Project Archive
Here is an up-to-date chronologically-ordered list of personal projects and/or client work I’ve done in the last few years. It is a varied mix of design (web and other), sculpture, costume, illustration, event planning, and more.
I also have projects or been featured in the books, Handmade Nation (2008), Tease: 50 Inspired T-Shirt Transformations by Superstars of Art, Craft & Design (2006), The Crafter Culture Handbook (2007), and The Pillow Book (2008). In 2005 I was featured in a Time Magazine article about young and crafty ladies running their own businesses.
I am always happy to hear of possible projects to be involved in — please get in touch if you have an idea.
- Or, browse projects by type:
- Web Design
- Events
- Sculpture
- Print design
- Costumes
- Illustration
- Big Projects
- Performance
AIGA Detroit E-Newsletter Header Illustration
January 2012 — Illustration I hand-drew this illustration for the monthly e-mail newsletter of Detroit’s chapter of AIGA. Traci Williams is responsible for the rest of the template’s design. More details here!
Beezy’s Cafe Website, version 2
December 2011 — Web Design Website re-design for Ypsilanti’s best cafe! Design and code are mine; visuals are loosely based on the client’s print advertisements as requested. I used Typekit for this one!
Krampus Costume Ball Event & Decorations
December 2010 & December 2011 — Event In lieu of a standard Shadow Art Fair, with vendors and live music and other activities, in 2010 we organizers instead decided to throw a Krampus Costume Ball, with costumes and DJs and dancing. We repeated the idea in 2011.
To create the proper ambiance in the Brewery we made festive decorations out of trash and other discarded items, by painting them gold and stringing them around the room.
For photos from the event, see these here (2010) and these here (2011), all taken by AnnArbor.com. And these here (2011) in our Flickr set.
Krampus Costume Ball Costume for the Lady Krampus
December 2011 — Costumes For the 2011 Krampus Costume Ball, we decided to give the Krampus a partner — the Lady Krampus. Chris Sandon and I collaborated on this costume that is made of discarded rugs, stretch glitter velvet, faux fur, and metallic spandex.
(This photo by Vinnie Massimino. A more static photo of her exists here.)
Krampus Costume Ball Marie Antoinette-esque Costume
December 2011 — Costumes I needed a costume myself for the 2011 Krampus Costume Ball! I’ve always wanted to work on an elaborate Marie Antoinette-esque costume, and I decided to do that for this event. So many ruffles, it was like decorating a cake!
(Original photo by Vinnie Massimino here.)
Krampus Costume Ball Polaroid Postcard
December 2011 — Print Design A collaboration with Vinnie Massimino, these two-sided postcards served as a mounting surface for the event’s Polaroid photo booth. Hand-pulled screen prints with screens saved from the dumpster!
E-mail Newsletters for Mast Shoes
Fall 2009 – present — Web Design Quarterly HTML e-mail newsletters for local independent shoe store Mast Shoes. I work with the content provided and create a newsletter that displays consistently across various email clients. (Tables inside tables inside tables!)
For examples of actual newsletters on the web, see here (summer 2011) and here (fall 2011).
Crimes & Punishments Illustrations for LSA Magazine
March 2011 — Illustration Illustrations to accompany written works by author J. Robert Lennon, for the Spring 2011 issue of the University of Michigan's LSA Magazine.
Jennifer’s Dove Close-up Challenge Video
March 2011 — Performance My friend Jennifer has a dream of being on Dancing With The Stars, and so she enlisted the help of Chris Sandon and myself to make a video for the “Dove Challenge.” The video had certain requirements for copy and length. We banged it out in 5 hours, start to finish.
Watch the video here! (note: it will take a while to download initially)
Krampus Costume Ball Poster
December 2010 — Print Design We Shadow Art Fair organizers decided for our first Krampus event that we would design our poster ourselves, since it was a new event and we had a specific “feel” we were trying to achieve. (Normally Shadow Art Fair posters are created through a design contest open to all.) Loosely based on Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights,” the poster's panels feature the three main events of the evening: the costume ball itself; the march through the city; and the drag event.
I worked with Ryan Groendyk and Chris Sandon on this 3-color, completely hand-drawn poster.
Krampus Costume Ball Costume for the Krampus
December 2010 — Costume As part of the Krampus event, we wanted to have an actual Krampus running amok handing out punishments, as he does in Germany. Chris Sandon and I worked together to make this costume out of old rugs, swimwear lycra, and a wrestler’s helmet.
Please note Krampus’ punishment stick and balls. And nipples.
Krampus Costume Ball Monster Sci Fi Prom Costume
December 2010 — Costume I needed a costume for myself to wear to the Costume Ball. Details here!
Severed Unicorn Head Superstore
August 2007 – present (sort of) — Big Project For all of your severed unicorn head needs. An experiment in e-commerce and abusurdity. Website here. Also check the Flickr set here for more imagery and behind-the-scenes-info.
Shadow Art Fairs
July 2006 – present — Event The Shadow Art Fair is an arts-event that my friends and I put together once a year in Ypsilanti, inviting artists and crafters to show their goods for a 12-hour span on a Saturday in July. We often add other elements to the event, such as live music, specially-brewed beers, sculptural art races, performance art, children’s activities, and more. We implemented an Arts Grant in 2008 using proceeds from the 2 cent admission at the door.
More info on the website!
Mast Shoes Website
September 2010 — Web Design Redesign for this independently-owned shoe store in Ann Arbor. Design and code are mine.
Wizard of Oz Illustrations for RC News magazine
August 2010 — Illustration Illustrations for an article in the fall 2010 issue of University of Michigan’s RC News magazine.
Banana Suit
July 2010 — Costume Banana suit! Created with Chris Sandon, and featured at the 2010 Art Race, among other places.
Dreamland Tonight T-shirt Design
June 2010 — Print Design T-shirt design for the puppet-hosted latenite talk show in Ypsilanti. Ryan Groendyk and I collaborated on this design.
Vinyl Bear Sculptures
March 2010 — Sculpture With complicated titles. On the left is, “It was a factory mistake, it is worth about $4500”, and on the right is, “Since the craze is on hiatus most are worth hardly anything”. I made these during the five minutes I was in grad school and they were in the student show. They are about Beanie Babies and consumerism and the value of things.
Fire Suit
March 2010 — Costume Chris is on fire! Tulle was attached to a workman’s jumpsuit with velcro, so they can be ripped off when the fire is “out.”
Peacock Illustration
March 2010 — Illustration A 19 x 25 ink drawing I did for fun. I framed it and gave it to my mom.
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Peepooh
March 2010 — Performance The Shadow Art Fair’s presentation of/introduction to the Animation portion of the 2010 Ann Arbor Film Festival. More info and video here.
Soft Bling
November 2009 — Sculpture Oversized soft bling made with various foil-printed lycras. Shown at the “Spring 2010 Collection” show at Ann Arbor’s Gallery Project (2009) and the GOLD Show at Dreamland (2011).
FLY Children’s Art Center T-shirt Design
November 2009 — Print Design Ryan Groendyk and I created this t-shirt design for the Ypsilanti children's art organization, FLY.
Ultimate Pizza Sticker Packs
July 2009 — Print Design A further adventure in our pizza sticker theme, Ryan Groendyk and I created this set of stickers to hand out at the 2009 summer Shadow Art Fair. Each design was hand-drawn and hand-screen printed (and hand-cut — gah). Process photos here!
Shadow Art Fair Poster Design
May 2009 — Print Design Pizza + sunglasses = this poster design for the 2009 summer Shadow Art Fair. With assistance from Ryan Groendyk.
Ugly Mug T-shirt Design
May 2009 — Print Design T-shirt design for Ypsilanti’s best coffee shop! Another collaboration with Ryan Groendyk. Process photos here!
Washtenaw Community College Website Redesign
February 2009 — Web Design For the 2009 redesign of Washtenaw Community College’s website, I provided design support, illustration, and photography for many of the “special audience” pages, such as the Current Students one seen excerpted here. Other examples are the Future Students and Faculty & Staff pages.
Hugs & Gumbo
December 2008 — Performance Hugs & Gumbo was an interactive project that my friends Jennifer, Mark and I came up with for the 2008 winter Shadow Art Fair. For $5, visitors received a bowl of Jennifer’s homemade vegan gumbo, a Hugs & Gumbo sticker and zine, and a hug from one of the three of us. I hugged 26 friends and strangers that day.
I hand-drew the sticker/logo design, which we also had printed up on three t-shirts. I also designed the quarter-sized zine, which features drawings by Mark and myself, and stories from the H & G group about what hugging means to us.
Mark wrote up a nice post-event piece about the project here.
Beezy’s Cafe Website
November 2008 — Web Design Website design for Ypsilanti’s best cafe! Design and code are mine.
Note: this site has since been redesigned (by me).
Big Hairy Monster
July 2008 — Sculpture Ryan Groendyk and I created the Big Hairy Monster for the summer 2008 Shadow Art Fair. We also took it to DUCF in November 2008. And he was a guest at my friend Molly’s wedding in August 2009. Then he showed up at the Winter Doldrums show in April 2010. And then at Washtenaw Community College’s Welcome Day in September 2010.
The monster was made with five holes that we stuffed with handmade prizes like fortune cookies, one-inch buttons, fabric strawberries, sticker packs, and other goodies. Patrons of the monster are charged one dollar to reach inside.
He is made with a 2x4 skeleton, with chicken wire and paper mache over that, and a layer of thick batting over that, and currently resides in my mom’s basement.
Lots more photos here!
Severed Unicorn Head Superstore Birthday Party & Art Show
June 2008 — Event One year anniversary for the opening of the SUHS, and an excuse to make lots of unicorn heads and strawberry-poop and drink champagne (aka unicorn piss). I designed the promotional poster. In addition to art on the walls, thanks to my friend Mark Dickson we had four hot pink stereos playing recordings of people singing “Happy Birthday,” and a modified Teddy Ruxpin properly creeping everyone out. TeamScience and Manhole played live at the show. More photos on Flickr!
Severed Unicorn Head Superstore “Warm Hugs” Print
November 2008 — Print Design Hand-drawn 3-color screen print.
Severed Unicorn Head Superstore Business Cubes
November 2008 — Print Design Hand-drawn 1-color screen print with rubber “unicorn heads” inside. Handed out as business cards.
Crafters for Critters
2004 – 2008 — Big Project CFC was a fundraiser I created to raise money for animal rescue groups. Independent designers donated handmade goods which were sold in the shop, and proceeds donated to animal rescue. Approximately $14,000 was raised during its 4-year run. We took it to the Renegade Craft Fair in 2006, and during its run CFC appeared in publications like Bust, Vegetarian Times, Bitch, Venus Zine, and others.
Lekkner
2003 – 2007 — Big Project Lekkner was a clothing and accessory line I created and ran for 4 years. While at first it began as a place to show and sell all the extra stuff I had from sewing all the time, eventually t-shirt deconstruction/ reconstruction became my thing. In 2005 I was featured in a Time magazine article about young and crafty ladies. I was also asked to submit projects to a number of books during this time. A lot of opportunities to travel and meet new friends came as a result of this project! Website here.
