Interview / Fabiola Greco

“To me, a good challenge is trying to translate in colors and shapes what is going on in the client’s mind.”

-Fabiola Greco

Fabiola Greco is a graphic designer and illustrator. She begins each of her creations with a pen and pencil, scribbling on paper when an idea comes to her– even if it’s just on a napkin at the bar. Her work is all about fashion, branding and pattern design. She says, “What amazes me most is the duality between complete freedom when creating, and turning that mess into a quasi-mathematical result of repeated patterns in sequence.”  

You have a strong sense of color. How did this come about? Do you try many different things, or just follow your instinct?

As a graphic designer, I’m always trying to improve my eye. Even in my relaxed moments away from graphic design or when traveling, I always try to go places where I can be in touch with culture: museums, art galleries, book shops. All this information goes to my head and, by instinct, appears in my sense of color and my aesthetics. Plus, all of the information I have received through seeing and studying graphic design over the years also appears in my work.

Flora & Pavalo Patterns

Your love of fashion was your beginning. Where is fashion in your work now?

My first job was at an important design studio in Rio de Janeiro. This studio was focused on the fashion market. It helped me to improve my sense of aesthetics, and I realized that some of the strongest fashion brands are the ones that have the most personality and well-executed visual identities. Since that time, I’ve been trying to focus on the “personality” on my work, even if my client has a more corporate profile. So YES, fashion for me is all about this sense of “personality”, and it appears in everything I create: branding, editorials, and obviously my patterns.

Are you interested in pursuing fashion design or making fabric specifically for clothing?

Not really, since I’m not a fashion designer. I graduated in graphic design and I love to work with surfaces. Of course there’s a thin line separating these areas– fashion and graphic design– but I don’t design clothes. However, I’d love to work with fashion designers and develop a pattern collection in collaboration.

You have worked on many different commissions. Do you have a favorite work that you have completed? Why?

I most enjoy when the work is done at the end of the process, and both my client and I are satisfied.

Did you ever feel like giving up? Why? What or who encourage you to continue?

Yes, particularly in Brazil. The graphic design market is a hard place to be here. Graphic design is growing, but it’s a slow growth, and there are a only few good positions compared to the number of professionals who are available in this area. Thus, in my country, being a designer doesn’t pay well. To be sincere, I’ve already thought of giving up a couple of times. What still makes me want to work in graphic design is the fact that I love it and I believe that design can make a change. I really don’t know who I would be if I was not a graphic designer.

Your work is very varied. You design fabric, logos, catalog materials…What is a good challenge for you?

To me, a good challenge is trying to translate in colors and shapes what is going on in the client’s mind. Since the time I received my first brief, I have been challenged to propose to each client an excellent graphic solution that is full of personality. It may be a pattern, catalog or visual identity.

Organico & Geometrico Patterns

Did you ever refuse work because it was not inspiring or because you did not agree with a client?

No, I have never refused any. In my opinion, there is no uninspiring work. There are only counterproductive ways of working.

What are you working on now?

Right now, I’m dividing my time in some projects. I collaborate with “A Lagarta”, an amazing online fashion magazine, and I’m one of Musse’s artists. Musse is an online store that creates and sells patterns worldwide. And I’ve just started “Oh-lá”, a personal project that mixes photos from the streets of Rio de Janeiro with my drawings. I still have my freelance job as an independent graphic designer. There’s a lot of work going on!

Foxes & Passaros Patterns

What would be a dream project for you?

This is a funny question. My friend and I were talking about this “dream project” last week. A dream job would be creating my own brand and developing patterns to surface design and applying them in various products: wallpapers, notebooks, bags, backpacks, clothes or even a carpet! It would be a collection of objects that I could sell together or separately. My secret plan is to invade the whole world with color and bring some joy to people’s life! :)

Anything else you want to add ?

I feel very honored to be invited by the International Foundation for Women Artists for this interview. Thank you for the opportunity to tell people about my creative process. It’s very stimulating for me to see the work I develop here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is appreciated in other parts of the world, because the Internet came and changed the way people connect to each other. That’s why I’m an enthusiastic user of this tool. If the web is well-used it tends to bring us more and more benefits, putting us in touch with other people, ideas, and new projects around the world.

Amor

For more artwork, visit Fabiola Greco’s website, and Women Artists Of The World.

Presented by International Foundation For Women Artists.

Interview / Josephine Kong

Art is everything, and everything is art.

– Josephine Kong

Marilyn

Josephine Kong is a 24-year-old aspiring artist. She was born into an artistic family, so she have been pursueing art for most of her life. She was exposed to learning and practicing many forms and mediums of art, but drawing has always been her niche. The theme of most of her work has revolved around feminism and the power of the female gaze. She has always been intrigued by the forms of the human face, especially the eyes which she really try to portray as the “windows to the soul”. She tries to evoke both beauty and power by using color, value, and realism to depict the emotion and depth behind a simple gaze.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Josephine Kong and I am an aspiring artist. I have been doing art my entire life, and I guess you can say it’s in my genes since both my parents and older sister are artists and influenced me to start at a young age. Art was always the subject I gravitated towards the most and found myself excelling in, so that was definitely my favorite part of growing up.

Unconditional Love

Where do you usually gather the inspiration for your works?

Beauty and the power of the female gaze are the primary inspirations for my work. Eyes were hands down my favorite thing to draw, and I started to explore the concept of the eyes being the “windows to the soul” through my work by portraying the emotion and depth that comes within a gaze.

Sweet Silence

The Price of Beauty

Is there any particular piece you prefer?

My series of watercolor eyes are my favorite. I started them while I was studying abroad in Florence for my final project of my drawing class and continued when I returned back to the states. I was really inspired by a particular artist by the name of Marion Bolognesi, who uses color and technique in such a unique and expressive way to portray faces.

Summertime Sadness

Eye of the Tiger

What’s the best part about being a woman artist?

Being able to address feminist concepts and ideas through my own creations without being judged for my gender.

What is the most difficult part of being a female artist?

Being an artist in general is hard. It’s difficult to make a living from just being an artist, and the price of a piece of work doesn’t always translate to the actual value of what it’s worth. In regards to gender, history is proof that female artists are definitely less appreciated/well known. You always hear of all the great artists such as Picasso and Van Gogh, but rarely ever a woman’s name. Of course times have changed and it is now much more common and accepted that females are artists and just as talented and capable as their male counterparts.

How do you manage in such a situation?

I always remind myself that art is a form of expression and everyone, regardless of gender is entitled to expressing themselves. Even if I’m not making a profit from my work it fulfills me in other ways that money can’t.

Tangerine Tears

Did you ever feel like giving up?

As opposed to giving up I have taken “breaks” when I wasn’t feeling very inspired or motivated to create new pieces due to time management or my bad habit of not being able to finish works I’ve already started. I’m somewhat of a perfectionist to a fault where if I’m unsatisfied with even just a basic sketch I will not continue unless I’m focused and my progress is meeting my own high standards. The best piece of advice I gave myself was that even beauty has its imperfections. My advice to aspiring artists is to find something that you truly enjoy, make it your own and be the best that you can be at it.

How do you look at your previous pieces?

I can see how I’ve progressed and developed through the years, and they remind me that the amount of time and energy you put into something reflects its outcome.

True Blue

What is your dream project?

I would love to start my own style brand that solely caters to the modern female, complete with my own makeup looks, hair and clothing line. It would aim to style young females into fierce and powerful women, contrasting the typical “girly”, “delicate” and “feminine” style that has always applied to women while blurring the lines between women’s wear and men’s wear.

What is up and coming for you, as projects?

At the moment I am focusing on building my career path but I am always open to new opportunities.

What do you want to do next?

I plan to take my interest and passion for makeup to the next step and take classes so that I can get certified and be on my way to becoming a makeup artist.

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For more artwork, visit Josephine’s website and Women Artists of the World.

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Presented by International Foundation for Women Artists

Interview / Maria Montiel

If you don’t have faith in you and your work, who would?

-Maria Montiel

Maria Montiel is a graphic designer specialized in textile design and illustration, originally from Venezuelan, currently living in Madrid, working as a freelance designer. Her work is very organic, much of inspiration comes from Latin America with its vivid colors and rich textures. Maria’s studio is full of treasures from her trips, sketches, plants, and lots and lots of inks, watercolors and markers. She has a personal project that it’s been active since a few years, where she experiments and tries new things, her personal brand: Cayena Blanca.

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Maria Virginia, I was born in Venezuela and currently I live and work from in Madrid, Spain. I am an illustrator with a degree in Graphic design and a specialization in pattern design. I work as a freelance textile designer for commissioned work and I also have a brand called Cayena Blanca, is a very personal space where I create products with my prints like: smartphone cases, notebooks, stationary in general and accessories. I have been interested in art since I was very young, every time we were on family vacations my parents always brought my sister and I to all the museums, they are both architects and they love teaching.

Where do you gather most of the inspiration for your works?

The inspiration for my personal work comes from inside, how I am feeling, my memories, my nostalgic of living away from home, my dad’s orchid garden, my trips. When I work for other clients I usually follow my client’s concept and story.

Do you have a favorite piece in your mind? 

I feel very close to my psycho orchids project, it’s a little different from what I usually do, but it has the same feeling of organic movement and bold use of colour that it’s my signature. For this project I was inspired by my dad’s love for orchids, these were everywhere when I was growing up and I love everything about them. They are so rare and unique. (click here to see a making film of psycho orchids)

What do you think the artist is in society?

I think as an artist your role in society is to speak a new language through your work, being true to yourself and honest about the message you want to send to any one that approach your art.

What’s the best thing about being a woman artist?

In my case, I have been able to express everything I wanted to in a very honest way. I am not sure if it’s because I am a woman or because of my personality.

What is the most difficult part of being a female artist?

For me it is not about being a female artist, it is very difficult being an artist. And I also think this is very personal and has a lot to do with your personality and what you project as an individual, more than being a woman.

How do you manage in such a situation?

Working hard, I am a little workaholic, I do a lot of exercise to manage stress and stay focused and trying to have fun while working.

Did you ever feel like giving up?

Yes, of course I have, sometimes I still do. This is not a super balanced career, I mean there are very hard times and very happy times, you have to balance the experiences, that can be crazy sometimes. I think perseverance and hard work makes the difference, that does not mean that your are never going to feel depressed and worry about what’s next, or if you are going to be good enough, or if you ever going to be paid, this just mean that besides all that, you need to keep going and believing in yourself. If you don’t have faith in you and your work, who would?

How do you look at your previous pieces?

It depends a lot on the piece, some times I don´t like it at all and I want to change all about it and sometimes I surprise myself liking a piece from a long time ago even more.

How does your cultural background affect your work?

I think when you live away from home, you try to keep all those memories and feelings very close to your heart, because you really don’t want to lose those and forget where you came from, at least in my case. So for me my culture background plays a very important role when looking for inspiration.

What is your dream project?

Right now, I dream about working with graphics in architecture. I would love to create a unique art for a venue inspired by the cultural background and organic life of the surroundings. But I am always dreaming about my fantasy projects, so maybe next month it would be something different.

What do you want to do next?

I have other plans like creating a ready to wear collection featuring my prints. Let’s see what happens!

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Take a look on Maria’s website for more artwork and products she maid! Also you can find her profile on Women Artists of the World website.

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Presented by International Foundation for Women Artists

Interview / Tara Goudarzi

I believe mankind is very important. We should know our self, and want best and beautiful things. Art can help us to know and to be better.

-Tara Goudarzi

mask, shahrowd, 2013

This week we present Tara Goudarzi. Tara was born in Khorramabad, Iran. She is a 2000 Visual Arts graduate of Fateme, AL. Zahra University of Isfahan. Her artwork carries the concept of identity in her unique way of presenting. In her performance, she becomes one of the stones of the sea while wondering if she exists or non-exists and trying to figure out “who I am”. 

Goudarzi has been a visual art teacher since 2000, and has been managing recycle art projects with participating junior high school students for 5 years. She has participated in video art festivals in France, Bulgaria, and Iran, and group exhibitions in Iran, Canada, America, Romania, Mexico and Korea.

Now it’s the time to meet her. ;)

We’d like to know who you are. 

I am Tara. I was born in Khorramabad, Iran. I am a 2000 Visual Arts graduate of Fateme, AL. Zahra University of Isfahan. In 2009 I received my BA in Painting from Shahed University in Tehran. I am a member of the Open 5 Group, Low art Group, Wead, and YATOO International group. I have been a visual art teacher since 2000, and have been managing recycle art projects with participating junior high school students for 5 years. I am interested in performance art, installation art and collaborative art.

Where do you usually gather the inspiration for your work?

I’m searching for a relationship between myself and the world by exploring my environment and considering such concepts as creation, human, life, death, infinity and….

Offering
It was black at first
just like a death of a treeand I was covered in white
Just like when I was born
By the vastness (eternity) of the beach
The purity of my being experienced the blood of the earth and then, I was green all over while released of all boundaries
-Tara Goudarzi

Is there any particular project you prefer?

My favorite is working in the nature or to be with my students.

I have been doing some collaborative art works with my students which are mostly environmental. At first I research the social and traditional backgrounds of the local students and find out about the materials that they could work with and afterward I plan for a project which usually takes about several days or sometimes months. Finally, I present them as a performance or an installation. Mostly, materials used are useless or recycled objects.

“Woven Imagination” is a collaborative project with more than 250 girls aged 11 to 14 years old and their teacher, Tara (Tahereh). Students have made various woven rugs and other goods using recycled fibers, cloths and beads, with the help of their parents. This project took place in Khorramabad, the capital city of of Lorestan, an old province in the West of Iran, where some of the oldest habitats in history of Iran are found. The people of Lorestan are used to recycling, and needlework and patchwork are some of their common traditional recycling arts.

Tara’s students made their “Talkale” in a round shape as a human head which also has the concept of eternity. They are made with the recycle materials such as: rags, cloth and fabric. The circle is a symbol of the world. All Talkale installed in the mountain close to Khoramabad city.

In the nature, I’m searching to find an answer for my questions. Who am I? And where do I belong to? And…?

Like Stone

Tell us your vision of Art?

I believe mankind is very important. We should know our self, and want best and beautiful things. Art can help us to know and to be better.

In your opinion, what’s the best thing about being a woman artist?

The artist’s women works have many sentiments and their works are layered. Their works have appearance and reality. They show life.

Then, what is the most difficult part of being a female artist for you?

A woman should work very hard than a man so that people believe her.

Fairy, Uremia Salt lake, 2009

What has been your solution for that?

I usually ask my family and my friends for help and collaboration.

You were born and live in Iran, how does your cultural background influence your work?

I’m living in a cultural and traditional family and a traditional community. I show my culture with a new form by contemporary art.

Green Umbrella, Marajab, 2008

Mask, Polour Village, 2009

What would be an ideal project for you?

A collaborative art with all the people of the world and showing result to them.

What would you like to work on next?

I hope my next projects will be for a world without sorrow.

Patch work

You can see videos of her performance:

Halluciation

Like Stone

An Acquaintance

Visit Tara’s website to find more interesting art work, and you can know more about her in our Women Artists of the World website as well.

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Presented by International Foundation for Women Artists

Interview / Mary Coss

“My sculpture explores narratives that are personal, yet globally informed meditations on our cultural landscape”.
-Mary Coss

3 Graces

This week we present Seattle based artist Mary Coss who makes artwork inspired by life’s stories. Born in Detroit and raised in an atmosphere of politics, art, and spirituality she has lived throughout the United States collecting stories and telling them through her artwork. Coss received her Master of Fine Arts from Syracuse University and has accumulated an extensive national exhibition record, focusing on alternative venues and community and public art projects. Coss has received residencies and grants from institutions such as the Candyland Arts Center in Stockholm, the National Endowment for the Arts, the San Juan Island Museum and Sculpture Park, James Washington Foundation, and Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture. Mary Coss’s public art experience encompasses a wide range of commissioned installations and written community art plans. Her public work is in numerous collections including King County and Seattle Housing Authorities, McNeil Island Corrections Center, and Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. Coss’s curatorial experience includes exhibitions at METHOD Gallery, North Seattle Community College Art Gallery, the Columbia City Guest Gallery, Another Roadside Gallery, and co-curated projects for the New City Gallery.

My sculpture explores narratives that are personal, yet globally informed meditations on our cultural landscape. I am interested in the intersection of nature and the human made, nature and the sociopolitical. I explore issues through the universal commonalities of ancestral bones, feminist struggles, and artifacts from nature. Often my projects engage community or create interventions in nature.

I am working in the space between the real and the imagined; abstractions from our lives are reworked using metaphor, nostalgia, humor, and ultimately, reflection. Poignant interpretations use the unexpected, navigating scale or unusual material that reflects and builds on the intention of the work. The layering of text and sound has organically evolved from my use of story as inspiration. Integration of sound and story with the visual creates a third form of experience.

Where do you gather most of the inspiration for your works?

People are my inspiration. I have done a lot of work around issues of identity, both others and my own. I’m inspired by stories and also simple things I come across in life. Strewn broken umbrellas on the street in NYC inspired my umbrella formed skirts. A long saw blade in a trash pile inspired a protective hoop skirt.

Finding an incredible overgrown tree with thick Ivy growth inspired ladderwalk- I wondered how a calculated machined wood intervention would appear inside such rich organic growth.

The Frameworks of Who I Am

Serendipity
Installation with video

How do you look at your previous pieces?

I see them in the same way I look at my memories, they are poignant, sometimes naive, sometimes worth revisiting and sometimes not.

How does your cultural background affect/inspire your work?

My recent work is a lot about this. Bloodlines is a  body of work on cultural inheritance and an investigation into my ancestral history. Blood and Water was inspired by genealogical mapping. Plotting the emigrant points of my ancestors on a map revealed a pattern; most of my family lived near the coastlines. Water has guided my personal moves from the great lakes to the east coast to the west coast. Finding I had a commonality with centuries of ancestors living near the water inspired this work. The poem Blood and Water is recorded in four voices, dialects from my ancestral countries of Ireland, Scotland, and France, layered with the sound of waves crashing. You can read the poem here. Here is an excerpt from the soundtrack.

Artist installilng blood and water

Blood and Water mockup

Blood and Water

Blood and Water

What’s the best thing about being a woman artist?

Haha well I do think women have a tendency to be able to multitask which is a required skill for artists. I think I have to think a while on this one.

What is the most difficult part of being a female artist?

Ha ha again, all the multi-tasking. because we can, we take on too much.

How do you manage in such a situation?

Lately not so well, I’m trying to say no to things. But I stay afloat by making lists and staying up very late at night.

What do you think is the artist in society?

To make people reconsider, question, it’s a way to communicate and have others rethink their assumptions on life. To understand the world in a different way to see it differently to push the culture forward socially and politically and through what we value and to keep in touch with what is important and has meaning- beauty, nature, life.

Layers of the Hijab

Layers of the Hijab

Layers of the Hijab

Did you ever feel like giving up? What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given at that time?

Only say yes to the things you really want to do. No matter how difficult it is to say no to things- if they aren’t on your chosen path, say no, otherwise those very things you do not want to do will fill the path.

Once I started saying no to the things I didn’t really want to do, the things I did want to do started filling up my time.

What advice do you have for aspiring artists?

Follow what has meaning for you. That is what keeps you going.

This Birds has Flown

What is your dream project?

Not sure, have to think about this.

What do you want to do next?

I am working on some female imagery that is inspired by a mix of social issues and whirling dervishes.

bebés la leche

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Her exhibitions are going on now in Seattle. You can check them in our blog!

Images of the Homeland by Mary Coss / January 14- Fabruary 7, 2014
Public Debt to the Suffragette by Mary Coss / January 2- February 15, 2014

Also you can see more in Mary’s website and our Women Artists of the World website.