Tag: Interviews

Creative Process, Works In Progress : Amy Sol & KIKYZ1313

Amy Sol’s “Garden Gamine” exhibition in the Thinkspace Gallery main room and KIKYZ1313’s “Progeny of Chaos” debut exhibition with us in the project room, opens only a few days from now. The pieces are being arranged and hung, but the process from panel to our white walls isn’t a fast one.

Below are insights into the artists’ creative processes and teasers of the works in progress shared on Instagram. Please join us this Saturday, April 2nd for the opening reception of both exhibitions from 6-9pm.

Read our full interview with Amy Sol here. 

glaze on glaze off 🙆🙇 #oilpainting

A video posted by Amy Sol (@amysol) on

Amy, walk us through what a day in the studio looks like?

When I’m prepping a body of work I tend to, for better or worse, compartmentalize my life to an extreme. I have to do this in order to have the energy and time to create. My life bar is not very strong, so I have to use it wisely. That involves having to isolate myself a bit… so less internet, e-mails and interaction in general. If I’m lucky, it is just me in a room, with plants, my dog, coffee, lots of decent listening material, and a block of time to paint and do nothing else.

#🎨life 🐢🐢🐢 A photo posted by Amy Sol (@amysol) on

It takes time to for an artist to develop their voice and style, then once they have defined who they are as an artist they must continue to push and grow without losing their voice. Amy, as you’ve been in the post-contemporary world for nearly 10 years now, how do you push yourself to grow and experiment while still maintaining your unique style?

Experimenting with mediums is the phase I am in right now, I just started using oil a year ago. It is a huge challenge for me, and I feel it’s good because there are so many possibilities to be explored. My biggest rule is to trust my instincts. If I get a new idea, I try it out. I can’t put much energy into thinking where it will all lead to and how it might change me. I just try it, and if it doesn’t work I can paint over it. If I am excited to paint and getting something out of it, I feel I’m on the right path. Being in that mindset isn’t always as easy as it sounds but it’s what I aim for.

Read our full interview with KIKYZ1313 here.  

  This one is slowly coming to life 🌼🌿(showing one of the boring parts only) #theprogenyofchaos #thinkspacegallery   A photo posted by Kikyz1313 (@kikyz1313) on

KIKYZ1313, walk us through what a day in the studio looks like?

The studio is next to the bedroom, so as soon as I wake up , about 9:00 in the morning I like to go and check whatever I did last day in case my eyes were too tired and see if I messed it up in some way, relieved or worried I take a breakfast and start working in the drawing till 13:00 hrs approximately to do some grocery shopping for the day’s meal and go back home to cook. I like to take a little 20 or 30 min of rest and then I continue where I left the drawing. Around 19:00 hrs I take another half hour of spare time, play with the cat, social media, e-mails, etc. and go back to the drawing table for another couple more hours and finish the day with a nice cup of tea and movies. I usually do between 8 to 9 hours drawing, but when I’m in a rush for something I can even spend 12 hours drawing a day, and still it is hard for me to keep up with most of the artist out there, but really hope the effort stands out from every drawing.

 

An interview with Timothy Karpinski

An interview with Timothy Karpinski
1) Please talk a lil’ bit about the general idea/vibe behind your new series of works for “The Place I Call Home”.
The title has many meanings which I’ve been exploring in this new body of work, The Place I Call Home. One of which being the place I live: Portland, Oregon. A lot of the work has to do with my ties to this city I live in and how it’s become my home. The work also explores the idea of “home” as where one feels most comfotable, or at one with yourself. The place you think of in your head where everything is safe and sound, the arms of a lover or the branches of a tree, both comfort me. I’ve also incorperated the symbol of the home, or house into the work, many of the frames are custom built house shaped frames costructed of salvaged wood from old demolished Portland houses (so can’t wait to see those – ed. note). So I’ll be bringing some of Portland’s history down with me.
2) What’s your earliest memory involving art or creating art?
Aside from the general “art time” or “craft time” in grade school, or my mom giving me supplies to paint, my first conscious experience of creating on my own terms would probably be building stick forts in the woods on the edge of the property i grew up on, at the time i did not see it as art.

3) When are you most productive / when do you normally work on art?
Definitely most productive late at night, I tend to work really late and sleep late. It’s 2:24 a.m right now, and I’m typing as paint is drying, drinking a little red wine and listening to music really loud. I’ll sleep ’till noon and head to the gallery to do computer/design work during the day, and if I’m lucky some yard work before the sun goes down.

4) Please tell us a bit about Together Gallery, that you own and curate up in Portland. What have you found to be one of the biggest challenges thus far? Biggest reward thus far?
Together was a dream of mine for a while. Since I’ve been in Portland I’ve had a studio space outside my home to work on design projects and art, last year my lease ended on my studio downtown and I got the opportunity to rent a storefront right by my house with a back room to use as a studio, the rent was a little more than my old studio, but i could have a gallery in the front so it just made sense. I guess the biggest challange for sure has been time managment, running a gallery is alot of work, i thought it was going to be easy, but nothing good is easy. I have been trying to take the curating really seriously as well as the online presence. Just day to day stuff like sending emails to artists and shipping art and such is really time consuming, so its taken away from studio time a bit. The reward comes when someone walks into the gallery and says they feel inspired. I’ve also learned alot about the business side of the “art world” which has helped me as a working artist aside from a gallery owner.

5) Tell us something about yourself that someone would never guess in their wildest dreams.
Last year I started having recuring dreams about sailing and I kept drawing a sailboat obsessively. I took it as a sign and took some lessons… Well, I went to sailing school this summer and bought a sailboat, I named it Sweet Marie, it’s appeared in a few paitnings recently. I want to get good enough to sail the ocean, hopefully sail around the world someday.

6) Are you reading anything right now?
A childern’s book titled ZZZZzzz.

7) Do you listen to music while creating? If so, do you have a current favorite that inspires?
F*ck yes, non-stop, music is critical to my process. It can set a mood for a piece with a certain song, or I may get a second wind by putting a certain song on. A lot of my work is directly related to certain songs I obsess over. It’s funny, I just just got one of my favorite musician’s new album, Horse Feathers’ “A House With No Home”, a few weeks ago which strangley had alot of songs with stories that touched upon similar ideas of the term “home” as I am in the work I’m producing for the show.

8) If you had to explain your work to a stranger, how would you do so?
A hug, a hello, or a kiss goodbye.

9) Favorite artist (living or dead) and what makes them special to you?
My freinds. I’m surronded by so many amazing artist and free thinkers here in Portland. I live with 2 of them: Seth Neefus and Mark Warren Jacques. We are constantly pushing each other, it’s a great environment. But seeing a Henry Darger painting in person still makes me weak in the knees.

10) You incorporate a number of different mediums and styles into your work. Do you have a favorite? What brought about the stitching together of paper as a canvas to work upon?
The sewing was a happy mistake of sorts. I bought a sewing machine to make cloths and alter garments from goodwill and stuff. I really like the element of “craft” in work. I’ve never been just a big canvas kinda artist, I’ve alway liked to mix mediums and build stuff. I was working with layering wood for a while but it was big and heavy and fell apart, then I started to cut out and layer paper instead, one late night I had a big paper collage in the works and ran out of glue and my sewing machine was sitting there so I just started sewing the piece together. Process is a big part of my work. I have sketchbooks full of pencil drawings, but I only like to show stuff where I really explored the idea thru the medium.

11) What have you got coming up in terms of shows and projects after this show?
Winter projects! It gets cold and rainy in Portland so everyone hibernates, and I plan on doing that! But i have a project, I was asked by one of my favorite bands, Lovers, to story board and animate a music video based on my drawings. We are gonna do a crazy animation of my layered worlds moving and telling a story. Besides that I’m trying to build a greenhouse and find a wife.

12) What are you doing right after this interview? Getting back to work on a piece for the show called “Sleeping Heart”. You’ll see it soon.

Timothy’s website: http://www.timothykarpinski.com/

Timothy’s gallery: http://www.togethergallery.com/

Timothy Karpinski‘s The Place I Call Home
Opening Reception: Fri, Nov. 7th 7-11PM in our project room