MORE ARTISTS & CREATORS WHO INSPIRE MEOW WOLF DISCOVER THE CREATIVES WHO MADE OUR CREATORS WANT TO CREATE! – BY BILLIAM RODGERS Shortly after we opened House of Eternal Return, we asked Meow Wolfers around our then-tiny production studio about who inspires them in their work. We collected six inspirational artists and talked about how they shaped our creative lives. Give it a read: meowwolf.com/articles/artists-creators-infl uenced-meow-wolf It’s a fun snapshot of where we were as a studio half a decade ago. Two major exhibitions and a half-dozen new departments later, we wanted to revisit the topic and ask Meow Wolf artists who inspire them today. Here are More Artists Who Inspire Meow Wolf: AUBREY SCHWARTZ Meow Wolf artist and props production manager Aubrey Schwartz is a multipath talent around Meow Wolf Studios. She’s worked on everything from installation art to fi lm production, costume design and puppeteering. Two artists who inspire her are fi lmmaker Julie Taymor and Muppets creator Jim Henson. In particular, Aubrey admires their talents mism and worldbuilding. She had s to say about them: “In general, I am a big fan of practical effects and the whimsy and magick they evoke when done right. I love masks, puppets, creatures and objects made animate. As a child I was absolutely obsessed with thing by Jim Henson, especially the otherworldly creatures of The Dark Crystal, The Labyrinth and Fraggle Rock. They created whole worlds, where everything was alive and animate. As an artist I am very interested in animism and the fae. “Julie Taymor's costume, mask and puppet designs transform the human form in ways that dissolve it and create something otherworldly. I like that they are often large, exaggerated gestures that feel dreamy and surreal. “Both artists are full-on in their world building in a way that transports you from this ordinary mundane world to a fully-imagined reality.” GABRIELLA LEGER-LOVATO Gabriella Leger-Lovato is a lead concept artist at Meow Wolf. They are an illust and 3D modeler, and you m recognize their illustrations from Convergence Station’s “Book of Whales” and Omega Mart’s “Burial Chamber” texts. The artist who inspires them is Jamie Hewlett, who is behind the Tan Girl comics and co-creator of t virtual band Gorillaz. “(Hewlett) is the reason I started to pursue art as a career. I think it’s because his work is unique and gritty. All his characters are unapologetically themselves and don’t resemble a lot of mainstream styles that are plastic, overlyrefi ned and easily digestible. His work is always just hella weird.” No. 106 JEROME MORRISON Jerome Morrison is a desig technologist who makes the interactive elements of works like “The Navigators” in Convergence Station and the “Omega Access Experience” in Omega Mart. His work adopts new technology an trends and applies them t immersive experiences. Creative works that brought his passion for interactive puzzle and experience-making into focus are the Assassin’s Creed series of video games, particularly the puzzles that break up the cloak-n-dagger action of the main game and give players an eerie view of the history-spanning conspiracy at the heart of the story. He had this to say: “I like the slow drip of content as a reward for solving these increasingly diffi cult logic puzzles. (The game also includes) these additional ciphers that you don’t need to solve for 100 percent completion, but tell so much more about historic events like the CIA takeover of Latin America, atrocities like the Banana Massacre, and conspiracy theories like Hitler’s body double (this didn’t fool the assassins, they got him anyway).” KAREN LEMBKE Karen Lembke is a fabric and sewing artist whose work appears in Omega Mart projects such as e Camping Portal” and “Deli ats.” Her fabric work appears throughout Convergence Station in projects such as the Bearret creature in “Swamp,” the puppet for the Convergence Station Newsstand, a C Street irus and alien meat vendor arts. Karen’s creative inspiration is none other than Nature themselves. “With fabric as my primary medium, I love to look at textures and patterns in nature for inspiration. I see off -the-bolt material as a jumping-off point for how to manipulate it into something more interesting. Various strains of mold, sea slugs, garden snails, insect wings, seashells and more can be mimicked with diff erent types of fabrics through painting, pleating, shearing, smocking and so on.” MAX NEUTRA Max Neutra is an experienced designer at Meow Wolf Studios. You’ve seen his work with projects like the “Osmositron” in Omega Mart and the Q-Pass experience in Convergence Station. Chances are you’ve experienced one of his many projects, scripts or voice acting appearances throughout both Denver and Vegas, or you’ve encountered his voice-activated kaleidoscope in House of Eternal Return. Max is inspired by the works of Gonzo illustrator Ralph
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