Aurélia Jourist studied textile serigraphy at the Dupperré school and got a degree in applied art. She first works almost three years in a street theatre: L’Arbre à Nomades (“The Nomads’ Tree”). This itinerant theatre presented its show in a different city every week! Aurélia Jourist participated to the creation the costumes and accessories for the actors with a whole team of friends from all nationalities. After that, she settled in her own workshop in Paris, which used to be her grandparents’. They were tailors and made fur and cloth; she works traditional techniques, like engraving and serigraphy. This artisanal print technique consist in realize manually drawings, that are placed on big frameworks, before printing them with ink on different surface (wood, textile…)
1) You represent a lot of animals and plants. What inspires you in nature?
I’m a nature lover! It’s true that I represent a lot of animals, especially birds, of all types. They are very often surrounded with fantastic plants and abundant foliage. When I was a child, I spent a lot of time outside, in the nature. I dreamt of becoming… a gardener! Now, I don’t grow plants, but I draw them… There is also something that attracts me in the pure and imposing esthetic of the Far North; the omnipresence of nature, the infinite snowy plains…
I think my Ukrainian origins influence me a lot in my work. The Chernobyl catastrophe really left a lasting impression on me. It seems that, in those lands, nature had to adapt and grow again, year after year, from zero. It’s fascinating. I think that I try to represent this intriguing nature, maybe a little bit dark, in my drawings.
But not only nature inspired me. In general, there is a mystic dimension, almost magic, in my creations. I love representing birds’ heads, and feathers adornment; there is something to do with shamanism here!
2) You created 5 games with Mon Petit Art. Can you tell us a little bit about your collaboration?
With Mon Petit Art, we have a real love story! There is in Mon Petit Art a real respect of the artist and his way to work. We created the games together, in a permanent dialogue, but I had a great freedom of creation. And the approach of Mon Petit Art has so much enthusiasm!
I created 5 games with Mon Petit Art; for each of them, I realized a work of documentation and I searched a lot of images. For example, for the Carrousel, I draw hundreds of horses before finding the right ones! Each horse is from a different continent in the game. So I studied the traditional outfits, headdress and accessories of many countries.
For the 3D Color City, Moscow was a very difficult city to represent. It’s a very polymorph city, with an heteroclite architecture. I love this city, and I observed its buildings in details to give a representation close to reality; but I think I represented a little bit the Moscow of my dreams…
Of all the creations I made with Mon Petit Art, my favorite is, without hesitation, the Giant Memo Jules Verne. If you want to know more about it, read our blog article dedicated to this game here !
3) For Mon Petit Art, you created games for the first time. What do you think about the game universe?
I love playing! I play very often with my son. However, I don’t like following the rules so much… so we always end making up our own rules. For example, with the Giant Memo Jules Verne, we start to invent and tell stories; what animals are hiding in the waters or in the air, what’s going to happen to the characters… Playing is better with imagination!
You likes Aurélia Jourist’s world? Click on the image below to discover all Aurélia Jourist creations for Mon Petit Art !
