Posts Tagged: collectives

KisVis

We grabbed five minutes with a couple of the founders from KisVis – Keeping it Simple at Visible Ink – to talk creative, hanging out, and how their new project is just all of their favourite things bundled into one chill evening.

We’ve known you both for a while now, having worked with Visible Ink on Youth Week 2017 including the Launch on King George Square and The Pod on Brunswick Street Mall, but how did you actually find out about us?

Wanita: I heard about Visible Ink while at school and wanted to check out the space.

Skyler: I thought it was a great youth space with awesome resources I had to use.

And currently? What are you doing here at Visible Ink?

Skyler: KisVis – A once a month event for young people 15-25 years to collaborate and relax on a Friday.

Wanita: We’re hoping to bring together creative types from all forms of art and all walks of life.

Skyler: Yeah, I just wanted to get a bunch of young creatives together.

Wanita: And I’m always working on personal art and film projects. Also there’s Youth Week 2018 planning.

So what do you two love about all of these projects, why are you so passionate about the arts?

Wanita: I love learning new skills and sharing what I know with other people doing artsy, creative things.

Skyler: I’m an Artist that works on projects here and there. I love it because visual art is a whole other language, it embodies everything in life from culture to your personal self.

Hanging out in their down time, Wanita and Skyler can’t help but become a “jack of all trades” when it comes to creative projects.

Wanita: Artsy stuff are my hobbies, writing and all forms of creative media.

Skyler: I’ve done a short film, painting, drums but mostly sleeping because hell yeah!

Wanita: There’s also skating, thrift shopping, coffee drinking…

One last question, how would you suggest young people get involved in this opportunity or opportunities like this?

Wanita: Come a long to Visible Ink and check out the space. There are so many chances and people here for you to connect with, just coming in and checking it out.

Come along to the next KisVis – check the Facebook page for upcoming events.

facebook.com/keepitsimpleatvis/

@wanitaconnorscribbles
@skyler_can_draw

Sober Bob

Sober Bob – sometimes known as Anne – is a young Brisbane creative, dabbling in various forms of design and independent media circulation. She runs her own design business, built off the back of a history of freelancing in IT.

Maeve Baker

An animator, illustrator and human girl, Maeve spends her time creating and communicating visually. She loves getting her hands dirty experimenting with new mediums and collaborating with others. http://maevebkr.com/ 

 Maeve Baker

Maeve Baker is an animator/illustrator. Maeve talked to Visible Ink about her involvement in the space, background and inspirations.

I have always been a draw-er and loved cartoons. During my final year of high school, I made an animated film out of paper which got a bit of attention and won a Creative Generations competition. My art teacher at the time suggested that I study animation, which I didn’t even know was possible, but which seemed to make so much sense to me. 2 years after school I began my Bachelor of Animation at the Queensland College of Art.

I first learn about Visible Ink when I needed to print and bind a 4-page comic for an exhibition in November 2016. A friend at uni said they did free printing and so a few of us went there to print our comics, not expecting very much other than printing. That afternoon I met the staff, who showed me around the art area and explained all of the facilities available at VisInk. I was back the following week to paint.

I have 3 comics underway which I pushed aside during the uni semester, which I hope to finish off and distribute to comic shops in Brisbane. I have also got a couple of short animation projects to complete for the Brisbane Feminist festival organised by the One Woman Project. I’m hoping to finish several large scale paintings and then have an exhibition before the end of the year.

I love being able to create a small world with characters and environments that aren’t real. I like the fact that looking at someone’s animation and drawings is like looking at someone’s dreams in that every aspect of the work is a piece of the artist. Even just a single piece of paper can contain so much information about a person and I love being able to share that. Often you communicate things through art that you can’t speak with words.
Also I think that animation is just magical- moving drawings, whhaaat?!

I have always drawn been interested in cartoons and comics, even when it felt inappropriate to still be watching ABCKids as a teenager. My parents always encouraged my artwork, providing me with paper, pens, pencils and paint to ensure that I kept up the hobby. The more I drew, the more I got associated as a draw-er and the more people would come to me to ask for designs or to collaborate on projects. As I met more and more people with an interest in art and animation, I realised that it is actually a thing and that if you work hard enough you can draw for a living. This is now my project, to try and establish myself as an artist so that I can create animation, drawings and paintings 100% of the time. I’ve not found anything else that has brought me as much joy as creating art, so I’m just going to run with it for now and try to make it work.

What I create for money are specific to the brief given by the person commissioning me, the things I make in my spare time have the potential to be completely limitless, abstract and weird. I still struggle with this, but it’s really fun.
I also like swimming, yoga and reading, but mostly I just lie around, hanging out with my friends and watching 30Rock.

I wish I had pushed myself more in my earlier years when I decided to pursue art. I would draw maybe once a week and usually only as a necessity, for a uni project and never for my own pleasure. I wish I had nerded out on art more and created more because 1 it feels great and 2 it allows you to learn and progresses so quickly. It’s such a simple thing, but it can be so easy to let yourself off the hook and so hard to force yourself, but it’s necessary. Going to galleries or researching an artist whose work you really love is just as good. Look at and make as much art as you can and soon you won’t have to force yourself, it’ll be second nature.

I think the more people you meet and talk to about art, the richer your experience will be. There are so many little exhibitions, workshops and events happening all the time, you just have to know about them. I am definitely a more introverted person, but it has usually always paid off when I’ve put myself out there and gone along to art events happening in Brisbane. You meet inspiring people and see inspiring things and remember why you do it in the first place, it’s great.

maevebkr.com
instagram: @mastyp

Ibis

How did you hear about Visible Ink and why did you want to use our space?

I (Rhiana) heard about the space through a friend who suggested that we take advantage of the free printing on offer at Visible Ink.

We love the facilities and the support that we get from the staff, and the fact that such a space exists for the sole purpose of supporting young people and encouraging them to be creative and innovative. Overall, though, I’d say we’re in it for the free milo.

What are you currently working on project-wise?

We’re putting together our fourth issue (to be released on Christmas day, if all goes to plan), which entails organising our submissions, finalising our own inclusions and deciding on the look and feel we want for the issue. We’re also working on expanding our website and developing our new YouTube channel (IbisTV), so that we can display a broader range of content.

What do you do, why did you choose to go down that path, and what do you love about it?

We (myself, Jamie, Jack and Seamus) create and distribute a free zine called Ibis.

We all wanted a platform to showcase our own work and that of our friends and the wider community. We basically thought a free zine would be an awesome, inclusive way to encourage creativity, positivity, sharing and community in Brisbane. It’s also just really nice to dedicate time and attention to something that feels meaningful.

We love the freedom and the lack of constraint that comes with publishing our own zine – we have total creative freedom, can include and create whatever content we like, and we have a platform for our own work whenever we want it. We love receiving submissions, giving something to the community and the collaboration that working on the zine has brought us.

What would you say led you to where you are today?

I think we all love creating and sharing our work, and we’ve all been brought up to be very community minded. I’m about to graduate from a degree in creative and professional writing, Jamie’s graduating from a bachelor of journalism/history, Seamus studies visual arts and Jack studied animation, so the zine is a really practical way for us to gain experience in our chosen fields.

What do you get up to in your down time?

Jack does a lot of Simpson’s themed photoshopping; Seamus skates, surfs and creates for his visual arts degree at QUT; Jamie is learning calligraphy and his times tables; and I love watching movies, singing, dancing and eating (usually all at once).

Is there any advice you would give young people wanting to get involved/started in this field? Or any advice you wish you’d been given beforehand?

As our friend Shia Labeouf says: JUST DO IT. Making use of the free resources at Visible Ink is a great way to start out.

In terms of helpful advice I’d say… Make sure that you edit your zine really thoroughly before you distribute it. Also, try to be as organised as possible – keep tabs of all costs, numbers and anything that could possibly be important at a later date. Don’t just assume that you will remember it, because you probably won’t (or is that just me…?).

How would you suggest young people get involved? Or opportunities like this in Brisbane?

If you’d like to contribute to our zine, you can send your work to ibismagazine@gmail.com.

If you want to stay up to date with zine related events in Brisbane, check out the Zine and Indie Comic Symposium (ZICS) Facebook page, and if you’re interested in zines in general, I recommend paying a visit to Junky Comics in West End, which has a really cool collection of national and international zines and comics.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Where can people get in touch with you?

Email: ibismagazine@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IBISzine/

Website: ibiszine.com