 The little queen leaving her palace by Sara Zieve Miller Did you always know you wanted to be an artist? When did you first start making art? I’ve been making art as long as I can remember, I don't think there was a specific point when I felt this was a role I wanted to fill, but rather it was something I assumed I would do because it occupied so much of my interest and time. What are some of your favorite kinds of things to illustrate? I love to illustrate frogs, usually reaching for things, or hugging something round and juicy, or having lunch. Every so often I like to paint something realistic, just to practice and remember that I can. In those cases I like to paint something with an interesting and complex form, like an ear or a half-budding dogwood flower or an artichoke. But I like best to draw things that make me laugh. My favorite way to work is cackling to myself at my desk while I draw something peculiar or silly.  The editor of the digital dictionary of sounds by Sara Zieve Miller Do you have favorite styles or media? I find I have a different ‘voice’ or style in every different medium; I think differently with a ballpoint pen in my hand than I do with a marker or a pencil or a paintbrush or when I draw on the iPad. I love the way oil paints feel to use, I love mixing colors by hand. Recently I’ve been carving things and then casting them in resin, which makes everything look like beautiful and strange candy or fruit. Do you have any favorite tools you use in making art? I love to use an old fashioned nib pen for drawing, I think it makes really beautiful lines. And recently I’ve been painting on the iPad a lot, which I really enjoy. I love process, I love to get really into a laborious process, and so I love letterpress printing. How was attending Rhode Island School of Design? Did it influence you as an artist? I loved it, I wish I could have stayed there studying for another fifty years. It was amazing to be surrounded by people who were doing things I found compelling, there’s nothing better than that. One of my teachers said that the greatest resource we had at the school was our peer group, and he was absolutely right. I think everyone I encountered taught me something, showed me what hard work looked like, what it meant to have artistic courage and conviction, how to see differently, how to make art in different forms.  The string woman by Sara Zieve Miller How do you typically approach a new project? What helps you create your best work in collaborating with others? With all projects I start with generating a bunch of ideas, and narrowing them down. If I am working with a client, I like to talk through what they are looking for, and get a sense of their expectations. Then I often make a very wide reaching inspiration board of images, I love Pinterest for this. I gather reference images for whatever will be included — images of bees, or smoke in the wind, or what fruit looks like inside of jello, or whatever it is. I like to collect compositions I like, or things that speak to the mood or vibe I'm trying to achieve. And then I sketch out a lot of different directions, pick the best ones, and feel out what is compelling to me. I like to sketch by hand on a big notebook, it changes how I think. After I have some fleshed-out ideas, I share them with a client, and then edit and refine what I have based on the feedback they give me. I think it helps me (and both of us) to have a clear and shared sense of direction, which can come about based on ideating together. Do you have any dream projects you’d love to work on? I really want to make a picture book, I have a lot of frog ideas and their universe feels very specific and clear to me in my head.  Frogs by Sara Zieve Miller What have you been working on lately? I’ve been obsessively refining a resin sculpture of a kind of alien-shrimp in a heart for the last couple months. It’s a new material for me, and it’s been a lot of fun. Do you have any advice for aspiring young artists? Probably all my best advice I’ve collected from my art teachers— I think the main thing (which I struggle with, but aspire toward) is to just “poop it all out” in the words of my favorite teacher from high school, Tom. He told me once “if you’re trying to make sure everything is *good* then nothing is really *great*” And I would add to this, a quote from my favorite book (A Hat Full of Sky) by one of my favorite authors (Terry Pratchett); “If you're too afraid of going astray you won't go anywhere.” It’s so easy to get hung up on making something perfect, or only producing work that you think is “good.” That leads to a lot of stiffness and fear, and often keeps you (one, me, anybody) from making anything altogether, and especially from making something real and felt and sincere. Try things, make all of it, keep your hand in it even when it’s not going the way you want. I am not sure how to advise in a career capacity, only a creative one. Personally, I think pursuing whatever sparks a genuine curiosity in myself has been the source of my greatest creative fulfillment. There’s nothing better than following the thread that’s pulling you towards something. For me this has taken the form of foraging for plants to make ink, or learning new methods of printing, or recently it’s been perfecting this resin shrimp. Another piece of advice I loved, from a college English teacher, Michael Fink; “Say something gentle and courageous.” For art, for anything. It’s my favorite advice, I like to share it.  The little queen's toes sinking into the earth by Sara Zieve Miller
Below are just some of the Poetose titles that Sara has illustrated! From left to right are: The Little Queen, Love Letters to the World, Everything Is, and a notebook (part of Poetose's Literary Creatures Notebook series) featuring chickens reading on clouds!
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