studio spaces: kate bingaman-burt

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I'm a huge fan of Kate Bingaman-Burt. Her hand-lettering and illustration is to die for (she's the artist behind Faythe Levine's designed Handmade Nation logo/banner), and last spring I was thrilled she accepted to do a studio tour with me while I was guest blogging at Design Sponge. Some of the pictures got edited back then, so I'm re-publishing it here in it's full version. She has since re-located to Portland to become an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University (hopefully we'll get to see that new space too one of these days). Hope you'll enjoy.

Artist Name: Kate Bingaman-Burt
Shop Name and Url: kateconsumption.etsy.com
Website: obsessiveconsumption.com
Blog: obsessiveconsumption.typepad.com
City: Starkville, Mississippi

thepublicdesigncenter

Where in your home/apartment/city is your studio located?
Starkville, Mississippi. I work at The Public Design Center, which is a non-profit graphic design resource center that my husband and I founded at the end of last year. www.publicdesigncenter.org

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What equipment/tools do you use?
Ink Pens, Markers, Color Pencils, MacBook Pro, Gocco, Sewing Machine, Long Reach Stapler (for my zines! I can't live without it!)

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johnmadeaquote

Do you have an inspiration board, and can you tell us what is inspiring you now?
My inspiration board is pretty much any open flat space where I can stick bits of paper and ephemera that I am liking at the moment. Right now a lot of material on these spaces include bits of fabric, things that get sent in the mail to me, family pictures, magazine tearings, my failed drawings, planes of color, one inch buttons and dumb things that I scavenge from other people's trash.

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How do you create best (e.g. do you listen to music while you create and if so what?)
When I draw I generally like to watch TV shows on DVD. When I was working on all of the handlettering for the upcoming Handmade Nation Book I watched the ENTIRE series of Six Feet Under. I don't have a TV, but I watch a lot of dvds on my computer. When I work on stuff that requires me to move around (installations, packing orders, sewing) I listen to music (right now lots of Okkervil River, The Dodos, Bill Callahan and Spoon)

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Are you working on anything new and if so, can we have a sneak peek?
I have been working on incorporating color into some of my daily drawings. This is the end of the semester for me and it has been tough to do any non-prescribed work (teaching, daily drawings, blog updating, freelance work etc), so I am looking forward to this summer to experiment a bit more and to work on tackling some of my lists (work bigger! more color! more products! new website!)

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List (3) of your favorite artists:
I can't pick. I am so lucky to be able to look at amazing work everyday. Here is a sampling:

Herb Lubalin
Marc Horowitz
Joseph Beuys
M. Sasek
Stephanie Syjucco
Kristen Martincic (side note: We shared a studio all through graduate school and I learned so much from her. We co-habitated extremely well).

If yours isn't, what would be your perfect studio?
Ideally it would be a live/work space like we have now. I want to be able to always be able to work easily. We are moving soon (this fall I will be teaching at Portland State University in Oregon!) and I realize that there is the possibility that we won't have a live/work right away. I can handle that for a little while, but hopefully we will find a great place soon!

I have had a lot of workspaces and my best spaces have been those that have been shared. My first great shared space was with Kristen (see above) and now I am sharing a space with my husband and can't imagine it any other way. We might keep our heads down for hours and communicate in grunts sometimes, but for me, nothing beats working hard on MAKING with someone who shares the same ethic as you do.

Thank you so much Kate!

zinewallone

obsessiveconsumption.com

Jan Halvarson

10 comments:

Jess said...

AHHHHHHHHHHH! I am so excited, I love her work. Thanks for sharing!

katebingburt said...

thanks thanks for the post and thanks Kati for the sweet words! yay!

sigh, seeing my old space makes me miss it! I have quick peeks at the beginnings of our new space here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kateconsumption/sets/72157606855110108/

Will_Bryant said...

i miss it too! And you doods! Starkville lost sooooo many cool points.

great post!!! yay poppytalk!

please sir said...

Great post - so nice to hear of another Southern designer out there! I love the space, and that sign is amazing. I like to listen to DVDs and watch online TV (Hulu - check it out you will love it) while working on tedious projects.

Naomi Cleary said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Naomi Cleary said...

Hey! I was at Kates Wedding. It was a beautiful handmade affair just like Kates studio and work. So happy to see you are doing so well.
Much Love
Naomi

Carla Sonheim said...

Oh man! Thank you for posting this... I now need to spend a few hours poking around Kate's site... thank you again for reminding me about her!

lisa solomon said...

LOVE kate. just love

San Smith said...

This studio space is fantastiiic - I love it! My favourite part is the sign with the quote "All I want to be is someone that makes new things and thinks about them" - such an inspiring space.

Daniellexo said...

What a great interview! Kate is lovely.