Spring Creations Winner!
CONGRATULATIONS to KRISTINA KNOWSKI
of SFC Gallery; Michigan City, IN
Congratulations to Kristina Knowski on the first Bella Creations Contest win of 2019. Kristina’s inventive stack of the red and white checkered Zoot Suit with a striped veneer cap from the Renzo collection is the perfect juxtaposition for this print from the popular Japanese anime story Princess Mononoke.
Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was the first animated movie to win best picture at the Japanese Oscars. The film broke box office records in Japan, earning $134 million which beat out E.T. for title of highest box office. Also the film is remarkable in that it is made with almost exclusively hand-drawn cels. Says the director, “Computers are really just an electronic pen or pencil - and I like regular pencils better.” Me too, Hayao. Me too.
This particular print belongs to Kristina’s sister who told her, “Do whatever you want”. Since you have to trust your sibling, Kristina had free rein to design something special and out of the box for this fun print. They wanted a design that was in keeping with the primitive island feel of the print and that stayed within the muted color story.
Although the frame stack is a design of print on print mixing busy checks and stripes, the limited color palette does not overwhelm the artwork. The pattern and textures in the two frames also compliment the organic background and the geometric boldness of the tribal mask worn by the title character.
Kristina has used the Zoot Suit collection before and has always found it to be a winner! The combination with the Renzo is unexpected but it works. Kristina says her winning design is a great example of how she uses Bella to offer unique, elevated and special custom framing. Huge congrats to Kristina for her ingenuity and innovation. I have not seen Princess Mononoke but I am inspired now to learn more and check it out!
Kristina is the first entry in the grand prize contest for a free trip to WCAF Vegas in January 2020! The summer Creations Contest will be coming up soon, so be sure to snap a good picture of your latest and greatest framing projects incorporating a Bella or Prisma frame.
Until then, happy framing!
