“Good Habitat Starts at Home”

Inspired by the habitat gardens she cultivates around her own home, Holley Wlodarczyk's collection plays on the old saying “good habits start at home.” Through her work, Wlodarczyk explores and celebrates the interconnectedness of native Minnesota fauna and flora, using a process that combines both analog and digital techniques.

“While I still like to draw in graphite, colored pencils and ink, this work has largely been digital,” Wlodarczyk explained. “I take photographs of exchanges between flora and fauna, then sketch from many angles. Once I better understand their structures and movements, I begin drawing by hand in Adobe Illustrator. My process is quite analog despite using digital tools — I draw with my finger using the track pad of my laptop, creating flat shapes of color I stack to build up and give dimension to each individual element.”

From her finished pieces, she then repositions, scales and combines the images into new compositions, taking her snapshots and sketches and transforming them into digital drawings that further evolve into illustrations and repeat patters that she uses in her textile and product design.