We had the good fortune of connecting with Jacqueline Kumer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jacqueline, can you tell us about a book that has had a meaningful impact on you?
One of my favorite books is ‘Arm in Arm: A Collection of Connections, Endless Tales, Reiterations, and Other Echolalia’ by Remi Charlip (1929 – 2012). I discovered the book while I was in a bookstore at the children’s book section. However, as I read I realized it wasn’t a book for children but also for grown ups. I was fascinated by the way Charlip used single-paged story format to cleverly combine words and visual elements. His use of words as illustrative pictures are absolutely brilliant and showed a theatrical and poetic ways of visual storytelling on paper. Each page is a story of its own; sometimes the words are used as imagery, sometimes the words are there to compliment the imagery. There is no beginning or end to any pages, and each page can be completely irrelevant to the next. I especially love his way of looping words in a sentence to create shaped imagery. The storybook feels more like Charlip’s documentation of his own psychoanalysis and personal process rather than giving senses to his readers, and I absolutely adore it.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I often see the act of drawing as my attempt to retrace fragmented memories (especially when I wake up from dreams that were so real that I always wonder which side of the worlds I live in). I believe human imagination is one of the most important and infinite resources that we can apply in anything we create, no matter how bizarre or wicked of a creature, design, or landscape we imagine.

In terms of creative process, I enjoy the convenience of digital illustration. However, I still find myself time to time needing to come back to traditional drawing on paper. It is not easy when I want to embrace the slow and intuitive process on one hand, and keep up with short commission deadlines on the other. I’ve learned that different creative process require separate focus and attention. And in order to be productive on all works, I need to have proper time management to concentrate one work at a time so to not let other works become distractions.

I don’t know where my world will eventually take me, but I hope to share my fascination for the surrealistic world as a glimpse or window for others that might connect and resonate as well.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
– A walk along Fells Point to enjoy the historic walk next to the harbor, and visit one of my favorite stores: Emporium Collagia to discover the amazing collection and treasure caves of jewelries, greeting cards, books, glassware, candles, soaps, diffusers, incense, etc – Get a taste of one of the best Italian gelato ice cream in Baltimore at Pitango.

– Visit the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) to see visionary art. and Walters Art Museum for the Cabinet of Curiosity section.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I will like to thank our MFA Illustration practice program from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). My mentor and teachers: Whitney Sherman and Kimberly Hall, and my classmates from MICA Illustration Practice ’21 that have pulled through together over these two years of surreality. Specifically, I will like to thank my beloved sister, Jennifer Kumer, who is ocean apart but keeping me company through video calls and creative ideas. And my partner, Kyu, who is with me at these critical times to share long walks in nature, home-cooking food, and giving unconditional love and support.

Website: www.jacquelinekumer.com

Instagram: jacjaciii

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