![[Valid RSS]](valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
« Saturday Morning Cartoons are Back | Main | American Execution »
Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Amy Berk
By Spraygraphic | June 20, 2008
Spraygraphic Interview with Amy Berk
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
AB: I am an interdisciplinary artist and teacher. My work ranges in scale from intricate patterns of pins on Styrofoam and stitches on fabric to large scale public installations; and ranges in scope from very personal investigative sculptures to collaborative public art projects. I use the ready-made art of pop culture to investigate the nature of artificiality, the artificiality of nature, and the nature of fine art itself. My work tries to reveal and question structures of power (both in the "real" world and in the art world), break down these structures, and hopefully inspire individuals to engage in their own micro-politics.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
AB: San Francisco, California.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
AB: I work with a variety of materials including lots of different kinds of fabrics, industrial materials like polystyrene and office supplies.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
AB: Creating a new work is both intuitive and conceptual. I find materials everywhere, fabric stores, office supply stores, thrift stores, garage sales. I select materials that speak to me on a number of different levels, sensual, social and intellectual. And very often friends or acquaintances who know I work with fabrics or unusual materials give me stuff to work with. I particularly like the challenges inherent in that, to find a worthy situation in which to translate these gifts. Sometimes I have an idea first and then I go looking for the proper material to explore it further.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
AB: I like to take walks, browse fabric stores or thrift stores, read, research both online and in the library, look through my art ideas folder and watch movies. Sometimes it takes awhile for things to emerge.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
AB: I love the resurgence of interest in feminist art practices and am finding inspiration in those exhibitions and current debates.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your work on Stretcher .
AB: I am one of the co-publishers and co-founders of stretcher, a site for art and culture that has been on the web since 2001. stretcher is an artist collective dedicated to creating dialogue on visual arts and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area, nationally, and internationally through its online publication, live public events, and related media projects. Conversations, considered opinions, and in-depth criticisms stimulate creative development and enhance the intensity and focus of the artistic community.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your affiliation with TWCDC.
AB: I am a member of the guerrilla art collective Together We Can Defeat Capitalism which aims to raise questions about early 21st Century capitalism and have some fun too. TWCDC’s projects include STOP BUSH - reworking Bus Stops into Bush Stops, Stops at Nothing - a video insertion on the San Francisco BART subway system, the May Day 2000 project which used portable LED road traffic signs, and the Guerrilla Tea Room , a month long event where free tea and cake were served in an environment supporting a free exchange of ideas outside of the capitalist paradigm.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about Penquin Nation.
AB: In Penguin Nation, a video of the penguins I videotaped ‘down under’ screened for a flock of soft, small, abstract penguin constructions that I made in my studio. These creatures watch a video of their real life counterparts. Penguins seem to me a wonderful metaphor for a variety of human behaviors. We are all waddling around from here to there but really going nowhere. Creating an installation about the penguin is my opportunity to try to stay sane in the madness of our current political situation, and to bring some levity into a clumsy world. Like the penguins do.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
AB: I have exhibited my hybrid brand of feminist pop art both nationally and internationally at venues such as the Museu du Republica in Rio de Janeiro, Kraushaar Gallery in New York City, New Pacific Studio in New Zealand, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts , Southern Exposure , the Craft and Folk Art Museum , and Meridian Gallery in San Francisco, and the Magnes Museum , the Oakland Museum , Oakland Art Gallery , and Traywick Contemporary in the East Bay .
SG: Where will it be seen next?
AB: I am currently talking about a few projects but nothing is set yet. I am also awaiting the birth of my second child so I suppose that will be the next work that will be able to be seen.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
AB: Residencies are great as they give you time and space outside of your normal environment to explore new (or old) ideas without your regular distractions. I also like the challenge of someone giving me materials or a theme for a group show to work with. Both types of working methods can be productive for me.
SG: What is your favorite color?
AB: Orange
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
AB: This is always a tough question as there are so many artists in so many different periods to choose from. I am currently very interested in Blinky Palermo for his experimentation with material and color and his use of fabrics. That he died young and had a great sense of humor are also enticing.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
AB: It always seems like I am reading the latest issue of Artforum and the Sunday Times. They both take a great deal of time and effort to slog through. I am also reading a novel given to me by friends while I await the birth of my second boy- Armadale by Wilikie Collins , a contemporary of Dickens.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
AB: Most pieces are self-portraits of one kind or another. I haven’t done a representational self-portrait (outside of photography) for a number of years.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
AB: Stretcher likes to hold it’s meetings at the Atlas Café in the Mission District of San Francisco. I like the Mission a lot and have lived here for over fifteen years. I also like to head north to Point Reyes and take walks on the wild beaches there and poke around the lovely town of Point Reyes Station.
SG: Any final words of advice?
AB: I tell my students that choosing art as a career, or rather being chosen by art is tough but if you follow your passion and be true to yourself, you can’t go wrong.
Images: 1. & 2. Penguin Nation, 3. Recoverings, 4. Stretcher, 5. Stretcher Salon, 6. Amy Berk at work.
Topics: Art Installations, Artist Interviews, Political-Activists, Print Media, San Francisco Art Scene, Textiles and Sewing, Women Art, You Tube videos |
