Schessa Garbutt

"eco-spirituals" by Schessa Garbutt Exploring and making alongside this incredible cohort for @blackimagecenter California Coast in Color residency has reintroduced me to so much of what I love about the ocean. These images are a part of my final project, but I plan to make more large scale cyanotype prints in other ecosystems! 🌊🏝️❄️ Plastocene (eco-spiritual no. 1) cyanotype, fabric, seawater, 5x7 feet Cabrillo Beach 12 June 2025 (eco-spiritual no. 2) cyanotype, fabric, seawater, 8x10 inches Sea Dragon (eco-spiritual no. 4) cyanotype, fabric, seawater, 8x10 inches + excerpts from artist statement When I look out over the great blue expanse that covers 71% of our planet, I can help but acknowledge the parallels with my own body, since human brains and hearts are 73% water. And when Joanna Macy, Buddhist eco-philosopher and author, called the Earth “our larger self, our greater body” in a 2018 interview, I could not unsee the truth in her grounding prayer. She reminds me that “there’s nothing that can happen that will ever separate me from the living body of Earth.” When I come to the Ocean, the Ocean brings me to my grief. The eco-spritual is about being with what is here, in all its sanctity and sorrow. This acceptance is not only made of despair. We hold it all because we are connected to it all. We act because we love ourselves and our greater body. Special thanks to @tessenceminnitee @mayajune for organizing this residency, and the homies @williamerouse @outdoorzee_ @fredbrash74 @vernonleeiii @mirihaaa @nasirgrissom who encouraged and supported me throughout!! #cyanotype #photography #climate #ocean #pollution #surfing #blueprint #kelp #microplastic #plastic #pollution

What an amazing week! The Reverberations opening @fordfoundationgallery was a phenomenal hit— 783 people attended the opening reception, the second largest opening night the gallery has ever seen. It is a testament to the incredibly talented designers, craftspeople, and curators who have made this show possible. I feel so proud to have my book design and lettering (soccer ball) in the show. This is the first time my work has been shown in New York and reaching this 'peak' of achievement has given me the perspective to see higher mountains and future adventures in my creative life. I feel like I'm back at the beginning, in the best way. Thank you to the entire curatorial team @polymodestudio @bipocdesignhistory for stewarding me through this process and showing me how POC can navigate The Art World™ and how I want to move through it ❤️‍🔥 some of these photos are also from bookstores and other museums (MoMA) that I explored this week. I was able to spend quality time with so many mentors, friends, and collaborators from the past 5 years while on this trip and I'm so grateful for the strengthened connections and expansive conversations. I am blessed beyond measure!!!

We need your support! We are raising funds for the 3rd annual Octavia’s Solstice — a fan celebration of the life, work, and wisdom of speculative fiction author Octavia Estelle Butler on June 27 at @philosophical_research_society ✨ We want this year to be better than ever! Your donations will help us with event supplies, paying local performers/practitioners, our annual OEB ancestor altar, and supporting the event organizers! 🔗 in bio. There are so many ways to help. Share this post! Get tickets (sliding scale) for the event, make a donation or buy some limited edition merch. Don’t live in LA? You can still order merch to support the campaign. It will be shipped to you after the event. Share this with: fans of Butler, afrofuturism, and sci-fi who want to support the next generation of LA artists. This year's theme is “Parable of the Trickster”, the third unpublished novel in Butler's “Parables” series. Our line-up engages the wisdom and research embedded in her notes on the unpublished novel. How will you help re-write the future? We can’t do it without you. Presented by @urbanecologyconservatory curated by @the_schessa of @firebrand.house , and co-sponsored by @levelground

We need your support! We are raising funds for the 3rd annual Octavia’s Solstice — a fan celebration of the life, work, and wisdom of speculative fiction author Octavia Estelle Butler on June 27 at @philosophical_research_society ✨ We want this year to be better than ever! Your donations will help us with venue fees, paying local performers/practitioners, our annual altar, and supporting the event organizers! There are so many ways to help. Share this post! RVSP (free) for the event and make a donation or buy some limited edition merch (link in bio). Don’t live in LA? You can still order merch to support the campaign. It will be shipped to you after the event! Send our campaign to: fans of Butler, afrofuturism, and sci-fi who want to support the next generation of LA artists. This year's theme is “Parable of the Trickster”, the third unpublished novel in Butler's “Parables” series. Our line-up engages the wisdom and research embedded in her notes on the unpublished novel. How will you help re-write the future? Presented by @urbanecologyconservatory , curated by @the_schessa of @firebrand.house , and co-sponsored by @levelground

Meet S2 resident Schessa Garbutt. Schessa Garbutt (they/them) is a Belizean-American designer, educator, and founder at Firebrand Creative House. Their interdisciplinary practice spans ecological art, near-futurist fiction, and public programming. Across disciplines, they maintain a through-line of decolonial and afrofuturist frameworks, calling for human & ecological liberation with creations that shift how individuals and communities think about their role in shaping the future. They have collaborated with institutions such as CA State Parks, Los Angeles Public Library, Mariam Ibrahim Gallery (CDMX), ONE Institute, Yale University, and DiaTipo São Paulo. Garbutt is a lifelong Angeleno who lives, works, and loves in Leimert Park. Welcome to @ninaidyllwild , Schessa ✨🌲 #residency #ecologicalart #afrofuturism #queerart #ninaidyllwild

🚨 Applications for Provoking Type have been extended through March 1st! 📣✨ We’re so excited to share this incredible lineup of guest speakers—an inspiring mix of type designers, researchers, and educators bringing deep, diverse, and experienced perspectives on typography. They’ll be digging into how our relationships to type shape the way we see the world and how we communicate within it. 💖 We have scholarships! Link in bio to apply and learn more 🔗 About: Provoking Type is a 5-week course that invites participants to take a critical & decolonial lens to type and its role in history, culture, technology, power structures, and identity to explore and reimagine the narratives, contexts, and futures of type. Instructor Schessa Garbutt (@the_schessa ) and guest lecturers offer their critical perspectives on type as a tool and medium, centering BIPOC and othered histories, research methods, and intellectual mirrors while examining classic eurocentric, patriarchal, and capitalist views of the craft.

Apply at the link in my bio! Class starts March 10. @typeelectives Can't wait to see you there 🤓 We meet weekly on Tuesdays from 6-8pm PST. Typographers and designers of all experience levels are welcome. I read each and every application and curate the lectures and guest speakers to what YOU want to learn. Our virtual classroom is diverse and global, you'll be learning alongside and talking with creatives from all over the world 🌍🌎 Post your questions below! 👇🏽 Designs above (other than CIA and AI) are the works of Schessa Garbutt @firebrand.house , Beatriz Lozano @beatloz , Pouya Ahmadi, Lynne Yun @spacetypeco , and others. Tag anyone I missed!

We’re honored to have @the_schessa back teaching Provoking Type with us this upcoming spring. This class is at the heart of our mission at Type Electives, making space for the multiple narratives and truths that shape our practices. Join us on this fourth edition of Provoking Type, a 5-week course, starting Tuesday March 10, 2026, that invites participants to take a critical & decolonial lens to type and its role in history, culture, technology, power structures, and identity to explore and reimagine the narratives, contexts, and futures of type. 🔥 Plainly, this class is for creative folks with ideas about how they want to get into good trouble with type, and use their design powers to affect positive change in the world. Applications are due Friday, February 20, 2026 in order to be considered a seat in this course. 🔗 Link in bio to apply & learn more.

(here they go talmbout Futures again.) 5 min read, find the full text linked in stories/bio 🔗 🌱 share your thoughts!

Mais uma atração confirmada para o nosso dia principal de palestras!! Estamos muito feliz em anunciar Schessa Garbutt no DiaTipo São Paulo 2025 ✨ PT: Schessa Garbutt (they/them) é designer belizen-americane premiade, futuriste e fundadore do estúdio Firebrand Creative House, sediado em Los Angeles. Sua prática combina identidade visual e UI/UX para iniciativas de impacto social e organizações com propósito. Entre seus colaboradores estão The Nap Ministry, Target, Black Ambition Prize e California State Parks. Garbutt também é autore do ensaio Provoking Type (publicado em The Black Experience in Design, 2022), que evoluiu para um curso crítico ministrado no Type Electives. Já palestrou em instituições como Where Are The Black Designers, IDEO e Yale. Em 2025, suas colagens em grande escala passaram a integrar a coleção permanente do Sip & Sonder em Downtown Disney (Anaheim, CA). Recentemente, a Firebrand lançou seu primeiro selo editorial, Time and Its Travelers (2025) — uma antologia queer e BIPOC editada e projetada por elu. EN: Schessa Garbutt (they/them) is an award-winning Belizean-American designer, near-futurist, and founder of Firebrand Creative House. Their Los Angeles-rooted studio practice focuses on brand identity and UI/UX for social impact initiatives and mission-driven organizations. Collaborators include The Nap Ministry, Target, Black Ambition Prize, and California State Parks. In 2024, Garbutt’s “Provoking Type” essay, published in The Black Experience in Design (2022), evolved into a critical theory course they teach online at Type Electives. They have been invited to lecture at orgs such as Where Are The Black Designers, IDEO, and Yale. In 2025, their large-scale collage works were permanently installed at Sip & Sonder’s Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA. Recently, Firebrand published its first imprint, Time and Its Travelers (2025), a queer & BIPOC anthology edited and designed by Garbutt. They hold a B.A. in Design from the University of Southern California and a certificate from Type West. 🎟️ O lote 3 está quase no fim — garanta seu ingresso pelo link na bio!

Plz share with your Mexico City homies! 🧡🏵️🕯️ In an ungrounding world, caring for an altar can be a necessary anchor back to our heart-selves. Gain insight and inspiration for your personal altar practice during a lecture & workshop led by Los Angeles-based designer/storyteller Schessa Garbutt (Firebrand). On Tuesday, October 28, we will take a walking meditation through the Jardín Botánico del Bosque de Chapultepe to ground into our intentions. On Thursday, October 30, we'll be at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery for a writing workshop centered around memory work and ancestry. Both sessions will offer frameworks for curating your altar, maintaining ritual cycles, and space for group knowledge sharing. Collage artwork by @the_schessa ------------------------------ This event is part of Sip & Sonder's Sacred Grounds: From Soil to Soul, a weeklong pop-up in Mexico City celebrating connection across cultures, ancestry, and the journey of coffee from origin to cup. The activation brings together creative, cultural, and culinary experiences that invite participants to explore ancestral rituals, diasporic storytelling, sensory engagement, and communal gathering—all anchored in our shared humanity and the rituals surrounding coffee. The experience honors the interconnectedness of people, land, and culture, tracing coffee’s path from the soils of Ethiopia and Mexico to the cups we share today. Please visit /sacredgrounds for more information and to see the full lineup of experiences!

Remembering and honoring native creatives today. The namesake for @firebrand.house new typeface is Zitkála-Šá (aka Gertrude Simmons Bonnin), a political and creative force from the Yankton Dakota nation. She co-founded the National Council of American Indians and composed the first native opera, The Sun Dance Opera (1913). I am inspired by her tenacity, talent, and grace 🪶❤️ Poster and font design by @the_schessa