Four Magnet artists Raquel Aparicio, Eleanor Grosch, Emiliano Ponzi, and Catell Ronca created illustrations for the Italian charitable organization Arcobaleno.  The organization benefits families and individuals who are struggling to find employment.  Raquel, Eleanor, Emiliano, and Catell joined 8 other artists to create a calendar that illustrates the struggles of the people Arcobaleno seeks to help.

Catell Ronca is today’s featured member on Alternative Pick, an award-winning website founded to link creative professionals to the best illustrators, photographers and designers in the commercial art industry.  Visit the Altpick.com home page to see the featured spread and click through to her profile to see the rest of her portfolio.

Catell Ronca recently illustrated for Utne Reader‘s Pass the Populism piece. Pass the Populism is an excerpt from Ana Maria Spagna’s book, Potluck: Community on the Edge of Wilderness, about the human connection to place and the everyday gatherings that can come to define a community.

Catell Ronca’s tribute to singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse was recently featured on Jazz and Draw, a website that showcases musically influenced illustrations.  Inspired by the song Just Friends, Catell’s striking portrait captures the spirit of the singer and her music.

Catell Ronca is one of 44 artists featured in Julia Rothman’s recently released book Drawn In: A Peek Into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers and Cartoonists (Quarry Books). In the book, each of the high-profile artists share their personal sketchbooks where they brainstorm, doodle, develop and work on ideas, capturing the artist’s personalities and offering a glimpse into their creative process and inspirations.

Catell Ronca’s cover illustration for John Mullan’s book Anonymity: A Secret History of English Literature was chosen to be in Rockport’s recently released title The Best of Cover Design. Compiled by San Francisco’s Altitude Associates, the book features about 350 covers, each chosen for their initial visual impact and effectiveness in conveying the message within. It is available now.

Catell Ronca illustrated a book cover for Swedish publisher Studieförbundet Vuxenskolan.  The book, titled Den Trebenta Pallen, focuses on Africa’s relationship with Europe and Sweden.

Catell Ronca’s use of striking hot colors, bold shapes, patterns and hand-lettering invites the viewer to engage on a direct emotional level with her unique illustrations. Inspired by international vernacular, her work reflects a window into her world, the very global city of London, and the many cities she has travelled to. Her art is alive with lush, vivid botanicals, environments rich with culture, and thought provoking characters that are gentle and playful, a little bit peculiar, and never lack a subtle sense of humor.

Her travels around the globe are a vital source of inspiration, she loves observing people on the streets and markets of London’s multi-ethnic neighborhoods (and listening to the various accents). Other inspirations include antique shops, car boot sales, markets (even supermarkets), fusions of any kind, contradictions, and interiors.

Described as elegant, impressive and delicious, her artwork was featured in Nicole Vernon’s recent posting for the hip London art and design blog The Young Bloods, which went on to say “Her illustrations span a wide variety of influences – everything from psychology and nature to cooking and cats – and she has a distinctive sense of intelligent narrative and wit. Combine this with a delicious colour palette and you’re getting close to understanding the charm and elegance of Catell’s images.” Lost At E-Minor‘s Ilana Kohn says “I’ve been admiring her colorful, deceptively simple illustrations and paintings ever since . . . I first stumbled across them.”

Born on Christmas Day to French and Swiss parents in Basel, Switzerland, Catell now lives and works in London where she studied illustration and graduated from the Royal College of Art. In short order she received an impressive commission to illustrate a series of six postage stamps with the of theme of Britain’s multicultural society and cuisine for the British Royal Mail. With the Queen’s approval of her artwork, the stamps were launched.

Catell has illustrated a number of book covers for respected publishers, both novels and children’s picture books. Her recent work for the The New York Botanical Garden included an animated tv spot as well as a number of other advertising and promotion materials. She has worked with a wide variety of clients in book publishing, magazines and newspapers, advertising and art licensing from the US, Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland and Japan. Her impressive list of international clients includes The New York Botanical Garden, Penguin, Princeton University Press, SpotCo, The Guardian, and Royal Mail. She finds time to teach illustration at universities in London and enjoys being able to guide the talent of future illustrators.

CATELL LOVES – Travel, she has been to: Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Scotland, Mongolia, Russia, Germany, Mexico, USA, Oman, Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Hungary, Poland and Portugal. Color, coffee on a hot summer day, the dawn of each new season, the smell of cat fur, Purple Basil, Passion Flower, the Century Plant, artist Grayson Perry, collecting folklore ceramic bowls, blini with smoked salmon, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai and Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, cooking, and two sweet cats.

PERSONAL WORK – Inspired by her travels in Mongolia, Catell has been working on a children’s book and is close to finishing. She has also set herself to the task of creating a series of posters that visually document many of the fascinating objects exhibited in small museums around London. The first being Henry Wellcome’s Medicine Man at the Wellcome Trust, which can be seen here.

AWARDS + PUBLICATION – Catell’s work has been awarded by a number of juried competitions including – Society of Illustrators 52, Association of Illustrators Images 30, and Society of Illustrators Los Angeles Illustration West 49. Her work has been featured in the art books The Exquisite Book (Quarry, edited by Julia Rothman), The Atlas of Illustration (Page One, Singapore, by Claire Dalquie), and Drawn In (Quarry, edited by Julia Rothman). She has been showcased on numerous blogs including Lost at E-Minor, Ape on the Moon, and The Young Blood Project.

LINKS – her site – http://www.catellronca.co.uk/
her portfolio – http://www.magnetreps.com/portfolio/artist/21/type/a/
her studio – http://www.magnetreps.com/studio/artist/21/
her store – http://catellronca.bigcartel.com/

Catell Ronca, Emiliano Ponzi, Nate Williams and Red Nose Studio each had work accepted into the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles‘ annual exhibition. This year over 1600 pieces were entered with selected entries being exhibited on the SILA website and at an exhibition at Alhambra’s Gallery Nucleus later this month. Red Nose Studio received two Gold Awards in the Advertising and Self-Promotional categories, while Emiliano received a Silver Award in the Editorial category. Congratulations go out to all!

Red Nose Studio, Personal Work, GOLD AWARD

Red Nose Studio, Penfield Children’s Center, GOLD AWARD

Red Nose Studio, Blasted Church Vineyards, HONORABLE MENTION

Red Nose Studio, Personal Work

Emiliano Ponzi, Stella Magazine, SILVER AWARD

Emiliano Ponzi, La Repubblica, HONORABLE MENTION

Emiliano Ponzi, The New York Times

Emiliano Ponzi, Newsweek

Emiliano Ponzi, La Repubblica

Emiliano Ponzi, Los Angeles Times

Emiliano Ponzi, Middlebury

Nate Williams, Hola Amiga

Nate Williams, Personal Work

Nate Williams, Michigan State University

Catell Ronca, Personal Work

Catell Ronca is participating in the group show, Happiness at Work, at The Print House Gallery in London. The show features the work of past and present occupants of the Happiness at Work studio, which has hosted some of London’s best-known artists and designers since it’s inception in 2003.

Catell, who occupied the studio between 2003 and 2006, will be exhibiting her piece Medicine Man, a tribute to British-American pharmacist, entrepreneur and collector of medicinal objects, Sir Henry Wellcome.

The show runs until November 15th, 2010 and also includes the work of Simone Lia, Sarah Horne, Harriet Russell and Sandra Howgate, among others.

The Print House Gallery 18 Ashwin St., London UK