What does a day in your art practice look like?
I’m a part time high school art teacher and also a mother of three, so I have to really rely on time blocking to get my studio hours in. I think the scarcity of my time makes me focus extra hard when I get to my studio. I head into the studio around 10 or 11am - depending on if I have taught that day. Then I work until 2pm most days. I usually have one long day a week (Mondays) at the studio where I get to stay from early morning until late at night where I can really lock in and work without distraction.
I wish my studio hours were only spent in actual creation, but it takes a lot of hustle to make this plan work. I spend at least a few hours every week teaching sewing lessons to help with my rent. I also divide time weekly to do customer consultations and studio visits, I work at my social media, pursuing strategic partnerships as well as hauling my work around for shows and events. The email and computer work can happen at home in the evenings after dinner and kiddo activities.
What inspires you?
My inspiration comes from living in California… I am thinking often about water, things I see on the beach, the way I see light in different settings; landscapes, mountains, trees and the way things grow. I find myself searching for patterns and textures everywhere I go, using photography to stay observant. As a native Los Angelino, I love the combination of urban life, street art and the mashup of many cultures, together with some of the wildest and most beautiful natural environments in the world. I am curious about nature’s tendency to overtake what has been left unattended or abandoned. Nature demonstrates how brokenness and decay are part of the life cycle and can therefore be beautiful. I’m drawn to shapes that move and swirl — trees branching, water flowing, shells spiraling, vortexes pulsing, life growing. This planet is the greatest revelation of design and beauty; to honor nature and address my daily worries about human impact, I gather textile waste and mend its broken pieces into new, fragmented-yet-whole stories of belonging.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I give a lot of advice to younger people as I interact with artistic teenagers on a daily basis. I tell them the things I wish someone would have told me. That it’s okay to be a beginner and to not be good at something when you first start on it. “How many times have you actually done this before? Why would you expect expert work from a beginner?” I tell them often that negative self talk does nothing for creativity and I often make them go take a walk and come back with a better attitude towards themselves when I find they are down on their abilities and work. I learned this through way too many years of being so hard on myself and so critical that I basically crippled my own creative journey. I was so afraid of failure that I would talk myself out of things.
What is the best advice you’ve been given?
I was told by my first painting teacher that sometimes the best thing you can do with something you’re struggling with is to put it away for a while and come back to it later when you have calmed down. This is something that I still do (and obviously tell my students to do as well). After many years of learning to trust myself and trust the process, I have find the time I need gets smaller. It’s easier to dig in and know that I am capable of a solution - to trust myself.
Also I love the quote by Walt Stanchfield - “we all have 10,000 bad drawings in us, the sooner we get them out the better”
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?
This is actually never a problem for me. I find art to be a saving grace in a hard world. If I find myself a little lost for what to do, I go search through old sketchbooks or photo books - I find I actually have too many ideas and am too motivated - the harder part for me is to implement rest.
How has personal experience influenced your creativity?
Experience is everything. Life is hard and beautiful and sad and precious. My appreciation for the planet - expressed through a love for travel and reading - has expanded my understanding and curiosity about things I don’t know. My love for the people in my life, my experiences with grief and loss and my belief that there is a purpose and beauty to be found in our journey while we are here lead me to the place of hope and trying to partner in creation by being a part of beauty in the world.
How do you make the leap from an idea in your head to the action you produce?
I always tell my students (and my own children) that “every project begins with sketching” and that’s a real truth for me. I may be primarily a textile artist and many of my ideas have to be worked out by sampling as my work is really improvisational, but I always always always start with a sketch. I keep many forms of sketching as an ongoing practice in my life - I use albums in my phone to keep track of inspirations and ideas, I have a mini sketchbook that I keep with me at all times and I also have a digital sketchbook and a practice of writing ideas on post it notes so that even half baked ideas have a chance to find some breathing room.
