Work It, Girl: Female Illustrators Panel

This discussion highlights the importance of female-created work that not only reflects the sensibilities of the artist, but presents the perspectives of other women and offers an alternative to the male gaze. In addition to discussing the issues facing female artists and entrepreneurs, panelists will offer insights spanning from the start of their careers to their recent projects, including Shen and McDowell’s lessons learned from illustrating their first books.

After the lecture is a meet-and-greet with the panel, a book-signing by Ann Shen and an opportunity to pre-order Emily McDowell’s forthcoming book.

SPEAKER BIOS

Ann Shen is an illustrator, letterer, and author whose bright, colorful work has been put to work around the world. She has worked with a variety of clients, including the New York Times, Bust, Disney, Mattel, and HarperCollins. Her first book, Bad Girls Throughout History, was just published by Chronicle Books.

Emily McDowell is a writer, illustrator, and entrepreneur who specializes in chronicling the human condition. In 2012, she left a successful career in advertising to launch her greeting card line, making cards for the relationships we actually have. Now a multimillion-dollar stationery and gift company, Emily McDowell Studio products are sold online at emilymcdowell.com and in nearly 2,000 stores worldwide. In 2015, Emily’s Empathy Cards, designed to help people connect around serious illness and loss, struck a nerve around the world. Her first book, There Is No Good Card For This: What To Say and Do When Life Gets Scary, Awful, and Unfair To People You Love, will be released in January 2017.

Kate Bingaman-Burt is an illustrator and educator. Her work orbits around the objects in our lives: the things we buy, the things we discard, and the collectivity and social interaction that can arise from cycles of consumption. Via illustrations, daily documentation, publications, events, large-scale participatory projects, client work, and a full-time role as educator, Kate’s work invites a dialogue about contemporary forms of exchange. She is an Associate Professor in Graphic Design at Portland State University. She runs the zine imprint YES! Press and sits on the boards of Design Week Portland, Independent Publishing Resource Center and Octopus Books. Some recent clients include IDEO, Uniqlo, Chipotle and Oprah Magazine.

Eva Recinos (moderator) is the social media manager at HelloGiggles. Her work has also been featured in LA Weekly, The Creators Project, ArtSlant, Complex, PSFK and others.