Artist of the month interview with Skyframe

Skyframe Artist of the Month, November 2019

Mural Nomad is a project by artist Lina Zuluaga. Her original drawings are scanned at a high resolution and used to create large tapestries, wearable scarves, and fine art prints at Skyframe. Lina’s final vision is executed using an archival dye sublimation print process on a mixture of silk and polyester fabric. Click the link below to learn more about our November 2019 Artist of the Month and her virtual world filled with iconography and nostalgia. 

 -How did you begin creating art? 

My grandmother and I would draw together when I was a kid. She is a seamstress in Colombia and we would trace characters found in books or popular culture and integrate them to her clothing and embroideries. 

-What are the major themes of your work?

I consider most of my work a scene where there are a lot of things happening. ‘Moments in time’ are a theme I’ve been exploring a lot recently. I studied graphic design and I approach a lot of my work through that same eye, if I’m reading a book I usually draw from that or things that are happening in the world currently. I love trying to represent things that science and physics describe with my abstract version of them. Dreams and the concept of mystery are a theme in the sense that you recognize part of what you see but you’re not sure about the what, where, when and who. 

-Walk us through your process. How do you create your images?

My process varies. If I’m drawing by hand (which is my preferred method) I start with very free line work, I draw shapes until I find a pattern that can tell an abstract story. From there I look at what types of objects, people, and other ‘physical’ elements I can include. I have libraries of images that I have drawn or seen online and I try to include some of those elements as well. If I want to make something that’s ‘new’ to me I have to somehow restrain myself from doing certain things. Lately I’ve been only making Photoshop images on my computer. 

-What is your favorite artwork you have created and why?

My latest work (on display at Skyframe) is my favorite so far because it’s a new approach I had never tried before. 

-What inspires you?

How things work in the universe and how people approach problems.

-Why were you drawn to making your images on fabric rather than paper or digital media?

I consider what I do digital media because it involves digital means to create the actual images whether I’m drawing in Photoshop or hand drawing it and then printing it through sublimation. I’m more interested in exploring different mediums and with my newest work I’m printing on canvas which is exciting.