So I think it’s really cool that I already have a background in fine arts and incorporate that, because I’ve learned that a lot of textiles require basically illustrating what you want to see as a print.
About:
Jamilla Okubo is a Kenyan-American illustrator, painter, and pattern and textile designer. Based in New York, she’s also a student at Parsons the New School for Design. Inspired by African American history, Kenyan textiles, and fashion, Okubo creates patterns and textiles that speak to all of these interests, but grounds them in her own experiences.
OKA: So was it a bit of an adjustment going from fine art to pattern and textile design?
JO: Not necessarily…I’ve done a little bit of hand-painting textiles, but I feel like [pattern design] is kind of more fun, because I get to choose what I want to create and then repeat and then I incorporate the painting into textiles. Usually I’ll paint what I want and then scan it and then recreate it digitally or I’ll paint it by hand and make a print by hand. So I think it’s really cool that I already have a background in fine arts and incorporate that, because I’ve learned that a lot of textiles require basically illustrating what you want to see as a print.
OKA: It’s interesting that you bring that trend up, because there is this ongoing debate within fashion of whether or not fashion is art. Do you think trends like these make the distinction between art and fashion seem more arbitrary or irrelevant even?
JO: I feel like that fashion that takes paintings by well-known artists… I don’t think there’s any fun in that, but I really appreciate designers who create things themselves, whether they create a painting for textiles or apply them to techniques like braiding or embroidery. I really enjoy that rather than [designers] taking a painting from Picasso or Jean-Michel Basquiat and sewing it on a pair of pants. It’s still aesthetically pleasing to me, but I feel like there are so many designers going out of that box of just, like, taking well known artists and artwork and just putting it on something.
OKA: Are there artists that you admire and whose work you draw inspiration from?
JO: Yeah, I would say that one of the first black contemporary artists that I had learned about through one of my teachers in high school was Mickalene Thomas. She’s like my favourite artist in the world.
See more at: http://www.okayafrica.com/news/jamilla-okubo-textiles-paintings/#slide1
(Quotes from OkayAfrica. Interview: Adwoa Afful)
