NY-based illustrator urges following ‘personal curiosity’ at VPA lecture
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Lauren Simkin Berke was in third grade when they created their first story, “The King That Was Very, Very Small.” The short story, about a king who was so short he couldn’t “climb on his throne,” was accompanied by Berke’s illustrations of the king in pink and green hues.
On Thursday, a flurry of people bustled into Shaffer Hall’s Shemin Auditorium to view illustrations from this story, alongside Berke’s later artistic endeavors — flipbooks, zines, print artwork and other media — during Berke’s lecture at Syracuse University.
“I believe quite strongly that following one’s own personal curiosity is the best way to have control over the direction of one’s commercial work as an illustrator,” Berke said in their lecture.
The lecture, “Notes On Drawing a Self-Directed Path,” is part of the Visiting Artist Lecture Series through SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. Associate Professor Ginnie Hsu invited Berke to speak as part of the lecture series, which brings 25 contemporary artists to campus each semester and is required for Studio Arts majors. The event was also open to the public.
“(The series) is definitely beneficial for us, especially if the artist is in our field of interest,” SU junior Anna Ridihalgh said.
Ridihalgh attended Thursday’s lecture as a requirement for her major. The lecture acted as a tour of Berke’s career, a demonstration of their growth as an artist and a word of advice to those trying to break into the creative scene. Berke, who discussed everything from their work published in The New York Times to 30-minute sketchbook pages, said that each of their creative endeavors was equally as important.
Berke, a Brooklyn-based artist and self-described “drawer, illustrator, artist, maker, tinkler and educator,” studied anthropology at Cornell University and obtained an MFA in illustration and visual essay from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
They also teach illustration courses at SVA, the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design. Besides NYT, Berke’s work has been featured in the Smithsonian Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review and elsewhere.
“It can be interesting to see people talk about different mediums,” SU sophomore and Studio Arts major Chloe Saavedra said.
Berke has created accordion-style art books, pop-up zines, mini comics, flipbooks and more. Twice a year, they mail booklets of their art to a list of current and potential clients. Berke joked that they might be the last illustrator to send out physical mailers.
“You’re creating a long-lasting impression that’s going to hopefully pull your name up when the right project comes,” Berke said during their lecture.
When Berke told the audience that before every art fair, they promise themselves not to make anything new but end up making something the night before, the crowd laughed. Tote bags, Berke said, are nearly impossible for fairgoers to resist.
“It was good to see them talking about going and selling merchandise and going to conventions,” Ridihalgh said. “That’s something that a lot of people don’t really talk about.”
Berke’s artistic journey wasn’t a straight line, they said. They originally began as an art student at Cornell, but switched to anthropology, a field they said still impacts their art today.
A few years after graduate school, they bought a batch of vintage snapshots and began drawing from them daily, a habit they described as a loose ethnographic practice. The routine, deeply influenced by their undergraduate studies, manifested an era of historically-inspired artwork.
The sketchbooks from that project hold around 1,500 drawings, which eventually became the foundation of Berke’s first illustration portfolio.
“Loving culture, and loving learning about culture, and not centering my own culture, is something that’s important in all of my work,” Berke said during their lecture. “I try to create illustrations that are open for any person to sort of place themselves in the center.”
Berke has also created many illustrations with satirical and political messaging. After a break from drawing comics, Berke returned to the practice again in 2016, when President Donald Trump was elected to his first term. The election inspired them to make the political comic, “Just Another Saturday,” for the Resist publication. The comic, which featured five pages of political commentary and illustrations, was created to be distributed during a rally on the day of Trump’s first inauguration.
Berke then went on to illustrate a collection of art meant to showcase humanity’s effect on the Earth. The pages were saddle-stitched into the story, “What We Are Doing To The Planet.” Berke also created the comic “Just A Gentle Reminder,” a political commentary on reproductive health published in World War 3 Illustrated’s 2023 issue, “My Body, Our Rights.”
“When it comes to my zines, (it can) probably come across as scientific, or that I’m not approaching things in a warm, fuzzy way,” Berke said. “That comes from trying to be as direct as possible, which comes from wanting to be as clear as possible, without as much minimal cultural symbolism, even though it’s impossible.”
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During the Q&A portion of the event, Berke spoke about the importance of work-life balance when carving out time to still be creative. Because Berke is in their fifth or sixth year of teaching a full-time course load across three schools, most of their personal work happens in the summer. This “improvisational” creation process, which was approached with few rules, still led to very cohesive projects, Berke said in their lecture.
They recommended carving out as little as half an hour a day to draw something for yourself, advice that struck a chord with some students.
“When you’re doing so many creative projects, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed and creatively stunted,” Ridihalgh said. “Hearing a professional be like, ‘I do these practices to stay healthy’ is a good example for us.”
Berke currently has a new solo exhibition at the A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn, titled “Notes on Gesture.” The show is set to run from Oct. 10 through Nov. 8. They’re also working on a second instructional zine-style book with the working title, “Zine Factory,” which is tentatively set to be published next year.
Decades after their first illustrated story, Berke said they’re still committed to the artistic identity they developed back when they created “The King That Was Very, Very Small”.
“(The story) shows that I’ve had a consistent approach to image-making and illustration, creating straightforward imagery, often employing the use of juxtaposition,” Berke said, in their lecture looking at their first-ever drawings. “Though, hopefully, I have slightly better venturing skills now, almost 40 years (later).”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article spelled Lauren Simkin Berke’s last name as Burke. It also misquoted part of their “Notes On Drawing a Self-Directed Path” lecture. The Daily Orange regrets this error.
