Great Dames

Great Dame: Sabrina Scott

Sabrina Scott is a professional illustrator and amateur herbalist living on the third floor of an old Victorian house in Canada. As a youngster she braved the varied wildernesses of Colorado, Ottawa, California, Montana, and Florida before settling in Toronto as her beloved home. From hanging out in lagoons with herons to having ducks as pets, Sabrina has had many an adventure and loves to explore the wilderness. She is presently completing her degree at the Ontario College of Art and Design, where she has studied illustration, printmaking, bookbinding, communication design, and communication theory. In her work she explores indigenous spirituality, ethnobotany, technology, patterns, textures, folklore, fauna, and everything in between. She makes drawings, paintings, woodcuts, books, prints, and goodies for the naturalist in all of us.

What was it about illustration that you felt reflected you and your creativity the best?

Illustration allows me to completely and without inhibition pour out my heart. I’ve spent a lot of time with the written word, but there’s something about visually expressing myself that is at once meditative, challenging, and creative in an anything goes kind of way. One thing I love about illustration in particular is the challenge of making corporate client-based work personal. It’s about conceptual problemsolving and making something your client is happy with, but that at the same time feels like personal work I’d make in my spare time anyway. The challenge lies in marrying the two. I love fine art and frequently create personal work, but at the moment I crave the cerebral challenge of illustration.

What do you bring to the world of illustration and notebook design that you think nobody else does?

The bizarre pairing of my conceptual influences and aesthetic sensibilities. The major influences in my work are gonzo journalism, folklore, indigenous cultures, flowers, cacti, Texas, deserts, Mexico, magic, the occult, paganism, shamanism, santeria, yoruba, anthropology, ethnobotany, divination, printmaking, woodblocks, comic books, graphic novels, psychedelic posters, textures, patterns, fabric, wood, trees, nature, plants, fur, animals, feathers, medical illustration, art nouveau, manga. I’m sure a lot of other illustrators and creators share these influences, but my manner of working is unique in that I do not solely work in drawing or painting. My illustrations are all mixed media. I work with ballpoint pen, a very detail-based, controlled medium, and combine it with liquid ink, which has a mind of its own. 

Though my journals don’t involve any customized painting, they are born from the same sensibility of returning to nature and embracing the knowledge contained therein. The journals are entirely handmade, start to finish. The first time I made my own notebook, I was like, “Holy shit, I am never buying one of these from the store again.” I want everyone to feel like that, to feel empowered to create things with their own hands.

How have you experienced sisterhood in the Canadian/Toronto artistic community?

My favourite sisterhood moment I’ve experienced in the Toronto art community involve a zine I released this past summer called Hot Mess. I curated and designed the thing, and I was handing it out for free at my booth at TOAE (Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit) in July. A few days later I heard from one of the jewellery designers in Hot Mess, saying that someone who had taken the mag from my booth at TOAE called her to purchase the piece featured in it! I couldn’t have been happier!

What feelings do you channel when creating?

When I’m drawing and painting I always have to be in a music-induced trance-like “zone” of sorts. I’ll always play the same album like a zillion times and my artistic vibe is always totally broken if someone unplugs my speakers. I guess you could say that the work I create is often highly influenced by the music I listen to, rather than any specific emotion, because whenever I’m making work my emotion is “IN DA ZONE!!11!twelve” If I had to pick an emotion, however, I’d say it would be my passion for creating artwork. It is when I feel truly at home.

Where do you hope to be in five years – future projects, elsewhere in the world?

In five years I’ll have completed my Masters degree (which I haven’t started yet, for the record)! I will have a wordless novel published, a project I’m just beginning on now. (It’s a very interesting medium; for a primer check out Graphic Witness, edited by renowned printmaker George Walker.) I also aim to have both a fine art and illustration practice, in addition to a boutique handmade goods business. I’d also like to teach illustration, be it conceptually or technically. I spent the majority of my childhood moving around (Colorado, Montreal, Ottawa) and I’ve fallen in love with Toronto, so I don’t see myself moving from this lovely city within the next five years!

The Great Dames Q&A

Who’s your greatest dame – real life, fictional, celeb or otherwise?

I have two greatest dames - Yuko Shimizu and Jillian Tamaki, both incredibly successful, talented, and inspiring illustrators.

If you could go back and give your 16 year old self one bit of advice, what would it be?

To be honest, I don’t think I would tell my younger self anything. It’d take the fun out of it all and I’d probably just write it off as a hallucination or weird dream anyway.

What’s the finest song that’s ever floated into your delicate lady ears?

Holy crap, you want me to pick only one? It really depends on what I’m in the mood for. Here’s a tiny (and very varied) sampling:

Joy Divison – ‘She’s Lost Control’

New Order – ‘True Faith’

Black Lips – ‘Bad Kids’

Japanther – ‘One Hundred Dollars’

Ratatat – ‘Neckbrace’

LCD Soundsystem – ‘Home’

Deadmau5 – ‘Ghosts N’ Stuff’ (sans vocals)

Fever Ray – ‘If I Had A Heart’

Kanye West – ‘Monster’

Die Antwoord – ‘Beat Boy’

What’s your most famed rant against?

All of my rants usually boil down to being pissed off at bigots who tell others how to live.

Where are you happiest?

At six in the morning after pouring my heart into an illustration, watching the sunrise and listening to the birds sing outside of my window.

 

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