designer artist

You may not know her name, but you have seen her paintings everywhere from gift bags in Macy’s Department Store to a 2'8"x150 foot tile mural for Ontario International Airport. Synthia Saint James is an internationally known artist whose illustrations are on over 60 book covers including the literary works of African American women authors like Alice Walker, Terry McMillan, Iyanla Vanzant and Julia Boyd. With her paintings running in the thousands of dollars Saint James most noted work costs no more than 37 cents when the United States Postal Service commissioned her to create the first Kwanzaa Stamp in 1997.

Actress Brittany Snow’s charity Love is Louder has partnered with designers Rock & Republic to make the statement that love is louder than hate or any other negativity with a philanthropic T-shirt designed by YOU.Combine your artistic and creative talents with this positive movement by submitting your original artwork for the Love is Louder T-Shirt design contest. The winning shirt will be sold in stores and online, giving the designer a phenomenal opportunity and exposure as well as raising awareness and funds for the Love is Louder Movement.

Awards season is in full swing since the Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and there are a few women in lesbian, bi and gender bending roles who scored nominations. For her passion project Albert Nobbs, Glenn Close, who plays a woman living as a man to survive in 19th century Britain, earned a best actress nod. Also nominated in the Best Actress category is Rooney Mara for her portrayal of brooding bisexual computer hacker extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Joining Mara and Close is Meryl Streep for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in out director Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady. The amazing Viola Davis scored a nod for The Help, as did Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn.

Project Runway Season 10 had a host of colorful characters among the cast, few as interesting off screen as lesbian designer Alicia Hardesty. A Kentucky girl with fierce dreads who still loves fried green tomatoes and anything her mammaw cooks, Hardesty moved to Los Angeles with her girlfriend, actress Lauren King, in hopes of taking her own clothing line, the Kickstarter-funded Original Tomboy, to the next level.

Sundance Institute announced the eight projects selected from nearly 900 submissions to participate in the 2012 Theatre Lab, July 9-29 at the Sundance Resort, and two of them address LGBT themes.