Katharina Leuzinger - LeSportsac Artist In Residence 2010

Following in the tradition of Tokidoki, Fifi Lapin, BFree and Tomokazu Matsuyama, LeSportsac continues their Artist In Residence program with a collection from Swiss-born artist Katharina Leuzinger. Her collection is comprised of 3 different highly detailed house motifs – The City House, Boat House and Tree House, that will be used in varying manners on a variety of classic and special LeSportsac bags and accessories that will be released in Spring and Summer of 2010.

Leuzinger studied Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, and is best known for her adorable yet intricate and detailed work featuring animals, monsters and ladies, and has been seen on Poketo tote bags and wallets in the past. You could spend some serious time checking out what’s going on in every nook and cranny of one of her images. This collection of Lesportsac bags will feature some items with the repeating City and Boat House prints, as well as some simpler solid color items with placement prints. Count on seeing some of the fave Classic LeSportsac bags, as well as specialty products like the Snack Sack lunch bag, a hobo bag, special messenger bag, a mini House Pouch and House Pouch key covers.

I came across the art of Mitsy Avila Ovalles via the wonderful world of MySpace a few years back and I’ve been wanting to do a feature on her ever since.

Before I get into her art, I want to let you all know that this lady seriously has one of the most amazing MySpace pages in the history of MySpace pages. If you have yet to see it, check it out. I guarantee you’re never seen anything like it before (and if you have they’re probably biting her style!).

Mitsy’s fine art pieces are amazing end products of growing up in a Mexican household cemented in California soil. Her work, is layered with elements of Mexican pop culture, with references to JuanGa [the Mexican Elton John—only a lot more talented], pan dulce, Menudo, the LA Dodgers and numerous icons from novelas.

Viewed online, Mitsy’s work appears grimy in texture yet feminine in essence—a nice balance for a M.I.S.S. girl’s taste!

In her digital work, Mitsy’s female subjects are portrayed in bold colors and they are heels & kicks, bamboos, lips and a whole lotta hips yet she can flip it and draw a hard lookin’ E-40 or Eazy-E.

Here’s what Mitsy had to say, in a recent email exchange we had, about her plans for the near future:

I’ll be spending some winter months in Mexicali to paint for a group show come next March at FIFTY24SF, catch some baseball Caribbean series games and Mexicali “Soles” basketball games, spoil my ahijados [godsons] and eat some delicious Chinese food and Mariscos [Mexican seafood...yum!]. Oh! A friend and rad artist Shizu Saldamando recently hit me up about designing a Poketo wallet. She was asked to curate a series from various artists. I’m psyched about that because I’m not very resourceful so I’ve never had ANYTHING mass produced (not even like prints…oh I did have buttons once) anyway…yeah, so buy one once they come out so I don’t end up in the sad clearance rack (I don’t know when they’ll be printed up).

In the past, Poketo’s artist series of wallets have featured the art of Hannah Stouffer, Andrew Jeffrey Wright and Greg Lamarche, just to name a few, so this is a pretty exciting step for Mitsy and fans of her work! We’ll have her keep us posted about when those drop.

For now, check out Mitsy’s hand-written interview below and take a step into this artist’s world, after the jump!

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