Our Collaboration with Myfawnwy!

We spoke with Maisie and asked her about her life and work. We have a shorter version of the interview on the box but read the extended version below.

Le Puzz: Hi Maisie! So, tell us where are you coming from?

Myfawnwy: I grew up in Maine, in a very rural isolated area. Like completely off the grid, no running water, electricity, and like a tiny cabin in the woods. So that's sort of my origin story. So, lots and lots of alone time in nature was kind of my childhood vibe. I'm clearly still holding on to that whimsical, sort of psychedelic experience of just being in nature alone. And kind of tripping out as a kid into patterns and the sky and clouds and finding faces and tree bark. And, you know, that's very much part of my process, and my inspiration pool that I'm still dipping from for sure. 

LP: What was school like for you?

M: I was homeschooled for a long time. And then I studied art. I have a BFA in sculpture from Maine College of Art. I also studied abroad at a school in Singapore doing sculpture for a year where I did a lot of traveling around. I basically took a year off to travel around the country and just kind of did my own little version of college. Like took a little longer, but it was more interesting to me. 

LP: Wow! What made you go to Singapore?

M: I was desperate to get out of Maine. I was 19 and I found this school in Singapore that had never had an American student before. So I asked them if I could come and if they would let me come for cheap or free. And they were like, sure, we'll sponsor you to come. So studying there that year was was paid for, which was amazing! And that's what allowed me to go. And it was very random. I mean, it's so random. But I was really interested in like Southeast Asian culture. Singapore is cool, because it's such a melting pot of different cultures from all around. But it is a really weird, random place that I sort of ended up just by like, strange kind of happenstance. And I got really interested in scuba diving! I actually worked as a scuba diver when I was there and I got obsessed with the underwater environment there.

LP: So cool. The idea of growing up super isolated, and homeschooled, and then just like, zooming out to as far away from that as possible. 

M: Yeah, I definitely went to the extreme for sure. 

LP: Wow. Yeah. Was your brain just totally scrambled by being out of the country and out of Maine for the first time? 

M: Yeah, absolutely. It was like, mind blown! After being in a small town where every single time you walk down the road you know someone, it became sort of addictive just being a stranger somewhere. So yeah, I was kind of obsessed with traveling for a little while and then I came back to Maine and finished up school there.

LP: When did you start marbling?

M: I started marbling about 10 years ago at this point. I ordered some supplies and had no idea what I was doing but just immediately went big. I made an enormous bath to do a little test and immediately started printing fabric. I just became completely obsessed with it. 

LP: Had you ever seen anybody marbling before?

M: I had never seen people marbling before! I was really into playing around with all different kinds of textiles. I was doing things like tie dyeing leather, burning things,  painting on stuff and was just in a very experimental phase. I forget where I even learned about marbling, I probably saw a video or something. But yeah, I just got totally sucked in immediately.

LP: It seems like your MO, like, go big or go home!

M: Yeah, my boyfriend's always like, why don't you think about it a little before you cut the fabric. I just skip that step! And oftentimes that results in failure, lots of failures, but I don't mind that part of learning.

LP: It's so cool that you hadn't seen anybody doing marbling before and you were able to just like completely make it your own. 

M: Yeah, totally. At first I was mixing my own paints and troubleshooting when it wasn't the right consistency. So my way of doing it is the kind of my own hack-way. It used to be hard to buy marbling paints but now you it's a lot more accessible. But back then it was kind of secretive actually, like the marbling community, throughout history has been very secretive. Because it was such a craft, they were kind of hoarding their techniques. In the very beginning, I was using old cans of oil paints, which just float on water. And so that was kind of my first little dabble. 

LP: So amazing! Were you immediately printing on fabric or did you experiment with paper and other objects?

M: Yeah, I think early on I was making clothing because I've always had this obsession with fashion. I was also doing other things like, I was dipping feathers in marble, wood sculptures and cut outs. I was actually making some simple wooden puzzles that were all marbled. And I was doing some prints on paper and then doing a lot of collages using that paper. So I feel like there's definitely been a long process of experimentation and different artworks that have come out of it. Now, I like the more sellable items like T shirts because it's accessible, and you can wear the work. But there's definitely been a lot of experimentation and different bodies of work that have come out of it. I have a whole series of these huge prints on paper I did about 5 years ago where I was moving the paper in the bath and was catching these three dimensional ripples. They looked like an optical illusion. They were pretty cool. I want to get back into that.

LP: We would love to see those! Do you see yourself doing marbling forever at least in some capacity?

M: I think so. I feel like I've I've still only scratched the surface of all the things you can do with it. I feel like there's just a lot of untapped potential still. 

LP: Oh yeah we agree for sure! Do you have a relationship to the characters that you create? Do you name them or think of them in a certain way? 

M: I do name some of them. I had one that I had a funny name for, something like, Freaky-Deaky Neon Nerd. I definitely channel my emotions of the day when I'm making them. I'll do ones that are crying or paranoid or like, really goofy. I do feel very connected to them. I love personifying nature by giving flowers faces and giving feelings to suns. That’s part of the story with these pieces. But there's another part that's like investigating, and kind of celebrating all of the emotional dualities that we all have within us, which I really enjoy, like, all those little subtleties of feelings that I'm trying to illustrate.

LP: We love that about your work. It always seems in incapsulate multiple emotions and personalties in one. Well, what's next?? What are you excited about? 

M: I'm excited to do bunch more big prints on paper. I have so many ideas that I've almost been feeling frustrated lately. You know, when you have a bank of ideas, you can't get to yet you're just like, I want to do that!

LP: Oh yeah, we definitely know the feeling! We're so excited to see those prints as well! One last question before you, could you give us a little background on your name, MYFAWNWY?

M: Yeah absolutely! So it's pronounced ‘Mah-fawn-we’.It's my middle name and it means ‘My Rare One’ in Gaelic.

LP: Beautiful

M: Yeah. My mother, my mother misspelled it a little bit. It's also part of it.

LP: Love that. This was so lovely! And it's amazing to hear about how adventurous your life has been, and how big.

M: I'm so glad! Especially with how we learn about each other online now, through sort of curated snippets. And we don't really know a lot of the backstory. So thank you for asking. 

LP: Our pleasure!