The 24 Hour Comic Lock-in!

Get ready for an overnight, comic making extravaganza! Light Grey Art Lab is hosting a creative lock-in in correlation with the worldwide 24 Hour Comic Challenge, October 4th and 5th!



In 1990, Scott McCloud began the 24 hour Comic Challenge. The challenge originated as a creative dare between friends, has now become a worldwide phenomenon! On October 4th, tens of thousands of comic artists, illustrators, playwrights, fine artists, and animators will pull out their ink and paper and begin an all night challenge to complete a 24-page comic in 24 hours. You can read about the origin of this project here.



We invite you to join us for this unique overnight lock-in, hosted here at Light Grey Art Lab. We are inviting all types of designers, comic artists, animators, and all creatives to participate, ideate, and take on the comic challenge! Starting at 9PM and working our way through the night, we hope to create a cozy and productive atmosphere for you to create your most productive, spontaneous and inspired work. We will provide tons of coffee, tea, conversation, and workspace to make these challenge more enjoyable!



Space is limited, so please register for the lock-in on the Light Grey Shop here! If you have any questions about materials or registration, send us a note: hello@lightgreyartlab.com.

All-Night with Campbell Whyte Recap

Late last Saturday we locked 18 artists in the gallery, led by visiting artist Campbell Whyte, for the All-Night With Campbell Whyte workshop! This all night lock-in and comic workshop was an opportunity learn about Campbell's process, burn the midnight oil with other creatives, and (hopefully) finish the night with a finished 8-page comic!

The lock-in started at 9 pm with Campbell sharing a little about his history as an artist, the projects he's managed to continually crank out, and how he balances the ideas and projects he wants to accomplish with real-world responsibilities and obligations. After that introduction, we moved on to an idea-generating exercise to help come up with a concept for the night's project.

Once everyone got cranking, it was full-speed ahead as people worked through their ideas with Campbell, storyboarded their comics and got creating. The deadline was a 4 am trip to the copy-shop to make a 20 comic edition to share with the rest of the workshop participants.

Thankfully, Campbell is a charming instructor, despite the grueling hours and spirits remained high through the night. There was plentiful coffee, Glam Doll Donuts and a massive late night pizza delivery, which helped.

Right on schedule, we took a group trip into Uptown to make copies of our comics. Once printed and folded, everyone got to go home with a copy of everyone else's comic!

Thanks to Campbell for an awesome night! Needless to say, it was intimidating for everyone involved to start working, knowing they had such limited time. But Campbell really helped people get motivated and push through the problems. In the end, I think a lot of people were surprised to see how much they accomplished when they were on a deadline.

The best part (for me) was getting home and reading through a stack of comics in bed as the sun came up and the birds started chirping, and being impressed with how good they all were!

Congrats to everyone involved!

Light Grey Lock-in: ALL NIGHT WITH CAMPBELL WHYTE

This weekend Light Grey Art Lab is hosting a fall lock-in with a special twist: it's an all-night zine-making party! And if that isn't enough, it's hosted by Nights and Weekends artist Campbell Whyte, who is visiting us from Australia!



Campbell will be sharing his projects and process, presenting demos, and working alongside participating guests as they create 8 page mini-zines that will be copied and distributed at the end of the night (that's right–each participant will have their own collection of zines at the end of the night!)

Here's the break-down:
9pm—10pm: Meet Campbell & his practice! Campbell will be showing his work, talking about his process and sharing stories with us about his 8-bit dreams series, Home Time (his comic) and his other endeavors.
10pm—11pm: Participate in some technique demos, creative challenges and awesome conversation about comic-making as we head into the prompt for the night! 11pm - 3am Make work alongside Campbell, the Light Grey Team and all of your new art friends! We'll be drawing, story-telling and getting down to business.
11pm—3am: Make work alongside Campbell, the Light Grey Team and all of your new art friends! We'll be drawing, story-telling and getting down to business.
3am: Late-night photo-copying run!
3:30am—5am: Assembling, reading, sharing and talking comics!




And since we know it's a must for any all-night work party, we'll have an unlimited supply of tea and coffee to keep artists going all night long! Guests just need to bring their (black and white) materials of choice–we recommend ink and black and white watercolors. We'll provide paper, though guests are welcome to bring their own if they have a preference.
If you'd like to learn more about Campbell Whyte, you can check out his website: http://www.campbellwhyte.com/

If you'd like to sign up for the workshop, visit the shop to register or learn more!
LIMITED SLOTS AVAILABLE!!
 

February Light Grey Lock-In!

Light Grey Art Lab held it's second Lock-In last Friday, and about 25 art-loving night-owls came together to burn the midnight oil with some company! The Lock-In is a wonderfully indulgent event, and exists as an excuse to stay up all night and do whatever you want. We had people using paints, pencils, charcoals inks, computers, cameras, ipads and more to draw, write, scribble and create all manner of art!

...or you could order some pizza, get your tarot cards read, play video games and watch Sgt. Frog. It's your call, we don't judge!



Thanks to everyone who came, you can find more picture in this Flickr set! Keep an eye on the site for upcoming Lock-In events!

In the Works

Classes on Happiness, Creativity, and Collaboration

We have been spending a lot of time this week talking about our new goals for 2013, what projects we would like to make happen, and new ways of reaching out to artists. I for one, am blown away with all of the changes and growth that came in 2012, all of the projects, exhibitions, workshops, and partnerships that would not have been possible without the excitement and participation of viewers, artists, friends, and family. 

As we begin this new year, we are propelled by the thought of reaching goals, finding happiness, and discoveries new ideas, which has become evident in the themes of our upcoming exhibitions and classes. I would like to spend some time sharing the upcoming events, and how we hope that these will renew a sense of creativity and motivation in all of us. 

2013 Resolve to Make

This past weekend, January 4-6th, Kali Ciesemier led a group of 18 illustrators and designers through a three day workshop focusing on art practice and happiness. The workshop was designed to push each artist to find their own unique needs, desires, and skills as freelance artists- what makes them flourish. It was an intense few days filled with lectures, critiques, and demonstrations led by Kali, individual studio time, group discussions, and guest artists; it was an overall inspiring and productive experience. The workshop will result in a gallery show that will accompany our January exhibition Message In A Bottle. 

January 25th marks the opening of Message In A Bottle, an exhibition featuring original paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures exploring the ideas of hidden imagery and codes in art. This show ignites a sense of curiosity and slowness, transforming the audience into the clue masters and masterminds, as they unveil the tiny details and secret components of each work. 

Event Information

Accompanying the Message In A Bottle Exhibition, Lindsay Nohl will be leading a studio course on Codes, Symbols, and Cyphers. This class will explore how we keep secrets, codes and un-code messages; It is about the history and culture of secret keeping. Also, Tom Cassidy, a local poet, language connoisseur, and visual artists will be presenting on Visual Sound: a lecture and performance on slam poetry, stage mentalism, and hidden meaning. 

February 1st Light Grey is hosting it's second all-night, work party: The Light Grey Lock-In. This event is near and dear to my heart, because I love the idea of collaboration, talking through ideas, and taking on those rough midnight hours together. It is such a struggle to keep moving on a project when you feel stuck and unsure, so we have created this event as a fun and lighthearted art gathering and studio session. 

These are just a few of the immediate events we have on the way. We hope that the beginning of 2013 brings you all happiness and productivity.

Light Grey Lock-In!

This past Friday we had a good-old-fashioned Lock-In at Light Grey Art Lab! Guests hunkered down at 9 PM Friday night and stayed up all night drawing, talking, painting, knitting, snacking writing and more.

We had about 25 people packed into the space, with plenty of coffee, snacks, movies and videogame to go around in case they were going stir-crazy from too much art. The night was an excuse to burn the midnight oil surrounded by like-minded creatives and just have an excuse to sit around and... make.

By the time the doors opened at 5 AM and everyone went on their merry way, there were some pretty tired individuals but it was a blast of a night. It's rare to get the chance to have a block of uninterrupted time to think, work and just chill out, and the Lock-In provided an excuse to do just that!

Thanks to everyone who came, and if you missed out, don't worry! There's more in the future. Infact, the next one already planned for Feb 1st! Sign up now!

And if you want to see ALL the pictures from the night, check out the flickr set!