Artists ~ Stephanie Izzo ~ Providence
Artist’s name: Stephanie Izzo
Business name: Blu Ink Press
Location: Providence and Manhattan
Website: bluinkpress.com & stephanieizzo.com
1. Tell us about your work/how did you come to be a professional artist?
For the past 10 years I guess you could say I have specialized in taking portraits of places. Then somewhere during the course of being a photographer I really became interested in graphic design, merging my photography with textures and type to create little works of art. All that playing around with colors and fonts led to the eventual creation of an inspirational greeting card line featuring mostly all my own photography (though some I licensed from other artists) and loads of bright, rich colors/interesting fonts and inspirational quotes.
2. Where do you draw your inspiration?
I draw inspiration from the most random and unexpected places. Sometimes a bus will go by with a certain lettering on it and I'll snap a pic of it with my cell phone so I won't forget the idea that got triggered in my brain. I also love vintage typography and hand lettering - I could browse through typography websites for hours and not get bored.
3. What’s your favorite item to photograph?
I love photographing butterflies. Their wings are exquisite.
4. What’s your best seller?
I have a line of Rhode Island postcards that is carried in about 30 stores throughout the state and it sells extremely well (Whole Foods Market, the Providence train station, the airport, stores in Newport, etc). If you're asking what sells best out of the greeting card line, there's a picture I took of a rainbow over Block Island with the quote: "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's learning to dance in the rain." People just LOVE that card!
5. How long have you been in Rhode Island?
was born and raised in Rhode Island and then moved to Massachusetts to study photography when I was 19. Then I moved back to the Ocean State and started photographing places or landmarks that caught my eye (almost like one big long portrait session of Rhode Island!) The photos I captured started selling and I began to establish myself as a "Rhode Island photographer." THEN about 5 years ago I decided to QUIT photography and move to NY to study acting. I went to acting school for about a year, but the whole time I was there I kept feeling like I should do a "portrait" of New York. So on all my off days I would wander around photographing the landmarks in the city. Ironically, in keeping with my short attention span, I quit acting school a month early and wound up publishing all the NY images I had collected into a line of postcards. Those sold so well that I was able to just make it a full time job. I truly did plan to pursue acting... I just got bored at that particular school (New York Film Academy) and planned on using the postcard $$ to hold me over so I wouldn't have to be a cocktail waitress in the interim... but like I said, as soon as I published the postcards and they started selling things kind of took off without me.
THEN, I kind of somehow made my way back to Rhode Island for about a year (back and forth between RI and the Big Apple) and I resumed the RI portrait session, this time with the goal of publishing my first book. That's when I published Rhode Island: Ocean Sites and City Lights, (about 2.5 years ago) which was a labor of love! They say once you leave RI you always come back. I've found it to be true. Luckily the book sold (and is selling) extremely well... I guess in a way the book was a tribute to the place where I first found my voice as a photographer... I was able to keep selling the NY postcards (and magnets) and the RI postcards and magnets, then I made a calendar of NY. I guess I just have a constant need to branch out into different areas and try new things. Right about when I got bored with souvenirs is when the idea for my greeting card line was born.
6. What do you {heart} about Rhode Island?
Three things:
A. The beaches are definitely some of the most beautiful I've seen anywhere.
B. The food. I love love love Rhode Island's Italian restaurants!
C. I love the fact that everyone knows everyone. It is a tiny state which makes coming back to it so much more personal. There are people I haven't talked to in years that when I pick up the phone and tell them I'm in Rhode Island for a day or two they're willing to get together for lunch or dinner that same day! It's a rarity to feel that sense of extended family... in other states where things are more spread out it can be alot harder to stay connected or get together with someone on a moment's notice.
7. Please include anything else you’d like to add:
Please check out my photography website (stephanieizzo.com) which shows the images of my Rhode Island photography book Ocean Sites and City Lights and of course, please check out my new web page: www.bluinkpress.com. Right now the line is so new that it's only just started to get picked up by stores but I am excited to say that we just recently placed the entire line of cards in the store Pleasant Surprise (www.pleasant-surprise.com) and they have locations on Thayer Street in Providence and Thames Street in Newport... there are other locations as well but Pleasant Surprise is such a fun store it's worth the trip just to check out all the other quirky/creative gifts that they carry!
Also, the greeting card line (and book) are special in that they were not only mostly inspired by Rhode Island (as you can see from the images in the card line, it's alot of beaches/lighthouses etc) but they are also all printed in Rhode Island at Meridian Printing (East Greenwich). So it keeps the business IN Rhode Island and doesn't source it out to another state or country... that's what makes it "especially" Rhode Island friendly. :)
Business name: Blu Ink Press
Location: Providence and Manhattan
Website: bluinkpress.com & stephanieizzo.com
1. Tell us about your work/how did you come to be a professional artist?
For the past 10 years I guess you could say I have specialized in taking portraits of places. Then somewhere during the course of being a photographer I really became interested in graphic design, merging my photography with textures and type to create little works of art. All that playing around with colors and fonts led to the eventual creation of an inspirational greeting card line featuring mostly all my own photography (though some I licensed from other artists) and loads of bright, rich colors/interesting fonts and inspirational quotes.
2. Where do you draw your inspiration?
I draw inspiration from the most random and unexpected places. Sometimes a bus will go by with a certain lettering on it and I'll snap a pic of it with my cell phone so I won't forget the idea that got triggered in my brain. I also love vintage typography and hand lettering - I could browse through typography websites for hours and not get bored.
3. What’s your favorite item to photograph?
I love photographing butterflies. Their wings are exquisite.
4. What’s your best seller?
I have a line of Rhode Island postcards that is carried in about 30 stores throughout the state and it sells extremely well (Whole Foods Market, the Providence train station, the airport, stores in Newport, etc). If you're asking what sells best out of the greeting card line, there's a picture I took of a rainbow over Block Island with the quote: "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's learning to dance in the rain." People just LOVE that card!
5. How long have you been in Rhode Island?
was born and raised in Rhode Island and then moved to Massachusetts to study photography when I was 19. Then I moved back to the Ocean State and started photographing places or landmarks that caught my eye (almost like one big long portrait session of Rhode Island!) The photos I captured started selling and I began to establish myself as a "Rhode Island photographer." THEN about 5 years ago I decided to QUIT photography and move to NY to study acting. I went to acting school for about a year, but the whole time I was there I kept feeling like I should do a "portrait" of New York. So on all my off days I would wander around photographing the landmarks in the city. Ironically, in keeping with my short attention span, I quit acting school a month early and wound up publishing all the NY images I had collected into a line of postcards. Those sold so well that I was able to just make it a full time job. I truly did plan to pursue acting... I just got bored at that particular school (New York Film Academy) and planned on using the postcard $$ to hold me over so I wouldn't have to be a cocktail waitress in the interim... but like I said, as soon as I published the postcards and they started selling things kind of took off without me.
THEN, I kind of somehow made my way back to Rhode Island for about a year (back and forth between RI and the Big Apple) and I resumed the RI portrait session, this time with the goal of publishing my first book. That's when I published Rhode Island: Ocean Sites and City Lights, (about 2.5 years ago) which was a labor of love! They say once you leave RI you always come back. I've found it to be true. Luckily the book sold (and is selling) extremely well... I guess in a way the book was a tribute to the place where I first found my voice as a photographer... I was able to keep selling the NY postcards (and magnets) and the RI postcards and magnets, then I made a calendar of NY. I guess I just have a constant need to branch out into different areas and try new things. Right about when I got bored with souvenirs is when the idea for my greeting card line was born.
6. What do you {heart} about Rhode Island?
Three things:
A. The beaches are definitely some of the most beautiful I've seen anywhere.
B. The food. I love love love Rhode Island's Italian restaurants!
C. I love the fact that everyone knows everyone. It is a tiny state which makes coming back to it so much more personal. There are people I haven't talked to in years that when I pick up the phone and tell them I'm in Rhode Island for a day or two they're willing to get together for lunch or dinner that same day! It's a rarity to feel that sense of extended family... in other states where things are more spread out it can be alot harder to stay connected or get together with someone on a moment's notice.
7. Please include anything else you’d like to add:
Please check out my photography website (stephanieizzo.com) which shows the images of my Rhode Island photography book Ocean Sites and City Lights and of course, please check out my new web page: www.bluinkpress.com. Right now the line is so new that it's only just started to get picked up by stores but I am excited to say that we just recently placed the entire line of cards in the store Pleasant Surprise (www.pleasant-surprise.com) and they have locations on Thayer Street in Providence and Thames Street in Newport... there are other locations as well but Pleasant Surprise is such a fun store it's worth the trip just to check out all the other quirky/creative gifts that they carry!
Also, the greeting card line (and book) are special in that they were not only mostly inspired by Rhode Island (as you can see from the images in the card line, it's alot of beaches/lighthouses etc) but they are also all printed in Rhode Island at Meridian Printing (East Greenwich). So it keeps the business IN Rhode Island and doesn't source it out to another state or country... that's what makes it "especially" Rhode Island friendly. :)
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