PROFILE: KATIKA
Artist Katika is becoming an international sensation with her crochet portraits.
For artist Katika, crochet is the perfect medium to recreate the scenes she catches sight of or envisions. “I really like crocheting,” she explains. “I like to concentrate, I like yarn, I love colours, and I like that crochet art does not require a lot of space in which to work.”
The latter concern is a crucial point for the Russia-based creative, whose art studio also serves as home to herself and her three-year-old daughter.
“During three years of creating crochet art I’ve changed workplaces eight times,” she says. “I’m always looking for the perfect place to work. Now it’s a bright empty room, with clean white walls and a white table.”
Katika’s preference is to work sitting on the floor. “I put on Game of Thrones or some movie and start working.” Recently she started uploading videos to YouTube, which has meant investing in a set of equipment. “I got lightboxes, and tripods with a camera. At first it was pretty tricky for me to use them, but now I’m getting used to it.”
DEFYING EXPLANATION
While her artwork has been a fairly recent phenomenon, crocheting has been part of Katika’s creative output since she was a child. “My mother taught me to crochet small bags to put my toys in when I was seven years old,” she says. “I thought it was very cool!”
Katika’s full name is Penzina Ekaterina Konstantinovna. “But Katika is my baby name in Hungarian, which my mother always called me,” she says with a smile.
We initially fell for Katika’s artwork when we discovered her gorgeous crochet paintings. It’s a technique she devised herself, which defies explanation. “It’s too hard for me to even explain it to myself,” she says. “I just do it and that’s it. I imagine what my finished piece will look like and create it, only with yarn instead of paint.”
As well as relishing the crochet process itself, Katika finds satisfaction in the visual results, as well as the positive response from her growing audience. “But this enjoyment comes with a cost,” she says, “which is constant lack of time. Also, I have to put up with the lack of a stable income. In Russia, being an artist, especially self-employed, is not an easy task. I do not have time for anything else, other than my daughter.”
“I FEEL GLAD MY PIECES HANG ON WALLS SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY AND MAKE THE WORLD BRIGHTER.”
As well as the occasional favourite television show and a dash of fantasy, Katika finds her work inspired by her impressions of the people she encounters in day-to-day life.
“I love to be surrounded by beautiful, interesting people,” she says. “Beauty is a state of mind, in my opinion. Harmony, curiosity and interesting life experiences make a person beautiful for me, and make me want to crochet their portrait.”
Commissions also make up a significant amount of Katika’s portrait work, with many purchased by people wanting their loved ones recreated in yarn. Other popular works include pets and wildlife, from cats, zoo animals and birds to a unicorn.
AN ORIGINAL OUTLOOK
In Katika’s Eyes artworks, a series of partial portraits gaze at the viewer with disarming, and sometimes unsettling, intensity.
“The Eyes series began as a project for an exhibition in Japan,” Katika explains. “At that time, I often talked with tax officials in Moscow, so I decided to make a series of their eyes as crochet paintings. Later I began to do the eyes of famous people. I believe you can see a person’s soul in their eyes!”
As a result, Katika’s work frequently finds its way into homes and collections around the world from Japan to the USA.
“Sometimes I remember my old pieces and feel glad that they please someone – that they hang on walls somewhere far away.”
Her most exciting job to date has been her ongoing Affection project. “It’s a noncommercial project that I create with the help of many loving couples from all over the world,” she says. “They send me photos of them kissing, and I turn the photos into crochet portraits.”
Affection is the perfect project for Katika’s enthusiastic and caring mindset. “Working on it I see so much love and tenderness, and read so many amazing stories about people falling in love! I’m very proud of this project. One day I hope to make it an exhibition.”
Not every crochet painting turns out exactly as Katika hopes, it’s true. “I guess every artwork is a challenge,” she says. “Sometimes I don’t like how my piece turns out, so I redo parts of it over and over.” One thing she has learnt is which type of yarn to use in her work. “I prefer acrylic yarn simply because I’m allergic to wool and cotton,” she comments.
Other practical considerations include how to disseminate her works of art. “My main platforms are YouTube and Instagram. Because the nature of the platform is centred around images, Instagram gives artists great opportunities to get noticed.”
Katika also launched her own Patreon site recently, which allows art lovers to help support her (www.patreon.com/katikaart).
As you might expect, Katika finds the online wonderland is as much a source of distraction as of potential exposure. “At the moment I’m on an information diet,” she says. “I do not follow anyone right now, because I’m trying to finish some projects. But, generally I love blogs and YouTube channels dedicated to artists, as well as shows that popularise science. I also love a good laugh, but most of my favourite comedians are from Russia, so you’ve probably never heard of them!”
Crochet is, she tells us, an enduringly popular pastime in Russia. “Actually, it’s more popular among the older women as a traditional kind of needlework,” she says. “Up until now I have rarely seen young people crochet, but at some schools pupils are taught to crochet.” This passion commonly falls by the wayside. “When girls become students or go to work, they don’t have enough time for crochet anymore,” Katika comments, then smiles. “I feel that crochet will be more popular in the future, however.”
Right now, the world is full of possibilities for Katika’s crochet paintings. “I would love to work with different shops and galleries, and collaborate with designers and brands.
I dream of opening a gallery or some special place where threads, cosiness and art will live together in perfect harmony.” That’s a fantasy we’d dearly love to see become reality. Written by Judy Darley