Helen Dardik grew up around the world, creating art all along the way. The talented illustrator and designer now calls Canada her home where she lives with her three little girls. Her exuberant and vibrant work is praised throughout the industry for it’s combination of retro whimsy and modern panache and pattern. Her designs have shown up in a multitude of mediums from patterns, editorial illustrations, book covers & illustration, cards, products and even temporary tattoos. Her client list is already impressive and is constantly expanding. Stay up to date with her projects on her blog Orange You Lucky.
Interactive Storytelling at Anthropologie
It’s been interesting to follow fashion’s toe-dip into the digital sphere. While the translation over the past few years has been a bumpy ride for many (some food for thought here as to why), some brands keep innovating, infusing their gift of storytelling through interactive mediums. Currently, Anthropologie is sharing it’s pattern, color and scale story through poetry-like pins.
Directing the eye using bright focal points, a la Lifestyle Mirror, each of Anthro’s home spreads teaches the reader more about the creative process. The patterned page reads like a styling mantra.
Sometimes, a pattern simply speaks to you. Choose a single spot for your print focus- a sofa, a papered wall, an area rug- and use a complementary solid color as a backdrop, and that pattern will do more than speak. It’ll sing.
Meg Hunt
Illustrator Meg Hunt considers herself a jack-of-all-trades and with good reason. With a list of passions that include printmaking, cartooning, an avid zest for exploring new things and continuously branching out from her comfort zone, it’s no wonder she’s an interesting person who likes to get her hands dirty. Fortunately, she has heaps of talent to back up her passions, and her work has shown up in a variety of print and product mediums with clients such as The Disneyland Resort, Cartoon Network, Plansponsor, Radiolab/WNYC, Monoblock, Storey Publishing, Oxford University Press, Junior Scholastic, HOW Magazine, Jamie Magazine, Utah Valley University, BeerAdvocate, Vegetarian Times, BUST, Brown Alumni Magazine, Fantagraphics Books, Image Comics, Brand New School, Las Vegas Weekly, Portland Mercury, Seattle Metropolitan, the Stranger, Threadless, Time Out New York/TONY Kids, Utne, the Washington Post, and Yale Alumni Magazine.
Her goals are “to fill the world with my creations, and make people happy in the process.” With her beautifully exuberant creations and ever growing portfolio and skill-set, we’d say she’s well on her way to accomplishing just that.
Leslie Friedman
Leslie Friedman was born in Providence, and while she currently lives in Philly, she still considers RI her home. During the summer of 2002, Leslie learned how to silk-screen at the basement printmaking workshop of the lauded arts non-profit, AS220. She received a BA in Political Science from Brown University in 2005 where she concentrated her studies in political theory and civil liberties. From 2005 to 2007, Friedman lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and built a printmaking studio in the historic neighborhood of San Telmo. She describes these years as fundamental to her maturation from poster maker to print artist. In the Fall of 2009, she began an MFA program in printmaking at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia.
Friedman’s alter-ego, LesliePVD, embodies the values embedded in Providence’s printmaking culture: the appreciation of industrial craft, the belief in DIY/punk ethos and the acknowledgment of the political and social historical significance of prints in promoting civil liberties. By blurring the line between rock n’ roll posters and fine art, LesliePVD aims to inspire spontaneous discussion and debate over complex contemporary environmental and social issues. Through humor, bold colors and collage, her serigraphs are funny, awkward, honest, expressive combinations of texture that awaken the democratic spirit.
Micah Lidberg
The work in Micah Lidberg’s portfolio is abundantly colorful and frequently inspired by nature and dream-like worlds. His star has been steadily shining as his exposure grows in the gallery, product and editorial worlds. Nearly every drawing looks like it’s out of the playbook of Where the Wild Things Are, only infused with colorful, random twists that push the genre 10 leaps forward. When asked by Jessica Goldfond, of The Shiny Squirrel, what inspires him, Lidberg’s answer reminds us why you should trust your creative gut, “I’ve only had one memorable epiphany. A professor I had in England, Japser Goodall, told a bunch of us students to draw whatever we wanted to draw. It sounds silly that that sparked my epiphany, but it did the trick. I’ve been drawing furry dinosaurs and deranged clouds ever since.”
Ana Montiel
Ana Montiel is quite the talent and a verifiable Pattern Pulp favorite. Her love of art and pattern has been a part of her world since her childhood, where she drew patterns and textures on any and every surface. After attending an art-based high school and college, Montiel settled into work as an art director.
In 2008, she created the pop-up design studio Alan The Gallant and Pattern Tales, a neo-ornamental brand of goods. Her patterns swept the web, catching eyes and impressing many. Since then, she’s been focusing on a solo career as “some sort of artist/designer hybrid,” and creating her own stunning pattern work in addition to some exciting commercial collaborations. It’s her keen eye for the colors, textures and patterns inherent in nature and life that make her style so abundantly unique, engaging and elegant. Browsing through her colorful portfolio is nothing short of inspiring and we loved getting to know her a little better in this charming video autobiography.