Gaia WXYZ

Lecturer

Email: info@gaiaw.xyz
Instagram: @gaiaw.xyz
Website: gaiaw.xyz

Gaia WXYZ @gaiaw.xyz (pronounced “wize”) is a multimedia creator who specializes in visual art, specifically comics, illustration, painting and design. Gaia was born and raised in West Palm Beach, FL and now lives in West Oakland, CA. They received a BA in American Studies from Tufts University (‘15) and an MFA in Comics from California College of the Arts (‘20). For as long as they can remember, art has been the major motivating force in their life, concocting characters and storylines in sketchbooks from an early age. Though they have skills in a variety of media, including printmaking, sculpture, photography, installation and performance art, Gaia has focused their talent to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a published comic artist. They write & draw autobiographical comics about being Black and gender non-conforming. Their artistic style could be described as stylized realism, rich with a vibrant color palette and lush botanical motifs, meshed with a sci-fi sensibility. They currently work out of SLURP Studio in their neighborhood of West Oakland. When there isn’t a pandemic, they sell comics (including a few of their own) for @silversprocket, an indie comix publisher/retail store based in the Mission District SF. They are also the very first Artist-in-Residence at the Queer Healing Arts Center in Oakland! Their comic project, titled SupaClusta, is a dimension-hopping sci-fi series. Currently in development, issue #1 is set to be released in 2021.

Courses taught:
ART 25 - Graphic Novel: Foundations
ART 160 - Special Topics: Intermediate/Advanced Comics