Interview with Stacey Rozich
Stacey Rozich, a Seattle based artist, is our favourite guest this week in our virtual coffeehouse.
She studied Illustration at California College of Arts in San Francisco and is now working as a freelancer.
Her colourful artworks seem to come from a ancient, fairy tale like world: Often her characters are wearing traditional costumes from Scandinavia or Eastern Europe, huge but fluffy monsters, scary looking masks and flowers are involved as well.
Want to know where Stacey is drawing her inspiration from? Take a look!
What kind of art do you make?
There is always an awkward moment when people find out that I “make art“ and always ask “What kind of art?“ which cues a panicked few seconds inside my head, trying to come up with a susinct and accurate description of my illustration style that don’t make it sound dumb. Thus far I’ve come up with: Folkloric watercolor and gouache narratives that focus on texture and geometric patterns. So far, so good.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Haha, nice pun! But seriously, I do a lot of research for folklore and traditions all around the world. Animals and beasts play a big role in indigenous religions and belief systems, which is a strong theme in my work. Lately I’ve been exploring relgious iconography, woodblock prints of the Renaissance era and a lot of illuminated manuscripts that deal with exciting topics like death, disease and the apocaplyse. You know, really fun stuff.
What does your usual workday look like?
Since I go to school full-time it usually means getting up at 7 am and going to school for 6 hours and then coming home to work on my own artwork. If I had a dream day to work only on artwork, I would say it’s getting up and going to get coffee at my neighborhood bakery (getting dressed factors in there somewhere) and walking back to answer e-mails, do some research and start on whatever project needs urgent attention. Right now I’ve been drawing out all of the pieces for a solo show at Sky High Gallery and a group show at University of Milwaukee at Madison, both this March in Milwaukee (or around).
How do you spend a perfect sunday?
Sleeping in with my boyfriend, a leisurely breakfast and then doing some drawings and paintings. Then prepare a big dinner for my friends and family and maybe cap it off with a good movie with a snoozing cat on my lap. I guess my ideals are artwork and eating!
What is your favourite taste of chocolate?
Believe it or not, I love white chocolate! I know all those die-hard chocolate fans will cringe at that statement, but I can’t help who I love.
Show me your favourite artwork (from your own collection or another artist)
I went to school with Matthew Palladino and he’s an astounding artist, and a hilarious dude. One of those people where you look at their new bodies of work, and while they’re somewhat interconnected with previous works you think “How the hell did he come up with that?” and he execution is impeccable.
Whom should we interview next?
Matthew Craven! An artist based out of Brooklyn, he runs Artsauce.com and is so talented. Also another great guy, also named Matthew. I predict he’s going to be a hot one for private collectors soon.
If you could have coffee with a famous artist – dead or alive – whom would you choose?
Paul Gaugin probably, first to ask him about his process and theory behind his style and then to get the juicy gossip about his love life.
What is your philosophy of life?
Be well, do good work and keep in touch.
Thank you, Stacey!