Meet our LOCAL illustrator: Simone Matias
Each month, CreativeMornings has a different theme for the talks given at our local chapter events around the world. It is our tradition to work with an artist in our community to create an illustration for each monthly theme.
Our theme for March is LOCAL. It was chosen by our Santos chapter in Brazil and illustrated by Simone Matias.
We asked Simone to introduce herself:
I’m based in Santos, Brazil and discovered the art of illustration during an interchange program in the USA, in 2000. The kids I looked after had many books that I used to read to them and I felt in love with that form of art. “I always liked drawing and used to spend hours drawing on the chalkboard hanging on the wall at home, but until then I had never imagined that I could work with it. I’ve illustrated more than 80 kid’s books in Brazil since 2007 and also have done book covers. In 2024, I’ve released my first book as an author, the silent book Azul de lá. I’m also an art teacher and a philosophy volunteer teacher at New Acropolis Phylosophy School. I have studied illustration at Scuola Internazionale d'Illustrazione – Sàrmede, Italy (2006) and live drawing and painting at The Florence Academy of Art, New Jersey, USA (2017).
Artist statement:
I am a book illustrator, my work is deeply intertwined with literature. Like a story, book illustration expands horizons, creates lived experiences, and allows us to recognize what is still diffuse within us, giving shape to what we do not yet know how to name. For me, illustrating is a way of listening to and looking at life, of understanding others, and of inhabiting places that utilitarian language ignores. It is through this gesture that I seek beauty as a force of awakening—one capable of pulling us out of the anesthetized torpor imposed by values of productivity, efficiency, and utilitarianism, and of reminding us of our own humanity through enchantment and poetry.
Simone shared the following reflection on her illustration for this month’s theme:
To create the illustration for the theme LOCAL, I thought the image should convey a sense of belonging. A place where we build our identity and where our affections and memories reside; where we grow and, above all, where our life truly takes place. A surrounding environment that shapes us and forms a large part of who we are. I used acrylic paint and colored pencils on cardstock.
Listen to how to pronounce Simone’s name.
You can see more of Simone’s work on her site and follow her on Instagram @simonematiasilustradora.
Selected Works
