Stéphanie Boulay is a graphic and visual artist specializing in visual identity, publishing, and creative workshops focused on collage and the reuse of materials, combining design with an eco-friendly artistic approach.
My name is Anh Mai, and I’m a multidisciplinary artist. I originally attended design school, then worked in the fashion industry, specifically in window display design. In recent years, I’ve made a major career shift by training in textile and surface pattern design: a world that’s very colorful, botanical, illustrative, naive, and joyful.
I’m self-employed now, but it was really after that training that I started looking for a studio. Before that, in fashion, I worked in visual merchandising, and at the same time, I had set up my first business offering graphic design, visual identity, and illustration.
That venture didn’t last long, as I then joined the luxury sector as an employee. After a few years, I’d seen it all, and that’s when I refocused on drawing, which remains my guiding thread.
Today, my work revolves around three main areas:
That’s when I took the plunge, and boom, I found my studio.
I’ve been here for three years now; I was one of the first residents.
Having a space dedicated to creativity was essential for me, because I didn’t necessarily have the space I needed at home. I can’t function in “nomadic mode”: I need a fixed place for my materials, my tools, my world.
But beyond that, there’s the need to break out of isolation. It’s incredibly important to connect with others. At Les Bains Douches, it’s wonderful to be able to alternate between moments of personal focus and moments of interaction. We build bridges between disciplines; we collaborate; we share. There’s a real creative buzz here, and it’s inspiring to see others growing right alongside you.
As freelancers, we help each other out a lot: sometimes, just sharing a cup of coffee gives me the energy I need for the day. And I’ve lived in Fontenay for a long time—I grew up here—so I’m thrilled to see a vibrant space that’s open to the neighborhood and is making things happen here.
Right now, I’m working on a large-scale group exhibition project with a group of women artists. We’ve exhibited together before, but this time we want to explore large-scale work. I work mainly with landscapes—or rather, mental landscapes: the idea isn’t to depict a real place, but to convey an emotion. I’m moving more and more toward abstraction, while staying within something very emotional, often repetitive, using pencil or watercolor.
Our goal is to find a venue in Paris for this exhibition. We all have different practices: collage, painting, printmaking, various mediums; but we’re seeking to create a unity among our works, as we did last year. One of my paintings, titled “Acidité douce,” is done entirely in watercolor; it starts with a landscape and shifts toward abstraction. I like it when everyone sees what they want to see in it; it’s very sensory, almost meditative.
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