Zoe Keller is an illustrator exploring the intersection of art making, activism and the natural sciences. Zoe uses graphite to create highly detailed drawings that blend hints of narrative with images from the natural world. A Woodstock, New York native, Zoe is currently based in Portland, Oregon, where she spends most of her time drawing in her small home studio. She gathers inspiration from slow explorations of landscapes, hours spent thumbing through her growing field guide collection, and her memories of time spent in forests and on shores across the midwest and northeast.
“Research is a big part of my process. I like having some constraints when I go into a drawing; for example, I might only draw animals and plants that are endangered in the state of Oregon or stick to drawing flowers that grow on this one tract of prairie in the north-eastern corner of the state. These boundaries make a blank page more approachable, and also mean that I can step away from a finished drawing with a deeper understanding of the natural world, which is really the biggest reward. I go from research to small sketches to light under-drawings, then work from top left to bottom right finishing the drawing, and finally go back and adjust lights and darks across the whole thing.” – Zoe Keller (Light Grey Art Lab)
