Biljana Kroll has worked in various design fields from graphic design to art direction and product design, where she developed a broad range of capabilities. Her process involves a mix of traditional and digital techniques, as she often layers scanned ink and watercolor drawings with computer-generated coloring techniques. She holds a Masters of Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art and Design as well as a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Marywood University. Over the past decade, she has built an eclectic portfolio of graphic design examples, textile prints, hand-drawn lettering, and fashion illustration among the rest. She enjoys teaching and sharing her design processes and techniques with others, as she has written and self-published textbooks and tutorial videos available at inasemester.com

Her latest work from the series “Next of Kin” consists of digital prints that explore powerful forces such as love and loss. Underlying “Memento Mori” theme of the transience of earthly matters flows through the work as flowers can be seen not only as having an aesthetic appeal but also as metaphors for life itself. Within these modern still-life collages, Kroll has found a way to communicate a gamut of emotions that surround adverse times. Personal interest in symbolic 16th-century floral still-life paintings of European origin amalgamates with vigorous abstract paintings that originated in many finger painting sessions with her toddler son. Within the layout, vector-based shapes allude to the digital tools used just as the cracuelure pattern alludes of the oil paints used in the original paintings. The flowers’ delicately painted petals get lost in virulent and vibrant strokes of jewel hues. The original, balanced arrangements have been replaced with dynamic ones, while few stray geometric shapes allow for a visual “break” within the chaos for the eye to rest. Kroll’s digital still-life series remixes the old with the new; the refined with the rudimentary; in creating a collection of personal mementos.

“Next of Kin” series of prints have been used as the starting point of her new collection of home decor items currently available at DENY Designs online store at denydesigns.com. To see more of this series and other works please visit biljanakroll.com