meet art wall artist: heather moore

Today Heather Moore brings some inspiration from the other hemisphere (if you're in the little ol' Midwest of the U.S., that is). Sophisticated yet playful--I think even Amy Lowell would have trouble resisting these patterns.

(AW) How did you get started as an artist?

(HM) I've always loved to draw, and while I'm completely self-taught, I managed to work as an illustrator for a long time, working largely on educational titles. But it was only when I started cutting paper and screenprinting fabrics that I really found my designing mojo.


(AW) Where do you like to create your work?

(HM) I like to work at my studio in central Cape Town. I've got lots of space, and when the sportscar rental place downstairs is not tuning up, it's pretty peaceful in there.

(AW) Much of your work seems to draw on imagery that alludes to Cape Town. Could you talk a bit about how your environment affects your work?

(HM) Hmm, it's interesting you say that. I wouldn't really say that about my work, although I have done ceramics and screenprints using sketches of plants I found on Table Mountain (a huge mountain and national park in the middle of our city), and am currently working on a fabric design using a pincushion protea as inspiration.

I think the way my environment really affects my work is that Cape Town is very well endowed with amazing industries and processes (like laser cutters, printers, cotton mills) that are sufficiently small to allow producers working on a relatively tiny scale to make use of their services. So I'm really fortunate to be able to source just about everything I need for my work right here in Cape Town.
(AW) How do you want your work to speak to viewers?

(HM) Sometimes when I'm looking at a design that I find beautiful, it just holds my attention for that much longer than all the others. It's a small ambition to have for my designs, but what I'd like them to do is to get the viewer to stop and look twice, and enjoy that moment of looking, where they feel the design, the colour and the texture all make perfect sense.

(AW) Mm. Seems like a great motivation for making your work. What's something that makes you happy? What inspires you?

(HM) I like it when things are done with excellence and committment, and feel very inspired by people who make this their goal. I hope that I am able to achieve excellence in what I do. I also really like moments when I feel that beauty underlies everything, like when I see shafts of light shining through leaves and when I hear beautiful vocal harmonies. That makes me happy. So does my husband.

(AW) Thanks so much for letting us in, Heather. It's lovely to see the thoughts behind your work.

Heather's screenprint tea towel, "Waiting," is in the Kitchen on Art Wall. Her Skinny Laminx Etsy shop is home to cushions, napkins, aprons, bags, more tea towels, and a whole lot more.
There are also some very adorable ceramics in the Skinny Laminx photostream.