Alumni Spotlight: Carly Thaw – Rome Art Program

Alumni Spotlight:

Carly Thaw

Carly Thaw (RAP 2017) is a watercolor and ink pen illustrator from West Virginia, currently living in Montana. Her focus is natural landscapes while incorporating human influence and regional identity. She believes in the storytelling power of art and uses that to find the points of pride in history, culture, landscape, and plant and animal life of different areas around the U.S. and abroad. Carly received her B.A. in Graphic Design with a concentration in Printmaking from American University, Washington, D.C..

Rome Art Program: How did your time with RAP influence your work?

Carly: RAP introduced me in a more serious manner to my now primary medium – watercolor. I still use the metal travel case and paint (or what’s left of it anyway) that I got in Rome. I spent a long time trying to figure out where my work fit, and my experience at RAP helped me learn that narrative based illustration is what I really love.

RAP: What was your favorite place in Rome and why?

Carly: The Villa Borghese gardens. I remember Carole explaining the healing quality of trees and that really spoke to me. My home of West Virginia is like a jungle, so the lack of trees in Rome was quite a shock to me. The experience of painting, sitting up against a dusty tree and looking out over the ponds, focusing on the quality of the much more arid trees, flipped a switch in my mind and my focus has been on the stories of the land and its life ever since.

RAP: What are you working on now? What are your hopes for the future?

Carly: I just finished up illustrating an early chapter book by Kathleen M. Jacobs and am preparing to illustrate a children’s book by a different author in the coming year. I am also working on a series of large watercolor illustrations depicting the beautiful landscapes and outdoor recreation activities of the mountains. I am focusing on the Appalachian Mountains and Rocky Mountains so far with hopes to expand that project to other mountain ranges in the US and abroad (travel permitting).

RAP: What has been your biggest art success since studying in Rome?

Carly: I completed the New River Gorge creative residency in West Virginia in January of 2020, and illustrated my first book soon thereafter which has now been released.

RAP: What is your advice for future RAP students?

Carly: Take pride in your work, stay true to yourself and don’t be afraid to adjust your path (or take a little advice now and then). There’s always room to learn. Keep looking inward for your journey and unbiasedly outward for your inspiration.

carlythaw.com
@outthaw_