Eat lots of candy!
Digital Folklore of the 2016 Election
My Hillary gif shimmied its way into the L.A. Times this week! Read the fascinating history of political memes and how it relates to the digital folklore of the 2016 election in Carolina Miranda's article, "Call It the LOLcat effect: Memes are the Digital Folklore of the 2016 Election".
Shimmy on.
Greenpoint Hill Opening on October 20
Hello folks! I'm very excited to invite you all to come see some new works on paper that I'll be showing at Greenpoint Hill, a new gallery and shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn opened by artist and friend Kim Brown. The opening party will be on Thursday, Oct. 20 from 7-10 pm at 100 Freeman Street in Greenpoint, BK. Here's a look at some of the ladies who lead that I'll be showing. Hope to see you there!
WHAT: Ladies Who Lead, New Works on paper by Libby VanderPloeg
WHEN: Thursday, October 20, 7-10 pm
WHERE: 100 Freeman Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
October 13: The Art of Greenpoint Beer & Ale
Join me and friends at Brouwerij Lane In Greenpoint this Thursday, Oct. 13 at 7 pm for "The Art of Greenpoint Beer & Ale", a show of prints featuring artwork from Greenpoint Beer's can designs by Mike Hambouz, Paul Richard, Josh Whitehead and myself. Opening reception this Thursday, and the show will be up until Nov. 13. Hope to see you there!
Poster (above) by Josh Whitehead at Best Practices. And if you like the Instant Credibility art (below), then now's your chance to get a print of it!
National Voter Registration Day!
No excuses to not vote. If you have not yet registered, stop waiting and ready yourself for this crucial election. And here's a link to resources that can help you figure out how. This portrait is of the late Grace Lee Boggs, feminist, social activist, writer, community Leader, and all-around inspiring woman. Interested in learning more about her? Check out the PBS documentary American Revolutionary.
Billion Oyster Project
I'm really excited to share this map that I created for The Billion Oyster Project's NYC Billion Oyster Crawl, happening this September 16 through October 22. What an amazing organization! If you haven't heard about them yet, here's a little bit about what they do. Partnering with NYC restaurants and Earth Matter, the Billion Oyster Project collects discarded oyster shells and then uses them to rebuild NY Harbor reefs in the East and Hudson Rivers. But they do more than that! Part of their programming also involves outreach to NY public schools, educating tens of thousands of young people in local ecology and STEM at the New York Harbor School on Governer's Island. If you're interested in learning more about the restaurant events, then have a look at this article on Food Republic. Cheers!
Can-tastic!
Exciting news! This Friday, Sept. 9, Greenpoint Beer and Ale will be releasing two beers, one of which I did the artwork for -- their Instant Credibility Double IPA. So happy for these talented brewers as they embark on their first can release. Hope you'll come by the Brewery at 7 N. 15th Street on Friday to say hello and pick some up! And grab some delicious Smash Street Extra Pale, while you're at it. It's also quite lovely <3
Hike for Hope
There's nothing like a good hike to make you feel better. In fact some doctors believe that a good hike (i.e. a challenging, consistent exercise regimen) could help minimize the side effects of radiation and treatment during cancer recovery. That's what Dr. Paul Nyugen of Brigham and Women's Hospital has been researching in his patients, with some very promising results! So to help further this research, one of his patients, Dan Snyder, has challenged himself to complete a 133-mile hike through the Adirondacks this September, a hike for hope to raise funds for further cancer research at Brigham and Women's Hospital. The hike will start in Northville, NY, wind through the mountains, and finish in Lake Placid, NY, following one of the ADK's most famous stretches— the Northville-Placid Trail. Want to get a print of this map that I created to show Dan's journey? Well, you're in luck! It's one of the donation rewards :) To learn more or make a donation, visit adkhikeforhope.org.
Hello Kazoo Magazine! A new feminist mag for girls 5-10
I'm so excited to share some new illustrations I did for Kazoo Magazine's premier issue. If you haven't heard about it yet, Kazoo is a new feminist magazine for girls 5-10. It's filled with fun activities, like how to make a seed bomb, and beautiful illustrations from a stellar lineup of artists and illustrators, like Mickalene Thomas, Lisa Congdon, Lucy Knisley, and Alison Bechdel. If you've got a curious little girl in your life, I highly recommend getting her a subscription! Here's a look at the Brazil map I made for Kazoo's Summer Olympics and Paralympics feature.
And here is Kazoo Magazine's founder and editor-in-chief, Erin Bried with her daughters Ellie and Bea.
And here's the gorgeous cover, with hand-lettering by Mary Kate McDevitt and surfer illustration by Nicole J. Georges.
Happy reading!
Working towards justice
I've been struggling to comprehend the seemingly endless violence that's been occurring here in the U.S. and all over the world these past few weeks. The list of tragedies that have happened over the past year, really, have been unfathomable. Needless to say, it's been hard to see any hope through all of this ugliness. It seems like every time I turn on the news, another shooting is being reported, another person is being senselessly murdered, another public figure, political candidate, or former mayor is broadcasting their racist opinions, fueling deeper anger and feelings of injustice within our communities. But we can't give up. We have a job to do. We have to stand up for one another. We have to call people out on their reprehensible behavior when we see it. We have to fight for policy change, criminal justice reform, and help change racist attitudes so that these horrors aren't repeated. We have to be more empathetic. There are actions, large and small, that we can all do to work towards a more just and peaceful world. So let's do better, be louder, be brave, show support, and take action and make certain it's known that black lives matter.
Thank you Curators of Quirk and Trendland!
Thank you to Curators of Quirk for such a nice feature. Especially happy to see my sunscreen PSA as the header :)
Read Curators of Quirk's writeup here:
http://curatorsofquirk.com/2016/06/libby-vander-ploeg-a-brooklyn-based-illustrator-whose-sketches-will-instantly-bring-a-smile-to-your-face/
And thank you to Trendland too for such a lovely writeup on some of my illustrated maps!
Read Trendland's writeup here:
https://trendland.com/libby-vanderploeg-cute-illustrated-maps/
United State of Women
This week marks the first United State of Women Summit in Washington DC! I recently worked with the Summit and Tumblr to create an animated gif of one of their six main talking points, Economic Empowerment. I know so many women who run small businesses (or dream of doing so), are new moms who want to be able to afford day care, or simply can't figure out how to achieve their career goals when confronted with economic hurdles. So this topic hits close to home. We want to be paid equally for the work we do. We want the chance to achieve our goals. We want to live in an economically healthy community, and we want to have the means to invest in that community so that it can continue to flourish. Going to college, being able to afford day care, starting small businesses, and supporting them — it all starts with economic empowerment.
To read more about the main topics of the The United State of Women Summit, check out their links:
- Economic Empowerment
- Health & Wellness
- Educational Opportunity
- Violence Against Women
- Entrepreneurship & Innovation
- Leadership & Civic Engagement
And can we talk about how awesome Michelle Obama is for bringing together so many amazing speakers for the event? President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Valerie Jarrett, Connie Britton, Warren Buffett, Melissa Harris-Perry, Billie Jean King, Lilly Ledbetter, Cecile Richards, Shonda Rhimes, Eleanor Smeal, Gloria Steinem, Oprah Winfrey are just some of the inspiring folks who will be speaking at the summit. And you can watch the live stream here!
Schumacher Q&A: the Making of Freddie!
Have you met my new friend, Freddie, yet? Oh, you should! He's really cute, cool, super helpful, and he's got a full-time job too, as Schumacher's new mascot. I had the chance to talk with the design team on their blog, give some insight on my creative process, and talk about some of my favorite things in this great, big world. You can read the interview and peek in my sketchbook here!
Natural goodness
I love my friends at SW Basics! They're cute, they're funny, and they make seriously amazing, all-natural skincare (to which I'm kind of addicted). We just wrapped up this fun, little promo piece talking about what they do. Big thank you to my co-creative on the project, Chris Bruffee, animator extraordinaire. And thank you, Adina Grigore, for being a super-awesome human being.
This Weekend! Phoenicia Flea at Stone Ridge Orchard
Hey friends! I'll be upstate all weekend long with Dusty Rose Vintage for the Phoenicia Flea at Stone Ridge Orchard. Come on by and say hi if you're lucky enough to have escaped the city. I'll be selling maps and other prints. And bring some sunblock! I think it's going to be an amazing, sunshine-y weekend.
Konbini Instaweek!
Big thanks to Justina Bakutyte at Konbini for sharing my work today for their Instaweek! They asked me to describe my creative process in a gif, so here I am falling down a rabbit hole.
Read all about it here:
http://www.konbini.com/us/inspiration/instaweek-libby-vanderploeg-illustration/
She Makes Nice
About a year and a half ago, I met designer Ngaio Parr through the magic of Instagram. Since then she's been keeping busy building Make Nice, a 3-day "un-conference for women" happening this June in Sydney, AU. While I won't be able to make it to Sydney for this year's inaugural event, I had a chance to chat with the ladies of Make Nice about my work. Have a read here!
Flo and Frank in the Studio
Thank you to the amazing ladies of Flo & Frank who put together this little video of me in my studio, talking about process, being positive, lady-lifting, and becoming an illustrator. A very fun day!
NYC Five Boro Bike Tour
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Bike New York's Five Boro Bike Tour is this weekend and my favorite brewers at Greenpoint Beer created a mango-infused, Radler-inspired wild ale for the occasion. It's only natural that I draw a mango riding his bike for the occasion! They'll be tapping it tonight...weeeee!
Bloomy
Enjoying the blossoms in McCarren Park...and noticing that I can't stop adorning everything with flowers, like this RSVP for a wedding invite I'm working on. I love this time of year!