Art on display in Holly Roach’s home studio. (Love that handmade Be Kind woodblock.)

Tell us about your process – how do you come up with ideas, what are the steps to a finished piece?
Most of my artworks start life as an unreadable doodle on loose sheets of paper. My scribbles are often inspired by some shape or form that is part of something bigger that I have come across on a site, blog or in a book.

I will then loosely redraw my sketch to final art size and trace down to my chosen surface. No image is firmly fixed in place, allowing for the design to change as I go along- mistakes often dictate a new path!

Holly needs plenty of paint on hand. Doesn’t it make you want to get your hands dirty and create?

I then screen print layers of colours and form using hand-cut stencils. I use anything and everything to make ‘marks’, spatulas, knives, rollers, chopsticks. It helps to work close to my kitchen. Or in it at times.

There’s a lot of love and time in every print – Holly screen prints each one herself.

What’s the favourite piece of work you’ve done and why?
I was lucky enough to be tutored by the very talented John Pule many years ago when I studied Fabric Design at AUT. We were to tell our story using the architecture of a Nuiean Tapa cloth.  It was equally enjoyable and draining at the same time. It’s nice to have the outcome of this exercise hanging in  my lounge for anyone to see, but only I know the secret codes in it!

Holly’s favourite work, her autobiographical Tapa cloth; a corner of Holly’s creative space.

Besides art/design, what else do you love to do?
Walking. Drinking coffee. Being in beautiful places. Drinking coffee in beautiful places. Christmas. It brings out all my joys…sewing, beading, crafting, cooking, wrapping and giving.

What has been the coolest experience/highlight of your creative career so far?
A recent cool thing was finding out that two of my works are hanging in the Auckland Town Hall. I knew the city had bought the paintings but didn’t know where they went.

Two of Holly’s art prints for sale at endemicworld: Sunny Days and Out The Back. 

What would be a dream commission to do?
I think it would be great to create a homeware series for a company like IKEA. Swedish inspired designs on ceramic, wallpaper, textiles, etc. I have a relatively short attention span, so mixing it up would suit me.

Tell us about a person who inspires you…
A lot of different people inspire me for lots of different reasons. These days I would have to say kind people and people living their truth. Often strangers, so I couldn’t name names.

The beauty’s in the details…

Endemicworld’s Holly Roach prints are reproductions of Holly’s original screen printed artworks. They’re available in 3 sizes (right up to big A2!) and from only $49. Click here to check out all our Holly Roach art prints.

The post Meet the Artists: Holly Roach appeared first on NZ Art Prints & Originals Curated in New Zealand | endemicworld.com NZ ART blog.

You won an award last year for illustrating a children’s book – tell us about it!
A couple of years ago I illustrated ‘A Dog Like That!’ authored by Janene Cooper and published by Duck Creek Press. ‘A Dog Like That!’ made the Storylines notable book list 2011, was a finalist picture book in the 2011 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards and a finalist for the LIANZA Russell Clark Award for illustration. I majored in illustration as part of my Graphic Design degree and pitched for the book in my final year, had it accepted and started work on it as soon as I graduated. The illustrations for the book are entirely done through collage, which isn’t really something I apply to my other work (or haven’t so far). The sequel to the book ‘That Dog at the Beach!’ ( <—- shameless plug huzzah!) has just been released and I got to illustrate a dog peeing on a sandcastle which was fun.  I find my children’s work to be quite at odds with my more ‘grown up’ work, which if often has a darker side to it. Sometimes I go in to schools to run ‘That Dog’ inspired collage workshops and that is heaps of fun. Kids are awesome and really funny.

Author and Illustrator together (Evie on right) at the Children’s Book Awards. Image via Booksellers NZ.

What are you working on at the moment?
I’ve just finished a range of cushions that I’m just about to make public. I’ve been keen for a while now to apply  my work to pattern and textiles again so I’m really happy to be heading in that direction. They’re inspired by tribal and ethnic influences with a twist, and a really modern (and bright) colour palette. My new range of cards has also been really well received so I’m really trying to get in the zone to come up with some Christmas designs.  I’ve also got a couple of other ‘prototype’ style projects to expand my range and type of products further. Nothing is definite there yet though, so sorry for vagueness!

Evie’s new (and very limited edition) line of cushions.

How would a ‘day in the life’ of a maker like yourself look?
I spend a lot of time online keeping up with orders, contacting stockists, blogging, tweeting, researching and sourcing.Realistically at least 50% of my time currently is admin though a lot of that is talking with people which is fun. I almost always have some kind of ‘physical’ project, a new idea or a new way of making something that I mess about with through out the day. I spend a lot of time looking in to and working on my ‘next thing’. When I’m drawing, I have the TV on all the time, I’m currently watching the West Wing all the way through again.  I have some really awesome creative friends to hang out with and take business downtime with. Sometimes it’s important to have long Friday lunches to celebrate being self-employed. I paint my nails in weird ways and do yoga a normal way and walk my dogs.

Evie’s home studio – as colour-packed and unique as her art prints.

Can you tell us a little about your process?
I’m always inspired by my little dogs Bonnie & Jasper, cat Eddie and how crazy they are. Often, I’ll just start drawing an animal and it will start to gain a personality that I’ll hone in on, sometimes in a second drawing. I’m a complete convert to using Palomino Blackwing pencils, they’re so great for my heavy line. I’ll usually do a collection of drawings before I take the time to scan them in and add colour digitally. It’s usually when I’m adding colour that I’ll decide if a print is going to look great or not. I have some pieces I love as line drawings but I just can’t get the colours right on them so they never make the cut. Colour is a major deal for me. Once I’ve decided on colours it’s just a case of running some test prints to make sure they’re coming out as I’d like. I’d love to do some screen prints some time soon and play with colour on paper that way.

A work in progress…

What’s the favourite piece of work you’ve done and why?
I think (hope) that I’m my own biggest critic and am hard to please. Ultimately my favourite work ever would have to be my early fabric designs that I had made in to lampshades. I think they’re the most unique of all my work and the most ‘me’ and I really am looking forward to working more with fabric design in coming months. I like all my prints in one way or another, Cantankerous the Persian is quite important to me as the beginning of my current style, I also really like the barking dog, Savage. Big attitudes are the best.

Rabbit lampshade, one of Evie’s earliest designs.

What has been the coolest experience of your career so far?
To be honest, I can’t really pin point a specific experience but the past couple of months have been really amazing. I’ve been having a great reception to my work and have made some incredible connections. Everything is moving quickly and it’s really inspiring and exciting/scary.

What can we look forward to next from Evie Kemp?
New prints, new cards and whole new products. More cats, more teeth.

Just a few of the awesome Evie Kemp art prints available at endemicworld.

The post Meet the artists: an interview with Evie Kemp appeared first on NZ Art Prints & Originals Curated in New Zealand | endemicworld.com NZ ART blog.