lauren – Page 5 – Tales of Creative Compassion

Artist Profile: Rebeca Mojica

Another artist profile! Yay!

Rebeca Mojica, whose stunning chainmaille jewelry was featured on this blog last week, very generously agreed to do a profile for me. Her work is truly innovative and elegant, and as you’ll see in this interview, she is a wonderfully joyful artist.

1) What do you love about your medium?

I love that chainmaille is so versatile. Given all the different sizes of rings, virtually an infinite number of textures and patterns can be created. I use colored metal, too, so that brings a deeper level of customization to my work. I guess I love the fact that there is something for everyone with chainmaille. You like big and chunky? Done. You want something intricate and delicate? No problem. Clothing? Yes. Sculpture? Sure.

I also love the repetitive act of creating chainmaille. Once I settle into a rhythm, it is completely satisfying to me to continue weaving for hours. I lose myself in the meditative motions, and before I know it, I “come back” to reality and discover I’ve created something beautiful.

2) Describe a piece of artwork that you find superficial or boring.

This is a difficult question. I suppose the artwork that I find boring would be something that is simply a rectangle of a solid painted color, with no textural variation. Now, sure, take a ton of small rectangles of differing hues or shades or textures, and arrange them artistically on a wall and that’s interesting. But just a huge red square … well, it doesn’t really do anything for me. I guess in some avant-garde way it might prompt me to question, “Is that art?” and that clearly may be the main purpose of such a piece. But frankly, I don’t want to question if something is art, I just want to enjoy it. I want to be moved to feel something.

3) When did you first call yourself and artist, and why?

I started calling myself an artist a couple years after I began creating chainmaille. Really, it was prompted by being the “Featured Artist” at an Art Gallery Opening. “I guess if I’m good enough for them to call an artist, then I am an artist!”

Though I go back and forth between the words artist and artisan. Definitions vary, but to me, art is purely something to be enjoyed with the senses and it has little or nothing to do with physical functionality, for instance, visual or performing art. Artisan pieces, on the other hand, are objects that have an aesthetic element, but they are also functional, such as jewelry, purses, furniture, cuisine, etc. Some of my work is purely art (Sears Tower sculpture and Chainmaille Mandala). But most of what I do is more artisan-oriented.

Elemental Leaves Aluminum rings and "scales" combine to create a dramatic necklace that is surprisingly lightweight. (Seriously, everyone who picks it up at jewelry shows says, "Wow, I expected it to be so much heavier!") Photo by Larry Sanders — Elemental Leaves
Aluminum rings and “scales” combine to create a dramatic necklace that is surprisingly lightweight. (Seriously, everyone who picks it up at jewelry shows says, “Wow, I expected it to be so much heavier!”)
Photo by Larry Sanders

4) Describe an artist and/or piece of work that you find consistently inspiring.

This is another tricky question! I am inspired by so many things, and I think it is difficult to choose a single artist.

Could I choose the universe? Because that is really the only thing that is constantly inspiring me — the fact that the deeper we look in nature, the more we see. The variety of lifeforms and patterns, and the incredible scales at which the world works (both macro and micro) are astounding.

So as not to completely cop out –
Bear McCreary – Is an amazing musician. Through his music, I’ve been moved to tears, been covered in goose bumps, laughed, and smiled in wonder. I look forward to being inspired by his soundtracks for years to come.

Sky Cubacub – Obviously I relate to her meticulous work. 🙂 I love her versatility and am always excited to see what project she will tackle next. She is so young, which makes her triply-inspirational to me.

Alexander Volkov – Without a doubt, my favorite fine arts painter; his mastery of light and reflection is amazing. I could stare at his wintery scenes forever – they take me to a serene, quiet place. Living in the city I don’t remember to appreciate nature as much as I’d like to, and his work gives me that opportunity. It is centering for me.

And of course, no list of my inspiration would be complete without mentioning Aerosmith. Whatever it is about this band, I don’t know, but they never fail to lift my mood, and sometimes, as an artist in the middle blocked creativity, a mood-lifter is just what the doctor ordered. 🙂

Quantum Rose Sterling Silver Photo by Cindy Tim — Quantum Rose
Sterling Silver
Photo by Cindy Tim

5) What is your unique purpose for creating work?

It is an unstoppable force from within. Not only do I have the need to create, but I am a people-pleaser. It gives me such great satisfaction to create a piece that is “absolutely amazing” and “exactly what I’ve been looking for for years!” Obviously I understand the need to express oneself, and I am humbled and thrilled to pieces that I can help other people find an outlet by which they can express themselves. To see the smiles on people’s faces and to hear the compliments they receive when wearing Rebeca Mojica jewelry — those are some of the main reasons why I do what I do.

I want to push this medium to new levels. When I hear people say, “Wow, I didn’t know that chainmaille could do that!” then I know I’m on the right track. The fact that I’ve been doing this for a decade, and people still say that about my work, is one of the deepest rewards I could ever ask for.

David Chidgey

I am super excited about today’s artwork by the great David Chidgey. It is both a mosaic, and a mandala, both of which are awesome forms, and this one is just so amazingly beautiful. Check it out.

David Chidgey does amazing work with stained glass mosaic. I’m really impressed at how his work is consistently lovely in a way that just gets me in the chest, and that he has a great range of forms and mediums incorporated into his mosaic work. This is his Flickr page, which is worth looking at because it has some photos of the work being created which I really enjoy, and you might too.

Niyoko Ikuta

Today, a wonderful, airy, glass sculpture by Niyoko Ikuta.

I really love sculpture like this, the bold and elegant lines, the motion, and such great negative space. This is the kind of piece I always wish I could have in my house so I could see it at all its different angles all the time. Then I remember that my living room floor is covered with rubber matting in primary colors from Sam’s Club, and I go about my business.

Rebeca Mojica

There is a special respect you have to have for artists who take one medium and stretch it out of its nature. There are many pieces of artwork that I might not enjoy, but must respect just because what the artist has done with the medium is amazing. I prefer, however, to fall in love with a piece of artwork and then find out it’s made from a shocking medium. So I give you, Rebeca Mojica and her phenomenal work with chainmaille

This amazing piece is titled “Poseiden’s Embrace” and is entirely composed of tiny, interlocked metal loops. The exacting, mathematical nature of the medium makes the soft, organic folds of this piece just that much more beautiful and impressive.

Ralph Gabriner

I apologize for even insinuating that I couldn’t find great photographic images, I was not looking hard enough. I’ve found this just amazing plethora of macro nature photography, and this is one of my very favorite images.

This photo was taken by the great Ralph Gabriner, who won my heart first with this sensual and strikingly simple image, and then when I read his artist statement on Artful Home. He said, “My goal as an artist is to exquisitely state the case for tenderness.” I’ve been writing for a very long time, and I can’t state my personal artistic goals even half that profoundly.

And if you’re wondering, does Lauren have a fascination with nature images that look vaguely like vaginas? Yes. Yes, I do.

Artist Profile: Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre

As much fun as it is to hear me talk about the art that I love, I thought I’d give some of the artists a chance to speak about their own work. I’ll be doing these profiles, you know, occasionally, most likely whenever I have one to post.

Guante is an amazing spoken word artist and rapper. Since he is a local (to me) artist, I’ve been lucky enough to know him a little and greatly honored to have shared a stage with him. He and the St. Paul spoken word team (I’m sure they have an official name) won the National Poetry Slam competition, twice. Guante is also one of the only poets I know who makes his living on poetry, and he gives all his talent and knowledge away by teaching tons of classes and coaching youth slam teams. If you visit the homepage of this website, you will find a review of my novel that Guante was kind enough to write for me. Here is some about his artwork in his own words.

What do you love about your medium?

With spoken-word, there are no rules. You can say whatever you want in whatever way you want to say it. So it really lends itself to the type of work that I want to do, work that examines the intersection of art, media, rhetoric and education. Sometimes, the most powerful spoken-word piece ISN’T the “best” poem. Sometimes it’s more of a PSA, or an audio op-ed, or (ideally) a compelling mashup of all of these different forms. As spoken-word artists, we get to learn from everyone, but we’re not beholden to any particular style or school of thought. That’s tremendously liberating.

Describe a piece of art that you find superficial or boring.

As a rapper, I’m particularly hard on other rappers; it just comes with the territory. And the thing is, most other rappers are good. If you follow hip hop, there’s a lot of good stuff happening right now. I think the problem is a lack of ambition; there’s a ton of “B+ music” out there. And a B+ is good, it’s enjoyable, it’s well-crafted, but it’s not stunningly original or revelatory or transformative, and that’s what I look for in music. So no matter how good it is, I just can’t get excited about another song about what it’s like to be a rapper, or another song about having a fun party, or another song that just kind of vaguely talks about everything that’s wrong with the world. I want creativity, specificity, focus. It’s important to point out that this is my personal preference; I don’t think there’s anything “bad” about music that isn’t explosively original. I just don’t get excited about it.

Spoken-word isn’t much different– it’s easy to get up on stage and rant and rave about things; but what separates the special work from the rest of the pack is how it moves beyond the surface-level analysis– maybe it examines your own complicity with a given problem, or explores a grey area, or allows us to see something we think we understand in a new way.

When did you first call yourself an artist, and why?

I’m really not sure. My journey has been very gradual and organic. I’m still not entirely comfortable with the term. I think sometimes the word “artist” is put on a pedestal, like artists are magic elves or something. I think we’re all artists, whether it’s our career, our hobby, or something we want to do but don’t have time for. I hesitate to think of it as a specific identity, because there are so many different ways to create art and live artistically. I think you can be a mother who makes art, or a politician who makes art, or an activist who makes art. I’m just a weirdo who happens to make art.

Describe an artist and/or piece of work that you find consistently inspiring.

I’m really lucky in that some of my favorite artists in the world live in the same community as me. I bring Ed Bok Lee‘s book “Whorled” with me to almost every show I play, and sometimes read from it. Same with Bao Phi’s “Song I Sing.” Both poets are very good at doing what I want to do– creating work that is immediately powerful and actually says something explicitly political without sacrificing the craft of it. That’s not an easy thing to do, and I’m grateful to have role models like them so close.

What is your unique purpose for creating work?

I’m a pragmatist, and I see art much less as an expression of my infinite soul than as just another way to talk to people, an avenue for communication. I’m a communicator. I want to talk about things like privilege, and language, and activism, but talk about them in ways that are difficult to forget. So sometimes that’s a poem, sometimes it’s a rap song, sometimes it’s an op-ed. I think art is another form of independent media, and independent media is an integral part of the movement we’re all trying to build. So that’s why I do it.

Ghaith Salih

Two posts in one day, what? Yes, I found this unbelievably amazing photographer and I just can’t help myself. Check out the photographic stylings of Ghaith Salih.

Mosque Al-Dawla Al-Kabeer
One of the most beautiful Mosques in the provinces of Iraq
The Mosque consists of two large halls for prayer Designed in a modern way and high-tech decor. The mosque is located in the central province of Ramadi. This image has been processed by 10 pictures in different lighting to create the final image.

I pulled that description right off of Salih’s website, because I like all that information and I couldn’t pick just one fact like I usually do. Go click on his photo stream here, because it will blow your mind in just the best way.

Happy Women

After my slightly ranty art update on Wednesday, I did receive several images depicting happy or laughing women (with faces). They are fantastic, and they were all discovered for me by the wonderful Kristina Miller. Thank you, my dear friend.

Old Woman Studying the Alphabet with a Laughing Girl by Sofonisba Anguissola

Now that is some art that’s good for the soul. Admit it, you smiled too.

Philippe Farout

This is a really lovely nude sculpture by Philippe Faraut. It is entitled “Serendipity.”

Philippe Farout has a large collection of really intriguing figural sculptures, and you should check them out on his website. I particularly admire Farout because he is actively seeking to teach his methodology to other artists. I believe this proves that he truly believes in his form and medium, and that he has a spirit of abundance and generosity. It is really wonderful to see an artist being generous with their work.

This piece is awesome just by being there and itself, but I particularly like it because it features a female figure who is smiling. The vast majority of female depictions fall into one of three categories.

1) Woman looking away. I would put any art in this category that contains part of a female form but not the face. This is extremely common.

2) Woman with blank look. The staring, glassy-eyed at the viewer with a total absence of expression that is supposed to be sexy or something.

3) Woman crying or otherwise in distress. It’s true that distress or tears can be forms of expression, but I have yet to find one single piece of artwork depicting a man crying.

Lots of these pieces of art are fantastic, and it’s possible you’ll see images like this on this blog (or have already). I’m not commenting on the quality of these artworks or on any single piece or artist in particular. I just think it’s strange as a trend, that women are so rarely depicted as happy. What’s really frightening to me is that almost all happy female images are little girls. As if joy is only lovely on the young, or women are slated for distress and tears.

If you have a work or know of a work that depicts a happy woman (with a face), please post it below or send me the link. I’d love to have the next art update be a collection of happy, smiling women.

Mindy Shapero

Mindy Shapero, a mixed media sculptor who captured my heart with this lovely image.

I love the movement of this piece, and how delicate it appears. When I first found this image it was entitled simply “White,” but a little digging has revealed that it is only a piece of this sculpture

Which is entitled “It’s always happening right now even after,” a phrase that I find lovely all on its own. I love it because it’s true, that momentous events seem to have a life all their own in my experience of the present moment. I’m glad that I found this image the way I did, first with just that tiny piece. It’s like looking at an individual wave before glimpsing the entire ocean, which gives me a much better appreciation for the whole.

This is a small part of an interview with Mindy Shapero, in which she talks just a little about her process of creation and material selection. It’s kind of great.