Christian Solorzano [00:41]

Hello, you are listening to Underscore, a show by the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I am your host, Christian Solorzano. And on today's episode, I am excited to share my conversation with Wendy Robles, an artist and designer based in Chicago. And in this episode, she shares her journey from fine arts to graphic design, discussing how her relationship with different creative mediums has evolved over time. Wendy discusses her thoughtful approach to artistic practice, exploring themes of connection and meaning that run through her daily experiences.

She talks about her current projects at the intersection of art and science. The conversation explores her personal manifesto to life and creativity, her relationship with music, and how her cultural background informs her work and the mythical elements that appear. Throughout our discussion, she reflects on finding balance, following intuition, and embracing the mischievous energy that fuels her creativity. If you enjoy these conversations, please follow us on your preferred podcast platform, and we would greatly appreciate it if you left us a rating.

Thank you so much and enjoy the conversation. Good afternoon, Wendy. How's it going?

Wendy Robles [02:16]

Great, good.

Christian Solorzano [02:17]

How is April treating you so far? I know we're just in the first week, a little bit past the first week.

Wendy Robles [02:24]

I started off April really busy because it was application deadline season for a lot of grants that I was applying for. So that's kind of how my April started. And right now I'm kind of in anticipation for Expo Chicago that's happening later. And I also got some rejection letters from some previous application things that I had submitted to, but that's just like part of the process.

Christian Solorzano [02:50]

So, yeah. Yeah. So you and I remember you and I connected many years ago on social media. And then you, I remember I was really interested in your Music taste. You had like really cool music taste, and I remember you would post like Spanish rock, and you know us both being Mexican people, it was nice to see someone else that's you know from my generation appreciate the things that I grew up listening to, you know with my family, you know back when I was a child.

So that was cool, and also. Since then, you've vanished from social media. And that was in 2021, you said, right? Around 2021. So can we talk about that, about your disappearance? Because your username is @whereiswendy, but Wendy can't be found on social media. So let's talk about that.

Wendy Robles [03:53]

So yeah, I left kind of social media platforms. I kind of gradually have been getting jaded by different platforms. I was a little active on Twitter for a little bit. It was kind of like my way of sharing little updates too. And then I like just kind of got tired of that. And removed myself from that. Instagram, I don't know, I just felt like I also was getting jaded from the platform.

I didn't think— I didn't have that much want or desire to share my artwork there. I had been building like a collection of artwork independently in my studio at the time, and I don't know, I just— it wasn't an exciting space for me to feel like I wanted to share that.

So I left that space and I decided to kind of focus all my energy on my website. I do have a TikTok. I'm not active on TikTok. I was for like a little bit while I was selling my calendars this Past year. But I also would go through these cycles where I would just delete the app completely cuz I was just like consuming too much of my time. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [05:03]

Yeah. Well, what I think is interesting about publishing your work on your own website is that it gives you like, it definitely gives you ownership and control over how things are displayed. Whereas I feel like with social media, you never know how people are going to be seeing your work because they can stumble upon one of your paintings right after they saw, a political post or something that is totally unrelated to what it is that you're trying to communicate.

So it's nice to be a curator of your entire space and be in control of your fonts that you use and like Your colors and like everything about it.

It's like entirely you, and I think that's one of the reasons why I've wanted to have this conversation is because I found myself like I visited your websites and I saw that you were still publishing things and you were still active, and I'm curious to know if you do you keep track of like obviously with your website you can't see likes. Or you can't see any of that stuff. You can't see who's looking at your story.

So is there, do you feel like there is a freedom in not having access to all that, all that data? Or do you still find yourself looking at Google Analytics or?

Wendy Robles [06:25]

No, I do think there is like a freedom because it's kind of like you just, it's for yourself a little bit, but it's like for the public audience as well, or whoever like might stumble upon it. Yeah, I have this little quote on there that like goes like, in a sea of possibilities, you can hold upon here. That's like paraphrasing it. But yeah, I just think it's my free little space.

Like it kind of, I have this like hope that maybe after, the social media wave goes, we'll move back to like independent kind of bloggers and— Who have a little bit more ownership in how their content is being put out into the internet space. It's exciting to play with it too.

Christian Solorzano [07:16]

Because I remember one of the— I want to talk about how you got into design and art and creativity, because for me, I remember when I was getting into this whole design world, I Would also create my own websites, like through Yahoo GeoCities, I believe that's what it was called. And it allowed you to experiment and to try different button styles and different background colors and animations and everything.

And I felt like there was more, there was a bigger opportunity for someone's personality to shine through their site as opposed to an Instagram. Like everyone's Instagram looks the same. Like it's Username, little bio, every image is the same ratio and everything is like in a perfect grid. And I like, I agree. I think there's a freedom in curating your own thing. So how'd you get into design and can we talk about your origin story?

Wendy Robles [08:17]

Ooh, yeah. So I actually, when I started going to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I went in just like for fine arts. So there's people who specifically know that they're going into the viscom department. I didn't think I was going to go that route, and I was doing oil painting a lot at the time, but I was also very broke. And I, I've talked about it on my website a little bit.

I was like, it was, it was a struggle for me, and I felt myself really hitting a wall with that medium at the time because I was almost so scared to touch it because of just how time-consuming, how expensive, how much risk it felt like there was with the medium for me.

And so I didn't feel like it was a medium that I could use to play or be experimental or just let my creativity loose. And I had a computer because we all had— were required to buy computers. At the school, had a computer. And so the good kind of next transition for me was— that made sense was to go into the Vis Comm department. And from there, I kind of like started learning more about design, and then I started getting more excited about design.

And that's— that was like my avenue into design was through—

Christian Solorzano [09:43]

Yeah. And as a kid, as, coming of age and being a young child, did you have creative tendencies? Did you have— what were you into growing up?

Wendy Robles [09:56]

I was definitely like an art kid growing up. I also actually, now that you bring it up, you like brought a memory to mind. I, in like elementary school, it was like a group of us girls, I think it was like 3rd grade, we decided we were going to like publish a Okay. It was like a student-based school newspaper. So I had this program on my parents' computer. It was like Microsoft's— Microsoft Office program.

Kind of layout, different type and layouts and stuff like that. So we like published one series of this newspaper. We like interviewed the Principal of the school. And then we got told that we couldn't sell it because that was kind of our interest in making— oh, we'll make some money off of it. And so we only made 2 editions of this newspaper. But I had these little like project tendencies growing up. I also loved watching the Cooking Channel and HGTV and like all these.

Types of things. So yeah, I guess I had creative tendencies from the beginning. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [11:13]

Was there any— did you have any role models? Was there any person in your life that kind of influenced you a lot? I know, you speak about your grandmother as being, a strong figure in your life that, taught you a lot. So maybe we can talk about some of those influences that maybe At the time, you didn't know that you were like amassing this like wisdom, but looking back now, you realize that, you were learning really important things. So any influences growing up?

Wendy Robles [11:46]

Yeah, my grandma was definitely a big influence. My mom was also a huge influence. She was a stay-at-home mom. She's been a stay-at-home mom like Since I was born.

And she always had these, creative tendencies as well. But not only that, I was like the firstborn, so she would talk to me like an adult, all the time growing up. And she would tell me all these stories that, I do look back and I'm like, these were very adult-related stories that trusting my young self with. But I got to learn a lot through that kind of way of teaching that she had for me of like just being like an adult.

And so, and she also imparted a lot of really good wisdom onto me through just like our daily talks. So she was a huge influence in my life. And then my grandma, just like hearing her life story, she— like, my family from my mom's side comes from an area in Mexico that's just surrounded by mountains. It's like a crater village.

There wasn't running water there until like the '90s, I want to say. So when they grew up there, my grandma's from the '50s and my mom's from the '70s. So when they grew up there, it was kind of like this desolate kind of town area. And the stories that I grew up hearing of them living there and their experience, my grandma becoming like a single mother of 4 at a young age and kind of like what that was like for her.

I got to learn a lot about life through them. And how they've managed that. So I think I will always carry that with me. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [13:49]

And it looks like a lot of that influence is woven into a lot of your artwork that I see you speak about on your website. And I'd love to hear about how you— because I think just looking through the collection of work that you've done over the last few years, I think that there's a definite style that you gravitate towards. And to me, I think of it as kind of nostalgic.

To me, at least, it reminds me of certain parts about going to Mexico when I was a little kid. My family and I, we would go to Mexico every summer for 3 months. And I was— up until I was 11, I was only child. So in those days, I would be so bored in Mexico.

I would just be like, Alone with like all the grownups and just again, like hearing their stories and just like staring at the wall and just waiting for the day to be over so that I could go home and go to sleep. So what's—

Wendy Robles [14:51]

What part of Mexico?

Christian Solorzano [14:54]

Michoacán, Morelia. Yeah. So how have you kind of— well, it's been the journey of discovery. In finding your voice or your style? And what has that been like?

Wendy Robles [15:12]

Yeah, I think my voice is very much influenced from those stories I heard upbringing, like in my upbringing. Sometimes some of these like mythical stories that are very wondrous, but, it's also based off of my lived experience, I talk about these guides of life. That's like what I call them. And they're kind of like these guides that I think are always present. And they're kind of like helping each person navigate and kind of, re—

Rework through the world. As navigated by these guides and by our choices.

And that's kind of like why I call myself a visionary artist is because I kind of work in that space of just exploring this kind of invisible presence that exists in life. So I think that's where my work is generated from. But as far as visual style, I think the core elements of my visual style started manifesting more during COVID. I had this strong calling to just get an art studio to practice during that time.

I think it was like a time we were all just in and, we needed kind of like outlets. And I got an art studio with a friend, and during that time I was just like creating work. And it wasn't until I went to— well, no, actually before that too, I was like making some dark pieces that were like based off of midnight, kind of.

I would go into the studio later in the night and that would kind of allow my brain to be more open to whatever kind of influences were around that could help influence or guide my paintings.

I just, yeah, I started creating these midnight paintings, but it was one summer, it was the summer, I think 2021, that I went to go to LA and it was my first time swimming in the ocean. And when I came out of the ocean, I had gotten tumbled and everything, and there was like water dripping out of my nose, and it was kind of like this clearing that I experienced from that experience. And I think it like breathed— breath— breathed new life into me.

And that kind of became the basis of the visual style that I've developed. Since then. I was making these like charcoal drawings at the time. It was a response to me still feeling a little bit tight about oil paint because I have all these like traumas with oil paint.

Christian Solorzano [18:22]

Can you share those traumas?

Wendy Robles [18:23]

I will, yeah. So basically that all just originates from art school again, and I hate that they're still there because I'm like, why? Like even now I've been working in oil again and I'm like, Every time I'm like, I feel like I get some flow and I do for a while and then I hit it again. And it's like this stuckness that I hate. It comes from this feeling of being so scared of messing up.

And it's particularly with oil because oil again is like such an expensive, time-consuming medium. And right now I'm in a position in my life where I don't have to worry about the expensiveness of it as much, so I'm grateful for that. But for some reason, this still hits a wall for me, and I've experienced it in other parts of my life, and where it's like I just can't get into flow state?

Christian Solorzano [19:21]

Yeah.

Wendy Robles [19:22]

But it feels so good when I'm able to like break through that and get into flow state with any medium, but with oil in particular, because I'm like, yes, like this is the one medium I love how it looks. I love like the lead white pigment and its transparency. I love how it can feel so textured. And I think acrylic is also— there's innovations in acrylic that are starting to kind of be able to mimic oil better, but I just like oil. It's a historical medium.

But yeah, I hit a wall sometimes with it, and then it's a learning process, and I think I learn a lot about through life, Through breaking through that medium. So it's kind of my teacher.

Christian Solorzano [20:02]

Yeah. So when you talked about like those guiding forces or that like invisible force, would you say that that's your intuition? Would you give that— would you name it as your intuition, or is it different?

Wendy Robles [20:14]

I think it's bigger than that. I think, I think it could speak to me through intuition, but it's also like guiding forces because there have been certain things that I've felt called to, and sometimes I can be very stubborn. I've gotten better at it, but I have rejected it, and I'm like, no, I don't want it, no. And they just keep coming into my life, and then I'm finally like, okay, let me pay attention to this, and I do, and then it like, boom, something.

So I think there's like These— some people might call it God. I think it's like something bigger, a larger force.

Christian Solorzano [21:02]

Got it. And you would say that comes across through a lot of your work, you would say?

Wendy Robles [21:09]

Yeah, a lot of my work is interested in kind of like placing the visual in the space where the presences are more invisible and they manifest mostly through like these symbols that I use to represent eyes. Like in the sky, they're like the all-seeing eye. In the Great Gatsby, there's like a reference to the eyes of God, on the billboard. So kind of does that a little bit.

Christian Solorzano [21:39]

Yeah. So today you have your artistic practice and I couldn't— do you do commercial work as well, or do you find yourself 100% into your art?

Wendy Robles [21:51]

Right now, so I was at Leo for years where I was doing advertising, and that was more like my design practice, and that's where I would do like commercial work. Through my art practice, not really, but it's so funny you mentioned that. I was at the MCA yesterday and I was looking through a book of Remedios Varo, the painter. There's these beautiful paintings she made for Bayer's pharmaceutical, and they were like ads.

And I'm like that is a dream project for me, is to be able to do like paintings in the form of like advertisement for a household brand. How cool would it be if like Dawn soaps or something commissioned like paintings or like— Yeah. Yeah, my work moved a little bit away from commercial.

Christian Solorzano [22:44]

Got it. Yeah, I sometimes see old advertisements and it was super artistic. There was paintings involved and there was a concept behind it and it didn't feel so disposable like the advertising of today, which is like generic image. That's it.

Wendy Robles [23:05]

I think we're also just so used to having so much to consume in our time that everything does have a little bit of a disposable element. Unless it's printed in like beautiful paper that makes you stop and be like, this is kind of precious.

Christian Solorzano [23:26]

Yeah. So today, what are some of the influences that you're drawing from the world around you, whether it's, you mentioned going to the museum. Is there anything that you see happening in the industry that sparks some enthusiasm or are you not interested?

Wendy Robles [23:48]

No, I'm definitely very interested in what's going on. There's this curator in Chicago, her name's Stephanie Christello, and I just bought one of her books from an exhibition she had done. Like a few years back at the Drey House Museum with an artist named Theodora Allen. And the book is— it's called Saturnine, and it showcases the work of Theodora, but it's also— it kind of weaves like these mythical elements into the book.

I've gotten to know a little bit more of like her curation style and She's kind of like on my radar for like curator, art critic that I would love to work with in the future. And she's like here in Chicago. But yeah, I've also been like on the pulse to what's happening in the art world. And there's like some interesting stuff design-wise too. There's the type designer that I use on my website, Margot Lévy.

Christian Solorzano [24:50]

Margo Lévy.

Wendy Robles [24:52]

Has beautiful type work. So I think there's always like room for really cool innovative things. We just— my friend and I, we went to the opening for a thrift kind of vintage shop here in Chicago, Sacrosanct. And their design, like she told me that she like commissioned— her friend commissioned somebody to make the design and everything, and it's beautiful. And it's so cool to see like spaces like that here locally that are just being really playful with their design.

Christian Solorzano [25:24]

Yeah. So today, do you still find yourself doing freelance design work or what's your, what's your art commercial ratio?

Wendy Robles [25:33]

That's the goal. I had taken a little bit of a break because I decided to take kind of this space to just explore my fine art practice. Yeah. So far it's been a lot harder than I thought it would be. Break into that space. But I'm now starting to kind of build my career a little bit to be able to open up to do some freelance projects on the side too, to kind of be able to sustain both practices.

Christian Solorzano [26:04]

Yeah, I remember for a while on your LinkedIn, you had a very interesting role that you get that it was like a self-assigned role that I think Did it say something like, it said something to the effect of, I do design like for the money or there was something. Do you, do you remember what that was?

Wendy Robles [26:25]

No.

Christian Solorzano [26:27]

It was, it was, I mean, it didn't say that specifically, but it just sounded so badass. It like, it made it seem like you're doing design to fund your art stuff. But I don't remember.

Wendy Robles [26:40]

I know what you're talking about. Oh, how did I word that? It was like, yeah, I know what you're talking about. Because at the time I was like, I think it was during COVID times and it was probably during the time where I was starting to take my art a little bit more seriously.

And I was just using, I mean, my design job was fun. There was like fulfilling projects that I was doing there too creatively. And I was lucky to have a design job that was like able to fulfill creative aspects. But I was using that funding to be able to fund, I was like moonlighting as an artist.

Christian Solorzano [27:16]

I was like, yeah, like I think it was something like that you, that you had on your LinkedIn, which I thought was pretty bold. 'Cause I feel like so many people do that, but very few actually say it just because there's this whole, I feel like the, on ins— like social media and LinkedIn and all those like Platforms kind of force people to conform and to speak a certain way or to post things a certain way. And I sometimes— it seems so inauthentic.

And I have friends tell me about it. They— like, we all see it, but yet no one— like, people are too afraid to say anything about it. Yesterday, or it was this Monday, I wanted to share a song on my LinkedIn, but it's, that's, and, but I didn't do it because I'm like, this isn't professional. You can't share music on LinkedIn, but why not?

Wendy Robles [28:18]

You know? I mean, people are sharing all sorts of stuff. I've been more, aware of LinkedIn now that I've kind of been trying to dabble into LinkedIn. I feel like I need to be a little bit more active on that platform right now because of My goals too.

But I do agree, I've always been of the authenticity is the best route to go because that's how you end up bringing opportunities into your life that are authentic and aligned with you, which is the best case scenario for anybody. So I always try to remain authentic, but I get what you're saying because there is sometimes a time where you have to be mindful of the tone of voice that you use, or it hurts things. Just tact.

Christian Solorzano [29:09]

Yeah. So can we talk about your art and some of the— like, you recently published Wendy's Annual Lunar Calendar, and this was— how many of these have you done? This wasn't your first.

Wendy Robles [29:22]

3.

Christian Solorzano [29:23]

Okay, you've done 3. Can we— can you tell us what that's about and kind of what encouraged you to do that?

Wendy Robles [29:31]

Yeah, so at the time I was starting to realize that I was sharing a lot of coincidences with the moon. There was like certain things that kind of kept happening during certain phases of the moon, and I was, I was interested in that. And the idea came to me, all these like random ideas I have, all these projects that sometimes pop into my brain. And the idea came to me to make a lunar calendar that featured my charcoal drawings.

So then I just, I, and the first edition was mostly for friends and family. I like gave a few of them to people that I wanted to either collaborate with, or I was like, I love your work here, have a calendar. Because I handbound all of these calendars myself.

So they took 2+ hours to make each single calendar, and then I printed them all on like really nice sheen paper. So those are like my first edition. And then the next year I was like, I want to make them a little bit more accessible. So I'm gonna go, I'm gonna get a printer to kind of do all of the like production work for me.

So I created a new different kind of Design layout, made those. I featured a little bit of details about the eclipse that was happening. So this was like this past year's eclipse, kind of some space details in there, some like writing, personal writing. And I gave those out to more people. I think I produced like 50 of those. This last one, I finally made the decision to sell some of them.

So I was like selling them at market fairs in Chicago. It was a really fun experience because it got me to just talk with people. There's all these people that have all these stories about their experiences with the moon. There was like 2 teachers that I talked to and they were like, one was in like preschool, like a preschool teacher, another one was like a middle school teacher, and they're like, my kids always act up during a full moon.

I've heard that from people that work in like medical field that tends to happen. So yeah, it was just kind of cool. It was like a cool way to kind of share moon stories with people. And they're all also astronomically accurate. I've been really interested in science for the past 3 years. I've been like getting more into botany and astronomy. So that was also kind of coming out of that.

Christian Solorzano [32:04]

Yeah. And with the work that you share on your website, you tend to also be a writer. You enjoy writing a lot. And I really like that because I think writing is just such a great way to communicate. It sounds like, so it's like, of course it is, it's writing. But how has writing shaped your understanding or your process? Do you enjoy writing? Is it just some— just talk to us about writing.

Wendy Robles [32:39]

I do like writing. I did letterpress one year in college, and that also informed a little bit of my writing style. But I love reading books with elements of magical realism. That's like a big interest of mine. And so I think that was a little bit of my inspiration and how I write. But then on the other hand, some of, some of the other writing styles that I have is more like journalistic.

It's a nice outlet. I journal a lot too. I do morning pages from time to time, if you've ever heard of the Artist's Way. 3 pages of like consecutive free flow writing. So I do those from time to time. I think writing is a really good way to just be able to get ideas out of my head and onto paper. And sometimes I want to share those ideas, so that's what I use my website for.

Christian Solorzano [33:40]

Yeah. And I feel like writing is such a dying art because I think so, because like even on my phone, for example, if I try to write a text, like the AI automatically wants to fix it or to change my voice or to like, it wants to automate me saying something. So I feel like it, like my worry is that it's gonna sort of homogenize how we speak just because.

We're all using the same tools. We're all using, Siri or whatever Android has or ChatGPT or whatever that I just worry that we're all just gonna start to sound the same because I don't know, I really appreciate a good grammatical error in writing because it lets me know that there's a real person.

Wendy Robles [34:39]

I don't want to say it's like a dying form. I mean, there's always like writers out there with their own unique perspectives, but I do think maybe we might see a change from email style writing or like professional kind of shorthand writing. Yeah, start looking the same.

Christian Solorzano [35:03]

Yeah, because I see that also, like emails it'll, you'll get an email, then it'll say, this is, these are your 3 options of like ways to respond. You can say, that sounds good. Or, and it just, I don't know, it just seems so, I don't like it at all.

Wendy Robles [35:20]

I mean, I think human creativity is so resilient that we, I know people have been scared of AI taking over jobs and taking that, but I don't feel like AI is at the point where it can capture creativity in the way a human can.

So I think that the resiliency of human creativity will always kind of come forward because even when AI gets to a point of maybe perfection, it's still, like you said, even these imperfect little moments or even like Capturing the word like in dialogue, as I'm saying right now. That's all human and it's all interesting and it's bound to come out in writing. There's so many, interesting writers that'll find ways to play with it.

Christian Solorzano [36:20]

Yeah, I do agree. And I, and I do find hope in that. And I remember I was, I was listening to someone talk about ways to fight back against the AIs. And this person was saying that one of the ways to do so is to be unpredictable because the way that AI tends to work is based on patterns and like it picks up patterns, then it'll just kind of generate more of the same.

So I think as long as you are unpredictable, I feel like there's safety there. Like just be unpredictable.

Wendy Robles [36:58]

Like don't.

Christian Solorzano [37:00]

Don't produce.

Wendy Robles [37:01]

I feel like I like to practice that in my personal life. Just I'll be like walking around and be like, I feel like doing this. Like side quests. Yeah, that's so funny, being unpredictable. Yeah, and just like random. I mean, honestly, yeah, that's kind of my mantra a little bit.

Christian Solorzano [37:23]

Yeah. So what are you working on these days? Like you mentioned in the beginning that you're like Applying for grants and just trying to do various things. But is there anything that we haven't talked about, like any other projects that you haven't shared? I think when I was doing my research, you talked about a short film project. Is that—

Wendy Robles [37:51]

That's more like an ongoing thing that I've been doing. I bought like a camcorder back, I think it was 2022, 2023, I think I bought a camcorder. And since then I've kind of been doing like little video pieces, but that's not really a project that I'm actively working on. A really exciting project I am working on is I am working with an astronomer at the University of Chicago. He's a postdoctoral fellow and he studies exoplanet atmospheres. Oh, cool. Years in search of life.

And I found his area of study super interesting. I had gone to a talk that he had at like a gallery space in Chicago. But he's like just an astronomer. And so I reached out to him. And now we are working on a collaborative project where I am kind of imagining what these planets that could inhabit life, what they would look like with said life.

So it's like really imaginative project that I'm building right now, and I've been making like drawings and sketches and paintings, and it's become a really cool project to just immerse myself and be able to like, with a goal, but still kind of have the free flowiness of being able to like dabble in different mediums. Journal, just writing all these thoughts that like will pop into my head.

Really exciting. And then another project I am simultaneously working on called Specimens, and this is a little bit more design forward, kind of like with the calendars. That's like more design forward, but it's a memory card game and it's just featuring like different natural science phenomena that happens. So it just— it's meant to function like a really simple memory card game where like everybody puts like a bunch of cards laid out face down and you kind of flip them over and try to match them.

But at the same time, it's meant to help you learn about all these weird, really interesting phenomena that isn't as widely talked about. Like some of these I have not heard of until now, my adult life, and I'm like— Oh, these are like really cool. Like the 22-degree halo, they're called sundogs too. Oh, what that was, but it's, a halo type effect that you see sometimes on the sun where it looks like a full rainbow.

So things like that, I've been kind of working on like science art intersection projects.

Christian Solorzano [40:29]

Yeah. And where does the interest in science come from?

Wendy Robles [40:34]

I think I've always kind of had a little bit of an interest in science and like the natural world. I've been like, I'm always very curious. I'm curious how things work. I was always really interested in plants and like properties. I think that comes from maybe like my maternal lineage because my grandma, when I went to Mexico with her, she was like, oh this, oh that. She would hand me stuff to eat that she would like pick From literally like the mountains.

She's like very knowledgeable about that. But from my dad's side too, they were farmers and they had this huge huerta in the back. And I remember being little and going to Guanajuato and, going with my cousins and we would be like running through the huerta and we would get sent to go pick up different, things. And it was such a magical place. So I think that's— I've always been interested in those subjects. It's just now they're becoming more mixed in with my practice.

Christian Solorzano [41:39]

Yeah. I also remember like experiencing that in Mexico as well. Like just walking and picking fruit from trees. Like you just rub it on your shirt and you just eat it and it's like super sweet and it's just perfect. There's so many that if one falls on the floor, you don't even have to pick it up because there's like another one that you could get from the tree.

Wendy Robles [41:59]

Oh my God. When I was in Mexico, the last time I went to Mexico with my grandma, because my grandma, she lives here, but she'll like— this woman travels everywhere. She's like, she's like a little travel girl. I went with her to Mexico and she still has her house over there, even though it's like basically desolate most of the year. And in the backyard of her house, she's got this fig tree, and she loves her figs. That's her.

And I remember this woman got up on this tree and climbed it, and she was picking every last fig she could because it was like fig season. It was like August. She was picking every last fig she could pick out of this tree. And I was like, all right, we had buttloads of figs. And it's just, it's a cool experience to be like able to say I have that close of a connection, like limited but to nature.

Christian Solorzano [43:00]

Yeah. And it's cool that you're like paying tribute to that in your work. And, it'll outlive us. Like your work will continue to exist like long after we're gone?

Wendy Robles [43:11]

Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [43:13]

So it's cool that you're like sharing all these stories and I think it'd be interesting if at Some point in the future, if maybe you would consider maybe writing a book or like publishing something that's more like long form that could talk about your stories and sort of the inspiration behind the work.

Wendy Robles [43:30]

I would love to write a book at some point that's like in the vein of magical realism, but like contemporary magical realism. That would be awesome, but that's like a greater project for like later on.

Christian Solorzano [43:47]

Okay, well, you could start doing it now, I think.

Wendy Robles [43:51]

By little—

Christian Solorzano [43:53]

Little pieces. And then the other thing that we haven't talked about is we covered it briefly in the beginning about like music, and I know that you are also on occasion a DJ, right? But you have you— so talk to us about that music.

Wendy Robles [44:13]

I took a hiatus from DJing because the last few times that I had DJ'd, I started to feel like it was a job, which it was never supposed to feel like for me. It was supposed to feel like an outlet, and it was fun and exciting at the time, so I decided to kind of take a break from that.

But we recently got a record player here in our little basement remodeled nook area, and so I've kind of been Able to travel into music through that avenue. There was— I was— I love looking at like the buckets that are on the bottom of these like record stores and like seeing cool artwork, and then like I'll look it up on Spotify and see if anything sounds good. I found through that, through one of those buckets, like the 25-cent buckets, Ventures, this band.

It's like a '70s kind of surf rock band. Oh. And they sound so cool. I went through all of their albums on Spotify, and I was like, it's such a cool sound. It's very like seventies, like that. I don't know if I'm doing that justice, but there's two albums that really stand out. They were big in Japan too, which I know, but they're like from California, I think.

There's one that's called like Outer Space, something in outer space, the COVID is like a car, and the other one is something Hiroshima, I want to say. Those 2 are like my favorite albums that I've found from them, but I'm trying to build my collection through them. And then the other album that I recently got really into is the Alan Project.

From the Alan Project. It's called iRobot, and there's one side that it's currently in the record player as I speak. There's one side, it starts off really dreamy, kind of psychedelic sounds, and at one point in the album it gets really dark. It sounds like you're about to die. I was in the basement listening to it. Lifestyle, not knowing that this was going to happen.

And I had it like, on the speaker blasted, and all of a sudden it starts getting really dark and it starts sounding like screechy, kind of like horror sounds. And it made me feel so scared. I was completely sober, like just chilling, like I was like, can you imagine if I was like not in a sober state of mind, but I was like, I feel like I'm gonna die. And I had to go upstairs because I was like, I can't handle this.

But then I came back downstairs and it was still going, and I powered through the rest of it. And then it turned into this really sensual kind of guitar sound.

And I was so into it. I was like, I don't know if I like loved the sound that came after that more just because it was the relief. Or because it did something to my brain, like it traumatized my brain. But yeah, and so I kept wanting to listen to that end of that sound again, and I was like, oh, but I don't want to go through that and the scary part.

And finally I decided to play it again, and I like mentally prepared myself this time. I was like, you're gonna go through it, you're gonna listen to it, like Full volume and it's gonna be an experience and you're gonna power through it. And I did, and it was so much better. It was easier the second time around. I'm like, I do get scared. I am like a scaredy cat. I love scary things, but I am a scaredy cat.

But that album, it kind of— it was like those moments in music that really kind of— Excited about music again. That album has— is the most recent thing that's done that for me. That side of the album, I think it's B-side.

Christian Solorzano [48:13]

Okay, yeah, I'll check it out. I definitely—

Wendy Robles [48:16]

Oh, I'll send you, I'll send you the like link, but you'll have to like, if you're listening to it on Spotify, listen to it like fully. Don't like skip to the good part.

Christian Solorzano [48:25]

Yeah, okay, yeah, I'll check it out. It's called iRobot.

Wendy Robles [48:31]

IRobot is the, yeah, the name of the album, and then the band is called the Allen Project.

Christian Solorzano [48:35]

The Alan Parsons Project. Yeah, very cool. So do you— so I know you mentioned that you're kind of like on hiatus from your DJing. Do you anticipate a comeback?

Wendy Robles [48:49]

I don't know right now. One of the projects that I have been kind of curious to do is I have all this B-roll film footage of surfers in Hawaii. Kind of want to overlay that with a mix or something and put it on YouTube. I think it'd be kind of cool to make mixes. But as far as doing like a DJ set, I'm more interested in like when I go out to experience the music and dance than I like produce it and sit behind.

Christian Solorzano [49:23]

Yeah. I've never DJ'd. It sounds like something that I would maybe want to try once, but it also to me seems kind of awkward to be like playing music.

Wendy Robles [49:42]

Why are you feeling that way?

Christian Solorzano [49:43]

I don't know, like I think I would feel awkward doing it because to me sharing, like playing music for someone else, I think it's like such a personal thing that I would almost feel like, oh, if I play this and like people don't respond the way that I expect them to, my feelings are going to get hurt and I'm going to be like, oh, they don't like this song.

So I feel like I would— it's too— playing music for an audience would be too personal for me and I don't think I could handle it.

Wendy Robles [50:11]

Well, I had that experience. So actually, this is a funny project. I do mention it on my website, but I did this project for 2 years called Noche de Romance. It was inspired by like those Spanish romantic ballads, and I mixed a little bit of like R&B, Sade, and like jazz into it. And I pitched this concept to Punch House for Valentine's Day. And that the first year that I did it went amazing. Like the crowd was so well to it.

I was handing out flowers, like people were coming up to the booth and they're like, can you play Luis Miguel? And I was like, I got you, because it was like they knew the vibe, like they knew the curated kind of play. And it was so good. I like talked to so many people. It was such a great time. Then I was like, I'm gonna do it a second year. And I did do it the second year, and that one was not—

I had people coming up to me like, are you gonna play like something more upbeat?

Christian Solorzano [51:14]

And yeah, see, I could not handle that.

Wendy Robles [51:17]

So that was the last year I did it because then I also was like, okay, that was like a concept. It was a project. It like, it had its moment and it came out of me. It's done. But yeah, I mean, that is kind of like what you subject yourself when you play music.

Christian Solorzano [51:32]

Yeah. With the, with the Chicago Graphic Design Club, we actually have a music series called Moo Radio. And we invite designers to create mixes for us. And then we just publish them. Oh my God. Yeah. So you and I can talk after this, but it would be cool if we can do something together. It's very casual. Like basically I ask people to send our minimum long mix and that's it. And then they create the artwork for it.

They create the track list and then we publish it and people listen to it. And yeah, we have, I think we have maybe 30. We've done 30 so far and they're all by different people in Chicago. We call it I think it's like a, by Chicago designers for Chicago designers, something like that's the tagline underneath, but it would be cool to mix it up with something that is—

Wendy Robles [52:31]

You release it on Spotify or SoundCloud or something?

Christian Solorzano [52:33]

We do it through Mixcloud. Yeah, Mixcloud. I, what was it?

Wendy Robles [52:39]

Is that like an extension of SoundCloud?

Christian Solorzano [52:42]

No, Mixcloud is, it's like its own platform. But if you've, have you heard of NTS Radio?

Wendy Robles [52:49]

Oh yeah.

Christian Solorzano [52:50]

Yeah. So NTS Radio, they do a lot of their mixes are hosted through Mixcloud is my understanding. So if NTS uses Mixcloud, I trust Mixcloud. For that reason. So it's cool and it's, and it's free to use. And also apparently they pay royalties to the artists, so they won't take your music down. So it's pretty sweet.

Wendy Robles [53:13]

Yeah, I'd love to. That sounds fun.

Christian Solorzano [53:16]

Yeah, because it's fun. I mean, I agree. I feel like there's so many— what I like about the stuff that you do is that you're bringing in all of your interests and you're not isolating them. You're not saying that's Wendy, the one that— that's Wendy, the person that's interested in astronomy. And here's Wendy that's interested in, nature, like everything is kind of in the same blender and just all over. So I like that a lot.

Wendy Robles [53:44]

To me, it makes sense within the sphere. Yeah. And it's fun. It's fun to just, oh, I feel a calling to do this and I'm going to do that. I think I like did this little like manifesto. One year I was like, I'm doing a manifesto. And one of that was life should be fun. Yes, that's a really important aspect is play. I think play also is a great vehicle into the flow state.

Christian Solorzano [54:13]

So I'm gonna pull up your manifesto. I have it pulled up here.

Wendy Robles [54:17]

Oh my God, I can go for it.

Christian Solorzano [54:21]

Can we go through it one by one? Okay. So Wendy's Manifesto, you published this on February 25th, 2022. So a little bit over 2, over 3 years ago now. And you start off with life should be fun, which we've talked about. And then your second point is live life on your own terms. So what does that mean?

Wendy Robles [54:44]

It just means that sometimes you'll get a lot of push about what you're supposed to do. And not necessarily what you're supposed to do. What you're supposed to do is what you're called to do. And yes, I think the more you listen to that, the more clear that becomes.

Christian Solorzano [55:00]

I agree. And then number 3, exercise kindness, which— and then after that you put wisely. So you're taking it to the next level. It's going beyond the bumper stickers that say be kind?

Wendy Robles [55:17]

Yeah, I actually modified that one because I think kindness can also come from, I guess for lack of a better word, speaking your truth. And sometimes that comes from saying something that somebody doesn't want to hear. And sometimes that comes from listening to something you don't want to hear that somebody has to tell you about yourself.

But that is a form of kindness. But I don't think it's the way that kindness is usually seen. It's not the lens that kindness is usually seen. So I had to kind of update that because it's like, Wisely. It's like the way you exercise kindness doesn't always have to be nice or sweet or—

Christian Solorzano [55:54]

Yeah, it needs to be like appropriate to the situation.

Wendy Robles [55:57]

And sometimes kindness also requires you to be like not kind to somebody else. Yeah, the benefit of the greater people. I don't know. Yeah, so you have to be mindful and know when to use it. When—

Christian Solorzano [56:11]

Yeah. And then number 4, follow the path that calls you.

Wendy Robles [56:16]

That's kind of in line with the other one, just your callings, you'll know.

Christian Solorzano [56:21]

Yeah. And then 5, understand that everything always works out in the end, which is probably my favorite.

Wendy Robles [56:28]

So this is something my mom always told me growing up, and I've found it to be true in my life. Sometimes when you're in the thick of it, you don't see it, but everything always works out for you.

Christian Solorzano [56:41]

Yeah. And you kind of just have to trust that things will work out, even if it feels like it's not gonna work out. And then feel everything is number 6.

Wendy Robles [56:54]

Yeah, that one is, that one's an intense one. I think that one's, that one, I think my fiancé said that one was one of his favorites because sometimes there are feelings you don't want to feel, but need to be felt in order for you to be able to experience what humanity is and what life is, and we have to be open to it. My mom was always like, growing up, she's like, people don't want to feel things anymore.

They like want to take medicine when they're sick. And I kind of agree with her. Sometimes there's, that's why the pharmaceutical industry is so big sometimes, is because there's like a numbness or kind of trying to Silence the symptoms that come. Yeah, I have to like feel the symptoms to know where they're coming from.

Christian Solorzano [57:40]

So yeah. I saw a meme once and it's and it's a guy being offered an alcoholic beverage and his response is, no thanks, I like my suffering raw.

Wendy Robles [57:55]

Yeah, exactly. I mean, yeah. Sometimes, I mean, I've had it. I've had this experience before in the past where that alcoholic beverage could be a vehicle to like tap into those feelings that you like. Yeah, totally.

Christian Solorzano [58:22]

And then number 7, it is wise to change your mind.

Wendy Robles [58:28]

That was another thing my mom always used to tell me. She used to tell me that in Spanish, es sabio cambiar de idea. And I think sometimes she would tell me that because I would be like, no, but you said this. I was like such a little— like, you said this. She was like, it's wise to change your mind. So it would annoy me. But I think sometimes this is like me reflecting on myself. I can have a stubborn disposition towards certain things.

I think I've gotten better at it. I'm definitely flexible with things. I'm not like— but sometimes I can feel like stuck on something and I still push through. And sometimes there is wiseness in coming, stepping back and being like, okay, change courses. This isn't working. Let's change courses.

Christian Solorzano [59:14]

Yeah, so I like that. And then number 8, preserve your peace. Preserve your essence.

Wendy Robles [59:21]

I think that's so important. Life is going to throw you all over the place, and sometimes you might not feel the most peaceful, but I think always having that as like a guiding star is a good thing.

Christian Solorzano [59:36]

And then number 9, life is a continuous journey of learning who you are.

Wendy Robles [59:43]

Learn. I think as long as we're alive, we're growing, so we better learn. And with every, mistake you do or every, little thing, it's important to kind of, reflect on it and see how you can—

Christian Solorzano [59:57]

Yeah. And then the last one, well, there's, this is number 10, and then there's an additional one at the end unnumbered. So number 10 is above all, no matter what, always return to love.

Wendy Robles [60:11]

But I think love is— it's like a powerful kind of state. I like— I have this like theory that it's like our original state a little bit, and that when we die, if we could manifest that to like the highest form, we could— our nutrients, like our atoms, would then go into the ground or into the animals that eat us.

I want to be like eaten by birds when I die, like in the mountain burial. But you'll go back into the ecosystem with the molecule of love. So it's like about balance a little bit. I feel like life is like trying to balance on this scale and like love is kind of like the goal. Let that like spread. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [61:02]

And I feel like there's an aspect of reciprocity there where it's like As people that are living, we extract things, but then when we die, we're now giving back. We're kind of surrendering to whatever that is, like a tree or a bird or anything.

Wendy Robles [61:22]

We're all like, we're all like atoms? So they like, they like turn into other things. Part of the cycle, like everything that exists here that we know, built out of little building blocks.

Christian Solorzano [61:39]

Yeah. And then the last line is, and always be a little mischievous. And then you have a little fairy emoji next to it.

Wendy Robles [61:50]

I love my little fairy emoji. Yeah, I definitely have a very mischievous side, and that side I've always wanted to keep alive.

Christian Solorzano [61:59]

Can you give us an example?

Wendy Robles [62:00]

No, but I do. I think the more people get to know me, I have some— a close-knit group of friends I like hang out with, like close that know me. It's 4 people. They get to see the mischievous side of me come out, and sometimes I'm able to be mischievous with them. And I think it's part of play, but it's also— it's part of the different energies that exist. In a being. And for me, I definitely have a lot of mischievous energy. So, okay.

Christian Solorzano [62:36]

Very cool. Yeah, I dig it. Hopefully you write about that some. Well, have you? I don't think you haven't written about that, have you? Or maybe you have.

Wendy Robles [62:46]

I mean, written about what?

Christian Solorzano [62:49]

Like that mischievousness to your work and kind of how that comes into play?

Wendy Robles [62:57]

I think there's probably underlayers of it, but I haven't like specifically went out to write about it. I mean, it's definitely in my journals, like in my personal journals, that if somebody were to like—

Christian Solorzano [63:09]

It's like your confessions.

Wendy Robles [63:10]

Yeah, exactly. If somebody were to leak in there, then it's fine. Genius energy. But yeah, I haven't— I don't— I sometimes I keep like some of my like personal life private. I think that's the beauty of being able to navigate my online persona.

And then every now and then I'm like, fuck it. And then, because it is a website and because it's— then I might be like, I might look at it and then rethink about it like 2 weeks later and be like, yeah, that one's coming down. If you're lucky, you'll see it. If you don't, you don't.

Christian Solorzano [63:51]

That's funny. So we're almost at time, but I wanna wrap up by, like you mentioned a few of the projects that are on the horizon. Is there anything else that we should be on the lookout for? I would encourage the people that are listening to definitely visit your website. I think it's like a nice little, exploratory site where you have our writing, and in some instances, there's even, educational stuff.

You have your calendar resource that you've published so that people can understand how the calendar works and all of that.

Wendy Robles [64:31]

I think I'm very open to, people reaching out and collaborating right now. I'm, particularly if they have a budget, because I am looking to be able to kind of fund my practice a little bit more. So this is like my unshameful attempt to get somebody to pay me. If there's like any independent collectors out there listening to this as well and want to pay me to like Please reach out. That would be a dream. But yeah, I'm always open for collabs, exciting projects.

I'd love to be able to find more avenues to get my artwork out into the world. I am private. It's like about finding those right avenues. So yeah, I think anybody's listening to it, and they like my work and they're like, maybe this would be good for something. Please reach out. Wendy without the E at gmail.com.

Christian Solorzano [65:42]

Yes. And where does that name come from? Where is Wendy? Can you— what's the story behind that?

Wendy Robles [65:47]

So it's not a very exciting story. I wish I had an exciting story. I changed that Instagram handle way back when I moved to the city from the burbs and I was like, really exploring the city at the time, and @whereiswendee with the E had been taken already, like it was a handle that was being used. So @whereiswendy without the E was just my alternative version of it, kind of like @whereiswaldo. I've had the comparison.

It's kind of— it was kind of like my way. I was kind of like bouncing around the town, and that's kind of the stuff that I was like sharing on my Instagram at the time, so.

Christian Solorzano [66:28]

Do you ever miss social media?

Wendy Robles [66:30]

No, because I still am like on TikTok sometimes. So like I get kind of my kick through that. And then when I'm not on that, I'll go on Pinterest and I'll kind of like— I'm still able to keep a pulse towards what's happening. I also am subscribed to the New York Times, so that's kind of like my way of getting—

And I go on the Scientific American. I have that on my phone app, so I still am aware with what's happening. And the people that I have wanted to keep connected with, I've been able to. That was like one of the fears when I left, was that what am I gonna do with the people that I've connected with? I still find ways to connect with, people that are like on my outer circles. So no, I don't miss it.

Christian Solorzano [67:19]

Okay, that's good. I will hopefully one day follow your footsteps and do the same.

Wendy Robles [67:25]

Yeah, you would have to screw it up just a little bit. If it calls you, it calls you. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

Christian Solorzano [67:28]

Yeah, it's just like there's that— it's definitely a time suck, but there's also really cool stuff I discover sometimes.

Wendy Robles [67:36]

Yeah, I know.

Christian Solorzano [67:37]

I'm like, if I hadn't opened my phone at this time, I wouldn't have known about this concert that's happening or this thing that just came out. So, but yeah, that's how they get you.

Wendy Robles [67:49]

If you know what venues— like, the Whistler is really good about publishing like their events. So like I've gone on the Whistler and been like, what DJs are playing or who's? Yeah, you can kind of like track things like that too, or just, organizations that you're really into. Go on their subscriber list. Yeah. But yeah, I get what you're saying.

It's also— I've had, now that I've been connecting more with people, like I've been going to art shows and I've been doing more of that networking, I've had people be like, oh, do you have an Instagram? Because that's like an easy way to stay connected. Yeah. And I do wonder if I'm missing out on some opportunities by not, but I don't know. I'm sticking to my choice. It still feels like the choice for me.

Christian Solorzano [68:33]

So you got to get like an assistant to do it for you.

Wendy Robles [68:36]

I know. Yeah. I mean, we'll never know. Maybe in the future.

Christian Solorzano [68:45]

Yeah. They could just print your DMs and say, here are your DMs. And you could write on them on the piece of paper, like respond with this.

Wendy Robles [68:53]

I'll have a whole team behind me.

Christian Solorzano [68:55]

Just for your DMs. Very cool. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat. It was fun. And I look forward to, I guess, like just seeing the things that you're up to and seeing your updates on your website. And yeah, hopefully you make your DJ comeback at some point.

Wendy Robles [69:18]

Yeah, I will definitely let. And thank you for having me and reaching out and, even taking the time to research. I know, I'm a harder person to research about, but yeah, thank you for all of this. This was a great interview and it was fun to talk about all these topics. So yeah. And the manifestos, I really enjoyed that.

Christian Solorzano [69:36]

Yes, the manifesto. What are you going to— would you ever write a new updated manifesto?

Wendy Robles [69:42]

Maybe just like a but, updated version. But I think those are solid. They're still very part of my core.

Christian Solorzano [69:53]

Yeah, they stand. Yeah, they still stand. Cool. Awesome. All right, well, thank you for sticking around till the end. If you enjoy this episode and this podcast, I would greatly appreciate it if you followed us and if you left us a rating wherever you listen. To learn more about us, visit www.chicagographicdesign.club. Thank you.