This week in my blog about Vancouver artists, I bring you Kristina Fiedrich. She graciously accepted our offer to illustrate our debut cover and is one of our featured contributors of in the first issue

When I first met Kristina at Vancouver’s Oddball, she was dressed in a feather headdress and had lips like glossy cherries.

I was captivated, and thought, ‘who is this girl? And why are we not friends yet?’ When I asked mutual friends about her, I discovered that Kristina is so much more than girl with great stems—she is a brilliant artist.

I had the pleasure of collaborating with her on our cover, while getting to know Kristina more and understand her work better.

For the blog, we talked Sad Mag, illustration, and how her hometown Kamloops just doesn’t do it for her.

Sad Mag: Tell me how you ended up in Vancouver from Kamloops?

Kristina Fiedrich:Via the Coquihalla Highway.

Sad: Does Kamloops and the interior still influence your work today?

KF: I don’t feel that growing up in Kamloops has ever had any bearing on my work. In fact, there is only one place in the Thompson Okanagan that ever influenced me, and that’s Salmon Arm; not the town itself, but the fact that my grandmother lived there. I grew up idolizing my grandmother, and the memories I have from our time together have really stuck with me. I sometimes use imagery from those moments to express a sense of curiosity, openness, fragility, and disconnect.

Sad: Tell me about your collaboration with me. Did you take your references from my photo or the subject Isolde?

KF: In this case, I think the photograph and the subject are one and the same—that speaks to the talent of the photographer. [Brandon: I gush!] When I saw the photograph, I thought, “Oh my god, I’m going to ruin this man’s work.” Having met Isolde once, or at least been in her presence, I had an idea of how I wanted to make the cover look, without seeing the other half of the collaboration. Working more-or-less blindly appealed to me and the freedom you—as the photographer—and Sad Mag gave me, was at once exciting and effing terrifying. I haven’t, as of yet, seen the finished piece. I’m waiting with bated breath for the results.

Sad: What do you think of drawing in the art world today?

KF: I think it’s really exciting; the possibilities for creativity are endless. I’d like to think that we are part of a generation of artists and creatives who believe that anything goes. Drawing is a medium that has never gone out of style, or dropped out of favour, it just doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Over the last few years, there is a resurgence of interest in art shows, graphic design, fashion illustration, digital media and museum retrospectives. There is such a variety achieved with drawing: the mark-making, the tools, the surfaces… all you have to do is pick up Vitamin D, and it’s all right there. Drawing is beautiful.

Autopsy from Kristina’s solo show at the On The Rise Artist Artist Collective.

Sad: Who are some of your favourite visual artists?

KF:Kiki Smith, Marcel Dzama, Egon Schiele, Marlene Dumas, Amy Cutler, Paul Klee, Ai Yamaguchi, Yoshitomo Nara, Michael Sowa, Jo Ann Callis, Henry Darger, Peter Doig.

Sad: Any show or gallery that you enjoyed going to in the past summer?

KF: Well, if i were a shameless self-promoter, I would say my favorite show was my own (Back to the Drawing Board, On The Rise Artist Artist Collective). But, to be fair, I also enjoyed Karin Bubas’ show With Friends Like These… at the Charles H. Scott Gallery, and seeing Cai Guo-Qiang’s piece Inopportune: Stage One at the SAM.

Sad: Summer has escaped us. What are you highlights of the summer? If not one thing you regret missing this summer? Or something that you feel was lacking from your summer?

KF: Some highlights from the summer: my first FUSE event at the VAG (May 2009). I was blown away by the turnout and the performances. Why haven’t I gone to this event before? I also went to the Decemberists concert at the Vogue Theatre. Some regrets from this summer: not getting enough work done. I had this Big Plan to get all kinds of art work finished. Where does the time go?

Sad: What are some things you are looking forward to this season? Movies, books, art shows?

KF:I haven’t been watching many movies lately, but I did happen across an advert for a movie starring Adam Goldberg called (Untitled). That’s so PoMo, I just have to see it. I’m reading Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, in an attempt to make myself smarter. So far I think it’s having the opposite effect. I also bought Art Now Volume 3, and it promises a “cutting edge collection of today’s most exciting artists.” I’m expecting to be in Volume 5…6 at the latest. As for art shows, I’m looking forward to seeing Anna Plesset’s new show Headlines at the Jeffrey Boone Gallery, and attending the Cheaper Show.

Sad: What are you working on?

KF: I’m working on a couple pieces for friends, as well as a new portfolio of work for my upcoming application to Emily Carr’s MAA program. I’m also working on growing out my hair.

Come to our launch tomorrow and say hello to Kristina. She is a visual force to reckon and a beauty.

-Brandon