goTriad.com

WHY SHE'S AN ARTIST: I have to. It's an awesome release. It's exploring different facets of myself. Sometimes I get really silly and I make things to make me laugh and hopefully it will make other people laugh. There are so many things that happen with paint. It's like walking into a different world.

HOW SHE GOT INTO ART: My grandma taught me how to paint when I was 7. ... It was like a portal opened up into this colorful world. She showed me how to use some acrylics. She showed me how to use oil paints, too, but I didn't like that very much because I'm so impatient; it takes so long for it to dry. She's so gentle with her instruction. I can hear her cute voice in my head every now and then when I'm doing things that she taught me how to do so long ago. She lives in Thomasville and she's still painting. She does beach stuff. She and Grandpa will go to the beach and Grandpa will take the pictures and then she paints the pictures that he takes.

WHAT HER WORK IS ABOUT: I guess it's about feeling good. I enjoy making people laugh and making things that people can identify with. It's about communication, too.

EVOKING EMOTION: There's this piece I made called "Letting Go." It was two birds with scarves on - one bird with a scarf on a branch and another bird flying away dropping the scarf, letting go of the things that stop him. That made me cry. Everyone is constantly letting go of things every day or trying to deal with things like that. It can be a minuscule road rage thing to something a lot bigger like family issues or whatever. It's definitely something that most people have in common.

HER INSPIRATION: Sometimes I can hear a song and I'm like, "Oh, that would be cool to make these squishy-looking characters." Music inspires a lot of what I do. I'll listen to music while I paint. I'll hear a lyric or a part of a song that will inspire these images or characters . ... And sometimes I'll just walk around and notice things and wonder what kind of character would live in that environment or what kind of people would be transformed into a character.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy's album, "The Letting Go," was really good to paint emotional junk to. I have this really funny Japanese pop compilation that's fun to make characters to.

A LOVE OF ANIMALS: They just have this innateness to them that I really admire. Animals don't really care about what people think they're doing. They just do what they need to do to survive. And they're just cute (laughs). Maybe the darker side of me comes out in the animals (in her paintings) because of their fearlessness.

COPING WITH ARTIST'S BLOCK: I just plow through it. I'll make paintings that I hate and will never see the light of day again. I just keep working through it and sometimes I'll get a really wonderful idea out of that to build on. I can't stop. I really enjoy doing gig posters for bands. Usually that's a good way to plow through a block, too, because I have to put all this stuff on just one sheet of paper. It's a fun exercise.

HER CHALLENGE AS AN ARTIST: I guess overcoming any sort of weird judgment. I have to be able to dive right in and paint whatever I need to and not think about what other people are going to think. Sometimes I'll think about that and it totally ruins what I'm doing. I have to constantly keep remembering that this is something I need to do and share with people.

HER GOALS FOR 2009: I aim to have an Etsy store (www.etsy.com ) open in a couple of months. I really hope to get a show together somewhere. I'd like to do more posters for bands. I'd also like to get my art in some local craft stores.

- Carla Kucinski Seward

topCars