Light Grey Iceland Residency 2019: Team Grey Seal
August 14th - August 19th, 2019
The Light Grey Iceland Residency Program: Team Grey Seal includes a diverse group of character designers, visual development artists, animators, comic artists, designers, and more. The Team Grey Seal residents are from various cities around the United States, Ontario, and Australia.
Throughout the program, artists adventured through Northern Iceland, visiting some of the most active, geothermal, and remote locations. The day excursions include hikes around boiling mud pots, sleeping volcanoes, basalt caves, geothermal pools and more.
Read more about our 2019 artists-in-residence teams below:
Team Grey Seal: Yves Menshikova, Cory K Fuller, Natalie Wetzig, Sas Milledge, Wren Sauer, Lauren Valko, Beena Mistry, Andrea Jacobs, Ellen Shershow, Tricia Beal, Patricia Tomassan, and Marcie LaCerte.
Yves Menshikova
Foster City, CA
Website
Yves is a 22 year old visual development, character design, and costume design artist living in the Bay Area, California. They love video games, long evening walks, playing DnD with former classmates, their two cats, and reading too deeply into narratives.
‘I am most looking forward to exploring the Icelandic landscapes for good plein air spots and making new friends!.’
Cory K Fuller
Burbank, CA
Website
Cory K Fuller is an L.A. based Background Designer who also dabbles in the making of comics and illustrations. She graduated from San Jose State University in 2013 with a Bachelor's in Fine Arts for Animation/Illustration. When not making art you can usually find her exploring the Los Angeles area while drinking copious amounts of coffee.
‘I’m very excited to experience a location as an artist, not just a tourist. I look forward to collaborating with and learning from artists across so many different fields.’
Natalie Wetzig
Pacific Palisades, CA
Website
Natalie Wetzig is an animation television director, storyboard artist and outdoor enthusiast. She loves to go on backpacking trips, small and large and has solo hiked through the state of California. In the free minutes of her day, she paints and draws small personal comics about her recent adventures.
‘I’ve always wanted to go to Iceland! I can't think of a better way to go than with a group of talented people from around the world. I'm definitely looking forward to drawing all about it. ’
Sas Milledge
Melbourne, AU
Website
Sas Milledge is an illustrator, comic artist, and designer for animation based in Melbourne, Australia. She graduated from RMIT University with a Bachelor of Design in Animation and Interactive Media in 2016, and in 2017 completed a professional course in drawing and visual storytelling at the Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark. Since returning to Melbourne she has worked professionally as a background artist and designer for animation and is currently juggling too many comic projects.
She likes banana bread and getting lost in the bush with her dog.
‘I feel so lucky to get to meet and learn from a bunch of talented people in such a beautiful part of the world!’
Wren Sauer
San Jose, CA
Website
Wren Sauer is an illustrator based in San Jose, CA. By day she works as a Creative Specialist at Adobe, focusing on the future of mobile drawing apps. In her illustration practice, she creates products, patterns, and vibrant images of flora and fauna. In her downtime, she can be found obsessing over podcasts, making friends with the local wildlife, or caring for her many plants and bearded dragon.
In her spare time, she runs the Avilloary community. Inspired by her love of birds, the project seeks to document the world's avian species through illustration. Initially an idea for a solo project, it developed into a community-wide project that pairs artists with species assignments.
‘Puffins!’
Lauren Valko
Beavercreek, OH
Website
Lauren Valko is an independent motion designer and illustrator currently based out of Ohio. She's worked on a diverse range of projects - from 2D and 3D animations to VR experiences. She strives to tell meaningful stories that are communicated simply and beautifully.
When she's not at her desk, you'll find her in a different kind of studio, brushing up on her figure drawing skills.
‘There's something so magical about taking a bunch of like-minded creatives and throwing them into this wild landscape, immersing them in the culture, and then helping them to grow as artists. I can't wait be be a part of this crazy experience.’
Beena Mistry
Mississauga, ON
Website
Beena Mistry is an Indian nonbinary illustrator hanging around the Toronto area. By playing with shapes and colour, they’re continuously striving to create work that explores the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality. Their dream is to one day illustrate a Pokémon TCG card.
‘Through this residency, I seek to harbour a creative bond with both the other creatives and the geography of Iceland itself.’
Andrea Jacobs
Minneapolis, MN
Website
Andrea Jacobs is an artist and printmaker based in Minneapolis, MN, who has a tendency to roam, play, and explore. Her work investigates the intricacies found in the natural world and aims to engage viewers with the complexity and interconnectedness of all things living on this earth. Through her making, she is continually weaving together a narrative of her relationship to the world around her in a physical, spiritual, emotional, and ecological way. Working with varying mediums, she plays with ink, graphite, printmaking, fibers, paper making, and whatever materials are inspiring her at the moment.
‘I’m looking forward to so much. I’m excited to engage with an enchanted part of this world. To spend some time gathering inspiration and admiration for the environment surrounding us. To see a fleeting ecosystem and to feel the shrinking glaciers. To learn from other creatives and the culture we will be immersed in. To investigate and to play! ‘
Ellen Shershow
Oakland, CA
Website
Ellen Shershow is a photographer based in Oakland, California. Ellen holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
A Conceptual artist by training, in 2009 Ellen left a decades long career in the arts non-profit sector to pursue her own business. Convinced that one should be able to make a living doing the things that she loves, she combined her passion for fine art photography with her deep love of dogs. Today she runs a profitable photography studio in Oakland, California with a focus on four legged creatures.
‘Refresh my creativity, exercising my eyes, and being inspired by other creative people!’
Tricia Beal
Olathe, KS
Website
Tricia Beal has been drawing for almost as long as she has been breathing. Art has been a continual focus throughout her life, though at times creating has been a struggle. Now that she is settled after several cross-country moves and the birth of her son, Tricia is developing a new body of work that focuses on human interpretation of the natural world through portraits of wildlife. She is specifically interested in our inability to escape our own perceptions and the alluring mystery of the animal mind.
‘I am most looking forward to immersing myself in the strange magical landscape of Iceland, its colors and textures as well as it’s folklore and myth.’
Marcie LaCerte
New York, NY
Website
Marcie is an animator from Minneapolis, currently living in New York City. She works as a video journalist at Quartz, where she creates explainer animations as well as short-form digital videos. Her practice also includes working in her sketchbook and creating independent short films. When she's too tired to make art, she likes watching a lot of YouTube and listening to podcasts about the internet.
‘I can't wait to be sitting with my sketchbook amongst like-minded colleagues in a big beautiful landscape!’