Kristen Solecki

Kristen Solecki

Kristen Solecki is an artist and illustrator currently based in Durham, NC. Since earning her degree in illustration from Philadelphia's University of the Arts, Solecki has worked with a variety of clients to create editorial illustrations, book cover art, marketing materials, painting, and other projects. When she's not doing client work, Solecki exhibits her art in galleries around the country, teaches workshops, and curates exhibitions. She is always on the lookout for out-of-the-box projects that use illustration in new and unique ways.

Kristen designed three special bookmarks for Cette, and every book purchase comes with one free exclusive Kristen Solecki X Cette bookmark. Browse our Bookish Collection to select a book or two of your choice.

a table full of open sketchbooks with illustrated drawings of buildings, plants, a house and birds by artist Kristen Solecki

Q & A with Kristen Solecki

Q: What is your favorite aspect of the creative process that goes into making your illustrations?

A: The whole process from brainstorming ideas, to drawing concept sketches to creating the final piece is my favorite part. Every project I work on is different, and with that comes a different problem to solve each time. I love collaborating with clients to share their story and coming up with out of the box concepts to tell it.

Q: What are 3 things that inspire you?

A: I love Lynda Barry's work. It is really inspiring. She is an incredible cartoonist and teacher. Her art practice and ethos is something I really admire. I collect vintage photos from the 1930s/40s and have been since college, my collection has grown now outside just that time period but I am really inspired by these found images. Graphic Novels have really been inspiring me lately, a few favorites include "Roaming" by Julian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki and "My Favorite Thing is Monsters," by Emil Ferris.

Three artist designed bookmarks featuring the following themes - nature, food and art

Q: What's one thing you'd want people to remember about your work?

A: I’m really proud of my sketchbook practice and the tactile quality of my work. Keeping a physical sketchbook for years has given me my own library of ideas that I can pull from for projects. This allows me to help grow a client’s concepts or develop my own collection of work for a show. It is so important to me for my work to be genuine and tactile.

Q: What are you looking at, reading, listening to (podcasts, music)?

A: Looking at: I love looking at old photo archives in the NYPL collections.

Reading: A book that I read a while back but still keep thinking about is, "Small Things Like These," by Claire Keegan. It's a short novel that holds so much weight, every single word is perfectly used, and the story is haunting and timely.

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