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Haley Andres

Haley Andres '14 was the recipient of the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 2014-2015. Haley explored the intersection of trauma and the creative process during her fellowship year:
 

“For the past year I have been traveling as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, focusing my investigations on cultural differences in art-based trauma recovery. Living and working in Bolivia, England, Tanzania, Japan, Thailand, and Australia, I have facilitated, participated in, and observed environments where art and well-being are interconnected. This has included Art Therapy sessions and hospital corridors lined with paintings, Medical Humanities conferences and mural painting with recovering drug addicts, drawing classes for refugee children and my own personal practice. In experiencing all this I've been lucky enough to see how art and creative expression can better well-being, and reciprocally, how personal well-being inspires art. I plan on returning to the US in August, using my travel and experience to develop my studio practice and in preparation to pursue an MFA.”

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Lou Croff Blake

Lou Croff Blake ’13 is an artist, fashion designer, and community organizer in Berlin, Germany. In 2017 they received a GAP Award Funding to create hand-illustrated playing cards that explore queer identity. In the summer of 2013 they participated in an artist residency in Leipzig, Germany supported by the Department of Art and Art History. Lou reported about their art practice in Seattle in 2015:
 

“Since graduating two years ago, I've found a home in Seattle's DIY art scene. I moved here in the fall of 2013, and almost immediately got involved in a collective of LGBTQ artists called Lion's Main. Through this outlet, I collaborate in curating multi-media pop-up shows, organizing film festivals, and hosting workshops and skill-shares. Most importantly, it provides a supportive community in which I can continue to produce art. I work out of a shared studio space in my neighborhood. At the studio, I paint, but I've also had the opportunity to create site-specific installations through Seattle's underground music scene, and through a couple different DIY feminist organizations. These various communities have helped give me the confidence to pursue more formal opportunities, and I've had work in a handful of group shows as well.
 

Right now, I'm piecing together a portfolio with which I can apply to graduate programs. I am, however, equally stimulated by my local context, and by figuring out the complex ways in which I choose to interact with that context. I'm also apprenticing to be a framer, and in my spare time (if there is any), I DJ techno music.”

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