Pre-Show Interviews

This year, instead of artist statements, each artist did an interview. The interviews are all being typed up and add to a display booklet for the opening. Here is mine!!

What drives you to create?
I have a constant need to make things. I don't know where it comes from, but it always been there.
Why did you choose fiber as your medium?
Yarn and cloth are one of the first things I played with, right up there with crayons. Besides being completely addicted to yarn, it's important to me to have a sustainable art medium. I can combine art with craft for unlimited possibility. I use a high percentage of recycled materials, and I produce 0.25% waste. All my tools can be carried around in one little basket; I can take it and work anywhere.
What kind of materials do you incorporate into your art? Where do you find them?
Nothing is out of bounds to me. If I see one of my dresses hanging in the closet...and I need it for an art piece, I cut it up w/o a second thought. I scrounge! I am on the constant look out for something that would be cool and useful at some point. I have an entire room full of things that will eventually become art!! The freebox, the thrift stores, the yarn shops, the craft stores, and my own yard. Nowhere is out of bounds to me either!!
How much time do you typically invest in a piece?
Each large one has been about one year from my first visions to completion. But I've been collecting materials for pieces I'm about to make for over a year already!! I do take long breaks from pieces. Sometimes they're in "timeout" for not cooperating, but mostly I get distracted by life and other pieces. I usually have anywhere from 6 to 12 things in the works at one time. If I don't, I feel a little crazy.
What is your process to turn your artistic vision into the finished piece?
It usually begins in meditation, or as I'm falling asleep. I build a mental image, and then it becomes an obsession. I can't stop visualizing it. I start to build it mentally over and over. Then I sketch it all out with insane notes onto paper. Sometimes it stops there...and I move on. But if I start tearing through everything I own...then I know it's going to come to life.
What is the special meaning or message behind your work?
Everything I do is a celebration and expression of how much I love life. Period. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Everything about it and everyone in it. Even when that love is a fighting struggle.
Some artists create their art for therapy purposes. Does that apply to you?
Yup! Sure does! Knitting in itself is theraputic for me...got to do it everyday!! But on a larger, more intense scale...My Mother/Daughter piece in this show has been an extreme exercise in what art can do. I have both a mother and a daughter who suffer from mental illness and drug addiction. I knew I had to turn my angst surrounding them into pure love and acceptance or it would kill me. I spent the past year focusing on them as I worked and I think I've been successful beyond my wildest anticipation. My heart and head healed to a degree I didn't believe possible. It was all about forgetting old answers and finding new questions.
What artists do you admire most?
Mandy Greer rocks it!! Also: Janet Morton, Abigail Doan, Barbi Touron, J. Larkin, and Merce Mitchell. The types of art I enjoy are: surreal, mythical, dark, baroque, and romantic.
Where do you find inspiration?
In other art, my own heart, the people I love, my natural world, in music music music...everywhere!!
Do you have any upcoming projects or art shows this year?
The Taos Wool Festival in October!! I hope even more than that. It's always a goal to get out there!