I am a pluri-disciplinary artist and art worker with a focus on illustration, zine-making and arts producing, under my name (Justine Lepage) and my artist moniker (Loucoffee). At the heart of my practice, there is a sense of connection and whimsy that I channel through brightly coloured artwork featuring diverse characters and detailed environments. In my zines, I use writing alongside illustrations to explore my diverse interests and internal world, including my dream journals and reflection on topics like trinkets as a stand-in for home-ownership. My practice is both traditional and digital, ranging from watercolour, gouache, inks and coloured pencils to digital tools like Procreate and Affinity. I draw inspiration from fairytales and online cultures alongside everyday life. Recently, I have been incorporating a lot of drawing from life including live music performances in my practice, for example collaborating with the River Runs Round Festival which I documented through sketching. I am excited by the pluri-disciplinarity of arts and the bridges between different forms, with an interest not only in illustration and visual arts, but their intersection with music, theatre, film and more.

I consider my practice as an artist to be deeply connected to my practice as an arts worker, as in both areas I aim to connect people to creativity, whether that is through my own work, other people’s, or by giving people resources to create. Since graduating from UCC’s MA in Arts Management and Creative Producing in 2023, I have worked for many organisation sand festivals in different capacities including as a producer, venue manager and communications manager, and co-organised the 2025 edition of the Priosma Queer Film Festival. I have been a co-organiser of the Cork Zine Fest since 2022 and was very grateful for our TRISKEL SAMPLE Project Space Residency this year and to receive the inaugural TRISKEL SAMPLE Project Space Residency Award. During our month-long residency, I was able to upskill as an arts worker and to spend time working on my practice as a zine-maker and artist. Our partnership during this month with the Crawford Art Gallery also gave me the opportunity to perfect my skills as a workshop facilitator and to open the world of zine-making to diverse community groups and artists.

My practice is characterised by a deep curiosity for the other, whether that is people, artforms or diverse areas of interest. A big part of my practice is collaborative (organising festivals with other people, live drawings etc), as I deeply value community building and the social aspects of creativity. I aim to connect with other people and to enrich the wider Cork community through my work.