Number 13, Maxwells candy, Emrys the dog, a “Slices Come Plain Only” T-shirt. These and other iconic symbols of Colgate and its environs are integrated into this illustration that Attabelle Wasniewski ’20 created for her good friend Katie Bray “KB” McGhee ’20.
The two spent the final months of their senior spring semester at Wasniewski’s family home outside of Boston when students left campus early due to the pandemic. Wasniewski, a film and media studies and economics double major, continued to practice her art. McGhee decided to commission a piece from her because she wanted something to commemorate their Colgate experiences.
Using the digital illustration app Procreate and an Apple Pencil, Wasniewski spent more than a year drawing and fine-tuning the piece. More than 200,000 strokes later, the artwork “celebrates all the amazing things we did get to enjoy at Colgate, even though it got cut short,” the artist says. There are visual representations of their friendship as well as those that any student or graduate would recognize. (How many can you find?)
“I feel like most people can see this and be transported back to their time at Colgate,” Wasniewski says.
Today, she works in advertising sales at ViacomCBS and does freelance illustration on the side — including commissioned work for other Colgate friends. In fact, she just finished a painting of campus for her two friends’ apartment.
Wasniewski’s Instagram handle is @arttabelle. She jokes, “My name is suddenly convenient.”