Inside our Studio
We are a paper cutting artist and an illustrator/designer, whose mutual passion to create reigniting our artistic practice and sparked a mother and daughter collaboration.
Arts collaboration
For the past few years I have been incredibly lucky to work with my mum!
Our ‘Yola and Daria’ collaboration was conceived by me (Sam) from our home studio in Kallista while I was on maternity leave with my second daughter.
Mum's creative endeavour came to what felt to be a screeching halt, some years ago. Her unique style of paper-cut art mostly being enjoyed privately by family and friends, as she focused on being a single parent after a long and difficult journey to win that privilege (that in itself is a big interesting story).
For some time I had considered how wonderful it would be to collaborate with mum. This time as I again reflected on my creative journey and that of my mum who inspired me, I felt I finally had some time to reignite our passion and re visit that dream, by embarking on that journey together.
Our artistic journey is forging new family traditions, guided by our desire to preserve our Polish heritage and family history.
Our name
We love that our name is a conversation starter! Often we are asked who is who and where the names come from.
YOLA – is my mum Regina Jolanta Pawlowska. Most people know her and refer to her by her middle name shortened to 'Jola'. We interchanged the 'J' in her name for the 'Y' for this purpose, to make it easier for people to pronounce the name as it would be pronounced in Polish.
DARIA - is me, Samantha Daria Moon. Truth be told my name at birth was Daria, as a young migrant in Australia with a desire to blend in, I pick a more common name, so Samantha (inspired by 'Bewitched') was born. To most I known and referred to by Sam.
Journey so far
It has been wonderful to share our creative work with a much bigger audience then our family and close friend.
From our home studio in Kallista, nested in picturesque Dandenong Ranges, we create intricate hand-cut paper artworks. Inspired by our Polish heritage our artwork is derived from Polish ‘Wycinanki’ (pron. Vee-chee-none-kee) folk-art paper cut-outs.
We have extended this traditional art form by fusing mum’s intricate paper-cutting techniques with my designs and illustrations, to interpret the beauty of our environment, iconic buildings, myths and fairy tales.
Dandenong Ranges Open Studios
We have taken part in an incredible local program – Burrinja Cultural Centre led Dandenong Ranges Open Studios. Participating in this program gave us the confidence to show our work, it was a much needed confidence boost and a terrific way to kick-start showing our work.
Our prints
Since our first Open Studios we have shared our art through local shops Olinda Collective, Tall Tree Studios, Seven Pages and Belgrave Emporium.
Our ‘Yola and Daria’ limited edition art prints have been acquired by the National Trust Victoria, architect firm Woods Bagot, architectural consultants Built Heritage and RBA Architects and Conservation Consultants.
Stories Behind the Facade
In 2017 with Burrinja Cultural Centre as our auspice we took a shot at applying for grant funding made available to artists in our community through Yarra Ranges Grants for Community program.
We were successfully! The grant funding enabled us to produce work for 'Stories Behind the Facade', year long project.
In partnership with Yarra Ranges Council 'Stories Behind the Facade' will be exhibitied at Yarra Ranges Regional Museum during Sat 9 November 2019 – Sun 26 January 2020.
Where to from here?
In 2020 we look forward to re visiting our personal project of creating a series of fairy tales, making some new friends for our 'Little Red Riding Hood'.
We hope our artwork evokes memories and stories of your heritage, childhood, traditions and your journey! – YOLA and DARIA
To learn more about who we are please visit Meet the Artists Yola and Daria page, to see our creative experience head to Creative CV and if you would like to read a little more about what inspires us check out the Q&A at Beneath the Surface.