began collecting small relics at an early age in the Boston suburb where she grew up. She has since then continued this tradition and found ways to incorporate the findings from yard sales, junk stores and the great outdoors, into her mixed media artwork.
After years of searching for a home in the big cities of Boston, New York, and Providence, she has settled into the quiet life of Vermont where she enjoys the simple way of living and can work on art from the comforts of her own home. She has exhibited nationally and gained recognition in online publications, as well as landing the cover of the Random House book titled, The Aviary. Molly is currently preparing for a handful of exhibitions in Vermont and is working on her biggest papercut series yet.
To learn more about Molly or to see more of her work,
follow any of the links below:
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM
© 2015 Molly Bosley, All Rights Reserved.
…and now for our exclusive interview with MOLLY BOSLEY
How would you describe your art?
I am a mixed media artist. In the past, I have made creations using embroidery techniques, collage, illustration and sculpture. I like to dabble and experiment. In the past few years, I’ve mainly been focusing on papercutting and working with paper. My work is narrative and nostalgic in imagery. I like to create artwork that tells a story of imaginary characters and memories that are up to the audience to interpret.
How long have you been an artist and how did you become an artist?
I have been an artist my whole life. I believe we decide that as children. My parents always encouraged me to pursue what made me happy. I have fostered my passion for art by visiting museums and galleries, studying art in school and always wanting to learn new techniques and ideas.
What is your favorite medium and why?
I guess I would have to say paper. I tried all the traditional mediums like paint, pastels, charcoals etc. and they never really clicked for me. I started collaging at a young age and it has always felt the most natural and intuitive for me. I began experimenting with other ways to use paper and that’s when I really fell in love with it. The way you can manipulate it and the variety to it is unexpected which really energizes me.
Pick one work of art from your portfolio and tell us the story behind it. Why does this piece have meaning to you? What steps did you take to create the piece?
I would have to choose the 2009 papercut, In Which She Allows Herself to be entirely sentimental. I just really love how this one turned out. The imagery doesn’t really give you any sense of a story or feeling but I think the composition and positive/negative space balance is really nice. This papercut is from a series called Remember Sebastian. It was the first time I was attempting larger papercuts like this and I was really proud of the accomplishment. I had a solo exhibition at White Rabbit in New York that was making this series for and had about a month to start and finish everything. I worked really hard on it and it all came out how I imagined, which is really rare. This was also one of the first real conceptualized series I had made since graduating college. The series depicts a loosely imagined story of a baby stolen by a rat king and a sea captain who never returned from sea.
In Which She Allows Herself to be Entirely Sentimental
Tell us about one medium, technique or style that you would like to try working with (that you have not tried before) and why you would like to try this.
I would like to do more printing. I have been experimenting with carving rubber blocks to create patterns. The work I have been doing for the past few years with paper is so controlled and clean. I really admire artwork that is chaotic and freeing. I would like to experiment more with using Mylar. I have used it before in a series of illustrations in 2013 but would like to try cutting and layering it to combined my collage, illustration and papercutting techniques all into one composition. I feel like the desired look and feeling that I’ve been wanting to achieve can be accomplished by combining everything.
How do you make time for art?
Well, I take long breaks and start to feel guilty. That’s usually what gets me back in the studio. When I have a deadline that really pushes me to work continuously and I remember how much I love it. I try to save all my weekends for working on art as much as I can but it’s hard in the summertime. I am always making something but it might not be artwork. I like to make jewelry, pottery and sew when I’m not working on my other art.
If you could imagine the “perfect art day” for yourself, what would it be like?
I would wake up, get a big iced coffee, and just focus on my art for a solid 12 hours with no distractions. I’ve been pretty good at doing something similar to this lately except I don’t get the full 12 hours in. I think to make the day perfect would be if I was experimenting with new materials or techniques and really had some breakthroughs. That always feels really good.
Do you have any tips or advice for aspiring artists?
I think my advice is to remember you are an artist even if you are the only one seeing what you are making. If you want to get out there and show your work then great and if not that’s great too. One of the hardest parts is getting out of your own studio and finding people to connect with. I always have to remember to set time aside to do the businessy part of things. I’m still figuring it all out so I don’t feel like I should be the one giving advice, though.
Wonderful to see yet another creative vision.
Thanks so much for sharing.