![[Valid RSS]](valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
« A Visit with Dumperfoo, Part Two | Main | New Zealand - Reflections on the Design of David Trubridge »
Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Kate MacDowell
By Spraygraphic | March 29, 2010
Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Kate MacDowell
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
KM: I used to teach high-school English and later produced hi-tech websites. After the dot-com bust my husband and I moved to India for a year and half and worked at a meditation retreat center. We came back back to the states by way of Italy, and I found myself living in my parent’s house again for a few months, without a job, and with a head full of fantastic tropical plants and animals, and classical and baroque marble sculpture. I started taking a local clay class while we figured out what to do next, and started funneling these images into early pots and sculptures. I’ve been a full-time studio artist since 2006 or so.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
KM: In Portland, Oregon
SG: What mediums do you work with? Currently hand-built porcelain clay, though I’ve used other clay bodies in the past, and have plans for expanding out into other mediums in the future.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
KM: I start by trawling Google images for source photos of whatever I plan to sculpt from as many angles as possible, and look for diagrams of skeletal systems to help me work out proportions. I print out a dozen or so images and pin them over my studio tables, so I always have visual references to go off, and sketch out poses before building the main forms solid. I then cut them open and hollow them out to about 1/4″ thickness. Small details are added after this, and are built petal by petal, insect leg by insect leg and I often study plant bits I’ve dragged home from the park or dead flies on the window sill.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
KM: Most of the time it’s not lack of ideas but fear of failure on a particular piece and lack of will to start what is always an ardous process. Listening to audio books and trying to complete one small piece of the project at a time helps to get over this.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
KM: Environmental case studies, based on online reading about threatened species, people’s snapshots of roadkill up on the web, contemporary artwork I come across online, baroque marble tomb sculptures…
SG: How long does it take to complete one of your pieces?
KM: Sculpting, 3 days to a month, drying/firing/finishing about 2 weeks more.
SG: Why are your sculptures predominately white most of the time? Have you experimented with color?
KM: Yes, my early sculptures were brightly colored. I switched to pure white for this body of work because I wanted the bare porcelain to evoke marble, as used in funerary memorials and classical/baroque sculpture, and also something ghostly, or missing from the world. I also am fascinated by intracies of natural forms and detail, and didn’t want color or surface design to distract from them.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
KM: I’ve shown pieces throughout the US, primarily around Seattle and Portland and in California, Santa Fe, and Philly; but also in Japan and London.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
KM: In March at the Moore College of Art and Design in Philly http://www.thegalleriesatmoore.org/site/exhibitions/upcoming_exhibitions, and in April at Mindy Solomon Gallery in Florida http://www.mindysolomon.com/exhibitions.php, and NEXT Chicago http://www.patrajdas.com/exhibitions.html. Also overseas as well later in the year in Amsterdam, Bath (UK), and Paris.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
KM: Funding, a large warehouse or gallery space, and a crew of volunteers and artist collaborators creating an installation of the by-catch of a deep-sea trawler. Basically I’d like to create a pile of life-sized dead sea life out of fired porcelain or white clay, the volume of a school bus, with here and there a brightly colored orange roughy visible, the actual intended “catch” which is not discarded.
SG: What is your favorite color?
KM: Burnt orange
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
KM: I probably feel most passionate about Bernini and Caravaggio because I’ve been lucky enough to see a lot of their work in person and am always drawn in by the emotional intensity, and physical tension and movement in the figures. Some contemporary favorites are Andy Goldsworthy and a lot of the environmental artists profiled at the Green Museum.org (Eve Andre’e Larame’e, Nicole Dextras, etc). Also Andrea Zittel’s close examination of how we could live, Gregory Crewdson’s staged photos of surrealism beneath the everyday, and some Damien Hirst (the macabre themes resonate with me).
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
KM: I made a two-piece ceramic sculpture in which I was the model for one of the characters, it’s in my basement, it’s my least favorite piece.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
KM: Listening to “Blindspot: A Novel” by Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore which is about a Scottish portrait painter in Boston in the 1700’s and his assistant, a young woman in drag as a boy among other things. It’s hilarious and dramatic.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
KM: Sadly enough, online (judging by time spent), otherwise, Eagle Cap Wilderness in Eastern Oregon.
SG: Any final words of advice?
KM: Create each piece to the best of your ability, both thematically and technically even if it means slower production of work and less pieces to sell or show initially. Trying for quality helped me grow faster than trying for quantity. Try to find a consistent routine for making work (place, time, other people around you), that supports you over time and gets you through the rough spots - I’m still working on that. Get great photos of your work and have them online.
Topics: Artist Interviews, Sculpture Art, Women Art |
5 Responses to “Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Kate MacDowell”
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
March 29th, 2010 at 2:49 am
I loved this! You are simply brilliant! I would love to see a photo of your studio and your work process…
keep up the awesome work!!
- jehn
March 29th, 2010 at 10:02 am
you are amazing!
March 30th, 2010 at 1:27 am
your attention for little details is incredible!
very very good
March 30th, 2010 at 10:03 am
cool work !
March 30th, 2010 at 11:36 am
realy and absolutly wonderful! Your works are so poetic amazing and terrified too…
i ADORE!!