After designing t-shirts for Alklaline Trio for the past ten years, there's a good chance a bulk of you are wearing a design by Heather Gabel. The artist, who recently moved to Gainesville, Florida, has done artwork for a number of bands, including My Chemical Romance, AFI and The Lawrence Arms. She also has an art show opening up in Chicago this Friday. The All Rise Gallery features a number of artists in addition to Gabel. For more information on that, click here.
Meanwhile, in our ongoing effort to bring you interviews with people involved in the punk community through peripheral roles, we're pleased to bring you a conversation between Gabel and our own Ronnie Raffaniello.
How and when did you become interested in art?
I've liked drawing since i was a kid, for as long as I can remember. So, let's say age 3, when I got my first box of crayons.
Growing up, what was your dream job?
I always thought it would be awesome to be a synchronized swimmer like Esther Williams or to be a mermaid like they have at Lake Wiki Watchee in Florida. They breathe oxygen out of a tube and then swim around like mermaids behind a giant plate glass window.
Who are your inspirations today and how have they changed over the course of your life as an artist?
I have always been, and still am, inspired by anyone who is doing what they love because they love it.
What is your favorite medium and why?
I don't have a favorite. I use photography, collage and painting (acrylic) in my work. I switch back and forth, and use them simultaneously as well, because some things translate better in different mediums.
Has your style changed over the years? How do you feel your work today compares to that of time past?
I think it has. It's like with anything you do, it's going to always be growing and changing as you do. I think my work is more blatantly personal now than it was in the past. I would make things when I was younger simply because I thought they looked cool, which I don't think discounts their artistic value, but now I'm usually reacting to more specific things or ideas when I make something.
Is there a medium you would like to experiment with that you haven't already worked with?
In school I did sculpture, installation pieces, ceramics, oil painting, print making, photography, silkscreening and a whole slew of other "mixed media" type mediums, but I never did wood or linoleum cut prints. I would like to try that eventually.
How did you become involved in working with bands and what are some of the bands you've designed artwork for?
I started doing shirt designs for Alkaline Trio over 10 years ago. Then made friends with other bands from touring with Alkaline Trio. Eventually I was doing work for other bands too because they knew I did Alkaline Trio's shirts. I've done design work for My Chemical Romance, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Draft, Rancid, AFI, the Falcon, The Lawrence Arms, Reggie and the Full Effect, The Start, New Found Glory, Green Day, Heavens, Hot Water Music, Fake Problems, and more that I can't remember right now.
In the music world, who has been your favorite artist(s) to work with?
Aside from Alkaline Trio/Heavens it would have to be My Chemical Romance. We always see eye to eye on the designs and that's rare when you are dealing with so many opinions and creative people.
In the art world, who has been your favorite artist(s) to work with?
Last summer I did a show in Chicago with Horsebites (from Orlando, plays in New Mexican Disaster Squad and does a lot of design work for Less Than Jake and other bands), Bridey Bowen (currently working on a tattoo apprenticeship and has done design work for Against Me!, American Cheeseburger and Riverboat Gamblers) and Steak Mtn. (designed extensively for Against Me! with the New Wave record, shows his work regularly at galleries). This was the most fun show to do because we each did one piece and then passed it around to each other and added our own spin on it so that in the end we had 4 different takes on each one.
Is there anyone you would like to work with that you haven't had the opportunity yet?
I'd like to do a t-shirt for Madonna.
Would you mind briefly explaining your series in the upcoming (October 24-27) art show at All Rise Gallery in Chicago, IL?
The pieces I'm making for this show are a little different than things I've made before. These pieces are more based in fantasy than in reality. I mean, I usually paint blue ladies (literally the color blue) or collage nine legged ladies so the argument could be made that my work is already pretty fantastical but, these new pieces are more like genetic mutations. Crossbreeding, if you will, but in a pretty way. They would make cool pets.
Aside from producing art and touring with bands, what are some of your favorite hobbies?
I like to cook and bake, go record shopping, ride my bike to the thrift store to treasure hunt, swim in the ocean and eat. I collect scissors. I like to read.
Any last words?
Check out my website to see pretty much everything I've ever made.