Two recent FGCU alumnae weren’t friends until each moved to New York a couple of years ago. There they connected and made art.
The result is the exhibit “Girl Feast,” now at the Wasmer Gallery on the FGCU campus.
Izzy Baquerizo explains how she and Chloe Lewis met.
"I had just moved to New York in 2022 and I didn't know a lot of people, but I remember Chloe moved there right after college, and we followed each other on social media. So I just sent her a message saying, like, 'Hey, I'd love to be your friend. I'd love to make art together.' And she said, 'Yes.'
They began meeting for picnics in Central Park and hanging out in coffee shops, making collages and sketching in their sketchbooks and on iPads.
"Our drawing style is really similar," Baquerizo said. "This show was definitely the first time that we kind of drew on the same paper or same iPad, and it turned out really nice. I think Chloe is really into plants and fun objects and flowers. And I'm more of like a character design person into the setting, which is a perfect place, like a dining table with flowers and food and fun."
Lewis explained their collaborative process.
"We collaborated on each illustration. We would each make a part of the drawing, and then we would each color it, and then I would sort of finish the coloring process, and then we would say yes or no or change something."
Baquerizo talked about how they came up with the exhibit title.
"We're both really into girl dinner, which is, like, a popular thing girls say when you don't eat a full meal, you're just eating snacks or girls get together and get wine and chips. This felt like a party or a feast. So we came up with 'Girl Feast.'"
Lewis lives in Orlando now, and both are full-time graphic designers.
“Girl Feast” can be seen through Nov. 20.. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
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