Introducing Lara from Lara Girgis Art. Where every item is handmade!! From her home in Melbourne, Victoria, Lara designs and prints her own artwork.
Find out why Lara started creating and why she is so passionate about the value of handmade.
Tell us about your creations and your handmade process.
Most of my artworks are illustrations that I turn into cards, prints & stickers. My go-to mediums are watercolour for painting and my laptop for drawings. I like to keep things varied and get enjoyment out of a lot of mediums, so I often detour into collage, printmaking, gouache & wax pastels.
Part of the process of creating a finished artwork comes in the form of a little A6 sketchbook that I carry around with me. I fill it with doodles, experiments, stickers, colour schemes & ideas right up to the last page, then I pop it on my bookshelf and begin another. These arty commonplace books have been part of my artistic practice for the last 5 years - I've just started #14!
When a piece is ready, I turn it into something to sell - prints, cards, stickers, etc. Sometimes I know what format I want to sell the work in before I start and other times I decide after the work is done. I make prints and stickers at home and get my cards printed on recycled paper.
Tell us a bit about your journey to becoming a handmade artist.
I started making and selling handmade things when I was 13 years old. I would make jewellery and other bits and sell them at a local market. As I got older, I kept drawing and painting. I put handmade business endeavours aside as I finished high school and focussed on science and that looming evil - maths. After that I pivoted to study visual art at uni.
I kept painting and drawing, collaging & carving lino until I had a small body of work I could sell at a market stall again. I did my first solo market stall when I was 20. Since then, I've finished uni and am slowly but surely getting more confident as a handmade artist and illustrator.
What is your inspiration or where do you find inspiration?
I seem to find inspiration in a lot of different places. Animals, insects and landscapes show up a lot in my art. I often take reference photos of birds and places to paint later. Sometimes I collect flowers and leaves to stick directly into my sketchbook too.
The natural world is a source of endless interest and enjoyment.
During the week, I work at a high school as an art technician. Often I find myself inspired by what the students are making, so I sit down then and there to make something alongside them.
There's something so exciting about other people creating - it really is a privilege to facilitate that for them. Another source of inspiration is books. I've always enjoyed reading comics. Over the years I've gleaned a lot of knowledge about composition, colour & storytelling from them. Artist books are another source of knowledge and inspiration. It always feels like the things I learn from books enrich my art in so many ways!
Where did you learn your craft?
I think I'm really just an arty kid from an arty household that never stopped making. My mum taught me about a lot of different artists in high school and we tried out their styles and techniques as we went. I would draw in my free time, using a carefully labelled set of connectable textas. I filled A4 visual diaries with colours and shapes, sometimes illustrating my favourite songs or characters I'd created.
When I arrived at uni, a lockdown began so I learned technical drawing skills from my bedroom at home. Lockdowns ended and I was able to get into the studio and swap ideas with people in real life. I kept painting and drawing and challenging myself to try different techniques, and I'm still learning as I go!
Why is handmade artistry so important to you?
Creativity is such an integral part of existence, that I can't picture my life without it. I know it's been a good day when I'm able to sit down and enjoy making something. Most importantly though, I love that my creativity allows me to bring people joy - the smile on a person's face when they see a picture they like never gets old for me. If I can uplift you and brighten your day or help you to brighten someone else's then I've succeeded in what I set out to do.
Lara is a much loved member of the Madeit Collective, posting regularly in our Facebook Group ~ The Handmade Marketplace of Australia ~ and sharing her new creations as they are released. If you haven't connected with Lara Girgis Art, make sure you join our FB Group and say hi !
