1. Name: Amy Martin
Age: 33
Location: Los Angeles
Occupation: graphic designer / illustrator
Years Doing This: 10
2. First off Amy, want to introduce yourself, give our readers a little bit of background on who you are?
Hi! I’m a Los Angeles-based graphic designer and illustrator. I’m from Michigan, and I studied art and design at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Most of my work has been editorial design, and most recently I designed the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times. For a year and a half I designed and illustrated the Sunday Opinion section of the Detroit Free Press. I’m obsessed with books and music and the NY Times. I live by Griffith Park in Los Feliz. Single, Gemini. I make an excellent margarita.
3. So you’re pretty socially conscious/active, you’re Hope print being the most recent example, but you’ve also done work with Habitat for Humanity, can you tell us about your experiences with them?
I’d initially moved to LA to pursue a career in production design – I spent a lot of time in school working for the theater program – but the culture shock from Ann Arbor to Hollywood was pretty intense, especially since I’d spent so much time in that community service mindset. I remember reading ‘A People’s History of the United States’ in the Sony commissary, and feeling like something had gone horribly wrong. For a long time I’d wanted to join the Peace Corps, but I’d just been adopted by a cat and her kittens (she appears in the photo) and I couldn’t bear to leave her, so AmeriCorps was a great compromise. Being able to leave TV and spend a year up on the rooftops in Burbank, working with the families and volunteer groups from schools and churches was amazing – and a real luxury. Definitely it gave me a fresh perspective on the city, which I began to love once I saw its other sides. I’d recommend Habitat to anyone who wants to get involved with service in their community. They build everywhere, and they’re amazing. I still want to participate in one of their projects overseas.
4. Everyone’s got their reasons, for you personally: why Obama?
In 2004 I downloaded his keynote speech nearly as soon as he finished speaking, and I still have it on my ipod and listen to it regularly. I’m a pretty hard-core Democrat, and most of my heroes (who weren’t on the Detroit Tigers 1984 team) are leaders: Al Gore, Russ Feingold, Jimmy Carter (also Jane Goodall and Mr. Rogers). When Barack spoke, though, I felt like I was hearing one of the first voices from my own generation, and it was just totally exhilarating to feel for the first time like my generation was going to start playing a part in shaping our country’s future. I think, also, that he makes a really compelling case for compassion as an act of patriotism. When I first downloaded his speech, I used to listen to it on repeat, back-to-back with “Ooh, Child”, one of my favorite songs of all time. Now I hear that song in my whenever I see his name or hear his voice, and it’s just this great rush of optimism. I can’t believe no one has done that mash-up!
5. The Manifest Hope show that recently concluded in Denver was quite a big deal, to say the least. How did you get involved?
I’d just finished a poster series for the 826LA, a non-profit tutoring program that was started in San Francisco by Dave Eggers and Ninive Calegari. Manifest’s organizer, Yosi Sergant, saw my work at 826’s Echo Park Time Travel Mart and contacted me to do a poster. I’m very fortunate that the Los Angeles Times had just downsized me, so I was available to participate. One of my best friends in the world drove with me to Denver from Los Angeles. I hadn’t really planned to go to the DNC, but as it turned out, I was there under the best possible circumstances, and it was incredible.
6. Your Hope piece is one of my personal favorites to come out of the amazing outpouring of Obama art, can you break down your creative process for us?
Thanks! I figured out the concept while I was on the phone with Yosi during our first conversation – at first the theme was going to be ‘CHANGE’, and butterflies came into my head immediately. I knew if I was going to do a feminine image I wanted it to address environmental stewardship, kids and education, and I thought that the butterfly was a perfect, natural symbol of metamorphosis, progress, possibility and grace. I remember going to an apple orchard in Ann Arbor last year with my best friends and their kids, and watching them swing their babies up in the air to grab apples from the trees. It was such a compelling image – that’s your job as a parent, right? To lift your kids up and support them, and encourage them and offer them possibility. I had about a week to do the poster from start to finish. Through some friends in Los Angeles I met a great family in Park LaBrea, and I went down for a morning and photographed Victoria and her lovely daughter Lydia for reference. I drew the poster in a night after a run and a pot of coffee. I usually listen to the same song on repeat for five or six hours and trance out – and then it’s kind of done. I think this poster was mostly designed to ‘Vito’s Ordination Song’ (the acoustic version) by Sufjan Stevens. A second concept is up on my blog site.
7. Your favorite moment from Manifest Hope?
It’s a three-way tie. Meeting Spike Lee was kind of unexpected and insane. Finally seeing Clap Your Hands Say Yeah perform ‘Is This Home on Ice’ was amazing – it’s probably my favorite song of the last five years, and I kept missing them live. Ben Gibbard performing ‘Brand New Colony’ was up there. I adore that song – it was the inspiration for one of my 826 posters. I owe him one. Also, scoring last-minute tickets to Invesco was incredible.
8. Thousands of copies of your poster have been printed and distributed free across the country. Over 3,000 were picked up at the Women’s Caucus in Denver and I’ve heard that over 25K have been printed and mailed out for free, that’s pretty big… Did you ever see this coming?
Uh, no. That said, I’ve been working on magazines and newspapers for the last several years, and those have had pretty high circulations – but in those cases it’s such a huge collaboration, and my work is a small part of a much greater whole. When I was in Denver I saw people all over town walking with my rolled-up poster tucked under an arm. Every single time, it took me by surprise.
9. The Palin/Biden debate just wrapped up. I’m curious… as a woman, what’s your take on McCain choosing Palin as a running mate?
First of all, I come from middle-class midwestern stock. My mom is a nurse, and my dad worked for General Motors. My stepfather is a teacher and my stepmom drives a school bus. I’m very familiar with the down-home, blue collar audience that McCain/Palin is trying to court with the ‘folksy’ attitude she’s ‘bringing to the table. Policy aside, I think it’s totally appalling to see any adult in a position of authority – but especially a woman who is, herself, the parent of three daughters – so completely denigrate education, curiosity, literacy and learning by implying that academic achievement is somehow shameful and elitist. Her embrace of anti-intellectualism is absolutely reprehensible and reckless. She’s doing a horrible, horrible disservice to children. She’s sending a terrible message, and selling out kids. Her own incuriosity is just as troubling. I really wish she’d been able to name at least one newspaper that she reads-that was really a terrifying moment. I think McCain’s choice was cynical and insulting. I appreciate that Barack Obama is a hell of a lot smarter than I am – that’s what I’m looking for in a world leader. Presidents, doctors, Generals – we should expect that people in these roles be well-informed and functioning at an expert-level, because we depend on them to keep us safe. 
10. So, what are your plans for the future?
I’ve got a bunch of freelance work to keep me busy, including some new projects for 826. I’m looking for projects with a sense of mission – and creativity. I’m looking at other magazine and newspaper projects. I’m also playing around with identity design and looking at design firms. I want to read James Ellroy’s “American Tabloid’” series. I’m going to New York this month to see one of my favorite bands play in Brooklyn, and I’m hoping to check out RISD in Providence. I’m looking for autumn. And crossing my fingers for November
Thanks Amy!
For more info on this artist, check her out here
2 responses so far ↓
Anonymous // October 5, 2008 at 3:00 pm |
Now if she would just return emails from people who want to own her art. It's been a month since I e-mailed her about buying one of her Hope prints. No answer.
amy // October 5, 2008 at 4:53 pm |
Sorry – I thought I wrote everyone back, but I guess I missed one! Yosi Sergant is the person you want to speak with about buying a print. He's selling them for $150. yosi@emgpr.com