Carolyn Payne, Executive Director and Chief Instigator at SooVAC

Hello! This is Jackson and welcome to the third interview and first interview of 2017 on my art blog, 3 Art Questions With Jackson. This time I interviewed Carolyn Payne. She is Executive Director and Chief Instigator at SooVAC and a nice person. I have known her for a long time.


Jackson: How old were you when you first realized that art was important to you?

Carolyn: Oh, that’s a hard one. My mother is an artist and my grandmother was an artist and I grew up going to museums and looking at art books. I probably didn’t start going to anything on my own until I was a teenager and haven’t stopped since. I found so much solace hanging out at the MIA as a teen when I was a bit of a misfit and I think that’s probably when I started to realize how much art meant to me.

  

Jackson: What is the best part of working in an art gallery?

Carolyn: I love working with artists and getting to know their work in a deeper way. And of course, to be surrounded by art all the time. I also really love designing and installing shows. My coworker, Alison Hiltner, and I have developed our own language and the days we spend laying out shows that have been in the works for a year or more are some of my favorites.

Jackson: I like to paint but I like installation art best. What kind of art do you like best?

Carolyn: I don’t know if I have a favorite medium. I seem to be drawn to painting lately, especially watercolor and gouache. I just curated a show that included a lot of paintings by Lindsay Smith at a CITIES Market Studios, one of our outside exhibition spaces, and I still can’t stop thinking about them. I become so immersed in the layers of color and feel transported into those places she has created.