ANTHER KILEY MFA 13 GD
CARDKITS
Based in Providence, RI
*Emerging Artist Award Winner, 2019
How does your current creative practice tie into your time spent at RISD?
I currently divide my time between teaching in the Graphic Design Department at RISD, doing freelance graphic design work, and developing Cardkits, the line of toys I am exhibiting at RISD Craft. Although only my freelance design practice directly applies a classic set of graphic design skills, all of these activities are enabled by my graphic design training. My Cardkits project, in particular, was shaped and framed by the ideas I explored in my master’s thesis at RISD. My thesis research explored the intersection of utopian spaces, play, and aesthetics, and Cardkits exist exactly at this intersection.
Tell us about some of your main sources of inspiration.
The direct inspiration for Cardkits are the elaborate toy cities I built for myself as a child. I grew up in an artistic family without many commercial toys, and started building my own when I was around 9 years old. Eventually I had constructed an entire miniature world, in elaborate detail.Like many children’s toys, my world functioned as a safe, bounded spaces where I could freely explore aspects of my environment that fascinated me—urban spaces, infrastructure, and all the visible and invisible systems that make the world tick. These systems, and their artifacts and aesthetics, have always been my real inspiration, both then and now.
Is there a work/body of work that you are particularly excited about sharing with us at RISD Craft this year?
I’ll be sharing pre-production editions of Cardkits, my line of children’s toys, along with prototypes of kits that will be available in the future.Cardkits combine the hands-on rewards of traditional build-it-yourself toys with the appeal of creative world building. Each kit consists of a set of printed and pre-cut card stock parts that assemble into one element of a miniature world. The kits assemble quickly and easily, and once assembled, are full of interactive moments that invite play. Cardkits are ethically and environmentally responsible toys. They are produced locally, in RI and NH, using sustainably sourced paper, and are 100% recyclable.
How have you dealt with the challenge of maintaining a creative practice that feeds your soul but also helps pay the bills?
This year has been an experiment in re-balancing my practice. Previously, I had been teaching full time and co-directing a design program. It was a rewarding position, but also utterly consuming! I struggled to integrate my position as the director and representative of a design program, with an eccentric personal practice that was not directly engaged with hot button conversations in the field of graphic design. I’m now teaching part time, freelancing occasionally, and working on my Cardkits toy line all the time. It’s a situation that has allowed me to apply myself to all the aspects of my practice with new energy and authenticity. I’ve relinquished some financial and schedule security, but the rewards have been worth it.
Any recent press, exhibitions, achievements or awards you’d like to share with us?
Yes! Cardkits debut with a show at World’s Fair Gallery in Providence on Saturday September 14, followed by a Kickstarter launch on Tuesday, September 17.
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Follow Cardkits on Instagram: @cardkits
To see more of Anther’s work, visit cardkitstoys.com.
