"You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let in your life. You are the sum of your influences."

This week, while chewing on and digesting the inspiration of our mentors, we had to re-read the first chapter of "Steal Like An Artist" by Austin Kleon. In this chapter, Kleon states the quote typed above, posing the question; what have I chosen to let into my life? 

This is an interesting question. Where does one even begin?

In elementary school, I suddenly shifted from being a bouncing and outgoing toddler, to a shy and reserved child. I didn't have many friends, nor did I want them. I stayed at home and instead used my time for video-games, doodling and making up stories. I've always had a very vivid imagination, creating adventures in my head for my newest favorite characters which would eventually lead to my collection of fan-fiction writings starting in middle school (cringe). 

Funnily enough, a future in graphic design never occurred to me when I was younger. Maybe I didn't even know it was an option. Instead, I wanted to be an architect thanks to one of my favorite games of all time: The Sims. Then I found out you needed to be good at math... needless to say I opted for another career path.

As I got older, I went through many, many phases. Indie. Emo. Stoner. Geeky. If it wasn't "popular" then I liked it. I appreciate all of those phases, as it introduced me to many new things. 

I surrounded myself in art, music and photography. I took as many art classes as I could in school. And as an introverted person who never went outside I (shockingly) even joined a few art clubs. I remember using up all my parents ink printing up images of my favorite pictures... what's even worse is I'd poke holes in my walls pining up said pictures. 

As you can see, not much has changed.

I like to enclose myself in what I call "organized-chaos". Another term could be "inspiration-corner". I keep the things that bring me a sense of motivation and creativity close by. That can be anything from the plants on my shelves, the color schemes on my chalkboard, or the interesting packaging I keep on display. I appropriated one corner of my bedroom specifically for this, while the rest looks semi-normal and neat... no promises.

Nowadays, it's not just the items and designs that are important to me though. I've learned that it's the people you meet that have the greatest value. Though having a love/hate relationship with people, I'm fascinated with every one of their stories. If you're an artist, I'm probably going to ask to see your portfolio and listen wide-eyed to everything you have to say.

Fun fact: did you know there's a library in Denmark that "rents" out people for an hour or so, and you go and listen to their life story? It's called The Human Library or “Menneskebiblioteket” in Danish. I'll just leave a link here.

I pride myself in the influences in my life because they have helped me become the person I am, and the person I'm developing into. You can't do it alone though, so to further broaden my influences, I'm taking as many opportunities as I can so I can see everything there is to see. Tomorrow I'm taking a van out of town to see an artist named Lubo Lukova with my fellow classmates. Something I never would have done a year ago. Maybe I'll have some new insight to share next post.

Last week, we chose an artist to be our mentors and I chose Teresa Sdralevich. I sent her an email asking what her influences for her art were and she got back to me the same day! It was kind of amazing. She seems like such a lovely person and does amazing work on top of that.

In her email, she included a document of an old interview she did. These are some of my favorite responses from her.

What are your suggestions for the new generation of designers?

Difficult question... it makes me feel really old! I don't know. Maybe: try not to be happy too quickly with a result. Don't flatter your ego with the number of likes. Pretty moralizing I guess.

Where does your design inspiration come from?

From the best children's books from the 60's and 70's, from street signs, industrial aesthetics, from languages... And from the unexpected within.

Along with that, she mentioned several artists that inspire her daily. All of them were great, but the three I decided to know more about were:

Alvin Lustig. An American book designer, graphic designer and typeface designer.

source: book covers

Sister Corita Kent. An American Roman Catholic nun, artist, and educator. She was so much more than just a designer.

sources: enriched bread | god's not dead

Bruno Munari. An Italian artist, designer, and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts in modernism, futurism, and concrete art, and in non visual arts.

sources: design as art | T | self portrait

As I finish typing this up in paint covered hands, I'm so happy to have been exposed to all these great artists. They've already taught me so much.

That is all I have to say this week. Stay porous and stay curious.

— B