Journal

Inspired by antique embroidery samples, Clare’s process begins with a sketch of a delicately threaded prayer or rhyme. From here, she pulls a section from her sketch to then paint, blowing it up onto a large canvas. Her well-lit studio looks over the apartment building’s shared gardens, it is here that Clare will work for hours, preferring to start early, in sync with the sunrise. In the centre of her studio, the canvas is laid over a table horizontally. Working over the canvas allows Clare to become completely absorbed into detailed sections of her painting, without seeing the full scale until some time later. This process she has created lends itself to what has become her signature painting style.

We visited Clare Grill at her home studio in Queens, New York, where we talked and ate croissants amongst her sketches, books and works-in-progress. Clare is full of contagious energy and laughter. Her cropped hair emphasises her warm eyes and honest smile, which feels like a lovely reflection of her soft and hazy coloured paintings hanging on the walls beside us. However, much like her paintings, there is a depth and melancholy to Clare, a serious side that can poach the mysterious and magical out from the sweetly feminine.

Kate Newby is a New Zealand artist known for her quiet, poetic and humorous installations that often respond to the conditions of every day life. Sans [ceuticals] spoke with Kate about her own daily rituals and how they inform her art making.

Living in London, and represented by the industry’s biggest galleries, Francis has been the New Zealand national representative at the Venice Biennale, won New Zealand’s Walters Prize and shortlisted for the Becks Futures prize. But this status and reputation hasn’t refused her of her dose of humour, an element repeatedly prevalent in her work

Outside of the studio and gallery walls, Francis is a real green-thumb, enjoying the natural wonders, the patience and the scientific essence of what it takes to produce your own produce. Continuously informed by her childhood experiences and upbringing in the wonderful landscapes of Taranaki, New Zealand, is perhaps the same reason that makes her artworks stand out amongst a crowded industry.