Instagram Society of Curious Creatures | Instagram Sketching & Drawing | Instagram Dragonfly Book Press | Newsletter
Biography
Angie Sotiropoulos is an Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton)-based Visual Storyteller & Artist. She is a first generation Canadian born to Italian and Greek immigrant parents. Angie is a multidisciplinary artist that started her career as a Props Artisan and Scenic Painter working in professional live theatre, opera, dance, events and in film and television. In her personal practice, she creates under the titles Society Of Curious Creatures, Dragonfly Book Press and Artwork By Angie Sotiropoulos.
Developing and growing personal creative projects has been her main focus in recent years. Drawn to working with a variety of media, her work is whimsical, dimensional and colourful. Her sculptural works created under the banner of the Society of Curious Creatures focus on nature and stories about creatures with cute faces in a world of curiosities. She enjoys painting with watercolour and ink, on location as an Urban Sketcher, and then translating those works into larger studio projects like the Storefronts of YEG series. Most recently, her long time interest in bookmaking and pop ups has become the medium to grow and merge her many creative projects. Dragonfly Book Press is a small hand bound book company that creates unique sketchbooks and notebooks for anyone who enjoys creative time on paper. In addition, she hosts a weekly sketch prompt series meant to encourage others to pursue a regular manageable creative practice. Storytelling is at the heart of all of her work and becoming a bookbinder is helping her, not only, grow a love of sketching with others but it will be the way she transforms her fanciful world of creatures into pop up and movable paper works in the future.
She is a member of CARFAC, the Sculptor’s Association of Alberta, the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artist Guild, IATSE Local 210, the International Urban Sketcher’s Edmonton chapter and the Movable Book Society. Her work has been exhibited in group shows in Canada and the UK and she is an active member in the local art and craft market scene.
When not in the studio she enjoys travelling with her partner or can be found tending to her ever growing menagerie of plants.
Developing and growing personal creative projects has been her main focus in recent years. Drawn to working with a variety of media, her work is whimsical, dimensional and colourful. Her sculptural works created under the banner of the Society of Curious Creatures focus on nature and stories about creatures with cute faces in a world of curiosities. She enjoys painting with watercolour and ink, on location as an Urban Sketcher, and then translating those works into larger studio projects like the Storefronts of YEG series. Most recently, her long time interest in bookmaking and pop ups has become the medium to grow and merge her many creative projects. Dragonfly Book Press is a small hand bound book company that creates unique sketchbooks and notebooks for anyone who enjoys creative time on paper. In addition, she hosts a weekly sketch prompt series meant to encourage others to pursue a regular manageable creative practice. Storytelling is at the heart of all of her work and becoming a bookbinder is helping her, not only, grow a love of sketching with others but it will be the way she transforms her fanciful world of creatures into pop up and movable paper works in the future.
She is a member of CARFAC, the Sculptor’s Association of Alberta, the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artist Guild, IATSE Local 210, the International Urban Sketcher’s Edmonton chapter and the Movable Book Society. Her work has been exhibited in group shows in Canada and the UK and she is an active member in the local art and craft market scene.
When not in the studio she enjoys travelling with her partner or can be found tending to her ever growing menagerie of plants.
Artist Statement
"My artwork is driven by the need to tell stories. Whether I'm making sculptures of real or fictional creatures, creating watercolour sketches/paintings of buildings or gluing together an assortment of ephemera to create dimensional or movable objects, it all has a story that I am trying to tell. I believe stories help us relate to one another and see past differences. They help us find a common ground on which we can connect.
The majority of the work I create is meant to be touched and engaged with physically. Picking up a sketchbook to draw, turning an object around in your hand or flipping and turning the pages of a mini storybook are all meant to create opportunities to engage and spark curiosity about individuals, communities or the natural world around us. I work in a variety of mediums because I like learning to work with new materials. It provides me with inspiration and fulfills my creative need to poke, discover and play. I work to pass on these tactile experiences to others so they may find their own connections. The intent is for my creations to be enjoyed with a simple smile, the potential for questions and a desire to seek out further knowledge. A connection forged by simple means can be a seed that grows into something more if we so desire."
The majority of the work I create is meant to be touched and engaged with physically. Picking up a sketchbook to draw, turning an object around in your hand or flipping and turning the pages of a mini storybook are all meant to create opportunities to engage and spark curiosity about individuals, communities or the natural world around us. I work in a variety of mediums because I like learning to work with new materials. It provides me with inspiration and fulfills my creative need to poke, discover and play. I work to pass on these tactile experiences to others so they may find their own connections. The intent is for my creations to be enjoyed with a simple smile, the potential for questions and a desire to seek out further knowledge. A connection forged by simple means can be a seed that grows into something more if we so desire."
All content © Angie Sotiropoulos. All rights reserved.
