Interview with:Angela Giles [anngee]
CREATIVITY
 | How and why did you begin to be creative? When I was four years old I developed my own language and writing system. I would regale my Mother with my stories of the people of my land and their adventures. I would also watch my sister and try to imitate her drawings because I thought she was awesome. |
| How do you avoid repeating yourself, or falling into formula? How do you stay fresh? This is a question I always ask myself, especially when I'm choosing colors. The answer is usually what colors would you never wear out on the street. I love to use blues, greens and reds so I try to develop color schemes by looking at the color wheel and if I wouldn't wear a shirt with those colors, then I should probably use those colors. You know, what would I not do? |
| It is possible to fall in love with a bad idea simply because it is yours. How do you avoid this? I do this all the time. If I'm not at my best I'll draw some real crap. I'll know it's bad because it keeps me up at night with thoughts of revisions dancing in my head. That's when I put that assignment aside and work on something else or nothing at at all. Sometimes I'll ask friends to look it over, so there's a fresh pair of eyes. But time set aside to relax my brain usually sifts out the crap. |
| Do you work well under pressure? Yes and no. I usually like to have a lot of time to develop my drawings then I'll paint like a crazy person. I'll forget to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom. It depends though. Sometimes it's the opposite. |
| Ideas can come simultaneously to different people in different places with no connection to one another. How do you explain this phenomenon? We constantly fail to conceive that we are all connected, mind and spirit, through energy. Ideas are energy they flow freely in the same manner. |
| You are as good as your last idea. Wouldn't you like to have a more secure type of work? Nothing man-made or otherwise lasts forever, so that kind of security isn't really relevant to me. And what is hard and seems everlasting can and will erode one day. I try to live communally, to contribute to the whole. When you start to live like that ideas flow abundantly and doubt about tomorrow fades. The only guarantee in life is that at this very moment your alive. |
ILLUSTRATION
| How similar are your current drawings to those you did as a child? Well sometimes I still hide people's hands behind their backs, I still love to create patterns, I like to draw animals, I still love to draw/paint portraits and I absolutely LOVE color. |
| What is hardest to draw? For me it's hands. There is so much expression in the hands that I tend to over think how to approach them. But I love to draw them anyway, it's a challenge. |
| What do you do when a client simply says "I don't like it"? I ask them to elaborate. What about it don't you like and why. If I feel the suggestion won't compromise or undermine the painting then I change it. It's their painting after all, so I try not to get too attached. When I'm painting for myself I ask myself the same thing. |
| What part of your work do you do on paper and what part digitally? Just about everything is done on paper. I touch-up imperfections from lighting or my immature photography skills in Photoshop, but other than that it's all done by hand. |
ART
| What do you do? How do you define yourself as an artist? Over the years I've tried to find words to describe what I do and the best I've come up with is that I'm an illustrative painter. I like my paintings, usually figurative with elements of Art Nouveau, to tell a story and make the viewer want to know more. |
| What is your message? There is beauty everywhere and in everyone. And fast/new isn't always best. |
| Your biography in four lines. AnnGee (nee Angela Giles), was born in Oklahoma and lived in Texas before moving to Georgia. She left the south to attend Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, PA where she received her Bachelor's degree in Illustration. AnnGee's paintings combine her fascination with Golden Age Illustration, Art Nouveau, typography, portraiture and her vivid imagination. She has exhibited at galleries around Atlanta including Young Blood Gallery, ArtHouse Gallery and U*Space Gallery. Currently, she lives in Decatur, GA where she is working on a series called American Standard and is designing a poster for the Athens based band, The Corduroy Road. |
| Do you upload your work to the web? If so, where could we see it? |
| How is an idea born? For you, what is inspiration? I'll see a face, have a conversation, read a book and something will spark my interest. I know it's inspiration if the idea persists and won't let me sleep or go away. And sometimes I hear music, or rather a few lyrics to a song or lines from a poem, lately that is a indicator that whatever I'm looking at is something of importance that I should paint. |
| What is art? I think art is anything created with passion. I look at lots of people as artists, scientists, mathematicians, musicians, teachers, etc. as long as you create what you love with unbridled passion. |
| When do you get your best ideas? Most ideas come when I least expect them, mostly they surprise me from out of nowhere. |
| When and how did you begin to see yourself as an artist? Even though I've been drawing since I was little and I went to art school, it wasn't until I was forced to re-evaluate the direction my life was taking a few years ago that I realized painting and making books was a passion I needed to pursue seriously. |
| Why do so many artists and creators have such volatile personalities? I think the volatility comes from doubt in oneself. When you become unsure of yourself or your work it is easy to become crazy and take the easy road of inflicting that pain on others. I try hard to stay healthy and surround myself with people who help keep me in line so I don't get extreme. |
| Which artists do you admire and how do they influence your work? I really love American Golden Age Illustrators; Maxfield Parrish, Jessie Wilcox Smith, J.C. Leyendecker, John Held, Jr., etc. I really admire the tenacity and the dedication that these artists approached their paintings.
I also LOVE Alphonse Mucha and the Art Nouveau Movement. I'm fascinated by the fluidity of line, use of nature, media used and pattern in combination with the human form.
M.C. Escher and Shel Silverstein and their ability to make the simple seem complex and the complex simple.
Also artists in the Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe as well as the US. I love the determination to return and/or preserve traditional ways of creating art and how diversely and cooperatively they created art. |
| Does it pain you to let go of a piece you have sold? No. I don't sell art I want to keep and even if I try it ends up coming back to me anyway. |
| In art, there is no guide. How do you know what the next step is? Intuition. "If it feels good, do it!"- Better Than Ezra
Everything good happens at just the right time, especially if you're open to receive it. I've read about the lives of many artists and the one thing that's clear across the board is to engulf or create yourself in the world you want. You're bound to fall into something. And be specific! Ask for what you want and put a time on it and eventually the universe will give it to you. |
PERSONALITY
| A simple pleasure that for you is quite big or important. Sleep. I love a good bed. Cotton or bamboo sheets, pillows and lots of covers, even in the summer.
Also in-door plumbing, men are so lucky because they don't always have to squat outdoors.
And laughter. I don't think I could live without it. |
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409 visits Whohub
Angela Giles
Decatur, GA, USA
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