This month – in the fourth and final series – Studio Potter introduces readers to the illustrative work of Haylie Jimenez, Zuzka Vaclavik, and Kristy Moreno.
These comics were first featured in Richard Nickel's second edition of Bone Dry Leather Hard – Stories from the Craft Art World, which includes artwork from Amber Pierce, Sydnie Jimenez, Janina Myronova, Natalia Arbelaez, Taili Wu, Amelia Butcher, Kathy King, Christina Margarita Erives, Haylie Jimenez, Nicole Marroquin, Zuzka Vaclavik, and Kristy Moreno.
Haylie Jimenez
Haylie Jimenez, a native of Orlando, Florida, spent the majority of her teenage years in rural north Georgia alongside her twin sibling. In May 2020, she earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Jimenez's artistic focus revolves around portraying and highlighting the experiences of black and brown queer femmes. Her artwork often captures everyday scenes drawn from her own life, occasionally incorporating mythical or magical elements to underscore marginalized realities. Jimenez's creative practice encompasses drawings, printmaking, and animation. She is particularly intrigued by drawing as a means of documentation and explores how drawing styles are shaped by personal experiences and the subjects they depict.
Zuzka Vaclavik
Zuzka Vaclavik is a dual citizen of the United States and Slovakia, as her parents escaped from Communist Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s. She grew up in Germany, where she took art lessons from a Czech painter. Her passion and curiosity for new experiences led her to pursue her development as an artist in the Far East. Zuzka lived in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, for two years before beginning her graduate school studies. Vaclavik has exhibited her work in New York, California, Cambodia, Germany, Austria, and throughout the United States. Critical reviews and publications of her work can be found in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New American Paintings, and in Germany through Sudwest Presse.
