Monster Children: A Conversation with Stavroula Zygouri

Written By: Amanda Ly

"Plouto's Portrait"

Stavroula Zygouri who is a mixed media artist and I talked in the Harris Art Gallery in 2019 surrounded by her artwork. I asked her how she would describe her personality because her work was so thought-provoking.  She said, “Adventurous. I love adventures. When I was young, I was chased by killer dogs with my friend and I was like 'Let's get chased by these dogs!' I love dogs. I have a dog.” She also described herself as someone who is “hopeful, kind, brave, but also sometimes competitive. But only when I have to be.” 

I wanted to know what got her into art and what sparked her love for art because I try to do art too. She said, “I started art when I was five. It began as a hobby. When I was twelve I can actually see myself doing something with it in the future.” She says she likes doing art because, "it's a way of expressing myself. My art is an expression of my personality. My art is epic based, old, nothing to do with the modern.” Her inspiration is “fantasy, fantasy movies, books, art, anything like that.” and she says that she does her art as often as possible: “I sketch everyday. I try to do bigger projects every week.” 
​
Stavroula has a sense of humor too. When asked about her career goals, she replied with “a trash collector,” but then clarified that what she really wanted to do was to be “a concept artist. An illustrator. [Work in] Animation. Realistic animation. Maybe in the far, far future... a teacher or director.” If her future is teaching, she desires to be a professor teaching character design. If her path is one of a director, she hopes to direct fantasy movies and drama. When asked about her thought process behind the art in the gallery, her response was she honestly had "no plans for a gallery theme. Some people thought I did. Because the right side…”

She then points at the right side of the wall which featured her artwork and a map of the titles and layout of the pieces. ​​

"Geryon: Demon of Fraud"

"Ascension of the Demons" Acrylic on Paper

"Peitho, Demoness of Lust" Inkjet print. 

Stavroula Zygouri, with her favorite child, "The Black Lion."

Following that beautiful show of artwork, I was intrigued to learn more about her favorite part of her art. Which she lovingly calls her children. It's the second clay piece she made. It's called "The Black Lion." 

​She made it with self-drying clay, also known as air dry clay, fake fur for the mane and body, acrylic paint, and nail polish for the saliva. Stavroula graciously gave a lesson of the definition of mixed media and the different types of clay because I asked. She is such a sweetheart.

Because of the fur and the nail polish, "The Black Lion" is mixed media. Mixed media is when different materials are used to make a art piece. The difference between self-drying clay and other kinds is that "self-drying clay, or air dry clay, I don't have to fire it.” The different types of clay are "water-based, which is normal, air dry, which is what I used, poly, and monster.” The word "monster" perked me up, and led to this conversation about it.


"Monster?"

“Yes. That, you melt. Put in fire. It's one of the few clays you can shape, mold again. It's reusable.”

Like an idiot I asked, "So in ceramics, they use monster?"

“No. Most ceramics use water-based. It's the most common.”

Based on her art here, she really seems to really like lions, which I inquired about. Her favorite animal is a lion. 

I asked another question that arose in the gallery, who is your favorite or which one is your favorite art piece? 

She loved Ellie Haus's art piece, "Jokeher."

“Jokeher” by Ellie Haus. ​

“The face unnerves me,” she said of the piece. “I like disturbing things. [This piece] makes me think. And the eyes pop. And the pupils, the smaller the pupils the more disturbing it is. She seems to stare into your soul.”

Stavroula's favorite professional artist is Alector Fencer. She is inspired by Fencer  because they have a world of their own, like she does. Fencer has also written two graphic novels that she has read. Stavroula is excited for the third novel. This led me to ask Stavroula if the characters in her art are for a novel that she is working on. She confirmed that she’s working on a concept and she knows how it ends.

---

---

Amanda Ly is a current PCC student and is part of Inscape's Spring 2020 staff as the special projects editor.