Can you tell us a little about your art and your background? How did you start getting interested in art?
I was always encouraged to pursue art by my family. My mother also loves painting and the rest of her family is very creative, so when I showed an interest in painting and drawing as a child I had a lot of support and encouragement. I devoted a lot of my time in highschool to art and followed that path to university. I did my undergraduate studies in Illustration at the Pratt Institute in New York and that’s where I learned to think about art in a professional context. Even now that I’ve moved into a fine art focus, I still lean towards an illustrative style.
What subject matters interest you? What is more important for art, the idea or the execution?
If I hadn’t dedicated myself to art, I probably would have studied history instead. I have made sure to continue my studies in history as I go and it’s often a featured subject matter or inspiration in my paintings. I also like painting the human figure, so I often combine that with stories from history or mythology.
I think the idea and execution are equally important in art. A beautiful technical work can only capture so much interest without any concept backing it, but a fascinating idea that is poorly executed falls flat. I think there’s some concern in contemporary art about disregarding technical skill, but I do think it’s important to keep in mind.
You choose mostly traditional art-painting to express yourself. Could you tell us about the process of creation? Where does the process begin for you?
The process for my begins in my sketchbook. I’m a big fan of making art messily, I like doing lots of sketches and colour tests, rough drafts and rushed test paintings. If I try to do it all in my head, I lose track of things and I have a better time generating ideas and evaluating them with physical examples to work with. Traditional painting really lends itself towards this method, as it allows a lot of trial and error. I also like the sensation of working with physical materials as they feel more significant and weighted than digital. That’s not to say I don’t use digital materials or admire digital artists, as I definitely do, but working with physical paint and canvas just works best for my brain.
What are some of your favorite projects you are proud to have been a part of in your career?
My favourite individual project is probably the research project I did for my Masters degree at Curtin in 2020. I worked with my advisors to produce a body of work and written research about the role of mythology in fine art and how it can be used to express issues to do with gender identity. It was probably the biggest idea and concept driven artwork I’ve done but it also depended on me improving my technical skill by leaps and bounds. I’m very happy with the work I produced but I’m also proud of the skills I learned over the course of the project.
To what extent does the pandemic influence your depiction of art? Does it generate new inspiration?
An important lesson I’ve learned over the course of the pandemic has been “making the effort”. Making the effort to reach out the exhibition curators and professional opportunities, but also to reach out to my network of fellow artists to exchange ideas and receive critique and advise. In Western Australia, we have been very lucky compared to the rest of the world regarding the pandemic and haven’t been hit with as much of the actual dangers, but it has been a very isolating experience. I’m hoping that this residency will help turn those feelings into a more productive inspiring force.
How do you feel about being involved in an online residency program? How important is it to stay connected with the international art community?
I think it’s exciting! I haven’t done a program like this purely online before. It’s good to meet new people and connect with artists who use different mediums than me. Most of the other artists in my network are also painters primarily, so it’s interesting to broaden that a little. I certainly think it’s important to stay connected with the international art community, though I’m not sure what the alternative is in the 21st century besides isolating yourself. Even if I only exhibited locally and collaborated with artists local to my region, I would still have to be exposed to ideas and events further afield whether or not I sought them out. There’s so much going on in the world, I think I would be robbing myself of important insight and education by blocking out the international art community.
What are your thoughts about the theme ‘artist on standby’? Tell us a bit more about your project…
I’ve taken the theme “artist on standby” and turned it inwards, using it as the opportunity for some introspection. I’m trying to explore my own feelings of isolation and stagnation from the last few years through my project. Ironically, this has lead me to what is possibly the most open subject matter possible- outer space! Inspired by the photographs from the James Webb Telescope, I’m using selected galaxies and happenings in space as an allegory for my own experiences and aspirations. I’m currently looking at Stephan’s Quintet, a cluster of galaxies, and drawing metaphors from it. On the technical side of things, I’m trying to bridge the gap between my more traditional painting with digital art. So I’m also trying to teach myself some new skills to broaden my horizons that way.
What do you want to achieve before things return to normal if it is to happen? Any future plans/projects?
My life the last decade or so has been so all over the place that I’m not sure what I’ll consider normal if I ever hit it! But I want to get into the groove of creating art and exhibiting it, in as many different ways as I can. I have tentative plans to hopefully travel in the next year or so and build a cohesive project around wherever I end up. Possibly the thing I’ve missed most over the last few years has been travel, so I’m looking forward to getting back into that.