Light Grey Iceland Residency 2017: Team Puffin
August 4 - August 9, 2017.

The Light Grey Residency Program: Team Puffin included a diverse team of concept artists, photographers, illustrators, and fine artists from different areas of the globe. The Team Puffin residents hail from the United States, England, Canada, the Netherlands,and Australia. 

Throughout the program, artists journeyed through Northern Iceland visiting some of the most active, geothermal, and remote locations. The day excursions included hikes around boiling mud pots, sleeping volcanoes, basalt caves, geothermal pools and more. 

Read more about our 2017 artists-in-residence teams below.

TEAM PUFFIN: Amei Zhao, Daria Theodora, Grace Anello, Iris Compiet, Jesse Riggle, Jia Sung, Joe Lillington, Justin Urich Tan, Lucy Bellwood, Pierre-Antoine Moelo, Bobby Rogers, Ryan Michlitsch, Stephanie Laberis, and Victoria Ying

Grace Anello
San Diego, CA
behance.net/graceanello

Grace is a graphic designer from Southern California.  She graduated from college with a degree in European History and later went on to study Graphic Design.  She is passionate about the places where design and history cross paths.

Pierre-Antoine Moelo
Montréal, Canada
peah-art.com

Pierre-Antoine is a visual development artist born in Paris and currently living in Montreal, Canada. After working a couple of years in the video game industry for clients such as Ubisoft, he decided to set sails from France to Canada in 2012 to fulfill one of his dreams : working for animated feature films.
Since then he created environments, props and a few characters for ReelFX , Cinesite and L'atelier Animation as a freelancer. When not painting illustrations for movies, he is busy traveling the world to ignite his sense of wonder and kickstart his imagination with always a sketchbook and a few brushes in his backpack. He self published two illustrated books, and is currently working on two exciting new book projects.

Justin Urich Tan
Vancouver, Canada
justintan.ca

Justin is a self-taught photographer and a writer by trade. He has a background in Journalism, Humanities, and, for reasons even he can't explain, Economics. Growing up both in the Pacific Northwest and in the Pacific Islands, Justin takes his stubborn curiosity for the world and its inhabitants with him wherever he goes. In fact, it's his reverence for nature and his love for people—their cultures, histories, and stories—that compel him to explore and share things in his own little ways, with the help of images and words, of course. He plans to publish a book someday—a book on what, who knows...

Victoria Ying
Los Angeles, CA
victoriaying.com

Victoria is an illustrator and storyteller with a backgroun in Animation. She grew up in Southern California with the sun and surf. She started her career in the arts by falling in love with comic books, this eventually turned into a career working in Animation. She loves Japanese Curry, putting things in her shopping cart online and taking them out again and hanging out with her one eared cat. Her film credits include Tangled, Wreck it Ralph, Frozen, Paperman, Big Hero 6, and Moana

Lucy Bellwood
Portland, OR
lucybellwood.com

Lucy Bellwood is a tall ship sailor-turned-cartoonist based in Portland, Oregon. She is the creator of Baggywrinkles, an autobiographical, educational graphic novel about maritime history and her life at sea. Lucy's travelogue adventure comics have taken her whitewater rafting through the Grand Canyon, into the depths of sensory deprivation tanks, and out to sea on the last wooden whaling ship in the world. She is a ongoing artist for the all-ages fantasy series Cartozia Tales and contributes comics journalism to The Nib.

Amei Zhao
Sydney, Australia
ameizhao.com

Amei Zhao currently works in visual development and design for Animation. Her primary focus is colors and light, drawing influence from her childhood growing up in a small town in Australia. She graduated with a PhD in Pathology, but has since moved on to a life working as a freelance artist. Clients include Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, Dark Horse, Vertigo, Titmouse and others. She spends her spare time pursuing astrophotography, diving and creating her personal work, 'Nameless and the Scientist'

Stephanie Laberis
Bay Area, California
stephlaberis.com

Stephanie is a character designer and children's book illustrator, with equal passion for feature animation and children's illustration. A New England transplant and RISD grad (BFA '04 Illustration) now living in Northern California, she has enjoyed working with Hasbro, Google, Microsoft, Nickelodeon, Disney Jr. and various feature film studios throughout her career. Her current projects include visual development for the upcoming animated feature Blazing Samurai and several Little Golden Books and various picture books, primarily focusing on her favorite subject matter: adorably weird animals! When she's not behind the Cintiq, you can find her volunteering at her local wildlife hospital, spending time with her pets of the feline and rodent persuasion, and keeping her video game skills on the Wii-U.

Iris Compiet
Netherlands
eyeris.eu

Iris Compiet is an artist and Illustrator living and working in the Netherlands. She enjoys working on projects ranging from picture books to gallery art and even sculpting her own frames. Creating a ‘sense of wonder’ is at the core of her work. Both in commissioned work as in non-commissioned work, storytelling is an essential part. As an artist she strives to lure in the spectator, to make them feel a connection to the work and open a gateway to their imagination to ignite it even further. As a medium she favors the traditional kind, depending on the story that needs to be told she will choose a medium that translates best. Drawing her inspiration from European folklore, mythology, fairytales, ghost stories and anything from tombstones, Victorian photography to popular movies and music.

Joe Lillington
Bristol, UK
joelillington.co.uk

Joe Lillington is an illustrator from the UK. He is inspired by the landscape and by stories. His work often includes non-fiction elements with a focus on history. He has recently published two picture books with Flying Eye books.

Daria Theodora
Boston, MA
xintheodora.com

Daria Theodora is a semi-hermit illustrator/artist residing in the suburban jungle just outside Boston. Her works have recently been featured in Illustration Age, ImagineFX, and Illustration West 54. She currently is focusing on making more appealing visuals for both commercial works and galleries.

Jia Sung
Brooklyn, NY
jia-sung.com

Jia Sung is a painter and illustrator, born in Minnesota, bred in Singapore, now based in Brooklyn. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators NY and the Society of Illustrators LA. Some of her past clients include Penny Magazine, Narratively, Huffington Post, WILD MAGAZINE, and Nautilus Magazine among others. 

Bobby Rogers
Minneapolis, MN
bobbyrogers.co

Bobby Rogers is a Visual Artist currently located in Minneapolis, MN. His work has been featured by 3M, Target, Racked Magazine, Vulkan Magazine, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the American Swedish Institute.