Staff Highlight! Graphic Designer Bex
All of our wonderful graphics are made by our wonderful Graphic Designer Bex, who gave us some insight into what makes them super cool!
Quick Elevator Pitch: Where you from, where you’ve been, and where you going?
Bex: I was born and raised in Katy, Texas but have lived all over surrounding areas of Houston; in Boston, MA; Portland, OR; and most recently Olympia, WA. I moved to Austin in 2013 with the intentions of studying RTF, specifically screenwriting & cinematography, but later realized I actually didn't want to pursue RTF at all and fell in love with art & graphic design. I don't really have any huge plans in the near future, it feels nice to be in one place again after moving back and forth from the west coast over the course of a year, though I'll be traveling through the midwest this summer for a couple weeks with my band. Other than that, I will be spending a lot of time here at the school, at my other job at a music venue downtown, designing things like cassette tapes, flyers, t-shirts, postcards and the like for friends, trying to re-learn French, and biking around Austin looking for new and quiet places to sit and read. In the distant future, I could maybe see myself living in the pacific northwest again at some point. But I also kind of do things on impulse so I never really know exactly what I'm going to get into.
What’s your role on the Austin School of Film team?
B: I design all the promotional and marketing materials here at ASOF. Everything you see on our Facebook, Instagram, ads in the Chronicle, postcards around town, pamphlets at our screenings, et cetera, were all made with love for you, by me. I am also pretty well known around here for drinking all of the LaCroix we have stocked in our kitchen.
If you had a shortlist of films written down on a scrap of paper to use when someone asks you what are your favorite films, what would be on there?
B:Wow. Um. I'm horrible at favorites. But, if it's a 90s rom-com, chances are I love it and have cried every single time I've watched it. I'm really into 80's & 90's sci-fi and horror B-movies and cult films. Also really into dystopian / post-apocalytpic, cyber punk, anti-capitalist themed films. HACK THE FUTURE! Check out these selections: https://mubi.com/lists/hacking-the-future-cyberpunk-and-dystopia
Outside of the film world, what art inspires you?
B: Honestly, a lot of the art that inspires me is visual. Music, literature & illustration are probably three of the main art mediums that influence me, but I definitely do pull so much inspiration from film, video & photography, especially of the experimental/avant-garde type. I love any type of art that plays with queerness & sexuality, art that makes you cringe, art that makes you cry, art that makes you want to die. The art that inspires me most is anything that I can read / look at / listen to that makes me feel like I was there when it was being made, like it was made just for me because I feel so deeply connected to it, like I wouldn't be able to exist or function the same way without it. On the other hand, I also love art that gives me the opportunity to totally disconnect from the world around me, makes me feel like a different person altogether. I spend a lot of time in my own head so it's nice to dissociate every now and then.
Who’s your desert island band?
B: As mentioned before, I'm awful at favorites. My taste in music fluctuates depending on my mood/the weather/my environment etc so I think I'd become real sick of anything if it's all I could listen to on a desert island. Though, Mazzy Star is one of my favorite artists to listen to in the Texas summer heat when I feel like I'm melting into the floor of my bedroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7JQ0dM6VqE
What’s something small in life that makes you really happy?
B: Having the road to myself at 3am when I'm biking home from work, reading on my roof, making my friends laugh, when someone tells me they love my art, staying up all night talking with strangers you just met that you feel like you've known for years, 24-hour diners, kisses from my dog, breakfast for dinner.