Meet the Artist: Darcy Kelly-Laviolette

Illustrating the 2024 Winter Sarasota Opera Season

September 2023 | Featured Photo by Jordan Kelly-Laviolette

As Executive Creative Director of Sarasota Scene, I have the fun task each month of designing the magazine, and I love it. But my first love is illustration—that’s where my heart is. As a natural visual storyteller, I’ve been creating since I was young. I have grown up drawing, creating, and building creatures, inventing stories, and deeply admiring creation of all kinds. This passion and skillset were honed to a professional level at Ringling College of Art and Design through my Bachelor’s degree in Illustration / Minor in Business of Art and Design.

Since graduating, I’ve not only been lucky enough to work my way up the ranks at Sarasota Scene, but I’ve had a variety of clientele that allow me to pursue exciting and versatile projects outside of my day job. I often joke that I live a double life, since many of my freelance clients range from video game companies to book covers to metal bands. Anything that offers an enticing visual language, or a thrilling concept that I can run with and represent in an engaging way feeds my creativity.

So when Stephen Baker, Marketing Director at Sarasota Opera, asked if I would illustrate for the operas in its upcoming season, I jumped at the chance.

This season, the Opera highlights the thrilling tales of Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, L’infedeltà delusa, and Luisa Miller, all of which offer versatile and dramatic themes of love, loss, and passion—and all of which are visually and conceptually rich. Because of this, it was an exciting task to tackle.

I should start off by saying the whole team at Sarasota Opera is incredible to work with, not only in terms of allowing for creative freedom, but also in general efficiency, and a succinct vision of what they wanted to see represented for what will without a doubt be another great season. It truly made this project a collaborative effort. 

Being a borderline opera-novice, I started by watching ample videos of the operas, listening to the songs, and generally familiarizing myself with the stories and cultural backgrounds. Some of the operas were easier to tackle than others—for instance, Carmen in my head was an instant no-brainer. Once I finished the second act, my mind immediately went to the striking red dress, the iconic dance, and the beauty of the liberated woman. 

L’infedeltà delusa, being the most colorful illustration, turned out to be one of the more difficult pieces. Having so many moving parts and characters in the opera, it was hard to capture in one image. But with the help and feedback of Executive Director Richard Russell, we settled on showing off the beautiful countryside where the story takes place.

Luisa Miller was a bit of a treat, since I got to really flesh out the environment in which Luisa writes the fateful letter to her lover. Generally, in my illustrations, I love hiding easter eggs that convey the story further—things that lovers of that story will recognize when they really look at it. The illustration for Luisa Miller is no exception. Can you find them? 

Lastly, Lucia di Lammermoor was my personal favorite. Coming into the project, I wasn’t expecting some of the darker themes that Lucia provided. Anyone who’s seen my personal illustrations know that “dark” is where I tend to lean, but finding a balance between conveying the thrilling drama of Lucia’s iconic breakdown, while still being palatable to the average viewer was one of the challenges.

While this exciting project with Sarasota Opera was my most recent, I keep active in my industry over multiple facets. My work here at the magazine designing engaging content for our readers feeds my left-brain love of puzzles (any of our employees will tell you putting the magazine together is definitely a puzzle!) as well as my love of pretty, high end, luxe content. I also feel blessed to be able to keep up some of my illustration roots on the side. Graduating from Ringling College, I initially wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted to venture­—whether it be concept art, editorial illustration, creature design, or one of the other exciting industries Ringling trained us for—but now that I’m reaching my 6-year anniversary with the magazine, I’m always grateful to have such well-rounded experience, the kind of experience you only get from a small business. While it sometimes feels like I’m always busy (and I am), all I can say is my days (and nights) are filled with doing the things I love best!

To view more of my illustrations, paintings, and sculpts, or to enquire about a commission, please visit www.DarcyKellyL.com.