Sami Bayly- Winner of the November Olive Tree Market
Emerging Artists Stallholder Start-up Package
To celebrate our upcoming 10th Anniversary, The Olive Tree Market recently called for applications for the first round of our Young Emerging Artists Stallholder Start-up Program. For the next 12 months, one lucky creative will win a Stall Package worth $350 at Olive Tree. This aspiring creative will join our artistic community, and share their work on a large-sale platform.
We are excited to announce that our first recipient is Newcastle based artist Sami Bayly. It was the thought-provoking message behind twenty one year old Sami’s intriguing artwork that excited us. Sami is currently completing her honours Degree in Natural History Illustration at the University of Newcastle, and was recently awarded the inaugural Australian Museum’s Australian Scientific Illustration Scholarship.
The scholarship was awarded to commemorate the legacy of 19th Century natural history illustrators Helena and Harriett Scott, and encourage the next generation of scientific observation. Lover and painter of all things natural history related, Sami is the creator of Ugly Animal Illustration, her series of water-coloured works highlighting a beauty we would so often overlook.
We invited Olive Tree intern Rebecca Hicks, who is a current marketing student at The University of Newcastle, to interview Sami for this blog post. Thanks Bec!
Rebecca: It’s a pleasure to sit down with you to get to know a little bit more about what inspires your artworks, and how you have managed to produce such thought-provoking creations at such a young age. Has Natural History always been an interest of yours?
Sami: Actually no. I have always loved art and creating, but it was the work of artist Alex Pardee’s Land of Confusion, who’s surrealist monster works and eerie but colourful cartoons force you to stop and think. He has said, ‘I draw things that don’t exist… but I really wish they did’.
It was this realistic yet eerie style of drawing that brought inspired my own real-life but slightly scary aesthetic of painting.
It was my Mum who then found and suggested the Natural History degree at Newcastle. It’s a real bridge between Art and Science, imagination and fiction.
Rebecca: You don’t really create the typically ‘pretty’ or ‘conventional’ art, you make works that are quite different and out of the ordinary.
Sami: No, I have never really created something that you would specifically think to hang in someone’s house. To have people hang and appreciate my work would be an absolute bonus! I want my artworks to have a shock value, to make people stop and think. Through my paintings, I highlight the beauty in animals that society has condemned as ‘ugly’. I want to give people a reason to open their eyes to another perspective.
Rebecca: But despite your art focusing on ‘Ugly Animals’, it has become something people would hang in their lounge rooms. They ignite thought, and bring something interesting and uniquely special into the space.
Sami: Thank you. It can be something no one else has. Whether you are trying to find a funny gift, a serious gift, my works can be something that create emotion and interest in things that are generally overlooked. Something interesting and special for someone that has an interest in animals or an interest in realistic things.
If you allow yourself to see what I am trying to show you, there is beauty everywhere. Even in ‘pests’!
Rebecca: What is it that you love about creating with watercolour?
Sami: Before university, I hated using paints and watercolours. I wouldn’t even pick up a paint brush! My mum would try and get me to paint a picture of a bird or our dog, but I would only ever create an artwork in pencil. It wasn’t until I started my degree and we were forced to use only watercolour for an entire semester, that my love for the medium developed.
With watercolour, you can make a big space smooth and realistic.
I love that I can use it to add layers of detail, so the picture I am creating is realistic enough,
but still has an arty touch to it. You can still see the lines, you aren’t looking at the real-life bird in front of you, but I believe was I create is more exciting than hanging a photograph of the ‘real-thing’ on the wall.
Rebecca: Perfect imperfection?
Sami: [Laughs] Yes, something like that!
Rebecca: Tell us more about your inspiration for creativity.
Sami: Since I was young, my mum was always an artist and painter. Dad was more musical. Mum loved acrylics and oils, and encouraged me to get into painting. She painted big portraits of the dog, and the bird, and the fish, and hung them around the house. So I too would sit down in the living room and draw whatever was around me.
When I went to university, I guess it changed to the inspiring people who were around me. I find Instagram is a great tool. You have access to artists’ works from different countries and backgrounds, that I wouldn’t have otherwise found if not for social media. I see the amazing things they paint, and how they paint them, and the arrangements, and it triggers something in me of what I can do next.
Rebecca: Where do you see your art taking you as you continue along this creative pathway?
Sami: Well I am currently working on a book. I can’t say too much yet, but I am now in the process of finalising an illustrated picture book for children, which is focused on ‘ugly’, and endangered, and extinct animals.
Something else I have always wanted to do is have my art published by a magazine, like National Geographic. Kind of the best-of-the-best for natural history illustrators. And I haven’t got there yet!
Rebecca: Yet! It is on the to do list.
Sami: Yes, I have a while. But definitely having my own book is something I didn’t think was possible this early!
I am realistic about at the art realm, and how much hard work and time it takes to get your break. It can be a real lucky dip! You need to grasp every opportunity that comes your way. I feel very fortunate to be the first winner of the 12 months of The Olive Tree Market Start-Up Program, and have the chance to share my works with the Newcastle public at the upcoming market day.
Rebecca: Well it has been an absolute pleasure to meet you today. I am excited for our market-goers to experience your work for themselves at the upcoming Olive Tree Market this October!
Meet inspiring Sami at our next market, Saturday October 6th, at Civic Park. Sami will have a range of her prints, t-shirts, bags, temporary tattoos and cards available for purchase. Let her open your mind to the beauty in the ugly just as she has opened ours!
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