Light Grey Iceland Residency 2018: Team Andi
July 25th - July 30th, 2018.

The Light Grey Iceland Residency Program: Team Andi includes a wide range of creatives with backgrounds in concept art, freelance illustration, digital marketing, photography, animation, art direction and more. Artists hail from various areas of the United States, Canada, Columbia, England, Philippines, and India. 

Throughout the program, Team Andi will travel through Northern Iceland, visiting some of the most active, geothermal, and remote locations learning about the history, geology and folklore of the land. The day excursions include hikes around boiling mud pots, sleeping volcanoes, basalt caves, geothermal pools and more. 

Read more about our 2018 artists-in-residence teams below:

TEAM SPIRIT: Allison Smith, Daron Nefcy, Heekyoung Jung, Jose Maria Tristan V. Yuvienco, Juan Carlos Solon, Kashmira Sarode, Kasia Wasko, Katie Vernon, Lily Nishita, Lorena, Megan Nicole Dong, Mariela Valentinova Ganeva, Martin Gee, Shaikara David

Lily Nishita
Santa Monica, CA
lilynishita.com

Lily Nishita is an illustrator and graphic designer in sunny Los Angeles. She earned her BFA at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2010 and has been lucky enough to make a career mixing her artistic talent with her love of games. She likes grey weather, hot drinks, indoor plants, and sneaking snacks to her dog, Sheldon.

"I'm really looking forward to hiking and painting some cool rocks!"

Allison Smith
Los Angeles, CA
instagram.com/allisonsmithart

Allison is a storyboard revisionist/artist, currently working for Warner Brothers Animation. Originally from Washington D.C., she earned her degree for illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University. Alongside her studies, she practiced and self-taught the skills necessary to work in the animation industry. She moved to Los Angeles a year after graduating VCU, and her work has led to Warner Bros, storyboarding on shows such as Justice League Action, DC Super Hero Girls, and most recently Young Justice.

"The travel! It's been far too long since my passport has had any stamps in it. Iceland has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, so I'm looking forward to taking in everything I can there. I'm also looking forward to the range of artists I'll be with in Team Andi, and the things I'll learn from them all."

Heekyoung Jung
Cincinnati, OH
hkjung.com

Heekyoung Jung is an Associate Professor of Interaction Design at University of Cincinnati (USA). With her background in Industrial Design from South Korea, she studied Human-Computer Interaction Design at Indiana University. Since 2011 she has taught interaction design studios in the School of Design at UC in relation to her research that focuses on social and cultural meanings of mobile/wearable technologies and their applications for human wellbeing. Some of her studio projects were industry-sponsored to contextualize emerging information and interaction technologies for in-flight communication, lift truck driving experience, and medical data visualization.

"In the residency program, I plan to transfer the qualities of being in the Icelandic nature to a wearable interactive experience. By offering a workshop on soma-reflective practice, I will explore how we could appreciate sensorial experiences in the nature through the body, reflect about our presence in the world, and care about our wellbeing as well as others. In particular, I am interested in searching for healthier use of digital technologies for sensorial and connected human experience."

Katie Vernon
Evanston, IL
katievernon.com

Katie Vernon is an illustrator who has spent most of her life in the midwest but whose heart belongs in the mountains. She's found inspiration from being a florist, working with alpacas, and living on a school bus. She has worked with Anthropologie, The Washington Post, IKEA, and many other lovely clients. Her happy place is either long bike rides with her family or drinking seltzer water in her studio.

"Bringing my two loves of art and nature together while meeting and learning from other creatives."

Kashmira Sarode
Karnataka, India
kashmirasarode.com

Kashmira is an artist and designer from India. She loves to travel and is heavily inspired by nature and the folk arts of her country. Her personal work revolves mainly around the themes of happiness and being one with the surroundings.

"The travel, new perspectives and a whole lot of fun!"

Martin Gee
New York, New York
ohmgee.com

Martin Gee is a Senior Art Director at TIME and freelance illustrator based in New York. Originally from California, he studied illustration and graphic design at San Jose State University where he fell in love with editorial design. His path of destruction / career includes The Huffington Post, The Boston Globe, Oregon Business, San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Tribune / Redeye, House of Blues and Orange County Register.

His illustration style has evolved from loose watercolor to brooding photo-illustration to cute vector art. Recent clients include WIRED, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, AARP, Variety, The Village Voice, Nautilus, Family Circle, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

With a background in newspapers and self-sufficiency (aka zero budget), he wants to do it all and never sleep. He enjoys everything Star Wars, doing improv, building Lego robots, listening to the Tron Legacy soundtrack daily, his all-time favorite book What Do People Do All Day? and living the dream.

Gee has won an Emmy (25% EGOT), awards from several acronyms (SOI, SPD, SND) and a fondue set for presentation karaoke / improv.

Juan Carlos Solon
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
kickpixel.com

It all started in 19XX when little Juan Carlos Solon was born in a hospital in Quezon City, Philippines. Fast forward many years later and BOOM BAM POW his alter ego Kickpixel is born. Oh and somewhere in between Adobe invented Photoshop, but thats not that important. Juan Carlos specializes in pixel art and is an ode to his love for retro gaming. He has worked on several mobile titles and was art lead for the successful Kickstarter game Halcyon 6. Currently he works for Uken Games as a Senior Artist. He enjoys running and dogs, preferably running with dogs!

Mariela Valentinova Ganeva
London, England
marielaganeva.com

Mariela Ganeva is a documentary and travel photographer from Bulgaria. After graduating a BA in Marketing in 2015, she decided to change her path and follow her passion for photography. She moved to London and did a Master degree in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism.

Still based in London, Mariela currently works as a photo editor at a major online newspaper. She is also devoting time to working on her own photographic projects and often travels across Europe.

"For a passionate travel photographer like me, going to Iceland is a dream come true. I am so excited by the idea to explore the and create alongside other artists! I'm looking forward to exchanging ideas, experience, getting inspired, and of course, having fun while doing what I love the most!"

Daron Nefcy
Los Angeles, CA
daronnefcy.com

Daron Nefcy is creator and executive producer of the Annie Award-nominated original hit series Star vs. The Forces of Evil,  one of Disney XD’s most-watched animated series.  Nefcy combines comedy and magic in this unique show which has aired all over the world.  Since Star's debut, Nefcy has been awarded Variety's 10 Animators to Watch and made Forbes 30 under 30 list for 2015.  The Los Angeles Times featured Nefcy in a cover story about the growing influence of women in animation and the increasing enrollment of women in art schools.  A 2009 California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) graduate, Nefcy’s storytelling ability resulted in her films appearing each year in the Character Animation Producer's Show. 

Nefcy's other television credits include Disney XD's Wander Over Yonder, Warner Bros. animated series MAD and Nickelodeon's Robot and Monster.

Kasia Wasko
Seattle, WA
kasiawasko.com

Kasia Wasko is a Polish user experience designer currently living in Seattle, WA. She has recently moved from Minneapolis, MN where she has been building her career for the past few years. Kasia finished her BFA in Graphic Design at MCAD, and became introduced to interactive work during an internship at Sevnthsin. From there, Kasia's career has grown as she has held posts at several agencies including Olson and Spyder Trap. Within her work, Kasia has led the development of internal process and supported a growing user experience discipline within her design teams. Kasia loves working across all departments to collaborate on challenging problems. Kasia enjoys the development of research approaches as a vast amount of her clients require continuous consultation. During her free time, Kasia has taught UX/UI Design at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design and BrandLab. She currently is focusing her time on mentoring students One on One, and resurfacing her personal illustration work.

"I am most looking forward to learning, collaborating and growing with others who seek to shake up their practice."

Shaikara David
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
shaikaradavid.com

Shaikara is newly graduated animation student from Ottawa, Canada. Currently working as a background painter for TV animation, she works hard to evoke mood and emotion from the audience with color and light in her backgrounds. In her free time, she's focused on drawing things that make her happy and finding her own style along the way. TV credits include Wild Kratts Season 5 and Hilda on Netflix 2018.

"I'm looking forward to escape and refresh as well as share the experiences and wisdom that my fellow residents have to share."

Megan Nicole Dong
Burbank, CA
sketchshark.tumblr.com

Megan Nicole Dong is a Southern-California based marine biology enthusiast, cartoonist, and storyboard artist. She has worked for both feature film and television animation, at DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, and Titmouse Inc. She also does comics for the web (under the name "sketchshark"), and her work has been featured by online news sites such as The Independent, Boing Boing, and Mic.

Jose Maria Tristan V. Yuvienco
Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
trisketched.tumblr.com/illustration

An avid fan of games, stories, art, and animation, Tristan is an illustrator hailing from the Philippines. With a bachelors degree in Visual Communications from the University of the Philippines, he has made illustration work for comics, children's books, games, agencies, and animation. He aims to explore different places, experience cultures, pet varying kinds of dogs-and tell all about them.
 

"I fell in love with the landscapes of Iceland the moment I saw photographs of them. I can't wait to experience them first hand along with my fellow residents!"