with me on a flash sheet of artwork from the zine.
I'll be taking pre-orders soon so watch this space as well as my Instagram for more details to come.
Real Simple
In between my time teaching and illustrating the zine I've been working with Real Simple on artwork for their monthly feature, Simple Twist. This section showcases tips, tricks, and hacks for cleaning, organization, travel, etc - little tidbits to make the day to day a little easier and more efficient.
My work is often well situated for this type of feature, blending stylized aesthetics with informative, how-to imagery. I love finding the balance of making an illustration that's fun to look at while also being clear to understand.
Parting Words
As always, thank you for reading. Stay tuned for more on The Circle of Eternal Return, more work for Real Simple, and hopefully another website refresh soon.
Reading
Norman Rockwell, A Life by Laura Claridge
Body Grammar by Jules Ohman
How We Live Is How We Die by Pema Chödrön
Watching
Mad Men (Amazon Prime)
Succession (HBO)
Listening
Teaching barre and making playlists for my classes has really upturned my musical listening habits. I went from knowing nothing about EDM, dance pop, house, etc to actually liking (some of) it.
However, I also come across some extremely cursed tracks during my Spotify deep dives…which I’ve been collecting all in one place…enjoy!