Interview: part 2

Me: I myself have actually struggled with getting others approval. I keep getting that my work is too literal. That I’m just remaking something that already exists. But to me it’s always been about the skill level of my craftsmanship than creating an abstract object. You know, there’s no right or wrong with an abstract object. If I try to recreate something that already exists I feel that that shows skill. I think at this point I want to develop my actual skills with materials. So, that’s my big problem now. Like this one here, there quite obviously leaves. The only reason why these were alright with my teachers was because they’re abstracted slightly. There’s no plant that actually looks like this. It’s not from an exact plant.

Catherine Trestini: Oh, ok because you, this is your studio, and I have to admit this is the first studio I’ve been in. And like the atmosphere in here, and I came in and I didn’t even think that you made that. I like that a lot, I mean I was looking at that when you went outside. It looks fairly representational to me. But there is something different about it, you can tell its hand crafted and such. By you know that’s really interesting because you know I looked at that for awhile. I like the detail. So, it’s interesting to see what your teachers are going to say about it, and what I’m going to say about it. Because we have all these classes where we are hearing what other people are thinking about our work. I feel like one person with say I like it, and another person’s going to say I don’t like it, and it could be for the exact opposite reason. Like you said, it’s less about pleasing others right, that’s not what art is about.

Me: Well I do struggle with that idea because we are in school and we do need approval to finish. So I’ve actually gotten to the point now where my art is actually about that struggle. My more recent pieces are a combination of what I want to do, and what I think others with like. So it’s actually become an expression of an inner conflict I have. Do I do what they want me to do, or do I do what I want to do? And it’s actually led me to a really interesting idea. So that’s what I’ve been trying to express recently.  

Catherine Trestini: Well what have you been trying to do?  Do you have a project right now where you’re trying to express that? It’s really interesting.

Me: I have some drawings for things I want to do. I have some ideas and concepts. The objects that I’ve been working on right now are basically the beginning stages of that. They’re pieces on their own, and I am actually really happy with the way they’re looking right now, but they’re basically early stages of what I want to create later on. I was kind of excited when I realized oh, this is what I’ve been thinking about the most. This is what I should be trying to convey.

Catherine Trestini; I think it’s really important for an artist to have that idea, to work on something tangible. You know it’s going to take you to where you know you want to be.