Introducing 2016 Redbubble Residents

We’re very excited to announce our third batch of talented folks who will be moving into our Melbourne headquarters for six months of creating amazingly inspired works. This year, the three artists who earned your votes come from such diverse locales as Lithuania, Italy, and the United States.

Below, spend a few minutes getting to know our new roommates Ruta Dumalakaite, Giovanna Gaetano, and Kelly Gilleran.

I’m a Lithuanian artist, born in 1985 in Vilnius. I started my art studies in M.K. Čiurlionis International School of Art, and in 7 years mastered 4 forms of art; sculpture, graphics art, painting and design. After receiving my bachelors degree, I worked as graphic designer in advertising industry in Lithuania.

The art I make is my road through life, and I started traveling this road after leaving the comfort zone of the advertising industry. I returned back to my own beliefs and ideas expressed on different materials, starting with pencil drawings on paper, wood, water colors, inks and acrylic paints, photography and collage, and digital art.

Now, I spend some months during the year on the open sea, floating in a tanker vessel across oceans, looking for new inspiration and new works with my life partner. This is the main reason why my works are so connected to the sea life, and for me the only ocean left to cross is the Pacific Ocean, then I would have travelled all the seas. I believe the Earth is our home, our planet, our mother full of seeds of growth. Earth is the only one, which exists not because of us & not just for only us. Connections between Earth & Humans, understanding, appreciation & acceptance of each other faces are reflected in my work. Exploration of Nature in a walk through the forest, sea, desert & cities is this artist’s inspiration. I am learning through my works how to enshrine our world.

The purpose of my work is to rebuild lost connections between us & Earth. To see through the eye of Nature, to feel and to breath together. We are all connected.

Ciao! My name is Giovanna Gaetano, aka Freshinkstain, I’m 31 and I live in the beautiful South of Italy. I graduated in Environmental Architecture and then I attended a course in Editorial Illustration in Milan, the city where I’ve lived for about ten years. In the last few years I mostly studied Graphic Design and daily I cultivated my passion for drawing and art in all its expressions (music, cinema, theatre, literature, design, etc).

Currently I’m working as a freelance graphic designer in my home town, and have work on several online marketplaces.

I would rather define myself more as a naive illustrator than an artist. What I’m trying to do is to turn feelings and thoughts into images using my visual language. In order to do that, I usually begin drawing on my sketchbook and then I transform my illustrations into vector images. The most important value in my work, but also in my life, is authenticity. I believe that nothing is more stimulating and inspiring than a life lived consistent with your own nature, without playing a role or wearing a mask.

I just try to be myself, with my simplicity, drawing my life through my experiences. That’s why I’m always looking for new things to learn, and I pursue the beauty of true things, authentic things.

Hello! I’m Kelly Gilleran, a 26 year-old traditional media artist. I was born in Connecticut to artistically indulgent parents who always allowed me to experiment with being weird and creative. Growing up I experimented with many utilitarian forms of art including fashion design, animation and architecture but never saw foresaw myself as being a painter. I started my degree in graphic design, but ultimately fell in love traditional media. In 2013 I received my BA in Art & Design with a double-concentration in painting and illustration.

After college I was at a loss of what to do with myself. I had multiple people telling me the best route to go with my art career; I was working as an artist’s assistant and looking in to MFA programs, and ultimately it felt as if my artwork was no longer my own. Refusing to let others take away what was most important to me I ran away to the foothills of the Rockies in Colorado, where I currently reside.

I began painting food as an escape from my other works. As a huge fan of all things kitschy and mid-century I began admiring the simplicity of advertising illustrators of the 50’s and 60’s and began emulating the saturated colors and style. Food is universal; it evokes immediate gratification, it’s indulgent, it can be beautiful and sexy.