Behance + Wander: An Invitation for Creativity

A few months ago, Behance teamed up with Los Angeles-based production company, Wander, to document the true meaning of artistic collaboration. The premise was simple: four artists, five hours, a blank canvas and the expanse of individual creativity; the outcome was an original piece of artwork, accompanied by an invaluable and unforgettable experience for all those involved. We sat down with Wander's Aaron Weber and Joshua Clark as well as two of the artists involved -- Justine Serebrin and Haley Ann Robinson -- to talk about the project and what they took away from it.

Our team at Behance believes that collaboration, harnessed correctly, is exponentially beneficial to both the product created and the artists involved. Teaming up with Wander, we set out to explore this even further. Aaron Weber and Joshua Clark explain how this project illustrates that point beautifully. "We believe that collaboration is essential to the creative process. Collaboration creates something bigger than any one person could ever create alone.  Working with the right person(s) doesn't make you twice as good. It makes you ten times as good. Whether you're just bouncing ideas off someone or gathering a huge team to make something big like a feature film, the collaboration process is key to making that idea better. Its keeps ideas flowing and helps find solutions to problems by looking at them from different perspectives."

Finding the right set of artists to bring on board proved to be the greatest challenge, but one that organically developed to make the duration of the project highly successful. Working with Art Director Zack Menna, Wander set out to assemble the best possible combination of artists. "We cast out a big net and pulled in so many great artists of all walks of life...[and] we realized that we didn't want established artists who've had a long career of success and know exactly what they do. We wanted the fresh creative up-and-comers who were still exploring themselves and their talents. We wanted art school kids. Our entire team consists of art school graduates, so it just made sense to us. With that in mind, we approached Otis College of Art and Design and asked them to send us their top students. From there it was mixing and matching and seeing what worked. Alia Penner, Haley Ann Robinson, Justine Serebrin and  Tavo Quiros rose to the top. Their unique styles just seemed to fit together and at that point we knew we had our team."

Going into the project, the participating artists had a mixed range of experience with creative collaborations. For Haley Ann Robinson, it was the first time she'd participated in an organized collaborative environment. "I've collaborated with friends and school projects, but nothing that was actually documented like the Behance collaboration. I'm completely open to the idea. I think it's a great way for people to come together, whether it's a group or just a couple people bouncing ideas back and forth. Hopefully more will come my way in the near future."

Justine Serebrin, on the other hand, collaborates regularly with other artists. "[The Behance/Wander collaboration] really was such an organic, strange experience for me. I work collaboratively in this way all the time, but it was very different working with such different artists. When we were faced with challenges, we were able to communicate and switch positions and areas in order to enhance other parts of the piece. I would love to do it again. I would love to do it all the time. I think if we had another chance to work together we would feel much more at ease with each other, and feel that we had more freedom creating with -- and not around -- each other."

Collaboration is one of the strongest tools for creativity, and both Wander and Behance believe in its power to bring people together for the greater good. The Wander team elaborates: "We think projects like this show the power of collaboration in creative work, as well as on a grander scale, shows that art can bring people together in a productive way. In this world where everyone is so separated by belief and cultural differences, perhaps collaboration in art, or in any activity for that matter, is a step in the right direction. Ultimately, creating more collaborative projects like this will continue to show people that working together will turn a GOOD idea into a GREAT idea."

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Aaron Weber and Joshua Clark are the founders of Wander, a Los Angeles-based production company and design firm. Wander's eponymous short film has aired on IFC and appeared in numerous international film festivals, distribution rights for which were purchased in early 2007.

Justine Serebrin grew up in Manhattan Beach, California, and holds a BFA in Fine art, Painting / Drawing. She is currently working on a new series about the origin of life, and finds herself immersed in collaborative projects regularly in her side project, Fallopian Artopians.

Haley Ann Robinson is a San Diego, California native, currently in her last semester at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Her thesis concept revolves around endangered animals, combining many mediums: papier mâché, paint, feathers, wood and other found objects.