About

Ephemerratic exists for many reasons

To encourage creativity in ourselves and in others. To meet strangers and strange people. To eat wildly and locally. To tell you stories and show you artwork and photos that inspire you to get off your duff.

About The Art and Photos

As we’ve traveled, we will be working on a very large, ambitious collaborative art project we realized that large-scale art is pretty difficult from the road. Instead, we are developing other creative ideas, ideas catalyzed by our travels and by the people we meet.

And, of course, Todd’s art don’t stop. He creates sketches, postcards, and paintings that illustrate places we visit. Lauren captures fleeting moments and far-flung scenes in the ultimate ephemera: photos.

Together, Who are Todd and Lauren?

Photo of Todd and Lauren

Us, in high school

Some couples finish each other’s sentences, we finish each other’s art. Long-time friends and partners in life, we’ve discovered that we are often our most creative when we build ideas together.

We worked on our first collaborative travel experiments during trips to India in 2002 and to Greece in 2005, creating illustrated travel journals of sorts: Todd made small-format drawings on the front of a blank postcard, and Lauren filled the reverse size with descriptive travel writing. We mailed each postcard to friends and family, a further experiment in letting go.

Hitchin' Collaborative Art Project

Our Hitchin' collaborative art project

Our largest collaborative project was part of our Hitchin’ Party in 2007. We asked everyone invited to our celebratory weekend to “GET YOUR ART ON” and send in a creative response as part of their RSVP. Our community’s contributions were silly and sentimental, glittery and perishable, depicting things real and imaginary. We combined the contributions into an art piece that showed off all of the creativity and imagination in our community. See more photos of the art.

Who is Lauren?

Photo of LaurenWhen she’s not giving in to her wander lust, Lauren is a marketing and communications consultant. She helps nonprofits and foundations by using her grab bag of creative skills to move projects from strategy through implementation.

Lauren has a B.A.—in chemistry, of all things—from NYU. She has extensive experience with communications strategy, online marketing (websites, newsletters, and social media, oh my!), copywriting and editing, governance, and leadership, and is also an accidental techie.

She is a bike rider, writer, photographer, and world traveler who is predisposed to extroverted activities. Lauren grew up in Long Island, NY and—when she isn’t on the global road—lives in San Francisco with Todd, plotting their next travels.

Who is Todd?

Photo of ToddTodd is an artist who travels the world and his local community, sketchbook in hand. His art shows the colorful eccentricity bound within moments and individuals, depicting scenes of people coming together to improve the world. Todd encourages people to create small, personalized drawings which he collages into larger collaborative art works.

When he’s not circumnavigating the globe, Todd’s usually painting scenes that capture a chaotic sense of community and collaboration in bright, expressionistic drawing, painting, and collage. Named San Francisco County 2006 Bike Commuter of the Year, Todd also uses his two wheels to bring his art to events, parks, schools, watering holes, and protests—wherever communities already exist or are just starting to emerge.

Todd was born in the hills of West Virginia, grew up on Long Island, NY, and moved to San Francisco in 1998 with Lauren. He has a B.A. in Public Policy from Brown University and continues his arts education through programs at U.C. Berkeley Extension and the San Francisco Art Institute. His art hangs on the walls of local community spaces, offices, and homes. Todd’s virtual gallery is always open at TheArtDontStop.com.

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