A Gift from Us to You with Alessandra Sian

Alessandra is a Visual Arts student based in Vancouver, Canada. She recently started exploring graphic design - her current style is poster-like, with colourful flat illustrations that match the positive messaging.

Hi Alessandra! Thank you for creating this month's tech art - for those who aren't familiar with you, do you mind introducing yourself?

Hi everyone! I'm Alessandra, a 24-year-old Visual Arts student currently living in the rainy (and beautiful) city of Vancouver, Canada. I enjoy anything involving art, music, design, and fashion; I love it when people try to experiment and combine these different fields as well. In terms of graphic design, I've always been passionate about it, but only decided to seriously pursue it toward the end of last year. It was definitely a challenge at first, but am very glad I made the leap. :)

This month, we're focusing on forgiveness - how do you show forgiveness to yourself or to others?

I would say that one way I show forgiveness to myself is by engaging in positive self-talk. Whenever I feel as though I've done something wrong, I always try and remind myself that I am only human, and it's natural to make mistakes. In regards to others, I would say that I show forgiveness through openness. If there happens to be some sort of misunderstanding, I try and let the dust settle – let both people cool off, and then approach the situation with a clear mind and an open heart.

What was your inspiration for this month's tech art?

While brainstorming, I came across a Maya Angelou quote which I found to be extremely fitting to this month's theme of forgiveness. With my other design, the words "there is healing in forgiveness" sort of just snuck up on me while I was trying to think about how to approach the layout. I always find the brainstorming process to be a bit stressful, so it was a pleasant surprise that these came to me quite easily!

What do you hope people feel when they see your work?

If anything I hope they feel a sense of warmth and comfort. I try my best for my designs not to come off as being too imposing if that makes sense? I'd like for them to feel like "guides" you can turn to when things get overwhelming, or if you just need a little reminder. I find it so gratifying that graphic design allows you to reach out and help people with even the simplest of designs.

How would you describe your personal practice?

It's definitely a bit all over the place at the moment! I would say that since I am so heavily surrounded by visual art, there are elements of it that make their way toward my work in graphic design. The reverse is true as well, I think. For most of my visual arts pieces, there is some sort of message that I often try to communicate to the viewer. You can say that it's very much a combination of the two.

We're always curious to see what our artists listen to, what are you listening to recently?

I've been having a lot of Mac Ayres' music on repeat lately! His song "Sometimes" has been stuck in my head for the past couple of days. Have also been re-discovering my love for Tom Misch and his music; his stuff is just an absolute vibe. And Ariana Grande's song "Main Thing" is another one that's been in the rotation. Yeah, my music taste is a bit all over the place!

You can connect with Alessandra via Instagram.

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