Senior Commencement Exhibition!

Here's a view of my Senior thesis show! I know it's been a bit delayed, but better late then never, right? I've been incredibly busy with post-graduation job applications and running around trying to visit as many of my MICA friends as I could before they made the trek back to each of their home states, which took up a lot of my free time!

I had an amazing time at the MICA Art Walk and managed to sell three pieces from my show- two of my pattern samples (the horse and moth ones), and my London 2012 Olympics Equestrian Poster! The rest of my pieces (except the pillows) are currently for sale, and if you are interested in one feel free to contact me at kristenacampora@gmail.com. Each one is a gallery-quality giclée print on archival paper that has been mounted and framed.

As a side note, this is my 100th post on this blog, and I don't think anything could be more fitting for such a milestone then a post about the show representing the culmination of my 4 years at MICA!

Horse Pattern.

Surprise, surprise- I made a horse pattern in thesis! I decided since today was the running of the 137th Preakness Stakes horse race that it was an apt time to post it! Each horse is accurately colored to an existing type of coat seen in the equine species! It was a lot of fun to do this pattern, though initially it was far more limited in it's scale- Initially I had only a few different colors, but a friend suggested doubling the pattern and pushing myself with it to really make it a unique surface design.

Crystal Pattern.

Here's another pattern set I made in thesis- crystals! I've always been fascinated with crystals (and rocks, oddly enough) since I was a kid, so I figured why not make a fun design with them! Experimenting with geometric shapes was quite a change of pace for me, but I had a really good time with it- might have to start incorporating them more in my work!

Feather Pattern.

Sorry once again for the delay in posting my work from the semester, but a bunch of stuff happened all at once and I was quite preoccupied- I finished all of my classes at MICA, put up my senior exhibition (expect photographs soon), and graduated! Crazy, I know. I still can't get over the fact that I'm no longer a MICA student- 4 years went by so fast!

After doing editorial work for the first half of the Spring semester I wanted to make some patterns for surface designs- these are a pair of feather patterns I made! I had a lot of fun with them, and figuring out my color combination choices was really entertaining. I ended up printing the first pattern out on fabric through Spoonflower and made a pillow for my thesis show- don't worry, I'll be posting photos!

See No Evil.

Another thesis piece as we draw to the end of the year/the commencement show! This was actually one of two editorials I did based on the This American Life episode See No Evil. I wasn't as satisfied with the second piece however, so I scrapped it. The story focused on people ignoring the very negative things going on in their life to their detriment. For this piece I played around a lot with the concept of willful ignorance and threw in a reference to wearing "rose colored glasses". On the whole, I am pretty happy with how it came out!

Urban Nature.

Woah! Thesis updates! As the end of the year draws close, I'm going to start leaking all of the stuff that I've been working on this semester. This is a spot for the This American Life episode "Urban Nature" which talks about nature creeping into man-made environments and sneaking in places where its very presence is a rebuke to the notion that we have things under control. I had a lot of fun with this- drawing plants is really quite relaxing!

Business Cards/Postcard Designs.

Just sent these out to get printed today from Overnight Prints- fingers crossed they print well!
I have too much to do and too little time to do it... Let's hope the next few weeks aren't *too* terrible to me, but it's not looking very promising! Finals are no fun.

Right to Remain Silent.

Another thesis piece- this is a spot for the This American Life episode "Right to Remain Silent" which deals with people who have the right to remain silent but choose not to exercise that right, and face adversity/controversy when they do so. I wanted to do a more serious editorial to switch things up a bit and do a black and white piece since I haven't done one since first semester Junior year. Conceptualizing this was a very interesting process and I'm pretty happy with what I produced.

Adventure!

Time for another thesis piece! This is an editorial for the This American Life episode "Adventure!". It dealt with broadly different stories about adventure, and I ended up focusing on the notion on space exploration. I fooled around with inking and ink wash mixed with graphite and I'm liking the direction it is going.

I've been crazy busy and I can't believe how stressful this semester has been, but I'm trying to keep my chin up and push through! I'm trying to get the absolute most out of my final year here at MICA.

Notes on Camp.

Sorry for the delayed post of my work- due to having to rework this piece and do some alterations on other work on top of all my new work to get done has made my posting habits get pretty sporadic. Anyway, this is my This American Life editorial for the episode "Notes on Camp", which talks about people's experiences in summer camps and in situations that were similar to a summer camp. I had a lot of difficulty with figuring out where I was going with this piece, but I'm pretty happy with the final product! I ended up focusing on the aspect of growing up in a camp, which not only was important for the camps themselves (repeat customers bring in a constant stream of money) but was considered by the kids to be integral to them gaining experiences to help them grow up to be well rounded adults.

Frenemies.

Another thesis piece has been completed! This is an editorial for the episode of This American Life titled "Frenemies", which deals with the issues of friends who actually aren't all that great of friends at all- with stories about estranged siblings, broken friendships, and people who look out more for themselves then their "allies". I struggled with this piece- initially it was supposed to be done in gouache but after having some issues using it in this piece I ended up having to scrap it and restart it digitally. It was a lot of work to do but I'm satisfied with my result.

In Dog We Trust.

Well my plan of posting a few things before the summer ended failed miserably! My final year at MICA has begun and now I'm starting to put together my thesis. For my first semester I am doing editorial illustrations based on episodes of This American Life, an NPR radio program. For this my first assignment I tackled "In Dog We Trust", which has stories of how pets affect our lives and how they become an influential part of our families- so I ended up drawing two women worshiping a corgi that is sitting atop a mountain of dog treats.