Tonight Pocket Gems’ happy hour is assembled into an art gallery to showcase the various talented Gemmers through the art lense. Our teams have a strong passion for art, not only at work, but outside the office as well. We’ve brought out the cheese, crackers, and wine in celebration and are prepared to be stunned.

And our art show isn’t limited to people who are on the art team, a number of participants came from other functions. For example, Shannon, from the marketing team, doesn’t practice art in her day to day, but finds that it still holds influence in her role: “I find that having an art background, even as a hobby, has allowed me to understand the creative side of the process. This is true both recognizing aesthetics, limitations, and an understanding of the work behind the creations that our art team creates.”

Q&A with some of our artists:

Viva:

What inspires your work? “I am inspired mostly by childhood fantasy and whimsy. Recently I've taken to doing a lot of nature observation and studies. I started painting watercolor primarily after I graduated from college. We had a strict traditional art program and everyone had to use oil paints, but the medium and turpentine weren't useable in a small apartment so I started playing with water soluble paints. I came to really appreciate it and use it after I realize what a powerful and simple effect water can accomplish. Textures and color mixing are never the same in any 2 washes and the uncertainty is thrilling!”

Ikumi:

In the competitive art world, how do you keep your work unique and catch viewer attention? “I never try to focus on being unique in my personal art. To me, creative process is a very personal endeavor. My art is interpretation of my experiences, memories and everything that I that I find joyful. I love the beach and bright, fun colors, and they're recurring theme in my works.”

Dilynn:

Can you explain the differences in making pencil to paper and computerized art? “I think the best difference between 'pencil to paper' art and 'computerized art' is how you are able to deal with mistakes.

Physical art is a little less forgiving, depending on how proficient you are at the medium. If a mistake is made there's a little more effort involved. Paint needs to dry and maybe it can be painted over or scraped off. With pencil on paper there's an eraser to fix mistakes, but there's always a little of the mistake left over.  There are lots of other physical art forms, but I imagine mistakes are generally made and sometimes you just go with it and learn from those mistakes.

With digital art, I feel very spoiled. I spam that 'control+z' combo like no tomorrow. Sometimes, when I'm drawing in my sketchbook, physically, I feel my left hand do the motion. That's when I remember that real life doesn't have a 'ctrl+z' hot key. Although, the biggest thing about digital art, is remembering to save. At least with physical drawings you know that the only way for it to be destroyed or lost  is if something spilled on it, it fell and broke, ended up making its way to an industrial shredder, or you literally lost your art piece. With digital art, it could have been hours since your last save and all of a sudden, the program you're working on crashes. Sometimes the program recovers your lost work, other times, there is nothing to do but to crawl into the fetal position and cry a little. Then pick yourself up and do it over again. Recovering from this particular mistake takes a bit of effort, too, but at least you can do it faster the second time around. Basically, the short answer to this question: Physical art has no 'ctrl+z'. Digital art does.”

Iris:

How do you expose your artwork? Do you have a website/ online presence? A number of ways: “Tradition methods (word of mouth and flyers) I have an online website (includes both professional/personal works www.iambluepencil.com for example). Connections (many of the friends I've made can vouch for my work or the reception that either I or the venue throws so it usually spreads that way). Multiple social media sources (instagram, facebook, deviantart, behance, and more).” 

How do you get your art in galleries? “Depends on the art gallery really...I've been with some galleries for quite some time and I've grown with them so I've become a regular at the events. Other galleries require portfolios of work, resume, and images of works in progress of work that will be shown. Sketch Tuesday's at 111 Minna - lots of artists just randomly go there to draw and at the end of the night you put up your artwork and sell it for whatever price you think it's worth (also great exposure/connections).”

What advice would you give to an artist looking to gain more exposure? “Gaining exposure is really hard if you're not willing to start getting criticized for it and to some extent can become demoralizing. My advice to anyone who wants to go down this path is to have a strong sense of love for your own work and get it out there! Talk about it, show it off, do live paintings of it, and really live your work. Talk to your connections and ask questions. Honestly, that's how I've learned to better my own work and presentation of it.”

Daniel

What resources would you recommend to somebody who is looking for a creative outlet? “I started making Amigurumi because I was missing that sort of creative activity in my life. I used to make a lot of small arts and crafts when I was younger (such as Origami, clay/bead figures, sewing) but I hadn't done something like that in years. When a friend of mine started making small stuffed animals I wanted to try it myself! I like Amigurumi because of how easily it ties into many fan cultures - it's cute seeing tiny stuffed figures of characters I love from shows, movies, or games.”

There’s nothing better on this rainy day than to stroll through the cafeteria with our residential artists and being able to discuss their process with them on the spot. Cheers to our team for allowing us to display their work!