1. Where are you based?
I’m a bit of a Gypsy. I’ve pissed on Italy, DC and for the time being, Atlanta GA.
2. How do you go about choosing subjects for your work?
Each piece is a journal entry really. And like a journal, the subjects choose me. They all take a figurative narrative approach but with a subversive, abstract theme buried underneath. A few glasses of wine and bit of dialogue is usually enough to get me going.
3. What does success mean to you?
For me it’s all about being defiantly uncompromising. I have no interest in being the latest superficial pop-art trend. Nor do I care if the color palate in my paintings matches the drapes in your living room. I think artists have a responsibility not only to challenge social norm but also to turn it on its ear. Success is relative.
4. What song lyric best describes you?
“…I was lost, and the cost,
the cost didn't matter to me.
I was lost, and the cost
was to be outside society.”
-Rock N Roll Nigger, Patti Smith
5. How does being an artist affect your personal relationships?
What I have to say as an artist, more so than just the fact that I am an artist, most affects my personal relationships. With the exception of my husband and a few comrades, most others around me take an extreme opposition to what I take on in my art. Right now I’m taking applications for new family members and friends.
6. What is the biggest sacrifice you made for your craft?
A 700lb goat.
The creative act must be a selfless one.
7. If there were an art hall of fame what about you or your work would earn you a place in it?
If there were an art hall of fame and I earned a place in it then I’m doing something horribly wrong.
8. Outside of art what makes you an interesting person?
I’ve never existed outside of art so I must not be that interesting. I grew up surrounded by artists; My parents, aunts and uncles. Now I have my husband and the two creative kids we are raising. Having had the good fortune of continuous and varied exposure in the arts, I’ve seen the full spectrum of possibilities…the good, the bad, and the ugly. Now that I think about it, the only time when my artistic nature seems to get violently sucked out of me is when I walk into a Walmart.
9. What bit of info that you know now on that you wish they would have told you in school?
Don’t take on my fears and limitations as your own.
10. How do you know when a piece is finished?
When I break up with it. Sometimes it’s a gradual process, other times abrupt. Each piece I create can be so emotionally taxing that if I don’t get to a good stopping point, madness starts to creep in. The painting it did entitled “Slip Sliding Away” almost did me in.
11. Where do you see the art world going and how does that play into your future plans?
I try not to pay attention to what’s going on in the art world. What goes on in the world around me is going to dictate the art stains I produce.
12. Is there a subject that you wanted to paint but haven’t yet?
Yes. Daffodils and bowls of fruit seem nice. But as long as the world around me continues to disappoint, I’ll be compelled to work through my frustrations with a paintbrush.
13. Where can people purchase your work?
I am currently preparing for a major exhibition on May 1st to coincide with the opening of my own art gallery, Treading the Waters, located in the heart of Midtown, Atlanta. I also have a few things coming up in the spring and summer locally and in DC and the U.K. as well. Updates will be posted on my website, www.treadingthewaters.com
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