Papaver Studio is the brainchild of Maggie Kearns. It is the umbrella under which everything she loves to create can shelter and find a home. Currently her two loves are Papaver Jewelry, and Tigerpup Embroidery.
Maggie is a born and raised Portland Oregon native. She went to Grant High School, and was even an extra in Mr. Holland’s Opus (but you can’t see her in any of the shots). Maggie graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2001 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. She thought about moving after college, but couldn’t think of a place as wonderful as Portland to live, so she bought a house and stayed put.
Her art reflects her life and her city. Portland is a place that takes its art, crafts, recycling, and whimsy very seriously, and her and her art fits right in. Maggie’s work is heavily influenced by her life, which means lots of drawings of chickens and flowers, dogs and cupcakes, monsters, robots, and unicorns. Local legend has it that Portland was built on an ancient unicorn burial ground. Reoccurring themes in Maggie’s work are of urban farming, spaceships, sea creatures, and pets.
Maggie likes bright colors and sparkles, and it shows in her work. Her bottlecap line for Papaver Jewelry is all bright colors and glitter. Each bottlecap contains a whimsical little drawing on brightly colored paper surrounded by colored glue and glitter. Her metal charms sparkle with colored glass eyes. Every piece she makes is touched by happiness and humor.
Tigerpup Embroidery has been a bit of a departure from Papaver Jewelry. When the embroidery line came along Maggie realized that she needed a new name to do all her business under, and that is when Papaver Studio LLC was born. Thematically, the embroidery and jewelry lines are the same. They are both drawn by Maggie, after all! The influences are the same, and many of the ideas work well for both embroidery and jewelry. If a crafty person loves chickens, they are probably going to want a chicken bottlecap pin, and chicken images to embroider!
Tigerpup came about when Maggie was looking around for an octopus image to embroider. It was a real light bulb moment when she realized that she could just draw one! And then she thought about all the other images she could draw that she wanted to embroider, and Tigerpup was born that day. The embroidery line is named after her puppy Opal, who is indeed a tiger-striped, caramel pup.
Maggie lives in a tiny cottage in Southeast Portland with her husband (and high school sweetheart) Jonah, two dogs, one cat, seven chickens, and two ducks. When she’s not working on jewelry or embroidery patterns, she is taking care of her small urban farm and crafting with her friends.
