Kayla E.
Tintype by Sara Mulvey
Kayla E. (she/her) is an award-winning artist, cartoonist, and designer of Mexican-American descent who works as Art Director at Fantagraphics Books and is Principal at Design Altar. She is the co-founder and President of Nat. Brut Inc., a non-profit that produces an art and literary magazine, of which she is the Editor-in-Chief and Art Director. She earned her B.A. in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University, where she served as the Art Director for the Harvard Lampoon. Kayla has been profiled by TIME, The Establishment, Feministing, The Huffington Post, Latina Magazine, NPR, and Literary Hub, among others. As a public speaker, Kayla has been invited to expand on her practice at major universities and creative conferences across the country. Precious Rubbish, her experimental book-length autobiographical memoir, will be published by Fantagraphics Books in 2024.
Kayla works out of her downtown attic studio in rural North Carolina. She lives down the road with her wife, writer Laura Bullard.
Education
2013
Harvard University, BA in Visual and Environmental Studies
Awards
2021
Simon Rockower Award in Layout and Design, American Jewish Press Association
2020
American Illustration 40 Winner
2013
Whiting Literary Magazine Prize, Nat. Brut
2018
American Illustration 37 Winner
2013
Albert Alcalay Prize in Visual Arts, Harvard University
Curatorial
2018
Juror, American Illustration 36
2014
Juror, "Hecho En Dallas," Latino Cultural Center Dallas, TX
Exhibitions
Solo
2019
"DRUNK TANK," Culture Hole, Dallas, TX
2014
"Kayla: Now and Then, Now and Again," Deep Ellum Windows, Dallas, TX
2014
"Watch Kayla," The Safe Room, Dallas, TX
Group
2020
Culture Hole TV, Episode Three: Drugs
2014
Dallas Aurora, Dallas, TX
Selected Publications
2020
"The Dreadfuls Special," Rotland Press
2020
"Marge's Little Lulu," The Comics Journal No. 305
2018
"Precious Rubbish," Rotland Press Single Shot
2018
"Death in Desoto, Texas," Booth Journal, Issue 12
2017
"Precious Rubbish," Resist, edited by Francoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman
2017
"Precious Rubbish," The Southeast Review 35.2
2017
"Kayla Sees the Lowcountry," Ecotone Magazine Issue 22
2017
"All of Them Witches," Black Eye No. 3, Rotland Press
2016
"Precious Rubbish," The Spectacle
2014
"Kayla's Day In," New Delta Review
Public Speaking
2019
University of Chicago
2017
ArtCenter College of Design
2017
Los Angeles County High School for the Arts
2016
ICON Conference 9: main stage speaker and workshop leader
2016
Oberlin College
2016
The University of Texas at Dallas
2016
Southern Methodist University
2015
Harvard University