A Change

I have decided to take a new perspective on my blog.  Previously, I limited myself to interviewing artists and describing my experience with theses artists.  Lately, however, I have found this to be a bit stifling for my own creative purposes.  Coming soon, I will be using my blog as a blank canvas and will be painting various images with my words.  This may include an experience from the night before, a poem, an interview, or a news story or  website that I want to share.  I am taking a broader approach with the intentions of allowing myself greater space for creativity and to create a place where readers can connect with something real.  Thank you for reading. 

Love and Light, 

RAJ

Richard Robbins: The Mad Scientist

Equal parts confidence and humility, Richard carries himself with unique energy.  Thus begins a dualism that naturally flows into his artwork creating a unified juxtaposition.  From the moment he begins showing me his studio, I notice the casual way Richard introduces one piece after another.  He suggests “Oh dude, you will really like this” and then seems surprised when I complement the intricate geometric design.  The studio, a chunk of basement in his parent’s home, is both workshop and art studio.  The floor is covered with a canvas speckled with paint and electronic parts.  Paintings line the wall, a shelf holds miniature sculptures Richard affectionately calls “bobble heads”, and a table is filled with supplies.  I ask Richard when he knew that he was an artist and his answer captures his abounding humor.  “I like to tell everyone the story that when I was four I took my diapers off and drew with shit on the wall,” Richard states with a stern look on his face.  “But no, I guess in third grade my teacher assigned me a saxophone solo and I realized man, I can do anything I want with this.   I still don’t consider myself a visual artist.  I make music, animations, and visual stuff; everyone’s an artist I just make shit.”

Richard begins showing me the “shit” he makes and I discover it is anything but.  Appropriately, he starts with the most current pieces, a set of acaustic wax paintings.  He speaks of the medium, one he just began exploring, with excitement.  The initial pieces are organic shapes made of beautiful layers of wax and color.  I notice the breadth of materials Richard seems to work with and he explains that he is an artist of whatever medium he currently uses be it wood, computer parts, or musical instruments.  The aesthetic is often one of complex layering and sophisticated use of color.  In his drawings and prints, the compositions Richard executes freehandedly communicate the same precision one sees in a blue print, mathematic equation, and plans for a new invention.  The juxtaposition emerges in Richard’s artwork- a harmonious interplay of organic free flowing creativity and a mathematic and scientific structure.

Richard’s work is ripe with mathematic symbols and enigmatic formula.  He seems as much a scientist as artist.  One expects creations of sound logic and tested theory.  The results of Richard’s creative mind, however, leave vast space for questions, often spiritual.  I ask Richard why he creates and his response hints at a higher power, “we were all put here to create.  If I get any kind of reaction from something I made then it was worth it.”  True to the variability of experimentation, Richard speaks about reaction to his work with a sense of the psychological.  He says, “You can’t control (people’s response to your work).  That’s what it’s all about.  Someone brings everything they know to your piece and you can only tell them a little bit about what you know through your painting and the rest is for them to figure out.  That’s what’s cool about painting; there is a lot of mystery.  You could totally spell something out but then it’s not an effective painting.”  Richard’s art speaks to both soul and intellect with a brilliantly mysterious language. 

TEN QUESTIONS

What is your favorite color? Orange

What is your favorite word and why? Spelunking

What song can you listen to over and over again? Benny and the Jets, if I’m really drunk

When you are struggling creatively where do you find inspiration?  Nature

What is one thing you love to look at or watch? Beautiful women

What is your biggest creative block? Laziness

Who is your biggest fan? Garret McCullum  

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring one book what would it be? A book of blank pages and a pen

If you could only bring one type of art supply? I’d bring a multi-tool I wouldn’t bring art, I’d use spit and soot for my art

What is one thing you have learned that you would like other artists to know? You’ve got to make ten things to make one good thing, its all about the editing process, you have to make something and step back 

Jessica Shramm: In the Process

As a photographer, Jessica's eyes search and find intricate aesthetic elements in the most unusual places.  Once, I saw a photograph she took of my best friend of 11 years and did not recognize her.  She took the most familiar face and found an intensity I had never known.  This is Jessica's ability and the reason among others I wanted to interview her about the process of photography.  Jessica's studio resides in the art building of her university and so she is a nomadic artist.  I joined her on the journey one summer day.  

We began on the front porch of her Athens, Georgia home.  Inside, Jessica showed me her new pinhole camera with genuine enthusiasm.  She began taking a few pictures and I could tell the creative process had begun, as spontaneously as the burst of an overfilled balloon.  We were off to look at the world around us - to find something of interest somewhere, anywhere. Out on the porch again, Jessica aimed her camera in every direction hardly pausing as she shot.  I imagined through Jessica's viewfinder, she was looking out over a vast sea, spying for the right direction to steer our vessel. 

 

10 Questions:

 

What is your favorite color and why? 

every color between blue and green, mostly just because those are my favorite colors to look at. also, they are the colors of nature and the earth.

What is your favorite word and why?

charisma, because its a beautiful word, and an important characteristic.

What song can you listen to over and over again?

well, that changes often.... but right now i would probably say any modest mouse song, or a song by os mutantes (this is a random combo)

When you are struggling creatively where do you find inspiration?

i sometimes find it helpful to simply look at the work of other artists, many different artists, and try to spark some idea... either that or i just go out and shoot despite the creative struggle, usually that leads to something. 

What is one thing you love to look at or watch?

people, what could be more interesting?

What is your biggest creative block?

insecurity.

Who is your biggest fan? 

my mom, she thinks everything i do is great

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring one book what would it be?

a collection of short stories by roald dahl

If you could only bring one type of art supply? 

a camera... 35mm

What is one thing you have learned that you would like other artists to know? 

that there is always more to learn

Ok and.... more general questions with answers by Jessica.

.......in a few words describe your process from the time you get your assignment/idea to the moment you know it is complete.

if its an assignment, (which is usually what i start with considering i'm in school and have little time for personal projects... although they sometimes overlap) i try to come up with a vague or general idea of what i want to shoot, and i just start, even if i don't know yet where it will take me. this will either lead to new ideas for shooting or work out as planned. I then develop the pictures, see what i've got, and move on from there...either to printing or reshooting.  after printing i sometimes also decide to take more/different pictures. I'm not finished until the final print or prints are made, and even then i could change direction and start over.  its very relative and dependent on the project. 

Do you have a specific time that you work? 

well, the light is best in the late afternoon for shooting, but i usually work in the lab whenever i have time (morning and night)

How do you know when you are done or that you got the shot you wanted?

usually not until it is printed... but there are occasions when i take a picture, and get so excited to print it because i can tell that it is the shot i wanted.

Carrie Shoults: Sacred Studio

Carrie Shoults lives and works in her home studio in Stone Mountain, Georgia.  She constantly explores new media creating works of painting, ceramic and cement sculpture, fabric, and drawing.  Her artist's statement profoundly relates her artwork to the natural world.  She says her "goal is to reveal the nature of a thing by finding the essence of it, and expressing that through its basic characteristics."  Carrie sees art as a reflection of nature and nature as a reflection of the Creator.  These ideals about art develop beautifully in Carrie's work.  Knowing Carrie personally and artistically, I was fascinated to discover the secrets contained in the space of her creative magic.  Carrie gave me an intimate tour of her studio.

As I entered Carrie’s studio, in the basement of her home, the first thing that struck me was the calm feeling.  It seemed like holy ground and as if I was a visitor in a sacred temple.  I realized that Carrie herself became more peaceful and reserved as she moved through the space.  The studio is a large room and it holds several stations or smaller studios within it.  The first and most obvious is painting and that is fitting, as Carrie seems to be a painter above all else.  The smell of oil and turp fills the air and some of the paintings on the wall are still wet.   The jars of brushes and pallets supporting blobs of colors wait for use.  It is as if these are the instruments of worship in this temple and Carrie is the priest performing the acts.

I move around and see a second table covered in canvas stained the color of the earth and I know immediately that this is where the forming and molding of clay takes place.  How wonderful to be able to switch from the flat surface of a canvas to the all-encompassing organic shapes of clay and to have a mind that handles both gracefully.  Beyond the clay station, is a closet full of fabric supplies.  Besides the beautiful paintings, delicate animal sculptures, and regal vases, Carrie also creates pillows, quilts, and handbags from a stash of scrap fabric that would make any fashion designer jealous.  The closet is not so neat that intimation sets in but just neat enough to see what you have to work with. 

As my time in the studio drew to a close, I realized I could spend hours in this space - if not creating then simply looking at all of the mysterious objects.  The endless art supplies and tools are a modern day cabinet of curiosities for the visitor.  Before I left, I had to get some insight into Carrie's space.  I asked her to tell me the most important aspects of her studio.  She replied, "Light, a lot of natural light to be able to see color. The fact that it is secluded helps me focus on my work and silence is so nice, I can really get into my own head."  So simple I thought.  Finally, hoping to improve my own art making situation, I asked advice for creating a studio space.  Carrie answered generously, "Its really less about the place, it’s the desire to want to work, knowing that I can work on my lap when I am 80, and finding a way to be creative no matter how much space you have.  It's a matter of adapting to your environment.  But, if you could choose a space, privacy and light are important.  Obviously, the more space the merrier depending on your medium.  But it really boils down to just doing the work, just starting.  People think you have to wait for inspiration that’s just not true.  You have to work through the blocks."

  10 Questions:

What is your favorite color? Green, defiantly green.  It is the color of nature, grass, trees and plants.

What is your favorite word and why? Beauty.  Its truth, when you can find the beauty in something then you have found the truth about that thing.

What song can you listen to over and over again? Several operas and Spanish guitar music. Enya for the simple notes which move me.

When you are struggling creatively where do you find inspiration?  In everyday objects and situations, compassion in the human experience.  Finding beauty in the simple things which is a reflection of nature. 

What is one thing you love to look at or watch? Birds outside of my window.

What is your biggest creative block?  Myself and my own mental limitations.  Its imaginary there really is no block other than my own doubt.

Who is your biggest fan? My mom.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring one book what would it be? The Four Agreements by Don Miquel Ruiz

If you could only bring one type of art supply? Pencils and paper

What is one thing you have learned that you would like other artists to know? There is no magic about it, its just in the doing.