Uppercase Work/ Life

I am very very very excited to say that the Uppercase Magazine's Work/ Life book is officially released!

So I can finally share the piece that I created for it. My assignment from Janine (editor) was....

"Envision your own folklore or fairy tale and make a self portrait in which elements of you

(ie your hair, limbs, clothes and/or body) depict the story."

It was almost TOO perfect, and I wanted to make something that was me, but also something new.

I'm very happy with how everything turned out. And I will post more images of the book when I receive it in the mail!

I am headed to Iceland tomorrow with 2 other artists who were also included in the book, Vicky Healy and Jenny Nieh!

You can find out more about the book here and buy it here!

Trees

While I haven't had as much time as I wish I did, I have been slowly working on a new project these past few months.

They are simple black paper x-acto cut trees from all over the world with bits of symbolism and folklore within them.

Here are a few of my favorites, the Willow, Larch, and Quince

I do have 11 x 14 and 11 x 17 prints available for $15 each, as well as cards for $3 each/ 4 for $10, just email me (katieskau@gmail.com)

A few weeks ago I also had the amazing experience of meeting Neil Gaiman, I attended a book reading/ signing for The Ocean at The End of The Lane, (which is so so beautiful) and was able to give him some of my art. As some of you might know he is a huge inspiration to my work and it meant alot to me to be able to share it with him. He was so kind and humble and I even got a kiss!!! Truly magic...

ALSO I found out this week that I will be showing in the Summer Small Works Salon Show at the Greenpoint Gallery!

I will show 3 or 4 of my dollhouse pieces, so you should all come if you are in Brooklyn! It will be free!

Friday, July 12th at 8pm

Liz Calvi & The Mark Twain House

I realized this week that I never posted the amazing photos that Liz took of myself and my dollhouse at The Mark Twain House.

You can read my original post about Liz here!

To summarize though, Liz and I had the amazing opportunity to take photos in The Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT. We thought that the house would be a great pairing with the Victorian style of the dollhouse.

Here are a few of the favorite photos:

You can view more of Liz's work here: http://lizcalvi.com/

And hopefully you will see more collaborations between the two of us in the near future!

UPDATES!

It as been far too long since my last post but I am going to try to have this be the first of many updates.

 I should start by saying I have 2 events this week! Last week I found out that I was a finalist in the illustrator portfolio category for the Tassy Walden: New Voices in Children's Literature award! I am so excited and honored. There will be a reception tomorrow night at the James Blackstone Memorial Library in Branford, CT, so if you are in the area feel free to stop by.

I submitted my dollhouse and thunderbird book illustrations.

Another event is happening this Thursday, it is the Love Out Loud exibition at Midoma gallery in Midtown Manhattan. It will feature LGBT artists and proceeds from tickets, as well as a portion of any art sold will go to the True Colors Foundation.

A print from my Secret Garden/ Dollhouse series will be shown/ for sale!

For more info and to buy tickets go here!

More updates to come <3

Hardboiled (A Group Show in Bushwick)

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted. It has been a very busy month though between my day job and freelance/ personal work.

I wanted to tell you all that I will be a part of a group show in Bushwick next Saturday that was organized by some amazing illustrators that I graduated with last year! You should all stop by if you happen to live in Brooklyn.

I have ALSO been printing/ cutting/ staring at wedding invitations:

And incase you were wondering, yes each tree hole does need to be cut out

More updates later this week (hopefully)!

The Victorian Rabbit

Just a quick update today!

I have continued working on the wedding invites that I posted about last week. The bride I am working with asked if I could make a girl rabbit in Victorian dress that they could use as part of their backdrop. I am very curious about this backdrop and can't wait to see it when I attend the wedding!

This was very fun to work on. As you may have gathered I love drawing/ cutting out hair so a Marie Antoinette style is always an exciting challenge.

I never thought I would create a Victorian rabbit until this project haha I am lucky to have such a creative client.

Liz Calvi

Hello!

Today I wanted to talk about my dear dear friend and incredible photographer Liz Calvi.

Liz and I have known each other for about 19 years, which is really wild considering we are both 22.

Anyway, Liz has basically photographed everything for me since I started talking my illustrations seriously and at this point I wouldn't trust anyone else with this task, not just because we are soul sisters, but also because this girl is seriously talented both technically and conceptually.

Here are some gorgeous photos she has shot of my books and such:

I had been wanting to photograph the dollhouse that I made for my Secret Garden project because I only had shots of the individual rooms and no photos of the entire house. Liz suggested that we try to find a Victorian house to shoot the dollhouse in. I contacted a few houses in the Hartford, CT area (my dollhouse currently lived with my parents in CT) and eventually got a reply from the lovely Jacques Lamarre at the Mark Twain House. Liz and I toured the house and knew instantly that the Victorian charm would be the perfect companion to my dollhouse.

AND we got to shoot there this past Sunday!! It was ridiculous, and beautiful, and so inspiring and surreal to be in this house when I spent so long crafting Victorian miniatures last year.

Liz is currently working on editing the photos but I cannot wait to share them, so as a little prelude to that I wanted to post some of Liz's work, that she has done for me and otherwise.

Besides doing a variety of commercial freelance projects she also does beautiful fine art work, AND she makes jewelry:

Be sure to check out her website & blog

Uppercase Magazine

I am so excited to say that I have been selected to be a part of Uppercase Magazine's Live/Work illustration issue!

" The tagline for UPPERCASE magazine is "for the creative and curious" and this really is the somewhat loose guideline to content appearing in the magazine. Though the content is based in graphic design, illustration and crafting as its starting points, with such a broad statement the articles can be quite eclectic. I think it is this curious bent that makes the magazine unique and hopefully surprising with each new issue." Janine Vangool  publisher /editor /designer

Each illustrator that is featured creates a piece for the magazine, as well as an interview. I will know the topic of my piece by the             end of this month!

Be sure to check out their website and buy all of their beautiful high quality books

http://uppercasemagazine.com/

Wedding Invites

I have been very busy the past week working on the Calender of Tales project and I haven't had much time to come here to blog, or really do anything else to be honest. I cannot wait to post what I have been working on, but that will probably come in 2 weeks.

Besides the Calender of Tales I have been working for the past few months on a very fun wedding invite for a quirky and unique couple. The project was based around Alice in Wonderland and an overall Victorian aesthetic. The couples vision was very specific but I still had room to play, here is my favorite edit of the card with handwriting by my beloved Jenny Nieh:

This coming weekend I am so excited to say I will be taking photos of my dollhouse at the beautiful Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT with the lovely Liz Calvi, but I will get into more detail about that this week!

Also if you have twitter I have just officially joined, my name is @katieskau and I will be posting about my work, as well as other fun things, and I need people to follow!

Plugged

The past week or so I have been working on a really interesting project for a short film called Plugged.

"PLUGGED is a short film written by Dea Jenkins (BFA, Digital Filmmaking, The Art Institute of Houston), based on the true events of a life-altering incident in New York City. The focus of the story, set in a ballet studio, concerns the adults in a young girl’s life who were either unable or unwilling to assist the girl following this traumatic moment."

I created 6 illustrations that will be displayed (and for sale) at a fundraiser for the film this Saturday at:

Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, 55 Bethune St, NYC

From 6:30-8pm

Although I didn't have as much time as I would've liked, I am happy with the simplicity of the pieces, and the gritty aspect that was an important characteristic and something I haven't really explored.

I hope you can all attend the event, be sure to check out the facebook page!

A Buffalo Creature

So tonight I wanted to share more of an update about the buffalo I posted a few weeks ago, it is coming along slowly,

but the next time I post about it, it will be finished and hanging on my wall.

I am enjoying this series as an escape from the strong narrative that surrounded my work so much when I was in school, while I don't think I will ever fully get away from narrative it does feel fresh to me.

<3

Collaboration with Jenny Nieh

I have always wanted to do a collaboration with someone through the mail, and because Jenny and I have an understanding of each others work that I have never felt from anyone else it just had to be with her. We also are sadly about 100 miles apart.

I created the boar and handed it off to Jenny who turned it into a beautiful dyed diptych.

It is currently unfinished, I still will add more cut paper, but now it is Jenny's turn to start with a new project.

Although we haven't actually mailed anything yet I have hopes for the future...

be sure to also look at Jenny's work, she is an amazing designer and illustrator currently working for Free People

Creatures 2 (just about) finished

So the first piece of Creatures is finally complete. Although this is part of the series, I wanted to create something for Jenny Nieh's birthday and I knew that she was really liking these new animals, and I also knew she loved deer, so this seemed perfect. I gave her the piece on Saturday.

Upon seeing my buffalo piece a few weeks ago (and a boar before that which I will probably be posting about on Thursday) Jenny had a great idea about displaying these pieces, to put them in between 2 pieces of glass (or plastic) so it would be completely clear, and there would be no paper or backing distracting from the actual animals. I had bought 2 clip frames, to use the glass panels but it didn't work out and I am still looking to solve this problem if anyone out there has any suggestions?

Nest Studio

So a few months ago I created a logo for Nest Studio, they make beautiful pillows (I have 3 on my couch) out of fabrics from all over the world.

Everything is completely handmade, including the tags which are block printed.

"Nest Studio, based in West Hartford, CT, is a textile studio, where one- of-a-kind decorative pillows are created by two friends, Erica Moses and Maureen Skau. The pillows are made from fabric from all over the world, including Brazil, Bali, India and Japan. Each pillow is different. No two are ever alike and all of them have surprising back." -Taken from their Etsy bio

I would highly recommend checking out their Etsy, as well as liking their new Facebook page.

 

Update! Still in progress but coming along, I haven't worked on my buffalo in a few days, but I'm hoping to finish it sometime next week. Once these are done I will include some higher quality scans to allow the pieces to be seen at their best.

PS: Hi new followers :)

Creatures part two

A new, very early, work in progress

Creatures

Buffalo work in progress for a new series, created with cut black canson paper.

Little Red

The past few months have flown by, new job: new life.

Awhile back I made a book for my brothers English friend Jack. His niece Ella loves Little Red Riding Hood, when he and my brother were finally going to meet up, I knew I wanted to give the book.

I created a completely handmade copy for her, with my inkjet, glue, paper, ect.

Our Winter Garden

I have been working constantly preparing items for Jenny and I's new etsy shop! Be sure to check it out! Special thanks to Liz Calvi for taking many of the amazing phots for us!

Our Winter Garden