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Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Giselle Potter
By Spraygraphic | April 14, 2008
Spraygraphic’s Chuck b. interview with artist and illustrator Giselle Potter about her illustrations, her children’s book career, and her most recent work.
Spraygraphic Interview with Giselle Potter
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
GP: Right now I feel like a mother mostly even though I still make art a lot. I make a living doing children’s books, editorial and occasionally advertisement illustration.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
GP: I live in the Hudson Valley, N.Y. with my husband and 2 daughters and I have a little studio on my land.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
GP: Mostly gouache on paper with collage.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
GP: My kids are young so I split the days in 1/2. In the mornings I go out to my studio and work and in the afternoons I spend time with the kids (which sometimes means coming back out to my studio to paint with them). If I have time to do my own work I just start right in with painting and collage and if I’m working on a book or illustration job I start with messy pencil sketches and paint when the sketch is approved.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
GP: I look at art books, go to the city to see art or just get in a really bad mood.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
GP: My grandparents are inspiring me right now. I’ve been watching old super 8 movies they made and trying to write children’s book about them. They were both painters. My grandmother was crippled so she did less but my grandfather had enormous passion for life that I find inspiring. He was extremely prolific with portrait and landscape painting as a young man and later as an abstract expressionist, musician, film maker,and fun maker (he made boats, ice boats, trampolines etc.) My daughters also inspire me with there endless energy and free expression.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your children’s book career. When did you start that kind of work?
GP: It happened through a chain of lucky events. I moved to Brooklyn after finishing at RISD and tried my luck at being a freelance illustrator. The New Yorker bought pieces form my portfolio and hired me every now and again to do pictures of events “Going on About Town”. From one of those illustrations, my editor contacted me and offered me my first children’s book and I’ve continued to work with her ever since.
SG: In what ways has your books’ art and subject material changed over the years? Do you experiment with different art styles depending on the subject or characters?
GP: My pictures have changed over the years partly because the medium changed from inks and watercolor to gouache. There is less texture and everything is much tighter. I also look at reference more now, so I think my pictures are less naive. I didn’t intend to make those changes they just happened over time and sometimes I want to go back but it’s impossible not go forward. I always think I will approach a new book with a new style but it always just ends up being me again.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your working relationships with the writers to some of your books (For example, Candace Fleming).
GP: People are always surprised to find out that there is often no relationship or correspondence with the writers and illustrators of children’s books. Occasionally a writer will get in touch after the book is done. When I did the Big box with Toni Morrison she did have a say about the sketches etc., but that was just because of who she is.
SG: How much are you willing to change? Is there some kind of negotiation process you go through with the writer?
GP: It is all negotiation with the editors, art directors etc. at the publishing offices. It is really different with different editors. some say nothing and some are sooo nit picky. I like some feedback so I know they are with me in the process. Sometimes feel like I’ve lost my soul when there are too many changes but I also feel like I’m in a bubble when I have an editor without any enthusiasm or input.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
GP: In the children’s books, magazines etc. and illustration annuals like American Illustration,Luezers 200 best illustrators, and 3×3. Right now, I’m in a group show at Eric Carle museum.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
GP: My next book Wynken, Blynken and Nod came out in March and I did some ads for Citi Bank but I’m not sure where or when those will be seen.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
GP: I’m doing my own project of a little animated thing with my own more portrait/collage type of work, but it is for myself and unpaid so I guess it would be nice to get lots of money to be doing it. But I am very thankful that for the most part I make a living doing what I love and occasionally have a bit of time to make art just for myself with anyone’s approval and that I have a career with a lot of flexibility in schedule so I can spend lots of time with my kids.
SG: What is your favorite color?
GP: I love color.
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
GP: On the wall above my desk right now: a Henry Darger postcard,postcards of a Persian miniature, a leaping horse, and a medieval portrait of a woman, a drawing I did when I was little and a drawing of my grandfather’s of a woman knitting and a Mexican retablo of a man tempted by drink and women. I also love Italian fresco painters like Giotto and Piero Della Francesca, old botanical prints, and the cabinet of natural curiosities by Albertus Seba, Maira Kalman, Marcel Dzama and Esther Pearl Watson
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
GP: I read two inspiring articles in the new yorker about an inventor and a young musician. I just finished “The invention of everything else” about Nikola Tesla by Samantha Hunt.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
GP: A lot. One is in front of me right now because I am trying to animate it by making my eyes move around as if I’ve gone crazy from drinking too much coffee.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
GP: I feel like I never hang out anywhere. I don’t have time to hang out anywhere and it doesn’t take me that long to be antsy. I like the little quiet time at night after the kids are asleep and before I go to sleep. I love sitting in my yard in the spring.
ART: 1. deer, 2. family portrait , 3. frau, 4. pipe dream, 5. Painting of may grandmother and her friend, 6. wynken, blynken and nod cover 7. Self Portrait, 8. studio
Additional Links:
Friend & Johnson
Altpick
Storyopolis
Topics: Artist Interviews, Children art, Paintings, Pencil Drawings, Women Art |
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