Boldly painted. Joyfully feminist.

painter Gwenn Seemel self-portrait — self-portrait by Gwenn Seemel

Hi! I’m Gwenn Seemel.

I make brightly colored paintings that are both playful and intense, and I release all my work directly into the public domain, free for use by anybody for any reason. Because of that unusual choice, I was invited to give a TEDx talk in Switzerland. My art has appeared in Newsweek as well as on the cover of an Oxford University Press book. I live in Lambertville, New Jersey.

Babs Siperstein by genderqueer artist Gwenn Seemel — Babs Siperstein design by Gwenn Seemel

Trans rights are human rights.

This is Babs Siperstein, a trans rights activist from New Jersey. and her portrait is part of Garden State Equality’s 20^th Anniversary Sticker Pack, an initiative celebrating key milestones in the organization’s two decades of work. The pack includes three stickers in all: buy them here!

The Babs Siperstein sticker design started out as a drawing in marker on paper, which you can purchase for $150—email me for details. You can learn more about the making of the portrait here.

[video transcript]

Nurturing curiosity is a big part of my art.

Many people find the idea of sorting everyone into just two categories comfortable, but, as this maned lioness proves, the concepts of “male” and “female” are a lot more complex than we’ve been led to believe.

For more about how nonhuman animals don’t fit neatly into traditional ideas of gender, check out my queer science picture book Crime Against Nature, which you can download for free!