small talk // daryl seitchik // cartoonist

in

i've known my good friend daryl seitchik since we were fourteen. we took ap studio art in high school as well as private lessons at the same art studio. then, daryl made a lot of realistic self portrait paintings and also kept an online journal that documented both funny and incredibly personal moments from her adolescence. she put it all out there and it was bold, brave and incredibly intimidating for the rest of us teens too immature to deal with our feelings. daryl was always interested in both art and writing. in the last few years, she has started making comics combining both of her interests in a seamless, inventive way. her work is still just as clever and funny as ever. now she's living in philly and we met up when i was there in january. daryl mentioned her desire to join a band and sing on stage. i have no doubt she would do that seamlessly too.

more about daryl below:

cultureisland: tell us more about you.

daryl seitchik: i spent my childhood in a suburb of philadelphia and my teen years in a suburb of new jersey, drawing all night and day. in college, i majored in art history/visual arts and unofficially spent most of my time studying and making comics. now i'm back in cheap old philadelphia, doing the same thing.

cultureisland: tell us more about your comics + the missy series. how did you start creating this kind of work?

daryl seitchik: i started keeping a diary when i was seven. my mom gave it to me after she and my dad separated and i named it missy because that was the name of the diary she had kept until she was grown up. she put all the volumes in a box in her parents’ attic, and at some point years later my grandma threw it out. when i first started my diary, i felt like i was bringing missy back to life. like most kids i also felt too much too often, so writing down my feelings gave them more clarity and significance. comics came to me a bit later. as a kid, i wrote and illustrated my own stories, but it wasn’t until i was a junior in college that i began to take cartooning seriously. the incredible diary comics of julie doucet and gabrielle bell inspired me to make my own terrible ones. it took me two years just to learn how to draw myself. and another to realize i could turn missy into a strip. the comic quickly developed its own life, one that is based on my experiences, but i’m more interested in mining them for emotional truths than in portraying “what really happened.” i never saw the sinking of the titanic, for example, but that’s what 8th grade felt like.  the middle school entries are the most fun, because i get to use hyperbolic metaphors like that and most of the text i copy verbatim from my diary. the entries from high school and up require a lot more editing or, in many cases, complete re-writing. i often have to condense 5+ pages of whining in my tiny handwriting into five short sentences. at this point, i’m comfortable enough with all the different narrative voices in the strip that i don’t need to read missy as much for material. it’s more exciting to make shit up, anyway. and probably better for my mental health. i often have to remind myself that i’m not a drawing.

cultureisland: you're working on two books right now, can you tell us more about them?

daryl seitchik: the first book will be one to three short stories, coming out from koyama press in fall 2016. right now, i’m working on the first one, which is also my first work of fiction. i’m excited about it, but i don’t want to say more yet. the other book is a missy collection, coming out from the same publisher in 78 years. so far, i’ve completed a little over 100 pages, most of which are online, and now i'm working on the other 100+ exclusively for the book. i’ll still post strips online, but not as often as before.

cultureisland: what is your creative process?

daryl seitchik: i stare at the pile of rubble across from my house, identify with it, and cry. then i draw cartoons.

cultureisland: where do you find inspiration? who are some of your favorite artists?

daryl setichik: to answer your first question, just from life! being conscious is so cool. i have too many favorite artists, especially in the comics world, so i’ll just name some whose recent work i feel strongly about. sophia foster-dimino draws so precisely, her lines cut into your soul! i’d start with her sex fantasy series. lala albert is the queen of the uncanny and her most recent comics, janus and r.a.t., perfectly capture the absurdity of life on/offline. gg is a genius. and my friend nate zeidman makes amazing paintings. i already mentioned julie doucet and gabrielle bell as heroes. add to that list leslie stein, john porcellino, and chris ware. also, the work of virginia woolf and edvard munch changed the way i see and thanks to 7 years of blasting my bloody valentine, i have mild tinnitus.

cultureisland: what are your favorite places to see art in philly?

daryl seitchik: little berlin, because i love the space. it’s in this beautiful old textile mill with a gravel yard haunted by stray cats and it has a zine library. locust moon comics is my favorite comics shop in philly, and the art gallery part always has gorgeous original pages on the walls. like little berlin, there are cats, too. magical cats named inky and rooster who nap in half-empty boxes of superhero comics.

cultureisland: what are you listening to right now?

daryl seitchik: right now? i’m listening to white noise. in a minute, i’m going to put on hole, because i’m pms-ing. 

cultureisland: have you watched anything interesting lately?

daryl seitchik:  just finished paranoia agent, an anime series by satoshi kon. i love everything he's done, but this show is literally mind-blowing. each episode focuses on a victim of “lil’ slugger,” this mysterious teenage boy who knocks people out cold with a bent metal bat. the only thing all his victims have in common is that they were trapped in desperate situations before they were attacked. you get deep inside their heads, and see how their secret fears and fantasies distort their perceptions of reality. it’s beautifully animated. last year, i watched another amazing anime series called lain. it’s from the late 90’s, but i have yet to find another show that so profoundly explores the nightmarish side of the internet. i binge-watched it on youtube.   

 * check out more of daryl's work here // tumblr // etsy *

art exhibit // david salle: new paintings // skarstedt gallery

in

i stumbled into the new david salle show at skarstedt gallery this weekend and was blown away by his new paintings, part of his late product paintings series. the show is up 'til the end of june so you must go! in regards to his use of collage, salle says, "i want the differences to show, but to somehow be resolved anyway. it's symphonic. sometimes i like to think of myself of a kind of orchestrator." well said. i love his choice of images, juxtapositions, color usage and the titles of his pieces. they are large scale and got me thinking that i'd love to make some huge collages someday.

according to skarstedt gallery: "david salle's new paintings are characterized by both immediacy and complexity; their vibrant color and highly energized, dynamic compositions display a marked evolution from his most recent exhibition, ghost paintings, shown at skarstedt's upper east side gallery in 2013. salle's late product paintings can be seen as both revisiting and providing an extension to his 1993 series, early product paintings, in which flatly painted backgrounds of collaged product advertisements were the stage upon which present-tense painting operations were carried out. salle's late product paintings bring this premise to a much fuller, performative, and masterful resolution. exploring the intangible relationships between subjects, salle's images float in a fragmented world of poetic simultaneity. drawing images from a variety of sources, salle combines them into paintings as one would create a collage. though often surprising, his connections are never forced; they have a non-programmatic, improvised quality, and they arrive at a place of buoyant equilibrium." more about this exhibit here.

* images courtesy of skarstedt gallery // exhibition is open thru june 27 *

small talk // damion silver // visual artist

in

damion silver is a former coworker from converse. there, he is the design director for the men's all star / chuck taylor footwear line. his creative work outside of the office has always intrigued me so we recently reconnected and i picked his brain about his creative journey, artistic process and his combines featured here. damion grew up going to flea markets with his mom. it was skateboarding as a teenager that really exposed him to everything; the graphic language of skateboarding inspired him to explore album art, graffiti and later painting, ceramics and drawing. in high school, he took shop class, worked on cars and did industrial arts. he learned how to work a letterpress and started making tees, business cards and posters. at only fourteen he knew he wanted to do graphic arts. he went onto community college and later a state school where he studied fine arts, philosophy and graphic design. he bought a mac computer and started a freelance design business. he did logos, rave flyers and also worked at an animation company for a few years. he then moved to philly where he worked at a cabinet shop and then a foundry where he made art for major fine artists. around this time, nike bought converse and they started hiring their target consumers. so it was in 2006 that damion was hired to design the urban and heritage basketball lines. some eleven years later, damion is now heading up the men's footwear design team. while i was working there, we collaborated on a couple projects and also went to art basel miami together. damion is a supremely talented, laid back and an overall rad dude. we share some mutual inspirations, like robert rauschenberg and bill withers. i love how damion translates his collected objects and ideas three dimensionally and i'm excited to see how his work will continue to evolve in the future.

more about damion below:

cultureisland: tell us more about you.

damion silver: i was born and raised in new britain, connecticut or as we called it "hard hittin new britain." stanley tools was from there. anyway i lived there with my mom 'til i was 11. spent a lot of time with my grandparents, who helped raise me. i was a normal kid i guess. played baseball, rode bikes, watched mtv and hung out with a lot of older kids, which always led to trouble. we moved to bristol, conneticut, home of espn when i was 11 and things flipped once i moved there. i got into skateboarding and met the first art teacher who really pushed me. that was 7th grade and when i got to high school i took intro to shop class, you know cad, wood shop, cars and graphic arts. there i learned how to make silk screens, letter press and offset press. at 14 i knew that was it. graphic design and art was what i wanted to do from that point on.

cultureisland: tell us more about your art.

damion silver: right now i make assemblages or rather combines. i use reclaimed materials, found objects, silkscreens, spray paint, transfers, and combine them into abstract & geometric forms. combined, these fragments of images, textures and colors create a new harmonious narrative for the viewer to decipher. 

cultureisland: tell us more about your creative process and your combines.

damion silver: the combines i make now, process wise is very fluid. i have piles and crates full of material all over my studio. i generally clean off one of my work stations, dig around in a stack of wood. i wait for a piece to speak to me, catch my eye or maybe i've acquired some new materials that i'm just stoked on using. this could set the tone for a color palette or the over all shape of the piece. other times i'll cut out a base shape like a circle or square or whatever and use that as the framework. from that initial selection i look for a complimentary piece all while incorporating stacking, shifting, and juxtaposing texture, color or shape. i might cut it, distress it. or break it until it feels like it has the right placement and feels good. then it's a step and repeat process. sometimes i'll hang a piece that's in process, draw in areas that need more materials. rounding and balancing the pieces until it's complete. each piece is unique and different from the next. they can take a few days or they can take months. as for acquiring materials, i am a bit of a scavenger. i hit flea markets, yard sales, garbage days, railroad tracks. sometimes you just need to liberate materials as well. lately i've been on the train a lot so i'm planning a track hunt too. i've been seeing a lot of good material by the tracks. i purposely bought a car with space to be able to load materials and work. the pieces are little capsules of everyday life. combining past and present language and form. we are bombarded, overloaded with visual stimulants all day everyday. from the tv to our phones to the cities and people we interact with. these pieces capture fragments of that chaos, balancing it through form and structure.

cultureisland: how has your art evolved? how would you like it to evolve in the future?

damion silver: my work is always evolving. new techniques, new materials. i used to do a lot of collage work. some of my older work was more figurative, it's an evolution and a combination of skills and techniques i've learned since as far back as i can remember. my new work has been something i've been wanting to create for sometime now. i wanted to evolve from my collage work into a new space with more depth and dimension. instead of engaging people with figures it's more through form and dimension. there's a freedom in allowing the materials to speak to you. letting them be what they are and not overworking them. sure i still add in bits and pieces of my figures here and there. but only as accents to the overall composition. when i started working in a cabinet shop around 14 years ago, i started using wood, cutting out shapes, characters and epoxying them in the streets. that evolved into making larger wood pieces that incorporate techniques and such i've learned since i was 14. in the future, i would like to do some site specific work and some large installations. it would be great to go to another country and make work out of all the debris and detritus found. give it a new life.

cultureisland: where do you find inspiration?

damion silver: inspiration is everywhere. i travel a lot so going to new places is always cool and inspirational, meeting new people, my kid inspires me and my wife has a great eye for things. i really think it's all around us. it's just looking at things the right way, or just being open to being inspired. i'm always looking.

cultureisland: who are some of your favorite artists?

damion silver: i have to say robert rauschenberg is a huge inspiration. his combines are just amazing, techniques and breath of work. he rules it. james turrell, ben venom, aj fosik, kenji nakayama, there are too many folks to list.

cultureisland: what are you listening to right now?

damion silver: i'm all over the map, om, burning spear, ho99o9, ex cult, american sharks, james brown, bill withers -- he rules! depends on the mood and day.

cultureisland: what are your favorite places to see art, shop, get coffee, eat and hang out around boston?

damion silver: lot f gallery, ica, for art there's a new spot thomas young gallery opened so i'm headed there next week. when i'm in boston, i hang with my friend kenji nakayama @ his studio. he's usually got some beers and great art going on. beyond that, i like to post up at home with a good whiskey and some records the studio. i'm a homebody.

* check out  more of damion's work here // follow him on instagram *

small talk // jessica butler // visual artist

in

i first met jessica butler at the recent printed matter exhibit, learn to read art: a surviving history of printed matter at 80wse gallery. founded in 1976 by artists sol lewitt and lucy lippard, printed matter is a nonprofit bookstore dedicated to publications made by artists. this exhibit, which chronicled the visual history of the store, overwhelmed me with inspiration through its eclectic mix of art books, zines, graphic posters and exhibition invites. there, i bought several publications which have become bibles for me (including please come to the show, which is about exhibition-related ephemera from the moma). jessica was there working the exhibit. as she rang me up, we quickly got to chatting about her background and experience working for printed matter, our mutually favorite store. over thai food a few weeks later, i learned that jess is an exceptionally rad chick who draws as well as makes zines and comics. she's intimidatingly cool, well-spoken, laid back and confident. i'm excited to keep our inspiring convos going.

more about jessica below:

jessica butler // taking a moment // 2014 //acrylic paint on wood // 36" x 1" x 30"

jessica butler // taking a moment // 2014 //acrylic paint on wood // 36" x 1" x 30"

cultureisland: tell us more about you.

jessica butler: i grew up in a small lake community in northern new jersey where i had one best friend, watched a lot of movies, read, made art and did angsty teen things like blowing out my best friend’s car speakers listening to the pixies on our way to the thrift store. it’s sort of funny to look back on things like that; some of it almost feels like a caricature of the suburban angsty kid, but for me it was so genuine and real and i hadn’t been exposed to too much outside of the world i created, so i couldn’t get jaded or hyper-self-aware yet. i sort of appreciate it, though; i feel like being secluded in suburbia forced me to cultivate my own interests and really seek them out. i like that i had the internet before there were too many websites that curated amazing selections of music, movies and art. it feels maybe a little too easy now? i definitely appreciate having so many incredible resources and guides today that you can find tailored to your tastes, but there’s something to be said about spending a full day clicking through the wfmu free music archives blindly, listening to 100s of song samples and finally finding one band that you’re really psyched on.

in college i studied film history and art, with a focus on drawing and illustration. i actually went into college thinking i was going to study experimental filmmaking and mixed-media/sculpture and my path completely changed. i never ended up taking any filmmaking classes (with the exception of one animation class), though i’d really like to try it one of these days. as for art, i had signed up for a sculpture class, then in the last moments of registration realized it conflicted with a film history class i really wanted to take, so i ended up signing up for the advanced printmaking class. that was a huge game changer for me. i had never done silk screening before, and i loved the aesthetic of it, as well as the idea of creating multiples so you could give them out to your friends. not long into the class, i realized scanned mixed-media work didn’t quite translate into silk screen prints the way i wanted them to, so i started drawing again. i hadn’t really drawn since high school, and those were all more realistic graphite drawings because that’s all the teachers ever really told us we could draw. one day i got fed up with drawing realistically. while I have so much respect for that form of drawing, i wasn’t finding it fulfilling for my own practice. i have this really specific memory of crumpling up a drawing i had just finished of a well-rendered hand, quickly scribbling this goofy, completely warped looking excuse for a hand and feeling the best i had felt about a work i’d made in a very long time.

jessica butler // girls! girls! girls! // 2014 // letterpress on paper // 5" x 5"

jessica butler // girls! girls! girls! // 2014 // letterpress on paper // 5" x 5"

cultureisland: tell us more about your art.

jessica butler: my work deals primarily with language in relation to the nuances of existing in that crazy thing called life. in many ways my art is super personal, and can almost function as a diary for me. that said, i also hope that it can resonate with the viewer too; that they can make it personal for themselves, relate to it or find something in it that maybe wasn’t even originally intended. i often hear that we’re at a point where there can be no entirely “new” art. while in many ways i believe this to be true, i also believe that what we can do as contemporary artists is use the medium to express our personal perspectives of things. one of the coolest things about being a human is that no one is entirely identical to you. we all have our own experiences, ways of handling these experiences; our own observations and ways of interpreting these observations. even if we are aesthetically borrowing from a certain art movement, if we can convey these things that are unique to us, i think that is still new and exciting. if someone looks at my work and sees something in a way that they hadn’t considered before, then i’ll know i’ve done something right. i think the title of that john berger book ways of seeing is always in the back of my head. to be honest, i’ve started that book so many times and still somehow haven’t finished it, but the title is always what has stuck with me the most. all of that heavier stuff aside, though, even if one of my pieces just makes someone laugh, i’m psyched!   

jessica butler // smile sounds // 2013 // graphite and glitter crayon on paper // 22" x 21"

jessica butler // smile sounds // 2013 // graphite and glitter crayon on paper // 22" x 21"

cultureisland: what is your creative process?

jessica butler: most pieces begin with a phrase, a one-liner, a series of words or multiple sentences. from there i come up with the imagery i’d like to associate with these words and what they mean for me – how i can visually convey this thought or feeling. while the text is central to all of my pieces, i don’t always choose to include it in the actual piece. more often than not i keep the text, but sometimes once i come up with the image the text can feel like overkill or can come off as contrived or corny. sometimes i’ll also come up with an idea or observation and can’t come up with words that feel right for it. in those cases, forcing a text would just take away from the piece. a good amount of time is spent perfecting the text, deciding how it should be integrated into the piece, and choosing if it should be included at all. i don’t keep a sketchbook, really, which i feel like maybe sometimes disappoints people or comes as a surprise. i just keep a little notebook full of words – these observations and phrases that come into my head, even if they don’t seem very interesting or good at first. sometimes different texts can take a long time to finally be put into what i feel is “proper use.” i had this one sentence, for example: “is it wrong that i don’t have a favorite flower?” that sort of haunted me for a while for whatever reason. i used it on its own in a few pieces, until finally it came together with this other text i wrote many months later, which eventually turned into my first mini-comic love me not.

jessica butler // love me not // 2015 // risograph mini-comic on pastel pink paper, staple bound // 7 pages, 4.25" x 5.5"

jessica butler // love me not // 2015 // risograph mini-comic on pastel pink paper, staple bound // 7 pages, 4.25" x 5.5"

cultureisland: how did you get into making zines and comics?

jessica butler: i first started getting into making zines after i stumbled upon the printed matter store back in high school. i remember feeling completely overwhelmed in the best way, paging through a few hours worth of zines and artists’ books and feeling like this entire new world had just been opened up for me. it was a huge game changer. since then, i’ve interned with them, volunteered at the nyabf and more recently worked at their pop-up shop and exhibition on the history of printed matter called learn to read art: a surviving history of printed matter at 80wse gallery. that was a really wonderful experience; that’s actually where i printed love me not! there was a print shop residency as part of the exhibition and i was able to use the risograph machine that endless editions loaned to print it up. i think riso printing is my favorite method of printing right now, and it seems to be having a bit of resurgence, too. anyway, my heart is really in the zine/artist book (or as my friends and i like to call them: “small flat books”). i think they’re a great way to get your work out there and reach an audience outside of your immediate realm. you can literally put anything you’d like in them, so they allow for a lot of experimentation, different content and mediums. plus, i’m pretty awful at parting from my work, so working in multiples is a great way for me to share it with others. while love me not was my first time making an actual comic, my work is largely influenced by comics both in the use of text and aesthetics. i think it’s a really exciting medium that is able to utilize text when image fails, and image when text fails. together, they’re super powerful, because i really believe there are certain things we just don’t have words for. that’s not to say i don’t love comics without any text, too! those i often find more challenging in a way, but just as powerful. they just sometimes take a bit more time to sink in for me. i don’t know why it took me so long to finally make a comic; it’s something i’d been wanting to do for a while as someone who also loves reading them. it seemed like a natural progression. it can be intimidating though; there is so much that needs to be considered, from the words and content, to the images and panels and how you want to format the panels. then there’s timing and pacing and strange positions and angles that don’t exist in stock photos. i still have a lot to learn, but i’m planning on making many more, especially since my studio space right now is a drawing table in my bedroom.

cultureisland: tell us more about your recent zine love me not (above).

jessica butler: love me not is my first ever venture into making comics – something i’d been wanting to do for a while. most of the text in the comic originally came from this experience i had where my mom had fallen in the garden and scraped up her leg pretty bad. my dad found out and bought her a bouquet of flowers on his way home from work. later, after he had given them to her, my mom turned to me and said, “your father chose such strange flowers! i don’t know what he was thinking. he knows i love roses!” that really got me thinking about the gestures of things versus the actual physical things. as i worked on storyboarding the comic, though, it began to develop a second layer of meaning for me. i became really interested in the “s/he loves me, s/he loves me not” game of plucking petals, as well as the gender stereotypes and connotations surrounding flowers and flower giving. i wanted to reclaim these and make them empowering for the female protagonist in the comic.

jessica butler // he loves me...not! // 2014 // acrylic and spray paint on wood // 46” x 45” x 1”

jessica butler // he loves me...not! // 2014 // acrylic and spray paint on wood // 46” x 45” x 1”

cultureisland: where do you find inspiration? who are some of your favorite artists?

jessica butler: i find that i’m mostly inspired by my friends and those surrounding me who are creating work – not necessarily drawing or illustration, either. two of my very close friends, livia charman and kayla ephros, keep a poetry blog called “mega bed” that is endlessly inspiring. i have found that i draw off of the excitement and enthusiasm of making things, regardless of the form. i find a lot of inspiration in comics and zines. some of my favorite comic artists at the moment are c.f., carlos gonzales (he recently came out with a new comic, scab county, that i highly recommend!), lale westvind, aisha franz, lala albert, anya davidson, noel friebert, html flowers, patrick kyle, molly colleen o’connell, brie moreno, mickey zacchilli, rory hayes, maren karlson, jonny negron and aidan koch. i was also recently introduced to moebius, which has sent me down this rabbit hole of philippe druillet and ‘70s sci-fi book cover art. additionally, i’m a huge horror movie fan (particularly ‘60s – ‘80s), so i definitely think that finds its way into my work. i collect a lot of horror/gross-out paraphernalia like garbage pail kids and toxic high school trading cards, which actually have amazing illustrations and have definitely influenced my drawing style.

jessica butler // patti break // 2014 // acrylic paint on wood // 63" x 11.5" x 48"

jessica butler // patti break // 2014 // acrylic paint on wood // 63" x 11.5" x 48"

cultureisland: what are your favorite places to see art in nyc/brooklyn?

jessica butler: my favorite places to see art in new york are probably printed matter inc. and the comic book store desert island. they both carry work by a ton of contemporary artists and illustrators who don’t typically get “new york gallery” exposure. booklyn, greenpoint terminal gallery, and tomato house also all put up some great exhibitions. i also recently went to the nick payne show at 247365 gallery, which was perfect. for films and video work i like light industry, spectacle theatre, and nitehawk in brooklyn.

jessica butler // important questions // 2014 // silk screen // 11.5" x 8"

jessica butler // important questions // 2014 // silk screen // 11.5" x 8"

cultureisland: what are you listening to right now?

 jessica butler: what i listen to is usually dependent on my mood, the weather or season, so it’s constantly changing. right now though, i’ve been listening to a lot of odwalla88 and j.r.h.n.b.r.(both baltimore based), algebra suicide, donnie & joe emerson, suburban lawns, cranes, chicklette, liz phair (the girly sound days), ashrae fax, and the excess verbiage album by partly cloudy. i also try and see container play live whenever i can.

jessica butler // page from zine crawlers vol. 1 // 2014 - 15 // graphite on paper // 5.5" x 5.25"

jessica butler // page from zine crawlers vol. 1 // 2014 - 15 // graphite on paper // 5.5" x 5.25"

cultureisland: have you watched anything inspiring lately?

jessica butler: i tend to watch a lot of horror movies, but i’ve had to take a bit of a break – i think i was overdoing it a little, and have been wanting something else out of my movies lately. i’ve watched quite a few incredible films recently, including picnic at hanging rock, belle de jour, red desert, walkabout, a nos amour, fantastic planet and three colors: red. i did break my non-horror hiatus for fascination by jean rollin, which was really visually beautiful. also finally got around to seeing paris, texas and shed a tear or two, which i think is always a good sign

* check out  more of jessica's work here // follow her on instagram + tumblr // purchase her love me not zine at printed matter, desert island + on her site here *

small talk // brooke t. winfrey // ceramicist

in

i first came across btw ceramics, run by brooke t. winfrey, at capsule women's tradeshow in february. the simple silhouettes with slight irregular patterns caught my eye and a few months later, i had the chance to visit brooke's studio in greenpoint, brooklyn. i was immediately taken with brooke's easy going and modest personality as well as her intuitive approach to ceramics. after some eight years of making ceramics, brooke simply makes stuff she thinks looks neat and just goes with it. she enjoys making things people can use as a way to feel connected to what she's creating. and according to brooke, "you can always find a way to change things and make them work." well said.

more about brooke below:

cultureisland: tell us more about you.

brooke t. winfrey: i grew up in tulsa, oklahoma but from a young age wanted to explore. i travelled a decent amount, but as soon as i landed in new york, i knew i'd found my spot. the diverse eclectic culture in nyc is just so rad. i'm still a big fan so many years later. i had a few random jobs, working at non-profits and various office jobs but i was always doing ceramics on the side. anytime i wasn't working, i had clay in my hands. i think my relationship to clay really changed was when i first used porcelain. there was something about how malleable but finicky it was that really drew me in and made my mind spin in circles with ideas and possibilities. i made a body of work that all had slight irregularities including my striped dinnerware series and everything took off from there.

cultureisland: tell us more about btw ceramics.

brooke t. winfrey: btw ceramics is my ceramics company. all products are made in greenpoint, brooklyn. i started in 2012 with a line of striped dinnerware with a distinct handmade touch. i focus on creative details like uneven lines or subtle irregular texture. the object's unmistakable handmade feel embraces the playful nature of clay and draws attention to the creation process. as the designer and creator, i approach each piece as its own creation where the irregularities are embraced. each piece is handformed either on the wheel or with various hand building and painting techniques, so that the irregular details that characterize each piece are never alike. the minimal shape of the forms and focus on porcelain as the primary material juxtaposes the white smooth, silky porcelain against the graphic hand painted designs.

cultureisland: how did you get into making ceramics?

brooke t. winfrey: it was pretty random! i took an art class at hunter and one of our assignments was to make chess pieces out of air dry clay. i spent a ridiculous amount of hours building labyrinth figures as my chess pieces and realized i really liked using my hands to create. from there, i took classes at various hobby studios and just never stopped.

btw ceramics // small serving bowl

btw ceramics // small serving bowl

cultureisland: what is your creative process?

brooke t. winfrey: a lot of it is experimentation. i might have a vague idea for a new shape or design that i start making. as i'm working with the clay, my ideas usually change and morph as the piece takes shape in front of me. for the painting and etching part, i go with how i feel in the moment and keep the designs as expressive as i can, not worrying about the replication process and making each piece the same. i try not to judge as i'm going but when i get to an end point and i still don't like what i see, i just start over. if i like what i've done, i set it aside and revisit it the next day to see if it still resonates. i think being willing to make something really ugly is part of the process and a lot of pots have to be crushed before i'm happy with a new design.

cultureisland: how has your ceramics style evolved since you started?

brooke t. winfrey: i'd say it's a lot more refined at this point. in a way my ceramic style is fairly minimal. i'm usually either drawn to very simple shapes with bold glazing or really crazy intricate shapes with very simple glazing. when the shape and the glaze are both really intricate, the pieces usually don't speak to me in the same way. i can recognize the talent and patience it takes to create those pieces, but in my making life i'm really drawn to some minimalism. it took me making many ugly, over the top, bizarre non-functional cups and bowls to figure out that simple silhouettes with graphic glaze are my jam.

cultureisland: has teaching ceramics affected your own work?

brooke t. winfrey: definitely. it made me pay a lot more attention to why certain techniques are successful and how to break down in a detailed, accessible way how to make a piece from beginning to end. there is an explanation for everything that happens with clay and figuring out the exact reason something happened to a piece down to the molecular level is part of the fun. in saying that, i fully admit and embrace my clay nerd status. i love every part of ceramics so whenever i get to discuss it with other people, i am in my happy place. i like teaching people who are just starting out and helping them on their journey reminds me of my own journey.

cultureisland: where do you find inspiration?

brooke t. winfrey: i feel like my ceramics are a mash up of what i see and experience on a day to day basis. in antique and vintage stores, the shapes of various home goods really stand out to me. months later, i'll remember a random glass pitcher or a copper teapot or some old school ceramic cups. i'll consciously or subconsciously work small elements of these into a piece, even if it's just the slightest hint of a curve. small changes in angles and silhouettes can affect a ceramic object in a big way.

cultureisland: what are your favorite places to shop, eat, hang out and grab coffee around greenpoint?

brooke t. winfrey: i don't shop much but dusty rose vintage is awesome for good old clothes that are actually affordable. i get coffee from cup every single morning. it's what gets me out of bed! homecoming is a rad spot too for coffee, plants and handmade goods. if i'm not in my studio, i'm in a neighborhood park soaking up sun whenever possible. during winter, i'm pretty much always in my studio. clay is still so fun for me but i probably should try to find a new hobby!

cultureisland: what are you listening to right now?

brooke t. winfrey: the shangri las.

* check out more of brooke's work here // follow her on instagram  *

* also be sure to read this ny magazine guide to urban claymaking, where brooke is listed as a leader of the indie ceramics renaissance! *

art // inspiration // kueng caputo // sand chairs

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kueng caputo // sand chairs

kueng caputo // sand chairs

last night at the spring masters new york art fair, i saw these awesome sand chairs by kueng caputo from salon 94. i love how the artists have taken a common object, a stool, and transformed it into an abstracted and colorful work of art.

more about the work: "the sand chair series by young swiss-born design collaborative kueng caputo are scupltural, colorful furniture. the works are made from cut blocks of styrofoam cast with a mixture of sand, mortar and colored pigments. the unique all-purpose pieces are functional stools or side tables that can be used indoors or outdoors.

sara kueng and lovis caputo have worked together since they were both students of design at the hgkz zurich from 2004 to 2008. their design practice emphasizes color and the handmade, understatement and improvisation."

kueng caputo // sand chairs

kueng caputo // sand chairs

small talk // allie pohl // visual artist

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i first discovered visual artist allie pohl's work at spring/break art show this past march. the fair took place on two decrepit floors of the new york city post office, and it was comprised of some very cool projects like an installation of colorful treadmills by bret birnbaum and an interactive light and sound installation by visualpilots. while the fair has been around for a few years now, this was my first time there and i was blown away. i was especially drawn to some large scale embroidered patches by allie pohl (see below). i immediately reached out to her after and over the phone, we chatted about her upbringing, her creative work as well as life in los angeles (see this nyt article). i learned allie is most interested in why we follow certain cultural trends. her work challenges the guidelines society instills in us from a young age involving hair removal, femininity and masculinity, dating, marriage and pregnancy. i connect with her work in a lot of ways. and i just love those damn patches.

more about allie below:

cultureisland: tell us more about you.

allie pohl: i grew up in a very conservative town (winter park, florida) where people held “traditional” jobs. i always took art classes and did several years of ap art in high school. i went to hamilton college in upstate new york and was a communications major and a studio art minor. i wrote my thesis on the rhetoric and trajectory of the peace symbol. after college, i went to parsons, the new school of design in new york to study graphic design. i thought it was creative, and i could get a “real job” with my “skills.” i quickly realized i was not meant to have a client! i then went to the university of denver for my mfa in electronic media arts (it was technology driven). i chose the program because it was not a medium specific mfa. it worked with how i think. the conceptual artist “title” was placed on me. 

cultureisland: what is your creative process?

allie pohl: i become fixated on a cultural phenomenon, read extensively on that subject matter, talk to everyone who will talk to me about it, formulate what i want to say, and then start thinking about the best way to visually express my thoughts.

cultureisland: tell us more about your ideal woman series.

allie pohl: i have always been interested in why we follow certain cultural trends. for example, the concept of body hair and hair removal: we remove hair from certain parts of our body and add it to others. as a way to respond to this cultural phenomenon, i created a series of sculptures using a “my size barbie” (the doll), as a metaphor for the ‘ideal woman,’ and i had chia grow out of areas where our society removes unwanted hair, i.e. the armpit, vagina, and legs. the sculptures transformed from prepubescent to womanhood during the time of the installation. i was captivated by the shape of the midsection and started to explore different ways to appropriate the shape and what it really represented.    

cultureisland: tell us more about your peacocking series.

allie pohl: inspired by online dating, particularly the ever-so-popular tinder, i chose to explore how men market themselves to women. from my research (online and in person), i created man merit-badges (based on the traditional boy-scout badges) of the qualities men most commonly try to convey. i also made sculptures of dissected mannequin parts from different decades (finished in the most popular car color of the corresponding decade) to show how the idealized form has changed, and to highlight how contemporary men are also subject to society’s notions of perfection. given the change in cultural trends, this is not surprising. gay culture has become more accepted—both socially and politically—men are getting married later in life, resulting in them spending more money on themselves. you open up gq today and you might as well be reading cosmo; there’s everything from designer clothing to shaving products. 

cultureisland: tell us more about your recent work, the engagement ring series.

allie pohl: i collected all of the high fashion magazines for the year (2013-2014) and cut out the ideal woman shape on the models. i collaged the images on canvases in the shape of engagement rings. these pieces are just touching the surface of discussing the pressures that are placed on women to be engaged or married by a certain age. 

cultureisland: who are some of your favorite artists?

allie pohl: barbara kruger, yayoi kusama, tracey emin, sophie calle, marry bell, claes oldenburg, mike kelly to name a few.

cultureisland: what are your favorite places to see art in LA?

allie pohl: the hammer, lacma, moca, cherry and martin, françois ghebaly gallery, various small fires, blum and poe, honor fraser.

cultureisland: what are you listening to right now?

allie pohl: haim + icona pop pandora stations, elliphant.

* check out more of allie's work here // follow her on instagram  *

cultureisland event // supreme sound

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next event is next thursday, may 14th at von bar in collaboration with:

band seed: a harlem-based music resource center that organizes, trains and supports collaborative music projects among inner city youth. programs include musical lessons, artist management, and access to equipment and rehearsal space for middle + high school students of all experience levels.

dj von trap: michelle von mandel is an artist and dj living in new york. from deep house to disco to hip hop and trap, her passion for different styles of music is evident in her seamlessly eclectic choice in music. she likes animals and has high hopes of being a giraffe when she grows up.

coppa sandwiches: coppa is an italian sandwich shop based in noho, started by daniel becker and steven weiss. the duo met at the the michelin-starred restaurant, the spotted pig, before launching their shop out of a used minivan.

alix h. luntz: alix h. luntz is a new york based portrait photographer and filmmaker. her work explores questions of contemporary fandom, fashion and masculinity in film. she is currently an agent at muse management and is the founder of a's tv list.

hope to see you there! RSVP

cultureisland event recap // new york's finest // photos + playlist

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last thursday was the opening of new york's finest pop-up at community 54 featuring work by tipi thieves and sounds by wamoo papez (see playlist below) // it was the perfect evening and we had a great turnout, i'd guesstimate about 100 people came through (big thanks to everyone who supported us). the art will be up 'til this coming saturday, may 9th so there's still time to check it out! we also have tees left so contact me or visit/call the store at (212) 673-7060 to buy one. many thanks to alix h. luntz for these stellar shots and rizzo's + pbr for the pizza + beer.

editorial // cowboy serenade // 10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015

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10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

man, i love menswear. i want to move to texas some day and pretend to be a cowboy. love this editorial which was photographed by mel bles and styled by nancy rohde for 10 men magazine's spring/summer 2015 coverstory. the earthy tones, turquoise jewelry and southwestern styling is on point.

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

10 men magazine // spring/summer 2015 // shot by mel bles + styled by nancy rohde

cultureisland event // new york's finest

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hosted by community 54 and curated by cultureisland // this event will feature artwork by tipi thieves (felipe merida) and music by wamoo papez (juan alvarez).

// this is a free event sponsored by pabst blue ribbon and rizzo's fine pizza co.

more details:

cultureisland is a passion project run by concept designer sara r. radin. it is both an online and offline platform in which sara creates pop ups and hybrid events through collaborating with a range of emerging talents.

tipi thieves is felipe merida’s tag name; he is a brooklyn based visual artist and graphic designer who creates illustrations that depict our cultural surroundings. new york’s finest features his watercolor and ink portraits of new york city cops. the artist has utilized adobe photoshop and also taken inspiration from it to create the essence of a caricature but without the humor. the portraits look grotesque yet beautiful. while a cop is an iconic representation of new york, the delicate distortion of tipi thieves’ portraits brings our distorted perception of policemen to the forefront. whereas a police uniform has commanded respect in the past, in recent times it has become abstracted. by taking a subject we already associate with, tipi thieves uses his pen and his brush to pose the question: what will it take to get meaning and respect back to these uniforms?

wamoo papez will dj the opening; wamoo papez is music producer juan alvarez, who describes his style as a dark, heavily textured blend of hip hop with an omnivorous set of influences. for this event wamoo papez will mix 90s hip hop classics. to him, this music encapsulates the vibes and mentality of new york city, past and present.

community 54 is a neighborhood lifestyle boutique inspired by creative nostalgia and owned by partners daymon green and jason jacobs. known for their curated vintage streetwear as well as new indie brands, the store serves as a connecting point for thinkers to collaborate and put out new ideas.

on view thru may 8th, five artworks and a limited edition t-shirt will be sold in two colorways // please pass on to friends + we hope to see you there!

RSVP // tumblr // #newyorksfinestpopup

small talk // anthony hawley // visual artist

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anthony hawley // the business of the future perfect // video still // 2009 // (exhibited in text + message)

anthony hawley // the business of the future perfect // video still // 2009 // (exhibited in text + message)

anthony hawley is a visual artist based in lincoln, nebraska. we met back in 2013, through an art show i curated (text + message), featuring some of anthony’s work. at the time, he was in the art practice mfa program at sva with my friends tribble mancenido. anthony and i reconnected a few weeks ago and chatted about his recent installation, loculus, hybrid creativity, and the role of family life on his work. one of the many things i find inspiring about anthony: he doesn’t apologize for working in so many different mediums, instead he believes they inform each other.

more about anthony below:

anthony hawley // dear ghostesses (detail) // 2013 // 60" x 43" // ink, graphite, toothpaste, aftershave, staples, shirt, towel, hairclip, yarn, book-binding thread, beaded letters, shower curtain and torn tape // (exhibited in text + message)

anthony hawley // dear ghostesses (detail) // 2013 // 60" x 43" // ink, graphite, toothpaste, aftershave, staples, shirt, towel, hairclip, yarn, book-binding thread, beaded letters, shower curtain and torn tape // (exhibited in text + message)

cultureisland: tell us more about you.

anthony hawley: i grew up in newburyport, massachusetts, about 45 minutes north of boston. when we were there it was very much still a fishing town, a port town, a little rough around the edges. now it’s not at all. my dad is a painter and we lived in a lot of spaces that could accommodate big paintings—an old firehouse; the chemtron building (an old chemical plant and warehouse where we lived on the top floor); an old ballroom dancehall that was converted to a loft and studio space where my parents still live. i spent a lot of time in these studio spaces, especially when i was younger, and there were always amazing and odd things there. for instance, we took a lot of stuff from the chemtron building to the newer space; stuff that was just left—huge earthenware; glassware that looked like it was straight out of a mad scientists lair; an old oscilloscope! strange outsized and outmoded items that let the imagination run wild. when i was younger i also did a lot of studio chores. but i couldn’t get out of newburyport fast enough! when i was in high school and middle school it felt like a ‘good old boys’ town run by a gaggle of old conservative men. obviously memory is selective so take this with a grain of salt, but what my mind sees when it thinks about that town is a huge conservative gaggle on the one hand and then a few stray, weird figures on the other who were total anomalies—my dad had a friend named sam who was a tuna fisherman who lived in a van; and there was fran(k) who was a photographer who began as a male and transitioned to a female when his girlfriend died. these are only tiny drops in a bigger memory pool, but i think figures like this meant a lot much later—i wrote stories about these people and now they represent this kind of in-between state that is at the heart of what i do.  

anthony hawley // dear ghostesses // 2013 // 60" x 43" // ink, graphite, toothpaste, aftershave, staples, shirt, towel, hairclip, yarn, book-binding thread, beaded letters, shower curtain and torn tape // (exhibited in text + message)

anthony hawley // dear ghostesses // 2013 // 60" x 43" // ink, graphite, toothpaste, aftershave, staples, shirt, towel, hairclip, yarn, book-binding thread, beaded letters, shower curtain and torn tape // (exhibited in text + message)

cultureisland: what is your artistic process?

anthony hawley: when i am in the studio i always work on a lot of things at once. i  might have a group of paintings going along with small daily drawings, a larger project with several media components that takes awhile to plan, along with video or performance sketches. usually an idea, or a feeling, or a material interests me and i try to generate work around that. then i hone in on what hits at that the most. i take notes all the time—sometimes to get the work moving and often during the day. i read different things and sometimes watch movies too. but i try to focus all this work around that feeling or idea i’m after. so it’s not just work to pass the time, but it’s loose and there’s always room for spontaneity and the unexpected. it’s like this: i’m inside a big gelatinous thing that i’m trying to move somewhere. i have a sense of where we’re going but it’s a little difficult to steer and sometimes i just have to trust. sometimes we pick up strangers along the way. sometimes they stay with us and sometimes they exit. sometimes they leave something in the blob because we really need it for the final destination. then we arrive and i crawl outside. 

cultureisland: tell us more about your recent installation work, loculus.

anthony hawley: i started this work at the very end of 2012. i got interested in this word “loculus” because of its multiple meanings. in latin, the word “loculus” means “little place.” in the ancient world, a “loculus” was an architectural niche that housed a dead body--a chamber or cell in a catacomb. but “loculus” also refers to the ovary in a plant and to the satchel carried by roman soldiers and to a 14-piece puzzle that’s like a tangram. i loved the idea of making a sculpture that could be all of these definitions at once. a place to house the dead and dead or buried things; a place to produce or reproduce things; a kit; a puzzle to be played with and solved. i was trying to make a work that felt really alive with different media, a real hybrid, and this seemed like a way to do that. a burial chamber, an ovary, a satchel, a puzzle: they’re all containers and that overlap allowed me to combine video, performance, drawing, and sculptural materials into a single work. the shapeshifting let me work in various formants simultaneously. then larger show this year that opened expanded on that. there are a group of drawings that i think of as little loculi. and then the whole space becomes a kind of chamber. i think it all has to do with mapping the body and self, mapping the different selves and stories we travel through and how we care for those. 

cultureisland: how does hybridism play a part in your work?

anthony hawley: it plays a huge part! i think for years i felt like i had to apologize for making different kinds of work. i had to apologize for being a writer and a visual artist and for having a huge array of interests. but now i have come to own that. sometimes less is more, yes, fine; but sometimes more is more. now i find ways to keep all those interests close and in contact with each other. this way they infect each other. i constantly move between them. i don’t know why painting has to be separate from video or why that has to be separate from making strands of bead necklaces with texts. i move between these things because sometimes a video might entail a kind of thinking that’s inherently different from painting thinking, but i am very interested in the kind of process and actions that emerge when these modes are combined, or even when they start slipping into each other. the most exciting work to me feels uncertain in what exactly it is. 

cultureisland: your family is like its own little art collective; how does your wife, a violinist, and your daughters play a part in your art?

anthony hawley: well let’s start with the fact that as i’m trying to answer these questions i have one daughter banging on the piano and the other running around playing a pitch pipe. ha. but no joke, i always have to fight for airwaves. i have been married to my wife, a professional violinist, for almost 13 years and since we have known each other we’ve always had to negotiate space and time. in a very practical way that helps us build a very clear work ethic, especially with two children: you can either get swallowed up and lose the work or you just let art and life be a thing and find a balance. but that seems like a minor issue at this point because we’ve been doing it so long and it’s just what we do. we are very close and each other’s first “editors.” a few years ago we started to collaborate, which was amazing. we want to do a lot more of that, but it’s also challenging because we each have our own careers too. the ladies (daughters) are a huge influence. they talk about my work, what i’m making, wander in and out of the studio etc. also i like to play with what we think of as “good” or “bad” in taste and i like to bring things in from their world to mine—like bead letters that kids use to make charm bracelets and necklaces or hand-crocheted stuff. i don’t want to rule that out. my daughters became central figures in a big video i was working on too: “fehlerdiagnose/fault diagnosis.”

cultureisland: what effect has teaching had on your own work?

anthony hawley: i currently teach in the art department at the university of nebraska-lincoln. i teach drawing, color theory, foundations, and upper level painting and drawing and hybrid courses. also a senior capstone course. well every course pushes my work. for instance, color theory. i had no idea what i was doing when i first taught color because i’d never really taken a traditional art class in my life! but i had been teaching writing and lit classes for 13 years so i just threw myself in whole hog. it wasn’t like a particular “theory” influenced my work; just being in color so deeply. but for me the studio and the teaching very much inform each other and they have to in order to work. i always want to push what my work can do and likewise i want to push a class can do, what art teaching can do. i think some of our ways of teaching art and thinking about art school are a bit tired and we need to start envisioning what art school may or may not be for the present moment. 

cultureisland: what are some of your own words to live by?

anthony hawley: “living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. the moment you know how, you begin to die a little. the artist never entirely knows. we guess. we may be wrong, but we take leap after leap into the dark.” – agnes de mille

“when in doubt add french techno.”

* check out more of anthony's work here // follow him on instagram  *

poem // portrait of an i

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portrait of an i

the inattention game

(not) remembered

think pieces

commitment issues

a splash of flash

the thing

another thing

how to be both

identities 

without much ado

this and that

is it the gravity of attraction that keeps me

get out of my head 

issues & commentary 

second thoughts 

objects of discretion 

into the wild

kicked to the curb

loving the unlovable

true west

100 years

the revival of everything

in the studio

an artful life 

living color

we the outsiders

listen // disco pineapple // mixtape volume 1

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my best pal palo canut and i have been collecting random images of pineapples under the moniker disco pineapple for a few years now. our visual interests + music tastes have always been on the same wavelength; we're two gals who find weird images of pineapples extremely exciting. back when palo lived in nyc, we aspired to take dj lessons together. while that never happened, we're now collaborating on a monthly playlist that will be published here, the second thursday of every month. palo is currently based in madrid + is starting her own clothing line, sunad.

small talk // steph beard // designer + owner of esby apparel

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esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

steph beard and i met about four years ago while both working at converse. she's been like a big sister and mentor ever since. now steph lives in austin and runs esby apparel, a clothing line for women with a menswear mentality that's made in the usa. each step of steph's journey to make esby happen continues to inspire me. last spring, i helped launch her tumblr, which was a fun process. i've always admired steph's personal aesthetic and i love her easy-going yet go-getter attitude. excited to watch steph and her brand keep growing!

more about steph / esby apparel below:

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

cultureisland: tell us more about you.

steph beard: i grew up in north carolina with a strong interest in art and fashion. i studied fashion design at appalachian state university, as well as marketing and studio art. i got a job at tommy hilfiger with one college course to go, so I moved to nyc and finished class while working at tommy. my experience as a technical designer helped make me a better designer.  after tommy, i worked a short stint at levi's designing men's shirts and later worked for converse. it was my time at converse that made me the most interested in going out on my own and launching an american-made womenswear label. 

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

cultureisland: tell us more about esby apparel. where did the name esby come from?

steph beard: esby apparel is a womenswear brand that rides the fine line of having long-lasting appeal while remaining relevant. we want our clothing to be that favorite piece you wear again and again. your go-to. we concentrate on styles that are chic and wearable, flattering and comfortable. we make everything here in the united states and we pre-wash our natural fabrics. esby is the phonetic pronunciation of my initials, sb, turned into a word.

cultureisland: who is the esby customer?

steph beard: she is confident and educated in the world she lives in. she's conscious of the decisions she makes for every purchase. she cares about style and the way that she looks, but she knows that comfort is key and less is more. when she gets dressed in the morning, it's easiest for her to grab her go-to esby pieces.

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

cultureisland: how has esby grown since you started? what plans do you have to continue growing it?

steph beard: we’ve been growing at a great pace. we’re in more and more stores across the country and our third collection is about to launch. we are introducing new fabrications, such as linen and silk, and we’re also launching our first few pieces of outerwear this fall. we hope to launch a small menswear capsule next year. we’re also going to collaborate with a few other apparel lines…stay tuned!

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

cultureisland: tell us more about your collection featured here. what involved it and how has it evolved from your first season?

steph beard: this is our second collection that launched late last year. we experimented with more stylish silhouettes with the intention to be on trend, but remain relevant for years to come. the jumpsuit trend inspired us to create a piece anyone can wear. it was such a successful style for us, we’ll continue to run it in future season. the dresses this collection were inspired by easy, over-sized pieces that were still flattering. for our first collection, we played it a little more safe so it was exciting to take more risks with season two.

cultureisland: the photos were shot by jackie lee young. how did that collaboration come about and where did the inspiration for the shoot come from?

steph beard: jackie is a friend of ours and we've been long admirers of her amazing work. she scouted the botanical gardens at zilker park for its lush vegetation and contrast to our indigo blues, grays and blacks. our models were lauren kirby and duffy stone. lauren is now employed with esby apparel as our production, marketing and sales assistant. duffy just launched an independent interior design company, studio duffy.

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

cultureisland: where do you find inspiration? what are some of your favorite magazines or websites for inspiration?

steph beard: from vintage and modern sources. from classic menswear to the runways. i find a lot of colored inspiration from my natural surroundings. austin is filled with sun-faded, muted colored palettes. favorite magazines + websites include darling magazine, w magazine, kinfolk and jjjjound.

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

cultureisland: where can we find esby apparel in stores?

steph beard: you can shop our current season online and our next season, spring/summer 2015, will be available at these stores in may: sunroom, olive and kickpleat in austin, broome street general in la, old north in asheville, and hawthorne in oakland.

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

cultureisland: what are your favorite places to see art, shop, get coffee, eat and hang out around austin?

steph beard: for art, common house, the contemporary and billy reid art shows. favorite shops include sunroom, olive, kickpleat and stag. for coffee, seventh flag, friends and neighbors. for eats, curras for tex-mex breakfast and buffalina for wine and pizza. for hanging out, hotel san jose, weather up, yellow jacket social club and by the pool.

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

esby apparel season two // shot by jackie lee young // modeled by lauren kirby + duffy stone

cultureisland: what are you listening to right now?

steph beard: the growlers, future islands and big data.

* check out esby apparel here // blog // instagram // tumblr // pinterest // facebook // twitter *

random thoughts // the art of connecting

in

conducting the small talk series has changed my life in some simple yet big ways. first off, i'm meeting incredible people from around the world, each with unique passions and stories. through hearing about their journey, i'm inspired to find new ways to evolve my own passions. as of late, i want to take up random hobbies and acquire unfamiliar skills like conquering my fear of swimming as well as my lack of musical talent through taking up an instrument. in learning how to engage people through interviews, i've realized that every interaction, conversation and relationship is a chance to learn something. every person i come into contact with has something interesting to say. i'm now listening to the people around me closer than ever and savoring every word that comes out of their mouths. this is the art of connecting and it makes everyday living much more extraordinary. not to mention i find myself chatting up strangers left and right. in turn, the world has become a much friendlier place and the possibilities of new people to meet and old people to re-meet are endless. through engaging others, i'm engaging my own mind more than ever before and learning some cool shit about me. so now i just need to pick an instrument, maybe the piano or the violin, and find a one piece swimsuit.