Donations will be accepted indefinitely and will roll over to the next year. I Can't get the button to link to the site so please click here and make sure to use the dropdown menu to select Black Student Illustrators Award Thank you!!!! www.fitnyc.edu/give
A Dandy Wellington and Jason Raish collaboration. 100% of proceeds donated to The FIT Black Student Illustrators Award fund. These timed editions are available for 1 week only, never to be printed again (edition size determined by final sale number). Sales open May 6th @12:00pm EST and close May 13th @12:00pm EST. LINK TO BUY HERE
$1,000 no-strings-attached awards will be given to Black student applicants displaying artistic merit and financial need graduating from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology BFA illustration program. Recipients can do as they please with the award money as there’s no one way to reach your artistic goals. Recent data from The Illustrators Survey shows that 3% of the illustration industry is Black. Our goal is to help Black students bridge the gap between graduation and professional success so they can be seen, heard, and shape the narrative of this industry they are so underrepresented in.
If you want to make an individual donation please go to www.fitnyc.edu/give and be sure to use the drop down menu to select the Black Student Illustrators Award. There is an option to type in a custom donation amount and it is a 501(c)(3) organization.
All the accounting and final amount of proceeds will be transparently and publicly shown and the final number of prints in the edition announced.
I continued my Croquet and Ink series and created 2 illustrations exclusively for this fundraiser. This series takes the stuffy, conservative, homogenous nature of vintage high fashion and sets it alongside the rebellious self expression of tattoos (Japanese Ukiyo-e inspired). Add the historically upper crust game of croquet and you’ve got Croquet and Ink. As Dandy Wellington says: Vintage Style NOT Vintage Values. This time I illustrated the man himself and he styled these fashion illustrations.
In the summer of 2020 I found myself feeling paralyzed and useless during the renewed social justice movement and wanted to do something. Dandy Wellington and I have known each other for a few years and when he issued his #BlackApparelArts challenge I thought maybe the best thing I can do as an illustrator is fundraise with my art. I had just started teaching at FIT (my alma mater), we got together, ruminated, slapped our knees and said, this whole thing was born of illustration why don’t we get hyper-local and and support Black illustration students at FIT! We got to work and months later here we are. The fund was created under the FIT Foundation 501(c)(3) charitable giving arm.
We've partnered with FIT's own PrintFX print lab for the 12x18” Epson giclée 192 g/m matte archival prints to be signed and numbered. I've also partnered with Framebridge to provide framing. I personally use them a lot and make no money from this, I just want people to have a nice time and alleviate the hassle of getting things framed. Proceeds from Framebridge (which is the 10% discount they give me) will be donated, 100% of print proceeds will be donated. For Prints: Save on shipping when you order two or more. For Frames: Free shipping provided by Framebridge when you buy a frame. I ship them the signed print, they frame it and ship it to you. Please allow 4-6 weeks for shipping as it's just me packing and shipping orders, on top of Framebridge's processing time.
Purchasers and donors are encouraged to leave a comment/note/encouragement at the checkout screen for the future recipients of this award and I will make sure they receive them. Hopefully this initiative is a start to diversifying the illustration industry and getting some great art for your walls at the same time!
Last Year's winners, from left to right Corinne Southerland@cori456_joyce, (me), Adesewa Adekoya@blk.indigo,Shaniya Carrington@scrco.art, Jenis Littles@jenisdraws
Donations will be accepted indefinitely and will roll over to the next year. I Can't get the button to link to the site so please click here and make sure to use the dropdown menu to select Black Student Illustrators Award Thank you!!!! www.fitnyc.edu/give