Generation180 is a non-profit working to inspire and equip people to take action on clean energy. For the election season, they challenged artists across the country to inspire Americans to vote for a clean energy future. There were three winners and they chose to turn Penfield's Tatyana Orlovich's work into a children's book! This is her first fully illustrated book after completing a mentorship at The Oatley Academy. You can learn more about her work at toart.us.
This illustrated book brings the joy and importance of voting to children. A family of cats volunteers, takes a seaside picnic, and votes at their local school.
The book is a creative partnership between nonprofit Generation180 and artist Tatyana Orlovich. 16 full-color pages.
Tatyana, what motivated you to illustrate this particular story?
There was the original art submitted for contest and then Gen180 gave me scenes they wanted to include and then we worked together to combine what the original art was suggesting and their goal (they were mostly focused on connecting voting with clean energy and for me it's more about normalizing the lifestyle elements of clean energy through storytelling)
The original challenge I had was how to make clean energy components be more humanizing. I think there is an opportunity to show the comfort and joy of it, especially when the solutions become fully integrated into our lives. I felt that by staging it for now in an alternative cat-people universe it triggers our imagination and acceptability. Working with Gen180 really opened my eyes about how volunteer action connects to making clean energy ubiquitous. I have done a lot of infographics and posters for various events but because I was finishing up a mentorship on visual storytelling there was an opportunity to do a take on this in a narrative painting format. And Gen180 needs allowed me to expand it from just one piece into a whole book.
The other two award winning works of art are:
Maria's Mural
From Generation 180:
Maria, from Massachusetts, painted an incredible, colorful piece that is now the backdrop for a street-side pop-up park. Her aim was “to remind people of the feeling of calm, the feeling of being at peace in nature, and the expansive power of the natural world around us. At such a time where we are bombarded by mixed messaging, it is easy to hyper-focus or lose direction. People exist in their own digital-bubbles of their own worlds. Painting this mural in the real world…is important to remind people that we are also in the world together: we can only do so much as individuals, but teaming up together and voting for our futures is what we need to succeed.”
We’re honored to have had the opportunity to partner with Maria on this project! Check out her portfolio here.
Isabella's Animation
From Generation 180:
Isabella from Savannah, GA went old-school with this GIF, taking us all the way back to elementary school civics class with her School House Rocks vibe animation. Her project emphasizes how voting can directly have an impact on your every day life (especially where your energy comes from). “I feel passionately about clean energy and being an active participant in the government to enact sustainable change for the future,” she writes.
Download and use for your own social media post and then check out Isabella’s portfolio here!