We're both sitting here in the den/workspace. David is flipping through images, finding a background for a commission and I'm on an actual desktop (dinosaur) computer. I'm trying to get some blog posts done and scheduled, but have hit kind of a block. So I asked him- what if I just ask you questions and you answer them?
Q) What's the weirdest thing you've ever used in a head?
A) Probably a mummified chicken head, bats or a fossilized chicken gullet. (yeah....those would qualify).
Q) What was the most fun you ever had on one piece?
A) The one where I made the face, sliced it off, then made another face behind it so it was a mask. Any time I bring something from just an idea to occupying the real world, that's always cool.
Q) Why Sculpey and not traditional clay?
A) It allows me to make something and deal with both issues of color and form at the same time, instead of having to come back later for the color. It feels like it has more character and is more expressive when I sculpt with color. I couldn't imagine sculpting them in gray scale and then painting them, because you wouldn't get their true personality.
Q) Who is one artist you would want to meet? What artist has inspired you the most?
A) To name one person puts way too much credence on that one artist and his/her work. The artists that inspire me are all the ones who have created all the monsters I've ever seen in books and movies because those feed my vocabulary of monsters.
Q) What was the most interesting monster created?
A) Probably John Carpenter's The Thing because of its ability to change. It isn't just what you see of it, it's the unlimited possibilities it represents.
Q) Has the internet helped or harmed art as a form of expression?
A) It's a double-edged sword. You're no longer limited to the local scene. You're able to see things beyond what you would see in magazines or whatever sci-fi movie is on TV. But on the other hand, it creates a lot of homogenization. It creates a trend that everyone caters to and has a tendency to make artists lazy and want to regurgitate others' ideas. Or they straight up rip them off.
Q) If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?
A) I'd like to see the West Coast and share my art with people out there because I think they would get it. As far as another country, probably Spain.
Q) Is there a piece that you sold and later wished you hadn't?
A) "Dictation"- the piece that used a chicken gullet. It was such a unique found object. But I know the piece is in the good hands of a collector in Dallas.
Q) What's the biggest collector you have?
A) I have a couple in Virginia that collects my work and they have the largest collection at over 40 pieces.
Q) Is there something you would want to work with as a found object but haven't been able to?
A) Nothing comes to mind. I'm always looking for interesting things. I would like to work in ceramics for the chance to work in a larger scale.
There is something really weird about interviewing the person you've known since you were 12. I would make a terrible interviewer! David says he makes a terrible interviewee :)
Thanks for reading--
Elisabeth