Five Minutes with Emerging Artist Alexa Carson.

I met Alexa Carson at the Bayfront Art Fair and discovered she is a new face in town. We talked about places where artists are showing their work and I asked if I could share a little bit here. She's a painter, illustrator, and designer who gets her inspiration from nature. She strives to capture the beauty of nature and wildlife in her work. She's a graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design with a Bachelor's in Fine Arts and an emphasis on illustration. She and her husband brought a little one along as well and have recently chosen to make the Northland their home.

EN: Why is making art important to you?
Alexa Carson: I have wanted to be an artist since I was a small child. It brings joy to me, and to those who see it (hopefully)! I am blessed to have such a fulfilling and awesome vocation. To be more specific, making the art that I do is important because I have a mission. I want to show people the beauty and value that surrounds us on a daily basis. I receive so much happiness every day when I see a great blue heron wading on the shore, a red-tailed hawk perched on a power line, or a chickadee in a pine tree, bouncing around and declaring its exuberance to the world. I want to share this joy! My hope is that I can encourage people to see, appreciate, and protect this precious abundance of life in their backyards.

EN: You're relatively new to the Twin Ports. Where did you grow up, how did you end up here?
AC: I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. We moved to Duluth when my husband accepted a position with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. It has proven to be the perfect location for a wildlife artist! A few nights ago, a bear visited our yard – events like that don't happen in Columbus!

EN: A lot of your work is in watercolors? It takes a lot of patience to be a watercolorist. What attracted you to this kind of artmaking?
AC: I generally use watercolors for my illustrative work, and acrylics for my fine art paintings. I love watercolors, and even when I use acrylics, I thin the paint down and use it like watercolor. I love the soft, organic nature of the medium, and that it sometimes seems to have a mind of its own. You can't be overbearing – if you overwork it, there's no going back. I appreciate this unforgiving nature, as it forces me to consider each brushstroke with care. Finally, the simplest reason- I think it's beautiful. The translucent layers of color, the shapes the thinned paint makes as it meanders unevenly, the texture of the paper or canvas allowed to have its own say – I love it!

EN: Who are some of your favorite artists?
AC: Robert Bateman is my favorite wildlife artist. The feeling and emotion he evokes in his realism is beyond compare. Also Karl Martens, Jean-Baptiste Monge, Jerry Pinkney and Arthur Rackham.

EN: You primarily paint nature themes. Do you work from photos or do you sometimes do plein air?
AC: I have painted plein air, but don't do it often, and highly respect those artists who do! I generally work from photos (one or many), especially when painting birds. They are all so different, and I want to be as scientifically accurate as possible.

To see more of Alexa's work, visit http://alexacarson.com/ 
She's eager to show, so I suspect we'll see more of her work in the coming years.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Engage it.

Ten Minutes with Duluth Illustrator-Animator-Designer Brian Barber

"The best skill is still probably the ability to come up with ideas, and the curiosity and patience to get the work done." ~Brian Barber

Over the years I have privately complained -- and since this is a public forum, my complaint is no longer quite so private -- that there is in this town too much of a divide between the creative commercial artists/illustrators and the fine arts community. That is to say, we have many ad agencies with creative talent, but as I circulate amongst the very channels in the arts I seldom see the artists, designers and illustrators who populate the agencies. It's as if there were a great divide between these two creative worlds, a divide which I feel ought not be there because the fine artists are exploring new territories and can bring something back that the commercial world might be able to borrow and build on.

Brian Barber is an exception. I know this because there must be a half dozen times we've crossed paths at art openings and I'd say, "I'd like to interview you sometime," and then feel guilty when we'd meet again because I hadn't followed up.

Brian is someone nearly everybody looks up to, in both senses of the expression. He's amiable, talented, easy to work with, genuine, and though not originally from here is thoroughly Minnesota nice. His whimsical images connect with children and with adults, and reveal something of who he is... which is someone you'd enjoy getting to know. As the saying goes, if a man is worth knowing at all, he's worth knowing well.

EN: You started out as an illustrator. How did your move into animation and motion graphics come about?
Brian Barber: To be more accurate, I was a designer doing some illustration on the side. In school, I studied equal parts design, illustration and photography. I would tell people I was an illustrator, because that work was more fun and what I wanted to do, but design was always the steadier source of income. Making a living with illustration has always been tough, but lately it’s become even tougher. Editorial illustration projects have completely dried up, and even advertising work has become difficult to find. Print design projects don’t come along nearly as often anymore, and I don’t like doing websites, so I’ve moved toward video and animation partly out of curiosity, partly out of necessity.

I see video as another form of graphic design and art direction: composing shots, combining images with type and design, and making that work with time-based elements like music, pacing and editing. I’ve been in bands off and on for years, with that I’ve learned some about audio production. I feel really fortunate to pull all of these different interests together into a business.

EN: Things have changed dramatically since the early years of Disney animation. What kinds of equipment and skills are needed in our digital age?
BB: I use After Effects, Premiere, Illustrator and Photoshop on a big, old Mac Pro, but I’ve also done things with stop-motion, with puppets, and with cut paper, too. As far as skills, that’s hard to pin down. To be sure, there is a pretty steep learning curve to the software. There is so much stuff being produced in such a variety of styles. Some is super-slick, very technical, but the lo-fi, rough-around-the-edges pieces with a strong idea behind them are just as interesting. The best skill is still probably the ability to come up with ideas, and the curiosity and patience to get the work done.

EN: How much of your work is commercial and who are the people who hire you? And for what kinds of assignments?
BB: Almost all of it is commercial. I don’t draw for the helluvit as much as I should, and that’s always a New Year’s Resolution for me - to just draw more.

I have several companies that I do work for pretty steadily - TV ads, training videos, corporate videos, Instagram and social media animations. The last few years I’ve worked with Maurices, St. Lukes, Loll Designs, WLSSD, ZMC Hotels, and some smaller Duluth clients, and I also do work for some of the ad agencies in town and in Minneapolis.

Live-action Demo Reel

I try to do a music video for the Homegrown Music Festival every year. Those are always fun, and a chance to try something a regular client might not let me get away with.

The Keepaways - Homegrown Music Video Festival

EN: The world of media is essentially an effort to capture eyeballs. I would think that this would create a demand for animation and motion graphics over static images. Is that happening more now?

BB: It depends on the client and the industry. There will always be clients who are more adventurous, and clients who want to stick with what they know and what’s safe or what they’ve seen before. As always, the biggest block is probably budget. Animation usually takes more time, money and planning, so it needs to be part of the idea from the start.

It used to be that a well-done or funny video was guaranteed some attention online, but the bar for what holds our attention has been raised exponentially. And the way we view these things, there’s always something more interesting we can scroll down to. To get people to sit all the way through even a 15-30 second video now takes something really special.

Loll Designs Instagram video

EN: You have done children's book illustration. How did you get these assignments and what do you enjoy most about that kind of work?

BB: I had some work in a group art show in St. Paul, and an editor was at the show. He sent me an email the next day and asked if I’d be interested in illustrating a book. They had a story ready to go, and they thought my work was a good fit for it. Since that book, I’ve done about 8 more with that publisher. I think the character design for the books is my favorite part. I like digging into a new project, but I’ll be honest, by the time I’m done illustrating a 32-page book, I’m really tired of drawing those characters.

EN: You grew up in Nebraska. How long have you lived in Duluth and how did you end up here?

BB: I’ve been in Duluth for 18 years. I lived in Minneapolis for 10 years before that. After college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I knew I wanted to go somewhere else. I considered San Francisco and even had a place to stay out there, but I chickened out when I realized how expensive it was to live there. I had a friend from college who lived in a Twin Cities suburb, and he offered me his couch if I wanted to try Minneapolis. So I started out working at a screen printing shop in Loring Park, about 4 blocks from the apartment I found there. I offered my design services to a couple South Minneapolis neighborhood newspapers and then got offers from other publications and companies. I built up a pretty good list of monthly publications with production schedules that were staggered just enough to fit together, and give me some steady income. Then I’d fit a few illustration projects in between those schedules.

When kid #1 came along, I may have panicked a bit, and the freelance lifestyle seemed like a terrible idea. Long story short, there was a job opening for an ad agency art director in Duluth, and we made the move North for that job. I worked as an art director at Russell & Herder for about 7 years, and then at WestmorelandFlint for 3. I’ve been running my own business for just over 8 years now.

EN: At this point in time what kind of projects are you most drawn to?

BB: I like the variety of what I’ve been doing. I always seem to have enough projects going on that I can jump around. So if I get stuck on a logo design, I can jump over and do something completely different like log video clips for awhile. It’s like procrastinating, without the guilt. The majority of my work lately has been video and motion graphics, I’m doing much less design than when I was at an agency, and illustration has always been hard to predict or plan for, but it still comes along every so often. I am trying to do more drawing just for the sake of doing it, and making some of that work available as prints, cards and originals. I have a show at Beaner’s in December 2016, so I’ve been making new pieces for that.

I have a basic understanding of 3D animation, but I want to dig further into that. The challenge is, it’s not fun at all. When drawing, even drawing digitally, you can be spontaneous, have some happy accidents, and that’s always been the appeal of art for me. With 3D, there are so many steps between the idea and the finished thing, any excitement and enthusiasm can be lost in all the technical problem solving it takes to make and then render something. But I see a lot of potential, and people are doing amazing things with it, so I keep chipping away at learning it and getting more efficient so it can be another tool. It is vast and overwhelming though.

Links:
Animation / Video site
http://brianbarber.tv

Illustration / design site
http://brianbarber.com

Work for sale
http://prints.brianbarber.com

Instagram
http://www.instagram.com/brianlbarber

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Meantime, there's a lot happening again this weekend and as we head deeper into autumn. Check your events calendars, and see what you can see.

Five Minutes with Duluth Illustrator Ashley Marnich

"Grip"

I can't seem to recall where I first noticed the work of Duluth illustrator Ashley Marnich. What I do know is that Marnich has developed the ability to transform the nebulous and ethereal into detailed imagery that makes an impact.

EN: What do you currently do for a living?
Ashley Marnich: I currently do freelance work out of my small home studio.

EN: How did you take an interest in drawing? Who were your early influences?
AM: I honestly can’t think of a time that I didn’t have an interest in drawing. Far back as I can remember some form of creativity occupied much my time. My mom likes to joke that I was born with pencil in my hand and ready to draw. Early influences came in the form of Old school Disney cartoons, Jim Henson movies, and the surrealistic concept art of Roger Dean and Syd Mead.

EN: A lot of your work is quite edgy. How did this line of illustration develop?
AM: My style and subject matter partly developed on its own over time. I can’t really explain why I tend to draw darker subject matter. In the past I tried to stick to lighter subjects but my imagination would gravitate back. I am not a dark person but I am an emotional person and it plays a large role in what I create. Life experiences both happy and sad have a place in my creative process which is very cathartic. The integration of anatomy in my art didn’t come until I took a ‘Human Anatomy for Artists’ course my sophomore year of college. I quickly fell in love with the great amount of skill used in anatomical illustrations and began experimenting with my own form of anatomical illustration. I’ve battled many illnesses throughout my life and undergone several joint surgeries. Being able to see the internal human form as a work of art has really helped me understand and work through obstacles within my own body.

"Morning Commute"

EN: Are you selling your work? Do you have a following locally or nationally?
AM: Prints of nearly all my work are available to purchase and I’m free to create custom art as well. I’m not quite sure about a following but it’s always a surprise when I find out how many people have viewed and appreciate my art. It’s not uncommon for me to receive an email or Facebook message in another language and the only words I understand are the titles of my art pieces. Unfortunately, my work hasn’t had many chances to be seen locally in Duluth given my subject matter but a few pieces from my BIKE series are on display at the Duluth International Airport. The Tangent Gallery in Detroit Michigan has been very kind to me and my artwork over the past six years. Every year the Tangent Gallery hosts The Damned and Corpus Illuminata, both are exhibits that cater and encourage edgy dark art. http://thatdamnedshow.com/ and http://www.corpusilluminata.org/

EN: What kind of formal training have you had?
AM: I graduated from the College for Creative Studies Detroit MI with a BFA in Illustration.

EN: Who are your favorite artists?
AM: I admire a really long list of artist but the top few are Greg Simkins, Chuck Tam, Ekundayo and Marco Mazzoni.

"Heavy"

EN: Where does your inspiration come from?
AM: I mostly find my inspiration everywhere and an idea for an art piece can come to me at any time. However I do find that when I am moving and active ideas flow much better. I also try to spend a lot of time with nature. Plants, animals, earth, water and rocks can be good teachers of how light and shadow play off each other to affect color and form. I also see a lot of human elements in nature and try to convey that. A twisted tree root can instantly make me think of twisted muscle and sticks might look like bone. I feel that we as people may all look different on the outside but are very much the same on the inside. We have hearts, brains, muscles and bones; everyone is connected in that way. My mind creates what it wants to create. Since I can remember, every successful art piece of mine was first laid out in my mind. It sounds a bit strange but I need to imagine an image fully finished before I even start sketching it out. As I work the image will sometimes change a bit from how I originally envisioned it but the concept remains the same.

EN: What are your favorite mediums to work with?
AM: The mediums I tend to gravitate toward and am most comfortable with are graphite, watercolor, ink, and Adobe Photoshop.

To see more work by Ashley Marnich visit http://marnich.daportfolio.com/

"Meeting"

Ten Minutes with Illustrator/Animator Brian Barber

Brian Barber makes a living as an illustrator, designer and animator in Duluth, Minnesota. Much of his work has a delightfully light-hearted whimsical touch. Earlier this spring Barber’s work was featured at the Duluth Art Institute in the George Morrison Gallery.

EN: Do you make a living doing art and illustration? Tell us briefly your career path from schooling to present.

Brian Barber: I make a living doing a number of artsy things: illustration, animation and video, and graphic design. In school, I was an art major and focused pretty equally on illustration, design and photography, so I feel pretty lucky to be able to continue doing what I really like and to make a decent living at it. My first job was as the Art Director of the student newspaper at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I really liked the collaboration with writers, editors and other artists, and even liked the deadlines. I still find myself getting worn down when a project goes on too long. A daily newspaper deadline was like a fresh start to everything.

After graduating, I bounced around and had a few jobs as a screenprinter, worked at a small ad agency in Lincoln, and tried to start a weekly newspaper with friends in the style of City Pages and weekly papers like that. We managed to publish 4 issues before our complete lack of business sense caught up with us.

I moved to Minneapolis in 1998 and worked as a screenprinter while trying to round up other freelance illustration and design jobs, and got involved with what was at the time a very strong neighborhood newspaper network. I went on to do layout and design work for monthly magazines and did freelance illustration projects here and there.

After family and a kid entered the picture, I felt like I needed something more stable and responsible, so I took a job as an Advertising Art Director in Duluth. I did that with a couple different agencies here for 10 years or so, until my wife went back to work full-time. Now I'm back to the self-employed life.

EN: When did you first take an interest in drawing and illustration?

BB: In 4th or 5th grade, my friend Harry and I would redraw Don Martin comics from MAD magazine. We would study the lines he made, how he drew feet and noses and all that stuff. So I knew I was pretty good at drawing, but didn't really know how to make a living at it until I worked at the student paper.

EN: Who have been your biggest influences in the development of your style?

BB: I don't know if it necessarily shows in the work I do, but Ralph Steadman, Robert Risko, CF Payne, Chip Wass, Ed Fotheringham, Ian Pollack, and Lane Smith are illustrators that made me think "That's what I want to do." I think those are all people who's style I've tried to understand, dissect and pull apart to see how they do it. I've bounced around with so many styles, it's embarrassing to look back at some of the work. But honestly that's what keeps me interested in it is bouncing between something like a simple pen and ink style to a detailed painting style to taking photos and movies. It's all a kind of graphic design.

EN: You also play drums with the group Tangier 57. Why does it seem like so many artists are also musicians?

BB: I don't know. For me, I think it might be like redrawing the Don Martin comics - I want to take something I admire, pull it apart to see how it works and see what I can use or recreate on my own. How does surf music work, how do you write a pop song, how does horrible cheesy lounge music work?

EN: What is the difference between book illustration and doing illustrations for an ad agency?

BB: Timelines. Ad work is notoriously fast. Book publishing seems unbelievable slow after working in an agency. There are usually fewer people working on a book. With advertising, there's a writer, an account executive, maybe a creative director, the client, maybe a committee, media people, and so on.

EN: You have a rather whimsical style in a lot of your work. How did that develop?

BB: I really have a hard time doing "serious" work. I've done assignments for magazines where the topic is serious, and generally I'm not happy with what I do, and I don't think the editor or art director were either. Trying to write an artist statement is painful. I don't have a statement to make with what I'm doing other then maybe "Hey look, I drew a pig and he's wearing a smoking jacket."

EN: Where can we see more of your work?

BB: www.brianbarber.com is the best place to begin.

This article originally appeared last week in The Reader, the Northland's alternative for news, arts and entertainment.