![[Valid RSS]](valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
« Lucas Murgida’s Video | Main | FIVE (Dramatic Pauses) by Brendan Bell »
Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Lacey Jane Roberts
By Spraygraphic | May 18, 2009
Spraygraphic Interview with Lacey Jane Roberts
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
LJR: I’m originally from right outside of Detroit, Michigan and my family still lives there. I went to high school in Maryland and California and then went to College at the University of Vermont where I majored in English and art. I then went to San Francisco to attend California College of the Arts (formerly California College of Arts and Crafts) where I got an MFA in Textiles and an MA in Visual and Critical Studies. I also like to travel, cook, and spend time with my friends and animals, particularly with my cat, Jade.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
LJR: I’m currently spending some time in New York City.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
LJR: Most of my work consists of large-scale site-specific knitted installations that are made primarily out of acrylic yarn that I knit on children’s toy knitting machines. The machines, which include Barbie knitting machines from the 1970’s, operate like cranks. I also work with a variety of other fiber mediums and do a lot of sewing and embroidery. Recently, I’ve started working with wood, and really like working with it and all of the tools.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
LJR: Usually I get an idea and I play around with it in my head for a long time. Then I’ll do some really rough sketches, usually with markers. Then I just dive right in. My crank knitting machines are really small and portable, so I knit pretty much everywhere all the time—on the train, while watching movies, at bars. Once I have a ton of tubes knitted I’ll start the construction of the fences which involves hand-weaving and sewing the whole thing.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
LJR: For me, just making one piece takes a really long time, usually 8 months to a year and the knitting is so mindless, that there is a lot of time to think. I don’t really start on a new idea until I’ve finished a project, so sometimes I’ll get an idea, put it away for a while and re-visit it a year, or even years later. By that time the idea will have evolved a bit and will have clicked in my head. Years ago I had an idea for a piece, but it was never just right for me to start making it. It recently re-surfaced again in my head, and feels closer to what I want it to be—I’m hoping to start on it soon after three years of letting it marinate. I also do a lot of walking, and just seeing a lot of different things on the street can usually trigger some inspiration. I also try to visit raw, open spaces because it allows me to spatially work things out in my head—I can envision how I would make something and how I want it to be placed. Just being in a space and trying to work as site-specifically as possible helps me see things more clearly.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
LJR: I get inspired by materials, urban decay, other makers/artists/craftspeople, and queer history and theory. All of these things kind of work together for me—I think there’s a marginality in all of them.
SG: Can you tell us a little about your installation work?
LJR: I’ve always been into taking over spaces and working with architecture. I like making big work out of very small elements, like the knitted stitch. I try to install my work in a variety of contexts—in galleries and on the street. I also think making big work that forces people to move around it or interact with it is really interesting. When I first showed We Couldn’t Get In, We Couldn’t Get Out, the large pink fence, people were having conversations through the fence. It was startling and creepy to me, but fascinating. I also have done a lot of guerrilla installations. I think after being quite stagnant while knitting, the physical rush of hurrying to install where I am not allowed to triggers my adrenaline. I installed a large pink triangle on the steeple of the chapel of the university I went to when I was coming out as queer. It says Mom Knows Now on it. I also re-inserted & Crafts on the façade of California College of the Arts without permission. I put it up the day of graduate open studios and didn’t know they were filming the promotional video for the school the next day. Needless to say, some of the administrators weren’t too happy with me. Most people were really excited about it though—I think many of us were sad when the school changed its name.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about the difference in your process when it comes to working in a private space compared to public space.
LJR: Working in private and public are vastly different to me. As I mentioned, I take my work with me because it is so portable. When I use my knitting machines on the subway, I almost always get asked about what I’m doing. I’ve had some great conversation about making and process and materials on the train, it’s a great way to be social for me. I think people are into the fact that the knitting machines and the yarn are highly accessible and that they produce creatively using these tools as well. I also must say that as a genderqueer person who is quite androgynous, I think people don’t expect someone like me to be using sparkly pink knitting machines, and it sparks a lot of curiosity. When I work in private I watch movies, and it transforms my obsessive-compulsive inclinations into something productive. When I go into the actual construction of the large pieces, it’s usually in private, and a very physical and meditative exercise.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
LJR: I was recently in a group show in Las Vegas at Naomi Arin Contemporary Art called Capital Jewelers that was curated by Glen Helfand. I also had a solo show called The Master’s Tools (decay goes both ways) at Little Tree Gallery in San Francisco in 2008. My work has also been included in shows at The Headlands Center for the Arts and the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
LJR: I have a solo show in early 2010 at Southern Exposure in San Francisco. It will be in their new space in the Mission District. I also am a 2009 Smack Mellon Hot Pick Artist.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
LJR: I’d really like to install a piece in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit (MOCAD). It’s an old car dealership and it has this industrial, open feel. I love that it’s a car dealership that had been reclaimed in downtown Detroit with situation the city is in and has been in for years. There’s a lot of potential there and I think folks are beginning to realize it. It would be nice to have a piece in a show there and have my family and old friends be able to see it.
SG: What is your favorite color?
LJR: Sky blue and neon colors at the moment.
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
LJR: It’s hard to narrow it to one, but Louise Bourgeois has been at the top of my list for a while. Her work strikes my heartstrings and gets under my skin. I think it has a universal quality to it. I love her use of materials and the evidence of the hand in much of her work. It seems like she is always working, that it’s a tool for her survival and I feel I can relate to that—I see it very much in her drawings and use of fibers that come directly from her day-to-day life. About four years ago I was lucky enough to attend one of her Sunday salons and it was one of the awe-inspiring, magical experiences of my life. I showed her some photos of my older installations, which are knitted poems that I show on the floor and she read them out loud. She was right on with the things she said about my work. Then she asked if I had my knitting materials on me, and I did and she asked me to knit her initials. I gave them to her at the end of the salon. I also really like her writings. I also have been really into the work of El Anatsui, Nick Cave, Mary Heilman, and Tracey Emin. I also am a big Madonna fan and watch a lot of her concert videos.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
LJR: I’m currently reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I read a lot of fiction and non-fiction about with apocalyptic themes. I also like memoirs and biographies.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
LJR: Two of my good friends from college live up in the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont. Being up there with them is grounding and wonderful. It’s lots of cooking, driving on dirt roads, and chatting over tea. I also will pretty much live in my studio when I have one. I moved into my studio in grad school and just made work all the time.
SG: Any final words of advice?
LJR: I’d really just like to thank my friends and family for all of their support.
Images:
1.We couldn’t get in. We couldn’t get out. Crank-knit yarn, hand-woven wire, steel poles, assorted hardware. 10’ x 30’. 2007-2008.
2. We couldn’t get in. We couldn’t get out. (Detail) Crank-knit yarn, hand-woven wire, steel poles, assorted hardware. 10’ x 30’. 2007-2008.
3. We couldn’t get in. We couldn’t get out. Crank-knit yarn, hand-woven wire, steel poles, assorted hardware. 10’ x 30’. 2007-2008.
4. We couldn’t get in. We couldn’t get out. (Guerilla Installation in Clarion Alley, Mission District, San Francisco, CA.) Crank-knit yarn, hand-woven wire, steel poles, assorted hardware. 10’ x 30’. 2007-2008.
5. Spinning. (taking back control.) Wood, pipecleaner, cardboard. 3’ x 3’ x 6”. 2008.
6. The Master’s Tools. (decay goes both ways.) Crank-knit yarn, hand-woven wire, steel poles, assorted hardware. 9’ x15’ x variable dimensions. 2008.
7. The Master’s Tools. (Detail of decay goes both ways.) Crank-knit yarn, hand-woven wire, steel poles, assorted hardware. 9’ x15’ x variable dimensions. 2008.
8. The Master’s Tools. (Detail of decay goes both ways.) Crank-knit yarn, hand-woven wire, steel poles, assorted hardware. 9’ x15’ x variable dimensions. 2008.
9. The Master’s Tools. (decay goes both ways.) Crank-knit yarn, hand-woven wire, steel poles, assorted hardware. 9’ x15’ x variable dimensions. 2008.
10. The Master’s Tools. (decay goes both ways.) Crank-knit yarn, hand-woven wire, steel poles, assorted hardware. 9’ x15’ x variable dimensions. 2008.
Topics: Art Installations, Artist Interviews, Women Art |
May 19th, 2009 at 8:04 am
cool. see you thursday.