By: Heather Bien
Boody is thrilled to kick off a new partnership in 2020; we’re working with uber-talented fine artists to bring Boody to life visually. Each artist is interpreting Boody in their own distinctive style and we’re going to introduce you to the artists and their stories here on the Boody blog.
Julia Ledyard is the San Francisco-based artist and creative mind behind the Boody lookbook volume 2, where she and her team took pieces of Boody out into San Francisco, hanging undies and bras across streets for images that are equal parts cheeky and empowering.
Get to Know the Artist: Julia Ledyard
Whether you recognize Ledyard’s work from her success as Founding Partner and Creative Director of the visual design and branding firm, LedyardQvistgaard or from her powerful and emotional studio work, you likely know that she has a penchant for boldly pushing the envelope of what can be created when not confined to traditional artistic expression. This dually talented artist has been creating since childhood, discovered graphic design in high school, and has now spent her entire adult life honing her creative craft both in her design work and through her fine art.
Focus on Figures Drawn in the Moment
In Ledyard’s art, you’ll notice bold, large strokes and fast movement –– everything comes back to a sense of immediacy and interpreting figures as they are in a given moment. Nothing is preconceived. She puts pen (or sticks, potatoes, hands, makeup sponges…) to paper and lets the paint lead the way. She uses the natural world around her Fairfax, California home as a muse and looks around her own domestic space for a starting point, be that a tea towel or a scrap of fabric.
She’s always in the moment and inspired by the human form and drawing from life. You’ll see gestural marks, as well as human and animal figures recurring throughout her work. Even in landscapes where there’s not a soul in sight, she can pick out a figure rising up from repetitive, weird patterns that appear on the mountainside or the still, serene water.
She uses a breadth of thought-provoking materials and application styles that lend texture and life to her work –– you’ll look at a sculpture made of felt and wishbones and, yet, you’ll find a human form looking back at you.
Her Pieces for Boody
When it came to her pieces for Boody, Ledyard looked to some of the more recent pieces she’s been working on. She takes a quick photograph and immediately sketches the figure that comes to mind directly on top of the photograph. It’s in-the-moment work that doesn’t trip up in its own thoughts. For Boody, she took the pieces out into the outdoors and waited for the right figure to appear. A side of a rock that was clearly a woman beckoned for Boody. She looked to put Boody into the environment to bring in the human element that she believes appears always in nature when we’re willing to open our eyes to it.
And, if you’re wondering how Ledyard possibly has the energy for a thriving design business and her fine art pursuits, it’s because of her passion, “It’s part of me. I don’t really rationalize it. I just love creating.”
