Introducing the 2017-2018 Adobe Creative Residents

At Adobe, we focus on fostering creativity and empowering artists to create with impact. One of the programs I especially love is the Adobe Creative Residency. We give talented individuals the opportunity to spend a year working on a personal creative project, and our only ask is that they inspire others by sharing their experiences and process. And, of course, they can leverage our support and reach to promote their brand and work.

Last year, we had four incredible Creative Residents – vlogger Sara Dietschy who visited the White House; Craig Winslow whose animated patterns appeared in Nike stores around the world; illustrator and animator Syd Weiler whose “Trash Doves” iOS stickers went viral; and Christine Herrin who launched a new online store. I remember meeting the four of them last year at 99U in New York when we announced their participation. There was so much cheer and excitement. A year after at their graduation, they had each accomplished so much and it was incredibly moving to see how we had touched four lives in a meaningful way. It is our privilege to provide these young residents with the opportunity to make real impact in the world.

I’m excited to announce that we are expanding the program to include six new Residents this year – and we are going international! We have four residents from the United States and, for the first time, two from Germany.

I’m thrilled to announce our six residents for 2017-2018 through this blog. Here is a little information about them:

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Brooklyn, New York-based photographer Aundre Larrow has shot portraits for New York Fashion Week and Levi’s. During his residency, he will craft a project connecting Americans and their geographic locations to identity and values. Titled “Echo Chamber,” Larrow will ditch his studio photography and head to the streets of New York City and others, documenting with photography, video, and audio how a sense of place impacts thought.

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Chelsea Burton, from Erie, Pennsylvania, is a designer and a craftsperson who creates unique, custom longboards inspired by graffiti and skate culture, yet constructed under the care of an artist’s eye. During Burton’s residency, she will create her own line of signature longboards, focusing on material sustainability and quality, as well as her artwork messaging.

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Graphic designer Jessica Bellamy, of Louisville, Kentucky, is a translator of ideas. Her work tackles the challenge of communicating complex service and policy information from non-profits, to the general public. During her residency, Bellamy plans to work towards design-focused social change. Her plan is to create a toolkit for non-profits to tell their stories and help designers learn how to work with the non-profits in new ways.

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Berlin-based photographer Julia Nimke is a passionate traveler, which will be a key part of her residency. She’ll examine the natural world through Europe’s four seasons, documenting the changing light through a variety of photographic techniques. Along the way, she’ll share her creative process using videos, blogs, and social media, which will allow the community to follow her as she chases the light.

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From Seattle, Washington, UX/UI designer Natalie Lew uses her background in philosophy and interaction design to create tangible solutions to meaningful problems through UX/UI design. Her residency will find her crafting an open-source toolkit aimed at equipping designers with resources to make positive, interdisciplinary impact on both small and large scales.

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Graphic and letterhead designer Rosa Kammermeier, who calls Munich home, wants to bring happiness and positivity to people’s lives in urban environments. During her residency, she plans to take her hand-lettering to various cities, working with shops to create window designs that make a statement and stop pedestrians in their tracks. Kammermeier will make her hand-lettered works more accessible to people around the world by sharing online.

All six of this year’s Creative Residents embody what makes creative work so special: the ability to tell a story while inspiring the community to see the world in a new light. Whether exploring an ancient Bavarian forest, interviewing conductors on New York City’s most unique subway line, or fusing the worlds of high art and skateboarding, this year’s Residents will challenge themselves creatively while sharing their learnings with all of us! I hope you are as excited as I am to see what they create!