teacher feature :: kayte terry

Leave it to Kayte Terry to make everything even more creative! In addition to responding to my wee questionnaire below (so we could all get to know her a bit better) she goes and makes this super fun banner for us which is a project straight out of her new book, PAPER MADE!*

As anyone who follows along with Kayte on her blog knows, this is a woman who never stops seeing the creative potential in anything. There is a reason she is the merchandising manager for ANTHROPOLOGIE -- I mean somebody's gotta come up with all that cool schtuff they display in their windows, around the store-- oh and the catalogs aren't gonna style themselves, now are they?

This September, Kayte is offering a most wonderful class on Color & Composition that I am totally gonna try and sneak into . . but first I wanted you to get to know her a bit more.

One of my favorite memories from last September was coming up along the lake on one of those narrow hidden paths and there was Kayte, sitting on a large slab of granite with sunshine filtering down through the tall pines spreading out all around her. She put down her sketchbook where she'd been scribbling and looked up at me, and said, "I'm blissing out."

I was both surprised and relieved. Surprised, because I thought she was the uber-urban NYC girl who might not like the woods. Relieved, because I am always happy when people find their own perfect space at Squam.

Turns out, Kayte loves pine trees, mountains and lakes. Who knew? Let's find out what else we didn't know about this lovely creativa. . .

:: :: ::

Did you have a nickname as a kid?

Oh-so-many. My parents have always been prolific nicknamers. Over the years, my name morphed from Kayte to Kmart to K-Martian to Martini.

When my mom is feeling sassy she calls me K-Mart, Queen of the Nile. At school, I was fondly known as Crunchberry.

Best things to do at a carnival?

I think my favorite thing about carnivals is that it reminds me of being a kid.

I grew up in a big Italian neighborhood and every year, the church would have a feast with rides and games and carnival food. The smell of popcorn, candy and fried dough (or pizza frite if you're italian american), the strains of Bon Jovi and Guns n Roses playing into the night, that dizzy hope that I would run into my latest crush, the Feast was my favorite weekend of the summer.

Now I think I would be the girl at the carnival that takes artsy Instagram photos.

What are the key items to have in the car on a road trip?

Good music. Good company Good snacks. A sense of adventure!

Smells and tastes that make you think of summer?

Besides the aforementioned carnival food, the ultimate tastes of summer are grilled corn, fresh tomatoes, burgers, lobsters, soft serve ice cream and sprinkles.

Can you tell I think about food a lot?

In the non-food realm: Coppertone lotion, the salt air of the ocean and wild roses; that's what I want summer to smell like. Unfortunately in the big city, summer rarely smells so good.