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Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Coleen Sterritt
By Spraygraphic | March 26, 2008
Spraygraphic Interview with Coleen Sterritt
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
CS: I was born in Morris, Illinois; grew up in Chicago- the oldest of four. My fearless, maternal grandmother, Nanny Button and my uncle, the sculptor Jim Sterritt were early inspirations. I headed west after by BFA from the University of Illinois; painted houses in San Francisco for a year; moved to L.A. for graduate school where I lived in Clark Gable’s old hunting lodge before finding a loft in downtown for 3 cents/ft. After graduate school at Otis Art Institute, I worked as the proprietor of the American Hotel and bookkeeper for the infamous Al’s Bar. I started exhibiting my work and a few years later the Claremont Graduate School offered me a position and I’ve been teaching ever since. Currently, I’m a Professor and the sculpture program coordinator at Long Beach City College.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
CS: Altadena, CA - in the foothills just north of Los Angeles. I live here with my husband in a beautiful 1954 post & beam house and work in the studio built about eight years ago.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
CS: Most recently, I’ve been working with wood- milled lumber, natural branches, & found furniture. Also, cork and vinyl. But over the years, I’ve used a great variety of materials: tar, straw, wire mesh, fiberglass & resin, felt, cardboard, plaster, plastics, studio debris, sponges, and carpet.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
CS: I usually attached myself to a particular material such as cork, scrap lumber, cardboard, felt- whatever I find interesting at the moment - and focus on a single action- gluing, clumping, stacking, joining, etc. and the form creates itself. The work is described by its own determination. Since I’ve been incorporating recognizable objects such as the found furniture, the work has opened up to narratives and metaphors out of not my control - and I really enjoy what happens. It’s a labor-intensive, but joyful process. Fluid and intuitive, mysterious and full of questions. It’s provided me with a set of circumstances I can work against: a catalyst to move forward.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
CS: Usually, work in the garden, read, do the dishes.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
CS: Nature, architecture, construction methods, music, materials, and art history.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about Squeeze Box. What kind of materials did you use? How long did it take? How many prototypes did you have before you presented it?
CS: Squeezebox was a great experience for me- the first true installation I’ve done. I was invited by my friend, the late Ali Acerol, to do a show at his space at the Santa Monica airport. A small space about 12 by 16 ft. with a 12 ft. high ceiling. I knew one freestanding sculpture would easily fill the space, however I became very interested in the space itself. Both of the 16 ft. walls had access from the other side which offered some unique possibilities. I had a number of unfinished projects - bits and pieces of things that I didn’t quite know how to resolve- so, lots of stuff in the studio. One thing led to another and I decided to cram it all together between the two long walls, suspended about 6 ft. off the floor. Wood scraps, cardboard, foam rubber, plastic dog collars, carpet, rigid insulation, shellac, foil, fan blades. There was no prototype- I measured it out on the studio floor, brought along some extra material in case I needed it and did the installation in a day. I’d never worked that way before- not knowing the outcome until the work was installed. It was a little nerve-racking. There existed this great tension, both real and projected- the materials pushing against the walls and the walls against the materials. I was relieved after the opening, to say the least, as I imagined the whole thing coming down that night. It didn’t!
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your Works on Paper. Have any of your Works on Paper inspired a sculpture? Or vice versa?
CS: I love to draw. It’s helped me to understand my art making process overall. The drawings and sculpture have always inspired each other. A direct relationship between the two is sometimes apparent, sometimes not.
SG: You have a pretty extensive college teaching background. How has that kind of work contributed to your own art work?
CS: Yes, I’ve had the opportunity to teach at a number of public universities and private art colleges over the years and at different college levels as well- from graduate programs to lower-division undergrads like Long Beach. I’m continually inspired by my students’ enthusiasm, ingenuity, and transformation. It’s been very interesting teaching at a community college for the past 10 yrs. When I first got the position, which was one of the few I’d ever applied for, I didn’t think I’d stay long. I’d been teaching at Claremont for eleven years, also at Otis and USC and my ego was extremely wrapped up in the status of those institutions. So I found myself at LBCC and discovered just how much teaching meant to me and the effect art can have in changing someone’s life. Students from my program have transferred to UCLA, SF Art Institute, CCA, and the Chicago Art Institute- then go on to Claremont and Yale for graduate school. That’s been personally very rewarding. It gets harder to claim them with UCLA and Yale on their resumes. In general, I believe when teaching I must speak with an authentic voice and to do so, I must to be engaged in my own work. So, I guess it’s kept me honest. And, of course, teaching has provided me a reliable income in this fickle, unreliable art world.
SG: Is it difficult to keep your work separate from your students’ ideas and projects?
CS: Not really. Even though many of my assignments are process-based, especially for intermediate students, I try to steer them in their own direction. Beginning sculpture and 3-D design require students to focus on fundamentals. With graduate students, my desire was to help them discover their own voice aided by the experience of my own studio practice.
SG: According to your resume, most of your shows have been primarily on the West Coast (mostly California). Why is that?
CS: I ask myself that question quite frequently!
SG: Do you think there is a major aesthetic difference between the east coast and the west coast? If so, what is the major difference you see?
CS: No major difference- just the hype. When I first got out of school everyone bowed to the east, now it’s the west and the rest of the world- which is great.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
CS: Museum of Contemporary Art, L.A.; den contemporary art; Riverside Art Museum; Oakland Museum of Art; Crocker Art Museum; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery; Warschaw Gallery; Torrance Art Museum, Carl Berg Gallery, LACE…I’ve also had work in national and international traveling exhibitions.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
CS: The Center for Contemporary Art in Sacramento in a selected survey of work from Los Angeles.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
CS: No assignment- just an unrestricted grant or fellowship.
SG: What is your favorite color?
CA: Yellow, but lately, I’ve been favoring blue. Then there’s always red.
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
CS: Never just one. Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa- for the ecstasy; stacked forms of Brancusi; David Smith’s work from Italy; the growth and dissolution in the work of Eva Hesse; the scale and purity in the work of Richard Serra; quiet intensity in the economic forms of Jackie Winsor; intimacy of Richard Tuttle; contradiction and emotional tension in the work of Martin Puryear; the enormous energy of Nancy Rubins; the material considerations and formalism of Jessica Stockholder; the brilliant transformation of ordinary materials in the work of Tim Hawkinson; the aching search for honesty in the work of Julia Couzens. I love William Tucker, Tony Cragg, Annette Messenger, and Arte Povera.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
CS: The Nation, The New Yorker, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, the usual art mags, Vanity Fair.
SG: Ever do a self-portrait? Where is it now?
CS: I think of all of my work as self-portraits.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
CS: My studio or garden. Recently, in front of the fire.
SG: Any final words of advice?
CS: Try to work everyday, do it with honesty and make it resonate with love. That’s what will sustain you. Fame is very fleeting.
to include:
Additional Links:
Long Beach City College art dept
perfect bitch
adam teraoka
ART: 1. & 2. Float, 3. & 4. Hearstring Theory, 5. Pinecone Stack, 6. Domestic Fairytale, 7. Daddy-O
Topics: Artist Interviews, Sculpture Art, Women Art |
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