Artist Spotlight: Zuza Jevremovic (12-2)

When was the first time you found your passion in art?

I can't remember it - it seems I’ve always been drawing, probably beginning since I was 2 or 3, though whatever I created back then wouldn’t have had any comprehensible form. I read a lot of picture books when I was little and I always enjoyed coming up with my own animal characters for stories so naturally I had to draw them. Thus, I've enjoyed drawing for as long as I can remember, and through the years it's maintained its usefulness as gift material, decoration for school projects, means of representing characters from other media, and its original purpose of representing my own characters.

Since you’ve published the book Morpholia, could you tell us anything about the process of writing and illustrating it? Do you have any plans on a similar project?

The idea for Morpholia first came to me at the end of fifth grade, and the story was written up in its entirety the following year. However, a year later, the plot seemed quite ridiculous and the entire book was rewritten. (Of course, by now I have the same opinion on the rewritten version, but it was still fun to get it printed and I'm proud of the achievement). The major characters were kept in and some new characters added in order to take advantage of the diversity of the kingdom.

What do you love so much about Taxonomy? How does this relate to your book Morpholia?

My love of taxonomy/classification at the time had a strong influence on the book, and was sort of tied in with memory (in an evolutionary memory/we are our ancestors/life is all related in some sort of way). I wrote a lot of flashbacks, and these were probably some of the first scenes I wrote, as I generally write stories out of order. The diversity of the animal kingdom also inspired me to draw as many characters as I could; that year I was quite interested in practicing animal anatomy, and I spent time researching reference photos for and practicing drawing most of the animals featured in the book. Since there was a drawing per chapter, I decided not to color them all, but only the most important characters.

Do you have any plans to publish a book in the future?

I don't currently have any plans to get more books published, but I definitely will do it again when I have some material, and there will certainly be accompanying illustrations. The protagonist of Morpholia, Brokk the badger has become dissociated from his book of originality and still occasionally features in my drawings and writing. Maybe he and his sister will return to the printed page one day.

Your art features a lot of animals. Do you have a favorite animal/animals?

There are so many animals I like, but in light of my previous response I might go with Eurasian badger. They've featured in a lot of stories of mine and I like how families are an important part of their lives.

As an artist, what is your favorite school subject?

English. I enjoy reading and writing and I usually really like my English teachers.

What’s the fondest memory you’ve had at Masterman?

I've had a lot of fun times with classmates and teachers and amusing projects, but I feel like most of it slipped my mind. Since it’s a more recent memory, I might say having lunch with Ms. Waber in tenth grade; I always like being around her.

If you could be a holiday-themed cookie, what would you be?

I'd probably just go with one of those sugar cookies made with an animal shaped cookie cutter; I have a lot of fun decorating those.