strawberryluna ... Pennsylvania, USA

Artist: Allison / "strawberryluna"
Business: strawberryluna
Web site: strawberryluna.com
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

What do you create?
Mostly screenprinted rock posters and art prints currently, some tshirts too, though I do other design work as well. And undies! I love printing on underwear, it's so fun and playful.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
That's a two-parter for me. I do my design, drawing, and creative work from home usually. I do a lot of sketches in any one of the two or three sketch books that I have floating around, but all of the final work is completed on my computer and lots of it is done on a computer entirely (I'm a Mac girl!) Then, for the printmaking aspect of my work I go to my studio which is a great shared/community space print studio called Artists Image Resource or AIR for short. It's my home away from home.


Do you have another "day job" or did you leave one to pursue your art?
At the moment, I do not have another day job. I've been doing this design and printing thing as my full-time job now for a year and half. I'm really really lucky I get to do what I love for a living.

Where and what did you study?
I studied just about everything but art. Other than art history that is, I think I took every single one of those classes that I possibly could. My education was primarily in literature, linguistics, and developmental psychology. Until I started printing, I never really thought of myself as capable of producing visual art like the people whose work I admired.


Where do you find inspiration?
Anywhere! As cliched as it sounds, it's entirely true. I am as likely to be fascinated by random patterns in a sidewalk as I am by a piece of fine art. When I am looking to recharge my batteries I'll take my dog for a walk in the small woods near our house or maybe page through an art or design book. A lot of times, when I have a project to get started I think about color first, sort of reflexively and often build from there. I really love it when I just stumble upon an old textile pattern or something completely unrelated to what I am working on, and it sparks an idea.


What motivates you?
I love my job, that's the ultimate motivation. There are certainly days where I am tired and stressed out by deadlines or feeling uninspired, but when I think about working my old day job, well, it sort of snaps everything back into place mentally for me. Before I started really working in art and design, I would have these explosions in my head where a fully formed pieces of art but have no way of getting them from inside my head out into the world. So, I always felt like a bit of a logjam was clouding my mind. I still get those explosions, but now I have a release for some of them, and that's a huge motivation as well.


When did you start doing this?
I began screenprinting in November of 2004. I had always wanted to learn how and found out that a community print studio was in my city. They offer an "Open Studio" night where anyone can come in and screenprint once a week for a low fee (currently about $5) and get a real hands on sink-or-swim go at print making. I fell in love almost immediately with screenprinting and started going weekly to work on simple art prints just for fun, just for myself with no expectations of anyone ever seeing them, letting alone buying them. One of my prints caught the eye of a guy who connects poster artists with gigs in Philadelphia and he asked me if I wanted to try making rock posters a go. While being secretly terrified about, I agreed to try. That was in April of 2005 when I did a poster for the band Garbage, and I've been making posters ever since.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I do, major big time. When I was really young I drew constantly as well as built things out of clay and legos almost compulsively. I also grew up writing short stories, from childhood through college. At some point I felt much more comfortable writing than visual arts and just tended to keep working on that rather than drawing. By the time that high school came around I'd begun to think of my creative expression in terms only of the written word. However, I continued to be in love with other people's work.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
It sounds odd, but doing design and printmaking full-time was actually almost an accident. About a year and a half ago I quit a very stressful day job with every single intention of finding another day gig. My husband, who has a good day job, was incredibly supportive and we agreed that since I had a little bit of freelance work at first, I'd work on that and put off finding a real job for a week or two and then suddenly it was six months later. I'd managed to keep finding just enough work to get me through the next couple of weeks or a month when I realized that is nearly the textbook definition of the freelance life. It felt crazy, like walking off of a cliff. Had I not quit my day job without a contingency plan, I doubt that I would have had the courage to try being a working artist for a living – and yet, here I am. It's one of those golden times where a hasty decision was in fact absolutely for the best, but there was no way that I could have known that when I left my job.

I wish that I could tell some fantastic story of having a great idea to reinvent the wheel... but the truth is far more obscure than that. I really started out by just working on what I loved and was lucky enough to make some good networking connections that provided an excellent outlet for my screenprinting. From there, I suppose more than anything it was having the support and help of my lovely husband and my studio, AIR.


How did you choose the name for your business?
Honestly? It's another less-than-glamorous-tale. Before I started screenprinting, I had been lurking on a poster/screenprinting website forum called gigposters.com and wanted to make a post, which entailed having to come up with a screen name. I believe that I stared at the wall for a moment, just string words together that sounded nice, fresh, perhaps searching for a compound word made of things that I like. Believe it or not, Chocolatepuppykisses didn't quite roll off the tongue so well and strawberryluna just kind of ended up being the happenstance choice at that moment, well before I had aspirations to start my business. Once I did sort of have to start taking my design more seriously and come up with a name for my studio and art work, I didn't feel comfortable using my real name. I figured that "strawberryluna" was feminine and open to interpretation and as good as anything else that I might come up with so I went with that. I feel like this whole interview reveals me to be a bit of a random goofball. Well, that is a fair assessment of my character, what can I do? Hee.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love getting the chance to try new imagery and techniques. I feel as though I learn something new nearly every time that I work on a new project or print.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Paris, no contest. We got to go there in late 2001 for about a week. I love the ocean and am always fascinated by any seaside places that I go, but Paris was absolutely amazing every single moment that we were there, I'm sure not speaking excellent, but getting to practice my high school French was a part of that. Being surrounded by an culture much older and so richly in love with history and art was incredible.


A book you love:
One! Yipes! Can I mention two? We Have Always Lived In The Castle, by Shirley Jackson and The Master And Margarita, by Mikail Bulgakov. Both have these constantly wavering levels of beauty and creepiness that leave you unsure about the relative innocence of the main character that is like following a quiet wooded path as twilight falls.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
Perhaps that I have never had nor been able to fully comprehend something like a 5-year-plan, but seem to find my way into good situations regardless. In fact, the 5-year-plan types of questions confuse and minorly stress me out because not only is it difficult for me to form one that feels right, I also know that my life had never gone forward in ways that I could have predicted. I'm a big proponent of meandering whenever possible.

What achievement are you most proud of?
Being self-taught.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Definitely stay with your guts. If you are interested in and passionate about what you do, then stick with it. Networking is something that is so important for any business to succeed and I think that women have a natural aptitude for it, in that we are raised to be so social and interact with the people around us. But we often don't fully realize that not only is it a social grace but also an important business tool.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Meeting deadlines! In some ways it's the hardest part of my job, scheduling time for design and printing 1-2 times a week at my shared space studio, as well as answering emails and sending out any orders that I have. However, one of the great things about making posters is that the work is very time-sensitive and a piece has to be done and gone by a certain, hard date. So in a way, that's very freeing to me as I don't have the luxury/albatross of working endlessly on a piece as I might if I were a painter. If that were the case, I'd probably finish one piece a year!


What do you love to do in your free time?
Spend time with my husband and friends, giggle as much as possible and just get out of my head. I work alone and from home and sometimes that can make me a little stir-crazy so it's so refreshing to just spend time with friends and laugh.


What are you working on right now?
Other than this interview, I am very close to finishing a project that I started close to two years ago when one of my best friends wanted to have a few prints for her newborn daughter's bedroom. That was the beginning of my alphabet series, which at the time, I have to admit, 26 separate designs and prints didn't really seem like a lot. Oh, but it is! I have three left to complete in the next two weeks and I can't wait to the series all done and ready.

What do you hope to achieve next?
I'm really excited to get working on some art prints and I'd like to try and do some textile designs in the coming year. We'll see!

Skinny LaMinx ... South Africa

Artist: Heather Moore
Business: Skinny laMinx
Web site: www.skinnylaminx.com
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

What do you create?
I make a variety of things, really – from book and magazine illustrations, to silkscreened cushions, purses, tshirts, to stencilled wooden or cut vinyl artworks... Lots of stuff. Most of the things I make tend to include cutting with my NT cutter (Japanese version of Exacto knife). The things I love making most of all right now are one-off handcut decorative magnets cut from magnetic sheeting.

Where and when do you do your creative work?
I have a studio just a short bike ride away from home in the centre of town, which I share with three painters. They are so nice and neat, but my space is a lot messier, with explosions of fabric and shreds of cut paper and vinyl everywhere. It’s great to have somewhere to make a mess – very enabling. I try to get into my studio in the afternoons after finishing work and on weekends.




Do you have another “day job”?
Funnily enough, I took on a day job in order to pursue my love of making things. I had been doing freelance illustration, writing and editing of schoolbooks for about 10 years, getting more and more frustrated with this work. It did teach me a great deal and got me to do a Masters degree on the topic, but it almost drove me mad because crazy deadlines and conflicting market demands meant that most of the books I worked on were pretty uninspiring. That said, I did have a couple of amazing opportunities to illustrate and write some really fantastic books, working with some truly terrific people.

Anyway, in order to give myself the luxury of working on things I want to make without having to consider their economic viability, I took on a part-time job at Strika Entertainment. Now I spend every morning writing scripts for comics that get distributed all over the world. It’s an amazing job with all the variety I need to keep me interested, and I’m very, very lucky that my employers are willing to accommodate my lack of desire to work full-time.



Where and what did you study?
My undergrad degree was in Drama and English, and I went on to do a teaching diploma, but never did any teaching. After working in various areas of schoolbook creation for a number of years, I decided to investigate the subject further by doing a Masters degree at the University of Cape Town. So now I have an MPhil behind me, as well as a valiant but failed attempt to turn educational publishing into something I can participate happily in.

What inspires you and what motivates you?
Well, I have a greatly inspiring friend called Jesse Breytenbach who is even more obsessed with making things than I am. She’s also an illustrator and an incredibly accomplished knitter and crafter, for whom nothing is impossible. She’s also marvellously interested in doing things, not for their commercial potential, but just because she likes them. Jesse and I run a monthly Craft group and also have a stall at a fantastic Saturday market in Woodstock once a month (see her blog at http://jezzeblog.blogspot.com).




My husband, Paul Edmunds, who is an artist, is similarly inspiring, particularly in the way he’s able to go into his studio every day and face that metaphorical blank canvas head on. He makes amazing work that is extremely time-consuming, and his willingness to take on massive projects from start to finish, despite being fully aware of the months and months of repetitive slog is just awesome.

My blog is a real motivator. I started it just to use as an evolving portfolio because I had none of my work on the web, but it soon had me in its grip, as I began to feel the need to feed it with things. It feels like one of those Tamagochi toys, but at least it has a point! I love the kindness, generosity with praise and general friendliness I experience through my blog and through reading others’. Having a market stall and keeping the Etsy shop stocked keeps my output high too.

I also love looking at plants and grasses and light filtering through leaves.



When did you start doing this?
When I did my illustration and writing work from home I tried to make things, but never got really far because I always had to tidy up soon enough to make space for “real” (ie: money-making) work. Getting a studio about 3 years ago was the real moment of lift-off. I started sewing, screenprinting, and making funny things with paint samples that got me onto my first group exhibition – Drawing Room I in 2005.

Since then I’ve been exhibiting my illustration work regularly, as well as making and selling various things in shops, at our market stall and, more recently, in my Etsy shop.





What memories to you have of getting into art as a kid?
I didn’t do art at school, and I was always worst in the craft classes. A favourite memory is of the last day of school one year where I got to unravel the cursed knitted “doll” (voodoo doll?) that I’d been fruitlessly slaving over all year. Unravelling all that boredom was just delicious!

On my own, I used to love making vast 3-D houses that I made up of strips of paper with all the furniture drawn onto them. I would fold these to make up a room, and attach them to other rooms in rambling wonky constructions. I’d really like to make one of these again one day.

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
When I started to put my screenprinted and stitched cushions into shops I needed to design a swingtag for them. I guess that was the start of the business, really. It’s still pretty small, and I like it that way. My horror is that Skinny laMinx will grow too big and become all about supplying and admin and not about making things any more. That’s why selling on Etsy is so brilliant – things have to be handmade, and that is necessarily limiting!



How did you choose the name for your business?
Our little Siamese cat is called Monkey, which often morphs into Minx, and she’s such a skinny little thing that she turns into Skinny laMinxy Longlegs, as she skitters around, making us chuckle.

What do you love most about creating your art?
Working towards illustration exhibitions have been incredibly exciting, and have allowed me to do things that I’ve never done before.

I love trusting myself to make something, and then assessing afterwards how much I like it, rather than trying to be certain that I will like it before I start. I suppose I like the way things change as you go along – the way you need to make new decisions about what you’re doing based on the limitations you encounter along the way.

That said, I’m really hoping that I learn some patience soon. I tend to want to work super maniacally fast (mostly because time’s always limited). I think some projects that are about “process” need to be set…




What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Thailand, no doubt about it. Paul and I went there on holiday in 2005 and still can’t stop talking about our three week holiday. Apart from the beauty and craftsmanship we saw, the contrast between the daily interactions between people here in South Africa (aggressive, angry, explosive) and the calmness even in the busiest traffic that we saw over there was quite, quite extraordinary. I loved it there and can’t wait to return.

A book you love:
I read very greedily and the result is I forget much of what I’ve read, but at the moment I am absolutely awestruck by David Mitchell’s work. I’ve just read Ghostwritten and am amazed by the scope of his imagination. Extraordinary.

I love Geoff Dyer’s writing too – the way many his books are neither novels nor autobiographies is quite marvellous. I’ve also just read Lesley Jackson’s book about Robin and Lucienne Day, which was a wonderful insight into the evolution of those designers.



What's the most interesting thing about you
Well, I’m just a suburban gal who grew up in a State of Emergency in a country run by fascists, with news censorship allowing me to remain blissfully ignorant of the burning townships while I enjoyed my swimming pool and tennis lessons. I suppose that is kind of interesting, although I suspect it falls into the weird/sick category rather.

What achievement are you most proud of?
There’s a series of reading books called the Kagiso Readers that I co-wrote and illustrated about five years ago. They have been translated into all 11 of our country’s official languages, and the series is making a huge difference to young South African readers. When I hear about how kids and teachers are using and loving these books, I feel very, very proud.




What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Gosh, I’ve really bumbled along with this, but one thing really seems to work, and that’s making lists of what you want to do. I’d been saying I wanted an Etsy shop for ages, but just wasn’t getting around to it. It was semi-difficult because of problems with payment and postage associated with selling from South Africa. But when I made a list of everything I needed to think about and do, it really moved me along. So, my advice is: Make A List. I should make another one soon too.




What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Time. I wish there were two of me. Also, I can be a bit mean with putting money into things, especially when I’m not sure that it will end up selling. Recently I vaulted over this hurdle by putting a substantial tax rebate into an account to exclusively be used for making things! It’s been hugely liberating to just have this money on tap!

What do you love to do in your free time?
I’ve got a band called the Sunday Family that I’ve been playing with for about six years. It’s gone a bit limp at the moment because one of the members quit, but we’re working at reviving it again. I play the fiddle and our music is quite country-pop in style. Singing in harmony must be one of the nicest possible things in the world – if not the entire known universe.

I also like riding my bicycle with my husband, lying on the sofa with the cats and dripping with righteous sweat in a Bikram Yoga class.




What are you working on right now?
Far too much. I’m really running three careers concurrently, so I’ll summarise for each one separately:

Writing – I’m writing some interesting comics and get to direct my first photo comic this week!

Illustration – I have a regular three illustrations for a monthly magazine called FairLady, and I’m also working with a team of illustrators on doing the 3D title graphics for the annual South African Advertising awards in August. I’m also in the process of making a new screenprint.




Skinny laMinx – I’m desperate to print a new teatowel design, but in the meantime, I’m making more magnets and cushions and purses for my shop. I’m also investigating getting some magnet designs laser cut, and also a tourist-orientated laser cut greeting card too.

What do you hope to achieve next?
Balance in all things and, ideally, a marvellously breezy, devil-may-care approach to any obstacle that is put in my way.

Simone Walsh Jewelry & Objects ... Australia

Artist: Simone Walsh
Business: Simone Walsh Jewelry & Objects
Web sites: simonewalsh.etsy.com, www.blog.simonewalsh.com, www.simonewalsh.com
Location: Sydney, Australia

What do you create?
I primarily handmake jewellery made from sterling silver, silk, gemstones, vintage beads and anything else I'm taken by! I also create one-off sculptural pieces for exhibitions, along with more conceptual jewellery, also for exhibitions – these can be made from materials as diverse as precious metals, paper, soap, wood, base metals, lipstick, textiles and more!




Where and when do you do your creative work?
I have a basic studio set up in my apartment, which unfortunately also needs to double up as my office – I call it my 'workroom' as whatever I do in there it's always work of some description! As for when I do my making work, really it's whenever I can – I can still be up making at 2am sometimes. As my business grows it takes up more time each week, which does tend to mean I work far too many hours all up!

Do you have another "day job"?
Yes, I currently work four days a week for an interesting non-profit which has employed me for several years now. My role is primarily as a web designer/producer, but I also do graphic design and typesetting for them. Fortunately I am able to work entirely from home and have quite a bit of flexibility in my job.




Where and what did you study?
I studied Visual Arts with a jewellery major at a technical college in Adelaide, Australia for 1.5 years full time initially. After travelling overseas for a while, I moved to Sydney where I completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts with a jewellery and object design major at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. I also have a post-graduate qualification in internet design. I'm considering doing another year of jewellery-related University study possibly next year if I can possibly manage it.




What inspires you and what motivates you?
Lots of things! Currently I'm inspired a lot simply by materials and techniques – and also wanting to push myself further technically. I love working with silver particularly and right now I'm obsessed by intricate saw piercing, so that is motivating me quite a lot. I'm also fascinated by ornament and pattern, along with differences in the way western culture refers to nature in art compared to Asian cultures, especially the Japanese. Plus sentimentality and intimacy is a major inspiration in a lot of the one off work I do.

When did you start doing this?
I think I made my very first piece of jewellery with an intention of continuing in this field in around 1992 – it was an extremely basic wire wrapping piece. I ended up starting to study full time in this area in 1994.




Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Definitely. I'm sure like any kid, I love making a big mess with paint! I was also interested in simple embroidery, knitting and macrame – things we were taught at school – although I don't think I was ever very good at any of those things. As I got older and went to high school I became very interested in art history and theory. I think then I first started to develop an interest in three-dimensional work.

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I started my business in the early '90s when I first began making basic jewellery. Initially I sold at markets, but as I learnt more serious metalsmithing skills I started selling work through shops. It really wasn't until around 2000 when I returned from a stint of living in the UK that I began pursuing my business more seriously and finally in 2006 things really started moving for me as I dedicated more time to it and moved my work to the web.





How did you choose the name for your business?
Actually, my parents chose it, seeing as it's my name! But the 'jewelry and objects' bit is really a simple reflection of the work I do.

What do you love most about creating your work?
I love looking at a finished piece – especially if it was quite challenging – and thinking 'Wow – I made that!'. I also usually love the process. I really enjoy soldering, for instance, and get a lot of satisfaction from a good soldering job, as strange as that may seem. Plus it's great to have the freedom to be creating things that I like and actually enjoy making rather than being directed by someone.




What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I think it would be a toss up between Istanbul and Tokyo! Going to Tokyo felt a bit like going to Mars – it seemed so radically different to anywhere else I've been and of course is so utterly enormous and busy that it makes London look like a little town! Istanbul is very big, busy and beautiful and I completely fell in love with Middle Eastern-type aesthetics and architecture while there – the mosques there are absolutely incredible and very inspirational.

A book you love:
Just one!? I read a lot. No matter how busy I am, I read a little bit every day – even if it means going without enough sleep. So one book I'll throw in here is Don Delilo's Underworld, which I've just re-read and is brilliant.




What is the most interesting thing about you?
Gosh, that's hard to answer! I guess that I've done a lot of different things in my life and have had a lot of interesting experiences as a result. I've worked in so many diverse industries from the music industry through to a charity dealing with ethics, and from very lowly roles through to relatively high flying ones. Plus I've travelled a fair bit and have spent time living in both hemispheres of the globe. And, of course, I've been an art student!

What achievement are you most proud of?
It's not really one achievement, but I think my independence. I've always been fiercely independent. I put myself through University without any assistance from my family and as a mature age student which makes things more difficult – and I did extremely well. I also managed to keep running my life without assistance through a lengthy bout of very poor health a few years back – although I did come close to giving up! Plus I've travelled quite a bit on my own to different places around the world as well. Right now I'm working hard towards being completely self-employed doing both jewellery as well as web-related work – and I think I'll get there!




What advice would you give women starting their own business?
I guess one of the things I found most difficult to learn was the importance of networking. I was always really cynical about the idea as it seemed like making friends in order to benefit yourself. But now that I'm doing it and seeing the benefits, I realise it's not like that at all! You can make very genuine friendships while also learning from someone or exchanging information or even seeing how each other's businesses might link up. Plus of course you can make purely business-level relationships which are great as well. I'd also emphasise that you need to be willing to do everything for yourself and to spend the time learning how to do so, especially if you're an indie designer or are running a very small business. You need to be bookkeeper, photographer, marketer, stockroom, packaging person, secretary, web designer, copy writer, legal expert, search engine optimiser, etc., on top of whatever it is that your business is actually about.




What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Probably time – I never feel like I have enough of it and I'm also very aware right now that if I work too hard (as I almost always do!) it puts my health fairly seriously at risk. So finding time and making time work always feels like it involves a lot of juggling and compromises, which I don't always like. Plus of course part of that is the difficulty in finding the time to simply be creative and develop new work.

What do you love to do in your free time?
Gosh, I have so little of what I'd regard as free time! Normally I'm multi-tasking even when doing 'free time' type stuff. But I love to read, catch up with friends online and offline and when I'm in the right city I love spending time with my nieces and playing with them (which definitely can't involve multi-tasking!). I also love travelling and would like to be doing more of it.




What are you working on right now?
I'm making a set of three brooches about secrets and intimacy which I'm submitting to an awarded exhibition, Contemporary Wearables, which is held every two years in Australia. The brooches feature panels in sterling silver which have some intimate secrets etched onto them in images and text. Over the top of these will be placed intricately cut out panels of semi-transparent soap, so you'll be able to see parts of the secrets, but not enough to figure out what they are. The only way to see them in full would be to use up or break the soap. They're really designed primarily to be exhibited rather than worn. No idea if I'll get accepted as the exhibition is always swamped with applications, but we'll see!

What do you hope to achieve next?
World domination! But, really, I'd like to pull my health back into shape again while simultaneously growing my business at the rate it's been growing over the last 12 months ... which may prove tricky! I'm also seriously pondering getting myself into the position where I could consider moving back to London in 18 months time or so, which would take quite some effort but could be great.

Smack of Jellyfish ... Alaska, USA

Artist: Sarah Asper-Smith
Business: Smack of Jellyfish
Web site: smackofjellyfish.etsy.com and www.smackofjellyfish.com
Location: Alaska, USA

What do you make?
Right now I’m selling cards from a children’s book that I have written. I came up with an idea for it last winter at my cabin in Haines, Alaska. There’s not much to do at the cabin, with no running water or electricity, so I end up reading novel after novel. In one of the books that I bought from my very favorite bookstore, The Babbling Book, I read the term “a business of ferrets” and thought how fantastic language can be! Loving any excuse to drive to town, I went to the library to start researching this idea of collective nouns for animals. I didn’t realize what a beautiful project it would turn out to be when I first began. I looked for an animal for each letter of the alphabet, (ants, butterflies, crows) and then set to work trying to find their collective nouns (army, flutter, murder). Once I created the illustrations for the book, I saw the possibility for cards; what better than to write a note in a card that celebrates language?

Where and when do you do your creative work?
I get to do my work here, there and everywhere, which I love! I’m very portable, working on my PowerBook and Wacom tablet for illustrating. Right now, I’m sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Juneau with a soy latte and some zucchini bread. I also love the library, for it is on the top of a parking garage, and there is a conference room with two walls of windows that looks over the ocean. Yesterday I watched ravens and gulls riding the wind, with only feet and a pane of glass separating us.




Do you have another "day job"?
I am a graphic designer by trade, which is why my work is informed by the same clean lines and deliberate typography that I use in my work. I do a lot of work for non-profit organizations in Southeast Alaska: brochures, posters, and the like.

Where and what did you study?
I received a degree in art from Earlham College, a little Quaker school in Indiana; my focus was art history. I ended up coming home to Alaska for a couple of semesters to study Northwest Coast Indian art. I had been working as a graphic designer since high school, and continued to do so through college. Studying art history informed my work, however. I’ve recently realized how growing up among the formline designs of the Northwest Coast must have seeped into my being, for I love strong, clean lines and bold colors.




What inspires you and what motivates you?
Hmm...two very different questions...
I am inspired by the ocean; nature is certainly present in my work, which must be another symptom of growing up in Alaska. I am inspired by other people, great artists and friends, my Aunt Molly, who is a powerful force to be reckoned with. Writing by hand brings me uncommon joy. Strong emotions usually require me to write, and it really all comes back to writing..being connected to paper through pen. Just about all of my artwork has a word focus, so language, yes! Language inspires me, and the expression of language. The way people use language, its imperfections and inconsistencies?, its beauty.

As for motivation...I think most artists will tell you that its something they have to do. If I weren’t doing this, I would be expressing myself in a different way. I’m certainly motivated by the possibility of only doing this; I live cheaply on a houseboat with an allowance for wine and good cheese, and it would be amazing if I could support myself by illustrating children’s books and creating and selling cards. What a dream!

When did you start doing this?
This particular project took off in December of 2006, when I showed prints from my book at an art gallery and started to sell the cards. I joined Etsy to sell cards, and have since started to sell them wholesale.




Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I have a vague recollection of an Easter egg painting contest when I was probably 3 or 4. I dipped my egg in every possible color and it came out looking like a beautiful gray river stone. I ended up winning a gift certificate to the Red Balloon toy store, and I suppose that must have been the beginning of my love of color.

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I’ve had my business for several years because of my graphic design enterprises, but Smack of Jellyfish is new this year, for this new venture in my life.

How did you choose the name for your business?
A Smack of Jellyfish is probably my very favorite collective noun that I found. I love the image that it creates in my head. Not to mention, jellyfish are pretty and so much fun!




What do you love most about your work?
I love the connections that my work has brought to me. I love meeting people who somehow connect to the work. One woman had a distinct memory about the term “a murder of crows,” while others find the language as fascinating as I do. I have met wonderful artists through Etsy, and have found businesses who are just as excited about having the cards in their stores as I was to make them!

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
In elementary school in Juneau, every class has Seaweek. We would go out to the rocky shores at low tide, peer into tide pools, and stare at all of the creatures living there. An anemone would grab at your fingers, and sea cucumbers roll off of your hands when you try to pick them up. Sea urchins have hundreds of little thread-like feet that move themselves across your skin. I’ve admired galleries and museums full of art in different parts of the world, but I’m not sure they can beat the magic of the tidal zone.




A book you love:
This is such a hard one. I’m not one to pick favorites. I’m a Libra, so I see the beauty in everything. I love Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, Isabel Allende is fabulous, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. Type by Ellen Lupton. Those have stood out in my mind, but mostly I love the feel of a new book. I definitely judge them by their covers, and I love books with beautiful covers and new book smell.

What is the most interesting thing about you?
Although it seems like old hat to me at this point, I suppose people would be most interested in the fact that I live on a houseboat in the ocean in Alaska. Her name is Molly Whuppie after my favorite heroine. Molly Whuppie was pretty damn tough, which I must aspire to be, as it takes some hardiness to live without a working toilet or shower. I climb onto my roof with cans of diesel to heat the place, and this winter, when it was really cold, the harbor froze around the boat, which was nice because it kept the boat from rocking in the wind. It’s a cute boat, with multi-pane windows, and an arched roof. The inside is decorated in yellow cedar and brass, with beautiful art on the walls and lots and lots of books!




What achievement are you most proud of?
I’m proud that I’ve established myself as a designer and artist; I’ve created my own company, which is basically me. Having that freedom enables me to do the really neat things that I didn’t have the time or energy for when I had a “real job” like take the ferry to Haines on a Wednesday or spend the afternoon answering interview questions in a coffee shop.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Only do the things you want to do. If it’s not fun for you, it’s hardly worth the trouble to have your own business.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Money is a challenge for me in my business work. Having enough, making sure I ask for it, and making sure it comes in after I have. I don’t like the trouble that comes along with money, but it’s something I am working on, because I sure do love to have it in my bank account!

What do you love to do in your free time?
I love to laugh with my wonderfully talented friends, to cook great meals with goat cheese and fresh herbs, to play Scrabble and Boggle with other word nerds, to have bonfires on the beach and drink red wine, to read great books with delicious plot lines, to take long walks when the sun is shining and to write letters by hand while drinking hot tea.




What are you working on right now?
I work with three fantastically talented boys in an artist collective called Alaska Robotics. We are producing works individually, but also as a group, and trying to create profitable lives as artists. This summer we’ll be setting up a small shop to sell our cards, t-shirts, art prints, and DVDs.

What do you hope to achieve next?
I’d like to get my children’s book published, and I’d like to illustrate more children’s books. I want to take a driving trip down the coast.I want to find all of the cutest stores in towns and see if they’re interested in selling my cards. I want to continue this quest to create art and get paid for it, make connections with talented people, and have many adventures.