Well, a few of them actually…

We are hot and heavy in the middle of Black History Month and there’s so much going on!

Here’s the rundown:

My school announced a school-wide Black History Month project on HBCUs.
I was an Artist Spotlight on an Adobe Live.
I have nearly completed the work for my first client since COVID….and
I’m considering entering my work for this year’s Typism Book.

Whew! That was a mouthful!

Day Dreams

If you don’t know it already, by day, I’m an art teacher. This year, my school announced at the end of January that every homeroom would learn about one HBCU in order to present their learning during a gallery walk in February. As the art teacher, with access to all of the home rooms, I chose to focus on HBCUs in a broader sense.

In my class, students discuss why HBCUs arose, why they were necessary for access to a middle class income (and why that’s important), the culture of HBCUs and their fight to fund their future existence. Afterward, they are to create a video using Adobe Creative Cloud Express to display their learning and their opinion of the value of HBCUs to our country and society as a whole.

It’s amazing the facts you unearth when you teach. In researching to teach this material, I found that these schools practice inclusivity since they give black students the opportunity to express their unique selves in an environment that is welcoming to the most at-risk students…and approximately 1 in 4 students at an HBCU is not black. I also found that only approximately 3% of the colleges in the US are black colleges. Furthermore, over half of the number of black doctors and judges in the US graduate from them, as well as 20% of all black graduates.

Still, even with such a stellar track record, public HBCUs have gone decades without the funding from the states in which they operate. When we learned this, in our classroom, we speculated how unnecessary financial stress must be placed on families in terms of tuition and fees-or graduates due to student loans…We pondered how these schools do so much with so much less than other colleges and universities, given the fact that we currently have a Vice President who graduated from an HBCU (albeit, a private HBCU) and so many of the celebrities they know graduated from HBCUs…We wondered how much more they could do with proper funding.

The myriad contributions to our country of notable black scholars and celebrities that have graduated from HBCUs are an amazing testament to the educational gold mines HBCUs must be despite their disenfranchisement. It is all a telltale sign that there is still yet more work to be done in this country.

In addition to the videos, students are also welcome to help out on the art bulletin board. Some of them are trying to get out of other classes to work on it (😳), while others are using their lunch breaks to work on it. It has truly become our board.

The theme for this year’s BHM bulletin board for the art room is “Steps to an HBCU”. In it, we hope to display the characteristics those who attend an HBCU must have given the challenges HBCUs face. It’s a work in progress…but check out some of our collaboration below. More updates to come in my IG Stories, so stay tuned!

Artist Spotlight on Adobe Live - In My Dreams

I have used their products, both in the classroom and out for years. But, I never thought I’d see my name or my work mentioned on any Adobe-related platform. That all changed when an amazing lettering artist, Alanna Flowers of AGF Design Studio chose to nominate me as an Artist Spotlight on her most recent segment for Adobe Creative Cloud!

As an art major, one thing my younger self could never stomach was the competition of it all. I hated it. I knew I was willing to work hard and make whatever discoveries I made along the way. I knew I had a certain amount of potential. But, I wasn’t interested in racing anyone to some finish line of perceived success.

These days, however, there’s this beautiful notion of “community over competition” that really resonates with me in the sense that existing as an artist profiting from their craft doesn’t feel so stifling and icky. For instance, with this mentality, it doesn’t have to be hoarding all of your knowledge to beat the next creative at whatever the game is. Instead, it’s more of a supportive environment that lends itself to growth, inclusivity, creativity, sharing, etc…An elevation of the community, if you will. I can get behind that.

I think these are the kinds of ideas that also resonate with artists like Alanna too. As talented as Alanna is, she is always promoting the work of her fellow artists in the lettering community…and I think it speaks volumes about her values as an artist-and even her activism…

I say activism because that’s exactly what amplifying black and brown voices is. While Alanna doesn’t discriminate in sharing anyone’s work, she also never shirks the opportunity to use her influence to elevate the voices of color in the lettering community either. And it’s not just for BHM. She does it all year round.

No matter their color, anyone who uses their platform to engage in this activity, often opens themselves up to scrutiny, if not total aversion, from certain groups. But, those who persist in it are real ones. Their respective communities are blessed to have them.

For me, being in Alanna’s Artist Spotlight was a dream I didn’t even know I had…and I’m super grateful she was willing to share her light. 🥰

Check out the video below. Alanna gives a wonderful tutorial on creating a digital custom card. The Artist Spotlight comes in at around 1:30:00 or so.

Also, follow Alanna on IG at @agfdesignstudio and @alanna_flowers, and on YT at AGF Design Studio.

Living the Dream

I’m in the final stage of drawing for my first client since COVID! Well, my last client commissioned me for a portrait, earlier in the pandemic. But, since then, I’ve been wanting more lettering projects. This one has a little calligraphy and some illustration, so I’m totally counting that!

I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to get back to any kind of hustle-side or otherwise-after 2020. But, this small job has been pretty cool to get back in the swing of things…and I’m hoping to be able to take on more projects as the year progresses.

Dream Chaser

I’ve been seriously considering sending in work for this year’s Typism Book. The cover is essentially a lovingly executed tribute and collab-like piece between Colin Tierney and the late Adé Hogue. You can read about it here.

Colin Tierney is one of the strongest allies I know for black artists in the lettering community (and little did I know, for black small business owners too as the founder of Dub-Ins). He and Mr. Hogue (who was a black lettering artist) were in the midst of a collaboration at the time of Mr. Hogue’s passing. But Colin has always been supportive of the black community. About this time last year, Colin allowed me the reigns of his Crayligraphy account on IG for the entire month. I felt it was very fitting he do this tribute for this year’s cover.

As for me, I want the best chance I can get of being in this book. So, this past week, I asked what folks thought about these in my IG Stories.

For the Typism Book, all participants can submit up to 10 pieces. So while this won’t be the only piece I’ll submit, I don’t typically use bold script and I wanted some opinions. To my surprise, everyone who responded favored the darkest background. But, the tone of the letters in the third one was favored over the others. Since the Typism Book is printed in black and white, it’s pretty important. Most of the images in the digital books I have by Typism are high contrast. It likely prints better than any other combination.

I’m leaning toward some variation of the one on the right. Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best solutions.

What do you think? Should I take a chance on this one?

Just some backstory…being published in the Typism Book has been on the bucket list since I started lettering. I wanted to wait until I felt more prepared in my skills to try out…And although I’ve grown, I feel like there’s way more room for more growth.

But, then, there always will be room to grow anyway. 🤷🏾‍♀️

And how dope would it be to get published in a book I’ve wanted to be in some day on a day that happens to memorialize a lettering artist I respected from afar, gone too soon?

What a dream, right?! ❤️