Artists We Love: Amor Coetzee

INTERVIEWED BY Lindi Brownell Meiring

The Cape Town creative behind Dayfeels caught our attention at the KAMERS 2015 Autumn show in Cape Town. We chatted to her about her whimsical illustrations, her new ceramic range and the art of creating.

You work in all sorts of creative mediums, from photography and video production to illustration and ceramics. Which medium do you enjoy working in most?

To be honest, I don’t really have a preference when it comes to creating something. I am a curious person by nature and find myself always seeking a new medium to explore. For me, each medium offers something special and comes with its own challenges. At the moment, I am really fascinated by ceramics and the processes behind creating something beautiful and functional. That is what being an artist is all about: exploring, playing and discovering.

Tell us about your Dayfeels series.

Dayfeels started as a little side project for me to start drawing again. For as long as I can remember, drawing and painting have always been a constant love in my life and I realised with my 9 – 5 as a retoucher, I completely lost touch with that side of myself. Each Dayfeels illustration is created using aphorisms, in other words, a metaphorical phrase that embodies a feeling. This then becomes the title of the drawing, after which it is drawn using only black ink on crisp white paper.

Who is Shygirl?

Shygirl is the story of a girl who seems to have it all together. In reality, she battles with that extremely insecure side of herself too. She represents a side in all of us. The little annoying niggle that makes us hesitate to do something brave. The side that misses opportunities or stops us from telling someone we like how we really feel. The girl that cringes at the thought of crowds or public speaking. The side that makes us want to crawl into a little corner and hide. Shygirl is also a personal little reminder to not let fear or insecurity stop us from trying new things. Believe in yourself. Do what you love. And most importantly, be kind to others.

What made you decide to get into ceramics?

It started out as just something fun to do after work. The more I played, the more it slowly turned into something more real for me. I completely and utterly fell in love with the craft of sculpting, moulding and glazing clay and the satisfaction of seeing it transform into something quite special once it came out of the kiln.

What do you love about creating?

The magnificent Patti Smith once said, ‘Every human being has a creative impulse, and we all have the right to exercise this creative impulse.’ The difference between general creativity and being an artist is a true calling to produce work that endures and inspires. This is what motivates me to create. I don’t think I am anywhere near creating something that ‘endures and inspires,’ but the passion to work hard at finding what that means and to keep exploring and experimenting is what I love the most about what I do. Hopefully I will create something that I think is good and others can somehow relate to and love as much as I do creating it. Creating for me is the ultimate freedom.

Do you have any new projects or exhibitions coming up?

At the moment, I am working on designs for an exciting range of stoneware using interesting textured clays. I am also developing the story of Shygirl further. As for exhibitions, there is something in the pipeline, but all will hopefully be revealed in a couple of months…

View more of Amor’s work at dayfeels.co.za and follow Dayfeels on Instagram.