athenadreams

I love doing studio tours. There is something about seeing the space that an artist works in, that makes me feel more connected to them in some strange way. And when I did an interview with Liz of Athena Dreams recently, that is exactly how I felt…

-You work out of your home in the San Francisco Bay area equally a full-fourth dimension artist and designer. Living in a city such as SF, that is oozing with inspiration and opportunity has its advantages. What has your experience been living at that place?

I love living hither. I accept lots of friends that are artists, musicians, writers, etc, and there feels like an never ending stream of diversity and affluence in terms of art and artists here. I accept establish a lot of opportunity for collaborative work and projects, and that is something I truly dear, artists coming together and pooling their ideas and talents.

athenadreamsSummer Bungalow and Flying in Spite of Everything

-Y'all depict your work as being about stories – real or imagined. And that we forever inhabit our own personal stories. Tin can you lot elaborate? Do yous have a personal story that you might want to share from your nearly recent work?

Listening to others stories, telling our own, and even having someone read you a story (no matter what your age) all of these intrigue u.s.a. and from there tin inform our ideas about the world, and assistance us define our place here. Who we are now, who we were and then, and who we are becoming, equally nosotros grow and change through the cycles of our lives, is so tied into our ain personal stories. I have found for myself that often an event, a chat, a piece of fine art that I saw, volition trigger memories of stories that family and friends have told me, will bring back something of my own story to me that will assist through a state of affairs or fuel me to terminate a painting I am struggling with. Stories are likewise a wonderful way for me to think about creating new piece of work.

1 recent painting – On the Way to Apple Picking – has a brusque little story attached to it. I was in NH terminal September visiting family before going to nourish the Squam Fine art Workshop , and I was in the car with my sister in police force and my niece and nephew. Nosotros were driving on a windy state road beside a marsh on a beautiful early fall day, and from the back of the car my nephew kept saying "This is on the way to apple picking". I asked where was the apple picking and he told me that they went there last fall, when he was a "trivial kid", and that it was the first fourth dimension that he knew that apples really came off of copse. He told me that he liked this route we were driving on because now that he was a big kid he knew the way to the apples. I loved hearing his perspective of the globe from what he at present thought of as his "niggling kid" self, and when I got dwelling house created my own marsh grasses and a blueish blue sky punctuated with the songs of birds and the rustling of the grasses.

athenadreams3 -I noticed that around your house and studio space, y'all have a quite a drove of artwork. (Love that Jessica Gonacha piece ). Who are a few of your favorite artists right now? And who or what inspires your ain work?

I accept and so many favourite artists correct now, so where to start. Much of the art hanging in our home and in my studio is by artists who I admire and who I know from the blogging and etsy communities. The group of work hanging on the wall higher up the couch in my studio is from Jess Gonacha , Christine Mason Miller , Irene Suchocki , Maddie Mulvaney , and local artists Niya Sisk , Amy Graham and Michelle Rivers, 2 pieces by my grandmother and some art from my nephew. I didn't realize until I started making this list that pretty much all the work I accept is from fellow women artists, how cool! I will leave the list at that, because those are the ones you can all see, and just say that truly, the work that inspires me the most is the work that feels honest and real and comes from a place deep inside the artist. Artwork that I feel speaks to me direct from the artist's voice, mind and heart, now that'south the stuff that makes the hairs on my arms go all electric-y, and the stuff that inspires.

athenadreams2Studio Bout shot and An Invitation to Travel

-Yous were recently published in the book, Creatively Self-Employed . How did that come abou t?

I answered a call dorsum in 2006 that Kristen Fischer put out to working artists, designers and writers to answer a series of questions that she was using to put the volume together. I sent it off thinking "wouldn't it be absurd if she actually used some of my words and experiences in her book" but also feeling like I had gotten and then much out of answering her questions that it was already a win-win state of affairs. A few months after she sent me a release and said she would be using some of what I had written for the book. At that place are ii pieces in the book where she talks about my experiences: the commencement is a section called Proactively Banishing Anxiety, and the 2nd When Clients Don't Play Off-white.

The entire book is filled with experiences, thoughts, insights and existent words virtually all the unlike facets of living and working every bit freelancer from a huge puddle of artists and writers. A helpful and highly recommended read for anyone out there wanting to make the motion to freelance work and also wanting some grounded and real-life experiences to check out.

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-Equally a total-time artist, you are living the dream of many hoping to 1 twenty-four hours break from a desk chore. Do you accept any tips for the young and the young at heart who are looking for a mode to support themselves with their art (or craft)?

Equally and then many have said earlier me, plan your transition as best y'all can, try to save as much money equally you possibly tin can earlier making the move, and when you feel y'all have done all the leg piece of work you can, and y'all feel it is totally the right fourth dimension for you, go. My transition was non planned, I was laid off from a full time blueprint task in 2000 and so within a few months of my lay-off, the big "dot com" chimera burst and prospects for design work in the Bay Area were pretty bleak.

If I could take stuck with my initial plan which was to salve money and slowly transition out of the full-time work I would take, but sometimes circumstances are such that yous accept to go with what you're presented with, and so my way out started with a few months of unemployment, a lot of work on my design portfolio and a lot of calls and visits and sending packages out to get a few freelance pattern gigs that very slowly began to build into piece of work.

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– Your online store opened in tardily 2007, but that is non your only means for selling your work. What other outlets/ venues take been a success for y'all in showing and selling your piece of work? Do you have any upcoming shows that you would like to mention?

In addition to traditional art galleries, my work has hung in shows that have been up in: hospitals, in homes that are for auction (creating an art opening and a potential sale of both art and business firm at the same space), in caf̩south, in empty store fronts (to continue a downtown surface area vital), and in yoga and dance studios. I actually like the more not-traditional prove spaces, and find that people are a lot more open to looking at the art and interacting with the creative person, where equally at some art galleries many people experience out of place and out of their depth Рpiffling exercise well-nigh people know, the artists often feel the same mode.

I do have a a couple of shows coming up this yr that I am really excited nearly:
I volition accept some pieces in the bear witness A Vision of Squam that will exist at Artstream gallery in Rochester, NH in September;
I hope to have a couple of pieces in a Adult female Artist Group Show that volition be at the O'Hanlon Eye for the Arts in Mill Valley, CA in August; and I volition exist in an all girl group bear witness down in L.A. this Nov chosen The Mannequin Show.

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-What has your feel been in having a dwelling house studio? Do y'all ever find it difficult to piece of work? What communication would you give to others who are looking to work more than efficiently in a small infinite?

Honestly, I dear having my studio in my domicile. I spend most of my days moving back and forth between my painting table and my computer tabular array, working, coming up with ideas, sketching, and generally creating and doing. I rarely find it difficult to work, in fact it's exactly the reverse, I find that I work more than I ever have, and there are some weeks where I know I take worked as well much, and too long, and I am a bit spent and depleted. I attempt to larn from myself though, and reel my time in when I take been pushing hard.

For me, working more efficiently in a small space is all virtually staying on top of putting things away and straightening upwards. Now, I say that, merely do I do that? Not regularly. When I tin can arrive a routine of putting things away and cleaning up the messes as I go, I know that I feel happier in my work space, I tin find things more than easily, and I am just all effectually happier. But keeping the groovy factor going on a regular basis, it just doesn't happen very often.

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-Is in that location anything else you would like to share?

I approximate the only other matter I would say is if you experience moved to paint, sing, write, or whatsoever other creative endeavor, piece of work difficult at whatever your creative pursuit is, and enjoy every moment you maybe can of it, attain out and makes friends and colleagues, and call back we are all hither in part anyway, to share our gifts, our talents, and our voices with the balance of the world.

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I love the story of Liz's nephew picking apples and how that story brought nigh a work of fine art. Those seemingly insignificant moments, are often times the ones nosotros call back most. Information technology reminds me of some of my own silly little moments that volition always stay with me. What's your story? I would love to hear it.

Thank you and so much Liz for the wonderful interview. To view more of Liz Kalloch of Athena Dream's work, visit her website and shop.