Young illustrators bring words to life

Recent years have blurred the boundaries between creative disciplines to the point where the cross over between art and design is less defined than ever before. Massey Design graduates Rosalind Atkinson and Leilani Isara are taking a stand for illustration as art as they present their first exhibition.

Illustration is perceived by many as inferior to fine art, belonging to books, advertisements and birthday cards. These two artists seek to redefine illustration in people's minds to suit our contemporary environment. Rather than accepting illustration as dependant on words, they view the discipline as a unique skill set which allows artists to translate words into visual imagery. In their forthcoming exhibition, 'Flights of Fancy', they use these skills to bring alive the words of childhood.

"Contemporary illustration can increasingly stand alone from the idea or text that inspired it and that is what we were interested in - that point where it can stand alone and whether that makes it art. Perhaps our 'illustrations' are in fact artworks with specific references and ideas" says Rosalind. "We both studied illustration and enjoyed its potential to interpret words and bring them alive. It was definitely similar to learning a language - visual language."

Leilani's images are inspired by the fairy tales of her childhood, reimagined with an adult understanding of visual symbolism. Her images are delicate, detailed and focused, with exquisite use of pale watercolour washes and sensitive textures.

Rosalind's works reimagine selected words by Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll, which remain as delightfully nonsensical today as they appeared to her as a child. Her images embrace that nonsense and present whimsical compositions in pencil, ink contour and watercolour.

Both artists are strong advocates of illustration as a valid artform, and enjoy the process of translating from one language (textual) to another (the visual).

The exhibition opens at 5.30pm on Monday the 3rd of August at Wellington institution Thistle Hall, and then opens daily from 10-4 until the 9th of August.