Welcome Back
In the second of a new series of articles, I would like to introduce, for the month of June 2009, our new Featured Artist;
Kiley
I discovered Kiley’s work and ‘met’ her, thanks to the Book Arts Forum. I adore her books and she has really inspired me with my bookbinding.
For those of you who haven’t yet found Kiley, in her own words here is a little more about her and her work.
Who you are:
I’m Kiley my co-workers call me a “digital goddess” however they like also like to rub in the fact that I am from generation Y and therefor the baby in the office. When I had to give a sentance about myself for the company blog I said “I’m a soy allergic, bike riding, Etsy loving, bookbinder, crafty chic, & foodie.” which I feel covers most of what I do with my free time. I guess I forgot about the digital goddess side of myself 🙂
Where you are (which country you are based in):
I’m in Eugene, OR USA. Which I joke is sunny Oregon, but really it rains a lot here and when it’s raining is usually when I am most productive in my studio.
What you do:
During the day I work for an organic vegan coconut milk ice cream company, Coconut Bliss, which is a wonderfully terrible thing! I love my job however we have a freezer full of delightful ice cream at all times and self control is so hard. I do a variety of things there, one of which includes managing our twitter feed (@lunaandlarrys)
When I’m not at work I’m a wife with a great husband. He lets me have the entire second bedroom to myself to make a big papery mess out of, and make a large mess of it I do. Bookbinding is my love however I do many other crafty things as well. I like to crochet, and before you ask yes, I tried knitting once but couldn’t find a left handed teacher so it didn’t work out too tell… But I do crochet hats and scarfs. I also have a sewing machine that doesn’t get a lot of love, mostly when I’ve been silk screening on fabric to make totes with. My silk screening equipment also hasn’t seen much use, but that’s because we live in apartment and I have to screen outside which makes it a fair weather, 3 months a year activity.
What got you started in your creative journey?
My creative journey was started long ago by my dad who sadly never got to see the full arrival of where I am today. My parents started college when I started grade school and my father was getting a fine arts degree. I attended a lab school which was housed on the college campus so I would just walk across the lawn to the art building when I finished in the afternoon. I sat in on some classes and often tinkered around in whatever lab my dad was working in. I have always had a creative bug in me and tried every type of art/craft I could in high school but still didn’t find what quite made me happy. I learned very quickly I can’t draw or paint like my dad but I did get his eye for color and design.
My journey into bookbinding started with the age old question of what I do I want to be when I grow up. I had been working in the library for my undergraduate degree and really enjoyed it. I graduated and knew I wanted to stay in the library field so I started looking at all the options, I found the small field of conservation and took a bookbinding class to see if I would like the job. Needless to say I loved the class and have been making books ever since.
What inspires you?
Colors and textures really inspire me, I hardly ever walk into my studio with an idea of what I am going to make. I walk in and start digging around in my materials until a color or material grabs me and I work from there.
If money, time and obligations were no object, what you would most like to do?
I would spend a lot more time in my studio and a lot more money on materials. I would keep a well stocked studio with lots of flat files to store everything with work benches on top. I would travel around to all the interesting workshops and classes that I hear about and expand my knowledge of bookbinding and conservation treatments.
What do you enjoy most about your creative work/life?
I enjoy that no matter what kind of day I’ve had I can go spend some time in my studio and come out a calmer happier person.
Links
Where to find Kiley’s work;
Blog; http://kupokiley.blogspot.com
Etsy Store; http://kupokiley.etsy.com
Twitter; http://twitter.com/KileysBooks
Many thanks to Kiley for being our Featured Artist of the Month.
Best wishes thanks for reading see you soon
Billie 🙂
Congrats to Kiley for the feature and thanks to Billie for writing it up! That was a pleasure to read 🙂
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed learning a little bit about me 🙂