Happy almost-end-of-2022! This newsletter is coming to you a bit later in the month than usual because of the holidays and the barrage of art markets I was vending at mid-month. Speaking of which, thanks to all of you who came to my markets to buy something, to sign up for this newsletter (hello new subscribers!), to say hello, and to support local artists and small businesses in general. And an equally sincere thank you to people who made purchases online. I hope your holiday season has been restful and warm (wherever you might be in the world). I'm currently in the middle of a winter break (11 full days off!) and am looking forward to feeling re-charged and ready to face the world again next week.

While vending at Little Space Studio's Harvest Market in October, I was interviewed by WGVU about Little Space, freelancing, and the arts community in Grand Rapids. I am not a member at Little Space, but I'm a big supporter of them and their mission; I've been attending events there since early 2019 and have participated in all of their art markets since they began regularly hosting them this year. It was an honor to be included and this feature, which you can watch here.

Though not a Little Space member, I am, however, proud to say that I'm one of the newest members at Dinderbeck Studio! The Fine Arts division of Studio Hromi, which previously lived in a closet and very rarely saw the light of day, now exists at and operates out of a community printshop and artist studio near downtown Grand Rapids. My home office does not have the space or the capability to easily allow me to paint, collage, or explore traditional media, so I'm excited to have a place to go to deliberately exercise that portion of my creative brain and be around other extremely cool and skillful people while doing it. My office is still my main workspace where I can now focus solely on clients and digital work, but now I have a dedicated space to be a bit more free and occasionally somewhat messy. And as an added bonus, it looks like a weird little storefront, which delights me.

This is a bit different from the projects normally featured in this newsletter, but it was really gratifying and took up a large portion of my time these last couple of months, so I feel it's worth sharing. In late October I was contacted by a postdoctoral research associate at Imperial College London to create a comprehensive illustration describing the practical uses for a high-precision laparoscopic device in clinical settings. The project developed and changed vastly from its initial concept sketch, and the end result includes multiple different elements and illustration styles/techniques and quite a lot of story packed into a single page. This illustration was created using a combination of Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Procreate, and was laid out in Adobe Illustrator.

So far I don't have any art markets scheduled in 2023, but you can keep an eye on studiohromi.com/events, which will be updated as things are added. You can also find my wares online at studiohromi.com/shop and while supplies last at the following retail locations: Grand Rapids Public Museum Curiosity Shop, Sparrows Coffee on Wealthy Street, and Zabház vintage clothing store on Division.

As always, Instagram is the best way to keep up with all of my goings-on and behind-the-scenes goodies, but you can follow me on any of the platforms below. I also recently re-joined Tumblr, where I plan to occasionally write longer blog posts about projects, process, and works-in-progress.

Thank you for your support!

- Emily