Knee deep in words and numbers, Julia Kuo decided to supplement her marketing degree with creative classes from Washington University’s art program. Soon enough, her love for art led to a degree switch, and after graduation, a successful career as a freelance illustrator. The fulfilment found in an artistic career was exactly what Julia wanted from life, but after working on jobs for clients, she felt a void that could only be filled with doing work for herself.

“Drawing things I loved about the city would serve as the perfect visual record for myself and for other people that also have memories tied into these places.”

– Julia Kuo

100 Days in Cleveland was born from Julia’s desire to honor her home of four years as well as to create opportunities for developing personal illustrations from beginning to end, without input from a client or project manager. 

There’s little that pulls on my heart strings like a little local lovin.’ Combine that lovin’ with self-started projects and artistic expression…. I’m a goner! Julia has inspired me to check out some semi-local joints in our neighboring city of Cleveland, and maybe get out my sketch book and do something I haven’t done since I graduated from design school over a year ago- sketch!

P.S. Check out the above illustration! It’s our beloved Ashley Toussant! Love!

Tune into Julia’s Tumblr for daily illustrations from Ohio’s very own city of Cleveland. In love with Julia’s illustrations? Buy one for yourself at her Etsy shop.

interview and images courtesy of Julia Kuo

It was 1958 when Swiss photographer Robert Frank published his photobook, The Americans. His style was fresh and his photos blatant in their character. The success and artistic acceptance of his book forever changed the future of photography. However, it had an rather embarrassing effect on a lot of self-respecting Americans of the '50s. Children running about in dirty clothes, threadbare and patched American flags hanging haphazardly, and social segregation seeming altogether too common.

Through the eras of art, especially in the past 200 years, there has been a friction between realism and other styles, such as impressionism or surrealism. Normal Rockwell often gets a bad rap for his realistic painting style that features romanticised content so typical of the early twentieth century. His style of painting seemed no longer socially relevant in the post war era of social change. Similarly to Rockwell, Robert Frank's content is very Americana, but as an outsider, his photographs captured things they way they actually were, without posing models or arranging props. It was the realism Americans were ready for, without any of the smoke and mirrors.

photos via The Art Site UCSC & The Motart

As a self-taugh photographer, I often look to online tutorials for lessons on the ins and outs of digital photography. But once you learn to use the camera, it comes down to sheer talent and vision. My friend Kyle often has friends tell him, "Your camera takes awesome photos!" To which he replies, "Yeah? Your guitar plays awesome music, too." He has a point. A camera can only do part of the work, while the beauty of photos is created by the person behind it.

Edouard Boubat was a self-taught photographer, but with every photo of his that I see, he teaches me more about photography than I ever could have imagined existed. The composition of a photo is important, and each of his is executed quite masterfully, but a photograph is more than its visual content. Wouldn't you agree that these images convey a deeper meaning of love, beauty, humor, and sentiment?

Boubat captured simple, every day moments and experiences, and elevated them to something that deeply moves a viewer. Mannequins in a window? They're dancing in their underwear, and one might even wonder if they might come alive when the store windows are darkened and the outside streets are empty. The lack of a human element almost gives these figures their own quality of life. What a fun way to view a mannequin!

"Because I know war? because I know the horror, I don?t want to add to it.?  After the war, we felt the need to celebrate life, and for me photography was the means to achieve this."

-Edouard Boubat

Looking through Boubat's photographs offers an experience of escapism. Had a rough day? Weighed down by current events? Sometimes photography can bring you closer to the feeling of impending doom, but Boubat's photos remind us of the beautiful things in life that are always there if you look for them.

photos via Everyday I Show (warning: nudity) | information via Duncan Miller Gallery