Interview with Jaimee Paul

By Emma-Kate Wilson

I met up with artist Jaimee Paul at her studio in the B-Side Creative Space based in Brookvale over the bridge on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. This hub of artists are by no feet a little collective. Instead, they boast 15 studios in their warehouse. Started by five Venezuelan creatives, B-Side is part of an exciting movement of multi-disciplinary artists growing out of the suburbia, resisting the pace of the city. Every artist’s work in the warehouse has a focus on sustainability- the love of the ocean and animals runs through all the studios, in forms such as canvases, sculpture and woodwork to name a few.

Jaimee’s work definitely rings true to this ethos of sustainability, love of nature and the environment. I first met Jaimee at her curatorial debut NinetyFive Percent in Surry Hills last year. I was drawn to see the exhibition by the tagline of the show #MyPromiseToTheOcean, which Paul created in collaboration with The Ocean Agency. As I walked into the exhibition, Paul immediately captivated me with so much warmth and passion for her project. The artists she picked for the show all had the ambition to make #ArtForPurpose and to bring awareness around coral bleaching and other harmful effects of climate change.

The ‘Art for Purpose’ concept started when Paul was undertaking her design undergraduate degree at UNSW Art and Design. She has taken this and moulded it throughout her degree and personal art making, creating works that always reflect her passion, with animals taking centre stage throughout her works. Recently, Paul has been supporting an app called ‘Palm Oil Investigations’ with sales from her 'Disappearing Stripes’ limited edition print. The app works by you scanning a barcode on your phone; the app then reveals a status grade of how much palm oil may be in your product and how sustainable it is for the rainforest and the animals that live there. Jaimee realises that for her, her love of animals means little if she doesn’t do something to support them. By destroying the forests for palm oil plantations to meet the high global demand we are reducing the habitats of animals already endangered, and increasing the contribution to climate change.

When I met Jaimee at her studio, we ended up talking for hours about creating sustainable art and objects. We both agree that, art should have to have a meaning in this age of mass production and that it is essential to understand that while big companies may hold their purpose, so does our spending power.

In 2014 Paul was awarded the UNSW Art and Design and Royal Doulton Design award with her ceramic tableware project ‘Homage’. While in the UK doing her internship with Royal Doulton in 2015 she wanted to explore the positive awareness of various issues a global brand could create through a commercial product. She came up with a prototype concept of decorative plates that had four signature animal paintings on them. The purpose of the pieces are to support WWF with proceeds of the sales and informative facts about each animal printed on the back. Going through the process of concept right through to prototyping and packaging design Jaimee learnt invaluable incites into the workings of a 200-year-old company. The experience was so vital to her, and she expressed her gratitude for the internship. However, Jaimee learnt that working for a big corporation wasn’t something she wanted. The placement renewed her sense of passion for continuing working for herself while creating positive impact projects.

By spending every day in the studio, not necessarily creating work every day, but being around other creatives inspires her. They all help and support each other, acting as their own big cogs in their own individual clocks. The drive to encourage artists to do their own thing, leave their mark. To create something beautiful with meaning, Jamiee works part-time in a restaurant and runs art classes for children alongside Miguel Gonzales. She hopes to create art that spark’s passion in her viewers to do what they can to protect our natural world, the belief that artists have the power to be visual activists inside the overwhelming content-rich media we live in. She is criticising the mass production of things that contribute to the high CO2 levels in the atmosphere; that destroys rainforests, and compromises communities of third world countries who live without leaving a permeate mark on the earth, yet are the ones who suffer the most.

By buying Jaimee’s work, you will be supporting not only a local artist but a little part of the world. I know we can’t all be entirely sustainable, in the way the Western world lives, but just to try would have a huge impact. Jaimee Paul is such a sparkling ball of hopefulness, and I believe her passion encourages change, even only by a knock on effect. Her art has personality, from the elephant looking tenderly at his audience or the Tiger that questioningly asks the viewer to buy his portrait to help protect a little bit of the rainforest.

Jaimee Paul’s website: http://www.jaimeepaul.com.au/ and Instagram: @jaimeepaul

Originally published on The Ladies Network, August 31, 2016: http://theladiesnetwork.com.au...