Interview with:Erica Borey [koalarazorclock]
ART
 | What do you do? How do you define yourself as an artist? I still don't define myself as an artist. To me, an artist is a person who creates from something inside of them because they have no choice. I would define myself as more of an artistic person. I'm a talented mimic. I can put it down when I don't have time and pick it up when I do.
I use oil paints, watercolors, charcoal, pencil, and pen to capture an image that I can see. I don't have the same abilities when it's something I see inside my own head. I work from photographs or from life when I can get my subject to be still long enough. I am just trying to capture some of the beauty around me, because I think too often it goes unnoticed. |
| Your biography in four lines. Michigan, Virginia.
Lessons. No pets. Slow.
Now I like life slow.
Boyfriend, Cat, and Art. |
| Do you upload your work to the web? If so, where could we see it? www.ericaborey.com
Thanks for looking! |
| How is an idea born? For you, what is inspiration? Usually I am inspired when some particular moment's beauty strikes me as essential, and I try go back to it somehow or other in art. Usually I fail, but at least I remember the original inspiration. I make my decisions in my painting in a very intuitive way. My formal training is somewhat lacking so I'm not able to articulate what it is I do, or always to recognize what it is I should be doing. |
| What role does technology play in your creative process? For me, I need modern technology to hold the images I want still long enough for me to get them down on paper or canvas. Unless I were to dedicate myself to sleeping people or still lifes, I rely on photographs. I generally refer to photographs either printed out or on the internet. Oddly, I spend a lot of painting time looking at the computer. |
| When do you get your best ideas? Hidden creativity comes out to me when I am most relaxed and just browsing etsy or readymade or apartment therapy, and also when I am procrastinating. Suddenly I have so many great ideas for things I would rather be doing. Sometimes I think I like brainstorming better than actually doing the projects. I have a very long email chain to myself of just ideas I've thought of and want to remind myself to do later. I get really excited about them, and then later on make the critical and practical choices in whether and how to implement them. |
| How do you evaluate whether an idea is good or not? I think about it for a few days before I get started. Once I've got something I think is done, I set it aside for a few days. You need to look at it with fresh eyes. It will impact you in a different way and can sometimes surprise you. If not, either you need more time away from it or its not a great idea and you need to fix it or abandon it. Maybe in ten years you will have the insight or perspective to make it work. |
| Three creative ideas that you would have liked to have created? Um...Escher. The Muppets. All the great halloween costumes I see every year. |
| When and how did you begin to see yourself as an artist? I've always been "good at art", so from a young age I was encouraged. Again, I don't consider myself an artist, but I do pursue making art and always will for the pleasure it gives me and others. It doesn't really matter in the end if I'm a "real" artist or not, and according to who. |
| Does it pain you to let go of a piece you have sold? No. I'm happy someone else wants it and am please to have brought it to them. |
| What advice would you give to those just beginning? Keep it up. Listen to criticism, but with a grain of salt. The only person you need to please is yourself, but its easy to confuse that with pleasing the people you share your work with. It's not always the same. |
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Erica Borey
Richmond, VA, USA
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