Please introduce yourself.
Hello, I’m Kirsty Roberts.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I work with Hex Mesh Wire. This wire allows shaping and flow. It takes on character during the creative process. It’s challenging and continues to keep me on my artistic mission.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
Capturing personality or invoking a feeling of presence is my goal with each creation.

What motivates you to create?
I do my best creative work from a positive mindset. Ideas for new pieces flow without effort and are always on my mind. My list of things to make is long and keeps me excited for my next projects. I generally have multiple projects going on all the time, along with others in planning stages.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
Mornings are my most productive time. I schedule my daily chores, errands and focused art time, like anything else important.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?Art has always been a big part of my life and has helped me grow as a person.  I create in many mediums, and in different ways, which all comes from inside.  Creativity has helped me with problem solving, patience and developing skills in new areas as my artistic ideas expand and evolve.

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Read Kirsty’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself.
Hello, I’m Lorna Miser. Sewing is my super power.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I’ve sewn since I was a little girl. I worked in the yarn industry for 35 years—spinning & dyeing yarn, authoring books, teaching workshops, consulting, etc. During the pandemic I returned to sewing. But now I have an industrial beast machine that can sew through almost anything.

Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
My maternal grandmother, Helen Oberheu. She showed me that you can sew anything you put your mind to make.

What motivates you to create?
I never run short of ideas, only time! I love making pretty things out of weird or unexpected things. I love the surprise in that. And the challenge.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
Around 5pm when I finish my day job until about 1am. That’s Creation O’clock!

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Sewing something beautiful and useful out of something old sounds crazy and impossible and makes me feel positive when I see the transformation. That helps me have a more positive “CAN DO” attitude in other areas of my life.

I like creating unique and useful clothing and accessories all the while also helping the environment and raising awareness. I always feel joy and satisfaction when I finish a project, and excited anticipation of the one to follow!

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Read Lorna’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself.
Hello, we are Janis and Kelly Quinn. 

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
We love working with Metal! But not any Metal, we take old, rusty discarded pieces and clean them up to make something new and fresh.

Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
We found Phillip Glasshoff some twenty years ago at a show in San Francisco and were immediately captivated.

What motivates you to create?
It’s mainly because we found we can! Not everyone had an eye for the beauty of an old iron piece – but we’ve trained our eyes to see things in the metal. It’s spellbinding in a way- what people see as junk we see as a treasurer. It’s magical to create something new out of something old.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
We typically start in the morning when we are fresh. But imagination doesn’t follow a clock, and we will find ourselves still in the shop working late in the afternoon.   And even then, there are multiple more trips to the shop through the evening to take another look at what is being created and stir up even more ideas.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
It helps with logical thinking. There’s much to be gained in learning and following a process with this work. Step A must come before B, etc. Jumping ahead can easily result in something not going together as you intended.
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Read The Quinn’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself.
Hello, I’m Patty Pieropan Dong.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I enjoy block printing as well as watercolor, acrylic and pastel. My favorite is oil.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
My mother, Elice Davis Pieropan, was my foundation.  Her self-portrait, done in the 1960s, hangs in my studio.  I was also fortunate to have wonderful professors at Boston University: John Wilson has made his mark in sculpture and portraiture. He studied with European master Ferdinand Leger. Oil painting instructor Reed Kay wrote numerous books and studied with Austrian expressionist Oskar Kokoschka.

What motivates you to create?
The need to be present in the moment by filtering it in through my eyes and out through my fingers. To examine and appreciate the visual world.

 When is your favorite time of day to create?
Morning. 

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Yes. The process of painting lifts me up and tires me out in the very best way.

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Read Patty’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself.
I’m Gini Crepps – For me, it’s all about color and texture…and getting an emotional response when somebody sees my work…it’s why I keep painting.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
Mixed media in all its forms…But I mostly concentrate on alcohol ink and acrylic. I love the combination of the transparency and brilliance of the inks with the muted values I can get with acrylics. I often add in papers or whatever is at hand to add a surprise!

Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
Everything influences me – when I see color used in an exceptional combination – regardless of the media – I always feel a pull to explore more.

What motivates you to create?
Hard to answer that question – some days it’s what work is needed in the gallery – others it’s “I just want to mix stuff up and see what happens” – That’s the joy of mixed media! Sometimes I just go in my studio and clean up…very therapeutic!

When is your favorite time of day to create?
Mornings are the best for me – mostly because the sun is not on that side of the house and it’s not so hot! But I also don’t feel bogged down by daily life stuff – and if needed – I have the whole day to play!

Does art help you in other areas of your life? I am a graphic designer in my “day job” – so design, art and color are a constant. With graphics always having an end and a deadline, it focuses me to finish an art piece – even if it means taking out areas that I like – if it doesn’t work, I can’t leave it be!

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Read Gini’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself.
Hello, I’m Sandy Lindblad.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I paint mostly in acrylic these days and sometimes in pastel. I’m a pretty fast painter, so I like that acrylic dries so quickly.  Pastel on the other hand is already dry and the colors are really vibrant.

Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
Henri Hensche, and the great impressionists.

What motivates you to create?
Motivation sometimes, depends of my mood and or the weather and or a commission!

When is your favorite time of day to create?
Usually, I like to paint in the mornings and or evenings. I like the mornings where my mind is fresh, and I like the evenings where there’s no distractions from a beautiful day outside! I try to get in a good bike ride when its super nice outside!!

Does art help you in other areas of your life? When I create art, generally I get into the zone and any sort of issues that I might have, goes away!

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Read Sandy’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself.
I’m Barbie Smith.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I have been painting with oils for almost 18 years and more recently have been using gouache and casein which are water-based paints.

Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
I am influenced by early California impressionists whose paintings captured the atmosphere and emotions of the scene without striving for the details of realism.

What motivates you to create?
My motivation to create comes from deep within my being. It is a response to the beauty and design found in nature and is my way of expressing my ideas and feelings about the subject.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
I feel most productive in the earlier part of the day but often there are other obligations to fulfill before I can enjoy uninterrupted time at the easel. 

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Painting helps me to learn how to simplify a task, see the big picture before getting bogged down in detail, persevere through problem solving and is a great way to calm my mind and relieve anxiety.

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Read Barbie’s previous interview here.

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