Interview continuation of previous article "Interview with multi-media artist Camilla Taylor Part I: Inspiration"
As a fine artist and printmaker, you bring your unique aesthetic to produce remarkably designed items including tee shirts, pillows and cups. How do you approach both the conceptual and technical process of creating these items?
To be honest, I don’t really know how to talk about them critically. I started making designed craft items because I didn’t want to get a real job, and just extended my sketchbook practice onto other objects. My “art” is so laborious and often too serious, so it’s a release to just make some cute little funny things that I can justify to myself selling for cheap, and being mostly unrelated to each other or to the series I’m working on in the studio.
You also design an intriguing series of hand drawn buttons packaged on screenprinted cards. Which visual elements and physical materials do you find most essential in the formation of these unique designs?
Over the winter, I borrowed button machine from my friend Neumie, a comic book artist in the Valley. For the most part, I just tried to think of the simplest compositions that would work in a circle. The paper for the cards are leftover scraps from the illustrator Harry Diaz, who was screenprinting in the shop before me. I layered imagery from other projects onto the cards haphazardly before printing the final bit of information on them, so each button is as different as each card. So much of the current craft movement is about replicating machine made objects— making multiple items near identical to each other. I can’t ever make something that will look totally manufactured, and it seems silly to try, so building in idiosyncrasies to a project, as well as limitation (I had to return the button machine in a set amount of time), frees it up for more interesting individuality.
Interview continues! Camilla discusses her current exhibitions and her awards: Interview with multi-media artist Camilla Taylor Part III: Exhibitions and awards
For more information on Camilla, visit her website: www.horsefleshproductions.com
Comments
Very cool- I love how her prints translate onto different surfaces!
Found this 2nd part of the interview more accessible--the mugs on Ms. Taylor's site are amazing and definitely reflect the lighter-hearted way she comes at designing them, just as she describes in her interview with Ms. Cullen. Very interesting!
The buttons are great! The pillows are cool! Another great one in a series of wonderful articles! Thanks you:)
PS- The slideshow is so cool!
Amazing stuff! Thanks a lot.
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