Getting ready for Stacks! Pardon our mess!

So we're just a week and a half away from our really exciting August exhibition! We wanted to share some preview photos with you from some of the zines that have come in. One thing I'm really enjoying about the preparations from this show is the unique install that we've got going on.





When Jenny and I came back from ICON8, we had a massive stack of boxes waiting for us from all of the artists. Unwrapping each one was really exciting. Each artist has something really different. Paper choices, printing techniques, special features, items they've added -- the each of these are truly unique.

Becca helped get everything sorted and we are in the midst of listing everything on the shop, taking documentation photos, and preparing the STACKS documentation gallery on the Light Grey website.

Besides all that, we had a bit of an engineering challenge. Many of our shows have been relatively 2d, and with a book format, we wanted to consider the experience of reading, absorbing and displaying the work. So, with a bit of thought, we put together a shelving system that is going to be perfect. Our concept is to have the whole gallery be a physical timeline of the years between 1984 and 2014, so you could move throughout these space, seeing how time progresses -- from the point of view of the artist in each year.


Right now Jenny is in the process of working on finishing and painting the shelves and we'll soon have them up on the walls.

We'll keep you posted with the updates as the exhibition gets closer including what the final "Stacks" look like, our process of shipping them all off, and some of the great documentation we're doing for the project.



Thanks to all of the artists that have participated so far. This will be really great to see everything in on space and we're really looking forward to the exhibition.
More information about the STACKS show can be found on the Facebook event page here.

Stacks
A Limited Edition Zine Exhibition
August 1st- September 5th
Opening Reception August 1
7 - 10pm
Light Grey Art Lab

118 E. 26th Street #101
Minneapolis MN 55406
612.239.2047

Nights and Weekends Opening Reception + Traveling Sketchbook Library

We are gearing up for an exciting week at Light Grey Art Lab! This entire next weekend is filled with incredible projects, opening receptions, workshops and more!

Starting this Friday at 2pm, we will have the Traveling Sketchbook Library of the Sketchbook Project! They have journeyed all the way from Brooklyn as part of their 1703 Miles and Back Tour, and Light Grey Art Lab is their Minneapolis stop along the way! This is the first time the Sketchbook Project has ever been to Minnesota, and we are so thrilled host this wonderful project. Participants from all over have registered and completed sketchbooks as part of the Light Grey Chapter on tour. Their works, along with thousands of other sketchbooks will be available for viewing, checking out, and browsing! The Traveling Library will be open from 2pm-8pm (right outside our doors) so be sure to stop by and take a peek!



Then, starting at 7pm, we will have the official opening reception of the Nights and Weekends Exhibition! This show features individual projects from beginnings to completion, the process, the sketches, and of course, the polished books, zines, prints, and more. Each artist in the exhibition has completed incredible projects, self published books, and collaborated with others in order to make their dream projects become a reality.

Some of the works that we are looking forward to include Campbell Whyte nearly 400 piece watercolor series of the original Nintendo System Characters, Geniviéve FT's prints from her newly published book Dames, Neufundland, a collaborative design and comic compilation from Germany, and much much more!

Here is a little sneak peek!
This includes a comic from the Neufundland Book, one of Anne Ulku's Haikuglyphics, a portrait by Antonio Rodrigues Jr., and Ghost Neighborhood by Kim Ku.

You can see some of the work available on our online shop

Then, Saturday the 21st at 9pm, Campbell Whyte will be teaching an all-night creative workshop and comic jam! Mark your calendars for this new class, where you can meet other local comic lovers, participate Campbells demos and comic discussions, and create your own zine to copy and share! You can see more information and pre-register for this class on our online shop here! If you register with a friend, you will get a partner discount!

We are very excited to celebrate all of these artist's work! We hope to see you here!

Artist Interview: Sarah Marino

This week, I had the opportunity to catch up with In Place artist, Sarah Marino. Sarah is an extremely talented illustrator, designer, and visual developer currently working at Reel FX Studio in the feature animation department. She graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in 2009, and since, has been extremely busy creating works for companies such as Simon & Schuster, Blue Sky Studios, and CMYK Magazine, and has been exhibiting illustrations in galleries throughout the country.

It has been great getting to know Sarah through her participating in the exhibitions. It is clear in her personal practice as well as at work, she is collaboratively focused- a true team player! In this interview, Sarah shares her perspectives on feature animations, studio practice, keeping busy, and being passionate about your profession.



Can you tell us what you currently have in the works? What you are looking forward to?

Currently, I am on cast working on a film called the “Book of Life” with Guillermo Del Toro as creative producer and Jorge Gutierrez as director. It has been an amazing project to be involved with! I also recently wrapped on a project with Simon & Schuster.When I’m not at work, I like to make my own children’s book illustrations. All of these projects have been great because I like to keep busy! I feel guilty if I’m not working, so I’m glad I love making art so much!

You are a visual development artist for Reel FX. Could you talk a little about your role at the studio, your favorite parts of the process, and the community?

Working in animation doesn’t really feel like work – you’re making movies primarily for kids, so it’s great to use your imagination all day. As a vis dev artist, I work in the art department, which is the group of artists responsible for bringing each director’s vision to life. One thing that I really love about working on movies, is that even though you might be on a project for over a year, the range of assignments you undertake keeps it interesting and fun. Working at a younger studio like Reel FX also means the talent is fresh and passionate- it’s a really inspiring environment. Everyone I work with is amazingly talented and we’re all friends outside of work, which I don’t think is always the norm for most larger studios. I love the tight-knit community that’s developed even though our company has grown.



What do you think most people would find surprising about the type of work you do at work or the way an animation studio works?

Making movies is extremely collaborative. I would say a majority of the assignments I’m given have been worked on by someone else in some way, whether they already did sketches, designs, color keys, etc. I’m primarily a painter/surface artist, so a lot of the time I’ll be given a designer’s drawing, and flesh it out with color and form, explore what it’s made of (e.g. stone, wood, organic material, etc), and how it might be lit in a scene. A lot of the work you do in the beginning is exploratory, but once production deadlines hit, you just have to commit. Every assignment given to you is the art director trusting that you’ll make it happen in the allotted amount of time. Deadlines are so important in animation, especially when you’re at the beginning of the pipeline like those of us in the art department. Everything we do has to be passed on to the next department so they can begin bringing the movie to life.

What styles and work from your professional work carry into your personal work? Are the processes similar different?

I’ve learned just as much, if not more so, at my job than I did during school. The amount of talent that I’m surrounded by is really high, and I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from my peers. The biggest difference between what I do at work and what I do at home is the final product. When I do a book illustration or a personal piece, I’m putting a finished painting out there as a standalone image that I created from start to finish. Animation is a lot different – most of the work I do will never go public, and mostly everything I work on is only a concept of the final product, not actually the final.

For example, if I do a painting of what a certain prop might look like, I’ll paint it the way it should look in the movie, and then the CG artists will take my painting and sculpt, surface, animate, etc. the actual asset for the movie. It seems discouraging at first, but I actually find it really rewarding to see what the CG artists can do with the work I handoff to them. When I watch a movie I worked on, I can point at a certain prop or character and say ‘I created that. And my one friend modeled it, another textured it, another animated it.’ That collaborative part is something that I really love about animation.



What personal projects do you have in the works? Is there anything you have been dying to create?

Storytelling is my passion, and even though I primarily tell stories with illustrations, I also love to write. One of my books in progress is an illustrated middle-grade fantasy novel. CTN Expo is coming up in a few months, so I’m going to try to see how many new pieces I can put together in time for that. There are a lot of old Russian and Eastern European fairy tales I’ve been researching in hopes to use as a jumping off point for a new body of vis dev work. The last thing I’ve been up to (this is the first time I’m saying so publicly, in fact), is that I’ve had the pleasure to do some voiceover work for FUNimation Studios, an anime distribution company here in the Dallas area. Being able to dub over for anime has been crazy fun, but also incredibly surreal! My first credit will be on the Fairy Tail movie coming out later this year.

You create beautiful landscapes and scenes everyday, and are well versed in fantastical imagery. How did you select your location for In Place? What were you drawn in by?

I'm really big on watching documentaries while I work, and luckily Netflix has a great selection of them. I had recently watched a documentary on Myanmar, and the Bagan Temples really stood out to me visually, despite the current disparity in the country. I instantly wanted to learn more about the history of the temples. I try to set goals for my work, and adding more larger scale landscapes to my portfolio was one of them. The In Place show was a great opportunity I had to jump on while the images of the temples still buzzed around in my head. With my work, I'm definitely attracted to subtleties and quieter moods, so learning about the history of the Bagan Temples and the monks who still inhabit them really resonated with my aesthetic and design philosophy.



I spent some time searching for photography of the temples and referred to other documentaries. Especially with a piece like this that was so grounded in reality, I wanted to make sure I honored the history and architecture of the culture I would be illustrating. I think with the case of this piece, the reference images I found really inspired my thumbnails. I was drawn to the photographs that showed the temples in the early morning or late sunset and I knew I wanted to explore the foggy glow that bounces off the tops of the gold-gilded buildings. I was also really drawn to the monks and their day to day lives; how after all of these years, they still walk with purpose throughout such ancient and impressive structures.

What other topics inspire you when making? What are some of your favorite types of characters, scenes, stories?

I’m a sucker for anything whimsical, fantastical, or romantic, so if a story or character or place has anything to do with one or all of the above (huge bonus), then I’m immediately drawn to it. I actually made a list of a bunch of my favorite characters, and I found that my favorites tend to either be heroes (especially the reluctant kind, like Harry Potter or Sailor Moon) or dashing rogues with sensitive souls (e.g. Han Solo, Spike Spiegel). I’m a seriously hopeless romantic, and if two characters fall in love despite all the odds set against them, I’m completely invested emotionally. I’m sure this is probably why a lot of my work tends to feature heroines or couples. At least I’m consistent!



And lastly, do you have any advice for aspiring character developers?

Draw every single day. If you’re having a bad drawing day, seek out things that inspire you! Play guitar, go for a walk in the park, go to a bookstore or see a movie. There are so many resources out there today for people that want to work in animation–from workshops or online classes, to CTN Expo or SDCC. Networking will get you the job, so be friendly to everyone you meet in the industry–your work ethic and good attitude means more than your portfolio. Don’t be afraid to edit your portfolio. Submit your portfolio with work that applies to the job you want. It’s a competitive industry, but if you want it bad enough, and you work for it hard enough, you’ll get there. My path to being a vis dev artist wasn’t easy, but with a lot of hard work and dedication (and a little bit of luck), I made it. You can, too.

Thanks to Sarah for such a great and insightful interview! You can check out more of Sarah Marino's work on her website as well as check out her artwork for the In Place Exhibition and the In Place book on our Light Grey Shop.

Artist Interview: Elisabeth McNair

Elisabeth and her dog Rufus

Our current exhibit, SMART, features a wide array of goofy, clever, and intelligent art. To showcase some of the artists we're particularly excited about, we conducted a series of interviews. Our first is with illustrator and zine author Elisabeth McNair.  She kindly took time out from her schedule to tell us about herself, her creative process, and her inspirations.


Where are you from, and where do you currently live?
 I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and that's where I'm currently living.


Where/how would you ultimately like to live?
I'm not really sure where I would ultimately like to live. My goal is to freelance full-time, and I think I'd actually be happy living anywhere if I could just work for myself and set my own hours.

The Optimist

How would you describe yourself? (or how might someone else describe you?)
I'm not very good at describing myself, but I love personality tests, especially the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The profile of the INFP personality type describes me really well.


How would you describe yourself as an artist?
I try to make art that is intelligent but not pretentious, funny but not stupid, and nostalgic but not kitschy.

Good Taste

As one of the artists in our upcoming SMART show, how are you interpreting this title? 
I gave it a lot of thought, and ended up deciding to interpret the title literally, and so I created an illustration about the desire to be "smart." A lot of people, myself included, are plagued by the anxiety that we will never know enough. Information is so accessible and easily-attained through the internet that we consume it faster than we can really absorb it. The piece I made for the show is an observation of the way that we constantly devour culture and knowledge, and how that information becomes wrapped up in our identities, a process that can either bring us closer together or make us feel more isolated.


What materials/processes do you use?
I always begin with lots of sketches. Once I've roughly figured out how I want the illustration to look, I make a detailed pencil drawing. Sometimes I create just one composition, and sometimes I draw all of the elements separately and compile them in the computer. Once the drawing is complete, I either paint it with watercolor and gouache or scan it and color it in Photoshop. As much as I love the idea of something being completely hand-made and original, painting in Photoshop is actually very freeing to me because there's no stress involved--I can change the colors as many times as I want! However, it's important for me to at least begin with a real drawing. I would really love to start printmaking again.


On your website, you site the writer Flannery O’Connor as a major influence. Can you tell us about a favorite story or passage?
In "Mystery and Manners," Flannery O'Connor wrote: “There are two qualities that make fiction. One is a sense of mystery and the other is a sense of manners. You get the manners from the texture of existence that surrounds you. The great advantage of being a Southern writer is that we don't have to go anywhere to look for manners; bad or good, we've got them in abundance. ” I think this idea pertains to any kind of art, not just fiction. There is truth in mystery and humor in manners, and since truth is often painful, it's best to express it with humor.


How much of a story do you create behind your illustration images?
There's usually an elaborate story that no one will ever really hear. Coming up with the story is more fun to me than actually making the illustration.



Are the people in your illustrations based on people you know, imagine, or see out and about?
I never intend for my illustrations to be based on real people, but it's possible that people I know sometimes sneak in!



There are quite a few animals in your illustration work. Can you talk about your relationship with animals? 
I've always loved animals, which is why I'm a vegetarian. Gandhi said that the "greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated." I think that animals understand more than we know, and I wish that our society did a better job of protecting them.


Do you have a day job? What jobs have you held? What was the best? The worst?
Right now, I don't have a day job because I'm attending school full-time; however, I'm doing freelance work and I also sell portraits on my Etsy shop. I have been a substitute teacher, an art teacher, a barista, and I've worked at a pet supply store. The pet supply store was fun because it was nice having dogs as customers. The worst job was substitute teaching.

from the zine 'Fancy Pants'

 You received your B.F.A. in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking, and now, you’ve returned to school for Illustration and Design. Why did you decide to go back to school?
I've never been good at figuring out how to make a living with my art; in fact, just thinking about it has always made me a little squeamish. I have always had a "day job" and made art in my spare time. I went back to school in order to figure out how to support myself doing what I love.


Where do you turn for inspiration?
The past.



What artists are most inspiring to you? 
Edward Gorey, Maira Kalman, and Yuriy Norshteyn are constant sources of inspiration.


How long does it take you to make an illustration?
It depends on when my deadline is! I can tweak things forever, so if I have the time I could spend weeks on a single illustration. However, if I am pressed for time I can complete an illustration a day.


Can you describe a typical work day?
Every morning while I drink my coffee, I get caught up on my reading. (I'm using Feedly now that Google Reader is being phased out.) If I come across something interesting, I might write about it on my blog. Then I walk my dog, and after that I spend the rest of the day at my desk, until late afternoon, when it's time to walk my dog again. After dinner, I work for several more hours.

'A Year of Not Reading'

I love to read. I also enjoy spending time with my dog, Rufus--I hate to think of how much time I would spend inside if he didn't beg me go on walks! Before I became too busy with school, I played keyboard in my husband's band, Noel Stephen & the Darlings.  (http://nsatd.bandcamp.com)



You have a blog called “A Fine Day For…” Are there any particular blogs you’re fan of? Some blogs I've been reading for a long time are Brain Pickings, Design*Sponge, Pugly Pixel, Swiss Miss, and of course Pikaland.



What’s the most interesting feedback you’ve ever gotten about your work?
Some people have described my work as depressing, which makes me laugh, because I try so hard to make it funny!



What’s the best advice on being an artist you’ve ever been given?
I can't think of a good answer for this, which probably means that I need some advice.


You say on your website that you are open to collaborations and commissions. What would be your ideal collaboration/commission?
My ideal collaboration would be to work with other creative people I admire to create and self-publish a quarterly zine. My ideal commission would be to do a cover for The New Yorker.


We have another upcoming show about inspirational quotes. Is there a particular quote that inspires you?
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
 --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Check out Elisabeth's work at:  www.elisabethmcnair.com

Artist Interview: Bene Rohlmann

Bene Rohlmann's collage-style illustration is pleasantly fresh and exciting. I'm always thrilled to see artist's process, but there's something especially cool about the tactile process of collage work. His process photos are really great to see—needless to stay he has impeccable craft! 
Today we feature an interview with him and his Macro+Micro process. In the meantime, check out the rest of his collage drawings.










Tell us about why you chose the subject of your piece. Is it something you’re familiar with?


I've chosen plants as my subject cause I just really like drawing them. I often get inspired by illustrations of plants, especially the ones that you find in old encyclopedias.
To make the piece more personal I've added elements like the spirit that comes out of the plant, cause I somehow believe that there is something spiritual in everything natural.
The elements in the corners of my artwork are pollen, or at least how I imagine them. Pollen are familiar to me, cause I've had hayfever for a long, long time now.


Explain a little about your process in creating this illustration.

The first thing I did was draw the big illustration in the middle and then the four smaller ones in the corners with a pencil. After that, I cut out the drawings and glued them on the background, which is a cardbord that I painted with white acrylic.
Then I cut out some border elements of old maps for the frame and all the other small elements from old encyclopedias and comics. Some fit the topic and some are just for fun or because they have a personal meaning. I glued all those elements on the background, too, and filled the rest of the blank space with decorative elements.


Are you reading anything currently? We’d love to hear about it!

I recently started reading The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson and also No Man's Land by Blexbolex. I often start reading comic books while I'm still in the middle of a novel cause I'm not patient enough to wait till I'm done with the book. I love comics. I grew up with them and I've read my first comic even before my first book (if you don't count school books).
And when it comes to books, there's no bigger pleasure for me than reading Charles Bukowski. Too bad he can't write any more.


If you hadn’t chosen art as your career, what would you be doing?

There has never been anything else that I really wanted to do (except for wanting to be a paleontologist, when I was a kid). So I really don't know. But probably something with movies or literature.


You were given a free science class, just for the heck of it. You even get to choose: Biology or Chemistry. Which would you pick?

I haven't been the best in both of those classes, but if I had to choose it would definitely be Biology. I've always liked animals and plants and have been fascinated by the wonders of the human body. Learning about all that is quite essential and important, I think. Chemistry on the other hand was the first class I cancelled, as soon as I had the chance.



For more of Rohlmann's work, you can look at his site, his flickr or his blog!