This week’s artist spotlight, brought to you through a collaboration with the Concord Insider and the Concord Arts Market, focuses on Alexandra Buciak, who lives in Hillsborough. Buciak is a mixed-media artist and illustrator who primarily creates fantasy-inspired work. She graduated from the Institute of Art and Design at New England College in 2022 and has worked with freelance clients in the time since.
“I like to create work that invites the viewer to reflect on their own experiences, real and imagined,” Buciak said.
Read more about Buciak’s work below.
Concord Insider: What does art mean to you?
Alexandra Buciak: To me, art is creating something with intent of feeling. The feeling might be spontaneity, or exploration, but there has to be an end result in mind of using the tools at your disposal to translate the concept in your head to your viewer.
CI: How did you first get into your craft?
AB: I’ve drawn since I was a child, but I found my love of watercolor mixed-media after working in a very manga-inspired style for a long time. I used the “how to draw manga books” from my local library to learn to draw figures way back when, and when I stumbled across art videos online that showed women artists working in a more painterly style that still allowed for a stylized approach, I was hooked.
CI: Where do you find inspiration?
AB: I love stories! Mine, those from books, movies, songs — I love characters and archetypes and situations with a palpable tension. All of these inspire my work. I especially love old books and the graphic design styles of antique and vintage books.
CI: What does your creative process look like?
AB: I work from thumbnail sketches, but I do a lot of my working-out of a design before it ever hits the page. Usually, I end up taking my first design after working through other options, then making it bigger before refining the sketch. Once the lines are on my watercolor paper (or canvas, or board — the joys of mixed media!), it’s a fair game as to where I want to go next. If I’m playing by my usual rules, it’s watercolor, alcohol-based markers, then dry media.
CI: What advice do you have for aspiring artists?
AB: Document your work! Having a portfolio of some kind, whether you choose to share it with others or keep it private, is so necessary. And make sure that if you save your work digitally, your files are uniformly labeled and don’t get out of hand with additional versions all saved willy-nilly. It’s a total time investment to get all your files back in order afterwards, and when you want to apply to anything, it’s a much simpler process if you have your final versions all clearly labeled. Your future self will thank you!
CI: Where can we find more information about your art?
AB: I have my portfolio site and an online store where I sell stickers and prints of my work, as well as my commission form and contact info. https://www.alexandrakateart.com https://alexandrakate.bigcartel.com/products