Beatrice Schlegel
B.A. (hons.), M.A., MCIL
Beatrice is an Swiss experienced translator at BEATranslation Services, based in North Wales. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. See her website and contact her here
Beatrice is also the co-ordinator of the North Wales Swiss Society.
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Viki (V) Metzler
is a Cartoonist, Painter, and Illustrator
Website: https://www.vikicartoons.com
https://www.facebook.com/Vikicartoons/
• Viki, you grew up in Zurich, now living in Wales. Tell me what brought you here?
• V: In my twenties, I did a postgraduate in Character Animation at Central Saint Martins in London. During that time I met my boy’s dad who later got a job in Wales and so we moved here in 2012. My mum is British, so as a kid we used to holiday in Wales…where my granny is from…its positively spooky I ended up living here!
• How did you become interested in cartoons?
* V: Since I remember I drew, made and wrote stuff to express my self. My mum has a lot of Gary Larson and other Cartoon books which I love, so I guess it was exposure at a young age! After receiving an education as a nurse (a proper job as my parents put it) I worked 4 years as a mosaic maker in Zurich before I went to London to do a postgraduate in Character Animation at Central Saint Martins, as my love for drawing and cartooning won overhand. With life’s twists and turns I am so happy now to be doing what I do.
• What are you working on currently?
* V: At the moment I am busy illustrating posters for one of TATA STEEL’s Trostre plant in Llanelli. They visualize the safety hazards for the workers on the plant in a cartoony, colorful way. And then I have 3 painting commissions waiting in the pipeline…all of them cartoony portraits which will be fun to do.
• What do you want to transmit to the spectator via your work?
* V: I would like to transmit awareness, humor, joy, beauty…put smiles on peoples faces..even if it’s just for a moment in our busy lives. If I can achieve that with my work then that would be wonderful. Whenever I am down for some reason, its often music, a cartoon, a painting, poem, book..basically some form of art… that lifts my spirit. With the cartoons, I can point out issues, visualize a thought, make people think…its a good tool for creating awareness, something I would like to do much more of.
• Talking about spirit…where do you get your inspiration from?
* V: If I put my mind to some topic I usually get an idea pretty soon..I have no idea how that works. Sometimes ideas…especially for the paintings …just pop into my head. I have worked in so many jobs (as a Nurse, an Aid worker in Croatia, a German Teacher in the Czech Republic, Receptionist in a Privat Bank, Mosaik maker…then I had a dog walking business for 7 years in Central London. And then, of course, having my son. Throughout all I have done, I have always been doing cartoons besides that… because life, people, stories, music… everything is fantastically inspiring.
Website: https://www.vikicartoons.com
FB https://www.facebook.com/vikicatoons
