Podcast: Sunday Drive Down Memory Lane

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Sunday Drive Down Memory Lane
Length: 01:10:49
Synopsis: On this week's show, Lindsay and Francesca team up for audio journey through their version of "Memory Lane" (otherwise known as Minneapolis's Whittier and Uptown neighborhoods). Join them as they introduce you to our home town, and all of the memories, magic and magnificence that comes with Minneapolis.


Here's an interactive google map and follow along as we take you on a tour of our favorite things near Light Grey!
Welcome to our neighborhood!

Autoptic Comics, Music, and Art Festival

We're excited to say we'll be attending Autoptic, a Minneapolis-based comics, music, and art festival this Sunday, August 18th! Aside from the fact that we get to hang out with some of our favorite local artists, we're looking forward to meeting new artists! Nothing like a convention for high-energy socializing! Needless to say we will all be drinking caffeinated beverages.


Our table will include books–including the brand-new, fresh-off-the-press In Place: Wish You Were Here. We're also going to be carrying a few Light Grey Tarot decks (maybe if you come at the right time you can get a three-card reading from one of our in-house tarot-reading pros. No promises, though.) And of course, lots and lots of beautiful art prints.
We're conveniently located at TABLE NUMBER ONE, right by the front entrace. First thing you see when you walk in the door. We will be drinking a lot of caffeinated beverages.

Autoptic runs from 11am to 7pm at the Aria building in downtown Minneapolis. Discover more about who's attending the festival on the Autoptic website, or the the Facebook page!

Artist Interview: Brock Davis

Brock Davis is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed designer, creative director, and artist. He is known for his clever advertising campaigns, Threadless T-shirt designs, banana peel trucker hats, and  projects such as Make Something Cool Everyday and his iPhone photo series. His work showcases his incredible talent for creating hilarious, beautiful, and unexpected images out of what is most familiar to us.  We are honored to exhibit a selection of his 2012 iPhone Photos in our current show, SMART.


    


Where are you from, and where do you currently live?
I grew up in Marietta, Georgia. I moved to Minneapolis in 1995, and I currently I live in Saint Louis Park.

How would you describe yourself? (or how might someone else describe you?)
Curious, focused, spontaneous. I used to be more intense, especially when working, but over the years I've become much more relaxed. I'm an introvert. I think that would surprise people who know me. I feel more comfortable creatively when I am working by myself.

How would you describe your work?
Spontaneous and simple.

Clean Shaven

Tell is about your work life. What are the best/most challenging aspects of your job?
Currently, I work as a freelance creative director and art director. I worked at Carmichael Lynch for about 9 years before deciding to work independently. Creative Directing is fun and challenging. It's a good opportunity to motivate and inspire up-and-coming creatives. I'm pretty hands-off, and I like to give creatives as much freedom as possible to make the work their own. As far as challenges go, there is a lot of fear in advertising when it comes to ideas. Ideas get killed all the time. As an art director, you learn how to go back and try again without being discouraged. As a Creative Director, you learn how to motivate your creative team to do the same. Selling ideas can be harder than conceiving them. When you have an idea, you have to believe in it and present it with unwavering confidence.

Can you tell us about one of your most successful campaigns?
One of my more successful campaigns was the 'Messin' With Sasquatch' campaign for Jack Link's Beef Jerky. When we first presented the idea internally, people were afraid even though it was apparent that it could be great. It took some pushing just to get the idea in front of the client, and once the client saw the idea, they were afraid as well. Thankfully, risks were taken, and it ended up being very successful (and still is today). Whenever I see a great advertising or design idea, I'm often more impressed with the agency's ability to have pushed that idea through, since it probably had to survive layers and layers of fear and doubt. That's more impressive than the concept.

Build

What other jobs have you held? What was the best? The worst?
I grew up doing a lot of things that kids do to make money. Lemonade stands, cutting grass, shoveling snow. My mother would sell art at craft shows. Sometimes I would go with her and draw caricatures of people. My favorite job was working as a sign maker at Publix, a grocery store chain in Atlanta. My least favorite was working as a busboy at Old Country Buffet.

What are your ideal working conditions?
I love my home studio. It isn't much, but it's comfortable. When I'm thinking, I like to have a changing view. Looking out a window, watching things change and move relaxes my brain and is good for generating ideas. I also tend to do a lot of conceptual thinking while doing mundane tasks like cutting the grass or washing dishes. Some of my best ideas often hit during these moments.

At Ease, Soldiers

Where do you turn for inspiration?
Over the last few years, I've drawn most of my inspiration from ordinary things that people don't think too much about, like a door knob, or a toothbrush -everyday objects that have become ordinary and uninteresting. I like the challenge of trying to make them interesting again. I think every object has creative potential. It's just a matter of finding it.

Is there a trend in art/culture that is particularly interesting you right now? If so, is it influencing the work you create?
Recently, I've been interested in using social apps as creative outlets. I particularly love Instagram and Vine. Both are incredibly simple to use and come with some wonderful constraints. Parameters and limitations can be great for creativity.

Is there a work you’ve made that you’re particularly proud of? 
I tend to be drawn to the pieces that are the most simple. Sometimes these pieces can be created within a few minutes, from concept to execution. One of my favorite recent pieces is a little film I made on Vine. I was slicing an onion and was curious to see if I could arrange the onion rings, so as to resemble raindrops as they hit a puddle, rippling upon impact. I spent a few minutes filming this with my phone, and I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

What’s the most interesting feedback you’ve ever gotten about your work?
A creative director once told me that my portfolio looked like it was made by multiple designers. Looking back, I was adjusting my art direction with each piece so that every idea would fully resonate; I just didn't realize I was doing this at the time. This feedback helped me understand how execution and ideas relate. I try to let the idea drive the execution. One method of execution doesn't work for every idea. Some ideas resonate better through illustration, others through photography or another medium. I've never been hindered by whether or not an idea requires me to work in a medium I'm not as familiar with. For example, if an idea requires that I learn how to sculpt, then I learn how to sculpt.

Cauliflower Space Shuttle, 1986

You're married.  Can you tell us about your wife?  Is she an artist as well? 
Alyn is awesome. We met many years ago while playing ultimate frisbee at Kenwood Park. She's from Grand Rapids, MN. I grew up in a small town in North Georgia, so we both have small town sensibilities. Most of her creativity comes out through cooking, and she is a great writer as well. She helps me out on projects all the time.  I'm always texting her, asking her to pick up various odd things for me. 

You also have children.  Has being a father changed you creatively? 
I'm inspired by my kids. Everything is new and spontaneous and interesting to them. There are no rules to their creativity; they just create. I apply this approach when working on my own projects. It's inspiring to watch my kids use their imaginations. Lately, my son Ames has been into severe weather, specifically tornadoes and thunderstorms. He makes radar weather patterns with play-doh. He flattens various pieces down on paper and waits for them to dry. Then he peels them off and arranges them in weather patterns. My daughter June does a lot of drawing. She creates her own made-up letters and weaves them in her pictures.

How do you spend your time when you’re not making art?
I love being outside with my kids and hanging out with my family around the house. We ride bikes, play sports and games. I help my son catch dragonflies and butterflies. We play music and watch a good share of tv. Recently, I've been into watching documentaries on Netflix. They don't have a great movie selection, but the documentaries are awesome.


Can you share with us a future goal of yours, professional or otherwise? Also, what would be your ideal collaboration/commission? 
I just want to always be able to make something interesting. It doesn't matter if it's professional or personal. I look forward to doing more collaborations with my kids.

Are there any artists you think Light Grey and its blog readers should check out?
Rich Barlow, Stephen Shaskan, Justin Newhall

What’s the best advice on being an artist you’ve been given? 
Ever since I was a kid, my mom always told me to have fun when making art. I still do that today, and I think it resonates in the work.



Check out Brock's work at: www.itistheworldthatmadeyousmall.com‎

Find Brock's prints in our online shop here

Artist Interview: Lindsay Nohl

Artist Interview with Lindsay Nohl
By Jenny Bookler

One of my favorite things in the world is getting to know new people. I love to sit down, grab a coffee, and talk about all of their thoughts and ideas. I have had the honor of getting to know several of you through artist interviews, online conversations, and in person, and I am always blown away by the breath of artwork, enthusiasm, and interesting personalities- you all are great!

So many of you ask, who runs Light Grey Art Lab? how many of you are there? what do you do? where do your inspirations come from? Well, to answer all of those questions and to return the openness you have shared with all of us, we will be conducting artist interviews within the Light Grey team!

To start this series of interviews, I want to introduce Lindsay Nohl, founder and owner of Light Grey Art Lab and Paper Bicycle LLC and Illustration Teacher at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.  Lindsay is one of the most talented, kind, and hard working people I know, with unlimited enthusiasm and big ideas. I sat down with Lindsay this week to ask about her thoughts, motivations, collections, and upcoming projects:

You are the founder of Light Grey Art Lab, but how would you describe all of the things and parts you manage everyday?
Whoa. I don’t even know where to start. Well -- I come up with a ton of the exhibition and project ideas for Light Grey. (But I definitely couldn’t keep them going without everyone else, that’s for sure.) I usually write most of what people see on the internet. I’m in charge of the Twitter, Facebook and the calls-for-art on the blog.  I suppose I’m the marketing person (Is that even a thing we do?) and I’m the all-around ‘starter’ of things. I usually plan our trips to different places, and often bug the crap out of everyone else here with my “what about this!” ideas, and “let’s put this on the pile!” attitude. I’m really lucky everyone’s always so nice about it. I am totally a brain-stormer. I love brainstorming.

You are often coming up with new ideas and projects to start. What is your primary motivator? or inspiration for new projects?
I have an extremely short attention span, but a really wide array of interests. Plus, I get obsessed with things easily and tend to devour topics like I used to devour bubble tea. For some reason, when I’m hot on something, I’m super hot on it and my obsessions tend to be top-of-mind for me until I’ve somehow satiated my hunger for them. Sometimes I’m motivated to do a project because it’s challenging, other times it’s because I’ve convinced myself that I couldn’t live without seeing an idea come to fruition. Most times I’m inspired by totally serendipitous things like, for example, stumbling upon all of these amazing Sci-fi paperbacks in a local comic shop. I bought 13, then 20 more... and that’s when I was hooked. And Station Zero was born.

Oliver, one of Lindsay's cats, guards these precious Sci-Fi books

Where is your favorite place/atmosphere to make artwork?
I’m all about coffee houses. In fact, I’m also all about different places. I like to be where people are when I’m working. I’m not sure what it is about it, but I just feel energized. I had a corporate design job for a couple years right after school and when I decided to go off on my own I spent the next couple years loitering at coffeehouses all day / night. It was seriously the best. I’m sure I looked like a pack-mule with all of the stuff I hauled around with me, but I LOVED it. And when I’m not working there, I just really like being upstairs in my home studio. It’s super chill. I put the jams on and sing while I’m working. You can’t do that at a coffee house.

It's common for Lindsay's work-space to have everything and anything on it at all times. Here, you can see her prized possession, a white tiger lamp from Francesca. A gift to remember.

What are some common themes and subjects you like to draw?
I’m also an impatient creator, so if I’m trying to do something quick, I usually do one of two things. For the last couple years I’ve been drawing portraits of people - face only. (Or even more specifically just noses and mouths.) or patterns. Most of the things that I’ve shared in my personal portfolio / online are my patterns. I make them at work all the time, but I also make them for fun. I had a project a couple years ago called Daily Pattern for our blog.paperbicycle.com - where each of us in the studio did a pattern a day for 8 months. That’s a ton of patterns. And recently I’ve been creating patterns once a week (give or take!) for a similar project called 101florals. It just ended a bit ago, so I'm eager to start on a new project where I draw things. I have been tossing around a couple new ideas. If there's anyone out there that wants to collaborate on a sketch project, hit me up.

A sketch from one of Lindsay's sketchbooks. Venus Fly-trap!

Tell me about your favorite thing you have ever made. 
Well, I’m one of those artists that hates everything they make a day after they finish it. I revel in my projects for as long as I can, then I get all weird and self-conscious and move on. I’m sure that’s normal, right? So, to answer your question. I’m not su--- WAIT. THAT IS NOT TRUE. My favorite thing that I’ve made so far is Light Grey. (Didn’t see that one coming, did you?)

Besides Light Grey, I think it might be the projects I do for other people. If I'm making something for someone else, I find it so much more exciting. I adore giving gifts and I love the creating something for someone else.

What is the weirdest thing you have ever made (either by assignment or personal)?
Oh man. I have made a few that are mention-worthy. One time I made an illustration of Corey Feldman picking up dog poop. Another time I made 60 gouache paintings of  ‘bad things that people do’ , including pushing people’s faces into water fountains, spitting in people’s food.... but that was in school. I also made a wire sculpture of an opossum for some reason. We all do weird things in college, right? Just recently I did a project where I had to make a pattern out of meat. That was for a very reputable client. (and it was not my idea.)

If you could learn any new skill, what would it be?
Speed reading AND retaining the information. I can read pretty fast but I have a memory like a sieve. I adore books but I have the problem of digesting them and then confusing them with others.

What are your vices and things you cannot live without?
Currently? Eating bell peppers like apples. I’m all about cats. Actually, I’m all about all of the animals. I’m totally a tea person. Lately I’ve been adding lattes to my daily ritual because I drag in the morning. I am a night person, so that also means that I wake up horribly late. Collecting things. I am a hoarder of things. Specifically old paper things like vintage greeting cards, old books, and old wrapping paper.

What do you like to do in your free time?
…. free time. That’s a concept. I teach in my free time? I talk about projects and then do projects? I talk to my parents? I don’t even know anymore. I often have everything so packed in there that I’m not sure I actually have free time. I have a sliver of time when I’m eating at night after I come home from teaching and that’s usually when I put on an episode of something and pig out with Chris. Besides that I like to throw a much needed vacation in the mix and go on adventures to places there are no lines -- where you can crawl on everything, and be the only person for miles around. I also like the days when I sit down in a small space with someone and have heart-to-hearts. I love one on one conversations like nothing else. I'd always make time for those.

Lindsay teaching about succulents

What is your dream place/landscape?
I think everyone in the universe has heard that I want to retire when I’m 40 and move to Iceland and wear the same wool sweater all day, paint and read books in my 2 story library. Maybe I’d have a duck as a pet. All while with my back to a glacier and my face toward the sea. I’m sure it’d weather me as quickly as the first season of Man vs. Wild grizzled up Bear Grylls, but I’d be willing to take that chance.

In an alternate reality (which I only talk about when I am feeling frumpy) I'd live in an a creaky, four-story, turn of the century tudor-style house on a wooded corner of town. I would grow my huge hair out until it was long, grey and gnarly. The children would ride their bikes past my overgrown iron gates and they'd shriek when they saw my silhouette in one of the ivy-framed windowpanes. I would have taken up wood carving and topiary making, and my yard would be strewn with my endless 'projects'. Inside, you'd find me slowly shuffling through secret passages, or pondering my cabinets of curiosities. Stacks of my 'collections' would litter the hallways. Not as much a hoarders-situation as an ill-kept museum. At the back of the house I'd have a huge leaded greenhouse where finches and other songbirds kept my plants company. I'd have a crow for a famili-- I mean, a crow for a pet. My house would be drafty but my 6 cats would keep me warm at night.

What is the best advice you ever received?

My dad has the best sayings. One of them, (which I quoted in the Happiness & Success lecture) was in relation to allowing one’s self to pursue goals that are ambitious or far-fetched. He says “If it doesn’t work out, no one is going to take you out back and shoot you.” to which I say “Good point!” So we might as well just do the things we’re excited about without the fear of failing. I’m not even sure that failing exists. I’m not sure why people stop themselves from doing what they love, or going for something they want. I totally live by that idea and that particular shred of wisdom has given me all sorts of guts to try things I never thought I’d be able to do. It’s also given me more hope that I can do all sorts of other things if I keep trying.

Lindsay and her Dad, Victor.

If you could teach a class on any topic in the world what would it be?

I’d love to teach a class on collaboration, specifically. Now that I think of it, I’m not sure why I’ve never done that before. Think of the possibilities!

What is one of your life aspirations?

I’d really like to visit Europe one day and meet some of the amazing people I’ve met through all of our projects in person. Maybe couch surf my way around, eat all of the delicious food and enjoy myself for a couple weeks. I’m thinking that this might be a possibility some time soon. Might as well try, right?

I’d also like to learn how to meditate. Like, for real. I’d like to remember my dreams. I’d like to author a book about patterns. I guess you only asked for one aspiration. Whoops.

Do you have any guilty pleasures? Things you know you should not do, but do anyway?

I have many pleasures, but I do not feel guilty about any of them. :)

Thanks, Lindsay!

You can see more of Lindsay's artwork here and follow her blog here