Visual Art
VESPA POSTER 1
Joe Sato Murphy
Digital Art
About 2 years ago I found a knife in my closet, I think it was from my parents’ wedding or something. I was gonna incorporate it into my short film BROKE N BANK, but it was way too bleak for the world I had built. For my film VESPA, I knew I could incorporate darker themes and finally use the prop. I bought a new set off of eBay, and armed my amazing actors on set with a dulled (and COMPLETELY safe) version of these. Long story short, the knife became central to the iconography of the film.
This piece is a part of my bigger project VESPA, which is a short film telling the story of a determined hero fighting a deprived oligarchical government. This graphic is a distorted still of the film, and matching the chaos of the entire film in one frame was a huge goal of this project.
BAN4NA
Lili Epstein
Marker and pen on paper, digitally edited
Collage Maker Project
Pema Dekyi Lama
Photography
From mountain paths to ocean horizons - chasing dreams wherever they lead.
Wheaton in Every Season
Pema Dekyi Lama
Photography
Spring whispers, summer glows, fall reflects, winter rests—Wheaton in every season.
biota
Lili Epstein
Cut paper & ink on paper, digitally edited
biota is a short zine and accompanying poster depicting eight plants and insects found in Vermont, my home state: birch tree bark, monarch butterfly, raspberry plant, cicada, red clover flower, carpenter ant, maple leaf, and honey bee. I created 10 of these zines for a 2d design class this fall using recycled paper, so each is slightly unique.
Reorientation
Almudena Soledispa
Digital art
Inspired by the song, “Si el Norte Fuera el Sur” by Ricardo Arjona, a canción protesta (protest song). I would like to extend this question to those who originate from Latin American countries and have lived in the United States, how would the world look if South America and North America had developed as the other? Politically, socially, historically, and artistically. Would it be different? The same? Worse? What does that say about us, as humans?
SUMMER IN PTOWN
Joe Sato Murphy
Digital art and photography
Summer in PTOWN’s poster piece celebrates the triumph of creative expression through dark times. The black and white flag sucks the pride out of the flag, and uses it more as a desolate backdrop for the colorful explosion of multicultural collaborative art. The project truly had a wide range of collaborators from completely different walks of life, who gave their own takes on the hottest summer on record.
listen to ptownCLICK here
Umbrella Street
Amelia Van Driesche
Photography
I went to Guatemala this past summer with a program called Where There Be Dragons. For around six days (out of the four total weeks) we stayed in the mountain town of San Juan La Laguna with homestay families. This photograph was taken on my walk to weaving class that I attended every morning.
VESPA POSTER 2
Joe Sato Murphy
Digital art
I see VESPA as a reminder to keep creating even when the world seems to disorient itself every hour. Finding comfort in your voice (even in the face of INSANE SHIT) is a huge part of why this project meant so much to me.
Art is the truth. Learning is the truth. Real eyes realize real lies.
Pelo Malo
Alba Medina
Oil pastel on canvas
My piece speaks to the phrase Pelo Malo, introduced to post-colonial Latin America surrounding curly hair, which attempts to conform Afro-Latinos to Eurocentric beauty standards, often from a young age.
Snowstorm
Muhammad Niang Jr.
Photography
This is one day after the snowstorm. From Shoveling to Being Stuck. The world still moves.
Contributor’s Notes
Lili Epstein is a visual artist and designer who has always loved being creative in any way possible. Outside of art, Lili enjoys watching movies in bed, making and eating sandwiches, and listening to beabadoobee’s music.
Pema Dekyi Lama is a self-taught photographer whose work explores landscapes, portraits, and event-based photography. Having learned to see beauty in everything, she captures moments that celebrate presence, memory, and everyday life.
Alba Beatriz Medina is a Latina designer from New York City who is passionate about creating spaces for everyone. She likes to travel, watch films, and walk barefoot on grass.
Joe Sato Murphy, or "Citizen Sato" is a Japanese-American filmmaker primarily working in the East Coast, with previous work in Bhutan, and the Czech Republic. He releases work through "Digital Godspeed," encompassing genre-bending narrative films, original music, commercial cinematography, and stylized photography. His best work combines and integrates these disciplines, often collaborating artists from his native Portland, Maine.
Muhammad Niang Jr. is a Marketing major that's deeply passionate about the Creative Arts. Photography is one of the few mediums that he uses to capture the essence of life. So not only are you seeing his work, but his own unique perspective through the lens. Enjoy the work, let it settle on your mind and allow it to reflect upon you during those past winter months.
Almudena Soledispa loves to walk around the city, urban sketch, read, and watch movies. In the future, she wishes to study archeology and travel to the Mediterranean and study their architecture and art.
Amelia Van Driesche is a 19 year old artist who loves being in the outdoors. Which is perfect because she is from Vermont, where she lives with her dog Jake, ten chickens, and her garden freak parents. Apart from that she also loves creating art - photography, poetry, short stories, drawings - that make you feel things you have never felt before.