Edel Rodriguez at University of the Arts

His grandfather was a carpenter; his mother a seamstress; his father a photographer and he is a talented illustrator to grace many of today's magazines with his striking art and ideas. So I learned about Edel Rodriguez, who came by boat to America when he was eight. On Thursday March 18th, he stopped by the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where he gave a lecture in tandem with an exhibition of his works on display at the University (Thanks to the Dept of Illustration for having set this up)

Edel put together a well crafted lecture weaving stories of his life, his family, his culture and his experiences that inform and inspire his art. The early childhood pictures that he shared with us were touching and helped relate what he described as the things that influence him. He took the time to show the evolution of his works from early school works to his recent illustration pieces for the Time and the NewYorker.

Here is what I learned from Edel :

Follow the Idea
Edel gives importance to the Idea reflected in the work. He encourages sketching many rough ideas and then following through with the ones that have the most potential.

Look around you
Edel's philosophy in art is to pay attention to things around you and to weave them into your work. Using many examples he showed even how mundane mail order catalogues and cigar boxes end up being potent outlets for his artistic expression.

Give time to your Work
Edel credits his grandfather, who worked from 5am to 7pm as the inspiration for his work ethic. Edel works on many pieces at the same time. He not only dabbles in commercial work, but pursues his personal art and scultpure (with very interesting materials such as sugar cubes, rose thorns etc..) as well.

Take pride in your culture
Edel takes pride in the culture that he was raised and the culture around him. He makes strong connections to culture in his art and it is central to his inspiration in his work.

Show your best work
When a question was asked how to put together a portfolio for a design company that specializes in theater, he said regardless of the nature of the job, show your best work. To get his first job, Edel created art work for the Rapunzel story.