Everyone knows what a turkey looks like, right? Sure. However, when tasked with illustrating a magazine story about the King family and their poultry farm in Southampton, Kym Fulmer, the Springs artist whose bright-eyed gobblers are on the cover of this edition of East, wanted to make sure she got it exactly right, so she paid a visit to North Sea Farms to look at the birds up close (and buy some vegetables).
The outcome is a truly charming illustration that captures the curiosity, innocence, and skepticism in the turkeys’ expressions. In their eyes we see them asking: Who is this visitor? Why is she looking at us this way? Does she have any snacks? They clucked and gurgled sweetly at her, perhaps sensing her good intentions. This poultry portrait helps us see these birds in a different light: They’re not just sacrificial farm produce bound for the oven — they have personality!
Three Heritage Turkeys is a digital drawing inspired by Fulmer’s favorite printmaking methods, linoleum and wood block. Her tools were digital brushes that added layers of depth, kind of like how ink makes textured paper look and feel. The editors of East felt the final product was too good to tuck away on an inside page, so we made it our cover. You may remember Fulmer for the Ray-Ban-on-repeat sunglasses she created for our cover last summer. In addition to being a fine artist, she works for an interior designer and is currently creating a personal collection of original patterns for wall coverings and fabrics. We can’t wait to gobble those up, too.