Themed Art Challenge
January 10, 2022
During the holidays we invited everyone -our artist members and the public alike- to participate in an all-medium themed art challenge. The themes were announced weekly: snow/ice, lights, cozy clothing, and holiday movies. Submissions did not have to be complete; it was simply a fun exercise in playing creatively. Participants used the hashtag #LACholiday2021 to include it in our judging process. You can view some submissions below, plus more via the highlight on our profile.
Five of our board members acted as judges, and chose the winning piece by vote. Read on for a feature and interview of Tori LaZelle, the artist who created this piece based around the theme “cozy clothing”. Tori has been a LAC member artist since July 2021. Her work was included in all three of our 2021 events, and her prints are very popular market items. Look out for them on our new online store (currently under construction).
Tori LaZelle’s winning submission for the “cozy clothing” theme.
“Art is a Living Thing.” -Tori LaZelle
Our board member and artist liaison volunteer, Kyra Gilchrist, put together an interview with challenge-winning artist Tori LaZelle. Enjoy!
Kyra: How long have you been an artist?
Tori: I have been creating since I can remember, but professionally since 2009. I graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2009 and started my professional journey in 2010. I had commissions during art school. I have a dear friend who taught me about contracts and her experience with commission work.
Kyra: What is you preferred medium to work in?
Tori: I usually work in acrylic paints because I do a lot of layers. A lot of my work is based in the perspective of the domestic, home, and the inner tension I have with the domestic and home. I gravitate towards female energy and a lot of my work is in the home so I depict that. The tension with that is layered for a lot of women. I do a lot of nudes, which to me are the representation of vulnerability. And home is the representation of intimate space. I started adding floral elements over my nudes to appeal to a white suburban buyer.
Kyra: Would you explain the process behind creating your challenge submission?
Tori: I have recently been using procreate- as a person and an artist we need to continue to learn. I see these artists that do really interesting and cool things. It’s really scary to try something new and be bad at it. I think as an artist some of my ego is tied to the work I create. I jumped in to learn and grow and move with my community. I find that our (artist) community is moving into drawing on tablets. The benefit is you can work through these complex thoughts quickly, you can finish 7 pictures in a day, where as in a painting or a drawing I can’t work as quickly.
Kyra: What theme or message did you want to convey with your challenge piece?
Tori: I do a lot of portraits, and many self portraits. Through and through I am a traditional painter and drawer. In a pinch I wanted to participate and fulfill the challenge theme, so I took a picture of myself in a bath robe with a mug and drew what I saw.
Kyra: How long did it take you to create your challenge piece?
Tori: It took about an hour and a half.
Kyra: What has been your favorite LAC event to attend?
Tori: The pop up market in the summer. It was great because I used to live in Capitol Hill. My studio now is in Ballard/Fremont. When I was doing the summer event I was able to see and interact with a lot of people that I knew.
Kyra: Are you currently working on new pieces?
Tori: I’m always working on new pieces! Right now I’m doing a series with animals. I go through these phases where I have obsessions with particular animals. Right now I’m getting into bees and depicting the hive. It’s a challenge to do animals for me, so for me it feels like a coffee cleanser to be able to do traditional composition elements. I’m intuitive in a lot of my painting, but sometimes you need to be methodical. A lot of my animals are painted with intentional composition.
“No One Watching”, mixed media.
More Submissions
Judges were faced with a tough choice! Check out these other submissions to the holiday themed art challenge.
Hannah Lake, snow/ice theme.
@lizlydraws, snow/ice theme.
Hannah Lake, lights theme.
Claire Donaldson, snow/ice theme.
Kati Simek, lights theme.
Alaina Stocker, snow/ice theme.
Themed challenges can be a great way to expand your creative vision, get out of a rut, or just take a break from other projects you're working on to play freely. We look forward to more of these in the future!
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If you like what we’re doing, please donate to support the Collective. Our board has been hard at work establishing this so we can put together rent grants for low-income artists. The more funding we get, the quicker we can start offering these grants and creating more programming like this challenge. It’s imperative that we keep creative people in increasingly expensive cities, and support living artists while they’re alive!
The Living Artists Collective board and artist members.