73 - How Did Precious Rubbish Take Shape? | Kayla E. (award-winning artist, Precious Rubbish, Fantagraphics)

Kayla E. joins The Truth In This Art to discuss Precious Rubbish.

Kayla E. (award-winning artist, Creative Director at Fantagraphics, 2023–2024 Princeton Hotter Fellow) joins Rob Lee to discuss her debut full-length graphic memoir, Precious Rubbish.

An award-winning artist whose practice spans comics and fine art—textiles, sculpture, video performance art, painting, and drawing—Kayla E. brings candid, instinct-driven storytelling about life, family, and making work on her own terms.

In this episode, Kayla E. shares the story behind Precious Rubbish—why she made it for herself with no plan to publish, how every decision was guided by pure instinct, and how the book’s distinctive color palette was lifted from vintage “Komic Kards.”

The conversation also digs into audience and context: setting aside what’s proper, traditional, or would sell; focusing on truth over convention; and connecting the memoir to a broader art practice across mediums. It’s about how comics and fine art can hold difficult life stories while inviting readers to look closer.

Topics Covered:

• Making a memoir with no intent to publish—letting instinct lead form and content
• Lifting the color palette of Precious Rubbish from vintage comic cards
• Collecting ephemera and old stuff as an aesthetic engine
• Balancing honesty and care when depicting a terrifying family history
• From comics to fine art: textile, sculpture, video performance art, painting, drawing

Make the conversation count: read Precious Rubbish—grab it from your library, Amazon, or thriftbooks.com. Kayla E.'s graphic memoir stays true to lived experience, trusts instinct, and turns memory into art without sanding off its edges.

The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore). 

Host: Rob Lee
Music: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.
Production:

• Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel Alexis
• Edited by Daniel Alexis
• Show Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and Transistor

Photos:

• Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.
• Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.

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