Showing posts with label mixed media artists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mixed media artists. Show all posts

Friday, July 27, 2012

Mind Body Spirit Artist Series - Cosima Lukashevich

Although she currently resides in Egypt, it's safe to say that with all the different places that Cosima Lukashevich has lived and studied, she truly is an artist of the world - inspired by life and the cultural heritage and ancient spirituality that is all around her. A very lively and inspiring interview!   I hope you enjoy learning about this very creative and accomplished artist as much as I did!

                                                                                                      ~ diane fergurson


Quan Yin
MBS:  Can you tell us a little about yourself?  How did you get started in art?

Cosima:  I was drawing making pictures from early on my mother tells me, before I have memory of it. Imaginative play, drawing and creative projects was where I got my most fun! I was good at drawing and painting at school age, it was something that came easily to me. I could see what I was doing in comparison to my classmates…but that wasn’t the important thing! What was most compelling to me was what was happening in the creative zone, times of making things.

In creativity I felt an expansion. The world telescoped out exponentially made life feel greater, magical; and at the same time produced a sense of astonishing one-ness and deeply connected unity. I felt it brought with it a sense of being plugged-in, excited by lively possibilities! Creativity opened doors of what the world was, the ordinary mundane and regular took on qualities of the magical and sacred. It changed perceptions made everything open up accordion wide and get deeper and broader. An excitement! Realms stretched out, and yet I felt embraced tightly. Simultaneously it gave me wings to soar about… it felt divine.

Yes, in happiness but also I must say in an inner sense. One experiences the depth of soul in Art and Imagination; an acquaintance with a deep source inwardly. At the time I could not verbalize any of this, of course, I was too young I did not have the emotional sophistication or vocabulary.  Kids from the neighborhood knew what I could do and would knock on the door wanting me cook up some play adventure for us all to join in.

I see now that I was in expanded states of awareness in a lot of time spent alone. I had stumbled onto intuitive meditation, as I believe children do more readily than later in life. I was an only child and needed assistance in our new life in America, having immigrated at four years old. I turned to spirit instinctually. And to art.

Woven into the roots of DNA, my family tree from both sides brought about innate artistic abilities. My mother told a haunting story of a great lithograph of our family tree printed by my great uncle Ludwig, who was a lithographer for a publishing house in Innsbruck. My grandfather Reinhold Gergen, trying to preserve and protect it took it out of its frame, rolled it up wanting to send it to his brother Ludwig since all was about to break loose in Germany at that time. My mother was telling me the story in America, where I was growing up. (How life takes us places!)
Oh, how that story worked on me! I could see the scene of my mother and my aunts as children, my worried grandparents. The lithograph was lost never to be seen by my mother and her sisters again.


The Three Graces
My high school art teacher Adelaide Tunnel gave me a long white cardboard to do with whatever I wanted. I felt compelled, driven really; I could not resist the need to draw a very long tree; a complex root network underground passing through striations of geology. A cave of stalactites and stalagmites appeared dissecting the underground scene of roots, which in its hollow held a pot of gold. I must say I was not rationally putting the family story and the need to create a tree together; it was not so direct and intentional. Please understand.

Although, eventually it did turn out to be a fantastic revelation! I even won a community prize. What I hadn’t planned for is what it told me, more than what I could have ever expected.
The picture spoke back to me.
“Look, there is a valuable thing you hold in your roots…it is not lost since it is a part of you inextricably. Draw up what is inside of you, your heritage; what is most valuable can never be lost. DRAW!”
 And so I did. This drawing became my pointer to the next steps to be taken and I had the great good fortune and privilege to be able to continue on to study art in university.

Transformation
MBS:  It sounds like you must have the ability to visualize and see very clearly in your mind's eye.  How has that ability guided and influenced your your artwork over the years?

Cosima:  I came to Egypt discovering something about creativity through my experiences here…and the mind’s eye!
As I said in answer to your first question I went on to university art school in Philadelphia and I studied later at the New York Academy of Art. I trained as a designer and painter/draughtsman. What I was taught in these institutions was one side of creativity. The nuts and bolts of processes and materials first of all then the basics of 2D aesthetics; composition, forms in space perspective, light and cast shadow, design of the picture plane, color theory while gaining experience and practice along the way.

Life conspires to make you grow, extend beyond who you were, teach you things you never could never imagine you would to move you beyond previous boundaries, borders and limitations.

There came a point here in Cairo when I faced personal circumstances in my life that pressed me emotionally right to the edge. A crisis. At the time I had the feeling of being on overload, much like a toaster that has been zapped with a power surge, so much electricity flooding the circuits not able to conduct another extra volt through it. At the time I couldn’t think another thought or other deal with another emotion, there was simply too much to handle. Full tilt.

This occurrence served to break the container, bring down the walls of limitation. I see now that is exactly what needed to happen for me to get beyond my former existence on so many levels to become a more whole artist beyond technical ability or facility and I knew I had to paint my way out.

By accident, on an internal signal I began to apply paint without intention, pouring paint on a canvas there came to my utter astonishment, an image. I acted without preconceived ideas of an outcome. I let go of control creatively allowing “accident” and flow to take place on the format. Later on this then this lead to collage the same process with paper. Ripping of papers letting them fall where they may and seeing what would come, then making out with my mind’s eye what there was.

I see that creativity is a force, energy active universally, a living power. Creativity it is nothing that we need manufacture, we don’t have to it exists already everywhere; we are born from it and into it. We rather allow it in to move through us, we usher it in if we open that doorway. It becomes an issue of how we conduct this creative force. Do we use this power externally as we would a tool or do we open our own channels through which it emanates through us? It is to act as a medium directing or funneling it in the creative process and onto the paper or canvas, or whatever may be.

I read the suggestions of image in the chaos of the materials there on the paper or canvas that result from this open method of making marks. I suppose it to be much like a Rorschach psychological test where one interprets inkblots. Except the artist is the originator of the blot and the decipher. This way of letting go enables a route beyond the limitations of the mind’s need to plan or devise; to reach further down to where the artist is originally and authentically the core self, and therefore producing artwork that is original and authentic to the artist. This has always been a search for me, what is intrinsically my own personal mark, my own vision.

I Love You Fish
MBS:  Are there common themes or threads that run through your work?

Cosima:  The unifying thread in my work is spirit. I say all creativity is spiritual work.
Art is Spirit in motion. To find that source has been a life long mission. Education could not find it for me, only the school of life teaches that lesson.

So being in Egypt has been a mother load location since its past is built on the foundation of spirit united with matter. I have drawn upon its energies still alive in the land through archetype and mythology indicators of where it exists in an inner world and in the greater world.

 Egypt has been a predominant theme in my work, ancient Egyptian mythological stories from dynastic times and Arabian motifs and patterns keep reoccurring. What I particularly enjoy in a certain series of my work, the collage that are painted upon, this confluence of pharonic image with Arabian pattern. I really like seeing it layer upon layer as if looking through a lens penetrating through all periods of time. As though time doesn’t exist, visually it’s all happening now. I get a kick out of it when that happens in the composition, that’s when the magic is really alive!

I must also say that angels, guides and mentors keep popping up throughout many compositions. The Egyptian creation stories are quite significant; Isis, Osiris, Set, Horus, Sekhmet and Hathor. They bring me messages of hope and strength whenever they appear.

 Mythology is a fascination of mine. I think archetypal images are important; patterns that run through history from our deep past are a part of us. Stories that are emerging and re-emerging, being retold culturally has so much to reveal about us. The dream dreamt by the collective, these primordial images that are built into the human psyche for me are key and wildly interesting to me. I absolutely love them, I find them amazing-spell binding! The stories that have never happened but are unfolding all the time. The DNA of the psyche!
I think it’s important for us to keep them present in our consciousness today, to retell them in new ways to keep them alive in our awareness. They hold so much power; they are maps that give us keys to our future potential.

My ears prick up whenever I hear the call of mythology and archetypal stories. You get an inkling of other side of life, the mystery of your nature, the magic of the universe.  A sense that there is a deep river that runs through you and goes down deep and back through all time. It feels instinctive. They are so moving and exciting to me, to know they move through you as well brings awareness you are part of the human story through them, a unity of all things. Just like drawing a great big tree that you know you are part of.


Flying of the Desert Wind
MBS:  What are some of your favorite materials to work with?

Cosima:  I had attended a few workshops lead by my Egyptian colleagues in collage and silkscreen printing, both being popular media here.  I incorporated them into my own work making a series which is still one of my favorites; I used silkscreened Arabic calligraphy, found papers, old book pages and arabesque graphic designs, transfer printed photos of landscapes (symbols of her essence) This then formed a surface on which I painted further on in acrylics and oil pastel. All these indigenous remnants were used to induce Egypt to speak about herself in the pictures that resulted!

I have made all kinds of things, from furniture, to lamps and containers, boxes, toys, books and these are tributaries I enjoy traveling down from time to time, but really the main river is painting and drawing.

I love gouache for its velvet intense color and its ability to be manipulated, diluted or rubbed out whenever I want. Combined with pastels I think it’s a natural pair, these two. Oil pastels with turpentine wash or applied thickly, I love. I use acrylic just a little bit. But gold and silver powders in varnish I use a lot. Gold is an important color for me, silver to some extent too. However I can get it—in gauche or acrylic, gold varnish, gold is an elemental substance (even if I am not using actual gold) I think it has an effect in the room where the piece hangs.
I love cotton printmakers paper; Arches BFK. It holds pastel in its fibers, takes a lot of wear and tear in erasing and repeated water applications. It’s more like felt fabric than a paper. I love it.

Pond of the Oracle
MBS:  You stated, "All creativity is spiritual work".  How so?

Cosima:  I ask the Divine to partner with me, releasing the ego’s insistence of control allowing for the unintentional mark to step in surrendering to what happens on the paper or canvas. In this way I become a receptacle able to receive the gifts of Spirit, a vessel for creation.

 I am not the one in total command, I seek to be a co-creator in releasing my dominance in decision making artistically. This creative force is more flexible, expansive and original than my own limited ideas or abilities. In fact, I have to say I do my best work when I don’t know what I’m doing! Things appear that I myself could never have imagined when I am a partner to this. I am many times amazed at what transpires never expecting such results, messages and answers far beyond what I am able to do. What does that have to say for my own supposed “talent”. 

That is the greatest joy in being an artist. To feel the vibration of creative energy buzzing through you, to feel that god force resonating in you as it passes through and onto the paper. To feel that you are an instrument of something bigger than yourself is a gift and a wonder. Not only that, its where the magic is truly alive!

MBS:  What is a typical workday like for you?  Do you work on your artwork everyday?

Cosima:  What I have found is that creative work comes in cycles, dry parched periods and flows of inundation. Times where I think I will never make another thing, paint another dot.  It’s interesting for me to observe this in myself, there is this inner voice to it too, and its belligerent! Hell NO!  I am not working today and maybe never will again! Leave me alone! I a going to sit on this couch and not do a damned thing.
 I do become anxious and nervous in these times; it does not feel exactly carefree and happy.  Believe me it’s not easy to be this way. All those imperatives to “paint everyday!” from people in authority go through the head. But this is what’s going on. I can push myself to “just do it” what comes from that is forced bland and uninteresting work in the end.

But as I mature and accept myself for what I am, the woman I am, I see there are necessary times of dormancy, times of year actually that go quiet at now accustomed regularity; deep winter in particular.  And when I least expect it the drive reawakens, the tides turn, what was in the off position has now gone into hyper gear.
You think nothing is happening but in reality those dark nights of quietude are fields that must be fallow for a season laying in wait to sprout healthfully later on.
The inactivity becomes suddenly; don’t stand in my way. Up till all hours and then the first thing I want to see in the morning besides a cup of coffee is what has transpired the night before and then I cant keep my hands off it. The passion is back and I’m deep in it, the labor of bringing it through is in motion.

The feminine aspect must be recognized, seen and known for what it is in us and respected.  I am not a man. Stop trying to make me act like one. Particularly in creativity! In the basement of my soul, at the fountainhead of my being, where I become the individual that I am- myself, where I spring into existence; at that ground zero I am a feminine creative human being.  I cannot box and package one aspect of self from the other in separation. Creator and feminine exist in me together they are not separable. I work as a woman does in full acknowledgment of the sacred feminine alive in me, working with me and through me; this thing has cycles and rhythms and is birthed through me. I am what I am.
The Illumination of Liberty
MBS: Do you sell your work online?  What has your online experience been like?

Cosima:  I am interested in reaching an audience on the other side of the world where I presently am. I would like to gain more access and visibility in real terms to America not only selling through the Internet. There is so much online that I think its not always easy to discern for the interested what is what. The up side is that Internet selling has given me the ability to make forays before I physically arrive.

Seated Quan Yin
MBS:  What advice do you have to anyone who wishes to (seriously) pursue an artistic path?

Cosima:  You see if you had asked me what advise would I give to those who pursue an artistic path I would answer a long the lines of get as much education and experience as possible. Do it because you love it. Have faith and determination. Consider that you may have to take other jobs to support yourself.

But you stipulated the word, seriously.
“…Seriously pursue an artistic path.”

Sirius-ly be led by a guiding star along a path of Art.

The profession of Art is a responsibility not accomplished or undertaken without consideration; because of its consequences to the Artist. It is a pursuit of the hand, the head and the heart, mostly heart. It is an activity that unites the entire person, a pulling together of all one’s faculties. It requires the entire being in it. You do it whole-heartedly.

There is power in Art.

 Done where one is the threshold of the new moving into existence from the un-manifest unseen energies of what is waiting to materialize ushering it into matter with sincerity, the world moves forward.  One follows that star because you know, to acknowledge its dictates is what has to be done, there’s no other way because it’s the right way, the true path forward. Under such auspices the creative arrives here not only transforming what exists in the present world, but the artist herself. She is changed for having done the work. The work transforms the maker.


~ thank you Cosima!




Cosima's artwork can be found on ImageKind.
You can also find her work at http://www.lukashevich.comhttp://www.lukashevich.com

Links to other interviews in the Mind Body Spirit Artist Series.




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Monday, August 22, 2011

Mind Body Spirit Artist Interview: Fernanda Gonzalez

A love of spirit, nature and travel!  A belief in angels, fairies and magic!  An underlying faith in the essential goodness of humanity and it's ability to heal.  These are just a few of the things that interconnect and combine to create the vibrant, uplifting and spiritually infused artwork of Fernanda Gonzalez.  I really enjoyed my interview with Fena, learning her insights on art and healing.  I hope you will find her art and words as inspirational and enchanting as I did!  
                                                                                                                               ~ diane fergurson


Today I Know There Isn't Anything Impossible
MBS:  Can you tell us a little about your background?  How did you get started in art?

Fena: I was born in Caracas, Venezuela and from the time I was a toddler I was already engaging in creative pursuits getting into my dad's paints and according to him giving him very honest critiques of his own artwork. I remember at that young age being fascinated by anything that involved craftmaking and loving TV shows where they showed the audience how to paint. I have loved art for as long as I can remember. When I came to the United States at 9, art was my language, my tool of communication. I couldn't speak English, but I could color and paint, and it was my way of emotionally connecting to others and of making this challenging transition a more comfortable one. Art was the thread that weaved these transitions of my life together, and created for me a quasi like safety blanket that cushioned and protected me from the stress of adapting to a foreign land, a new life. I would spend hours in my dreamland painting the afternoons away. Fortunately my parents and my Nana were amazing, always nurturing and celebrating my artmaking, and even supporting my decision to turn it into a professional pursuit when I decided to attend Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. 

It was my high school art teacher, Mr. Bartman who really allowed me to see that artmaking as a profession was something that was possible. Looking back, I realized that he has been the teacher that has had the most impact on my life. For not only did he teach me about art history and technique, but most importantly, he ignited my creativity to new heights, believing in me unconditionally, showing me how to be disciplined and how to always see the world in a new light. It was as a result of his passion that I was able to be quite prolific at that time, producing enough inspired work to not only have my first solo exhibit at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington by the time I was eighteen, but to also win my first big award given by then Vice President Al Gore. That was the beginning of my art journey which today continues to wind and shift, transforming and teaching me a bit every day. 

MBS:  How did going to art school and studying painting impact your work?

Fena:  In high school, my paintings were primarily oil based with a completely figurative focus. When I got to art school, I was exposed to a whole new world of materials and techniques as well as amazing teachers who pushed the boundary and definition of what painting was. My work became very much abstract and I started to play with lots of different materials including plaster, acrylics, wax, all kinds of papers, beads, sequins, even candy and coffee among many other things. Anything and everything became a potential art material to explore and engage in my work. It was incredibly exciting to discover new mediums. I started exploring sculpture, and paper making. And because I was studying with so many creative people from all cultural and artistic backgrounds, I was also challenged to see in new ways, to alter my definitions of creativity, to go beyond the white canvas, the brushes, and see the interconnected of art in all things, in all of life. My work transformed completely and the art making process shifted for me, becoming less clear and linear as I integrated many new ideas and tried to make peace with apparent chaos and ambiguity. To this day my work has remnants of this time in my life. My passion for collage, for bringing into my work different materials found and created, still remains. My work has sure grown and changed, but some motifs from that time still prevail in my work, particularly the white dots. They are like stitches in a crazy quilt tying all of these different phases of my artistic life together into one cohesive form.


Strength
MBS: You mentioned that your work now has a less linear quality to it now.  I'd like to explore
that a little with you, because often artists find that "loosening up" in their work does not come easily to them.  Do you feel that this may have developed as your knowledge base about different materials
expanded or was it more to do with your artistic growth and personality evolving?

Fena:  I think that the exploration of new materials certainly changed the way I worked. My creative process transformed, and my paintings certainly changed as a result. For instance, in high school, I think of my process as linear because I remember being able to have an image in my mind of what I wanted to create, and just needing a simple sketch to execute the final work. Not that the end result matched my original vision, but I stayed quite true to the original sketch. Yes, there were shifts and changes in the drawing, an element of surprise, an uncertainty in the way the colors played and the way the painting unfolded. The work still had a life all of its own, but it was more contained and predictable. Today, because I no longer work in oils, but rather incorporate a myriad of materials, the painting which is more of a collage takes me on a journey that is a lot less predictable. I no longer have a clue of what the artwork will look like in the end for there are so many layers, shifts, possibilities. There is now more an element of chaos, a deeper unknown. The work takes me on a journey that is much more layered, and profound. I don't feel it is necessarily a loosening up, as it is a going into deeper recesses and nooks that I never even knew existed.

MBS: Currently what are some of your favorite materials that you work with?

Fena:  The body of work I am working on these days incorporates a variety of materials. My favorites to work with are all kinds of decorative fabrics and papers including origami, candy wrapper, doilies, patterned tissue paper among others. I also love working with photo images that I have taken over the years or vintage ones that I have collected over time. And of course, acrylic gel mediums. Those are my top favorite materials at the moment.


Le jardin
MBS:  How does spirituality play a role in your artwork and for you as an artist?

Fena:  Spirituality is an intrinsic part of my work. The creative process for me is an spiritual experience in and of itself in that to me creativity requires courage, faith, and trust in the unknown. In my personal experience, there is a letting go, a surrendering that must occur in order for creation to happen. It is no longer about me wanting to create something, but rather about something wanting to be born through me. So it entails getting out of my own way, of my own judgements of what the artwork "should" look like or how long it "should" take. It is making peace with the fact that it is not for me to know that or control that, but rather to allow the piece to unfold and grow in its own perfect way and time. Acceptance is necessary, as is unconditional love. Embracing the beautiful parts and the ones that my limited self finds not so pleasing is part of my creative process. In terms of the context itself, each of my artworks narrates a story providing little messages,  reflections on life. The most recent ones are titled and inspired by my own writings or quotes that find me, which affirm what I may be experiencing at a particular moment. All of my art pieces are imbued with uplifting messages, with Reiki, and with lots and lots of love. They come forth from my connection with spirit, with angels, with animal guides. It my co-creation with them as we converse, dance, play, cry together and laugh.

I Give You My Light
MBS:  Besides conveying spirituality in their pieces, some artists feel that their artwork can also be used as a tool for healing.  Do you have any thoughts about that?

Fena:  Yes, I absolutely find art to be a great tool for healing. I believe everything has a vibration and I find that art in all its forms can access places within one's psyche that may not be possible through other means. In my own personal work, before I even begin a piece, I am already consciously setting the intention to be a pure channel of spirit. My affirmation is that my work may support and uplift others which is healing in and of itself. There is a conscious choice in the intention I set, in the words and messages I ingrain my paintings with. I consciously choose to create from a place of love, of connecting to spirit, to the angelic realm, and in doing so, I am bringing forth that energy. Words, color, intention, scents, sounds, everything in our world has a vibration. And by that I mean, there is power in the way that each of these can transform and affect our consciousness, our body, our whole being whether it be to calm us or energize us, to uplift or negate us, to awaken our fear or our love. In this way I find that art is healing. It can access places that have been locked up within, and in doing so, open our hearts.

MBS:  Your work is so vibrant...full of color and life!  How has your cultural heritage or even where you live (Miami) influenced your work?
 
Fena:   My work has actually always been very colorful and vibrant. The Venezuelan landscape growing up really influenced my color palette. There was always that nostalgia for the tropics specially during those long Washington and Boston winters. Perhaps it was a way to carry the joy and luminosity of the sun with me despite the weather. I just moved to Miami late last year. My studio is bright, full of sunlight. The work is still colorful, but I have started to notice that I have incorporated colors that tend to the darker side, perhaps my way of balancing so much light.

Tengo Fe I Have Faith
MBS:  What is a typical work day like for you?

Fena:  My schedule varies a bit each day. But usually I wake up, enjoy my sacred cappuccino ritual, from the smell of the coffee, to the sound my Italian coffee maker makes when it announces that it is ready, to my first sip. It centers me and sets the start to my day. I then look at any messages I need to respond to, do some administrative work and up keeping in regards to my Etsy store or wholesale orders of my prints and cards, and then continue the creative work. It really varies each day a bit, but it always all begins with my cup of cappuccino. Then when I am working on a canvas which is usually later in the day, and not every day, I first have a variety of images that i want to work with, print them out, and start to collage before beginning the process of painting. I can work through the afternoon and into the night. It really depends on how my creative juices are flowing.... And then of course, in between, when it feels right, I head for a walk on the beach and meditate.

MBS:  I see that you are currently selling your work online at Etsy.  Where else can people
find you and your artwork?

Fena: I just recently started doing wholesale on my line of cards. So along with Etsy, my artwork can be found in stores in Miami, Fl. Right now my line of cards is being offered by Books and Books in Bal Harbor, JPaper in Bay Harbor, and Celestial Awakenings in Coconut Grove. Next month they will be in additional stores including other Books and Books stores and Unity Church. People can also learn more about my original artwork and reproductions by contacting me directly on my Facebook page under FenaArts.

Live Fearlessly
MBS:    What prompted you to sell online, and how has social networking worked as a tool towards your increased visibility and sales?

Fena: For a long time I had heard about Etsy and Ebay, and how it really worked well for some people. I hadn't really jumped on the bandwagon because at the time I didn't have an awareness of social media or the importance of networking through this form.  I also only had my original artwork which I didn't think was necessarily a good fit because of the price point and frankly because I didn't think that someone would be interested in buying an original piece over the Internet. My shop on Etsy happened as a result of starting to make high quality archival reproductions of my work specifically prints and greeting cards. I thought this would be a great way to connect to other sellers and buyers around the world and to receive feedback as well as collaborate with others. I have met some wonderful people along the way through both Etsy, Facebook, and the Angel Therapy Board, which is my group of colleagues from around the world with whom I studied Doreen Virtue's Angel Therapy course with. They in particular have been incredibly supportive and have introduced my work to their friends. It has been a wonderful way to make friends and to connect to people in other countries who may have never gotten to know my work otherwise.

MBS:  What are you currently working on and what would you like to explore next?


Fena:  Currently I am working on a series of mixed media paintings that is inspired by quotes and channeled messages. It was sparked by my recent work. The new pieces have the actual quotes incorporated in them. They are the foundation for a project I have had in mind for some time: a series of channeled cards, similar to an oracle or affirmation deck utilizing my artwork and my own messages received in meditation. I have also started a prototype for an art book with images of my paintings and uplifting messages. As well as individual channeled message pieces for clients which incorporate not only the messages I receive for them when connecting to the angelic realm but also healing images and colors to support them.



MBS:  Is there any advice you have for those who wish to (seriously) pursue an artistic path?

Fena: 
My advice for those who wish to embark on an artistic path is to ask themselves whether it is something that they truly love and having said yes, simply enjoy and embrace the journey. So many times we get in our own way with our judgements and questions, the how's, if onlys and shoulds. The artistic path in my opinion entails joy, passion, innocence, dedication, a complete connectedness to spirit, as well as a total surrender to the creative process. If one has that, one has everything to embark on the artistic path. When one is so connected to spirit so that one cannot be affected by our own ego's or other people's opinions of our path and of our choices, one is then free to create work that is not only genuine, but that arises from a deep place within which transcends human form and which serves others. Having created the work, we then need to share it with the world. The practical aspects vary for each individual. But then again that falls into the how which is something that unfolds along the way. If and when I do get in my own way, I love to remind myself of what really matters with this Martha Graham quote which I think might help others too: "There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open."

Thank you Fena!


You can contact Fena at:  mfena@yahoo.com
You can also find her work on Etsy.

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Additional interviews from the Mind Body Spirit Artist Series:
Ben Isaiah
Emily Balivet
Laura Milnor Iverson
Joanne Miller Rafferty
Jude McConkey
Atmara Rebecca Cloe 
Alison Fennell


Sunday, March 13, 2011

Mind Body Spirit Artist Series: Joanne Miller Rafferty

I met Joanne Miller Rafferty about 12 years ago at the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts.  We both had an interest in learning to make handmade paper to incorporate into our mixed media artwork.  At the time I had no idea the extent of Joanne's art career, but I remember my friend who was also taking the class was simply astounded that an artist of Joanne's caliber and experience was working right along with us... up to her elbows in paper slury! As you'll see from my interview, Joanne Miller Rafferty has been creating fine art for most of her life.  She has won just about every award and recognition there is.  Her work is in thousands of private and corporate collections.  Television and movies have incorporated her pieces into their set designs.  Joanne sells her original pieces and edition gilcee prints throughout the US and is represented by a number of galleries.  Since 1990, Joanne has sold over 96,000 prints worldwide.  
                                                                                                                ~ diane fergurson


Memory's Museum #5  by Joanne Miller Rafferty
MBS: You've had a long and distinguished career as an artist. Can you tell us a little about your background? How you got started as an artist?

Joanne:  I truly believe that my "background" always included art in some form. From the earliest time I can remember, I loved to draw and I loved to "make things". When I was in the fifth grade, we had to write a story about our life, and the ending to my story was "I may go to college and study art". And that's exactly what I did. I enjoyed any kind of art project thrown my way in high school and went away to a college known for their art program. After obtaining my Bachelor of Science Degree in Art Education, I became an art teacher on the elementary level, grades K to 6th. I did that for six years, and during that time, took 30 hours of graduate courses in art education, began to paint in watercolor and entered the art festival/craft circuit.
My earliest offerings then were small floral watercolors and quotations in calligraphy, that I had perfected in college. My calligraphy professor, Jeanne File, did calligraphy for the Papal offices in Rome and was a perfectionist! My watercolor professor, James Kuo, was internationally recognized and my biggest influence at that time. I won a number of awards in those outdoor shows, and my watercolors began to change into very abstracted forms. There were also landscapes in pen and ink, before beginning to incorporate acrylic into my designs. And my work started to become larger in size. I stopped teaching and started to paint and exhibit full time. I truly loved the outdoor shows and the direct contact I would have with the clients who would actually own my work. The feedback was comparable to nothing else. So different in the gallery business where the gallery owners hear all the accolades! A couple of small businesses saw me at these shows and asked for work on consignment to place in their shops, this is how my first gallery affiliation came about. The owners were always interested in art and were just opening a gallery, so we really started off together. In the next few years , I looked for new opportunities to show my work and entered a very large exhibition at Madison Square Garden. From that show, I was contacted by my first New York Gallery.

MBS: I remember one time hearing you say something about those days of making art on your "dining room table" while also teaching and being a mom. There are "so" many women who can relate to that and struggle with it all the time... especially early in their career. Many quit making art as as a result. Looking back on those days, what insights can you pass on to others who are finding themselves relegated to the "dining room table"?

Joanne:  Luckily, I had finished teaching when my son was born, and then made the transition to painting full time. I think what you are referring to is the story about my painting table (which my husband built for me) that was in the middle of our family room when my children were toddlers. It had two leaves which could be put down on the sides. I had to clear away what I was doing and put the sides down in order to have enough room for the table where we ate our dinner. I think my children grew up thinking that all mothers painted...It was always around them! As far as juggling it all, I was and still am doing what I love. You can always make time for that. I think teaching, painting and having two small children would have been a whole different story, but I was fortunate that my income was adequate enough with the shows at that time that I didn't have to also have an outside job. So my insight would be to not quit, keep doing what you love and you will find a way.


Summer Fall Winter Spring available on Zazzle
MBS: Well that sounds a lot more doable! lol
Your work has really had a such nice progression, from starting in watercolors to incorporating other mediums and elements. Many artists start with one medium and use it their entire career. What has motivated to you keep pushing and exploring?

Joanne:  I think it was just a natural progression. I like to keep in touch with other artists and am always looking to what they are doing, as well as seeing current exhibits of interest. The progression to canvas actually happened as an experiment with watercolors on canvas, just to get the general feel of working with that substrate. That is probably why I use acrylics rather than oils because the washes have a watercolor feel to them. As pieces would sell I was motivated to understand what about that piece was desirable to the viewer. I could look at the photo of the piece and pull out certain aspects of what I liked about it.

MBS: Do you have favorite materials that you like to incorporate into your pieces?

Joanne:  Favorite materials keep changing all the time. I love the look of metal leaf, and have incorporated it into my work for quite some time. That is actually how I started creating my jewelry line. There is so much you can do with variegated colors of gold and silver leaf. After doing a number of workshops in handmade papermaking, I began to add pieces to my work and that has stayed quite constant. Lately I have been adding more textural items: painted fabrics and cording, lace, iridescent particles. 

World of Wonder Poster on Zazzle
MBS:  I've noticed inspirational quotes in many of your pieces.  Is that something new or have you been doing that for awhile?

Joanne:  From the earliest time I started exhibiting my work, I have incorporated meaningful words. The placement of these thoughts evoke different responses and are artistic themselves. When I am creating a work, I have always loved the way the quotation or thought influences me. As far as the paintings themselves, my main theme has always been a horizon. Sometimes extremely abstracted, and other times, highly recognizable, I feel there is a spiritual element to the viewer anticipating what they may envision is beyond the horizon that they see on the canvas. It is a spiritual journey, and every viewer has a different outlook, a different set of values, a different set of experiences with which to imagine the journey beyond the horizon line.  The collage elements many times contain words, and I make sure they are insightful. I have created a number of the new posters on Zazzle with inspirational quotations. Art and inspiration just naturally go together. Incorporating the mind the body and the spirit as one whole is what brings the viewer into a state of understanding what the art means to them. Stated on my homepage of my website:

"The journey of one color vibrating through another and the balancing of light as more and more collage pieces are incorporated into my work makes the concept of the landscape richer, sometimes more complicated, sometimes freer, producing a sense of motion and a place for contemplation. The uncertainty is the adventure; there is a higher vision. Perhaps over the horizon line the vision becomes more clear. Sometimes it only leads to another quest, that not being the final journey. My landscapes challenge traditional boundaries and sometimes give us new ones. Not always referencing specific memories, sometimes incorporating visual shorthand, the collage elements evoke fragments and memories of a universal nature."


MBS: Do you work in a particular format? A specific size...large, small...or does it depend on the project?

Joanne:  The format depends on a number of things. A lot of the time, I like to go with a size that happens to appeal to me at the moment. Of course, if I am doing a commission, I follow the format of what the client is asking.  Usually with a commission, they have seen a number of paintings and are asking for certain colorations or a particular size. I have done a number of commissions incorporating collage pieces sent to me by the client.

Past Lives Series on Zazzle
MBS: When you are painting do you start from general idea or theme for a series, or do you find the commonality between pieces after a group of work is completed? I know artists who work both ways.

Joanne:  I find the commonality of a series usually after the pieces are completed.

MBS: For a number of years you've hosted an annual open house in your studio. From a business perspective can you talk a little bit about that. Why you do still do it? How has it effected your networking and visibility as an artist?


Joanne:  The open house in the studio began when I was doing the art festival circuit. I exhibited in many local shows, so my customers were not too far away. Many of them had called and were looking for a gift at Christmas (this was at the time when I was working in very small formats) so I opened up the studio in early December and had an early Christmas Party, with studio open for sales if desired. When I lived in Maplewood, I was on the Board of the 1978 Art Center and we incorporated an Artist Studio Tour which has been a highlight in the town ever since. People love to see where an artist creates. I have now had my Open House every year since 1973. It is mostly attended by friends and friends of friends. It's a good way to try out new ideas and offer them to those I know. The real business of my art is still handled through the galleries with which I have an affiliation.



MBS: You mentioned your gallery affiliations. Where are you represented and what is it that they carry? Is it primarily paintings or do you sell prints as well?

Joanne:  Some gallery affiliations and representations have changed over the years, but presently those in Richmond (Chasen Galleries), Scottsdale (Rima Fine Art), Lahaina, Maui (Gallerie 505), and New York (Landmark Gallery) are my direct galleries to the public. I am represented by Slaymaker Fine Art in Chicago, that sells my work to other galleries in a number of locations. The galleries only sell my original paintings on canvas and a limited number of giclee prints on canvas, published by Uphouse Fine Art Publishers in Scottsdale.


MBS: I saw that you recently opened up a store on Etsy for your jewelry line and also a shop on Zazzle for your beautiful cards and posters. It seems like you have such great representation and visibility already, what prompted you to sell online too?

Zebra Marble Brooch/Necklace on Etsy
Joanne:  They say that one of the best ways to stay in business in any economy is to diversify your income stream. I have had many posters published by Bruce McGaw in New York and Editions Limited in California in the past.. I designed some posters of my own using images from my completed paintings as well as some designs made from portions of completed paintings. I found the designing to be extremely satisfying and used the Zazzle site for my designs. My jewelry line was created a number of years ago but really limited to show openings and friends. Placing my one of a kind work on Etsy has given me a market for this creativity that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Question 11: What is a typical work day for you? Do you keep "hours" and go to work painting like a 9-5 job? Or are you less scheduled about it?

Joanne:  I definitely do not have a typical work day. No two days are ever the same! If I have a deadline, I probably work the best. Those days I may work all day into the night. Then the next day I may do something totally different. It's nice to also not be working on a deadline, because I can take time to create something totally new.

MBS: Looking back over your career is there any advice you have for those who wish to (seriously) pursue an artistic path?

Joanne:  My only advice would be what I had stated before. You have to be serious about what you are doing and look at every opportunity for others to see your work. With the onset of social networking, there are so many opportunities out there. On Facebook alone, there are artists and galleries and groups to join. You can start a fan page for your work and have friends join that. Linkedin also has artists and artists groups.

Thank you Joanne!

~ ~ ~ ~ 

You find out more about Joanne Miller Rafferty and her work by visiting her website and also her
stores on Zazzle and Etsy.

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From our Artist Series you might also enjoy interviews with:
Laura Milnor Iverson
Emily Balivet

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Artist,Writer, Jewelry Design