Graphhics and Art Jobs

I absolutely love it when people are inspired by my videos and/or my art and take the time to comment. Here is a recent comment on Google+ that made me smile.

Check out the comment and video below.

“Watching you and listening to you has rekindled my interesting in art--I've been feeling lost and was starting to doubt whether or not I should continue majoring in graphic design while in college--but you reminded me that there is so much to be done with graphic design and art. I especially love that you mentioned how you liked working with people because I do too!! Thanks and I'll check out AmeriCorps”

Wow, this comment was so kind. I really hope to share valuable lessons that I have learned from my own experience. I am currently editing a series of videos based on my volunteer experiences and what I learned. If there are any other questions out there, please let me know as I would love to create some video responses to your questions.

University of Wyoming Art Faculty

some of the girls at the potluck and student roast an

I wanted to thank my wonderful professors at the University of Wyoming! I have had an amazing experience here and owe much of it to a wonderful department. We just finished the annual potluck for graduating seniors. All of the seniors and faculty have dinner, drinks and a toast. It was wonderful to hear what profs had to say about not only myself but all these other people whom I have spent so much of my past few years with.

Jenny Venn – It was great to hear Jenny speak. She said it best that “we have clashed at times but we really are the same person.” Jenny and I both have a stubborn fighting personality and we will fight for what is right no matter what it takes. I would like to thank Jenny for the time and effort that she puts into her students as well as the faith that she has in us. The graphic design emphasis (or minor) is more work than the graphics major at many other schools and though this causes a ton of stress it also is why the University of Wyoming kicks butt at all the out of state competitions we attend. Thanks Jenny!

Pat Kikut – I have worked with Pat for the past couple years with Student Art League. (He is the advisor for SAL.) Traveling with Pat and getting to know him better has been wonderful. He has become one of my favorite artists (people) in that he is a genuine caring person who is outgoing.  I love that he had a gallery in his back yard, invites students over, and knows so many fascinating artists.  He seems to know everyone (people who are big deals) and it is because is genuinely a great guy. His girlfriend Tracy has been great to get to know as well. Tracy thanks for all the great talks and food.

More of the UW Art seniors

Pat also makes great margaritas for SAL members.

Art Department Graduation Photos

The University of Wyoming Art Department 2012 Graduates.

From above...Can you find me?

My mom and I

The whole crew

Salon de Refuse: The Morning After

Me with fellow Student Art League (SAL) members.

 

The work that was not accepted into the Student Juried Show all goes into what is called the Salon de Refuse. The Salon is hosted and set up by the Student Art League (SAL) at the University of Wyoming. As SAL president, I have put a lot of work into this excellent show (I did have a ton of help and would like to thank everyone who did help). There were around 200 works and right around 90 artists in the show.

I love watching people look at my work 

The opening event and theme for this year is The Morning After, since it will take place the morning after the opening and after party for the juried show.

See more about what Student Art League is doing on WOW's blog and on SAL's Facebook page.

Although The Morning After is no longer up you can still see one of my posters that made it into WOW's current show.

Sharpton: Creating your own Graffiti Tutorial

Reverend Al Sharpton is a significant player in the field of African American religious culture.

Since I have a couple decent photos of this graffiti name drawing, I thought it would be appropriate to talk a bit about my process of creating my graffiti style letters.

 While I was creating these name drawings,
 I drew several versions for each name both in pencil and in ink. 

I always begin with doodleing some letters and seeing if I can get any to fit together.

Sometimes I will look up graffiti I like or have photographed to see if there are any inspirational graffiti styles or letters that I like.  If I find one, I create a font based on the characteristics of that letter.  The letters(s) I sue for inspiration allow me to create a unique style or font. 

I then continue to work on other letters of the name using a consistent style.

My typography class plays a huge role here. 

I learned about parts of letters such as the x-height, serifs, ascenders, descenders and several more aspects of developing fonts and typefaces.  I know to keep a consistent x-height and I usually drop rounded letters just below the baseline.

Once I decide on the rules I can create most any word I want out of that style.  I think I have created around 7 different graffiti letter styles.

After creating the outline I decide whether I want the text to be 3-D or flat.

The last step is to add a background and value.

See more of my graffiti photographs and inspiration.

The Morning After

The Salon des Refuse will be up once again!  It will take place at Works of Wyoming art gallery.  Check out WOW's blog for more info about the event

Kevin Sloan

Pat Kikuit, University of Wyoming professor and the Student Art League Adviser, is a good friend with Kevin Sloan. Sloan was a part of the Visiting Artist Series at UW a few years back. We (the Student Art League students and Pat) were able to have lunch with Kevin and tour his studio). It was a great opportunity to meet/re-meet this fascinating and talented painter from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Three of the most significant pieces of advice which he gave us included…

      1. Have your studio space be a place you are comfortable in.  It should be a place where you want to spend time.  His studio included a “work” area, a couch, a desk and an inspiration area.  Though his studio was quite large I think this can be achieved in a smaller space.

      2. Don’t approach galleries too soon.  Right out of graduate school/college is not always the right time to pursue representation at a gallery space.  There is a good chance you are not ready.  One of the first galleries Sloan approached looked at his work and said “keep doing this and come back in 5 years." This was not because the gallery did not like his work but rather because he simply was not ready.  Another reason to wait may be that you have not developed enough solid bodies of work at this time in your career.

3.   3. When you are working it is acceptable to accept distractions.  For Sloan, distractions (such as phone calls and visitors) are a way for him to get his mind on something else and often lead to great revelations.

What advice do you have for emerging artists?  What is the best advice you received as an emerging artist?

Klein Collection

Work by Kiki Smith

While we were in Santa Fe, we were given the opportunity to visit the Klein's art collection.  A couple of the students there were in an art history class studying contemporary minimalism and they knew nearly every artist in the show.  It was pretty neat.  We saw several work by Andy Goldsworthy, which I was excited about.  We walked on a trail that he built and walks on many summers while creating work.

See more photos on Facebook

This was part of an installation.

222 and 333

Kay Harvey, owner of 222 and 333 Galleries had work up and openings in both galleries tonight. Her work consists of abstract paintings. She tends to use a large variety of mediums. This show included oil, acrylic, Mylar, and aluminum.

We were also given the chance to chat with the galley curator and learn about the time consuming, and complicated process of picking work for a show.  We looked through considered work and discussed why work was or was not included.  

It helped me to see, how in a sense, your works acceptance into a show is not based on you work but rather how it will look with others work. 

Pat Kikut and Shelby Shadwell, both University of Wyoming professors, are represented at this gallery.

SITE, Santa Fe

While in Santa Fe we visited the SITE museum/gallery.  The current show consisted of three artists: Ruth Claxton, an installation artist; Amy Cutler, a painter; and Runa Islam, a filmmaker.

Amy Cutler’s work included detailed gouache drawings.  We were not able to photograph her work because it came from other galleries and museums.  One of her pieces was women carrying goats up a mountain side with a bunch of Tibetan prayer cloths.  This one reminded me of Bear Butte in South Dakotan and the large number of tobacco prayer bags.

Ruth Claxton’s installation was incredibly fun to play around in.  It was like a giant playground for adults.  This site specific piece consisted of mirrors, gray and white metal, and figurines.  The mirrors were arranged in ways that you could find all sorts of hidden objects and images. 

Runa Islam’s work consisted of several videos.  The most interesting one was of a room with a large number of sculptures and other art related objects.  She placed many balloons in the room and popped them.  The popping sound sounded like huge explosions.  There was second silent video that was meant to be seen at the same time.

This gallery/museum was a fascinating place to visit and explore.  There are more photographs below.

Travis Ivey

Travis was at the University of Wyoming for the first couple years I was there. We were in Student Art League together and I am certainly thankful that I was given the opportunity to get to know him and see his work.  He came to the Student Art League opening at the Works of Wyoming gallery this past Friday and we were able to catch up a bit.   It was encouraging that he was there to support the group as an alumni.

Travis may be one of the most talented painters that the University of Wyoming and Student Art League have produced.  But don’t take my word for it, check out his website (and Bio).

Travis Ivey

STOP (Jeffrey City, WY)

Oil on Linen
24x36 inches
2008

SAL at WOW

Poster Design by Spencer Duncan

The next show up at the Works of Wyoming Art Gallery will be the Student Art League show (SAL at WOW).   There should be some great work up.

Be sure to check it out April 15 - 29.  The opening will be on April 15 from 6 - 8.  There will be a live performance as well as free food!

I am telling what work of mine will be in the show...you have to go to find out.

Unemployment

Pine ridge has an unemployment rate of 85% or higher.  Any place with an unemployment rate at 9% is considered  extremely impoverished. 

The average income on the reservation is between $5,000 and $7,000 per year per household.

The average household has between 8 and 16 people living in a small house (often less than 5 rooms total, including living room).  That is at most less $2.4/day and the low end is 85 cents/day. 

View my website for the whole project and more information about Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Spirits

Did you know that there are towns in the United States with the one purpose of selling alcohol to, and killing Native Americans. White Clay Nebraska is one of these towns.  The population is around 14 people and they sell $4 million worth of beer a year to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  The town has nothing but liquor shops. 

There are many racist and ignorant stereotypes that surround the Native American population in the town that I grew up in (Rapid City, South Dakota).  The term "Lazy drunk Indian" is a phrase that you hear on a daily basis.  It is important to remember that the term is applied to any homeless or drunk person regardless of their race.  A story about the racism back home. 

I am not really sure what can be done about the alcohol problems and the race problems associated with both.  My response was to create this poster to help make the point and raise awareness about Alcoholism and towns like White Clay Nebraska.

First Americans

This poster looks at the irony of who was here first and who is getting the shaft on their education. Do I blame the system? Yes, to a point…  It is clear that schools can do things to help everyone graduate at more consistent rates, yet these actions are not being taken in many areas.

Statistics show that students who participate in Native American enrichment programs graduate at much higher rates than those who do now.  Some schools offer these programs but there are also school out there who do not care about these students and the poverty that surrounds them.

An example of this is the Superintendent from the school district that I grew up in.  He would refer to the school on the poor side of town as his "poor little school" and rumor has it that he also said "poor little Indian school."  I never heard the second one, but this can help us all understand that schools are not equal and there are people who have the power to do something about it, but don't.

In addition to the schools there are many problems that surround the Indian reservations and other populations with high drop out rates.

There are factors like being seen as a traitor and getting beat up by your family and friends for going to school (and more-so for going to college), there is the problem of gang involvement.  Being born into a gang is common on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Indian Reservations, in South Dakota.  (I am sure that there are others but these are two of the top three worst counties in the US and I am the most familiar with them.)  When you are born into a gang that is truly all you have.  When you get out you loose your family and your friends, end up half dead in a hospital, and are left with nothing.  Situations like this do not help the schools or the learning environment. 

I am not here to tell individual schools what to do to increase graduation rates and student interest, I am here to raise awareness about the fact that something needs to be done in many areas of United States.

Diabetes: Solutions?

This poster discusses a couple possible actions that can be made to begin the transition to a healthier Native American (and other high risk people groups).

Those living on the reservation do not always have access to the healthiest and best quality foods.  I a large amount of the food is highly processed and uses unhealthy ingredients.

Corn Syrup is one of these unhealthy ingredients that is in a lot of low quality foods.  I found a restaurant on a reservation (I think that it was in Arizona or New Mexico) that grew their own fruits and vegetables.  The goal was to help the community begin to eat healthier. 

In addition to eating habits, some solutions include taking care of your body and over all health.

Even though it is simple to place all of these solutions here and claim to know the answer, the problems surrounding the reservations are much more complex.  The more you learn about the situations and the history, the more complex the problems become.

Do you have any other tips for those who may be at risk for Diabetes?

Diabetes: The Problem

When you begin to look closely at some of the Indian reservations in the US, you begin to see that there truly is real poverty in America.  This is one of six social justice posters in a graphic design series all about the Indian reservations. 

What are some reasons for the high diabetes rates?  Some solutions to specific causes will be addressed in another poster...