INTERVIEW WITH JULIA PINKHAM

The following interview with Julia Pinkham (JP) was conducted by Michele DePuy Leavitt (ML), Gallery Director, Studio Channel Islands Art Center, and published in their email newsletter “eArtColumn” on May 2, 2008:
 
ML: We are pleased to present the 7th edition of SCIART's eArtColumn, featuring interviews with our resident artists as well as our member artists. On a daily basis we are lucky enough to be surrounded by exceptional art, of having the pleasure of casually entering into stimulating conversations about the creative process; about the local artscene or a great book to read. We would like to share this with you.

For our 7th edition, we present Julia Pinkham..
 
Tell us a little bit about your work.

JP:  I work mainly with acrylic paints and various other mixed media like pencil, charcoal and conte' crayon.

I am always trying out new pencils and tools because I enjoy experimenting with different qualities of line. I usually work on canvas, although recently I discovered s'grafitto on wood panel. I often get comments about the changes in my work from series to series, but I have to follow what interests me and that leads me into changes. I find that I always cycle back and bring elements and ideas from previous series forward into the new.

ML: Who and what inspire you?

JP:  I am often inspired by color, especially the interplay of colors. I get excited by how certain colors look next to each other. Sometimes I dream about color combinations and that can lead to a painting once I am in my studio. Sometimes I work from ideas I sketch or write down in my notebook.  I have found that listening to music inspires me. I enjoy all types of music. Seeing truly great artwork from time to time is a necessity. There is an exciting and inspiring quality to artwork that has reached that point of total authenticity and it is utterly thrilling to see in person. Art is really a wonderful gift we give each other!

ML: What is your definition of art?

JP:  Well, besides a gift worth giving, hard, hard work for starters. Making art takes persistence and dedication in the face of all sorts of uncertainties, discouragements and disinterest. I mean, who really cares if I go to my studio every day and work on my art? It is up to me alone to stay motivated.

I understand that there are some people who think creating artwork is selfishness, and I guess for them art has no value. I think it is actually necessary to life. It is about the human spirit and the life of the soul. It is a necessary part of culture and human interchange. It connects us.

ML: Some say the art communicates, strives to communicate to its audience. What are your paintings whispering in our ears?

JP:  It is great to be alive. . .life is worth living. . . there are things worth doing, things worth striving for, there is brilliance and beauty and love and art and music. Learning to appreciate and respect creativity and authentic beauty in the world is one of the best things we can do because I think it leads us into care and empathy for others and all of life. Art is one of the doorways that can open us up to that.

ML: What is your favorite shape?

JP: It is funny how certain things can burn themselves into your consciousness without your really being aware of it until later. Lately the shapes that have been catching my attention have been the shapes of chairs, standing silently, taken for granted, awaiting whatever might come. Sometimes it is on the curb waiting for the trash truck, sometimes forgotten on the beach with the tide rising, sometimes as a group gathered around a table before a party starts. I suddenly started noticing them everywhere! They started appearing in my drawings and from there onto my canvases. I had to figure out why the sight of them made my heart leap.

ML: What has been your favorite museum exhibition?

JP: Picking just one would be tough. Last year the Santa Barbara Museum of Art had an exhibit of over 100 pieces of Rufino Tamayo's work, it was an entire retrospective of his career. He is one of my favorites and it was really a treat to have such an extensive collection to see so close to home. I went to see it 3 times.

We all went to see Wayne Theibaud at Pepperdine a couple of years ago, and hear him talk. His work is quite fine.

Last year at The Fowler there was a "found-object assemblage" exhibit by El Anatsui Gawu from Ghana that was so gorgeous it almost couldn't be believed. The works were all constructed from discarded trash items. It was amazing, breathtaking.

ML: Do you have a memory of your first museum visit?

JP:  Not really. The Philadelphia Museum of Art had a Mattisse painting that grabbed me and pulled me towards it from 3 rooms away, I couldn't look at anything else until I found it. That was years ago. But I remember the colors in  and that it made me want to paint. I can still recall being quite disturbed by German Expressionism when I was about 6 or 7, but I'm not sure where we'd been to see the work. Probably it was the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. I remember it really bothered me. The artist I loved most at that age (and still love, of course) was Miro.

ML: When did you fall in love with the arts?

JP: Before I started making art full time I had no idea what to do with myself at all. I have always been very driven, motivated and ambitious.  Working for someone else never suited me. It was a really a relief to discover my direction actually was art and finally just focus on that.  I was about 22. Other defining moments in my life came around those same years, such as discovering that I love to drink coffee and finding and adopting my very first dog. I found her one night in a parking lot on the North Shore of Oahu. Sometimes we were so poor all we had to eat was oatmeal, but still she lived to be over 16. I love having a dog as part of my life! After my last dog died I tried to go without for a while, but it was just too hard..

ML: What, if anything, are you currently obsessed with?

JP: At the moment I am between things, having just finished a series (with many chairs) for my current solo exhibit at Artamo Gallery in Santa Barbara. I am back to "playing" with ideas and colors and considering directions to go with what I have learned from creating this body of work. One thing always leads to the next thing, which leads to the next thing.

ML: Where were you born?

JP: Ventura, CA. My parents were both born and raised in Santa Barbara, when they got married they moved to Ventura. I just love Ventura because it is so unpretentious and yet it contains and supports such a thriving and diverse range of art and artists, the climate is so nice and the beach is right there.  

ML: Does your family, has your family influenced you as an artist? How?

JP: I was lucky to be exposed to painting and drawing at an early age. I remember sitting and watching my mother paint, she is very talented artistically. I think that by watching her work I was actually learning that inner sense of "knowing"; perhaps being able to see as it happened taught my eye what the next "right" action would be for it all to "work". But it is really color that I love the most and that is probably due to my upbringing as well. My mom always played "color quizzes" with me, a game which involved figuring out just for fun which colors could be mixed together to match a particular color in something we saw somewhere; the blues of the ocean, a particular shade of green in deep leafy shadows, old yellowing walls, skin tones, all sorts of things. It is actually lots of fun and we still do it to pass the time on trips or any time at all.

My mother's family were Bauhaus, who were all very inventive and creative people. My great-grandmother was an amazingly talented professional seamstress and she also painted with oils as a hobby. Her brothers were the locally famous Bauhaus Brothers, who built and flew their own airplanes out of the Carpinteria Airport and who also built some wonderfully designed homes in the city of Santa Barbara in the 30's and 40's that are sometimes featured in books about Santa Barbara architecture.

When I think about the history on both sides of my family, how they came across the continent, some as pioneers over 9 generations with all their talents and bravery and hard work, I feel so very, very fortunate to be here now in this beautiful place with the freedom to be able to do what I have chosen for myself, to create art. It is really thanks to them and all they accomplished in their lives, and I am grateful that I am here. I like to think that if they knew, they would be glad.  

ML: What are you currently reading?

JP: I get a chance to read everyday on my bus ride to the studio so I go through a lot of books. I just finished reading "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett which was beautifully written and quite moving (I even cried a little bit in parts of it ), but normally I like to read mysteries. Some mystery authors I particularly like are Michael Connelly, Lawrence Block, Robert Crais, Sue Grafton, Tony Hillerman. . . to name a few. (I am always on the lookout for a new mystery author. I do prefer mysteries with smart characters, not too graphic or gory -- if anyone has any suggestions!)

One of my all-time favorite books in recent memory was actually not a mystery though, it was a personal memoir that my book club read called "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls. I loved it. Some periodicals I read regularly are "Scientific American", "Mother Jones" and "The Nation".  

ML: What does it mean to you to be an Artist-in-Residence at SCIART?

JP: Having a space that is dedicated simply to producing art is invaluable. There is nothing better than to have a place to come to work every day. No need to clean up to make room for dinner on the table. There's no telephone to answer, laundry waiting to be folded, dog to feed, dishes to wash. . . (can you tell I worked at home for a while before moving my studio here?) This is the place to come to do art, to separate from the World of Things To Do and get into that other special focused state of mind. There are also so many great things about being part of this group. Strong friendships develop in the shared struggle to create authentic work. There is practical advice, encouragement and artistic input available for the asking. We share information about exhibiting or other opportunities that come up. We take each other and ourselves seriously as artists and have the greatest respect each other's efforts. Also, just knowing that there are others nearby who are sharing similar ups and downs somehow makes it easier to persist in the face of all the inevitable rejections, self-doubts, and inspirationally dry times. of my all-time favorite books in recent memory was actually not a mystery though, it was a personal memoir that my book club read called "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls. I loved it. Some periodicals I read regularly are "Scientific American", "Mother Jones" and "The Nation".

ML: Are there any of your own exhibitions you would like to talk about? Or a favorite?

JP: Currently I have my very latest body of work on display in a solo exhibit at Artamo Gallery which is located at 11 W. Anapamu Street in Santa Barbara, the gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday 12 –5 p.m. It runs through May 25th, 2008.

ML: I hope you all have the chance to see Julia's show in Santa Barbara, if not, you are always welcome to stop by SCIART and visit Julia's studio.