Stay Wild, Star Child
Nyx Ripley-Rowan has a few bones to pick with the universe. It seems to be throwing punches left and right, leaving Nyx to always be on guard (except around her best friend, Basil). The biggest issue involves her late grandfather, Elias Orion Rowan, and the mess he left for her to clean up. Not only did he leave her with bitter memories, he also left the unfinished manuscript of the final book in his famed series—Potential Energy—for Nyx to finish on her own! Having skirted around the problem of completing the book out of spite, Nyx is ready to let it rot and never be complete. But there are a few things Elias left unsaid and had never spoken about before he passed, a few rather dangerous things, when you get down to it. Such as, you know, the fact that the world of the books, Thavma, is leaking out because it’s tired of waiting for the story to be finished—and it’s coming for the author, who just so happens to now be Nyx. If Nyx doesn’t finish the book and find an ending for it that she can accept and live with, the tales within Thavma—the creatures, the characters, the rotting curse— threaten to take both reality and the story world down for the count. It’s up to Nyx, with Basil by her side, to find what she’s been missing and face the ghosts that haunt her between the words—to bring an end not just to the manuscript, The Searching Soul, but also to the pain and grief that have been threatening to boil over inside of her. Visual artist and writer, Jellie Vayas has a habit of building worlds and stories for others to get lost in, and sometimes she tends to get lost herself. Writing Nyx’s story, and letting loose the creatures and magic in the illustrations, brought closure to some gaping holes in chapters of adventures in her own life. With a BA in Art, Design and Interactive Media from Seton Hall and an MFA in Visual Narrative from SVA under her belt, Jellie is prepared to tell more cinematic stories about the skies and seas and a few things in between.
My thesis defense.
In my twinkle skirt and all, my final thesis defense at the end of last summer. I even wore my twinkle skirt as I did when I did my thesis presentation to the board the year before, for luck.
A wild ride of an illustrated novel project. From spark of an idea (at the bottom of the sea, there’s a sky full of stars) to concept to writing to production to completion. Not to mention that I got to bring potential energy, a story that I created back in 2013, into this as the beloved and magical saga of the books! There was a lot of sweat (metaphorical) blood, and (literal) tears in the few months I created this project, but I wouldn’t trade any of that experience for anything.
I have self-published the illustrated novel as my thesis, and then I started the process of expanding the story into a three part trilogy that I’m self-publishing on Amazon. I have to thank my amazing class, my friends, and my mentor Betsy Cornwell, and all my professors. This project is incredible, from the fact that I wrote this whole thing, and then drew all of this, and had created this world that even manifested into my thesis exhibition, Nyx’s desk.
potential energy
A series about a young man named Sol with stars in his blood, determined to find his purpose, potential, and way in a universe where it seems that all the odds were stacked against him well before he was ever brought onto the earth.
(this story started as doodles in senior year creative writing class at Union Senior High School, and then turned into an independent study to create the foundation of a story bible in Junior year, given to jellie by the late William Haney at SHU. May his memory be eternal like the stories of him and his inspiration within out hearts)
thesis exhibition
Being a part of the MFA Visual Narrative, our thesis class had to bring our stories to the next step above - an interactive installation. So, I created Nyx’s desk. I went hard on it, getting live flowers and making paper flowers and vines and painting and drawing on the desk. I go all in with projects, and this was no exception. I stepped into a world of my own making and made it possible for others to fall into my creation for just a moment, and get a taste of it, and maybe be curious to see more and read Nyx’s story. I even grew crystals with Borax! It was a wild ride.
gallery talk
here is me talking about my thesis installation! it was a lot of fun. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year now.
