Following on from yesterday’s Q&A with paper prodigy Benja Harney, we took five minutes to get to know epically talented embroiderers, animators, designers & illustrators Maricor and Maricar Manolo, aka Maricor/Maricar, ahead of their appearance at Field Day, a left-of-centre, interactive creative conference taking place December 7th in Sydney. More info on that below and here.
Could you tell us your name, where you are from and where you are based?
Maricor, born in the Philippines, based in Sydney.
Describe your style of art in the way you’d explain it to an art noob.
We like to think of our embroidery illustrations as painting with thread.
With Field Trip you have to convert your medium into an engaging live performance. How are you going to do it? And what are the challenges involved in the process?
Sewing is labour intensive so we’ll condense taking a project from brief to finished artwork into a short taster of what our usual process is like. Time is the biggest challenge for us working commercially so we’ll share techniques, tools and tips for making hand crafted art utilising digital processes when necessary.
What is the most important piece of knowledge you’ve acquired that has helped you as a professional working artist?
Realising that talent only gets you so far, you have to be prepared to work hard. There’ll be plenty of knock backs but if you keep them in perspective you can use them to motivate you to chase the work you want to do.
Do you have any advice to share with up and coming artists who want to make it their full time profession?
We wouldn’t do what we did, which was to quit our full time jobs without building up a solid body of freelance work and contacts. If you can manage to work 9-5 and fit in freelance around that until you have a strong portfolio behind you, you’ll be able to save yourself a lot of stress and uncertainty.
In 25 words or less describe your working space.
One corner of Maricar’s living room, taken up by a huge table filled with bits and bobs collected on travels, books, sewing material and plenty of mess.
Field Trip takes place on Friday December 7th at the York Theatre in the Seymour Centre, Chippendale. Ticket prices start at $75.00 for a full day, which also includes entry into the after-party at Marmalade at The Rose. It also includes an enviable goody bag to add to your creative bounty. For more info head to the Field Trip website.
Images supplied
