Lisa Aerts - Interview by KokoDiablo

….on her art, motivation, and the simplicity of timing.

Oddist Jones, an Interview by Robbie Brown

…on his evolution, his alter-ego, and the supreme pleasure of being censored.

Melissa Vacek, an Interview by Oddist Jones

…on her art, music, and the sources of her inspiration.

Dana Helmig, an Interview by Oddist Jones

…on her art, her inspiration, and her dream.

Patrick Shourds, an Interview by Robbie Brown

…on IPhone photography, being a California artist, and his artistic Journey.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Terry Wright - Interview by Robbie Brown

The American Artists Gallery Interview 3/27/12

with Terry Wright...

...on poetic structure, the complexity of inspiration, and how to uncork the creative juices.

by Robbie Brown, Senior Editor - The American Artists Gallery

Up to this point, The American Artists Gallery Interview has sought to add words to the works of visual artists, and when a picture says a thousand words the beauty is easy to transcribe. The art of the written word is not as black and white or as plain as the nose on your face. It’s full of subtext, subtle allusion and illusion, and like rightys and leftys, artists who use a canvas and a brush and those who use an eight and a half by eleven sheet and a typewriter will always look at each other with a sideways glace and at those who can tackle both in wonderment.

I’ve known Terry Wright for a number of years, and when I first met her, she was on her way to spend a month at an artist’s colony. Her personal and emotionally charged poetry reflects life, but most significantly the life of an artist. Some of her poems address it head on, but even when it isn’t mentioned directly the subtext of a life of artistic passion very often comes through.

This understanding of the way an artist views life makes Terry the perfect subject of the first AAG interview to feature a poet, and I talked with her about her creative process, and how she seeks growth as an artist.

Robbie Brown: One of the difficult aspects to creating is striving for excellence and learning to let go of perfectionism. At what point do you decide to keep working or that the project is complete?

Terry Wright: It’s different for every poem. Some poems I keep going back and changing a line break or a word choice for years, really. Some poems, especially the handful that just seem to fall out of my head and onto the page, just feel…complete. I let them stand and just back away from the page. And there are a few where I seek out help—ask a few other writers what they think of where I am in the poem. Surprisingly, a lot of the times when I feel stuck, when I’m trying and trying to “fix” it, they will tell me they like the way it is. And then I just have to trust the reader’s experience and walk away.

RB: When I have a creative block I…

TW: The short and terrible answer is drink some wine. Sometimes you just need that (I guess, artificial) help over that obstacle. A better answer is that in the last year I’ve been doing writing exercises with a good friend and having something concrete to work on really removes roadblocks. Which seems counter-intuitive, in a way:  if I have a specific prompt with specific restrictions, it might seem like that should end up compounding the creative block. But having a specific prompt and/or specific restrictions is a way of going around the block.

RB: What do you think is the biggest hindrance to creativity?

TW: Oh, self-doubt, for sure. Just endless questioning:  is this good? Is this terrible? Why am I doing this when there are so many better writers out there? And maybe that pressure to show some kind of progress, in subject, technique, or some kind of external, tangible result:  praise, reaction, publication, awards.

RB: What do you feel is the responsibility or role of the artist in the world?

TW: Wow, that is a tough question to answer. Because in some ways I do agree with the idea that the artist has to speak up, engage with the world, reflect the world, connect people—like the poets against the war movement back in the early days of the Iraq war—the artist is in a position to bring people together and not feel so alone. But more selfishly, I think this issue relates to the previous question, really. I mean, isn’t that an added burden, in a way? To feel like you have to have some kind of impact or responsibility? I just want to write poems and have them read and make readers experience something. Maybe that’s the only responsibility or role of the artist in the world:  communication. So that the artist maybe doesn’t feel so alone, and a reader doesn’t feel so alone, even if the initial aim of the poem is something different than the reader experiences—who cares? It’s enough that I feel I’m being heard and the reader doesn’t feel so alone. 

RB: What has influenced your work the most?

TW: Well, I’m not sure if you mean influenced in the sense of, what artists have affected my work, or, what has been the genesis or motivator behind my work. Because if it’s the latter, I have often worked out of straight-up fury. Something has made me mind-boggling furious and so I sit down and work that out in writing, one way or another. Some people think I’m joking or being facile when I say that, but, it’s real. But also I hate to say that, as honest as it is, because I’m TOTALLY AGAINST people who slap fragmented thoughts together about a personal event or strong emotion and say “there, I wrote a poem about it”. Franz Wright has this great line where he says that poetry is not therapy. And I wholeheartedly agree with that. Like any other art, it’s a craft. There are, not rules, exactly, but there are things you do as a craftsperson. So I might slap some phrases or images down out of pure fury, but then I have to also be an artist about it, and shape it and work it and bring all those tools and conventions and rules of poetry writing to the initial pile of emotion and make it something worthy. As far as writers who have influenced my work…I think as a very broad rule I tend to really be influenced by writers who move back and forth between poetry and prose, like Raymond Carver, or Margaret Atwood, or even Anne Carson. Generally poets who write what I call accessible pieces (although I wouldn’t say that of Carson—she’s really tricky). There is of course a whole school of poets who write completely abstractly, or who write with a million allusions per line, or who work solely as “language” poets—they’re manipulating language as an art form. I don’t get into that at all as a writer, which I guess is influenced about what I said earlier that the role of an artist is connection, or communication. But I admire it, of course. Just…from a distance. 

RB: The world would be better if…

TW: Artists were subsidized so they can work on their art. If artists were valued in American society instead of ridiculed. 

RB: What are you reading?

TW: Ha, that’s a very interesting question. I’m a voracious reader, normally. I mean, usually reading at least two books at once, and just reading piles and piles and piles. In the last few years I’ve totally moved into reading almost solely nonfiction. I’m embarrassed to say I don’t read as widely as I should in poetry. I think most poets would think that’s ATROCIOUS and would mark me as a total amateur and I’d shamefacedly agree. For me, it just ends up being—well, first, inspiring, when you find a writer that really speaks to you, who really inspires you, moves you—but then on one level I worry that I’ll just become imitative, but really, I just find it depressing:  I’ll never be as good as THAT poet, SO WHY BOTHER WRITING. And really there’s just the realization that to be a published poet is full-time job and it makes me feel terribly lazy and unaccomplished. Most poets I know read almost solely poetry so I’m totally an aberration. At the end of last year I went through this huge personal trauma and I literally stopped reading altogether, which for me is also a total aberration. I just couldn’t focus on any sustained writing at ALL. I mean, I REALLY stopped reading, totally. It was like suddenly going blind or suddenly being paralyzed, in a way. In the last few weeks I’ve finally started reading actual books again and I almost wept the first time (in months and months) I read an entire book through. It was like coming back to life again.

RB: What are some things that inspire you outside of art?

TW: Wow, strangely, my completely instinctual answer was “nothing”. Is that weird!? That seems so cynical or depressive! I mean, other art (I mean, other than writing) inspires me. I’m totally into looking at photography, especially what I guess might be called documentary-style photography; just thinking this over I think that reflects the kind of writing I prefer to both read and write. Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by “inspires me”. As an artist I’d have to say other artforms is what inspires me—I’ll hear a line of dialogue from a movie or see a still image and start a poem in my head. If you mean, what inspires me as a human being, that’s a completely different question and I’d have a totally different answer. Which I guess brings up an interesting question—should an artist be inspired in such different ways..? Maybe I am an amateur, then. I would think a “real” artist is inspired as both an artist and a human being because those things are inseparable for them, but for me, who I am as a human being living a daily life in the “real” world is different from who I am as an artist, which is some kind of really private thing.  Huh.

RB: When you mentioned “pillories” in your poem “Storybook Land” (shown at the end of this interview), and I wondered why you didn’t use the word “stocks”. Then later in the poem you use the word “stocks”. Is there a difference?

TW: Honestly, that’s a total typo. I meant to change all the stocks to pillories! And I didn’t. Maybe that was subconscious rebellion, because I was actually really angry when it was pointed out to me that what I was talking about (this poem was based on a photograph, and the item I was talking about was, exactly, pillories—and I felt this nagging sense of purity, or as you said earlier, perfectionism!—I have to be accurate because the physical images in another poem related to this one are totally dependent on specifically what a pillory forces the victim to do) was pillories, simply because that affects the rhythm of the lines. So I’m really bummed that I HAVE to say pillories. I mean, that internal rhyme between “locked” and “stocks” is way better than “locked” and “pillories”!

RB: The structure of “Lament” (posted in the American Artists Gallery group on Facebook) is a departure for you.

TW: Yes, a total departure. I really write what I used to call narrative poems. David Orr wrote a book about contemporary poetry titled Beautiful and Pointless, which I think is a great title AND a great comment about writing poetry! Beautiful and…pointless. Anyway, if I understood him correctly, I write what he calls “lyrical” poems. There is a structure—line breaks and rhythm are really important. But a sonnet has very strict rules. And of course people play with those rules all the time, and that’s a kind of artist’s comment on the form itself. But I’m not that way. If there is a rule, I follow it;  playing with or breaking that rule is cheating! Ha. (Or else what’s the point of saying you’re writing a sonnet if you then pick and choose which rules to follow? That’s the Puritan/perfectionist in me. Heh.) Anyway, so, back to the subject at hand. As I said earlier, quite a lot of time I write out of fury, or some kind of overwhelming emotion. And at the time I wrote this poem, I was wrestling with some overwhelming emotion, and having a hard time expressing it in writing. So, oddly, I took a really strict structure and used that to wrestle some poems into existence about the emotion. It helped me: it gave me a way to approach the emotion and work with it without letting it swamp me into inarticulateness. And it was a distraction, too; I didn’t have to sit with the emotion too long—I had to focus on counting syllables and finding rhymes. It was a really good distraction. And then I had—still have—a fascination with fairy tales, so I ended up working toward a project where I would have a collection of fairy-tale-imagery based sonnets about a totally contemporary subject. This was one of the poems that resulted.

RB: I love the last line of “All the Difference in the World” (shown at the end of this interview).

TW: I love hearing what people respond to! Maybe I should have said THAT inspires me. Ha. It’s funny, “my” readers found the ending of—really, the whole thing—this poem humorous. I didn’t actually mean it that way, really. But I don’t think I should say what it was “supposed” to mean, since, everyone has their own response to it and who am I to argue with them? I do tend to a kind of dry or wry sense of humor in my poems and I guess I didn’t keep it out of this one either, as—like I said—a lot of people either find this kind of humorous, and/or, just a sort of bemused or wry comment on writing. Which—is the point, as I’ve been saying, right? I meant one thing, and readers take it a completely different way, and that’s all actually exactly right, meaning, as it should be.




Storybook Land
There we are, the two sisters,
(the name we planned for our
children’s bookstore,

visiting Storybook Land
When we are seven and ten
taken by a cousin who

took pity on us, I think,
raised in such compromised
households, ignored when

not the target of sighs and
shaken heads, shaken fingers,
you are such a disappointment to us.

So there we are, the future
bookstore owners, in Storybook Land,
in pillories. In pillories!

I wonder now who thinks pillories are
a good idea for a children’s
amusement park. For whose

amusement exactly? At any rate
it isn’t until I think about the connection
between our mutual adult dream and

our childhood trip to Storybook Land
and then realize within this magical realm
we are locked into stocks

that I realized one of our first failures
in adulthood:  the mistaken idea that
words alone could save us.




All the Difference in the World

At what point does a poem become
a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Because there is a danger in writing a poem
About which even a high school sophomore
Could pass a pop quiz:

The theme of this poem is:
b. the author feels like she can’t go on.

Certain lines begin to swim in your head
and after a while it becomes blurry:
what really came first? The poem or the thought?

A soldier learns about death this way:
first, he believes it won’t happen to him.
Then, he realizes:  it might happen to him.
Finally he knows:  it’s going to happen to him.

When you get right down to it,
it’s fairly simple:  either you will die or you won’t.

One could argue this is the same thing.

But the progression—well, it’s just not so linear.

First, you write, I don’t think I can go on.
Then, you admit:  I can’t go on.
Finally:  I won’t go on.

But where it’s difficult to go from
it will happen to you back to it might happen to you,

one day you write I can’t go on and the next day I don’t think I can go on.
It’s like driving backward through a fog bank.

There’s all the difference in the world in a little hedging.

Even on a day when you finally commit:  I won’t go on,
And you slump in a kind of relief
Who’s to say the next day you won’t be back to
I don’t think I can?

The answer of course is plain:

Stop writing poems.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Lisa Aerts - Interview by KokoDiablo

The American Artists Gallery Interview 3/17/12

with Lisa Aerts...

...on her art, motivation, and the simplicity of timing.

by KokoDiablo, South West Regional Editor - The American Artists Gallery

 
I recently had the pleasure of visiting with painter Lisa Aerts about her life as an artist.  What a treat to learn more about this woman who creates such lovely images of flora, fauna, and landscapes.  Her use of color and texture paints such a powerful mood and tone.  Lisa’s portraits of animals have an anthropomorphic quality that speaks to society and the human condition.  Her work can be found at Art by Lisa Aerts on eBay and Art by Lisa Aerts on Etsy. I hope you enjoy learning more about Lisa!

KokoDiablo: What's your medium? Can you describe your daily work routine?

Lisa Aerts: I use oils, watercolors, pen and ink, acrylics, pastels...my favorite though, has to be oils. I believe because it’s a medium I've used for a little over 3 years, so I still consider myself a student, and the colors, always the colors. My work day usually starts around 12 noon; depends on when I can get off the computer. I have my studio in my garage, so it’s nice to be able to stop and take a break and get lunch for my daughter. Back painting till 3:30, and then I'm inside for the night.  Later, after dinner, I'll work with watercolors, pen and ink, or pastels...

KD: How do you get past creative blocks?

LA: I haven't had a creative block....yet. But if I did, I suppose I would try to enjoy what was around me, and hope the creative juices would flow back.

KD: When, or what event made you consider yourself an artist?

LA:  About four years ago, I wanted to try and sell small paintings for children on-line (ebay). I had been a stay at home mom for 17 years, and I never thought of myself as an artist [or] someone that could draw, but maybe I could make some money for what I had [been] painting for my daughter... animals, cartoon characters, etc., that I used to decorate her room.

I had never sold anything in my life, I had never done an oil, or painted a landscape, but I tried, and then something happened, I started painting...everything... things I had never tried before, mediums I had never used, I just had to try, and I haven't been able to stop.

I am an artist, which is the most amazing thing in my life besides my daughter.

KD:  If you had a superpower what would it be?

LA: My super power would be flying... I hate planes, so this would make traveling so much easier...

KD: How would you like to be remembered as an artist?

LA:  If I'm remembered for anything, it would be… [the concept that] it’s never too late to try to live your dream.







Saturday, March 10, 2012

Oddist Jones - Interview by Robbie Brown

The American Artists Gallery Interview 3/10/12

with Oddist Jones...

…on his evolution, his alter-ego, and the supreme pleasure of being censored.

By Robbie Brown, Senior Editor - The American Artists Gallery
 
The first time I saw a work of art by Oddist Jones, I very casually glanced at it and was sure I had just seen a Warhol – I thought he had literally posted a Warhol to his Facebook page. Not uncommon, people do it all the time (*yawn*). When I took a closer look, I realized it was his own self portrait…

That was what seems like forever ago, and I surely don’t remember the exact image – but I do remember that feeling. Like this guy understood the soup can and Marilyn and the Frosted Flakes boxes,  and maybe if I keep watching he’ll try taking it to the next level. So I kept watching and he’s proven to have an edgy aesthetic with an irreverent  reverence for the irreverent – and a measure of warmth so begging to get out that he tempers it with an alter-ego.

The Warhol-esque, Pop Art inspired piece that drew me in disclosed a much more three-dimensional  artist, and as I’ve watched I’ve even seen some Ansel Adams peeking through that doppelganger of his…
I present Oddist Jones.

Robbie Brown: At what point in your life did you realize art was more than a pastime for you?

Oddist Jones: For me that happened at the end of high school. Before then I’d always drawn but in my senior year I began to feel a change, began to put more of myself into what I was drawing or working on. I began to see art as a way to express myself and expand myself. Art was also a way for me to deal with the teen angst and depression I was going through at the time. In that last year of school my art teacher submitted a few of my pieces and I was given the chance to enter into a national congressional art competition. I couldn’t believe it, for me this was the thrill of my life and I quickly started what was to become the drawing I sent. Well a few weeks went by and in the mail I was notified that my piece was rejected due to its subject matter, it dealt with fear of sex as seen through a young woman and it included some nudity and some subtle graphic imagery. Here I was already censored by the government and I was only 17…well for me this was an even bigger rush then having been accepted to the event to begin with. I learned then that art was powerful; it had strength and could really shake things up. This was a major turning point in my life and it was then that I started to really identify with being an artist.

RB: Did you create art as a child? If so, what did you create?

OJ: At an early age I was introduced to comic books - I don’t remember how but it sparked a lifelong love affair with the art form. I remember reading the X-Men, Spider-Man and the Hulk and just staring at the art, the colors in wonder. Wow, thinking back the colors were so vivid then, so bright they excited me [very much], the reds and the bright yellows. I loved it. It wasn’t long before I was tracing heroes and villains fighting it out, and not long after that I started copying the scenes in my own hand. Soon I created my own Superhero, his name was “Dart” and he fought crime in his own comic made by me using an array of different darts that he shot from a special gun he made…I know, I know but hey I was a kid and drawing and writing them got me through a lot dull days growing up as an only child. In my teen years when my music taste changed from radio pop to heavy metal my drawing and painting took on a more gruesome aspect. Skulls replaced heroes and I was using a lot more red in my work. I was also exploring the female form a lot at that time with my pencil *wink*

RB: Do you have a daily work routine? And if so, please describe it.

OJ: What is this work routine you speak of sir and where can I find one???  All kidding aside I don’t, I wish I could get into one but I’ve never been able to stick with one, not for lack of trying - believe me. I’ve tried working before bed, in the morning after waking, setting aside specific times during the day that I would work for designated time periods but no regimen has ever lasted more than a week or two. I have an astounding lack of self-discipline and terrible insomnia so I don’t go to sleep at any given time which keeps me from always being able to wake up at the same time. This has always made it hard to keep to any real schedule. Now I also have two active kids who make it hard to stick [to] a routine - the parents out there will understand that feeling. Basically I work when I can, when I fell like it, when I can sneak away and when everyone’s asleep.

RB: Can you see specific ways your work has evolved over the years through different circumstances?

OJ: The answer to this that comes to mind is that being mostly unemployed since we moved to Florida in 2008 has left me a lot of time to work on art and improve simply by doing. From 2008 till even just today my work has evolved greatly, getting more personal, more dynamic. This circumstance has also come with some hardship. It’s not easy raising two children and paying bills on a single salary so art has helped me immensely to channel some of that hardship into my art and helps me express myself creatively which I find can feed the creative instinct nurturing it. I spent a very, very long time artistically dormant. Through most of my twenties I was more interested in partying than in pursuing art, being a bartender during these years didn’t help that. Then in my early thirties, being a new father I was caught up in the “American Dream” go for the brass ring mentality of capitalism. I started my own business and found myself working ridiculous hours which left me with very little family time and none for artistic pursuits. With all that being said I still always identified as an artist, which in those lean creative years was very frustrating. I did attempt to go back to school in 2001 for graphic design…unfortunately I never finished, however on the bright side I was introduced to Photoshop and this has become one of my main tools through which I express and explore my artistic vision.

RB: What has influenced your work the most?

OJ: Wow, good question. I am influenced by so many different things. Music, the horror genre of movies and literature, pop culture, pop art, erotica, sex - all these things, and I’m sure more that I’m forgetting at the moment - make up who oddest Jones has become and what fuels his artistic drive. I have a dualist personality and Oddist Jones has become a major part of that. He is gritty, dirty and loves loud music and punk rock, but there is another side - a warmer caring person who looks at the world around him and sees beauty in nature, architecture and life being lived. This is the side that expresses himself through photography; this is K Michael Richards, and he is influenced by other cultures, their different [types of] music and styles, by exploring the artistic masters works, by reading Shakespeare and Milton. The two are the same but at the same time very different and I have found that the splitting of the two personas has freed something in me, it’s hard to explain but I feel that this split will only further my work as an artist.

RB: What do you think is the biggest hindrance to creativity?

OJ: Well for me that would be insomnia. I find it so hard to think clearly when I am tired, as I imagine most people do, but with insomnia I am tired often. My insomnia can also lead to bouts of depression that are very hard to work through. I’ve had times where I’ve been awake for up to three days which leaves my irritable and sullen, this leads to a sleeping  jag of up to 14 hours which has me dazed and confused all the next day and sometimes into the next after that. I find it so hard to be creative when I’m like this. It can be a real drag. Worse though is the times of depression, anyone who is prone to these states can tell you it can be a struggle just getting out of bed, so for me work is almost impossible aside from some scribbling in notebooks or doodling on a pad. I know some artist can either work through these are channel them into their work but for me I all but shut down.

RB: When I have a creative block I…

OJ: Don’t work. That’s it. I’ve given up trying to fight through creative blocks. I find when I do I produce work that I’m not happy with which, for me, only prolongs them. I use the time to catch up on other things. Housework that I might have neglected, reading, watching movies - things like that. I might play a little with art, pick up the markers, [and] mess around with Photoshop but nothing serious. I wait it out and find that they don’t really last too long and force it. This approach gives me a chance to miss creating; the whole absence makes the heart grow fonder principle. When I fell like I’m ready, that the block can be worked around I start slow, this is when I usually work on my iconic images, my pop art pieces. The fun subject matter and bright colors usually get the juices flowing again and get me in better mindset.

RB: I’m addicted to…

OJ: Facebook. There I said it. I spend why too much time on it. It’s sometimes time that I should be creating, or cleaning or any number of different things but I love it there. I really like the global aspect of the community, and now with translators you can really talk to anybody in the world regardless of what language they speak. It’s amazing. I also love the fact that I’ve been able to meet so many like-minded people who share the same interests and passions I have. It’s also the home base of the AGG group and it’s one of the things I love most about Facebook these days. [There are] so many talented, artistic individuals, sharing their work and thoughts, creating a community within a community. It’s technology, at its best.
 That’s all I’m going to admit to being addicted to without my lawyer being present.

RB: What are you reading?

OJ: I have a habit of reading multiple books at the same time; it’s part of my scatter-brained split personality charm. As I mentioned before I am a big fan of horror, specifically Zombie horror. Now I don’t mean the voodoo mind controlled zombies of the past. I love the brain eating, flesh tearing living dead. Right now I’m reading a collection of short stories about zombies in a book titled “The Living Dead”. It features some big names like Stephan King and Clive barker and some more obscure authors. It’s great - I would totally recommend it to anyone who is a fan. I’m also a fan of history and non-fiction and am reading a great book about the history of oil; “The Prize”. A great read about the discovery of oil, the race to control it, the fortunes made and lost and the way’s it’s been used to both help and hurt humanity on a global scale. I also like to read passages from Milton’s “Paradise lost” but I have to do that a little at a time, it’s hard reading, but taken in small doses so damn beautiful.

RB: How would you like to be remembered as an artist?

OJ: As a globe-trotting millionaire…just kidding…but not really.











Saturday, March 3, 2012

Melissa Vacek - Interview by Oddist Jones

The American Artists Gallery Interview 3/3/12

with Melissa Vacek...

…on her art, music, and the sources of her inspiration.

By Oddist Jones, South East Regional Editor - The American Artists Gallery

 
Melissa Vacek is a stunning and gifted photographic artist. Her work is both provocative and evocative. Often at first glance her images can be disturbing, but beyond that, after falling into the piece you see that underneath there is always softness, soulfulness and a certain innocent vulnerability. Melissa’s post work on her photos can easily be described as nothing less than astounding. Like an enchantress she adds layers of rich textures and weaves darkness and light to create photographs that often look like they were painted with the finest oils.

    Although her primary passion is photography she also draws, paints, writes and records her own music. Her art is in a constant state of evolution and she has alluded to me that in the near future she will be experimenting on something new and exciting. Here is my interview with Melissa... enjoy!

Oddist: I'd like to start at the very beginning if that’s OK with you Melissa. Can you tell me about your earliest memory when you knew you were an artist?

Melissa Vacek: Oh, I have really no idea. My father does sculpting and painting along with being a musician [and] my mother is a writer who also is artistically inclined as far as sculpting and painting. I watched them and learned from them. I have loved art and wanted to create art since I could remember. [When I was] a toddler my father dedicated a wall in the basement of our house for drawing on and every summer we had a family art project or projects. I really can't remember a time when art wasn't a part of my life or when I didn't think of becoming an artist.

OJ: You have such an amazing and unique style. Can you tell us just a little about your process and the equipment you use to get the wonderful photos you share with us?

MV: Well it all varies as to what it is I’m actually shooting, but it starts with a thought, a dream or a nightmare, a concept, maybe a song, or a feeling. Depending on how crazy of an idea it is, who I ask to model for me, lol… Once I have my model who has the look that I want, then I pull together any props I may need, along with location to shoot, whether that will happen outside, inside [the] studio, etc. Then once I’m done with the shoot, in my computer it goes and [it’s] ready to be processed. Some images take hours and hours of light painting [and] layering of textures, while others may be left more simplistic with just an adjustment and conversion. Most of my street photography and URBEX is straight out of the camera except for maybe a black and white conversion here and there. I first started with a Nikon Coolpix as my camera, a flood lamp, and an old sheet with some push pins, lol! Today, I use a Nikon D90 with an 18-105 zoom and a 50mm. I have [a] lighting kit along with a back drop which I use in my house wherever I can find space. But, for the most part, I love using natural surroundings, because utilizing natural light can really just make an image pop and because some locations give such great mood and atmosphere. All of my post processing is done in Photoshop.

OJ: You do some very impressive work with your layering, textures and lighting. Some of your photos almost look like painting. Speaking of, you've posted some paintings and drawings, how often do you get to work on that and do you have any projects of that kind going on now?

MV: I sketch and doodle; often nothing I would dare ever show anyone [insert smiley face emoticon here]. Painting I love but honestly with lack of space and no studio even for my photography, set up and clean-up is a bit too much for me. So unless the mood hits me I usually will go months without painting. However this summer I will be starting a new project using mixed mediums in my parent’s garage, lol. It will be a mixture of sculpture and painting. The pieces will be roughly 60x60, the largest I ever worked, and it will be a series of 5 which were inspired by some sketches I did a couple of years back. So that should be interesting. It is frustrating when you have an idea and you can't execute it right away due to lack of space. But, right now, everything is just rough sketches on paper with words to help me to remember my idea when I have the time and space to do it.

OJ: Well, I for one can't wait to see these new projects; they sound very interesting. I'd like to close by asking you a bit about music. I know you write and record your own music; can you tell us what you play and how you go about putting it all together to record?

MV: I play piano and have been playing since I was 8. My first two years of high school were dedicated to music theory, history, composition and playing piano as well as bass drum, xylophone and a few other percussion instruments. I play guitar but not very well. The music that I have made and recorded was a sort of rough draft of a collaborative project I did with my father. He's a very talented man of many different artistic disciplines himself, so we got together and developed a few songs. He's the one playing the guitar in recordings that I've made this far. We played a couple local coffee shops but he's not much on public performance so needless to say the project has kind of fell to the way side, but I continue to write songs and play with my father and sometimes even my sister when we all get together. I like a lot of different kinds of music so stylistically I have created a few different songs, but I think out of all of them I tend to lean more towards a folky kind of style; something that tells a story. For the past three years now my main focus has been solely on learning the ins and outs of Photoshop and my camera, so I guess even though music for me is a constant, my developing of new music to record has been on the back burner and will hopefully make a reappearance in the future.










Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Michael Coleman - Interview by KokoDiablo

The American Artists Gallery Interview 2/11/12

with Michael Coleman...

...on his art, preferred media, and sacred geometry.

by KokoDiablo, South West Regional Editor - The American Artists Gallery

Michael Coleman is an innovative and gifted professional artist. He has worked in the art industry for many years, as a graphic designer and illustrator, an art teacher, and a professional artist. His works show a talent and technique all his own. What a treat for me, as a novice artist, to interview Michael, and learn from such an experienced talent.

KokoDiablo: How long have you been an artist?

Michael Coleman: That is a hard one to pinpoint the start. I usually count it from the time I received my art degree in 1985. I have been interested in art since I had a great art teacher in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade at a catholic elementary in Kansas City, Missouri. I took art all 4 years of high school but was satisfied with very little of my artwork. The “message” I got back then (very early 70s) was “What are you going to do with an art degree”. After flunking out of college the first time I ended up in the US Air Force at the first part of the volunteer military in ’73. I studied drafting when I first went to college and architecture at LSU when I got out in ’77. After a couple years I went to work as draftsman for engineering companies for a few years but was miserable so I finally went back to college, with my GI Bill, and got a BFA from Louisiana Tech University when I was 32. My degree was in graphic design (pre-Macintosh) but I took more fine art classes (drawing and painting) than commercial art. I worked for over 10 years as a graphic designer and illustrator before moving to New Mexico and transitioning to a “fine artist” (painter). During all this whole time I drew, painted and work nights, weekends and holidays at home on developing a style and the technical aspects of painting.

Not long after moving to New Mexico I worked as a contract artist for a company call Opp Art Inc., in Albuquerque, working for many years with some amazing artist doing artwork for commercial clients all over the country, mainly in the restaurant and casino businesses. One our most interesting jobs was the Imus Ranch near Santa Fe, NM for the radio talk show host Don Imus. It was an almost 2 year contract job , taking 22 newly constructed buildings and doing faux finishes and custom painting to make them look like they had been there for a 100 years. We also did some murals, signage and faux rusted everything in sight. You can see my commercial artwork on my website if you wish. I know, a little shameless self-promotion but as an independent artist who else is going to do it for you?

After the recession of the early 2000s and the day that changed the world, Sept 11, 2001, all of our future contracts disappeared and in 2002 I was hired to teach the visual arts in a local high school. I had little teaching experience and no teaching license. I started night classes to get my teaching license and finished an MA in education from the College of Santa Fe while teaching art full time. I switched school districts in January of 2010 and I got caught up in district budget cutbacks in the arts that following May. I continued to paint during this teaching period, with artwork in some small local galleries and also did several local art shows. I also went to weekly figure drawing workshops during this time to further develop my painting and drawing skills. My wife and I decided to use this as an opportunity and I started doing my part time art business on a full time basis. It is hard in this economy right now but you just have to believe and keep working. That is the long answer to this question. In other words art is a life time journey, not just a class.

KD: You have shown us a lot of pieces in different mediums. What is your favorite?

MC: I have shown this group some of my more recent paintings which are based on two main concepts (except for the churches, balloons and drawings which are basically interoperating the beauty I see and trying to reproduce it in a realistic manner). I call these two concepts “Windows of Color” and “Sacred Geometry”, with elemental ideas from my Four Types of Art which was also posted in the group. Windows of Color, in short, is looking at realistic things, like landscape, figure and still life through abstract windows. I discovered Sacred Geometry over the years studying Gnosticism and the Knights Templars (one of my favorite subjects), this series started with the concept of “squaring the circle” but has taken me to areas I could not have imaged when it started. Both play with the concept of contrasting organic shapes with geometric abstractions and working with subjective color schemes to express the vibrancy of the oil painting medium.

The two mediums I have shown are pencil drawing and oil painting, I love them both but I think oil painting is my favorite.

KD: Why?

MC: I love all types of art and art history but as a two-dimensional artist I have always loved oil painting. The vibrancy of the color and the versatility of the medium allow for a variety of surface textures, soft blending, lost edges and sharper precision graphic edges. I have a brother that is a watercolor artist and says he doesn’t like oil painting because it is “like playing in colored mud” and that is one of the qualities I like about oil painting.

KDll us about your “Sacred Geometry” series.

MC: This is an ongoing series and I am still learning about the subject, which makes it exiting for me. I have always been interested in history, philosophy and religion (maybe that goes back to going to Catholic schools for elementary and high school, they don’t have middle or junior high schools) but looking for the “truth” and this reading and research has lead me to “Sacred Geometry”. As I mentioned above it was my long lasting interest in the Knights Templars which lead me to the discovery and discussions on Sacred Geometry. I’m not great with the math but I love the visual complexity and symbolism of the subject.

KD: Do you have any advice for those of us just starting out?

MC: Play! Have fun and try to make each piece you create a “little bit better” than the last one. Learn from the Masters, they are the best in their fields and that is the level of excellence you have to work towards if you are serious about Art. Don’t let the difference in the levels of achievement discourage you, use it as a motivator to achieve those levels and then go on to higher levels. No matter how good you are with your medium there is someone more accomplished with their artwork, it is a process or journey not a destination. As I said above, I believe that art is a way of life and a life time of learning, practicing and working, not just a class.

I do believe that it can be learned, creativity, design, and technique, but you also have to learn to “see” as an artist sees, and be patient with your work. A couple good beginning books on this subject is Betty Edwards “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” and “Drawing Basics” by Jacklyn St. Aubyn. I believe that drawing is the foundation of all mediums of Art. Learn to draw classically and then move to abstraction, like Picasso, who was classically trained and then abstracted shape and form with purpose.

Then find your “voice” (style and type of art that you are passionate about) and let it come from the heart, not just the mind alone. And after all this, don’t be afraid to experiment and change. Art is not only a way of life it is a process that is continually changing and growing.

KD: What is next for Michael Coleman?

MC: As always, learning, growing and getting better at my craft. I’m trying to learn more about the Visionary art movement, which is a modern off-shoot of Surrealism and their Mische Technique of painting. It is very labor intensive but I may give it a try.

But more immediate, [we're] waiting to see if our mural submission for the 1% for Art project will be accepted; every artist in town submitted I think, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m teaching a masters level class in Secondary Educational Methods at the University of Phoenix, Albuquerque campus in April with other art curriculum classes for education students coming in the near future. It is a adjunct position and a one night a week class for 6 weeks for graduate students, and 5 weeks for undergraduate.

Right now I’m finishing a donation painting for the POW-MIA balloon crew from Minnesota’s 6th District of the American Legion for their March fundraiser. I’m also starting to work on a landscape commission for a Grand Junction Colorado resident.

The biggest thing though is doing some new work for my solo exhibition in July. I will be the featured artist for the summer season at the Barnwell Memorial Garden & Art Center in downtown Shreveport. I will have around 50 original oil painting in their main gallery with giclee prints and art cards in their gift shop during the show. I will deliver the work the last week of June and I will hang the show which will open on July 1st for six weeks. I've been in many juried group shows but I’m excited about this because it is my first solo exhibition.






Dana Helmig - Interview by Oddist Jones

The American Artists Gallery Interview 2/4/12

with Dana Helmig...

...on her art, her inspiration, and her dream.

by Oddist Jones, South East Regional Editor - The American Artists Gallery

Dana Helmig is a mother,  teacher, and an artist. Her work covers a broad spectrum and is not limited to any one medium or style. It is emotional and surreal and touches on impressionism, tribalism and mysticism. Her paint palette is often warm and fiery like the breath of a mythical dragon, which also happens to be the year she was born in under the Chinese zodiac. Aside from wonderful works rendered in paint Dana takes amazing photos of the natural world around her. Frogs, butterflies, flora and fauna of all kinds are her subjects and she captures them beautify. This astounding self- taught artist also uses Photoshop to create amazing images. Some are dark, some are romantic and quite a few show a very whimsical side.
I had the great pleasure of getting to take some time asking her a few questions and getting to know her better. I am pleased to present to you the results of that time spent together. So no more from me, I know what you are here for. Ready or not, here is my interview. Enjoy reading it as much as I did conducting it.

Oddist Jones: Dana, your work is so diverse and interesting. Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Dana Helmig: My inspiration for my wildlife art comes from my love of nature. I grew up in the country, an only child, spending a lot of time amongst the trees and the creatures of the forest. My inspiration for my tribal type art comes directly from my emotions. They are like a diary on canvas; a peek into my psyche so to speak. Sometimes they reveal a little too much.

OJ: I really love your Photoshop work. How long have you been using the program and are there any others you like to work with?

DH: Thank you.  I have been using Photoshop for 13 years and am self-taught. For the most part I use myself as subject [matter] because it is another way to express my emotions. I have only used Photoshop. I am very happy with the software; it is versatile. I swear by Adobe products.

OJ: You also take some amazing nature photos. Can you tell us what type of camera you use and how you typically go about getting your wonderful shots?

DH: I am self-taught in photography, as well. I have only taken one photography class. I use a Canon Rebel XTi 400d. I usually go on nature hikes like to nature reserves in the area or wherever I might be going, such as on vacations. Where ever I go I try to find a nature reserve; that is where I get my best photos. Though some photos are taken in my own yard.

OJ: And finally Dana, where do you see yourself as an artist in say the next 5 years?

DH: I can only hope that I will have found a way to sell my artwork and that I have my own art shop by the water somewhere. That is my dream.

OJ: Thank you so very much for spending this time with me Dana. I wish you much peace and prosperity in 2012 ;;D

 




Patrick Shourds - Interview by Robbie Brown

The American Artists Gallery Interview 1/28/12

with Patrick Shourds...

...on IPhone photography, being a California artist, and his artistic Journey.

By Robbie Brown, Senior Editor - The American Artists Gallery

Artists have been using California as a subject for centuries.  From the paintings of Yosemite Valley by Thomas Hill and Joseph John Engleheart, to the photography of Anne Brigman and Ansel Adams, art depicting California is a genre all its own.

In this week’s American Artists Gallery Interview, I discussed the creative process with a 21st century California artist, photographer Patrick Shourds. From the San Francisco bay to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the dilapidated shacks of Bodie, Patrick’s shots are incredible documentation of both the natural beauty and urban grittiness of the Golden State.

American Artists Gallery: How long have you been an artist photographer, and how did you get your start?

Patrick Shourds: First of all, thanks Robbie for the invite to American Artists Gallery. And thanks to all who contribute, you guys rock with creative talent!

Wow, way back in High School, I started shooting Black and White 35mm film. I developed and printed my images in a small darkroom I coerced my dad into building. I can still smell the chemicals! For the next 30 years I used my camera mainly to record my Sierra climbing and mountaineering adventures. I held on to film for a while, but gradually sold all my film gear and dove into the digital revolution, around 2005. My artistic photography began with the advent of HDR, and other creative Photoshop plugins in 2009.

AAG: Some of the photos you post are shot with an iPhone and you use apps to manipulate them.

PS: The iPhone has bumped my creative juices 10 fold. I bought my first phone in 2009, and stumbled onto a whole community of talented iphoneographers on Twitter and Facebook. My passion is landscape images, and the key to a good one is telling a story, and moving the viewer’s eye through the frame. I have developed a signature style, if you will, but no set recipes or formulas for getting there. Each image is a unique endeavor. I am looking to set the mood or an illusion that causes the viewer to explore, ponder and wonder. And those apps allow me such marvelous creative control to do just that! Some of my favorite apps are: Filterstorm, Photofx, Photoforge2, Prohdr, Autostich, Snapseed, Shakeitphoto, Juxtaposer and Artista Oil. You can shoot, create your artistic piece, and share it, all on a device that fits in your pocket! What could be better than that?

AAG: You are truly a California photographer and your use of its locals as subject matter is very unique. Have you lived here all your life?

PS: Yes, I am a home-grown California boy. I was born and raised in Coronado, the small peninsula across the bay from San Diego. I attended UCSB, and have been in San Barbara for all but 2 of the last 40 years. California’s Landscape is so wonderfully diverse; it really is a photographer’s paradise. I do approach scenes often looking for the “unconventional shot”. So, I always take the postcard shots first, and then look for the real essence, to find my storytelling images. It may not be an easy task, but it is a worthwhile journey.

AAG: Thanks for taking us along with you, Patrick!





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