z- Archive

A Memento for the Leadership Team

| Susan

DallasFinal_lowRes

“Usually, when we have these global get-togethers, we take photos and nobody ever looks at them again. We have a great time and I want the team to remember the experience.” With this, Rob Brown, the head of Global Marketing and Design for BBVA asked me to capture the Global Product and Design team offsite in Dallas earlier this year.

I was only happy to comply. I sat in on a couple of days of meetings, sketched participants, took photos and created this composition. The piece was matted and printed at 11 x 17 as a memento for each of the attendees after the event.

Three Generations

| Susan

I’m excited to be exhibiting my work with my mother and my grandmother all together in one show! We open this Thursday at the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco.

Postcard-Front

Postcard_backside_infoLe-dor va-dor means “From Generation to Generation.” It expresses the directive to teach your children the culture, values and lessons of Judaism. In our case, the teachings included art! My grandmother was a painter and sculptor, my mother is a metalsmith, ceramist and one who draws. I’m a sketcher and painter. Together, our work will span over a hundred years of art in one family.

I never knew my grandmother, but I’m so honored and thrilled to be showing my work with hers.

The Bay Area Jewish Weekly published a nice article about our show.

ShelterSmart workshop with FIT

| Susan

BBVA and Spring Studio have been working with FIT (the Field Innovation Team) to to design a new toolkit for community shelters after a disaster strikes. Last Monday and Tuesday, we met with the FIT team, representatives from the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the city of San Francisco emergency team and numerous designers to come up with solutions that will work better for global responders, displaced people and communities as a whole.

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Research was conducted in Florida and Houston after the hurricanes, Northern California after the wildfires and in Mexico following the earthquake.

I was asked to record the workshop through my illustration. Here are the results.

PerrisDESI+LORENZOKellieLeadsSmallGroupDesignPrinciplesTrevMaryAliciaPortraitsFirstSmallGroup

JohnSignoRamonaKat

Donna

NYC long weekend to see the Michelangelo Drawings

| Susan

The incredible show at the MET will only be there until mid February. My sister Tobie encouraged me to go since the drawings will only be shown this one time. We jumped on a plane and had a wonderful long weekend in the Big Apple. It even snowed all day on Saturday and accumulated 7″—what a treat!

Of course, I sketched. Here are the pieces I did.

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Found this great bar, the Fat Cat, with live Jazz

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Through the window at Tea and Sympathy in the West Village. While waiting for my old friend, Amy.
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Artifacts from the wonderful National Museum of the American Indian in the old Custom’s House in lower Manhattan
Doodle
Please excuse. A doodle to fill my time on the plane.

More Sketches of 2017

| Susan

A few new sketches from Spring of this year.

 

March and April were busy. I went to the town hall to hear my Congressman Jared Huffman answer questions. I made calls to Georgia voters for Jon Ossoff in Georgia, marched for 45 to reveal his taxes, went to a climate rally and a Mill Valley Community Action Network (MVCAN) meeting. Sketches were created.

Down in the Baja

Año Nuevo State Park.

We saw a few of the famous Elephant Seals. They’re pretty funny looking. We learned that the Grizzly Bear and the Elephant Seal have a common ancestor. Pups are “weaners.” Elephant Seals spend most of their time way out at sea (3000 miles) They came to Año Nuevo Beach in California, to shed their skins and later, to give birth.

AnoNuevo

 

And we hosted a birthday party at our house for our friend Seth.

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One Week 100 People 2017

| Susan

I have become a big fan of Instagram. Through that app, I’ve found wonderful sketchers, illustrators and artists and I’ve been sharing my work (@susanstanger5995—when I picked the handle, I didn’t know you were supposed to pick something more descriptive—I’m still learning). In early March, I learned about a challenge to sketch 100 people in a week. You might have noticed that I love to draw people so this was a no brainer for me. But it wasn’t easy. It was really 100 people in 5 days and by the end of the week, I was pretty much burnt out on drawing people.

On the other hand (so to speak), my drawing became more facile and quicker. I also started using other media, like a sharpie pen and colored pencils. One day, I banged out several sketches that way in just half an hour. Really quick and half from memory as my subjects moved through and out of eyeshot.

I posted on Instagram every day but the drawings were out of order and sometimes incomplete. I knew that eventually I would post them here so I could show them all in order (somewhat—though it seems that I’m missing a couple) and write more details about what I was doing, if I wanted to. So, here they are, my sketches of 100 people…

These first few sketches were done at the Mill valley Community Action Network meeting

These first sketches were done during a meeting of the Mill Valley CAN (Community Action Network) meeting. A group that is doing fantastic political action!

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The ferry is a wonderful place to sketch people because they seldom see me drawing them. Most are reading something, as this sketch shows.Number19-23

 

Here’s where I start doing those really quick sketches with the Sharpie pen and colored pencils. These were created in the lobby of the building where I work, 201 Mission St. on the corner of Beale in SF.

 

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Number49-52A few of my colleagues:Number53-55

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More quick sketches with a sharpie. I sketched first and colored in later.

 

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Finally doing a few just with paint. It was really fun and interesting to mix it up and do things a little differently.

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At the Water protectors rally in San Francisco

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Voila!

Art day at Robin’s and Pier 39

| Susan

This is the place that Robin called the “Murder Shed” because it’s a dilapidated shed behind her house that looks creepy in the night. But there’s also this tree that’s blooming with red and pink flowers right in front. I thought it was beautiful and cool!

murdershed

The next day, I went with my folks to Pier 39 for “Tulipmania” which was basically no more than a marketing campaign and several planters full of tulips. I was more taken by the seals/sea lions. They are pretty funny.

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El Sketch Fabuloso

| Susan

I miss my wonderful former colleague, Dominique. She’s a talented illustrator and we used to go out to sketch in the financial district of San Francisco at lunchtime on Wednesdays. She’s freelancing now but I’m trying to keep the tradition going on my own.

coittowerThis week, I did a quick sketch of Coit Tower (minus the traffic, trolley lines and streetlamps) from the Embarcadero.

A week at Salmon Lake, CA

| Susan

SalmonLakeLodge2_lowWe spent a week at the beautiful Salmon Lake Lodge in the Lakes Basin area of Northern California. The lake is about an hour north of  Lake Tahoe. It was a hiker’s paradise and a beautiful place to CHILL OUT for vacation.

Mitch Chillin'
Mitch Chillin’

 

We hiked to several lakes, one more stunning than the last, and with Mitch on the trip, the only option was to jump in at least once a day. The water was cool and refreshing–quite the treat when it got hot, which it did most days.

Our friends Joan and Adam made the rezzie at this place, where they have been going for the last four years. Stayed in a tent cabin–canvas roof, cook top, small fridge, electric lights (and outlets), picnic tables in and out, outside bbq grill, full size mattress, bunk beds, and a stove with all the wood you can burn. An idyllic week with highlights of playing music.