TO MEET · 07/02/2013
Artist Stacey Rozich
“As cornball as it sounds, it feels like the artwork chose me even after I tried to find a different path,” painter and illustrator Stacey Rozich explained to us, “it wouldn’t let me do anything else.”
Based in Seattle, Stacey Rozich loves to craft her own folklore narratives. The figures within her stories and never clearly human or animal, and always seem to be wearing highly detailed printed clothing. “I would describe my style as bold, situational vignettes, with elements of pattern and textile,” Stacey explained to us.
Stacey’s love of patterns has made its way into her day to day life outside of art, and into her closet. She used to avoid wearing patterns to thwart any questions about whether or not they were her own designs—she also thought she’d come off as predictable by wearing anything that resembled her work. “Then I got over it,” she told us, “and now I embrace it and am amassing quite a collection of wild printed garments.”
As for pursuing a creative path, the desire started when she was a kid. With a father who’s an artist and sign painter, there was no shortage of encouragement at home. She followed that dream to art school and faltered only slightly when she decided to drop out. “I thought, ‘I should be respectable and get a real job and work at Microsoft,'” she told us of her decision to try her hand at graphic design instead. That didn’t last for too long.
Now, Stacey’s fully immersed herself within Seattle’s ever-growing art community. She thinks it may have something to do with the Internet, but she’s seen the network of artists in the city become larger and stronger over the past few years. “The spirit of collaboration is huge here too,” she told us.
“Maybe the low cloud cover and dense forested region fosters a lot of creativity here,” she explained further. “There’s something going on right now that has me both so proud of my hometown, and also inspired to keep creating to sustain this energy.”
Stacey is wearing the Crosby in Burgundy Fade
Photos by Collin Hughes