Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonya Percival.
Sonya, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I was born and grew up in St. Petersburg, in a family of artists. My father was a graphic artist, and my mother is a textile artist, and they worked together for years illustrating children’s books. When you grow up surrounded by beautiful art it seems natural to just continue the same, but for years I was exploring my other talents before I actually came to what I am, and dedicated myself entirely to art.
Over the years I studied and practiced a lot of different art disciplines: photography, printmaking, ceramics, before arriving to print and textile design. I have always loved the decorative arts and much inclined to create things that are both beautiful and practical, so the textile design is naturally a great application of that pursuit.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
As a textile designer creating prints for apparel and home decor, I always have to think about what kinds of motifs and approaches would be better for each one. Regardless of the brief, I am working on, or a theme that I develop, several key things always remain a great source of inspiration for me. Flowers have always been a major one, so when I took watercolors few years ago, I started with still life, flowers mostly. Flowers always remain intriguing and are so difficult to interpret. In the summertime, I’d go to Evanston farmer’s market and get a bouquet just for painting. My inner botanist is strong. Everything else that is organic and natural: rocks, clouds, water, sand dunes… Folk arts of various traditions present a never-ending source of inspiration as well.
Working at something, you inevitably start looking at the surrounding world through that lens, and walking around Chicago I so often see a multitude of patterns, natural and man-made, and photograph cracks in the pavement, or the sun through the foliage, and tons of other things that serve me as a base theme and working material as I paint and draw.
I am a rather old school person, so I create all my initial art by hand using the traditional methods and materials, and my favorite media are watercolor and ink on paper. Later on, I rework my images in Photoshop to produce the final prints.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
I think there are two ways to define success, and these are quite different because one is more about the inner success, and the other one, about worldly success. The first one I think is crucial for any artists and has to do with the result of hard work and many attempts at a certain task or a skill. It is a sense that something came out really well, sometimes is an unexpected feeling. But most often it is a quantum leap resulting from never-ending trials and attempts. The important thing is to never give up and continue trying through desperation and series of failures. That inner feeling of success might not be seen or appreciated by the outside world.
The worldly success is more obvious because we can observe it. For a decorative artist, of course, one of the measures is how well the art sells. Here (and everywhere else, frankly) I believe the important thing is to remain true to yourself, to be what you are, and not do something that the audience expects you to do because that would mean the end of freedom.
Summarizing it: never give up, stay true, and stay curious. That’s my Rx 🙂
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Some of my work can be seen on my portfolio website. A limited number of patterns that I license and sell is available on PatternBank. My favorite social media is Instagram, and this is my profile: https://www.instagram.com/sonyapercival/
This year was my first time to participate in the largest textile design shows, Surtex and BluePrint, which take place in New York. I was there among a group of designers represented by Nerida Hansen Print & Textiles.
I am always looking for new companies to collaborate with, so if you need original textile designs, drop me a line, and let’s talk about your project. I design, license, and sell my prints for apparel and home decor markets. Let’s work together!
Lately, I’ve been seeing a great application of patterns to large-scale public spaces, and believe that some of my designs would be a great fit for the local urban landscape. I would just love to paint on Chicago walls.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://sonyapercival.com
- Email: sonyapercival@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sonyapercival/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonyapercivaldesign/
Image Credit:
All prints: Sonya Percival © Photography: Larisa Besprozvannykh
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