Gwen Wiess

BA, 2016
Instagram: @gwenwiess
Website: gwenwiess.com
Etsy: @gwenwiessart

What are you most proud of in your life or work today?

I lived in Europe for a few years and traveled. Making the choice to do it, dealing with the bureaucracy of government paperwork, and ultimately creating a life for myself there, definitely required being able and willing to be uncomfortable. I had to move home during Covid (June 2020). Again, uncomfortable, but decided to start trying to get back into making again. I opened an Etsy, and have a book that I illustrated being published by the end of the year and I'm working on the second. I'm very proud of those transitions.

What are you doing now (life, work, grad school) and how did your time at Tyler help you prepare?

I'm working some odd jobs while trying to get my illustration portfolio/website off the ground so I can apply to more freelance jobs. The discipline to work for myself and the respect for the impact of visual media are definitely learned skills from Tyler. I also think that my time in the Visual Studies program has made my travel experience more full since I am able to better culturally contextualize visual cues.