Tarnished Magazine Spring/Summer 2024

TO THE READERS

The goal of TARNISHED is to realize the beauty in the ugly and mundane. This edition accomplishes this by emphasizing metal, a versatile material utilized in everything from construction to jewelry, practicality to ornamental.

Metal’s durable yet shapeable qualities remind me of the TARNISHED team. Over the years we have adapted to many changes together, the most recent being a new advisor following the retirement of our founder Stephen Fischer, which meant working on a magazine we were not certain would make it to print during a limbo. We weathered constantly changing deadlines and managing dozens of others all while being college students. Despite it all, this issue has operated the smoothest out of all four years of my involvement because of the exceptional communication and responsibility this team shares. Thank you, Jamie, for your organization and excellence, and thank you, Erin, for your initiative and leadership. Out of all the goodbyes I have to say my final semester, this may be the hardest, but I find solace in knowing TARNISHED is left in the talented hands of Professor Yvette Perullo and the many students and artists that make it a reality. We are metal as hell.

RAY KARACZUN

While many see creativity as binary—you either have it or you don’t the truth is that creativity resides within all of us; it's simply how we choose to channel and express it. What is unique about this year's issue are the diverse expressions of the creative genius. Explore the pages and see how this brilliance is showcased. The transformative power of metal presented in these pages is inspired by this year's featured artists. It also stands as a testament to TARNISHED Magazine's ability to withstand challenges.

A heartfelt thank you to this year’s team who stayed ahead of the game to make this year's issue happen. As my senior year comes to a close I won’t forget the perseverance and drive we had to curate this year's issue. Congratulations to Professor Yvette Perullo, who is TARNISHED Magazine's new advisor.

I am incredibly grateful for the wonderful community and space that TARNISHED offers to so many individuals. Creativity surrounds us and I encourage you to explore and express your own creative genius.

JAMIE KINTERIS

When I was applying to colleges as a high school senior, I was immediately drawn to Lasell’s magazines. The opportunity to be a part of a student-run, student-produced publication was eye-opening to the possibilities I could discover as a graphic design student. I knew immediately I wanted to be a member of TARNISHED. What I didn’t expect to find is the wonderful community of friends I have made, and how much TARNISHED has taught me as a leader, designer, and person.

I am so honored to work with such a great team who are always there for me. Not only for the magazine, but also as friends. We are so grateful to all features, contributors, and everyone who has helped with this issue. This would not be possible without you all. Many thanks to the students of the Photography for Design course and the Publication Design course for designing the cover and features. I am very grateful to our advisor, Professor Yvette Perullo. Her support and guidance throughout the process has been crucial, with her ideas continuing to make TARNISHED more expressive and successful. I would also like to thank Professor Fischer for creating and nurturing TARNISHED for eleven years. Ray and Jamie, I have absolutely loved working with you both for the last three years and I will miss you so much. I wish you the best with your bright futures, working on TARNISHED with you has been truly amazing.

E RIN TILLEY

MISSION STATEMENT

TARNISHED Magazine is dedicated to discovering beauty in unexpected places. It strives to build creative community by offering opportunities for learning in the visual and literary arts, while providing a professional venue for student work.

MEET OUR TEAM

ERIN TILLEY ART DIRECTOR

RAY KARACZUN MANAGING EDITOR

YVETTE PERULLO

FACULTY ADVISOR

JAMIE KINTERIS

ART EDITOR

AMELIA FARRIN

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

COVER

The choppy bridge background represents sturdiness and durability through chaotic times, with grungy textures adding a handcrafted feel to denote the passion of aspiring creatives. The illustrations on the back cover display everyday tools and symbols that influence art processes as well as references to the features, and a simple doodle style was used to represent the spirit of creativity.

Designed by Perrin Grubb for the Photography for Design Course.

CONTRIBUTORS

Sommer Barnhill

Sydney Brundage

Amelia Capron

Gianna Chiarenza

Hampton Clancy

Xhoana Cuni

Abby Damke

Jade Durkee

Nick Fernandes

Nick Finno

Carter Getchell

Isaac Goldberg

Perrin Grubb

Shayla Gutowski

Allyson Kirck

Maya LaClaire

LJ LaFiura

Sarah Lapierre

Cameron LeBlanc

Madeline Leung

Key Loken

Bryant Lopez

Daniela Lopez

Andrew Makary

Jessamin McSwain

Paige Mesropian

Jenna Messina

Caroline Morrell

Angela Murray

Sydney Pastorello

Ally Perkins

Michael Petrie

Isabella Rouse

Roan Ryan

Isabella Schlim

Maddie Sewade

Yem Shiferahu

Johanna Snyder

Michael St Clair

Anthony Stancato

Atllas Stone

Tran Quoc Huy Le

Cameron Villnave

Melanie Vrabel

Caelan Watson

Liv West

Aaliyah Wyman

Nina Bellucci is a Newton-based artist who specializes in mixed media art and paintings. Her colorful collages and combinations of mediums fully immerse the viewer in her art. Her skill of incorporating shape, color, texture, movement, and motivational sayings in her art produces captivatingly unique pieces.

Bellucci’s involvement with the arts began with a love for creation. As a child, she loved visiting the craft store with her mother to discover new art projects, including friendship bracelets, worry dolls, and potholders. She continued to nourish this love for art in high school when she took part in an advanced art program. After deciding she wanted to attend college, Bellucci was advised to avoid majoring in art and was unsure how to pursue art as a full-time career. So she started college in the pre-med track. However, her father gave her some important words of wisdom: “career doesn’t matter so much as focusing on what you are passionate about.” Since then, she has been on a journey full of art and exploration.

NINA BELLUCCI, FLOAT FREE, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 12 × 12 INCHES, 2022

Born and raised in Florida, Bellucci finds inspiration in nature and its innate beauty. She recalls the sights of her home, writing, “the extremeness of Nature there was hard to ignore; the expanse of the sky above the flat lands, the vast ocean, the incredible sunsets, and the piercing sunlight were supporting characters in my daily life.” In particular, Bellucci is especially drawn to intriguing colors, sense of space, and an intrinsic light to incorporate into her paintings and collages. The connection between nature and art reminds her of childhood and her sense of self, fueling her inspiration even more. By connecting with nature through her art, the details and beauty of everyday things are revealed to her.

Using a wide variety of mediums, Bellucci often layers and collages different elements on top of one another, adding dimension and depth to the piece. Her utilization of cutouts, positive space, and negative space is impeccable. When asked her favorite medium to work with, Bellucci mentions a small pair of scissors she uses to create beautifully layered cutout elements. Bellucci also enjoys dripping colorful paint onto a wet canvas and watching colors bleeding with one another. This causes interesting effects that can inspire a piece and resemble emotions. She writes, “It always amazes me how pure color can inspire such a range of emotions including, most reliably, joy.” Bellucci’s expression of color, emotion, and movement captivates the viewer, and she wishes that, “by looking long enough, the viewer can ascertain a sense of wonder and awe about nature, life, and the unexplainable.” Bellucci believes a viewer’s attempt to identify and understand underlying meaning connects us all as humans. She reflects on how important this is to her, writing, “I believe an artwork should move you, physically and emotionally.”

NINA BELLUCCI, RIGHT HERE, ACRYLIC & COLLAGE ON CANVAS, 16 × 20 INCHES, 2023

NINA BELLUCCI, REACH, ACRYLIC & COLLAGE ON CANVAS, 14 × 14 INCHES, 2023

NINA BELLUCCI, FLOATING TOGETHER, MIXED MEDIA COLLAGE ON CANVAS, 7 × 5 INCHES, 2023

Bellucci also includes many motivational affirmations in her work. She states that most of the phrases are to motivate her ability to create. She actively reminds herself of these phrases and collects different sayings in her sketchbook. When it comes to choosing what phrases to take note of, she writes: “sometimes they are words I am stuck on, that I hear often, or even spiritual questions I have mulling in my mind.” For Bellucci, including these in her work is “meditation an attempt to understand their significance in my life.” Including these phrases helps her comprehend life and pave the way for answers and hope.

Bellucci’s creative process is also heavily influenced by her love for printmaking she discovered in college. Adding elements together in printmaking has resulted in her love for collaging.

Experimentation and always striving to create something uniquely hers is the key for Bellucci. She describes her collaging style as giving her the ability to, “respond to various parts that I have made myself, adding and rearranging until something clicks, like putting together a puzzle.” The same experimental layering has worked its way into her paintings as well.

NINA BELLUCCI, UNTITLED, GEL-PRINT COLLAGE ON PAPER, 12 × 12 INCHES, 2023

Recently, she has been in the studio two or three days a week, also managing the responsibilities of being a mother. After dropping her children off at school, she heads into the studio where she loves having her own space to create. She begins her work on her most recent project, and simultaneously checks in with other budding projects that may have been sparked. To utilize the time in her studio, she enjoys creating base layers for her projects, oftentimes involving washing a coat of paint over a large canvas. Bellucci describes this starting process as, “so freeing and easy, and it allows me to play with color, texture, and shape without the pressure of creating a finished piece.” Noting things in her sketchbook is another important step for Bellucci, keeping track of ideas or phrases is very helpful for when she is not in the studio and has ideas. This helps to inspire her new projects or advise how to continue current ones. In the studio, Bellucci multitasks to maintain motivation and momentum. Upon facing hesitancy on how to continue a project, Bellucci says she tries, “to recognize that I need time to step back and to reflect about what I am doing,” giving the project room and time to breathe.

As for final advice for aspiring artists, Nina Bellucci recalls the best advice she has received and has stayed relevant to her life: “the life of an artist is a marathon, not a sprint.” Patience and time are involved with being an artist, and Bellucci encourages young artists to relish in the moment. To, “step back and enjoy the process, to witness the small victories in between.”

NINA BELLUCCI, SKIRTING THE PERIMETER, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 72 × 54 INCHES, 2021

NINA BELLUCCI IN STUDIO

“I believe an artwork should move you, physically and emotionally.”

NINA BELLUCCI, WANDERER/MOTHER, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 44 × 44 INCHES, 2022

WRITTEN BY Erin Tilley EDITED BY Amelia Farrin DESIGNED BY Cameron Villnave PHOTOS BY Nina Bellucci

Many artists have a different and specific perception of what success looks like, but what matters is what success feelslike.

Michael Herring is an artist based in Iowa. His work consists of dark, wiry, and abstract pieces either done with ink or acrylic paint. A lot of the pieces he creates contain a lot of contrast and lines which can be drawn back to a combination of inspirations that are represented in a cartoonish and metal-album-esque visual. He describes in his statement on his website, “My art contains a combination of Catholic/Christian and heavy metal/blasphemous imagery. I draw and paint grotesque faces, skulls, and symmetrical compositions.”

During his time at Kansas City Art Institute, Michael made friends with Vladimir Zimakov, who is currently an art

and design professor at Lasell University. Together they created “Bad Balance,” a collaborative and submissionbased zine that featured illustrations, comics, short stories, articles, and collages. Michael and Vladimir had zero intentions of producing this zine for anything other than for pure entertainment and enjoyment. Within the first page of their first issue, you can read a letter from them; “We just want people to have a good time” and separately “Bad Balance is not just a zine, it’s a state of YOUR mind.” They received submissions from around their campus, and made an effort to include all submissions, either included them or added their elements or pieces from other submissions. The Bad Balance team would have nights where they would pass around pieces and collaborate, creating an entirely different and unique page out of it. “We were trying to be kind of subversive about it I guess in terms of being able

to do whatever you want,” Michael describes the zine as disruptive and fun to express however desired.

When they first started they had tried to get funding to produce the zine, but since it required having a faculty member involved they thought it did not align with their perception of their idea since they wanted to do it all on their own. Michael says “DIY was a big deal in the 90s, that whole do-it-yourself movement. So we kind of embraced that and pretty much did everything.” It was up to them to figure out the process and then execute it themselves. In the process of this Michael and the rest of the Bad Balance team learned a lot from working on the zine, with very minimal experience; “With the flattening of things on a photocopier it was also a pretty big experiment in terms of how to collage things and put things together,” Michael says referring to how they worked with the obstacles in creating the zine.

With the openness and collaborative aspects of the zine, Michael learned how to start something and not worry about where you finish it. He refers to the “Exquisite Corpse” which is a game where each person takes a turn working on a drawing. More commonly it is a game where each participant is responsible for drawing one part of the body, and it gets passed around until it is complete. Michael compares the process; “That is a little more linear than the type of collaboration we do but, the idea is still there where you leave certain areas for other things to come in.” Once something was on the page and passed around to the next artist, it was their job to react to it.

Leaving things up to the next person to fill the negative space is how Bad Balance functioned for the most part. This proved their mantra to be successful as each page of each issue of their zine is unique and complex. Whether that complexity is un-serious or has a deeper meaning, is up to the process and how the viewer consumes it.

Graduating in 2000 with a BFA in Illustration and Design, Michael reminisces about his years at KCAI. One strategy he discusses being used a lot during his time there was understanding the “source of the stream.” “So if there’s an artist that you like and you get further into that, you go to the artist they looked at and so on and so forth,” Michael explains. He relates this process to traveling to the trunk of a tree by starting at the branches. “You’re out on this random branch and you end up getting to various paths and you get closer and closer to the trunk, which is probably cave art or something like that. The original source of everything. Maybe even before that. At some point, there’s got to be a beginning to it,” Michael says. It’s a process that benefits artists from taking a look at the depth of inspiration, which is something that seems Michael’s aesthetic process.

After college Michael was able to move to New York, which was a big change after graduation. He had the opportunity to receive portfolio reviews and talk with freelance illustrators that he looked up to. Michael had a specific mindset about his aspiration. “At that time the overall idea, at least in my head, it takes about seven years to break even. And I didn’t think that I had that amount of time,” he

says. After working with several art directors and leaders during his time at Kansas City Art Institute, his mixed reviewed experiences made him dislike the process. He decided to take on web development during a time of resurrection Michael refers to as its “second wave.” He says, “Everyone had their own website and it was similar to making zines, in terms of putting content together and displaying it.” Web Development was something Michael was interested in because of the enjoyable elements that were similar to working on a zine. He tried to learn HTML and CSS since they were the tools that related the closest to the visual aspects of it. Michael describes it as a challenging but enjoyable task to take a design and turn it into a webpage.

After about 20 years of Web Development, Michael now works a separate job from his interests and creates his art on the side. He says, “Being an artist is a lot of hard work, and I’m a little lazy for that. So I always chose certain other paths, I suppose, while doing the art stuff on the side. And that way I’ve learned, within the past few years or so, it’s more fun that way.” In the past, he participated in a handful of coffee shop shows and pop-up galleries as just a way to get involved in the art scene. “In the end, I was spending more money on that, than it seemed to be worth it,” he says, describing getting his art juried to be put into galleries. Michael describes his experience with galleries– apart from the price– as interesting. “It was always fun going and seeing your stuff with everyone else’s,” he says. Some people were in the same boat as him, but others were further along. The experience was enjoyable, but it was a lot of work to put up the artwork and label it. “I’d rather just be creating it,” says Michael.

Currently, Michael runs a Patreon where he runs a subscription called “Tiny Drawing Club.” For five dollars you can receive a monthly drawing from Michael himself. It keeps him in his creative process without it being stressful. He says that although he has minimal subscribers, he is happy with where it stands at the moment. The process entails creating 2.5-by-3-inch art pieces, picking which one goes to which subscriber, and then packing and shipping them each month. Michael will also pay attention to his subscribers’ favorite pieces, whether that’s from the “Tiny Drawing Club” or a post on Instagram, and then based on that information he’ll pick a piece for them that he believes they would enjoy. Other than that aspect, it is all about what he feels like drawing.

Michael’s favorite part of the creative process is the meditative aspect, which drives a lot of his more intricate work. Pieces that require more attention to detail such as cross-hatching or stippling. At a certain point, Michael got into detailed color paintings where he spent a lot of time experimenting. He simply puts the process as, “to check out, and make marks.” In general, Michael used to start a lot of his pieces by taking inspiration from album covers. Over the years he talks about having “crutches” recurring imagery that you subconsciously are drawn to putting on the page, in his art. “For a long time it was just putting a skull on a page, and then working around it,” he says. After years of illustrating

his pieces do not need anything in particular to get started, “when I start a piece most of the time there’s no real reason for it.” Michael refers to a series of drawings he did based upon a “The Book of Saints,” which were paintings of the saint’s “martyrdoms.” With these he would start a drawing with one of the saints in mind, pulling inspiration from other artwork, he’d create and let the process go through. His favorable mediums have not changed much over the years, even with experimentation. Michael has always enjoyed pen and ink, even with its different formats, his favorite is dip ink because of the ease of the material for him. “It’s always been water-based, keeping it simple and just being able to jump in and not having an obstacle,” he describes his favored mediums.

A lot of Pushead and Derek Riggs’s artwork and albums like Metallica and Iron Maiden are his main sources of inspiration. He recalls, “You know in the 80s and 90s as a kid you had ten dollars you’re going to go out and buy a cassette tape. You don’t know what you’re looking for-- the best way to do that is to look at the album covers. Whichever had the coolest album artwork is usually the coolest music,” he says. This inspiration can be shown clearly through his work. The shadowy values and rougher marks create a similar feeling induced by the artwork seen on metal albums. Other than metal albums and other artists, Michael’s outer world inspiration is subtle within his work. When living in Colorado he remembers his skies being deeper in levels of land and horizon. He also gets inspired from cartoons, things he liked to draw as a kid still influencing his creative process to be experimental and fun. During college, Michael remembers that doing foundational work such as shapes and values would only make him want to break from those sophisticated barriers and expand his horizons using those tools. “I just try to go with the flow with it,” he describes his process.

In closing, Michael reflects on his experience as an artist thus far stating “As much as you can, keep it as a passion.” He encourages the idea of satisfaction in the process rather than satisfying an obscure idea of “success.” “I feel like it’s very easy to get into a situation where you’re doing stuff for other people, and you don’t end up liking the stuff that you’re doing and you get stuck. And then that’s what people are kind of expecting,” he says. Michael has found success in fulfilling his desire to do his work at his own pace on his own time. “If you find yourself going in a direction you’re not really ‘jamming’ with, try to keep yourself centered in terms of what you want to be doing,” he says. Michael Herring is a prime example of an artist of passion, creating pieces that represent his visual aesthetic and his appreciation for the process.

WRITTEN BY Amelia Capron

EDITED BY Ray Karaczun

DESIGNED BY Amelia Capron

PHOTOS BY Michael Herring

At what age did you start to get into tattoo artistry, and when did you realize it was something you wanted to pursue as a job?

I’ve always known I wanted some tattoos as an adult, but I’d never really considered tattooing a possibility for me until I was 18, got my first tattoo, and fell in love with the experience.

What does a day in the life look like for you?

Most of my days are pretty chill! I wake up and usually check my Instagram messages and emails, then head to work. I have appointments usually from 12pm to 7pm and take about three people per day, eating or reading when I have time throughout. After that, I go home, do some more social media management, prepare for my appointments the next day, but I love what I do and have been trying to find a way to maintain a good balance.

Could you talk me through the process of your work?

There’s a lot of little details about the whole process, so I’ll break it down a bunch. First, I find inspiration for flash (flash are premade designs you can book that are usually the artists preferred style/subject), or I create the custom piece that was requested. I have to create a separate stencil, which is basically just an outline. When the tattoo process comes, I set up my clean area, apply the stencil to my client, and tattoo!

Where do you get your inspiration from?

For inspiration, I usually take pictures of things I see out and about that I think are cool and circle back to that to create flash. I’m doing a custom piece, usually my clients allow me creative freedom or send me an exact picture of what they’d like, and I love both!

Could you explain your style of tattoo artistry?

To be honest, I don’t really know what my style is! It doesn’t really fall under any existing category; there’s American Traditional, Illustrative, and Ignorant styles. Some of my friends and clients have dubbed it “high contrast,” which is what I usually use now.

Which pieces have you done that hold the most meaning, either for you, or the client?

I can’t speak for my clients or apply meaning to their tattoos, but I really appreciate moments where I’m trusted with difficult experiences such as tattooing over scarring, first tattoos, or tattoos relating to their trauma that they’ve overcome. I value the connection and trust that they have in me and hope they can feel how deeply I appreciate it. This

tattoo [stuffed bear] is probably one of the most meaningful for me because it was the first tattoo in the style that I do now, and on a good friend.

Out of all the tattoos you’ve done, which ones are your favorite pieces?

I do my very best not to play favorites, but there are a few that stand out either because of how fun it was during the appointment, or because of the impact it had on my career. Here are a few and why! This screen cap from Romeo and Juliet [previous page] was one of my first portraits, and during the tattoo, I had a moment where it clicked for me that portraiture and pop culture were my niche because I was having an amazing time doing it.

[The star skull] was just a ton of fun! I hadn’t done too many large-scale pieces at this point, and this one came out better than I could have imagined. Using the star for negative space to highlight the skull was super exciting.

I’ve wanted to do an Adam Sandler portrait since I started doing these tattoos; I have a mild obsession with him. This entire experience was so much fun because not only was the tattoo fulfilling a goal of mine, but my client and I also had a wonderful time and couldn’t stop laughing.

I noticed a lot of your tattoos reference pop culture. If someone were to request random custom art from you, is that usually what you’d prefer to tattoo on them?

As long as the custom is in my specialization or similar, I’m down for whatever! I do prefer portraits, movie scenes, or album covers, but I also really enjoy doing chrome/metallic objects, architecture, body parts, and just random, miscellaneous things.

What piece of advice would you offer to someone interested in becoming a tattoo artist?

My biggest piece of advice that I give anyone that asks is never give up. If you’re taking the traditional apprenticeship route or a self-taught approach, you will without a doubt face adversity or people that want to break you down in order to lift themselves up. All you can really do is take it on the chin and carry on with it as a motivator, rather than let it beat you down. What usually leads to people giving up on this career path is the other people, not the level of difficulty.

WRITTEN BY Xhoana Cuni

EDITED BY Isabella Schlim

DESIGNED BY Erin Tilley

PHOTOS BY Kenzie/FlipAucoin

WILL MARSHALL

is a freelance filmmaker and videographer based out of Maine and is the founder of Marshall Media. His services include video production, photography, wedding videography, commercials, promotional videos, video editing, and event videography. Additionally, he is very active on social media where he provides educational content for aspiring videographers.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL FRAMPTON

WHAT FIRST INSPIRED YOU TO GET INTO VIDEOGRAPHY?

I had a Minecraft YouTube channel in 3rd grade. In all seriousness, I first dove into videography by slicing slits into a cardboard box and taping together a makeshift stand for my iPod Touch 4th Generation. I then filmed various videos of my mom’s iPad screen of me doing various things in Minecraft Pocket Edition. Yes, that is the most 10-year-old early twothousands kid thing you will read today. And yes, his was way before screen recording was added.

WHAT/WHO ARE YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS?

I actually take more inspiration from music than actual video producers. I love Casey and Van Neistat, they are absolute legends. Basically, they taught me how to tell a story, especially visually. Fashion wise I love MABO’s style. However, music producers like Flume, Pluko, Fred Again, and San Holo really fuel my creativity. Growing up, listening to music off my iPod Nano in the car, I remember picturing how I thought a music video would look in my head, and these guys’ work is absolute brain food.

Not only the incredibly enjoyable and fascinating production, but also wrenching emotion fused into their tracks. Achieving this is incredibly hard to do in electronic music as it’s easy to make dull and uninteresting electronic music. I just LOVE dynamics (the difference between loud and quiet) so I tend to gravitate towards more insane/ intricate stuff in any genre. At the same time, love me some Mac Miller and The Backseat Lovers.

WHAT SPECIFIC STYLES OR IMAGERY DO YOU USE A LOT IN YOUR WORK?

I really love both dissonance and duality. Think Jekyll and Hyde, or good and bad. I also like manipulating light after the fact (in video editing) and utilizing blend modes (with lighting overlays) to create some intricate visual effects — effects you think I would’ve meticulously made either on location or inside After Effects when really it’s just clever layering. You can see this in the beat switch in Cpthekid and Antonio Malik’s “Benzo Boy” music video we shot as a “one shot” inside Yamawaki at Lasell. No one knows how I did the lighting effects at the beat switch until now.

I’ve also been really inspired by existentialism since San Holo’s “Existential Dance Music” lead me down the rabbit hole. Super cool stuff.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR SOMEONE LOOKING TO GET INTO VIDEOGRAPHY FOR THE FIRST TIME?

The hardest part is hitting record. Always remember that. Everything afterwards is infinitely easier.

Then, replicate what you like. Maybe it’s some person’s Instagram Reels that you like. Go out with the intention to recreate one of their reels yet bring in some of your own creativity as well. Just add something. Either way you have to get up at bat, figure out how to utilize your gear, practice shooting, editing, color grading, etc, to get better. Like everything else in life, you won’t make anything good overnight. The most successful artists take ideas from various sources and transform them into something original and unique to their own style. I’ve always liked the idea of building upon existing concepts in a way that transcends mere imitation, which will lead you to innovating and finding your “style” through personal creative breakthroughs. Also, stop worrying about buying the best camera for x amount of money. Go buy a camcorder from the early 2000s and I promise it’ll inspire you way more than a $1500 camera that’s hard to use and will collect dust in 4 months after you get discouraged. Or your phone. The best camera is the one you have with you.

But at the same time, go buy a cool little camera that will inspire you to go out and create stuff. I highly recommend the Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera Original, although it has a lot of quirks. I call it my digital film camera; it looks that good.

DO YOU WORK WITH ANYONE ELSE WHO HELPS FACILITATE THE PROCESS?

Unfortunately, no. Although I am currently being mentored by Cam Meunier, who has worked alongside Iman Gadzhi, Luke Belmar, Umar Ashraf, and many more influential online figures by editing or shooting their content. I met him in Miami at a day trading conference last May and when he told me he edits Umar’s videos, I couldn’t believe him. He’s an absolute legend, and he’s currently helping me build my personal brand focused on providing video editing resources to teach any aspiring creator, business owner or novice how to make engaging short form content.

WHAT IS INVOLVED IN MAKING A VIDEO?

That’s a fun question, because it’s completely up to you what goes into making a video. The best part about making videos is that they’re never the same. I’ve shot intricately planned videos, and I’ve shot completely unplanned videos. Either way, I always consider storytelling the biggest priority, especially visually. And much of this can be salvaged in editing if you shoot enough to establish a narrative.

For me, my favorite work usually starts with musical inspiration, then planning shooting around that. This can be in a shot list of moments that become edit notes. But “happy accidents” as I like to call them in post are my favorite.

I shot the entire “Lasell trip to ABC” video listening to Burbank House by tsubi club. It was my soundtrack of the trip and honestly the soundtrack to that era of my life postbreakup. So why not use it in the video? It fit perfectly.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE CRAFT? LEAST FAVORITE?

I love the flow state when something is editing together seamlessly. Time just flies. I also love shooting stuff where I have full creative reign, which is just so fulfilling. The best part is hitting export and watching it back for the first time, with hopefully little to no changes. That dopamine is literally unmatched. My least favorite part is when I break Davinci Resolve or any technical barrier/difficulty in general that slows down the process.

WHAT FUTURE GOALS DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR ART?

I’d like to keep developing my style and improving my filming ability. Comparison is the thief of joy and it’s the easiest thing ever nowadays to compare yourself to what someone else is doing on social media. Holding true to what makes you special and stand out is more important than ever.

I want to redefine the fashion short form video space. It’s too easy nowadays for anyone to film a basic cell phone video at a runway show and post it to reels. I’m hoping to carve out a spot in the market for designers who want to highlight their work in the highest quality way possible. They should be able to do so in a creative outlet that transcends their designs and is cohesive with their branding, message, and quality.

Shooting for Louis or Gucci would be pretty cool though. The Chanel show at NYFW looked unreal. I will get invited in the future.

WHAT SETS YOU APART FROM OTHER ARTISTS?

I consider the five senses a lot in what I do. That being sight, hearing, smell (tough one but can be done), taste (another hard one), and touch (I like to consider as texture). Then I look at how those can influence emotion, which I like to work with by using opposites and existentialism theories. Ultimately though, these are nuances barely anyone notices, but I think that makes it more fun! I love finding hidden things in my favorite artist’s work. I just think it’s so easy to take shortcuts and forget these fundamentals of what makes great final products. People forget that what you put out onto the internet lasts forever. Why not make it the best thing it deserves to be? You owe it to yourself years down the road. Otherwise, I’m just me and I enjoy what I do and what I create. Deadlines suck though, that’s one of the only forms of stress in this job.

DESIGNED

WRITTEN BY Amelia Farrin

EDITED BY Amelia Farrin

BY Perrin Grubb

PHOTO BY JOHN HUTCHINGS

PHOTO BY COBRASNAKE

with only acoustic guitar backing raw vocals. It was a teaser for an upcoming single, the beginning of a string of releases leading up to an EP. Little did she know the video would end up garnering over 400K views, with hundreds of comments complimenting the song and begging for a release date. What drew so many people to this particular song? We can take it from the fans themselves. One user said, “You can feel the passion in this, so many artists these days don’t have that.” The internet asked, so she obliged. Just a few months later the release date was announced, and on October 26th “Sofia I’m Sorry” was out for the world to hear.

A weekend trip brought Detor and her band to The Barber Shop Studios in New Jersey where they would record “Sofia I’m Sorry” along with a collection of other releases. Her band includes Daisy Soper on drums, Emma Harner on guitar, and Sam Anderson on bass, all who attend Berklee alongside Detor. Her tracks are produced, mixed,

and mastered by Rob Chiarappa. This session included “Mirror,” the first track of her six song EP. Shaping up as a shamelessly confrontational punk rock track, it sets the pace for what fans can expect from Detor. The title track “Sofia I’m Sorry” came next, expertly displaying her confessional songwriting style over a beat of punching drums, wistful guitar, and an explosive chorus. Detor sings, “Tell Sofia that I’m sorry but I get what I want. / If you were really in love, would you tell me you’re not? / And I’d feel badly but there’s only so much time that I’ve got. / ‘Cause I might beg you to stay if I thought about it too hard.”

“Sofia I’m Sorry” may have developed into an addictive tune that would draw in fans from all over the internet, but first it was likely a late-night voice memo with just vocals and guitar. “Most of my songs are an 11-minute voice memo and I just sing them out how they are,” Detor says. The key to writing such catchy melodies is to press record and let it run, allowing thoughts to flow organically over simple guitar chords.

PHOTO BY COBRASNAKE

PHOTO BY TAMMI FERRARA

For the most part, her lyrics and melody are constructed simultaneously in that very moment. Later on in the process they are brought to her co-writer and fellow Berklee student Grace Monahan who writes the guitar parts with refined melody and structure. From there, her band helps arrange the track, polish guitar sections, and record.

With references ranging from Ice Spice, Phoebe Bridgers, PJ Harvey, and Skunk Anansie, it’s hard to fit Detor into a box, though she describes her sound as “Girl rock.” A mix of 90s style rock and modern indie blends her references seamlessly. You can trace almost every aspect of her artistry back to a reference, whether that be the blatantly honest lyricism mirrored in Bridgers’ work or the energetic production of Skunk Anansie. Hip-hop music is consistent in her music listening rotation, inspiring her to play with rhythmic lines over rock production. This is one of the many ways she pushes the boundaries of rock music, carving out her unique music style.

Although Detor has years of formal education in music, there’s one moment that stands out to her most. It was way back in elementary school when she was first encouraged by a teacher. Her school had an exhaustive classical curriculum, but one day her teacher found a Taylor Swift chord book in her

school bag. He asked her if she wanted to play that instead and, of course, she was thrilled to. This was one of the first times she had the freedom to learn and play contemporary music, something that inspired her for years to come.

Detor studies Music Business at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She previously studied songwriting at a boarding school in Michigan, just a few states away from her hometown in Minnesota where her motivation to make music was sparked, though she can’t recall precisely when she began writing songs. Some of the most rewarding parts of her artistry happen in the studio. She loves collaborating with other people and hearing her songs with a full band and production.

Performing live, on the other hand, is just as thrilling. Detor loves interacting with the crowd, walking through the venue post show and chatting with new people. Live gigs give her a chance to explain her songs to a captive audience where her songs truly come to life. The crowd sings some lyrics back to her, and she can finally explain the meaning behind each track.

The next step for Detor is a six song EP, following the release of the much-anticipated “Sofia I’m Sorry.” Fans can look forward to a new release every month, beginning with

PHOTO BY KATHERINE FOSTER

“Mirror” in September and wrapping up with a final track in February 2024. The collection of songs carries themes of the stages of grief, losing somebody, and growing out of things. Throughout the songs you’ll find mention of the character Sofia, an Easter egg that strings the EP together. “(Sofia) represents the person that always gets what you don’t... what you want and what you can’t have and that person you’re always compared to,” Detor says.

It’s almost impossible to listen to a Detor song and not have it stuck in your head for days afterwards. The combination of rhythmic melodies and rock production is difficult to forget. But there’s another layer of attractiveness in her songs that shines through in the lyrical themes. Detor doesn’t try to hide behind her lyrics, but rather puts the truth, both good and bad, on full display. “Being honest about what you’ve done and what you think and what you feel is always the best way to be,” she says. Music is not only an outlet for Detor, but a time for confession. She puts her actions and experiences out into the world no matter how they paint her. If honesty is her goal, truth-telling is her craft.

WRITTEN BY Amelia Farrin

EDITED BY Ray Karaczun

DESIGNED BY Angela Murray

PHOTO BY KATHERINE FOSTER

Clifford Reeves, a genre-bending music artist from Westminster, Maryland, started his content career on Twitch. Now, the global social network has launched Reeves on a journey of exploration through a wide variety of culturally inspired music.

“I started streaming on Twitch originally for games and then I also played some music on the side and people ended up just coming for music only really. And so after doing that for a while I just decided I really wanted to commit to music and it was this kind of very intense kind of thing that I didn’t expect,” Reeves said.

Reeves released his first song in August of 2020, “3 AM.” This energetic and catchy pop anthem continues to be his most popular by plays, with 40,646 on Spotify. He has since released 11 more singles to major streaming platforms including “Mariana” and “Deja Vu.” Reeves has also released several more songs to places such as SoundCloud.

While streaming platforms offer opportunities, they also come with their own set of drawbacks. “There’s going to be a change that comes with regards to how artists are not only [getting] royalties but just how artists can gain exposure through the internet,” Reeves said. “Right now, despite that there are so many options to self-promote, it’s still just extremely difficult exposure-wise to get yourself out there.”

Describing himself as a genre-bending artist, much of Reeves ’work is grounded within his family heritage. With family ties to the area, Reeves gets a great amount of inspiration from London and the United Kingdom at large, where he is a dual citizen because of his father, Stephen Reeves. Reeves has also explored cultures in other ways, studying Arabic and French at McDaniel College which nearly brought him to a career in the government before music found him.

“For a lot of people who are a dual citizen, or dual national, or have a parent who is from another country other than where they live or where they grow up, I think it just helps you to broaden your mind into the possibilities of thinking,” Reeves said. “So from that perspective, you can apply that to music and just art. I think

that’s what’s definitely happened for me. It’s easier to step into different schools of thought about anything. I mean different cultures have different ways of just walking down the street.”

Reeves’ background has led him to a variety of places across the globe, including Arab communities within Belgium. “I was speaking Arabic to them and they would just light up,” Reeves said. “It’s why I like music. It’s the same thing. I like connecting to people and that’s why I didn’t go into government work...I like finding the best in the world. I always apply that language learning to connect with other people, to music, to everything.”

Discovery is a focus of Reeves’ work when being a steward of the cultures he explores. “I try to be as authentic [as possible when learning] a [new] genre. I don’t want to disrespect it; I want to look into it, do research, listen to [that genre’s] artists, and really understand it,” Reeves said. “It’s fun to explore different schools of thought...I’m constantly trying to learn and explore.”

Reeves connects his family and cultural interests to his work again in the June SoundCloud release of “Rose Moon.” The song with 392 plays in November 2023 was charted by WLAS Lasell College Radio and explores concepts of traditional Celtic music while also adding a few flairs of his own. Bringing the piece together, Reeves’ sister, Sarah Reeves, adds vocals critical to the cultural factors of the track.

“My whole family has always been really amazing about respecting my art and understanding that it’s a very personal thing for me and my vision. So we’re very much a team. I grew up on a farm, so it’s all about family. I mean your family is your team, so if somebody needs your help you help them and it’s not about who’s leading, it’s just about helping about getting something done because it needs to be done,” Reeves said. “She’s always amazing. She opens up and just allows me to direct it a little bit and then I of course allow her to be creative and just come up with whatever comes to her head.”

As a student of cultures and a fluent Arabic speaker, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict has had no shortage of impact on Reeves and his work. As an artist, he preaches being a “citizen of the world” during challenging times, emphasizing the importance of looking beyond one’s own work and personal sphere.

“I think it’s more important than me just making songs,” Reeves said. “It’s important that as human beings we stay connected and have camaraderie.”

A byproduct of Reeves’ signature style is that there is no consistent sound, making the idea of an album more difficult to produce and sell. “It’s a lot easier to just release singles and I still like doing that because I do try to switch things up,” Reeves said. “If I were to sell an album that had just a bunch of different genre blending stuff it would be harder to sell, which I think is changing by the way. There are way more artists that are genre-bending now, which is just the way the world’s moving because of the internet and because everybody’s more connected.”

Reeves has more connections of his own, once again involving his family. An old acquaintance of his parents, Stephen & Janet Reeves, is Grammy Winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerome Brailey. A 1997 inductee, “Bigfoot” Brailey was the drummer for Parliament Funkadelic, as well as the founder of the band Mutiny, among others. Reeves has now connected with Brailey among other artists to grow in his craft and create a following. The pair have 6 songs unofficially released on SoundCloud, one of which is centered around the story of Bonnie and Clyde.

Reeves can be found on all music streaming platforms under the name Clifford Reeves, and on social media @cliffordreevesofficial.

WRITTEN BY

Nick Finno & LJ LaFiura

EDITED BY Ray Karaczun

DESIGNED BY Nick Fernandes

PHOTOS BY Reeves Productions

Angela Navarra

Angela Navarra has almost 20 years of experience in the design world, from art direction to illustration. She is currently a senior art director for Callisto Publishing and has previously worked with many big companies such as Disney, Nickelodeon, and Scholastic Books. Her main focuses within the graphic design world are art directing, book designing, illustration, and lettering.

Callisto Publishing is one of the leading publishing houses, focusing on nonfiction books. They were one of the largest expanding independent publishers before being purchased by Penguin Random House and Sourcebooks. The majority of the books published with Callisto fit into the topics of cooking, personal growth, health and wellness, and more.

At Callisto Publishing, her day in life consists of many different duties to ensure that the projects she is working on are on the right track toward finalization. She focuses on tasks such as checking deadlines, verifying cover designs and interiors, managing freelance illustrators and designers hired for specific projects, providing briefs for their roles, and attending meetings throughout the workday.

Navarra has a long background in designing and illustrating consumer products, which eventually led to children’s books. She took the illustrative, playful, and colorful style that she had used for these books in cookbooks, with additional expressive typography, which received positive feedback. She noted that the first cookbook that she worked

on, “Ramen for Beginners,” was one of her favorites. For this, she did the illustrations on the cover, the patterns and other elements for the interior, and the art direction, and worked with the photographer. This cookbook cover shows a bowl of ramen with additional ramen ingredients surrounding it, all of which are simplistic, single-colored shapes. The title font is unique and fitting with the sharp edges of the vegetable designs. With this project, she noted, “it allows me the space to recognize all the large and small moments I can design around.” Her style with her children’s book designs and illustrations is very cute and stylized, with lots of colors

and textures. She also includes typography in her designs and incorporates it into the designs themselves. A good example of this is in one of her collections on her portfolio website “Sunglasses Greeting Cards Collection,” where one of the words in the various quotes lettered over the illustrations look like sunglasses!

Angela has always had a creative spark; when asked about how she got into illustration and design, she mentioned how she had started drawing at a young age, and teachers had begun to notice that she had the artistic skill, and they

Child at Heart

Creating Children’s Illustrations

had helped and encouraged her to keep going with her art. After high school, Angela initially attended a college in New Jersey for art education, but eventually decided it was not for her and decided to go to the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Here she earned a degree in graphic design and advertising. She first started in advertising Nickelodeon on creating products for children. While working at Nickelodeon, there was an art director who would bring in children’s books, which she was drawn to immediately. After this, one of Navarra’s co-workers at Nickelodeon told her that he was going to be switching over to Scholastic Books, and asked her to work with him there. This opportunity brought her to children’s publishing, which she has now been in for 15 years.

Angela has found a lot of inspiration from vintage children’s books. She mentioned that many of the books in her sizable collection are children’s picture books from the 1950s through the 1970s, which she uses as inspiration for her projects and uses the styles from these books in her own way. When asked about how she finds inspiration and how she deals with art block, she returns to her collection. When talking about her expansive collection, Navarra says, “I have so many books, and I’ve looked at books so many times, and when I’m looking at them, knowing what I have to do, I notice new things in the book.” Along with looking through her shelves, she also goes to bookstores to see what is currently available in the market. She also tries to look for concepts that do not relate to the design she is working on. Doing this allows for inspiration and new ideas that do not feel directly

ripped off from previous works that are based on the same subject or topic. An example she mentioned was HI-BEAM, a liquid skin highlighter. Rather than considering other makeup packages, she looked through a hunting magazine which “strangely arrived in the mail” the week she was working on it. Her design of a deer iqwn headlights was fresh, creative, and well received. Angela also mentioned well-known designers who inspired her, such as Saul Bass, Paul Rand, Ivan Chermayeff, and Louise Fili. For illustration, she looks at a lot of mid-century and modern artists.

When asked what advice she would give someone looking for a career like hers in the publishing world, she explains that the key is a strong portfolio. The pieces within the portfolio should be well-designed, and have the ability to

attract employers in the book design and publishing worlds. Designs she looks out for specifically are poster and book cover concepts, especially when they incorporate illustration and photography. Having the knowledge of creating layouts is critical as well. “When I need to hire somebody to do something, I need to see they have those skills and abilities to concept, how to work with illustration, how to work with illustrators, and to do book layout; that they have the knowledge on how to lay out a book interior,” Navarra says.

Angela Navarra has a unique style that is admirable and can attract anyone of any age. Her portfolio, which showcases her design and illustration work, can be found on her website, https://www.angelanavarra.me/.

WRITTEN BY Abigail Damke

EDITED BY Ray Karaczun

DESIGNED BY Ally Perkins

PHOTOS BY Maddox Navarra Tancredi

Jamaal Eversley, an abstract artist from Randolph, MA, bridges the unique combination of business leadership and the fine arts through his various artworks, collaborations, and gallery shows. He has experience in many different artistic domains: fine arts, performance arts, and poetry. Eversley’s art is known for its abstract shapes and vibrant colors. More importantly, the combination of the two invites the viewer to relate to the art.

When the working-class world cultivates a demand for hustle-culture and nonstop productivity, artists are often looked down upon in favor of more “lucrative” careers in STEM and business alike. The starving artist is an archetype perpetuated by this culture, and Jamaal Eversley is no stranger to the stigma. While applying to colleges in high school, Eversley was faced with deciding his future career. Figuring out how to make a living as an artist and convincing your parents it’s possible were difficult feats to accomplish. Eversley chose to apply to business schools since he was familiar and comfortable with math, and the career path would likely set him up with a well-paying job after he graduated college. Thus, with a scholarship to Babson College, Eversley became an accounting major. However, after some time, it was obvious to Eversley that he was missing a big part of his identity without art in his life.

“AFTER A WHILE, I HAD TO STOP LYING TO MYSELF,” SAYS EVERSLEY.

This turning point changed the game for Eversley. He began taking as many art courses as he could to satisfy the artist within himself. After Babson, he attended acting classes in New York City. Unfortunately, to be an aspiring actor in NYC is to be lonely, and this robbed Eversley of his ability to create. From then on, he shifted back to painting and away from acting. Even though Eversley left New York behind, the lessons he learned from acting stuck with him. He recalls

PHOTO BY NIKOLAI ALEXANDER

being in an ensemble piece called “A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration” in which he had many lines. It was one of his most memorable experiences as an actor.

“There is a power of the ensemble when everyone is working together for this common goal to put on a successful story for the audience—why don’t we do that with art?” asks Eversley.

To Eversley, art is crafting a narrative and pulling inspiration from vastly different domains to serve a community. As he continues to grow and work as an artist, he emphasizes the importance of constantly asking yourself how business and art intersect to truly touch upon humanity. His mission is to unite people, artists and non-artists alike. Art is inherently subjective, and promoting that subjectivity builds the foundation for surrealism and abstract expressionism to do their jobs.

His influences mainly come from 1960s pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and Roy Lichtenstein, and 1980s street artists JeanMitchel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and more. These artists are known for their expressive colors, repeatable graphics, organic shapes, and enticing patterns. It’s Eversley’s hope that his art is not intimidating and based solely on emotion. He invites his viewers not to ask him what his pieces mean, but rather ask themselves how his pieces make them feel.

colors to the shapes intuitively. Oftentimes, his pieces have an underpainting that allows color to bleed through the several layers of paint that create the super flat appearance of shapes. Due to this meticulous procedure, Eversley’s paintings tend to take months and months to complete. The finished products are incredibly rewarding.

“I’VE LEARNED TO LET YOUR CHILDLIKE MIND TO JUST WANDER, AND GROW, AND FOSTER. I’M SEEING THAT IN MY SON. HE’S KEEPING ME ON MY TOES, AND I APPRECIATE HIM FOR THAT,” SAYS EVERSLEY.

With his background in business and acting, Eversley wanted to bridge that gap, but it was not always easy. After graduating from business school, it was common for him and his friends to get drinks together and catch up on each other’s lives. For the longest time, Eversley identified himself as a salesman, the job he held down to support his passion for art. There was and continues to be an underserving shame cast upon artists. Over time, Eversley has grown confident in calling himself an artist. First and foremost, that is what he is. He finds that confidence in himself, and in his four-year-old son. This past summer, Eversley brought his son into Boston to paint a life-sized cow sculpture for CowParade New England. Eversley laid down the lines, and his son painted within them. From that time forward, whenever prompted to introduce himself, the toddler claims his title as an artist.

“If I see a portrait, it already puts my mind in a box. This is a portrait I’m looking at. I have to then get myself out of that box. I don’t want to be told what to think. I just feel like abstraction does that, says Eversley.

Contrary to what some might think, abstraction is not entirely spontaneous. Eversley keeps a creative process journal full of ideas that come to his mind. Once his ideas are seamless enough to draft a sketch, Eversley goes through several iterations and compositions before a final design can be moved to a canvas. He describes his creative process as methodical and planned. After the final idea is mapped onto the canvas, he then assigns

“I’ve learned to let your childlike mind to just wander, and grow, and foster. I’m seeing that in my son. He’s keeping me on my toes, and I appreciate him for that,” says Eversley.

Eversley proves that you do not need to be an artist or know about art to find yourself within it. Everyone can be an artist.

WRITTEN BY Caelan Watson

EDITED BY Xhoana Cuni

DESIGNED BY Bryant Lopez

PHOTO BY COWPARADENE

Bernay Fine Art currently has forty-eight artists that get their work showcased throughout the year. It was pointed out on their website and said they don’t have any rules to how many they take in each year but are slowing down at the moment.

Lou said that when recruiting new artists, they are flexible and don’t have any hard, fast rules. They take recommendations from their other showcased artists, or maybe see someone’s work in another gallery and are interested to see more. He also mentioned that sometimes someone will walk in the gallery and introduce themselves and their work.

They have eight to nine shows every year. Each show lasts five weekends in the summer, but in the winter and fall it can last a little longer. Lou expressed that choosing the length of a show is tricky because they want to give people enough to come and see the show, but they also want to have as many shows as possible, especially in the summer because there are many festivals, farmers’ markets, and family-friendly adventure parks in the Berkshires. Great Barrington was named the #1 best small town by Smithsonian Magazine!

ART BY WARNER FRIEDMAN

Their website features a section for their art fair titled Art on Paper, which was located in NYC and ran from September 7th to 10th, 2023. Art on Paper is a distinction that only includes works made with paper or board, not canvas, wood, or any other material. The many forms of paper art include sculpting, drawings, paintings, and prints. Their first fair had seven participants, but they will probably include fewer artists in the future.

ART BY GORDON CHANDLER

Who is precious little life?

When hearing the name “Precious Little Life,” Scott Pilgrim might come to mind… but not in the world of noise-pop music! Precious little life is a “noise-pop band for people who like emo” from Manalapan, New Jersey. They consist of Ivy on vocals and guitar, Brian on drums, Meg on keys and vocals, and Sam on guitar. Since meeting in college, precious little life have been releasing music consistently since 2018. Their music is upbeat and alternative with a futuristic sound, while still featuring deeper meanings in the lyrics. They have a variety of different songs, making every first listening experience a unique one! I was lucky enough to interview PLL and learn more about them as a band. The following is a Q&A interview that allows the authentically positive personalities of PLL to come forward.

What inspired you to create precious little life?

Ivy: For all the other band’s I’ve played in, I sort of took more of a backseat role in the writing process with a few exceptions here and there. Precious little life was the first time where I was able to write parts for everything and make something that was cohesively me. I was finally able to do the same things my friends were doing but, at the time, by myself. And now, I get to play these songs with people who can play each of those parts waaaaay better than I can.

What is the story behind the name of your band?

Ivy: Like every 2010’s teen, I really liked Scott Pilgrim. Like, reeeeeally liked Scott Pilgrim. Had all the books, movie, video game, even a few POP! figures when those came out. Precious little life is actually the name of the first book in that series, and it kind of just stuck. Most people call us Pretty Little Liars anyway.

Tell us a little about your connection as a band. Have you been friends for a long time, or did you meet when first forming your band?

Ivy: Brian and I met a few years ago while at UArts, he played at the first house show I went to in my freshman year and I asked him that night to jam sometime. We played in a postpunky shoegaze project for a little bit before getting together to translate precious little life into a full band sound. Brian has been one of the only musicians who fully understands what I’m going for, and I am forever grateful for that. Meg and Sam joined the project recently (this past summer); Meg and I also met at UArts and after they filled in a few times on keys while our bass player at the time was touring with another band, it just worked so freaking well. Sam and I met through a mutual friend and just by playing shows. They are one of the most talented guitar players (and drummers) I’ve ever seen, so I asked them to jam with us and the rest is history.

Meg: Ivy and I went to college together for a couple years, but I first was introduced to precious little life when Ivy and I started dating (we’ve been together for over two years now :D). It was maybe a week and a half after we began dating that I went to my first ever house show. There, I met Brian for the first time, so I’ve known those two for quite a long time. I ended up going to a ton of shows just to support/be a bit of a roadie for them at times. I met Sam while at a show for their other project, Bristoltooth, maybe 3 months before I officially started playing with PLL, so for me, I knew everybody prior to playing with them.

Who writes the music for your band? Only the members, or do you collaborate with others outside of your group?

Ivy: Everything we have up on streaming and bandcamp was written by me, with the songs off of our semi-recent split with Mechanical Canine being the only songs that feature people other than myself on the recordings. We have a new release coming up soon that features everyone in the current iteration of PLL on it, and it’s really raw since they’re all live recordings of us, which was really refreshing and fun to work on.

PHOTO BY @SHOWER_WRENCH

Who are your biggest musical inspirations?

Ivy: For old/current-PLL specifically, Brave Little Abacus, Jimmy Eat World, Weatherday, my dead girlfriend; for the new stuff, definitely Dismemberment Plan, Faraquet, The Anniversary, and specifically first album Sweet Trip.

Meg: I have a huge range of inspirations when it comes to music, but when specifically talking about PLL, bands like Invalids, Gabba Ghoul, and Rx Bandits inspire me the most.

Who is Kurt? Where did he come from?

Ivy: Ok, so Kurt is a squishmallow turtle I got back around 2019 (I think), and he’s been an emotional support friend ever since then. The little homie got me through 20202021, and kept me calm during tours and an abusive relationship I was in around this time. When I recorded Kurt Antho Vol. 1, I needed an album cover, so I took a picture of Kurt in my childhood home bathroom near a window and gave it to my friend (shoutout Rob Mattsson) (listen to Fence) who made it the coolest album art I’ve ever seen.

Which song of yours is your favorite? Which song speaks to you the most?

Ivy: We have a song that’s going to be on our aforementioned new release called Easy Comma Breezy that HITS. DIFFERENT. I just love how it sounds, especially with all the intricate little things everyone adds to it to make it really interesting. Other than that, either Kirby Cola or Joppa Fallston (a new song that’s in a crazy switching meter pattern before going into almost the same chord progression as “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman for some reason).

Meg: Heresy, easy answer. Even when I just heard it as an acoustic track, I fell in love with the melody and lyrics. As someone who is also gender non-conforming, the meaning behind the lyrics of Heresy spoke to me in a way that I really needed when I first listened to it.

Which song of yours would you suggest to a first-time listener?

Ivy: We put out a new song recently called dreamland, and I think it’s the most listenable thing that we have out right now (most of the older stuff I considered a rough draft for a full LP release to be honest). If you want to dig deeper, Kirby Cola and Ode To Kurt show off the wacky energy we have live pretty well.

Meg: Kirby Cola! It’s a classic, and I think it’s perfect for a first time listener because of how high energy and catchy it is. I think it also portrays how we sound and the amount of energy we have live really well.

What is your goal with your band? To leave an impact, fame, or just to do what you love?

Ivy: I just love f****** around and finding out to be honest. It’s fun to be fully cathartic onstage and let it all out, especially with your friends and family by your side. I don’t really focus on lyrics when I write songs, but if someone resonates with anything that we put out, I’ll be happy.

Meg: As much as I’m more than content just being a part of this band to do what I love, I think my goal is to show other musicians that it is possible to find the people who will want to create art with you, no matter how alone you may feel at any given moment. It’s possible, and it’s a really wonderful thing to experience.

Tell us about your experience performing. How do you prepare for a performance? Are there any performances of yours that stand out to you?

Ivy: As bad as it sounds, I like to drink a little bit before our set. A shot of tequila or something. It loosens me up and puts any loose ends in check. Other than that, I just try to have as much fun as possible, even if I look really stupid doing it. I feel like if I go all out, other people at the show will feel more comfortable moving to the music and overall enjoy it a little bit more. We’ve been experimenting with me cutting out certain guitar parts to focus on vocals, with one song having me put down my guitar all together and just grabbing the mic, hopping off stage, and going absolutely bonkers. It’s been really fun recently.

Meg: I have an entire note in my phone of all the parts I play for every song in our possible set. I’ll usually look over that a bit before a show to refresh my memory, but I also keep it open on my keyboard in case I have a moment of panic and forget what I’m supposed to play next. Of the performances that stand out to me, as weird as this may be, it was a performance around Halloween of last year when I wasn’t officially a part of the band yet. Ivy and I did an acoustic two piece set (Ivy on guitar/vocals, me on vocals), and the audience was just SO receptive and energetic. It made me feel at home onstage for the first time in a long time.

PHOTO BY @DEEPFRIEDPORKROLL

What are your plans for the future of your music?

Ivy: I want this project to be much more collaborative; everyone in the band right now has so much talent and I want to learn from them and grow to be a better musician while also writing songs that just hit. Like I said earlier, we have a release in the works right now, plus another fun split release with our friends coming sometime in 2024. Other than that, we want to re-record a few old songs soon, plus a few new ones, and release that as a big project, but we don’t have all the details on that one quite yet.

Meg: We’ve all talked about a lot of different directions we want to take our overall sound, so I think what’s next is us working together to write new songs that fit the image we have in our heads. I’m also in the process of learning how to play bass, so that will hopefully be another cool edition when I get comfortable enough with it!

WRITTEN BY Isabella Schlim

EDITED BY Amelia Capron

DESIGNED BY Paige Mesropian

PHOTO BY @1VY.JPEG, @DESECRATEDGRAVEPLOT

Zak Miskry is a self-taught artist based in the UK who builds sculptures of animals and insects out of old technology. Instead of throwing away electronics that no longer work for their intended purposes, Miskry upcycles these devices, turning them into beautiful and impactful works of art. I was given the wonderful opportunity to interview Zak Miskry about his artwork, and his responses below give insight into his experience in creating these sculptures and the messages he hopes to convey through his work.

How did you come up with the idea to create artwork out of technology?

Whenever I get asked this question, I wish I had a better answer, but honestly it was pretty much a bit of random luck. I made my first sculpture for a school art project — we had all been assigned themes and mine was “creepy crawlies.” When it came to choosing our final pieces for the year, I was procrastinating quite a bit, and my teacher told me I had until the end of the day to decide what I’d be doing. With about five minutes left of the lesson and nothing springing to mind, I was caught by said teacher attempting to juggle with some objects from the still life box. To avoid the inevitable scolding, I panicked and said I wasn’t messing around, and was in fact going to make a sculpture out of the item I was holding when she had walked in. That just so happened to be a random junk metal part and I ran with it.

How do you gain inspiration for specific pieces?

Generally, it happens in two distinct ways. Sometimes I will see a specific part that really reminds me of a particular creature, and I will build the entire piece around that. A good example of this happening would be the two frogs I’ve made, where I was taking apart an old radio and found these two incredible speakers with a beautiful green patina. As soon as I saw them my mind just went “now that’s a frog.” On the other hand, sometimes I just sit down and think, “what would be a cool animal to make.” Once I’ve chosen one, I will go and find the parts that fit with it.

What does your creative process look like?

It almost always starts out with a sketch; this helps me get the scale right and get a general idea what the piece is going to look like. I’ll then go and do some research on the animal and get a load of reference images that I can work with. The most difficult thing is always finding the parts. This process can take days, weeks, and even months, but I try to get enough parts to build the entire piece before I actually start proper construction. This usually involves a lot of blue tac and attempts to visualize the finished piece in my head, essentially looking at parts and building it in my mind first. In terms of the physical build, I use large macro parts to build a framework or skeleton for the piece, then layer smaller parts almost like “skin” layered on top. Once that’s done, I add circuit board components for the colors and details.

You mentioned on your Instagram that you started making these metal sculptures when you were about 15.

How has your creative process and artistic style changed since then?

There has definitely been a significant evolution over the years with my style shifting. The best way to describe it would be to say that my pieces have become more “refined.” This is partly due to my investments into equipment that allows me to modify parts, but also how I approach a piece. Now there is a strong focus on symmetry, and there’s more emphasis on the electronic components than before. A noticeable change is that I started using color — typically in the form of resistors and capacitors — which I feel adds more life to my current pieces. I also try to highlight sustainability and recycling as the ethos behind my work. This wasn’t originally an intention of mine when I made my first pieces, but it’s something that became more important to me, because in the pursuit of materials I realized how much incredible technology was discarded while still having immense value.

What is your favorite and least favorite aspect of turning old technology into art?

My favorite aspect of my work is always adding the final details and color to a piece. I often find that I don’t actually like my work until the finishing touches have been added, so it’s a huge relief seeing it all come together. It also helps that I find the components mesmerizing, so sorting through them and picking which ones to adorn a piece with makes me feel like I’m in the goonies stuffing my pockets with treasure and jewels. In terms of my least favorite aspect, it’s probably filming and editing social media content. It’s become such an important aspect of my job that I feel guilty if I’m not filming something, but it slows me down massively and I have to divert brain power away from the art into things like making sure I’m getting the right camera angles.

What was the most challenging piece to create, and why?

The most challenging piece was definitely the butterfly, for several reasons, but mainly because it was my first time welding. I was commissioned by a tech company to make the butterfly so that they could display it in their offices. At this point I was still making all my sculptures in my spare time from my bedroom with superglue. I knew to secure the commission I wouldn’t be able to say this, and when I was asked about how strong the piece would be and how I would build it, I told them that I would be welding all the metal connections. I could only afford my welding system using the money from the commission, so I wasn’t able to buy it and practice to find out if it would actually work how I wanted it to, so it felt like a huge gamble. Once I had secured the commission, I had to teach myself how to weld and develop this entirely new technique on a very tight timescale, all while working my regular 9-5 job. Thankfully it all worked out, but there were many moments of disaster when I found certain metals wouldn’t weld together and had to entirely rethink huge sections of the build.

What message do you hope people will come away with after viewing your work?

I try to convey two main messages in my work. One, that our overconsumption and love affair with technology is rapidly destabilizing and encroaching on the natural world, represented by animals that have been “replaced” by technological elements. Two, that the things we throw away still have so much value and can be repurposed and utilized in entirely new ways. I’ve found that people really relate to this element, one of my most viral reels was me picking up scrap metal I found on the streets and turning it into my art, with the caption “just because someone threw it away, doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful.” Since posting that I’ve had more messages and comments than I can count from people telling me that it’s helped them realize they have value, and a different environment/person would see that. That has been incredibly fulfilling and I am so glad I could help even one person feel a bit better about themselves.

thing I’d say is social media can be amazing (but also pretty terrible). It would feel silly if I didn’t say something about social media when without it the only people to see my art would’ve been close friends, and this interview wouldn’t be happening. With close to half a million followers on Instagram, social media has allowed me to share my work with tens of millions of people around the world, but it took years of posting (with zero success) until my art started to

Although Zak Miskry’s metal sculptures originated from “a bit of random luck,” his work has since become more “refined.” Miskry also now focuses more on the message of sustainability and recycling with each piece he creates. Hopefully after viewing Zak Miskry’s artwork, people can gain a better understanding of the harmful effects of overconsumption of technology on our natural environment and how old electronics can be repurposed instead of thrown away.

WRITTEN BY

EDITED BY

BY

BY

Angela Murray

Amelia Farrin

DESIGNED

Isabella Schlim PHOTOS

Sophie Tuckwell Kobi Westwood

With Julian Voss-Andreae

Julian Voss-Andreae is a German sculptor based out of Portland, Oregon. He builds large sculptures that create the illusion of people appearing and disappearing when viewed from different angles. His background studying quantum physics and philosophy provides him with a unique scientific perspective on reality and the dimensionality of his work.

PHOTO BY JULIAN VOSS-ANDREAE

When did you start having an interest in sculptures?

I did not have a whole lot of interest in sculpture until age 29, even though I was very much into drawing and painting in my youth. Before developing an interest in sculpture, I made a kind of detour through quantum physics, which I studied for almost a decade at different universities in Europe. In addition to interpreting the measurements you get to design and build experiments as a physicist. This building and designing things in 3-D was really fun. During the time of my graduate research, I found myself at a conference/workshop for natural scientists which offered an opportunity to make ones own sculpture, so I made the first sculpture in my life, carved from a piece of 4” x 4” lumber. At that conference I also met a woman I fell in love with, and I ended up moving to the USA [originally from Germany] to be with her. (We are still married today.)

I went to Art College in Portland and one of my first art classes was a sculpture class. The first assignment there was to create a mitered cut sculpture. I realized that there is an intriguing analogy between compound mitered cuts and DNA and amino acid chains folding into specific shapes in that an essentially one-dimensional material gets ‘curled up’ into space to become a threedimensional object. I set out to write software that translates scientific protein data into cutting instructions to make mitered cut sculptures according to that idea. That’s how I got started with sculptures.

How does your background in philosophy and quantum physics inform your sculptures?

I decided to study physics because I was blown away by what I had read about quantum physics. I felt very strongly that the lessons that can be learned from quantum physics are so fundamental that it would not be sufficient to simply trust other people’s writings on the topic. I felt it was really important for me to do those experiments myself to gain direct insight without an interpreter in the middle. The ontological shock that comes with exposing yourself to the physics that transcends classical Newtonian physics was an important driver in my sculpture work, and still is today to some degree. I didn’t study a whole lot of philosophy, but it was actually through a philosophy of science course in university that I got into quantum physics initially.

PHOTO BY JULIAN VOSS-ANDREAE

Why do many of your pieces depict people?

So far, I have never been interested in purely abstract work, neither in 2-D nor in 3-D. When I started out doing sculptures based on the structure of proteins, even those works already tended to be the most interesting to me if they had an anthropomorphic quality to them. Also earlier, when I was into drawing and painting, my favorite subject was always people; others or myself. I have always been a bit obsessed with people and as long as I can remember, a lot of my waking time was spent observing others and myself, both the appearance and behavior, and being endlessly fascinated by that. Maybe this is because I’m a human myself, I don’t know. But it seems a bit more extreme than in most other people I know. I came to think of our bodies in space as an echo or a projection of something much deeper, much more fundamental; what we experience as a fellow human being here seems just one small facet of a much larger and, I imagine, profoundly more powerful, entity. One aspect of my work is that I want to hint at that essence. And creating images and mappings of the human body is a vehicle for me to do this.

How did you get the idea of transformative sculptures?

I had the amazing opportunity to participate in a seminal experiment in Anton Zeilinger’s lab in Vienna, capturing the essence of ‘quantum weirdness’: We sent a large soccerball shaped molecule, Carbon-60 “Buckminsterfullerene”, through a double-slit setup, thus being able to demonstrate wave-particle duality for the largest molecules ever. My former boss Zeilinger actually received the Physics Nobel Prize for his research recently. The logical conclusion of this quest for establishing quantum behavior for ever larger chunks of matter is: What would it be like if I, as a human being, were to become the quantum object and go through this setup myself? What would it feel like to propagate through space as a “matter wave” and find myself a particle again afterwards? Inspired by thinking about how the mathematical entity representing a moving human would look like in quantum physics, I came up with a visual metaphor: A walking person consisting of parallel slabs of steel with gaps in between them, representing the wavefronts running perpendicular to the direction of motion.

I drew the outline free hand on an 8’ tall block of Styrofoam and started carving with a hot knife. In subsequent steps I sliced up the carved figure, tracing the resulting shapes onto steel sheets, and cutting them out with a plasma cutter. Connecting neighboring layers with hundreds of steel pins, I welded all the shapes together. Only after completing the sculpture and walking around it for the first time, I realized that its appearance drastically changed from solid to virtually disappearing. That’s how this body

of segmented works started in 2006. From that point on it started evolving slowly. The next versions were made an edition in stainless steel and I started using laser cutting because I preferred the visual effect the light has, reflecting off the clean-cut edges. In 2012, I departed from the literal physics analogy and made the direction of the figure’s gaze the direction where the work ‘disappears’ because that felt right to me – it feels so special to lock eyes with someone and at the precise point you do that with one of those works, it disappears from your view.

PHOTO

What is the process of creating a sculpture?

My approach to making a sculpture has evolved quite a bit over the years. I made everything by hand in the beginning and that process has stepwise become digitized until today, where I’m doing essentially everything on the computer. I still sometimes make initial drawings or clay-tweaks to objects by hand but then, very quickly, I model in the computer, either in 3-D or in 2-D. At the end of each of my workflows I am left with hundreds of shapes that are typically sent to be laser-cut out of steel or cast in bronze or machined. Typically, I design the works to the point where they are essentially giant puzzles of parts that then get

What has your journey through art looked like?

I have always been interested in art, but mostly from the point of view of expressing my own creativity. I tend to be less interested in other people’s art even though there are some artists whose work I like a lot. I’m also not very interested in the world of ‘academic’ art. So far, I have had amazing success in creating works that have sold very well for several years. But the problem is that my own thinking about the works and what I have learned remains largely with me. I would love to start getting more into sharing “what is beyond the individual works.” To that end I very recently started to work on a museum exhibition where I plan to showcase many interconnected works together which has been a lot of fun to think about.

PHOTO BY JULIAN VOSS-ANDREAE

PHOTO BY ORION NIJMAN

How has your art career impacted your life?

I’ve been a full-time sculptor for two full decades this year. It has been an intense ride, and it was often scary, especially the first decade. Eventually, I was able to sell my first works and then make some money here and there, and then with ever more steadiness. For the past several years I have been able to support my family and a team of amazing fabricators and artisans with my work. There are currently 10 people besides myself on payroll in my studio. I am looking forward to go to work every day, and after work I’m able to read and explore whatever I want, trusting that it will somehow enter into my artmaking process at some point. My increasing distance to the sciences, and with it the loosening grip of its pervasive mindset, has allowed me to rely ever more heavily on my intuition, and, as that gets stronger, finding ever more ‘bits of information.’ I’m working on collecting those precious bits that resonate with me. It feels like they are coalescing into the sketch of a worldview that has the potential to transcend our current paradigm, a paradigm that I feel is holding us back. Even though I am using the plural here, it is at the end of the day an intensely personal endeavor, because I am working toward finding ‘my own truth.’’ I feel very fortunate that this goal and my career both pull in the same direction.

Do you have any advice for aspiring artists?

If you are an artist, you know that this life is about finding your own voice. You have no choice but to follow your passion because if you don’t, chances are that you’ll end up doing something that is neither meaningful nor fun. Also, only if you do what you’re passionate about, can you become good at it. This world is full of constraints, and it is important to cultivate an attitude that it is on you how you deal with these constraints. Instead of experiencing the obstacles and the pain from a victim perspective, it is helpful to think of them as a kind of catalyst, almost like a gift that was given to you in order to aid you in your path. Because I regard myself as very lucky in this life, I feel somewhat conflicted to espouse a message along the lines of “you can do it if you really want.” But there is some truth to it, and it is critically important to be brave. It’s important to learn to follow your nose. At the end of the day, what are you here for? This is a scary life but also an incredibly precious opportunity to learn and grow. All you must do is choose to do so.

PHOTO BY KIM CAMPBELL

PHOTO BY JOCHEN SCHREIER

WRITTEN BY Erin Tilley EDITED BY Ray Karaczun DESIGNED BY Anthony Stancato

PHOTO BY JOCHEN SCHREIER

STUDENT GALLERY

“REFLECTIVE SELF PORTRAIT”

GIANNA CHIARENZA

“MOONLIT BEETLE”

SARAH LAPIERRE

“DISTORTION”

YEM SHIFERAHU

“FRAGARIA HEART”

DANIELA LOPEZ

“BARED GRACE” SOMMER BARNHILL

“MY HEART AND I” PAIGE MESROPIAN

“UNTITLED” ANDREW MAKARY

“MOST NATURAL THOUGHTS” KEY LOKEN

STUDENT GALLERY

“CREEPY COMPANIONS” ATLLAS STONE

“UNTITLED” SYDNEY PASTORELLO

“INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS” JAMIE KINTERIS

“UNTITLED” CARTER GETCHELL

“SUNFLOWER” ALLYSON KIRCK

“UNTITLED” SYDNEY BRUNDAGE

“BUTTERFLY EYES” ISABELLA ROUSE

STUDENT GALLERY

“JUST A GIRL” JOHANNA SNYDER

“UNTITLED” ABBY DAMKE

“LAS MONTAÑAS” HAMPTON CLANCY

“UNTITLED” MELANIE VRABEL

“INFERNAL IMPRESSIONS”

TRAN QUOC HUY LE

“INFERNAL IMPRESSIONS”

ANTHONY STANCATO

“THE OTTER-SEA”

MADDIE SEWADE

“UNTITLED”

CAMERON LEBLANC

STUDENT GALLERY

“AFTER

“THE

“UNTITLED”

“HEART TEAPOT”

LIV WEST

CHALICE OF CHAMPIONS”

ISAAC GOLDBERG

A NIGHT OUT”

SHAYLA GUTOWSKI

MICHAEL ST CLAIR

“TAYLOR

“UNTITLED”

“COIL

“MY MODERN PAST” MAYA LACLAIRE

JENNA MESSINA

SWIFT 22” TEAPOT MICHAEL PETRIE

POT WITH SGRAFFITO FLOWERS” MADELINE LEUNG

On the last day of the world you sit under a willow tree plucking dead grass from the earth’s scalp. You watch the sky crinkle, silver splinters of lighting break the clouds. Children ride their bikes off the cliffside. The sea takes its final shuddering breath. The sun retreats under the horizon , lays its head down to rest. Ash falls like snow on your eyelashes, blanketing the ground. Everything dissolves. All that you loved, all that you hated. The notches in the doorframe, the stains in the carpet.

You run your hands across your face and lips and hair. You look for your reflection in the sky. You search for proof. Proof that for a single fleeting moment you were alive, and you existed, and you will remember even when the world forgets.

WRITTEN BY Amelia Farrin

EDITED BY Amelia Capron

DESIGNED BY Jamie Kinteris

ILLUSTRATED BY Jamie Kinteris

I was not born a man who was under the delusion he was God. I wonder how many unhallowed graves he unearthed, how many charnel houses he depraved, before he finished his crude experiment. I like to imagine my father did the deplorable deed himself, but it is more reasonable to believe he paid others to complete the task.

The biting winter winds meekly nip at my flesh. I cannot feel its sting.

I am a patchwork of liars, cheats, and criminals I am the assimilation of many, and yet I am no one. Perhaps my femur once belonged to a psychotic lunatic at the gallows, or perhaps it belonged to an estranged mother left bloodless on the street.

I will soon have the chance to ask my father this.

Upon my creation, my birth, he abandoned me. He wept in terror at his own transgressions of the natural order.

I, his undesired monstrosity, his meticulous titan, was meant to be beautiful– meant to be as enticing as I was in life. Thin sutures hold my yellow, jaundiced skin together. He laughed at the faceof God when he attempted to create perfection from that which was already dead. He enacted a ritual he was unprepared to conclude. He has forsaken my existence. He left me unintelligible and idiotic.

But I have not forgotten. I am almost upon him.

I have no name because I am unnamable. I cannot walk among the people, my behemoth size consuming space and drawing their clear, observant eyes. Why give a child a name when it is unwanted? Those who see me never exclaim the same title. Creature. Fiend. Specter. Dæmon. Devil. Thing. I am not human, but something analogous to them– to my wretched creator– to the man who renounced me.

I remember her, the one who showed me benevolence.

The girl was dying when I pulled her from the water. The harsh, devouring waves would have taken her had I not found her. When I held her close to my heart, I felt something I had not yet known. Intimacy. Warmth. Companionship. She clung to me as a French sailor might have as his frigate sank and the unforgivable ocean roiled. I was her protector– her savior. I could be for her what my father was not for me. I let myself relish in the dream of a family of my own. Would she accept me despite my hideous nature? Would she accept me without a partner with which to raise her?

Would she want me?

The pain destroyed the dream. I knew then that I would never be welcomed in the houses of men. I brought her from the river, from the cusp of death. All I received in return was the blinding pain of a firearm. She already had a father. He despised me. The girl did not need me, but I needed her. I need someone or something to join me in my unlife.

But I will always be alone because I am not a man. I am nothing but lifeless matter.

I know my creator is here in the frigid solitude of the Alps. I have often thought how easy it would be to relinquish myself to the sea– to the cold embrace of the waters of the River Styx. A young boy might find my cadaver and claim me as an anathema of the brackish waves. In death, I could become something greater: a story. I could be a cyclopean beast from the depths of the sea, a cautionary tale for sailing in storms. The boy will tell his father– his caring progenitor– and show him what’s left of me. But upon his return the waves would offer me their solace, dragging my soul back into their strange embrace. If only my father admired me.

Every day I hope my body will finally collapse and put an end to my hellish existence. I am a corpse with a mind. My being is torture. I cannot have what I want most. But... What is it I want? Is it death? Is it revenge? Or is it love?

Alas, I cannot divulge that which has not yet been decided. There is something I mean to do. For months I have searched for my parasite of a father. He has made himself scarce, hiding at the peak of isolation, in an attempt to flee from me. He abandoned me before knowing me. He stole my chance at the tenderness of a mother’s embrace, of the soft touch of a lover, of paradise eternal. I have no love for I am unlovable.

I am alone, but not for long.

I can see him now, at the summit across a sea of ice and snow, my creator. The maker will meet his creation. He will hear my long and strange tale. He will know what I seek most– what will provide me with paradise. He will give me love. He will understand and offer his child what it wants most.

Frankenstein will play God once more, and he will create me a lover.

WRITTEN BY Jessamin McSwain, Solstice MFA in Creative Writing

EDITED BY Amelia Farrin

DESIGNED BY Abby Damke

ILLUSTRATED BY Abby Damke

WRITTEN BY Roan Ryan

EDITED BY Xhoana Cuni

DESIGNED BY Aaliyah Wyman

ILLUSTRATED BY Atllas Stone

No Tears Left to Shed

WRITTEN BY Jade Durkee

EDITED BY Ray Karaczun

DESIGNED BY Perrin Grubb

ILLUSTRATED BY Amelia Capron

WRITTEN BY Xhoana Cuni

EDITED BY Ray Karaczun

DESIGNED BY Angela Murray

ILLUSTRATED BY Erin Tilley

middle child

How does one feel alone in a crowded room?

Their existence like dust, swept away with a broom. Voices collapsed, faces blended.

Why is this soul beyond tormented?

Paranoia, melancholy, attention all symptoms far from perfection.

When did this all begin?

Genetics can be cruel to their kin.

Morrell

SPONSORS

The Tarnished team would like to thank our sponsors that made the production of this issue possible. Their generosity and collaboration makes it so our readers can hold this volume in their hands. We deeply appreciate their partnerships and look forward to many more successful collaborations.

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PAPER

Mohawk Practical Collection

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Interior pages:

weight: 80# text

Cover stock:

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TYPEFACES

Header/Subheader:

Veneer Regular by Ryan Martinson

Yellow Design Studio

Body:

Stevie Sans Book by Marconi Lima

Typefolio Foundry

WHAT THE HECK IS A COLOPHON

A colophon—sometimes called a printer’s note— is a dedicated page for paper and printing credit in a publication, such as a student-run art and literature magazine.

You’re reading one of those right now!

Now you know! :)

ABOUT TARNISHED

Tarnished Magazine started as idea in the vibrant mind of Professor Stephen Fischer (now retired) in 2012. Known as PF to his students, he sought to create a counterpoint to Polished Magazine, covering visual and literary arts, as well as arts culture. He wanted the magazine to be a place celebrating unexpected beauty—or, rather, beauty found in unexpected places. Over the years, the scope may have widened, but the spirit of PF’s early charge lives on. Perhaps it’s ironic that the magazine itself can be expected to deliver beauty to its readers, including the jurors of the Columbia Scholastic Press’s annual student publication contest. They have awarded the publication its Gold Crown, as well as Gold, Silver, Bronze, Circle awards, several years in a row, which is a credit to both its originator and to the many talented students who have carried forth the mission with such award-winning quality and style.

A note from the faculty advisor

As the new faculty advisor for our cherished magazine, it is both an honor and a privilege to step into the role once held by the legendary Professor Stephen Fischer. The torch has been passed, and I am both thrilled and humbled to support and guide the Tarnished team as they produced this current issue.

I am inspired by the exceptional work of our students, who, from the early days of the fall semester, displayed remarkable initiative and dedication. They have crafted a beautifully designed magazine that reflects diverse voices and talents that span continents and cultures.

Congratulations and sincere gratitude go to all who contributed to the success of this issue, with special recognition for our Art Director, Erin Tilley. Erin was at the helm from the beginning, organizing, and working diligently to make all these moving pieces come together. Much appreciation goes to our Art Editor, Jamie Kinteris, and Managing Editor, Ray Karaczun, whose tireless efforts and talents were instrumental in shaping this edition.

And, finally, heartfelt thanks goes out to the students in my Publication Design class for their endless patience and enthusiasm! Thank you for welcoming me, and trusting me, as your new advisor for Tarnished. I look forward to many more issues to come.