Contributors

Meet the artists that shared their stories.

Jessica Schultz

Happy Astronaut

One of the things that has made a huge difference to me in my lifelong struggle with depression has been my collection of stories. I’ve read everything I could get my hands on for as long as I could remember, and it’s one of the reasons I went into art — to be able to touch people with my art and stories the way other people have thrown hope to me. Authors and artists who have spoken freely about their struggles with despair and about their subsequent journeys to hope have been my heroes — it’s been monumental to read their words and realize “it’s not just me — I can keep hanging on.”

Post college I’ve been relearning what it means to be a part of a community, and to be globally aware. How to find ways to step past my comfort zone and to try to understand — and how to apply my passion for art and stories to the search for community. It’s my deepest hope that this place, this project, can become a safe space - a place of healing and understanding in the midst of a broken, messy world.

Alyssa Bradley

Whimsy Design & Illustration

It is the artist's greatest gift to carry the burdens of life — the tragedies, brokenness, sorrow, but also hope, joy, redemption; all the ups and downs, the quiet moments and the grand ones — and wrestle with them, sort through, and mold them. We take these experiences, craft them into beautiful tangible things and present them to the world, having peace that that these small reflections of our souls will make the burden of life lighter for another.

I believe that stories are the most powerful force in the world. Stories bring unlikely people together, teach lessons, make us feel things we have never felt before, and challenge us to see life from a different perspective. Behind every piece of my art is a story, a gateway into the whimsical worlds that my brain resides in. Nothing I create is without meaning; everything has a story that is waiting to be set free.

Mikaela Monday

E.B. Hale

Julie Tu