We interviewed Susie Hammer, illustrator and graphic artist born in Warsaw (Poland) and based in Madrid since a few years ago.
Susie Hammer ‘s cheerful and colorful style captivates us and immerses us in a parallel dimension, Pop and Naïf inspired , where all things – living beings and everyday objects – have faces and eyes .
Susie Hammer, child artist
PLOM: Did you draw as a child?
When did you start drawing? SUSIE: All I did as a child was draw, paint, cut out and make plasticine figures.
I kept making things and giving them as gifts to everyone.
My mother still has boxes and boxes of these creations in the storage room: mini plasticine animals full of dust (now at least 25 years old), vegetable jars turned into aquariums with little fishes made of aluminum foil and dozens of other stories. I was a very quiet child, I entertained myself alone with my crayons… I think I never moved from my desk.
I’m still the same today. 
This is how Susie Hammer drew when she was a child.
Fashion Victim, by Susie Hammer. Hand signed poster.
In the SHOP.
PLOM: Who introduced you to the art world? SUSIE: Ah, it’s very clear to me who she was!
At school I met Iwona Stachura, a passionate Polish painter and art teacher.
She offered me to attend her after-school painting classes that she gave in a cultural center in Warsaw.
I started going and suddenly this place became my second home, where I spent my free time.
Iwona devoted a lot of time and interest to me, teaching me to draw and think, taking me to exhibitions and showing me a lot of art and artists.
Me and a lot of other kids.
She is still a wonderful teacher to this day.
The fact that I have never stopped drawing and continue to do so as an adult I owe it to her. 
Susie Hammer draws here .
We can all use the Superpowers of Art
PLOM: When did you start drawing and painting seriously? SUSIE: Never!
My drawings are not serious at all. PLOM: Do you believe in the Superpowers of Art? SUSIE: Of course!
For me it’s a super power to take a paintbrush and paint anything you want with it.
It is a super power that anyone has and with which they can change their world. 
Crocodile Rock, by Susie Hammer. Hand signed poster.
In the SHOP.
PLOM: When do you like to draw?
Do you have any hobbies at work? SUSIE: I like to work at any time, I think it’s always a good time to draw.
Since a few months ago I have a new studio that I share with four other people and I’m very happy.
I used to have my studio at home, which is fine for a while, but then you start talking to plants.
Working as an illustrator is a pretty solitary job, you spend hours and hours on the page or in front of the computer, so it’s great to have more people around to have a laugh or cry your sorrows with.
Alphabet, by Susie Hammer. Hand signed poster.
In the SHOP.
Susie Hammer wants you to smile
PLOM: Do you think children like your work? SUSIE: I hope so!
Because I dedicate my work to children, both the youngest and the child that all adults carry inside.
I try to make my work cheerful, to have a casual tone and that’s why I use a simple and very positive language.
What I look for with my work is to make people smile, since I have a lot of fun drawing, I hope people have fun seeing it.
“You have to teach the little ones to look at art, let them participate and have fun with it.”
Susie HammerPLOM
: What interests you more, the opinion of an influential critic or that of an 8-year-old? As soon as you show something to a child you can see if it’s funny or not, because their reaction is always going to be sincere, regardless of trends and other boring stuff. 
“I used to have my studio at home, which is fine for a while, but then you start talking to plants.” Susie Hammer
The capital of European graphic design
PLOM: Poland has always been one of the best countries in the field of graphic design.
Why do you think this is so? SUSIE: Yes!
I totally agree.
There is so much going on both at the design and illustration level in Poland.
The new Polish illustration scene is admirable:
Gosia Herba, Agata Królak, Karol Banch, Aleksandra Niepsuj, Paweł Mildner… These are my favorites. If you don’t know them yet, you have to meet them. Maybe this concentration of talent is due to some climatological reason: bad weather, lack of sun and constant rain encourages to hide in the studio and create non-stop. Or maybe it is the legacy of the great masters of the Polish Poster School of the sixties (another must to learn). At that time a culture and a visual language of its own was forged and totally distinguishable for Poland.
Go Skating, by Susie Hammer. Hand signed poster.
In the SHOP.
P…
L…
O…
M… PLOM!
PLOM: What do you think of PLOM Gallery? SUSIE: I think it’s SUPER!
It was a great joy when Martha wrote me proposing to collaborate with PLOM.
We have to teach the little ones to look at art, let them participate and have fun with it.
Let it be something close to them, not something too serious and boring, that can only be enjoyed in a museum in silence.
PLOM is doing a very important and beautiful job bringing children closer to the most emerging art. 
Susie Hammer has illustrated one of our favorite books, El gato que no bajaba del sillón: y el porqué de su sinrazón (Lata de Sal), written by Irene Álvarez Lata. In October, Construction Zoo (Albert Whitman & Co.), by Jennifer Thorne, will be released .
