Kym Fulmer intentionally blurs the line between hands-on and digital manipulation, which is how she went about creating this month’s magazine cover. She began with a physical sketch in marker — “I used some of my professional markers and some of my son’s dried-up Crayolas” — then incorporated photoreal imagery, smudged some lines, and played with color palettes. The almost sultry end result speaks to the kind of summer that we want to have.
Fulmer, the mother of a 9-year-old boy and a frequent teacher of block-printing and other kinds of art classes, is based in Springs, which has a long history of hospitality toward artists. Educated at the University of California in San Diego and at New York’s School of Visual Arts, she loves to spend her days looking at things and thinking about how they are made. She can spend hours on end in a museum and dreams of seeing her designs on beach towels, swim trunks, shirts, and bags. She notices the art in everyday things, right down to children’s books and consumer-goods packaging.
“I like to do work that is figurative and recognizable but also stylish and fun,” Fulmer, 48, says when asked to describe her style. “Whimsical is overused — but maybe a little childlike? Technically good, neat and clean and simple.”
Fulmer often has pieces on view, for sale, at the Greenport Brewery tasting room, the Golden Eagle Art Supply store in East Hampton, Mind Offline in Sag Harbor, and touchGOODS in Southold. Find her online on Etsy, at kymfulmer.com, and on Instagram at @kymfulmer.