Past Breakfast Serial Artists

Homeroom is thrilled to present the third annual Breakfast Serial, a series featuring comic, graphic and visual artists using Instagram as a medium to present new work.

ABOUT THE APRIL 2018 ARTIST: VICKO ALVAREZ

Vicko Alvarez is a Chicago based Tejana and creator and illustrator of the ScholaR Comics web series. The comic is based on her childhood as well as the lives of the students she's had the privilege of teaching in Chicago's southside. The stories touch on the realities of growing up poor in an immigrant home while also maintaining pride in your community.

Her latest comic, "Rosita Gets Scared", tells the story of a young undocumented girl coping with her fear of deportation. The comic also serves as an activity book to be utilized in classrooms and with youth groups as a tool to encourage culturally relevant social and emotional learning. With just weeks into its release, the comic has been covered by Telemundo, Newsy, and Radio Vocalo, and has been ordered by activists, educators, and parents across the country. Vicko is very excited to have found community in people of color comic cons and is very happy about the growing opportunity to connect with like minded educators.

With a big mouth and firm belief that "each one, teach one", Vicko stays reppin’ for the hociconas and the off-beat nerdas who put the “chola” in “scholar.”

ABOUT THE JUNE 2018 ARTIST: TESH SILVER

Tesh Silver  is a Chicago based graphic designer, illustrator and aspiring herbal and water witch. As an artist, she utilizes everyday materials and magical elements to emphasize romantic ideals of Black fragile beauty and delicacy. In her magical practices, her combination of intuitive practical magick, science and technology allows for an interesting slant into how these different forms of "communication" can bring powerful manifestation into a person's life.

ABOUT THE JULY 2018 ARTIST: THE BINX

I consider the work I’m currently creating to be the documentation of the journey I’m on. To help others feel like they have found something they can relate to and also be encouraged by is all I can hope to give to this world. I believe we’re on the brink of conscious-minded revolution, one that I hope leads others to live with more compassion towards one another and develop communities of spiritual growth. I want to be a part of that and I have only just begun to travel down the path of my own beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy.

Breakfast Serial is a free and easy way to get some art in your day before your even start work, so join us each morning.  See you on Instagram!

                                 @homeroomchicago     #breakfastserial

2017 Breakfast Serial Artists

March 2017: Joel Maxime Jr.

In March of 2017, Joel Maxime Jr. debuted "White Trayvon: What If George Zimmerman Was Black?" a nine-panel visual narrative as part of Homeroom's Breakfast Serial series. Based in Chicago and primarily known for his striking and often political visual work, Maxime maintains practices in a variety of disciplines from artist management to martial arts. As for a personal bio, the artist states, "Trying to find words for my artist statement is now the perpetual condition that forces me to create. The lack of words. 
My ideas may offend or nurture new thoughts. I find the most extreme versions of subtle imagery and expose it in order to protect thoughts that stray far from the norm. I long to bring discussions to issues and ideas that are taboo and forgotten with visual presence everywhere and anywhere it is desired."

April 2017: Madeleine Hettich

For Madeleine Hettich, good graphic design is a fascinating combination of calculated and emotional decisions. Hettich loves to experiment with grids and patterns, especially when said arrays influence a viewer's reading experience or narrative interpretation. Geometry plays a role in almost everything she designs or illustrates because it has the ability to be both precise and evocative. While maintaining a focus on graphic design, she also carries a passion for illustration, collage, artist books, writing, and comics with years of experience designing and illustrating for both print and digital media. Throughout her body of work, Hettich strives to make sure even the more subtle details have a reasoning behind them. Recently Hettich has become increasingly interested in how the physical form of books, posters, etc. can be used to enhance a viewer's experience.

June 2017: Ezra C. Daniels

Ezra Claytan Daniels is a writer and illustrator based in Los Angeles, CA. His critically acclaimed graphic novel series, The Changers, began a unique career peppered with a number of collaborative multimedia projects ranging from video games to animation to feature documentaries. Ezra collaborated with Chicago-based chamber group Fifth House Ensemble on the narrative concert series, Black Violet, which the Chicago Sun-Times called “a modern classic”. He also contributed animation to experimental hip hop luminary Alexis Gideon’s Video Musics series of animated rap operas and has worked on several interactive projects with esteemed interactive artist Erik Loyer. Ezra is currently working on Upgrade Soul, a pioneering immersive science fiction graphic novel for iOS that has been featured on the App Store and nominated for a 2013 IndieCade Award. Ezra spends his days as art director and UX/UI lead at Branchfire, whose award-winning iAnnotate PDF remains one of the most successful and influential productivity apps on the App Store, boasting over 1 million users globally.

2016 Breakfast Serial Artists

June 2016: Carlos Matallana

Growing up in Bogotá, Colombia, Carlos Matallana witnessed a striking contrast of class, social and cultural backgrounds, similar contradictions to the social segmentation he saw in the city of Chicago, where he now lives. His body of work implies two well defined means, political criticism via cartoons and political representation by virtue of games where social interactions, resources distribution and power conveys real life situations and decision making under specific circumstances. He found, however, that Illustration was not as persuasive as say education, where he had the chance to interact with students from diverse environments and learn from their experiences. Education led Carlos to develop role-play games as pedagogical tools. Both disciplines (Illustrator and Game Developer) convey his working experience and research into complex issues, including violence, urbanism, economics, and housing, which motivates him to question his position as a father, educator and artist, then challenge the audience to reflect about their role in a complex-rich urban society as Chicago.

July 2016: Regin Igloria

Regin Igloria maintains a multidisciplinary studio practice in Chicago, IL, which revolves around teaching and serving as an arts administrator. In 2010, he founded North Branch Projects, a community bookbinding project based in the Albany Park neighborhood, which allows him to combine various aspects of his work as an educator and artist. Select teaching experiences include Marwen, The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, Hyde Park Art Center, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been exhibited and collected internationally, including the ANTI Contemporary Art Festival in Finland, Out of Site Performance Festival Chicago, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, The Franklin, Zg Gallery, and The Center for Book Arts NYC. He is a recipient of a 3Arts Teaching Artist Award, Propeller Grant, 96 Acres Project Grant, and an Americans for the Arts Fellowship. Residencies include Montello Foundation, Ucross, ACRE, and The Wormfarm Institute. He received his MFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design and his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

August 2016: Zelda Vidal

Zelda Vidal is an emerging comic and children's book author and illustrator inspired by "nature, bright colors, Dr. Seuss, Japan, folklore, books, music, Vincent Van Gogh, E.H. Shepard, Quentin Blake and a bajillion other things I see and experience every day."  Zelda's intricate watercolors emit a warmth and coziness perfectly suited to graphic novels and children's literature. She was part of Emerging & Established Artist Exchange in 2014-2015.