The beautiful
Jessie agreed to interview me and came up with some great questions.
Sit back and have a good read… Maybe by the time you read and leave me a few comments, I will be back from my self imposed homework binge.
1. What got you started creating figurative sculpture? Why figurative? Why wire? When did it start? Where do you see it heading? (ok...that was like five questions in one. Basically, i'm asking you to tell ALL! ) :)
Hold on to your seat – this answer is long-winded but a testament to how all things come together…
Since childhood I have always done lots of drawing. I kept the bullies away in elementary school at times by drawing them a great picture. I impressed family and friends by being able to draw those little sketches in the backs of magazines for art instruction schools. In junior high my music teacher would pay me to make program covers for orchestra concerts. I loved to draw so much that I used to carry a sketchbook with me on the bus. I was so painfully shy and in my shyness I simply kept to myself and observed others. My sketchbooks were hand-sized so I could draw people around me without them really noticing what I was working on. In my twenties after a period of not making art at all, I found a box of pastels, some butcher paper and begin to create again, making big drawings of the faces of people. At the same time I discovered this bead shop near the coffee house where I worked. For months I spent any money I had on beads and supplies. I drew pictures of people, made earrings and cut up fashion magazines making collage. Thinking back on it now, that was a time of great exploration.
I got totally immersed in the idea of capturing facial expressions for a few years and in my late twenties I began to exhibit my work in coffeehouses and local businesses both in Sacramento and San Francisco. I enjoyed the work I was making and yet as I created, the list of things I wanted to try simply got longer. I moved on to sewing these haphazard patchwork blankets for a while, giving one to each of my family members and close friends. Then one day while waiting for my friend to get her hair cut I spotted a bead store across the street from her salon. While wandering around the store I found some rolls of wire along with an advertisement for workshops to learn how to make wire candleholders. I gathered up the information and bought a spool of wire and yet because the workshops were pretty expensive (well, 75 bucks for 2 hours) I never went to a workshop. Instead I went back to the bead store a few times and in simply looking at the candleholders and experimenting with the wire I figured out how to make my own. Once I’d made a few candleholders I was bored with the idea and went back to drawing however, drawing became a bit dull to me as well. What I wanted was to create something with my hands. I went back to the wire only this time began to create twelve inch tall wire men by wrapping wire in a spiral like manner. From there I stretched further, working from a desire to freeze movement. All of those years of watching people on the bus came back as I began paying close attention to people around me – the way they moved, the way their clothing wrinkled from ordinary wear, the folds in the fabric from pushing ones shirt sleeves up, the way there are wrinkles in pants at the bend of the knee. My observations come out in my sculpture. As for the fashion magazines that were once material for collages, now I sit among magazines and flip though them looking for interesting clothing almost always shown in movement on the body of someone. When I find the images that thrill me I study them for awhile, allowing myself a chance to map out just what steps are needed to create a sculpture out of what I see on a page. From there I begin to create. I like using wire because it has a certain strength and underscores my admiration for strong women. As a medium it has a certain amount to permanence to it as well. Some of the wire I use is the rugged kind of wire generally used to mend fences. I like the idea of the possibility that my work has the strength to live on beyond my life. In a nutshell, I guess you could say I started doing figurative sculpture because I am just really into observing people and find myself continually inspired given the chance to simply people watch.
2. In terms of your art, do you have (or have you ever had) a mentor that is important to you?
I don’t know if I have had a mentor in the typical sense of working with someone or seeking advice from them. I have had certain artists that I’ve followed and to a certain extent, envied. This healthy jealousy has pushed me to continue making art and to take risks. For instance, I remember two years out of high school reading an article about
Kara Walker. We are the same age so I was just so taken back that she was such an incredible artist and that she was working and going after her dreams. In my mid-twenties I started meeting artists through a San Francisco organization called ArtSpan. I met a
circle of friends who in their ordinary work as artists have taught me so much about simply creating and getting work out into the world. I've also spent time reading more than a dozen books about the business of art.
3. What, in your life, has surprised you the most?
I think I am surprised each time I am able to make art and share it with the world. As a child my mom always said art was a hobby and in high school when I said I wanted to be an artist it was completely discouraged. Being raise in a family where money was always tight, my mom wanted me to get a job that paid well and when I said I wanted to be an artist, well that did not go over well. It took me years to show her that this was a worthwhile pursuit and I think after all of this time she has had a chance to see how much it means to me. She’s come around and is one of my biggest fans, always at every show and promoting my work all the time.
4. If your art could change the world, in what ways would you want it to do that?
Wow- what a question! I could contemplate this indefinitely. Since you have been reading this now for an eternity (are you still there?) I’ll be brief… I’d like my art to change the world simply by conjuring up feelings and ideas in people that words and music can’t express. I don’t expect my work to be for everyone. Some folks may look at a wire dress and see it as frivolous, superficial and fun and yet others may see beyond the exterior and see the soul I have captured… I don’t know if I can take on the world but I do come baring gifts for all – one person at a time…
5. You have just been commissioned to create a very large mural on the side of an important building that, in some way, tells the story of your life. Without worrying about your level of talent, what visions come to mind?
Another hard question and yet I was tell you what comes to mind first – I see a person climbing the wall, surpassing obstacles, overcoming.
