2022 Illustrator’s Cup

It’s honestly hard to feel all that good about anything these days, what with SCOTUS seemingly dead-set on stripping rights from anyone but straight, cis, white men. But that’s what’s great about art—it provides a respite and helps folks work out their feelings; it can tell a story or be a distraction. For this year’s Illustrator’s Cup, many of the winning images (and honorable mentions) do just that. Take 1st Place winner Odessa Sawyer’s “Night Drive,” an ethereal and haunting piece that feels a little bit X-Files, a whole lot gorgeous. Or look to 2nd Place’s “Poppy Love” by Andrea Soorikian, a complex piece that feels new while recalling old Sunset Magazine covers. Cynthia Young’s 3rd Place-winning “Self” hits a little harder, though, especially in this moment. That’s the other thing about art—it isn’t afraid to help us confront the hard truths.

1st Place

Night Drive

By Odessa Sawyer

Odessa Sawyer is an illustrator and doll maker from Santa Fe, where she lives with her husband, mom and two sons. Her artwork has been seen in and on the covers of middle-grade and young-adult books, ad campaigns, posters, film and television projects and album covers. Her work was published in Lurzer’s Archive as one of the 200 best illustrators worldwide for 2011 and 2014, and won the 2019 best cover award in fiction by the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards.

2nd Place

Poppy Love

By Andrea Soorikian

Andrea Soorikian is a Santa Fe-based mixed media artist, illustrator and visual storyteller. Flowers are an enduring inspiration to her work as an artist and designer for their beauty and meaning. It is through the flower that Andrea expresses her innermost sentiments.

3rd Place

Self

By Cynthia Young

Cynthia Young is a Santa Fe-based painter exploring what it means to be female today with past ideals still hanging in the minds of society.

Honorable Mention

A Magical Kingdom

By Maya Eliisa Shakur

Maya Eliisa Shakur is a children’s book illustrator based in Santa Fe. Under the name of Studio Maï, her desire is to create art that encourages sustainability and environmentalism to remind children of the natural world that surrounds and supports us. As a woman of color, it is also her goal to create new and inclusive norms regarding gender and race through creative communication.

Dreadnaughts

By Nord Petersen

Nord Petersen briefly attended Florida State University as an art major, then dropped out and joined the Navy, becoming a member of the Pacific Fleet Combat Camera Group operating out of San Diego. Within the last few years he began to add color ink to some works but his favorite method is black on white using crow quill or Micron pens on illustration board or Claybord.

Up

By Suin Lee

Suin Lee moved to New Mexico two years ago and started to draw images from everyday life.

Desperation

By Ralph Sanders

Ralph Sanders has both a bachelors and a masters degree in fine arts. Sanders is also a member of the Society of Illustrators in New York City.

Hands off Uterus

By Bette Yozell

Bette Yozell grew up on the north shore of Boston, attended the Tyler School of Art in Rome, the Boston Museum School and has a BS in art education from Tufts University. She taught first at the College of Santa Fe and then at Santa Fe Prep School, where she was chair of the Art Department and taught for 27 years. Retired from teaching in 2011, Yozell is now full-time in her studio.

Snail Happy Hour

Adam Copeland

Adam Copeland is a stand-up comic, host and producer of his own podcast; voice-over talent and author and artist of his own comic strip. He has lived in Santa Fe for four years and is currently working on writing a show for kids who want to get into meditation and enlightenment.