Interview with:Michelle Levy [mlevy]
ART
 | What do you do? How do you define yourself as an artist? I follow inspiration in whatever form, medium, direction etc it takes me. Sometimes I focus on painting; other times I'm focused on music. Sometimes I am focused on teaching....and sometimes I combine all these skills and create puppet shows, masks, characters and performances.
Any opportunity I get to work with musicians is always a plus; I enjoy creating CD covers and promo materials, because it's such a fantastic challenge to visually convey the intangible (i.e., music) and it keeps me on my toes! I'm also just totally an animal person, and most recently I started a Pet-Portrait business, which is incredibly fun and rewarding. |
| What is your message? Every successful art piece has a message-- this is, afterall, the job of an artist-- to visually convey an idea. Beyond the surface of that, however, I like to think that there is a greater message behind the art-- hopefully that my art and/or lifestyle could in some way make a positive impact on somebody... even if it's just a flicker of inspiration. It would be great if I could help people believe that it is their birthright to manifest their dreams and make a living doing what they love... and that's why I think it's so important that artists be INVOLVED in our communities in whatever way we can. However, at the bottom of all this is a fundamental need to create-- I really have no choice about being an artist, I just HAVE to make stuff ALL the time, whether or not my art/lifestyle actually makes a difference to anyone... though I hope it does, or will someday. |
| Your biography in four lines. I am an award-winning artist with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) '04. Whle at RISD, I studied classical drawing and painting techniques, illustration, puppetry, as well as theater/costume design & music at Brown University. I have been working as a freelance illustrator, "fiddlinist", puppeteer and instructor ever since. I currently live and work in Berkeley CA where I am living my dream of co-creating an artistic, musical communal household. |
| 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? Being in nature fuels my ideas... all the light, sound, smell, and touch stimuli of the natural world can be so overwhelming I just HAVE to make something to express how beautiful it all is. Besides that, I have very vivid and colorful dreams every night which often inspire me... also the time right before I fall asleep or when I am in a deep state of relaxation, I am often flooded with ideas and imagery.... Going to galleries and listening to concerts-- looking and listening to other artists' work-- is surefire way to fuel anyones imagination! |
| What role does technology play in your creative process? I create on paper, canvas, or 3-dimensionally with mixed media. When the piece is finished, I take a digital photo of it and ad text in InDesign or Illustrator. I like to use photoshop to adjust reference material for my illustrations-- like I can zoom in on a photo of a dog's face I am painting, for example. I also like using Photoshop and Indesign to create flyers and promo materials for musical ensembles/bands. |
| How do you evaluate whether an idea is good or not? I think an idea is worth pursuing if I obsess over it and feel physical pain until I actually begin creating it. If I'm not absolutely on fire to create something, it's probably not a good idea. |
| Why do so many artists and creators have such volatile personalities? I think certain people don't like artists because we are free-thinkers by nature and don't often succumb to mainstream ideals, ways of dressing, behaving, etc-- I think part of the artists' role in society is to challenge how we all look at things-- "to think outside the box". This certainly can be an irritant to closed-minded people who have a very set way of perceiving the world...
We may be an eccentric bunch, but most artists do not have volatile personalities; on the contrary, society is so often volatile to artists..... art is rapidly being cut out of education budgets and more and more children are growing up into adults with little or no appreciation or understanding of art. In the Renaissance, an education meant not just learning to read and write, math, science,and politics, but one would also learn to paint and draw and read and play music. What a change to the present-day, when art is perceived as merely a hobby and not essential to society and ones education! |
| Does it pain you to let go of a piece you have sold? I don't get emotionally attached to pieces I create on commission/for someone else. However there are certain pieces I have made just for the sheer pleasure of it, for no one in particular, which I am rather attached to... those pieces I will never sell! |
| What advice would you give to those just beginning? Be patient with yourself, and don't compare your artwork to that which is displayed in galleries, or even with other artists in your class-- only compare your past artwork with your current artwork and evaluate your progress that way. Also, please relieve yourself of the immense pressure that everything you create has to be a masterpiece-- I think it's just as important to make bad artwork as good artwork. I've made plenty of rotten pieces when I've tried a new technique-- and I think if an artist hasn't made a a total flop of a piece, they're not experimenting enough-- you can only reach your full potential as an artist if you try something new and give yourself the freedom to fail! |
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631 visits Whohub
Michelle Levy
Berkeley, CA USA
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