Collaboration

Since I've undertaken this makeup endeavor I've realized the importance of collaboration with fellow artists. While I could scour fashion magazines for the latest trends, read other makeup blogs for new technique ideas and paint faces all day and all night, I don't think I would learn half as much as I do when working with other artists. I've been fortuante enough to have several people emerge as potential collaborators and I look forward to seeing how we can support each other towards better work and more exposure.

I have known Jenn Tran for over four years, since we were working the cash registers in the basement of the University Book Store. When we met, she had just started her sophomore year at UW and I was a few months out of my masters program. In that time, Jenn has emerged as a stunning visual artist whose photography is breathtakingly gorgeous (http://www.jenn-tran.com/). In the early days of our friendship Jenn was grappling with future planning ideas and was torn between law school and art as potential (and profoundly different) career paths. At this time, Jenn is pursuing a second degree at DigiPen where she is exploring game design. I am incredibly proud of her for following her passions, and have felt challenged to get in touch with mine as a result. She continues to develop her eye for photography and has recently agreed to a continued collaboration with me that involves the intersection between makeup and portraiture. All of the phenomenal shots on this blog or my facebook page were taken by her. It is an absolute honor to partner with her, and I am so excited to see what we come up with.

Jenn Woodason-Svarplaitis and I became fast friends when we met by the mailboxes in our apartment complex in Scottsdale, AZ seven years ago. We started talking about how irritating junk mail is and the conversation has flowed endlessly since then. Jenn has been a visual artist for many years, once founded a co-op gallery in Phoenix and continues to create and sell work of all kinds (http://liquidimagination.weebly.com/updates.html). Jenn and I haven't lived in the same city for a long time, but time and distance hardly seem to matter. Our collaboration seems to occur on a plane that is both spiritual and emotional. During the times that I have felt creatively stuck in my life, I have sought Jenn to help me search out and find meaning. More recently Jenn and I have been talking across the distance from upstate New York to Seattle about art, inspiration, connection and lessons learned. Jenn is an amazing, supportive person who has always believed in me and pushed me towards being my best self. I know Jenn and I will continue to pursue our artistic passions in our parallel physical, spiritually intertwined lives.

The internet and Facebook, in particular are the grand connecting tools of our age. A facebook friend from high school introduced me to her sister, La Shaun Daye who owns a salon in South Seattle (http://www.lashaundaye.com/). The timing was perfect--La Shaun is a hair designer who was looking for a makeup artist to partner with for special occasion beauty services. She graciously invited me to her salon to talk about my ideas for my makeup business and shared her vision with me. Tonight I head back to the salon to demo my work on her, so that she can see my abilities and decide if she wants to refer her clients to me. I am stoked to have this unique opportunity to showcase my work on a fellow professional who has an established business. I hope La Shaun and I will find some fun ways to work together. We both agree that having a one-stop beauty services package for weddings, prom and other occasions is a great idea. La Shaun Daye Hair Studio is a great space--on the second floor of a small office complex off of Rainier Avenue it offers hair design and other beauty services and products in a fun, relaxed convivial atmosphere. Maybe you will see me freelancing in there sometime...