Meet Our Artist of the Month: Sophie Banh
TC: Hey there Sophie! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
SB: I was born in Melbourne, Australia and have always been drawn to creative hobbies and projects. Naturally, after high school, I fell into studying graphic design and I found my work was more illustration-based and suited for textile design so I am pursuing this.
TC: Did you receive formal training to develop your artistic skills?
SB: I was always drawn to art and design in high school but I never really saw myself as a traditional 'artist'. Because of this, I tried studying graphic design first. This taught me a lot of layout, composition and digital illustration skills but I felt that I was lacking creativity in this course because it was not well-suited to my skill-set. Since my work is a bit more motif-based, I decided to give textiles a try and it's been a joy learning about the ins and outs of textiles and fashion as well as the industry as a whole and also learning about using powdered dyes and screenprinting.
Some of Sophie's other work
TC: What do you like to get up to in your spare time?
SB: In my spare time, I like to listen to music, go to gigs, catch up on films at the cinema, do some cooking and hang out with my friends.
TC: What inspires your work?
SB: I am inspired by a wide range of artists in different styles. The ones that stand out the most to me are Maria Ines Ghul, Louise Reimer, Mirador and Luci Everett. I like their organic and feminine illustrative styles and their use of gouache, mixed media and colour palette.
TC: Can you tell us a bit about your process?
SB: I first start out by drawing things onto paper and with the aid of digital skills, I will often arrange these elements to best suit what I am looking for. Other times I will paint or draw things randomly, it depends a bit on what type of project or whether I'm just painting for fun. I like to make note of techniques and styles by other artists and incorporate this into my own work in a creative way that still suits what I'm doing.
TC: So Sophie, have you got any new styles or ideas for the future?
I would like to pursue more of a mixed media/collage style for future work.
Thanks Sophie it's been great! Check out some of the lovely Sophie's work below!
