Hello!
Edelweiss Cardenas is a Mexican-American illustrator based in New York City. She is known for her vivid and organic art style, working both with traditional materials and digital techniques. Her artwork captures the intricate details of people, animals, and natural forms, bringing them to life with a blend of precision and artistry. Edelweiss is known for rich colors that are present in every feature of her work. Her stylized forms are present in her books and comics where she uses a very unique and fluid way to place panels and spot illustrations. She excels at using visual representation to skillfully narrate captivating stories.
To get in touch for projects or collaborations, or if you just want to say hi, send an email to: edelweisscardenas@gmail.com
Artist Statement
Art helps me decipher feelings as they bubble up to the surface and get muddled with external experiences. My practice grounds me in the present and allows me to reflect on what is happening around me. Through this process of reflection, I use drawing and painting to explore themes of family and nature, and the feelings of grief and joy that come from them. In my practice, I prefer working with traditional mediums like ink, watercolor, tempera paint stick, and acrylic. Producing with tangible materials links me directly to my nervous system as well as the natural surroundings. Loose and gestural landscapes highlighting the figure with lines are forms that I revisit because they enable me to get a sense of the larger scene while focusing on a protagonist message.
Family lore, be it personal stories, traditions, or embellished anecdotes, influence my narrative illustrations because of the humor that always accompanies any account from our past. Through my own experience of repeatedly moving between Mexico and the United States as a young child, I had a hard time adapting to each place. Languages are more easily attainable when you’re young but the nuances of everyday life and behavior is something that can’t be taught. What did help throughout this time were my mother’s words, her hilarious bedtime stories, and her recounting of joyous and silly memories of our family in Mexico. Her family tales linked me to loving memories of home and smoothed my nerves as I stepped into new grounds.
Natural landscapes and animals also feed my creative brain through the many colors, textures, and shapes they encompass. I absorb these inspirations by experiencing them in person as well as through more directed research. Viewing the organic world also provides chronicles of our past, our present, and our possible future. Moments like that can cause anxiety but also appreciation. It is this kind of dichotomy of feelings that I want to reflect in my work.
In my current work, the base of the illustrations are made up of tempera paint stick strokes that sway in different directions, while colored markers are used to delineate the details in the environment. Color pencils and markers are used to depict figures and animals and illustrate their characteristics. These recent images evoke family memories in lush landscapes of my hometown of Comala, Mexico as well as portraits of animals and landscapes I inhabit. My hope is that my work reminds the viewer of the beauty of childhood and how nature and loved ones can fulfill one’s needs.
Currently I am working on a picture book that follows the story of Mama Concha, a passionate comedic storyteller and a grandmother who struggles to get her family’s attention when the futbol game is on TV. The book will use humor to talk about the importance of family, dreams, and perseverance.