Covid has ravaged not only the World, but our community, so in December 2020 we have decided to give back to our artists by offering a monthly stipend to create graphics for our organization. This program ran for 2 years, showcasing amazing artists from professionals, tattoo artists, graphic designers, comic book artists, to self taught beginners.
2022 Artists
Jansen Niccols (he/him) January/February 2022
Jansen is a self-taught artist born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. He was diagnosed with autism in early adulthood. As it turns out, art was the easiest way for him to communicate. He began his transition in 2016, and since, has been illustrating his way through life. He lives with his husband and rescued fur babies and can be found with a pencil in hand at any given time.
Hayley Darrah (she/her) March/April 2022
Hayley is a transgender artist who specializes in horror art, graphic design, and character portraits. She is originally from, and still lives in the Seattle area. She has been using art as both a passion, and a minor/secondary revenue stream for about half a decade. Growing up with chronic illness, she was often too sick to work or go to school, leading her to sate her boredom by dipping her toes into as many art mediums as possible including sculpting, digital and traditional drawing, resin casting, etc. Outside of that, she enjoys playing music (most especially on the piano), reading/writing (horror and mystery being the two objectively best genres), and anything else one can do to kill time as an indoorsy hermit. Despite it all, her Achilles heel is networking, but you can still view her ultra-rare twitter postings at the link below.
May/June 2022 Not pictured
Davis Bashungwa (he/him) September 2022
Davis aka Frogwhomp is an artist and concept artist from Olympia and currently getting his BFA at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. His art mainly focus on Black and Trans individuals with an emphasis on aesthetics, color and fashion!
2021 Artists
Tobias Gurl (he/him) March/April 2021
Our March and April artist will be Tobias Gurl, Tobias grew up in Madison, WI, home of the world’s greatest cheese and sixty percent of the country’s cranberry harvest. He earned his B.A. in Health and Society at Beloit College in Beloit, WI, with a focus in Health and Law. After taking several years to explore work in other public service fields, from tenant rights to teaching wilderness skills to small children, he’s landed a position teaching sex ed and ethics at a K-12 school in Seattle. Tobias’s artwork has appeared in Gallery Boom, the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Olyphant Art and Media, and Splash Gallery of Olympia, among other locations around Puget Sound. The Stranger highlighted his Arts Walk show at Ritual in Seattle, praising his “quirky details”. His collie, Winston, is the goodest girl, oh yes she is, yes she is.
Sam Choi (he/him), May/June 2021
Evie Gama (she/her) July/ August 2021
Evie (she/her) I’m a queer, trans, mexican-italian originally from (and thankfully no longer in) Southern California. I’m just getting on my feet as an artist but with big projects in the works. I do coding, web development, and graphic design professionally, and at home I design tabletop games, draw butts, contemplate the void, and tell whimsical tales. The human tradition of storytelling is something I regard just as one would an ancient and powerful magic. I hope to use my art to create stories that people can fall into and get lost in.
Vox Dombek (they/them), Pin Graphics & September/ October 2021
Vox brought one of our Pins for Programs to life and will be in our Artist in Residency Program. Vox is a queer, non-binary artist originally from MA but now calling the south Puget Sound home. They are a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to art, but have been focusing on tattoo design while pursuing their dream job of being a tattoo artist. They hope to one day provide quality custom tattoo art in a trauma-informed, affirming environment that allows clients to reclaim their bodies, while using their work to uplift the community.
Bella Palacios (they/them) November/ December 2021
Bella Palacios (PeachJugo) is a queer, Latinx cartoonist and illustrator. They grew up in South Texas along the Mexico-U.S. border and now reside in Washington with their partner and two cats. They were a cartoonist for The Daily Texan for 3 years and received 3rd place in the Associated Collegiate Press’ 2015 Cartooning Awards for comic strips. They enjoy sleeping, fart jokes, and petting every cat they meet.
Other DAPS Graphic Artists
Collin Parker Kind (he/they), Org Graphics
Collin Parker Kind (He/They) helped update some of our older graphics and designed some of our upcoming pins. As an artist I find motivation from the excitement of the final product. That burst of Serotonin when your piece is finally ~just right~ is what inspires me. While I have a lot of barriers of my own, I am also doing my best to reach the underrepresented masses. I have a lot of privilege when compared to others – but I am here to help those who do not, hopefully through my art. As a human I am a trans man, father of two (cats), uncle of one (darling 4 year old), and fiancé of Lauren. I am so lucky.
Ollie Fjor’Skera (they/them), Org Graphics
Ollie Fjor’Skera (they/them) worked with Oliver to design the DAPS logo and drew it, is also responsible for creating the DAPS banners, and Oliver, the Board Chair’s updated business cards. Ollie has also helped out with several other graphic jobs while on the Board and as a Voting Member of DAPS. They have a graphic design background and have been a huge asset to this organization.
Oliver Webb (he/him) Org Graphics/ Merch Design
Oliver Webb (he/him) draws the majority of our org graphics, and designed most of the first run of our merch line and our logo. If a graphic has no artist attached to it and only the DAPS logo on it, it was made by Oliver. While Oliver has somewhat of an art background, he has not tapped into it for many years. Working with DAPS has allowed him to re-spark and channel that part again and challenge himself in new ways.